Is Mega Man 2 Overrated? 

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="879">14:39</a> - <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="887">14:47</a> <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1026">17:06</a> - <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1038">17:18</a> <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1092">18:12</a> - <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1104">18:24</a> Seizure part

I met Marc Ericksen, the artist who created the US box art. Super nice dude! He signed my copy of the game and told me that Capcom themselves told him to draw Megaman like that. Wild stuff.

I had no idea the CRT monitor would make it look like the trees were moving. That's awesome!

Mega Man 2 is not overrated. The other(superior) games in the classic series are just underrated.

i think one of the funnier trivia of megaman 2 that not many people know of is that one of the composers just remixed his first ever tracks for an old CAPCOM racing game called "MAD GEAR" for some of the tracks in mm2... but those original songs had demo tapes with actual instruments and are heard in some old rockman 2 promo tapes! The composer left the game industry shortly after megaman 2's release but it sounded like this guy only knew how to make these songs on different audio systems...

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="70">1:10</a> for anyone interested the game that they were working on was a Baseball Murder Mystery. Which might sound interesting, but if you know anything about the Famicom, you would know that it is a blatant cash grab as it’s the most generic thing they could have made after Mega Man 1. Baseball games and text adventures were huge on the Famicom, and were inescapable. Watch any Famidaily video about a Baseball game on the Famicom and you’ll see how tired he is of baseball. And for anyone wondering the game is called Pro Yakyuu? Satsujin Jiken!

A Mega Man Powered Up 2 with a sensible weakness table and no softlocks among other things, would've gone a long way.

Love that the Metal Blades became so iconic that they were first weapon shown in the Megaman Smash reveal trailer.

I enjoy Megaman 2, but I think Megaman 4 is probably the best for me. But I can understand why it's overrated.

I find Mega Man 2 overrated in the sense that some people act like it's the only game in the series that matters. Personally, I think it's really fun and would play it at any time, but I would like the spotlight to hit other entries from time to time. Great review! Looking forward to MM3

Old man gamer here. I LOVED MM2 back in the day. What a perfect follow up. I remember when I first saw the Mecha Dragon I was absolutely blown away. I also thought it was really cool how quietly atmospheric the final stage was.

I think 4 is best, replaying them again.

The thing with MegaMan 2 is that while i personally think there are better MegaMan games even arguably within the original series. However the entire series would not exist if it was not for this game and i am forever thankfull for that.

Personally I do think it's overrated, not in the sense that it's bad, just that I don't think it's the best game in the series as a lot of its fans will say. Even in the classic series I find a number of the other entries more fun and interesting to play through. That said it is a good NES game with undeniably great music, and it does deserve credit for all the improvements it brought to the series going forward, some of which I didn't even fully consider until this video. I like the analysis made here about the ending too, it always did feel a bit somber, and it's very interesting to think about that being a reflection of the developers' feelings. I didn't know anything about this game's development, so I had no idea there was any uncertainty about the series continuing past the second entry at the time.

Regarding the Metal Blade being overpowered, I think we have this backwards, and more non buster weapons should be stronger and be flexible as hell. When I played Megaman games I often tried out a new weapon during a stage and immediately switched back to the buster because it felt underwhelming or gimmicky on top of being fixed to a gauge meter.

I can’t say MM 2 is overrated, i think what it’s fine, but the next series instalments do what 2 does but significantly better. Weapon balance, level design, etc. And yeah Metal blade is busted (no way), but there’s another problem: almost every other weapon in “2” sucks and not fun to use. I generally think what the second NES trilogy (4,5,6) was better in almost every way. Thanks for content. Very excited for what you say about 4,7 and 8.

I don't know if I agree with all the "Mega Man 2 is the best one" opinions, but it definitely holds up. Honestly I don't even know which classic Mega Man game is my favorite. 2-6 all kind of blend together for me. I can remember big picture things: 2 is the one with Metal Blades, 3 introduces the slide and has the annoying Doc Robot stages that feel like padding, 4 introduces the charge shot and is the one with Dr Cossack and starts doing 2 sets of castle stages, 5 is the one with Proto Man (he was introduced in 3 but is the "main villain" in 5), 6 has the transformations and "Mr X". I can relate some robot masters to their games. The rest all kind of blurs together to me until I start one of them, see the selection screen, and it starts coming back to me. A while after playing, they all blend together again.

