At this current moment I’m verging on furious. If you’re wondering why, the answer is simple. Mega Man Zero 2, the sequel to one of the hardest platform shooters ever, makes its predecessor look like a walk in the park. After playing through the first few missions multiple times, I have still not been able to even reach the level bosses, although I can ace the intro stage with no problems.

Mega Man Zero 2 takes place a year after the original. Zero is looking for Ciel and the reploids when he gets into trouble. Thankfully, he is right near the reploids’ base, and signs back up for their army, but the new commander seems a little odd. The story unfolds as Zero goes through various missions.

The game plays almost identically to the first. After taking a mission, Zero is transported to the level, and the mission begins. The missions are, in a word, difficult. Zero’s health bar starts out pitifully small, and enemies deal generous amounts of damage. This combination makes it quite easy to be killed. There are also long jumps and spikes scattered about, just in case the game wasn’t tough enough already.

Zero’s new weapon, the chain grapple (which replaces the rod) is interesting, but brutally difficult to use. That wouldn’t be much of a problem, excepting the fact that it is often required to cross long gaps. Getting the grapple to stick is amazingly hard and I’ve found my self cursing and have been extremely close to chucking my Game Boy Advance SP across the room.

To those who’ve played Mega Man Zero, none of this should seem too extreme, as that game was already difficult. So far, Zero 2 has proved to be an even more challenging adventure with some cool new features, as well as a crummy new weapon.