Mega Man X2

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Mega Man X2

Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Keiji Inafune
Release date(s)	^JPN December 16, 1994 ^NA ^EU 1995
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Platform(s)	SNES
Media	16-megabit cartridge

Mega Man X2 was released in 1994 by Capcom and is the second game in the Mega Man X sub-franchise. It used the same graphics engine from the first installment of the series, but Capcom included an in-cartridge enhancement known as the C4 chip to improve semitransparencies and allow for some 3D graphics in the game. Mega Man X3 was the only other game to ever use this chip. Like the first game, it's praised for having an excellent soundtrack.

The subtitle Versus X-Hunters is given in the opening story; the Japanese version's full name is Rockman X2: Versus Counter-Hunters.

The game was re-released on January 10th, 2006 as part of the Mega Man X Collection for the GameCube and PlayStation 2.

1 Story
2 Characters
3 Gameplay
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Story

Six months after defeating Sigma, X assumes leadership of the Maverick Hunters. Despite Sigma's death, the Maverick Rebellion continues. X has tracked the remaining Mavericks to a Reploid factory, and launches a full assault. But this was not the end of the war.

Three of the Maverick leaders, Serges, Agile, and Violen, form a group called the "X-Hunters" ("Counter Hunters" in the Japanese version) and gain control of the North Pole. In the time between Sigma's demise and their sudden uprising, Serges has collected the parts of Zero, who had died in the first conflict. The X-Hunters contact the Maverick Hunters and taunt them with Zero's body, which they have split into three pieces, in order to lure out X, hoping to destroy him.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Mega Man X characters

[edit] Gameplay

Mega Man X2 is an action game, where the player is given a selection screen of stages to begin, When selected, the player uses Mega Man X to blast various enemies throughout the level and reach the boss character, where defeating it wins the stage and earns a new weapon to utilize for the player.

[edit] Upgrades

Scattered throughout the stages are powerups used by X to enhance his attributes and obtain a wider range of skills:

Armor Upgrades - Usually found in well-hidden areas, a projection of Dr. Light will give X encouragement and allow him to acquire an upgrade through use of a capsule:
- Legs - From X2 onwards, X has been able to dash without a power-up. This upgrade allows him to dash once while in mid-air.
- Armor - This armor not only halves the damage X takes, it gives him another ability, the Giga Crush. The Giga Crush is an enormous flash of energy that destroys all minor enemies onscreen, and deals moderate damage to bosses (not significantly more than a normal attack). One use empties the entire bar of weapon energy, which only recovers when X sustains injury from projectiles, with less-damaging projectiles filling the gauge more than the stronger ones.
- Helmet - This enhancement to X's helmet gives him the Item Tracer ability, which lets him scan the area for secret paths. However, this counts as a separate weapon altogether, and you can only fire a few weak X-buster shots between uses.
- X-Buster - This upgrade gives X the ability to charge up special weapons, but it also lets him charge his native X-Buster even further. When he glows pink while charging, X can release the energy in two consecutive plasma shots, instead of just one. When fired in this form, X can do additional damage.
- Shouryuuken (Dragon Punch) - A secret capsule in one of the X-Hunter levels appears if you find all of the enhancement items in the game, and find the location of the capsule with full health. This capsule gives X another move used in Street Fighter, the Shouryuuken. Like the Hadouken Fireball in X1, this attack can destroy nearly every Maverick in one blow.
Health Supplements:
- Heart Tanks - Increases the maximum amount of X's life energy, allowing him to take more damage. One is located in each of the initial eight stages.
- Sub-Tanks - These tanks are hidden in four of the eight Maverick stages. These allow X to collect and store any Life Energy capsules he picks up when his health is full, and restore any lost health when in a pinch.

[edit] Mavericks

Main article: List of Mavericks

English name	Japanese name	Copied weapon	Weakness
Wire Sponge	Wire Hetimarl	Strike Chain	Sonic Slicer
Morph Moth	Metamor Mothmeanos	Silk Shot	Speed Burner
Flame Stag	Flame Stagger	Speed Burner	Bubble Splash
Magna Centipede	Magne Hyakulegger	Magnet Mine	Silk Shot
Overdrive Ostrich	Sonic Ostreague	Sonic Slicer	Crystal Hunter
Bubble Crab	Bubbly Crablos	Bubble Splash	Spin Wheel
Wheel Gator	Wheel Aligates	Spin Wheel	Strike Chain
Crystal Snail	Cristar Mymine	Crystal Hunter	Magnet Mine

[edit] Sub-Bosses

CF-0

A mass-produced robot X fights in the reploid factory. The CF-0s are enormous and strike with their mace-like arms and spiked feet. However, despite its size, a couple of shots in the head with the X-Buster would take it down in seconds.

Sea Canthiller

This gigantic fish roams the deep seas of Bubble Crab's area. It chugs along at a snail's pace, firing torpedoes, dropping mines and scanning the depths with a searchlight. If X is caught by the beam, it'll start to sweep the area with a laser cannon. Destroying it is optional.

Old Robot and Paraloid S-38

Two of these lurk in the graveyard-like junkyard that Morph Moth controls. The Old Robot lurches around the screen, occasionally spitting a piece of trash. Only its stomach can be damaged by the player. The paraloid possesses the old robot, and will appear once the old robot is destroyed. After a few seconds, it will summon another robot to possess. It can only be destroyed between the robots it summons.