I play through 1-6 at least once a year. My favorite games as a child, the series will always hold a very special place in my heart. 4-6 were and are the best games. Objectively honestly. (outside of music mm2 still holds the crown)

Mega Man 2 isn't the best game in the series (hell not even the best in the Classic era to me), but it's still a well made game that really pushed the franchise into being a platformer icon that it is now.

how weird that you dropped this WHILE I was watching your MM1 video and subbing!

Mega Man 2 had some balancing issues, but it was a tremendous improvement over the first game and for the most part set the standard for ALL the sequels.

The Short answer would be yes. Funnily enough, The long answer is also yes Personally I favour MM4 out of the NES games

I always do Quick Man first and I do Heat Man before Air Man, forcing me to go through those blocks without Item-2. I like the extra challenge.

Great game. Still very impressive that the developers dedicated all their free time to making it. Also glad that you covered both the normal and difficult modes. I definitely think the difficult mode allows for the most experimentation since the Metal Blade doesn’t kill every enemy right away

Megaman 2 is my 2nd favorite, so bias. I love this game. It's difficulty being on the lower end is a big reason. Not because I can't handle a harder game, but because an easier game allows for a more "perfectionist" approach to replaying it. You can make that jump faster, avoid that enemy, beat that boss without taking that hit. Other megaman games allow this as well, but it's alot harder to dodge a boss like charge man, elec man, or ring man than it is to dodge quick man. This, along with the game being shorter than those that come after allow for a easy and quick speedrun game. That, alot with staying consistent with one control scheme throughout. Games have evolve since the NES, and that's a good thing. But there still exists room for fun in simplicity. Now we move onto my favorite classic game, possibly my favorite megaman game.

The Metal Blades actually has one minor drawback. You can't move when you attack with it and Megaman automatically stays put when he throws one even when he jumps. Regardless the pros of the Metal Blades still greatly outweighs the cons.

as a kid i always thought megaman died at the end lol he just vanishes and his helmet is the only thing left.

Mega Man 2 was definitely one of the most-frequently-rented games I've played... back when rental stores like Block Buster, Road Runner Video, Red Giraffe, and Video Vault still existed in the 1980's and 1990's. It was and still is awesome. However, it was when I looked through a Nintendo Power Magazine covering Mega Man 3 that I finally got fully hooked into the series! I started collecting them: 3, 2, 4, then 5... 1 was kind of hard to find by then, but I collected a used cartridge of it! Then the Game Boy games, X1, classic 6, and I've been playing and collecting them ever since!

With the Crash bomber wily room, a trick you can exploit is that the crash bomber walls **do NOT regenerate** when you die. So you can blow up all the walls, then die. If you have enough lives, you respawn and can finish the room.

Mega Man 2 was the first MM game I’ve ever played that got me into the franchise. While I think there were better games like X1 and Zero 3 that came about, I did find that 2 did well in setting the standard and easily made it into my top 5/10 favorite MM games.

Anyone watch nico evaluates? He was the first time I heard of 2 being overrated, definitely made me consider it, he made some good points

ITS BEEN 8 years since the lets play? Crazy. You have become a staple of my youtube watching for so long now

It’s really nice to see you slide Cooper reference in your videos again

I've got to remind people that overrated does not mean bad. Yeah, MM2 is probably overrated, it's not a masterpiece, it's not flawless, and there are arguably better games in the same franchise even on the same console, but it's still a really fun game that, for 1989, holds up beautifly

I'm not a particularly huge fan of MM2, but I do acknowledge the game for what it did for the rest of the series going forward. As always, nice vid.

That was a good review. I was scared you were gonna get stuck on the "Metal Blade is imba"-mentality, but then you turned around and showed us the experience without Metal Blade as first. It's such an amazing game where the player input really matters and you can customize the game as you like. Just an enjoyable game all the way through. Also - been playing this game since I was 5 (I'm 35 now) and I did not know you could use Bubble Lead on the small springlike robots. That says a lot about the depth of the game.

So you’re finally going to make a video about ranking every single classic mega man stages from 1 to 11 so I’ll stay tuned for that!

for me 9 is the best game in the classic series, but 2 is the one i come back to the most. I've played it so much that if i ever want to just blast through a megaman game it's a good time.

