Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters is a 1996 Arcade Game (obviously based around the Mega Man (Classic) series). It follows the previous year's Mega Man: The Power Battle.
The game plays like its predecessor, but has the addition of a fourth playable character, Duo, from the then-upcoming Mega Man 8.
Don't confuse this game with Mega Man 2 for the NES or Mega Man II for the Game Boy.
Tropes:
- Assist Character: When the player gets low on health (or dies and continues), Eddie drops in to give a power-up that summons one. Exactly who it is depends on the character; Mega Man gets Rush (who uses Coil and sometimes rams into enemies when he fires a charge shot), Bass gets Treble (who focuses on attacking the enemy), and both Proto Man and Duo get Beat (who makes them completely invincible for a time).
- Blocking Stops All Damage: New to this game, all Robot Masters can simply block to defend themselves. Understandable when Elec Man puts up a barrier of electrons, cool when Guts Man braces his shoulder for impact, funny when Cut Man ducks his head like he just wants it to stop.
- Bottomless Magazines: Downplayed. An upgrade you can get is to increase your maximum Weapon Energy to more than you would really need to take down a boss.
- Boss Game: Like in The Power Battle, there are no stages to go through; you're dropped directly into a room with a Robot Master, and occasionally they may summon basic enemies to avoid, but it otherwise works not unlike a Fighting Game's arcade mode.
- Call-Forward: While the previous game alludes to it, Bass's ending in this game makes it more obvious; Wily remarks on how advanced his new robot is, then proceeds to show the plans to Bass: an outline of Zero.
- Circling Birdies: The star variant happens if Megaman, Protoman, Bass, and Duo get hit by an enemy enough times in a row.
- Combos: Enemies are vulnerable after being launched into the air. Not useful normally, but Duo's uppercut throws the enemy high enough for him to attack a second time as they come down. Bass and Mega Man can do it provided they have Treble or Rush.
- Composite Character: Many Robot Masters get to borrow moves and elements from ones that didn't appear. For example, Air Man gets Junk Man's Junk Shield, and Plant Man take's Crash Man's song from the previous arcade game.
- Contemplate Our Navels: In Mega Man's ending, Wily drives him into questioning his motives and existence by calling him a hypocrite who destroys robots to bring peace. He's in such a state of navel-gazing that this is what lets Wily escape.
- Continuity Snarl: In Bass' ending when Wily shows his blueprints of Zero, the artists apparently opted to make it relevant to the time of the game's release by using Zero's post-revival design from Mega Man X2 onwards, instead of his initial design in the original X game. The result was years of fans attempting to amend things and make sense of this.
- Damsel in Distress: Dr. Wily has kidnapped Roll for some reason. The "Rescue Roll" chapter is all about this.
- Discard and Draw: A few Robot Masters, most particularly Centaur Man and Elec Man, have new attack patterns that do not at all resemble their original ones.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Power Fighters was released before Mega Man 8, and thus Duo's inclusion (and especially his ending) is basically an advertisement for the then-upcoming game.
- Excuse Plot: Dr. Wily stole some important robot parts from Light and also kidnapped Roll. Interestingly, the player is allowed to choose whether they want to stop Wily, rescue Roll, or recover the parts (which determines the Robot Master roster), yet ultimately all 3 are resolved by the end.
- Friendly Fireproof: Like the first game.
- Glass Cannon: The more difficult to dodge among the Robot Masters tend to be the quickest to flinch.
- High-Altitude Battle: Air Man, Gyro Man, and Shade Man are fought atop a floating platform in the sky.
- Invincibility Power-Up: Beat's effect on Proto Man/Duo.
- Joke and Receive: In Bass's ending, he claims he is so powerful, it must have been a fluke for an idiot like Dr. Wily to build a robot such as him. He's a lot closer to the truth than he realizes.
- Jump Jet Pack: This and its predecessor are the only games where Bass can dash in midair.
- Mission-Pack Sequel: Downplayed — while there are a number of adjustments and new things, the core gameplay is the same as its predecessor.
- Multiple Endings: Like the first game, the ending changes depending on the player's character. However, there are also different endings for each combination of characters in 2-player mode.
- Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: The player will get one of three upgrades by the end of the game.
- Power Up Mount: Shadow Man's second moveset has him riding a giant frog.
- Power Up Letdown: Rush (Mega Man's Assist Character) doesn't do too much to help — he merely accentuates your jump with Rush Coil (something that you very rarely need, and something you can easily replicate yourself with an upgrade from the third set of bosses), and sometimes flies into the enemy when you fire a charge shot (which doesn't do much damage, but does put the foe into a juggle state). Compared to Proto Man/Duo getting a full-on Invincibility Power-Up, he's not as useful or desired, especially against enemies who aren't easily juggled or whose weaknesses are more reliable than the lunge/charge shot combo.
- Product Placement: Duo's ending posits a number of questions about him and his past, then instructs the player to buy Mega Man 8 to find out the answers.
- Randomly Drops: The upgrade the player gets could be gotten randomly from the second to sixth Robot Masters they fight.
- Real Men Have Short Hair: In Bass' ending, Wily shows him the plans for Zero. Bass is not impressed by its appearance.Bass: Ha! This girlie-looking, long-haired robot will be the strongest? Don't make me laugh!
- Remember the New Guy?: Since Power Fighters is a Stealth Sequel to Mega Man 8 and Duo is an Early-Bird Cameo, he gets this treatment in-game.
- Save The Robot Girl: The overall mission of the "Rescue Roll" chapter.
- Shoryuken: This game debuts Mega Man's Mega Upper.
- Spring Jump: One of the upgrades is giving the player the ability to jump even higher than normal, as much as Mega Man can do with Rush.
- Stealth Sequel: The game is a sequel to the then-unreleased Mega Man 8, as shown when Duo appears in his form after he's repaired by Dr. Light and gets the Remember the New Guy? treatment.
- Took a Level in Badass: Mad Grinder goes from simple first-level boss in 7 to penultimate boss here.
- Turns Red: After the second boss, all robot masters get a power boost after taking enough damage. At first it may be when they are on low health, but by the sixth boss, it may be as early as 80% health. While some just get a new move, others like Shadow Man and Centaur Man get a full new moveset.
- Violation of Common Sense: Lampshaded by Dr. Light, whose hint towards Dive Man's weakness to Thunder Beam is to "use a weapon you wouldn't think would work underwater."
- Wham Episode: Bass's solo ending. In it we learn how Wily managed to create Bass and after it being hinted in Mega Man X2 this game confirms that Dr. Wily was the one who built Zero.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: If Wily is defeated by Duo and Bass, Duo will say he can detect Justice inside Bass, which he denies.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Proto Man's ending strongly suggests he has a limited time to live. Dr. Light offers to repair his core, but he refuses.
- Worthy Opponent: Bass and Duo agree to duel next time Duo comes to Earth, and Bass says he'll go after Proto Man after defeating Mega Man. Bass and Mega Man actually have a duel in the ending, which ends uncertainly.
