The DEFINITIVE Guide to Mega Man X2 (All Items, NO Backtracking) 

As a youngun I went in to a rental store to rent Mega Man X even though I had already rented and beaten that game in the past. The employee said it was rented out and brought out a new game that he said had just come in, it was Mega Man X2!! One of the best surprises in my life.

If you stand in the doorway before the room that you'd normally fight Zero, you can Shoryuken into the center of the room and Zero will drop you into the Sigma fight. This gives you straight up invincibility during phase one Sigma as the game still thinks you're in the dialogue cutscene with Zero and Sigma.

In Bubble Crab's stage, you can use a charged Sonic Slicer to one-shot the giant fish miniboss.

“Alright bullies it’s been a hot minute.” *Hits like button*

X2 is honestly my favorite X game of all time (let alone favorite video game in general), and seeing this guide has given me a huge incentive to revisit it again and try out this order! I always find myself backtracking since I always started with Wheel Gator since he's the easiest and just collect items and parts as I go, then do a quick clean up before the X-Hunter stages. 10/10 guide, J!

That precision jump for the arm parts can burn in hell. I went through over 15 full bars of weapon energy over the course of 2 hours and still couldn’t get it using the strike chain.

If J reviews the Classic Series, 2020 might just become tolerable.

Hey @J’s Reviews @5:35 You can actually get the heart container without the strike chain in Crystal Snail’s stage. All you need to do is to dash jump with the ride armor and then repeatedly tap the jump button in order to get to that ledge. I could show you a video example if you want to see the trick in action.

A better way to get Crystal Snails Heart Tank is to hold the attack button on the edge then use its jet pack. You travel farther with attack than the dash. Plus less wire, I hate that weapon.

4:40 Charged S. Slicers wrecks the fish miniboss when used directly under him.

5:30 You actually don't need the Chain to grab that heart container. It's possible to charge up the drill arm on the mech to get much more speed coming off the cliff, hover, then jump out , and you can just make it. It's actually quite a bit easier than the chain method you showed.

I like to think when X fought sigma he just uppercut him so hard his head fell off and rolled around like a potato

You know it's funny how I'm still a veteran of the X series but still love watching other people's strategies on how they optimize their runs

This, again, was pretty awesome. I've never really tried things this way before. I'd usually go for the boss weakness chain. But seeing things this way is just very interesting. It makes me excited to go back to my favorite Mega Man games!

5:30 If you don't hold the jump button and keep mashing it, you should be able to get to the left side without even losing the ride armor

Came into the video to see the Bubble Crab ledge jump that numerous folks still don't know about-left satisfied. Also, like others have noted, you don't need SC in order to get the Heart Tank in Snail's level. Simply tapping the hover as you dash with the Rabbit allows you to pretty much cross the abyss without losing the armor, and you can actually get up the Miniboss with this same method provided you didn't destroy the crystals in a way that prevents you from doing so. Either way, great vid...and now I wanna do another run of X2... Lol

I do have an alternate path that also grabs everything without backtracking. The first two bosses you mention, are a given. From here, I go to Overdrive Ostrich to fight Violen first. After that, I will go to Bubble Crab for Agile(As many people have already pointed out, you can use charged Sonic Slicer here and wipe out the fish), and Crystal Snail for Serges(Probably a little known fact, Serges is also weak to charged Sonic Slicer and it can bypass his shield from overhead). Once done with that route, I proceed to Stag, Moth, and Centipede in that order. From there, it's pretty much a straight shot for the Sigma stages.

I think X2 is probably my favorite of the SNES trilogy just because there are so many ways you can tackle this game without needing to backtrack. I'll be curious to see if X3 is possible without backtracking, but from what I remember you have to backtrack at least once. I think it has to do with needing Tunnel Rhino's weapon to get the arm upgrade and then the arm upgrade to get two of the items in Tunnel Rhino's stage.