I am glad that you are now covering the classic series! I'm looking forward to when you cover 3 and 7, as those are my two favorite games in the classic series. Regarding the weapons in MM2, MM2 features the first dedicated shield weapon in the series (the Leaf Shield). Also, don't sleep on Quick Boomerangs- they can fire very fast, you get a lot of ammo for them, and can hit at angles that the regular buster can't.

Mega Man 2 will always be remembered as the one that made the series what it is today. And I certainly respect it for that.

I remember playing MegaMan anniversary collection as a kid with my older brother and dad all the time, and MegaMan 2 was always my favorite by far

I fully believe Mega Man 2 is the most replayable and accessable Mega Man game. The stages are short and simple, and every weapon is good. Personally i like to roll a D8 to decide which boss to take on, it's more fun that way than just steamrolling through in weakness order

Mega Man 2 has the best music in the series. I’m not sure how they managed to make the songs so catchy and emotive but it’s amazing

My Megaman enthusiast friend passed me a buster charge and slide mod when we got to this one. Let's say that, while very good and memorable on its own, these vastly enhanced my time with it.

I remember someone else saying 2 was the favorite because it was the easy one. Anyone else?

As I once heard, "being a classic doesn't mean it is good". I think it is overrated in the sense of some people claiming it is better than it was compared to later games, down to 9 walking back to its mechanics, robbing us even of the slide. But I acknowledge its influence, place in history, and how it did in fact blew the rest out of the water in its day. Even the Metal Blade is still fondly remembered and referenced to this day (Tinker Knight in Shovel Knight), but would I suffer another Yoko Block gauntlet for it? Hell no.

Just replayed MM 1-6 for the first time in over a decade. Definitely good memories here, since I had MM 2 when it was brand new for NES. Thanks!

Just started playing the collection on ps5 and came across ur channel great vid

I first played Megaman 2 on the IOS port and enjoyed it. I even beat it on hard mode somehow.

No. It's not. Now, to watch the video!

80s kid here. Back in the day I didn't know you could aim the metal blade, so I didn't end up using it often. it was kind of a pain for me to switch weapons, so I used to just go through the whole game with the mega buster. I got super good at firing off multiple shots in a single jump, and that satisfying whang whang sound of hits landing was great. Another thing I never realized as a kid: Heat man is literally a zippo lighter

Really cool video! I also really like this game very much and I agree with you on the being OP part! Also I have recently been playing the Mega Man fan games and I find them to be enjoyable I was just woundering if you could cover them after covring the official games or farther in the future! (This is just a suggestion. You don't have to do it.)

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="695">11:35</a> ...bags?

Where did you find that megaman 2 title theme remix you used at the end. That theme is awesome!

This was the first mega man game I ever interacted with as a kid and etched the legacy of the character into mind!

Nice analysis! Though I do wonder - is that true that the wall orbs can only be destroyed with the crash bomber? I swear I recall something else worked.

Yeah it is, I’ve played this game so many times so I’ve really gotten to know all of its flaws. It’s extremely bare bones compared to other entires as well, it’s got good music, robot masters and is iconic. But those are pretty shallow positives when it comes to actually being a superior game if you compare it to its successors. I honestly consider 2 to only be better than 1, 5 and 8. It definitely isn’t the peak of the series.

I honestly think the weapon balance in 2 ruin the game. The metal blades remove almost all the challenge, and over half of the others are hilariously useless. The only ones that are actually worth something are Leaf Shield and Quick Boomerang. 2 definitely has the worst weapon set of the classic series and hurts replayability because of that. The game has its iconic moments and I can't deny the soundtrack is one of the best, but I don't think it would be nearly as popular if people couldn't trivialize the game with metal blade spam. It doesn't hold up to what the sequels have improved later.

I’m a mega man 3 guy. But I’m definitely impressed that’s you just put out this content and got this many views. 👊👊

Great vid man! I remember waiting for this one to come out when I was 10 years old after playing Mega Man 1. My friend and I loved it! I remember fighting the robot dragon in one of the Wily Stages and dying over and over. I finally killed it for the first time but fell in the "bottomless pit" off the bottom of the screen at a frame perfect moment. It froze the game. I was SO angry! Thanks for the awesome vid... wish my 13 year old son could get into Mega Man like me. Such a great series! X in particular.

