Tag Archives: Megaman X2

Megaman X2: Get Those Special Weapons! Review

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Megaman X certainly gets a lot of manga adventures. in this one we get to see him speed run through the X2 adventure in under 30 pages. It’s a pretty fun oneshot and the page count is good so there is time for him to go up against every maverick. I was glad about that, it ends up really helping this feel like a complete story although there is a cliffhanger. Probably for the best so they didn’t have to squeeze the final fight in.

So the story starts with a reploid turning Maverick and then we find out that this is widespread. Megaman must quickly head back onto the field to stop these guys. Unfortunately, the mavericks are quite powerful this time around and there is also a group of Counter Hunters who are here to put Megaman down. He will have to find a way to take them down as well as all 8 mavericks and find out who is pulling the strings here. Surely…Sigma could not have found a way to return right??

The art here is very good and captures the Megaman X style well. It was nice to see all of the old villains show up and get their time to shine. The first 3-4 mavericks to appear get the best deal as they go back and forth with Megaman for a bit and even land some good blows. It’s only the final few who are completely helpless to do anything and have to lose in a panel since the story was almost over. It doesn’t change the fact that the series got every maverick a chance to appear which I thought was really grand.

Dr. Light even has his little cameo as he helps to get Megaman his powerups to fight off these attackers. Even after death the guy kept on building things. Zero’s a no show here so it’s all up to Megaman to save the day. He’s up to the challenge though and as the oneshot ends he is ready to go and take down the next opponent. Megaman X’s not the kind of guy to back down in a fight though so that’s hardly surprising. It’s just the way that he rolls.

The Counter Hunters are a nice faction to have since they help to change up the usual format. The fact that they were even able to defeat X the first time was impressive. Its rare that someone is a match for him at all. The 3 also had some actual teamwork on their side although they forgot this in their rematch which played a big role into why they lost. They probably would have lost anyway with Megaman’s new upgrades but I’d be willing to bet that it would have been a whole lot closer. It’s a nice concept to have a whole evil group specifically designed to take Megaman down so I’d definitely be cool to see more of that in the future.

While I would like to see Zero show up, this title does a good job of showing that Megaman is really always on his own against all sorts of opponents. When there is nobody to back you up or help you out during a big battle you really have to be on guard all of the time. One change from the longer Megaman X series is that this time he usually gets to save everyone. Of course the real answer to that is because there isn’t enough time to show all of the destruction but it’s nice to see Megaman gets to end the adventure in a really hopeful kind of spirit compared to most adventures which completely break him from start to finish. Even as a true hero there are only so many times you can watch the cities being blown up before you lose some of that confidence.

Overall, This adaption of Megaman X2 was pretty solid. It summarized the events of the game pretty well and the Counter Hunters made for solid villains that shook up the format a bit. All in all, that made this a pretty fun experience from start to finish. Whether you’re a Megaman fan or not I expect you’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of this one. Who doesn’t like a classic Megaman story right? There’s not a whole lot more to say about the story because it is very direct in its nature. It’s just a high quality action story that anyone can have fun with.

Overall 7/10

Megaman X2 Review

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Megaman X returns for another adventure in this sequel. It was also pretty fun playing through it because right now I’ve been playing through X2 on the Gamecube collection release. The manga really has a lot of incredible attention to detail here with the boss attack patterns and even a lot of little things about the levels like minions and such. It’s really cool what they have done with this series and I would even say X2 surpasses the original here.

The basic plot is that with the mavericks down for the count X was hoping he could rest a bit. Unfortunately that is not the case as more and more robots as going crazy. It would appear that either Sigma has returned or a new puppet is pulling the strings. X really doesn’t want to fight anymore. He leads a squad of maverick hunters but refuses to take out his buster or fight at all. When his squad is brutally murdered X is forced to step back into the fray. He intends to destroy all of these mavericks so he can bring us back into a world of peace.

