After decades of procrastinating, I finally played played Mega Man 2, and I’m starting to understand why I avoided these titles when I was younger.

So far, the Mega Man series isn’t resonating with me. When I played the original Mega Man a couple months ago, its controls felt clunky and dated. Mega Man 2 feels better in its controls, but the core gameplay seems a bit bland.

If you want good platforming, play a Mario game. If you want good jump-and-shoot mechanics, play Metroid or Contra. It’s not that Mega Man does these things poorly. It’s that other games of its time did them better.

For example, not being able to duck, or shoot straight up, are odd design choices. In other side-scrolling NES action games where you use a gun as your main weapon – like Metroid or the Contra games – this isn’t an issue. In Mega Man, the controls are serviceable, but for a character that’s called ‘Mega Man’, he seems awfully limited in what he can actually do.

‘Mega Man Legacy Collection’

I beat one of the bosses in the original Mega Man, and two of the bosses in Mega Man 2. The weapons I got for beating them was underwhelming. A gun that shoots bubbles? Cool…I guess. Even after beating two bosses in Mega Man 2, I had no desire to test myself with the other levels.

I’m playing these games on 3DS with the Mega Man Legacy Collection. Mega Man 2 looks great for an NES port. It’s colorful and detailed. Capcom always delivers with the visuals. The music is great as well, but so far, the core mechanics and gameplay feel dated and bland. For those that grew up playing Mega Man, Mega Man 2 is a classic, but for someone with no nostalgia for the series, I’m disappointed so far.

I was expecting to like these games a little more than I did, which was why I spent money for the Mega Man Legacy Collection. Maybe I’ll connect with later games in the series better, or maybe the Mega Man X series will be more my speed. I’ll soldier on with Mega Man 3, another classic, and see what happens.