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes, with examples.

Yes! I think it's crazy that after having so many other Mega Man games come out people swear that 2 is the best entry, It's definitely great and iconic but there is definitely some better ones out there. Also to paint a target on my head Mega Man 7 is my favorite entry!!!

If you fire crash bombs between the walls on the right side, you can destroy both at the same time. You can also do same with the wall and canon on the top left side, but that requires showing off a bit more than needed.

>clickbait thumbnail and title >look inside >levelheaded analysis

The cover art for the european version of Megaman 1 is awesome, what were they thinking when choosing the abomination that is the NA cover art?

Megaman 2 had everything going in its favor, it’s the sequel to a series that had the funny boxart from the first game, it had amazing music which even I’d say that’s overrated as well. It was so good Megaman 9 was based entirely on it removing Megaman’s sliding and charging which I myself don’t like and see it as a regression.

I'm one of those weirdos who started with 9 and it's still my favourite. It does difficult design in that fun way that makes you want to improve because it keeps offering that challenge in new contexts that test you differently. It doesn't just place you in a bad spot and throw a bunch of enemies at you, instead it uses the level layout and composition of the scene itself to telegraph what's coming, sort of guiding your attention. MM2 occasionally does this and sometimes just throws flying enemies at you in questionable situations. 2 is rough, a learning step, but it's clearly where the series figured what it is truly going for and the following games built upon it more with occasional experiments. I feel mixed towards it, but I can't fully blame it for its faults since back then this stuff wasn't fully realised yet. These were the learning days for level design, experimenting to figure out what ideas work and what can be expanded upon.

I've come to think of the ending of MM2 as melancholic because Mega Man stops Dr. Wily but, due to the nature of robots, is forced to let him go if Dr. Wily asks. So, Mega Man can stop Dr. Wily's robots, but he knows he can never really stop Dr. Wily himself.

For the record, it's Bubble "Leed". As in, being led to something by the hand, someone is leading you.

I would argue Mega Man 2 is so fondly remembered because you can not only see the passion the devs had for it, but also because its the most consistently good. At no point in Mega Man 2 am I dreading whats coming next like i do most of the other classic Mega Mans.

A few things I wish you mentioned the Germany boxart for Megaman 2. You forgot that one. The weapon set in mm2 is pretty awful and I feel you didn't do nearly enough testing. I don't think you'll check it out but the atari demake of Megaman 2 fixes it and practically all the level design issues, like atomic fire draining almost half a bar in one shot when fully charged (half charge shots are also glitchy), bubble lead straight up not working on like half the enemies, leaf shield not working on enemy bullets and flying off when you move horizontally (even though it's a shield), item 3 being completely invalidated by item 1, etc. Also the game has a surprising amount of bugs, the chains in metal man can be jumped through as they have no hitbox when the chain is rising, your weapon ammo not depleting by pausing applies to every weapon that doesn't drain more than one "tick" on the energy bar, not *just* the metal blades, wood man can jump infinitely in the air if you press pause when he jumps, then repeat it, etc. To me this game was a sloppy rushed passion project that didn't get the time it deserved. It certainly improves and expands the established formula, but things such as weapon balancing, the new difficulty setting of normal actually messing with a few enemy behaviors (the enemies that are stacks of blocks don't break apart in our version of normal, so that function is completely unused) and needless progression gates potentially arising due to poor level planning that new players without outside sources are going to struggle with (like with the yoku blocks in heat man if they don't know how to get item 2 first, boo beam trap, etc.) keep this from being a timeless classic, personally.

Some things I liked about MM2: 1. The music (Wily 1 is iconic though it gets overplayed a LOT in MM circles). 2. Much lower bar of entry, with this being the recommended game to get first timers into the series. The first game had the Magnet Beam be required to finish the game but if you didn't know that the thing existed or where it was in the game, it could be easily overlooked and completely missed, and you are stuck wondering what to do in that game''s WIly 1 and still unaware that you DID miss something. MM2 rectifies that with each Item being an additional get in three of the stages. Alongside the addition of E-Tanks & the password system, many saw this as the entry point for people of the series. Some dislikes: 1. That Wily 4 boss can screw you over if you are not careful. 2. The seizure inducing flashes on the Wily boss kills. Yeah, anyone that's played MM2 knows how rapid and bright those flashes were when you killed the Wily bosses. The later MM games had the screen flash when you killed a castle boss, too, but those were more tolerable compared to how blinding these were.