You have to feel bad for X because it feels like no matter what he does, the world continues to grow worse and worse. As soon as X has saved the world it only takes a moment for things to go off the rails. Additionally the villains insist on making it personal. In the first chapter we have a maverick pose as a friend and then slaughter everyone before X can stop him. Part of why X is always wracked with guilt is because it seems like he is never in time to save everyone. This incident is really no different. Once again, everyone is being destroyed here. Just in the X2 manga there are at least 10 different people who get murdered before X can save them. You can add a few hundred to that if you count background characters when the mavericks are blowing up cities.

The manga continues to go all in with the disturbing visuals as well. X gets taken to a mystical graveyard at one point where he has to watch reanimated corpses of the X1 bosses just walking around. You have a trippy dream where X’s legs disappear and then reappear while Zero’s upper body is floating around. Then there’s the fact that X even sees his future death. Naturally these visions aren’t real and it’s all just here to psych X out and get him too shaken to fight back. X does a good job of seeing through these attempts. By now X has really come to terms with his mission as a hunter. He still does get very emotional and there’s at least one time where he thinks about giving up but ultimately he’s always someone you can count on.

X is put through the wringer here with a ton of injuries so it’s good that he was built to always be able to power up. Otherwise I don’t think this would have gone very well for him at all. X is really the only main character this time. Dr. Light appears as a hologram a lot to give pep talks and such but it’s not like he’s around to really help. Zero was presumed dead after the events of the first game although of course if you’re familiar with the game’s story then you’ll know if this is true or not right away but the villains quickly take this out into the open since they brainwashed him. I will say the villains are ready to use everything at their disposal here as always and are familiar with reanimating corpses. One of the big 3 villains is even presumed to possibly be Dr. Wily but that was never confirmed.

The three generals make for a good villain group to give X some trouble outside of the main villains. It was also a really good fight. You don’t get to see a whole lot of 3 v 1 fights so they’re always a lot of fun to see. That means X would need to have a lot of good strategies at the ready or he would be blown away. Each of these fighters are quite tough. Compared to the first game adaption it is fair to say that these villains get a little less character. Most of them are just straight up evil so they are just here to toy with X. In the first manga some of the mavericks either weren’t evil or were getting manipulated so this time they’re a little more one note. The villains are all still pretty fun though. I like how they handled the Moth maverick’s transformation here. As a junk bot the maverick was still tough but naturally transforming made a pretty huge difference.

Sigma’s role here is fairly brief but he looks good. I always liked the Wolverine type design they were going for here with the claws. He has a lot of speed so this makes for a pretty climactic battle with him, X, and Zero. His final plan was actually quite good. If not for some last minute magic which was a bit cheesy, he would have really had this one in the bag. Better luck next time I suppose but X and Zero are always ready. Zero also looked pretty good here. He lasted quite a while against great odds. He may not have been in his right mind for most of the series but he struggled quite well to regain control. Additionally his evil form also looks quite sharp. Zero works well as either a villain or hero. I do look forward to him supporting X from the start in X3 though.

It goes without saying but the artwork here is quite excellent. The battle scenes are very dynamic and the whole time you are pretty hyped for each battle. With 3 volumes here there is a good amount of time given to each battle. Expect each maverick to put up a fair fight so nothing is done with too quickly. The pacing is really on point here and the series also has a lot of replay value. It’s all just done really well and I look forward to checking out X3. So far each series continues to be one volume longer and this one is no exception as it will be 4 volumes this time around. All I can say is the more the better so this sounds really good to me.


Overall, Megaman X2 makes for a great adventure. it’s not surprising in the slightest though since the X games were always known for having a pretty good plot. Right from the start those games would always add a lot to the lore. In that sense the series always differentiated itself from the classic incarnation. X will always rank as one of the best versions of the franchise for that reason because the whole thing is just very grand scale. If you haven’t checked this one out yet then I would definitely recommend it. Where else are you going to get such quality Megaman action?

Overall 8/10