From: tsrken@voicenet.com ('tsr') Mega Man 2 NES-XR-USA --- Getting started 1. Insert the Mega Man II cartridge and turn on your Nintendo machine. The story of Mega Man will begin. If you would like to skip the story, press Start. 2. The Mega Man II title screen should be on the screen. Use Select to choose Normal or Difficult mode. Press Start to begin the game. 3. You must now choose to Start or enter a Password. Press Start to begin the game. The Password option will be discussed later in the Passwords section of the manual. 4. The Stage Select screen will appear. This screen has pictures of all eight enemy robots plus a spot in the middle for Dr. Wiley. Use the control pad to move the flashing box to the opponent of your choice and press Start. The experienced player will probably want to choose Metal Man first. The beginning player may want to try Air Man or Flashman first. Later on in the manual you will find a secion called How to Beat Airman. This is intended to help a beginner get the feel of the game. --- Controlling Mega Man The controls for Mega Man are quite simple, but true mastery takes both practice and skill. Pushing right and left on the controller moves Mega Man right and left. This works even when he is jumping or falling. Remember this! It is a very import- ant feature. Up and Down are used for climbing up and down ladders. Any time the pad is pushed up and Mega Man is over a ladder, he will immediately start climbing. The A button is used for jumping. The longer you hold the button down, the higher Mega Man will jump. If Mega Man is standing still on a ladder when you try to jump, he will fall. Pushing Up while Mega Man is falling off of a ladder will make him stop falling. The B button is used for shooting. Unlike some super heros, Mega Man can shoot while he is jumping or falling. The Start button is used for changing weapons, using energy crystals, and finding out how many lives you have left. It is also a convenient way to pause the game. Choose Next to look at the second screen. Use the up and won arrows to select the weapon you want and push Start again to return to the game. For more information on this function, see the Weapons section of this manual. Be careful; if you push Start while on a ladder, Mega Man will fall off the ladder when you return to the game. One final note: When Mega Man is damaged, he is invulnerable for a second or two. Take advantage of this time to get past tough opponents. --- Energy In the upper left hand corner of the game screen is an energy meter. This shows how many more points of damage Mega Man is capable of absorbing. When the meter reaches zero points, one Mega Man life will be lost. There are a number of objects that Mega Man can find that will increase his energy. There is an energy pellet and an energy ball. These add a little energy and a lot of energy respectively. There is also an energy crystal. This is a full load of energy that Mega Man can carry around with his weapons and use whenever he is running low on juice. This is accessed by pressing the Start button and selecting the Energy crystal. Push the Start button again to fill your energy back up to the maxi- mum. Then select a weapon and hit the Start button once more. When you select a weapon besides the standard Mega Man weapon, a second meter will appear to the left of the first. This tells how much charge remains in the current weapon. When that reaches zero, the weapon no longer fires. Weapons may be re-energized with weapon energy pellets and balls. The final robot of each level also has an energy meter on the right side of the screen to tell how many of your shots it can absorb. When this meter reaches the zero, you have defeated the enemy. Some enemies are invulnerable to certain weapons, but usually one certain weapon will damage each opponent a great deal. --- Special items In addition to the weapons, there are three special transportation items. These are: Item1: Acquired whtn Heat Man is defeated. This is a levitation platform. Up to three may be launched at a time. Item2: Acquired when Air Man is defeated. This is a jet sled. Use it to fly over difficult areas. Item3: Acquired with Flash Man is defeated. This is an elevator and may only be used against a wall. This item is capable of traveling higher than the Levitation Platform. --- Passwords After defeating each enemy, you will have a choice between either Stage Select or Password. If you choose password, the current password will be shown. You may write this down and use it later to get to this exact same point in the game. Simply keep track of where the bubbles are and next time you begin the game select Password. A cursor will be displayed. Move the cursor around with the control pad and hit the A button in each square that had a bubble in it before. When you are finished you can continue the game from that point. --- How to beat Airman Airman lives in his domain in the clouds. Fortunately, Dr. Light