PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man II for Game Boy - Part 1 of 5

Time to play the first sequel in the "Rockman World" series and HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THIS

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Instead of Minakuchi Engineering developing the game, it's Japan System House. Guess what? The controls are decent, but the music sounds like a cross between a runaway drum machine and a music box on crack, which was apparently bad enough to make this game the odd man out compared to the other four games in the Rockman World series. Not surprisingly, Minakuchi Engineering was brought back in for the rest of the Game Boy games.

The game's plot involves Dr. Wily hijacking an experimental time machine, traveling about 40 years in the future and causing havok. Meanwhile, Mega Man has to fight off Robot Masters he's fought before in the present as he tries to figure out what's going on. 

The first four Robot Masters you can choose from are Metal Man, Wood Man, Air Man and Crash Man (named Clash Man in-game).

Metal Man

The conveyor belts, the low-lying robots that uncoil like springs when they hit you, the spiked crushers that dropped like a rock when you get near them...they're all there.

Love how this stage just throws the spike-dodging out right away.

You can now slide by holding Down and pressing A, making the first game the only one that doesn't allow you to slide. At least Japan System House got that right.

The drills from Mega Man 2 on NES are back with a vengeance. They're not as numerous or as irritating this time around.

The robots on the gears will show up when you get close to their gears, and try to roll their way towards you. As always, the Mets show up again and shoot a three-way shot when you get too close. At least their shots are easy to avoid here.

If you have the Rush Coil when you reach the 1-Up, you can get it. Otherwise, don't even bother. You won't be able to reach it anyway.

Entering the doors to the boss rooms is kinda weird. You enter the doors, you and the screen move to the right, then the door closes, then you see the rest of the room. Strange.

To beat Metal Man, just stay on one side of the room and keep jumping and shooting as you avoid his Metal Blades.

Beating Metal Man will earn you both the Metal Blade and Rush Marine (the submarine ability that you could use in Mega Man 3). The Metal Blade is...well...the same Metal Blades that Metal Man throws. Just like in the third NES game, you can throw it in eight directions with the help of the Control Pad.

Air Man

Prepare to deal with the birds that drop the eggs right away. Unlike the NES version of Mega Man 2, these birds - and their eggs - move in slow motion, so they're much easier to deal with now.

As always, be careful with the platforms that appear out of thin air. There will be spikes that pop in and out at the sides, and there are always the robots that pop out of the sides of the platforms that slowly fly towards you.

Also making a return appearance: the worm generators (or "bacon generators," for some of you), the lightning-throwing robots on the platforms, and the fat guys with the fans in their stomach that blow you back as they beat their chests.

Avoid the tornadoes Air Man shoots at you as he blows you back by jumping over and sliding under them, and hit him with the Leaf Shield. The weakness weapons are really overpowered here.

Beating Air Man gives you Air Shooter, which shoots three tornadoes into the air. You also get Rush Jet, which lets you fly around as long as you have energy for it. The controls are the same as Mega Man 3: just use the Control Pad to go where you want to go after you jump onto Rush.