Happy Monday Mega Maniacs!

I’ve got some great news.  Widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, Mega Man 2 returns on the Wii Virtual Console today!   Make sure you download this right away and get your skills up to par because Inafune-san modelled Mega Man 9 after this classic.  And, by the way, Mega Man 9 is just around the corner.  Oh man.

Also, David Crislip, the producer in charge of our Virtual Console content, has these thoughts to share regarding Mega Man 2:

Greetings, fellow gamers. Today marks an auspicious day, for a very special game joins the swelling ranks of classics available on Nintendo’s Virtual Console. We all know that Mega Man started it all. We also know that a slew of sequels followed, many of which graced the venerable NES, and all of which tweak the same proven formula by adding new moves, abilities, and gameplay systems. But, in a sea of classic Mega Man action, one title really stands out as something truly special. You knew it was coming, folks… Mega Man 2 has arrived on Virtual Console! Feel free to go clear up some space on your Wii’s internal memory, buy some Wii points, and start the download. You can come back to read the rest once you’re ready.

 *INTERMISSION*

 Aaand, we’re back. Seriously, though, as I’ve mentioned in a previous entry, I was always more of a Commodore 64 / Sega Master System guy myself, so I missed out on a lot of the games that many people our age consider classics (conversely, the majority of you out there in internet land missed out on the original Phantasy Star, Wonder Boy III The Dragon’s Trap, and a killer port of Rastan, so there!). Even then, there are some games whose reputations are so great, whose gravitational pull on gamers can’t help but suck us all in. Mega Man 2 was one of those games. Back in the days when a house without an NES was about as common as a house without a refrigerator, you didn’t have to look far for a friend who had the latest and greatest games, and Mega Man 2 was one of those titles that no one wanted to miss out on. Still, a few rounds against Air Man between handfuls of popcorn at a friend’s house wasn’t the same as owning the game, and it wasn’t until I actually started working at Capcom that I was finally able to truly grasp the majesty of this title.

Back in 2004, when I had first entered the company, the Mega Man Anniversary Collection was about to be released. Facing a rare lull in localization work, my boss at the time, none other than the illustrious Ben Judd, decided to torture me by forcing me to play through Mega Man 2 at the office. He decided, quite rightly, that no true gamer of our generation could rightly claim that title without having finished the game. I call it torture out of jest, of course, as – no matter how hard the game gets – I was getting paid to sit at Capcom’s Osaka office and play through one of the greatest games ever made.

– David