has found information about his domain. Here is a step-by-step guide beginning just after you select the Airman level. Push the Start button to pause at the end of each section. (Remember: You must push Start again to return to the game.) 1. Walk right to the edge of the platform. When you reach the edge, the first Air Tikki will appear. It will immediately start raising its horns. Jump onto it as soon as it starts to lower its horns, run across and jump to the plat- form on the other side. Do not remain on its head if you can help it. As soon as you land on the platform on the other side, turn around and shoot the Lump that pops up. If you do not hit him immediately, jump up and shoot at him until you hit him. Then turn and wait for the horns to go down on the next Air Tikki and repeat the process. Do this for all five. 2. a) a Lightning Lord will fly on the screen to your right. Jump up and shoot him until he explodes. Then jump onto his Thunder Chariot. b) Turn to your right and shoot at the next Lightning Lord as he comes onto the screen and jumps his chariot. c) Ride through the cloud and as you drift up into range, carefully jump up and shoot at the next Lord as quickly as possible. Jump to his charior as fast as you can. d) Turn to the left and shoot the next Lord as you come up alongside. Then simply step off the left side of your chariot and you will land on his. e) Face right to shoot the final Lord when he comes up alongside, and jump to his chariot. When this chariot gets close to the next edge, you can easily jump onto it. 3. Run along the platform until you see a Flying Fish drop an egg. When the egg hits the groun it will explode and the feathers will hurt you. To avoid this, you should stop and shoot at the egg as it is falling. The Flying Fish are evenly spaced and some are not visible because they are behind clouds. You will have to learn how far apart they are so that you know when to stop running and start shooting. When you reach the right edge of the platform, walk into the cloud and off the side and you will fall down to the lower level. 4. Jump left onto the two upper platforms. Then walk into the cloud on the lower left and you will fall down to the next screen. 5. Walk right to the edge of the platform and another Air Tikki will appear. When its horns start to go down, jump onto it and walk to the right edge and back to the center. Walking to the right edge will summon the next Air Tikki. You must wait, however, for the horns on both demons to go down before jump- ing onto the second one. Wait at the center of the second one for the horns to go down again and jump to the edge. Remember, if you get hit, you are invulnerable so move quickly. 6. Jump from platform to platform until you get close to the first Fan Fiend. The Fan Fiends will try to blow you away from them. Just jump up to the right and shoot away while he blows you back left. After you defeat him, move on to the next one. Be careful, there are more flying fish out here. If you are jumping between platforms and get hit, yo umay fall into the abyss. Once past all three Fan Fiends, you will reach a gate. Walk through this gate and you will enter a room with another gate on the far end. Beyond this gate dwells Airman. 7. Airman throws small tornados which deflect your shots and damage you. Run up close to the nearest tornado and try to jump over it. When there is nothing between you and Airman, he is very vulnerable to your shots. Shoot as quickly as you can before he has a chance to throw more tornados. He will usually throw 2, 3 or 4 sets of tornados before a proficient player defeats him. Good luck! --- Weapons As Mega Man defeats each enemy, he acquires their powers. HeatMan: The (H) Atomic Fire can throw three different sizes of fireballs. The longer you hold the fire button, the bigger the fireball. AirMan: The (A) Air Shooter throws small tornados. WoodMan: The (W) Leaf Shield creates a shield around you until you move. The leaves are then thrown in the direction the control pad is pushed. BubbleMan: The (B) Bubble Lead is a bubble that rolls on the ground in front of you and damages what it hits. QuickMan: The (Q) Quick Boomerang can throw up to three boomerangs. Hold the fire button for continuous fire. FlashMan: The (F) Time Stopper will freeze all enemies for a little while. Be careful. When this is used, it will continue until is is completely drained of energy. It cannot be turned off early. MetalMan: The (M) Metal Blade is a gear. Up to three may be thrown in any direction the control pad is pushed. This is probably the best general purpose weapon and the energy lasts a long time. CrashMan: The (C) Crash Bomber can be thrown at walls and will detonate after a short delay. It may be used to get through certain walls. These weapons work with varying degrees of effectiveness on different oppo- nents. It is best to experiment, especially when fighting the final robot of each level.