Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters

Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, known in Japan as Rockman 2: The Power Fighters (ロックマン２ ザ パワーファイターズ), is an arcade fighting game from the original Mega Man series. The player can choose Mega Man, Proto Man, Bass, or Duo as a playable character.

This game is in the continuity of Mega Man: The Power Battle, and both games were later released together in Rockman Power Battle Fighters and Mega Man: Anniversary Collection for PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, and Rockman Battle and Fighters for Neo Geo Pocket Color.

Story
One day, while Dr. Light was researching an unknown energy source from space, his laboratory was attacked by Dr. Wily's robots. The unknown energy source and the new parts that were under development were stolen from the laboratory. And, if it weren't bad enough already, Roll was captured by one of the robots. Mega Man and Proto Man go to stop Wily and stumble upon Duo, a mysterious alien robot, who is willing to help. And Bass, still angry that Wily has revived more Robot Masters, again teams up with the good side to destroy the enemies...

Like The Power Battle, each character has an epilogue once the player beats the game. However, in The Power Fighters, the epilogues are more detailed and have more to do with past and future Mega Man games, providing vague explanations regarding characters and canon, most notably the Evil Energy incident from the then upcoming Mega Man 8 and how Dr. Wily created Zero from the Mega Man X series.

For completing a two-player game, whereas the ending in The Power Battle would show both player endings back-to-back, here a special new ending is presented depending on the character pairing. However, while the endings revolving around Bass' pairing with either Mega Man or Proto Man are completely brand-new, the rest are an enhanced version of one of the characters' ending with the latter character appearing in it. The most notable example is Duo, whose ending is generally the same, but has any of his partners appearing in that ending when paired up in a two-player game, with the dialogue on what they talk about based on who his partner was.

Bosses
At the end of each story, the player(s) must fight the same Wily Machine; only the sidekick robots differ. Much like Power Battle, following the defeat of the Wily Machine, the player(s) confront Wily inside a "Wily Capsule", which must be defeated in the time allotted for additional points.

Fighting system
Much of the fighting system remains the same as its prequel, Mega Man: The Power Battle, but with new features included.

Duo
A fourth playable character available for selection. Like Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass, Duo can perform a Charge Shot and a dash maneuver, his dash being a damaging shoulder charge named Giga Tackle.

Special Attack
Each character has a "special attack" that they can perform by charging their weapon fully, holding up then releasing the shot. Mega Man will perform the Mega Upper, a spiraling uppercut. Proto Man will unleash the Proto Strike, a short ranged flare. Bass will perform a somersault kick named Crescent Kick. Duo will use Giant Knuckle, launching his energized hand upwards. If the player presses the jump button after Duo does so, he will jump into the air, press the attack button next and the enemy will be smacked back down.

Support
From time to time, Eddie drops by automatically, leaving a Support Item on the ground. Players can collect it to temporarily summon a robotic support. As long as these powers are active, however, no Special Weapons can be used. Mega Man and Bass receive support from Rush and Treble, respectively. When they fire a Charge Shot or use a special attack, the support will also attack. Mega Man can also jump on Rush to perform a higher jump with Rush Coil. Proto Man and Duo receive a shield from Beat that gives them immunity to damage.

New parts
Some short story-telling will pop up after destroying one of the six Robot Masters (it may be anyone from the second to the fifth boss vanquished) before reaching Wily's castle. The player will get back the stolen part and obtain a certain upgrade. Details are described below.

'Search for Wily!' story

A robot looking like Dr. Wily jumps in. It will immediately break apart (by itself or by the player's robot) and release the part. The following changes will occur:


 * Mega Man's uppercut remains as the special move, but it does not rise that as high as before when performed.


 * Proto Man will move further ahead when starting his attack, slightly increasing its range.


 * When Bass's special move is executed, it does the kick twice in a row, compared to the once before.


 * Duo's original special move commences with a punch that sends the opponent off the ground, then by pressing the jump button and next the attack button, it will jump up and knock the enemy back down. The new one would start with a short straight punch that does not move the victim much. Then the attack button may be pressed to follow it up with what it already had.

'Rescue Roll!' story

Roll is set free, and gives the part. The weapon energy bar gets longer then. If Roll is rescued after defeating the second boss, she will wink when giving the player the new parts.

'Recover the new part!' story

Hold the up button while pressing the jump button will execute a super-jump. It is higher and lasts longer than the ordinary jump. But, neither Bass's air-dash nor everyone's wall jump will work during this airtime.

Trivia

 * In Bass's ending, Dr. Wily shows the plans from a new robot he is developing and shows a silhouette of Zero. Interestingly, the image corresponds to his design after the events of his first official appearance, as the plans most likely were of his completed form.
 * This is also the first official explicit reference to Dr. Wily having created Zero, which would gain much more exposure in Mega Man X4 the following year.


 * There are a total of two items hidden in the backgrounds of six arenas throughout the whole game. They can be obtained by hitting certain spots high on the screen. One of them looks like a plane piloted by Mobi-chan From Hyper Dyne Side Arms. The other one is the star from Vulgus. The former gives ten thousand points while the latter is just half as valuable. They do nothing else. Mobi-chan can be found in the stages of Quick Man (shown in the gallery section), Heat Man, and Dive Man. The star is hidden in the stages of Pharaoh Man, Gyro Man, and Cut Man.


 * There is rich reference to another game by Capcom - Street Fighter. Mega Man's special attack is reminiscent of the Shoryuken. Bass's is like the Flash Kick. Proto Man's is similar to the Gadoken. Unused sprites show that at some point there been plans to make Mega Man able to use the Hadoken.


 * There are unused animations of all of the playable characters performing downward buster shots along with unused animations of Proto Man swing his Proto Shield and Bass performing a pair of forward kicks.


 * Despite the animation suggesting that it suffers a lot from the weapon it is weak against, blowing up a Wily Capsule within the several given rounds is extremely difficult in this way. This is mostly due to the fact the enemy fades aways too quickly to get shot in the final rounds. A better method to accomplish this is rapidly firing more than one shot of some other special weapon (choose the most damaging weapon that would make it fade out only after the second shot). In the case that Duo is in use, a fully charged default attack also works. By doing this, the capsule will explode rounds before the last.