I can only imagine when he gets to x5, the horror

I'm super late but you can feather the jump button a few times with the ride armour to clear that big gap without the strike chain. Cleans up that pixel perfect element for the heart tank on crystal snails level

Good guide. I personally go Wire Sponge, Wheel Gator, Overdrive Ostrich, Bubble Crab, Flame Stag, Magna Centipede, Crystal Snail, and Morph Moth. Whenever I fight the X-hunters, Violen appears in Ostrich, Agile appears in Crab, and Serges appears in Snail. Now, 2 things I would like to bring light to: - The robotic fish thing can easily be killed by charged sonic slicers if you aim it right. it has to be just below the underside while having enough room for all 5 slicers to generate, because otherwise you do nothing. - You do not need strike chain to get the heart tank in crystal snail's stage. when you dash jump, don't hold b and gain height that makes you lose too much horizontal distance. Instead, for lack of a better term, mash b trying to maintain the height you're at when you start hovering. it's hard to describe, but if you do it correctly you should only need a dash jump and maybe a wall jump to reach the heart tank ledge, no strike chain required. speedrunners can bring the mech back and forth, but no normal player needs to do that.

It's worth noting that you need full health for the capsule of the Shoryuken to spawn.

A charged Sonic Slicer destroys the fish tank in Bubble Crab’s stage quickly

2:10, you can get the arm upgrade with just a super precise wall dash jump only.

The one thing I love about MMX's gameplay style is that it's very open-ended. Meaning you don't _have_ to follow this guide 1:1 if you don't want to. I always beat Flame Stag and Morph Moth first since I can 100% Stag from the get-go and the Silk Shot acts as a universal weakness for the X-Hunters depending on where you fight them. Sure, this means I have to go back and get both the Heart Tank _and_ Body Armor in Moth's stage after beating Wheel Gator but no biggie. I'll let you know where you need to fight the X-Hunters so that they're weak to the stage-produced Silk Shot form. Violen - Wire Sponge (leaves) Agile - Bubble Crab/Flame Stag (rock) Serges - Crystal Snail (crystal); Speed Burner also acts as a good secondary weakness

holy heck i never knew you could reach the sub tank in deep-sea base (bubble crab) w/o the charged bubble splash. it's tricky, like bypassing charged speed burner for the heart tank in dinosaur tank (wheel gator), but it really does mean minimal backtracking.

X2 is a very good game with the ability to take on any stage in any order a big improvement over X1

The guides are great. This one however is like super off from timing of what you say to what is on screen. Justs seems kinda confusing to someone who hasnt played X2 and im trying to figure out what is going on.. 😕

I was 13 renting this game from block buster ... definitely one of the good classics

Perfect timing, just started X2

For the Shoryuken you should use charged burner first as X is immune to spikes with it. So you do not need to carefully maneuver around the spikes, instead, just burner charge into the spike and drop down naturally then air dash left.

2:10 this jump is harder than just replaying a stage lol

Anyone else here realize the X2 Helmet Parts make X look like Protoman?

Fun fact: a charged sonic slicer one shots the bubble crabs mini boss. Easily decreasing the stress for the X hunter in that stage

I remember x2 being my first megaman experience. Played it so much at my friends house on snes

4:01 if you struggle with the bike like I did the flame stag power up charged can do this... funny thing is after looking up an alternative video I gave the bike 1 last shot and got it... uggh. Woops I guess I didn't hear that the 1st time through the video, apologies. I just figured it looked easier, given how stressed out the bike was making... but then I ended up doing it on my final attempt anyways. 5:25 I also found that you can do it without the chain, if you stop hovering for a second about 1/2 way through then hover again you can make the jump all the way, either to grab the ledge enough to triangle jump, or I actually made it without needing to do that too, just landed on the ledge.

5:09 you can also use the Neon Jump to grab the sub tank or Bubble Crabs Weapon

Agile didn't appear in Magna Centipede's stage for me.