Chop Register

This 3D sword is the first guardian of Magna Centipede's stage. It swings itself around to deflect shots, then pursues the player and either slices or thrusts. Only its blue handle can be damaged, which is hard to hit when the sword is swinging. The Bubble Splash, the Silk Shot, and the Magnet Mines seem to defeat it quickly, and the Giga Crush destroys it instantly.

Raider (Radar) Killer

A Reploid in ambush that engages the player after a long hall of falling bricks in Magna Centipede's stage. If X doesn't avoid the scanner displays in the falling brick area, this guardian absorbs the data and becomes stronger, with 3 possible levels of difficulty. The only weapon which is consistently effective is the X-Buster. he does not appear to have a weakness.

Savor Moon R

This orb is frozen in place in Crystal Snail's stage. It does not attack on its own, but it sends a floating weapon out (and another when it is almost dead) that shoots lasers. The lasers reflect all over the room and are tricky to dodge. Magnet mine seems to be particularly effective against him, but most players would prefer to conserve weapon energy for the boss, who is also weak against Magnet Mine.

Its name seems to be a pun on the "Sailor Moon R" anime series.

[edit] The Secret of the Empty Rooms

In a few of the stages in X2, you may happen to find a hidden or out of the way room that apparently has no purpose. It turns out, however, that this may perhaps be the single most useful secret in the game. If you go into one of these rooms and fully charge up the Silk Shot, it'll either bring out a large amount of either Weapon or Life Energy. This trick can used repeatedly, and is a very fast way to fill up Sub-Tanks.

[edit] X-Hunter Diversions

[edit] Agile

In Mega Man X2, Agile was an integral part of the X-Hunters, an organization that planned to unify Zero's broken parts and use him for their own twisted purposes. He and his two comrades, Serges and Violen, challenged X to collect Zero's parts.

Agile, like many of the foes X faces, is arrogant, probably too much so. It's commonly believed that Agile is the leader of the X-Hunters, but his position is described as "Captain" while Serges is described as the actual leader. It would seem that he is in charge of the militaristic branch of the plans, such as strategies, while Serges holds the technical knowledge. He asks Serges how the plan is proceeding, as if he were in a position of leadership. Although he is greatly involved in the plan for the Unification, Serges is the forerunner of it.

When Agile is first confronted, he fights using a Beam Sabre, and as his name implies, he's very fast, zipping back and forth across the room faster than X can dash. During the second fight with him, he appears manning a large capsule at the top of a room with spikes on the floor, firing projectiles of all sorts.

In Mega Man Zero 2 Agile can be seen when a certain attack is used by Phoenix Magnion in the "destroy P.R." mission in the power room area.

[edit] Serges

In Mega Man X2, Serges was an integral part of the X-Hunters, an organization that planned to unify Zero's broken parts and use him for their own twisted purposes. He and his two comrades, Violen and Agile, challenged X to collect Zero's parts, and in the end X triumphed and was reunited with his friend. Serges fell at the hands of X.

Serges seems to be the brains of the Unification of Zero, and reportedly holds it together with his leadership. His brain is said to be of an even higher ability than Sigma's. Agile asks him how the plan is proceeding, and Serges has the technical knowledge. He also seems most connected with the project, being the only one who names it "the prophecy" when he's defeated by X.

Serges makes a second appearance in Mega Man Xtreme, piloting the same tank-like machine that he used in X2. This "Serges", however, was nothing more than a computer program based on the late X-Hunter's abilities.

[edit] Violen

In Mega Man X2, Violen was part of the X-Hunters, an organization that planned to reconstruct Zero and use him for their own twisted purposes. When they saw that X was getting too close, they decided to challenge him, using Zero's parts as bait. He and his two comrades, Serges and Agile, challenged X to collect Zero's parts, and in the end X triumphed and was reunited with his friend. Violen fell at the hands of X.

Violen is the largest and most brutal of the X-Hunters, and it seems his thought circuit may be broken. He seems a little below average intelligence, and not as much in the technical side of the unification as Serges was. Interestingly enough, he is the only character who referred to it as the unification.

Violen's name is derived from the word "violent", clearly indicating his nature. He's a very violent and brutal fighter when encountered, swinging a huge morning star around wildly and opting nothing more than to smash X to pieces.

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.

This was first Super NES game by Capcom to use the C4 chip, which supported special effects such as wire-frame graphics.
Until Mega Man X Collection was released, X2 was one of the most elusive games in the series to collect, since it was only released on the Super NES and not on any other platform, nor even PC. Although the Super NES version of Mega Man X3 is also rare, three other versions of the game were released for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PC, respectively.
This was the first game in the series to have the Mavericks launch their special and more powerful attack(s) once they were drained of a bit more than half their health. This strategy would follow for all the Mavericks in later games.
A remake, Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X2, according to the Mega Man Network, and Gamespy, was in production for the PSP. However, it appears to have been stalled due to poor Japanese sales of "Maverick Hunter X" based on a video interview with Inafune on Planet Mega Man.
The game is often noted for its bizarre choice of animals for the Maverick designs. These included a sponge (technically an animal), a moth, an ostrich, among others.
The beginning of this game featured X riding a hoverbike, while a green reploid zooms by in the background. The green character is quickly destroyed by one of the shots that are streaking by in both the foreground and background. "Green Dude," or "Green Biker Dude," as he is known colloquially, has achieved an odd sort of popularity among many Mega Man X fans, despite his brief appearance and irrelevance to the plot of the game.
This was the first game of the series that utilized Zero's current design, with shoulder plates and bulkier armor. Zero also uses his trademark weapon, the Z-Saber, for the first time.