This game, the second of the “Mega Man Land” games (I’ve always wondered if they’re canonical), is better than the original and worse than its sequel. It takes elements of Mega Man 2 (NES) and Mega Man 3 (NES) but makes everything incredibly easy, then screws up the music and sound effects. Even some of the physics seem wrong. While technically competent, Mega Man Land 2 just isn’t very good.

It commits the same sin its predecessor did: the camera is way too zoomed in. Because of this, you just don’t have a lot of room to move, levels are shorter, everything feels tightly constrained. They had to make Dr. Wily hilariously small to fit the screen size. Seriously—the dude is sitting in the head of a mechanical dinosaur that’s barely taller than Mega Man because the camera is so zoomed-in but they had to fit both characters on one screen.

None of the sound effects are right. Mega Man’s shots make weird “whiffing” noises when they hit enemies and some of his shots just pass right through them. The first four Robot Masters are from Mega Man 2 and the other four are from Mega Man 3. They made numerous compromises to the level design in many of the levels which may look like their console counterparts (especially in Mega Man 3 areas) but don’t feel much like them. There’s slowdown, flicker, and the tinny music is completely different form the console games.

On the plus side, Mega Man fights an evil future version of himself that’s been sent back in time by Dr. Wily named Quint. You inherit his jackhammer weapon which is completely useless afterward. Dr. Wily’s final area is at least visually interesting. The game isn’t very difficult, non-veteran players, and if players remember the correct boss order, the game just flies by (I can beat the whole thing in about an hour and fifteen minutes).