I will say maybe newer games have spoiled me, but think Mega Man X2 should've started you out with all your upgrades (minus the obvious ones, the weapons from the previous mavericks) to then take away your powers. Not just to serve as story telling, but because it breaks you down, then build you up, much like the Vile fight in 1. You're helpless, then in comes Zero saying you're pretty weak dude, but don't worry you can get stronger, possibly even stronger than me. Moment I started X2 up and saw I had basically nothing... felt a bit disappointed.

hey man, this was helpful for sure, but i gotta tell you the presentation was very vague as far as the actual order of missions. if you could just drop a comment with the boss order and maybe timestamps that would be super helpful. i had to rewatch the video like 5 times to figure out how we got from ostrich to crab to snail in 30 seconds and i learned nothing lol. if you're open to a constructive suggestion, you could use the still images that pop up when you choose a stage as a title card for like 3 seconds and just edit in a small image of a heart tank, a sub tank, and the dr light capsule with a "x1" or a check next to it if the stage has one, and put a red X over it if it doesnt. it would take next to no effort/time, and would improve the format of the video a great deal. Actually, it would work very well with the "chapter" system youtube recently incorporated as well. Not to throw shade or anything, i love your content. im just very new to megaman in general, and the lack of formatting made it difficult to actually absorb the information. you have some very important advice, especially for newcomers. So if you make things a little more clear cut in future guides, i think alot of fellow newbies like me will be very appreciative. Keep up the great work man.

In my personal opinion the guide did a bit of a lousy job about the x hunters because agile appeared in crystal snail’s stage and didn’t fight him because you fought him in magma centipede but agile left the map so I lost the chance to face him. Either that or I just didn’t get lucky and if I didn’t get lucky then ignore what I said about you doing a lousy job about the x hunters. But you did a phenomenal job about everything else

This is mostly good. The only problem I have is that you force damage to get Gator's Heart Tank instead of actually using Speed Burner. This is lame as heck. Also, I kinda like the way you got Snail's Heart Tank, tho it's also kinda weird.

Hello, I'm from the Future and I'd like to Thank YOU for posting this Guide! Lol

In crystal snail stage, you can run and tab jump in a cadence of 1s-ish to go even further in the air with the ride armor. It's way easy and you don't need any special weapon.

5:03 Didn't og Mega Man kind of do this too? Not too noticeable but slightly higher jumps from what I remember.

Are there stage changes in this one like there is in the first game? For example the power plant breaking after Storm Eagle's level.

HOLY SHIT! THANK YOU! I didn't thought there was actually a way to not backtrack

1:00 Wire Sponge 1:50 wheel gator 3:20 flame stag 3:50 override ostrich 4:31 bubble crab 5:19 crystal snail 5:51 morph moth 6:19 magna centipede

6:23 The hitboxes on those.... boxes are kinda weird, you can actually just jump straight up and spam the jump button and youll all of a sudden start walljumping on it.

Great guide!! Always love how to the point you are with everything while still staying interesting and fun to watch ...but man, its 2020, cut it on saying "triggered" when you really just mean annoyed lmao

Do you need full health before the Shoryuken like with Hadouken in X1? Because I have everything (I think) and it isn't showing up.

2:35 You can do a dash jump and then at the highest point in your jump use strike chain on the wall to latch on to it and get the heart tank

Muchas gracias mi estimado. Estuvo de pana su video

Strike Chain for that arm part is tough! Gonna backtrack and try the Crystal Snail weapon 🔮 🐌 . Got the heart piece with the damage buff tho!

I should try to do something like this! It looks pretty cool. Btw, nice video! Keep it up

What is the area past the first checkpoint after you kill the X hunter you can dig out with gator wheele. It's not an exit from the x hunter nor do I see any heart or sub tank

Finally.... thank you Js

Didnt have an X-hunter on bubble crab. Flame Stag made me game over so when I continued the other two hunters changed where they went.