The fact that metal blade is the objectively best item in the game sort of disqualifies it from masterpiece ranking imo.

No. End of debate.

I dunno if anyone else has done this, but one cool cheat for the Boobeam Trap is to pause the game not more than a second before the beams hit you. When you unpause, you'll warp back into the room and while doing so you're invulnerable to the beams.

I swear I remember reading somewhere that some of the Metal Blade stuff was to entice gaming magazines to write about it, though whether that was just the trick to take out Metal Man with his own weapon or it's general bustedness, I can't recall.

It was the first Megaman I've ever played and one of the first ever games I've played in my life. What I remember about the time was that it was so above everything else that existed back then. This is probably why it is remembered as one of the best games of all time.

I enjoyed your personal take on this game. As for my perspective, while I do have a lot of respect for Mega Man 2 for it's historical relevance and it's importance in making Mega Man the mega-franchise it is today, as a game, it hasn't aged that well. Mega Man 2 has plenty of redeeming qualities, don't get me wrong. But, I only enjoy half of the Robot Master levels as well as the first Wily stage, and I only find three of the special weapons to be useful (the Metal Blade, Air Shooter, and Quick Boomerang), because most of the others are either situational or useless. Conclusion: I do believe Mega Man 2 deserves the praise, but it's far from perfect, and I just don't like how people say that this, 3, and 9 are the only good Classic Mega Man games, and throw everything in between under the bus.

Megaman 5 is the best stand alone title in the NES library but 2 is the darling because the base game play is perfect.

One my GOATs. I did a fat kid flying jump kick when my mom green lit the purchase of this game. fucking looove this game and the rest are also pretty damn good. great title, great series.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="645">10:45</a> Good video overall, but a strong disagree here. I think the devs were *fully* aware of the weapons' abusability. For example: they clearly knew the Wood Shield can be used to farm 1UPs, because the very first bad guy on Wily 1 is an egg-dropper. That can't be a coincidence. SMART players get a refill point that others would miss. Being OP is your reward for being good at the game. Or at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="820">13:40</a>, you could have used Item 3 to climb those walls, if you had it and thought to use it. Which, again, I just don't think was coincidental. They wanted you to have a lot of different options for tackling the challenges. That said, they did probably take the Metal Blades a bit too far, haha. Never been quite sure why it's SO overpowered.

Mega Man 6 is my favorite NES Mega Man, followed by 2. I personally think 3 is the most overrated, since it feels the most rushed and has some of the worst design elements. One reason that helps 2 be beloved is that it is probably the easiest Mega Man, with the added easier difficulty, some of the best weapons in the series.

Pretty refreshing and nuanced review after countless contrarian pieces that just overblow the negatives. MM2 is amongst my favorites in the series. The levels are memorable and place a lot of focus on movement and platforming.

I was raised on this and more so, MM3. EPIC soundtracks. Really enjoyed the newer entries, 9, 10 & 11. Maybe a vid on the newer ones?

Just found yer stuff. Great content!

Mega Man 2 was probably one of the best entries in the classic series. I've just never been able to really get into classic Mega Man. Maybe if I was around in 1988, things would be different, but X is where I got my start

I suppose overrated probably isn't the right word for it. No matter how you look at it, Mega Man 2 will always be a legendary game since it's VERY iconic and was the most contributing factor as to why the Mega Man series exists. I personally think half of games in classic series are better (hell, I think I prefer Mega Man 1 to Mega Man 2), but Mega Man 2 is still a great game and one who's issues can mostly be blamed on the circumstances surrounding its development. Mega Man 3 had limited circumstances as well, which is why, in my opinion, Mega Man 4 was the first game in the series to be properly refined. Mega Man 9 is my favorite Mega Man game, and much of that game was based around Mega Man 2's energy, so to speak. It feels like a very well refined Mega Man 2, actually. But yeah, Mega Man 2 is still a great game that did so much for the series and video games in general.

