Mega Man Zero 2 starts where Mega Man Zero ended: In the desert, fighting a bunch of dudes. Will Zero break down and have to level up all of his weapons again? Spoilers: Yes.
But there's more to acquire: EX skills! Forms! Also cyber elves.
Leftover menu graphics from the first game.
The menu from Mega Man Zero is used in the first stage, but the only accessible options are main and sub-weapons.
Unlike Mega Man Zero, this game doesn't use a pass/fail system for the missions.
The graphics are still in the game, though.
This is definitely not in the first game and appears in the weapon + element object graphics.
It might have been used for the link game...or something completely different.
These Z Icons are also new and similarly unused. In Mega Man Zero 4 the blue icon is used in Hard Mode, the red icon in Ultimate Mode.
In this game the standard icon is always used. There's no Ultimate Mode in this game, anyway.
An earlier version of the command room used a much more basic design for the center platform. The stamps for this platform are present at the beginning of the stage graphics.
The teleporter used in the final game is present near the end of the graphics data, suggesting it was added significantly after the fact.
This design can also be found in an early screenshot.
A copy of the Bomber level can be found in the bottom right. This suggests that the level designers used a copy of the Bomber level as the basis for the Crystal Caves.
Watch on YouTubeA level select menu can be accessed by setting 0x0202F8E1 (in the American version) to 9 during gameplay (0202F8E1:09 in VBA) or by enabling CodeBreaker code 74000130 00FF 3202F8E1 0009 and pressing L+R during gameplay. This may not work properly when the game is using the background for certain effects, though, such as the scrolling text in the opening cutscene.
The European version received a new title logo (which also removed the copyright symbol) as part of Capcom Europe's short-lived endeavor to introduce some kind of consistent branding across the whole Mega Man franchise, centered on Battle Network, as an attempt to increase its appeal to preteen boys and revitalize the series in a region that had never really taken to it in the way North America or Japan did, although the attempt (and the region-specific branding) was widely seen as a failure.
Watch on YouTubeIn the original Japanese version, you could use the Chain Rod to zip vertically through thin walls. This glitch was fixed in all other versions of the game.
When most enemies are destroyed with a non-Buster weapon in the Japanese version, a blood-like fluid gushes out of them. Like the other games in the series, this was removed from every non-Japanese version of the game.