MM2 was the first MM game I played. I was addicted. Played through all the rest afterwards. I honestly think ZX and Advent, minus some issues, were the most perfect of all the Mega Man 2 sequels.

May be a stretch but I've always interpreted the ending as Mega Man questioning his existence and his purpose. In the opening he's standing on the building without his helmet which sorta beams in when the player is ready to start. He leaves his helmet laying in the grass as a symbol that he wants to abandon his role as a fighter, a role that he was never really intended to have, but knowing that when he has to fight again, it's just going to teleport back on his head. He's questioning if he's ever going to be able to stop fighting which is something he doesn't want to do in the first place.

I seem to be in the minority, but... for me, MegaMan 3 is the best. Yes, it learned lessons from MegaMan 2,... but in learning those lessons and implementing what was learned into the game,... doesn't that make it the better game almost by default? The bosses are more memorable for me, as is the soundtrack. The stages are once again a visual upgrade, and we finally get the true form of Item 1, 2 and 3 in Rush. Also, the slide. Something I absolutely missed when MegaMan 9 reverted back to the MegaMan 2 style. Also, it remains the only MegaMan game where you had to revisit altered versions of previous stages. I thought that was a really neat spin, and I wish they had been able to take it to the next level and run with it in subsequent games. But instead, all subsequent games would recycle the same structure - 8 stages, red herring castle, actual boss castle. The the SNES games would remove the red herring boss and just stick with Wily or Sigma. I guess I just like experimentation with the formula.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1065">17:45</a> "Tell me, Dr. Light: Why did I fight? Tell me Doctor (Tell me Doctor), was I right?"

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="805">13:25</a> The footage here was so funny, help- J just freaked out!

The game had charm. Far from being broken for me as a kid the metal blades made the game fun and tolerable whereas otherwise I probably wouldn’t have liked it. More games should try to have character

I ponder if the reason this game did so well and so fondly remember is because it wasn't tough as nails, its not easy, but its not awfully difficult like weird movement in SMB, cryptic Nintendo Power sellers like Zelda, Metroid, and Castlevania 2, or just barely being cbt like contra and Castlevania.

I will just tell my experience. I grew up with the nintendo. My first Mega Man game was MM3, and I used years to get through it, and when I did it felt so satisfying. Then when I came to the internet everyone talk nonestop of MM2, and I got around to it, but to me it felt like Mass Effect 2 outperformed Mass Effect 1. Like, after you have taken down all the bosses, you have to revisit remixed versions of the leves you just had gone through and fight all the 8 original MM2 bosses. Then fight the 8 former bosses. The only bad thing about MM3 is the glitches that happens if there are three or more sprites on the screen and that it seems to be missing cut scenes. If you read the manual there is much more story to the MM3 game, but it's not in the game it self. The first cut scene is "Wily have run away with gamma" and you are just: "Okaaay....???" I love both MM2 and MM3, the music and everything. But I feel MM3 should get more praise.

In my standard run I pick Airman first and use his weapon alot, it's more consistent for high targent (it's just easier to hit with than metalblade, for me) and it have some useful one hit kills. I pick Metalman as 4th pick in my standard run through the game. I use quickmans weapon alot too, I love to spam those boomgerans.

Pointing this out, starting with this game, Capcom made contests for fans to design the robot masters. What's interesting is how they were picked. Due to the strict deadline the team had, they designed the levels based on certain themes, and they picked the robot master that best fit the area. Also, due to the strict deadline, the devs didn't properly test the weapons. They just made sure it worked and moved on. This is the reason the weapons are unbalanced.

I'll be honest, I think Megaman III is where the series really started to get good. Not only did it introduce sliding and Rush, but it introduced alternate post-Robot Masters stages besides the Wily stages, which eventually resulted in the Robot Masters being only the first half of the game, and everything else being the second half. And finally, it advanced the story by introducing Protoman, Megaman's brother.

I went back and watched all your mega man X videos recently, and when I heard the Mega Man X4 title screen, the guy who named the game off kinda sounded like you!

After playing some mmx games, I decided to go and play all of the classics. Played mm1, finished it and almost gave up on continuing with the rest (It was annoyingly hard even with save states); mm2 saved my classic playthrough as a more "relaxing" experience