Can't wait for X3, where most of the goodies are behind Tunnel Rhino.

Thank you so much this is my fav x game and I didn't know about the sub tank glitch

Thx. I needed the chest piece and stuff

Please review the classic series!

There it is. Using the Strike Chain to get the arm upgrade is just as dumb to perform as a pure well timed wall jump. So it is the wall jump it all comes down to. I kinda saw through this years ago but never quite knew how to spell it.

Man that heart tank at 4:50, I just cannot seem to get enough distance no matter how much I try...the rage is getting real..

The order I go is Wire Sponge -> Wheel Gator -> Overdrive Ostrich -> Crystal Snail -> Bubble Crab -> Flame Stag -> Morph Moth -> Magna Centipede. X2 is actually very lenient you don't need to collect at least two weapons/Armor parts to get most collectibles.

You can get the handcannon without the strike chain. You just have to do an even more precise wall jump to get up there.

What's with all the cuts of the other games in the video? Kinda makes it confusing.

2:02 I hate this part. So much so I’m probably just going to backtrack

if no ones said it i will. you need to re do this video. it's bhaaaaaaad

I never knew you could do that for Bubble Crab's Sub Tank. I always revisited his level with his weapon to grab it.

Ok I been trying like a hundred times to get hurt and get the heart on Gator stage but I can’t do it. What’s the non cheese way of getting it?

Awesome guide! Thanks a lot!

That intro, fun. I gotta chase a stag, huh?

PLEASE do a guide for Mega Man X4!

What's on the other side of the wall you bust with the spine wheel? The floor is covered in spikes and it has a platform at the end. Fortress stage 2.

Instructions unclear for wheel gator's upgrade capsule: HOW THE FUCK DO I DO THE JUMP I RAN OUT OF AMMO 5 FUCKING TIMES AND DIED TWICE TO THE DINOSAUR

why isnt he showing the actual footage of where hes getting the items? this is useless

So weird, i follow the exact same level pattern and at flame stag's stage it doesn't open the maverick hunter door for me. On a new game.. I haven't even seen the boss yet. I just don't understand.

I just started this game with the ultimate armor mod and it's so fun

Fantastic video, you are excellent

Thanks for the help.

I wonder if you can get the armor parts without the weapon upgrades. Like in Mega Man X you can get them without beating the bosses so you can see a fully armored X in the Get A Weapon. I did it in Mega Man X Legacy Collection and it worked. So could you in X2 do the same?

I got crystal snails one without using chain line

That's really useful, thank you

You can use the giga attack instead of strike chain for crystal snail’s heart tank.

Lmao that intro wtf

Thank for vid you helped me to beat the game(not yet)

You blew my mind with the i-frame trick on Wheel Gator's stage .

I Usually go for Flane Stag after Wire Sponge

BRO IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET X BUSTER UPGRADEEE

Im giving up on x, im tryong out this one

Megaman X9 should include mavericks like Hypomanic Hippo, Pandemic Panda and Senile Snail.

Well good to know that its completely impossible for me to do basically any of this. A lot of this stuff is like literally dependant on a perfect reaction on like 1 single frame. Cant even tell how many times i tried the strike chain on the gator stage, and how many times i tried to get the heart in the same stage. Literally impossible for me. Kudos i guess but jesus christ half that is borderline impossible and extremely frustrating. Great content tho! I just suck lol

As a kid I had no idea you started with the dash and got like half way through the game before I realized you didn’t need an upgrade and it came standard

powerful guide j.

5:30 I used to do it this way until I found out that you can also hover multiple times instead of spend it all in one go, if you do it this way you won't need the Strike Chain

Best SNES megaman game, even counting MM7, X2 is accessible, fun and family friendly, with everything that you need to know right from the start, the DASH, Boss Options, Extra Bosses, Puzzles(ok, thats a bad*), music variety since its not only ONE THING the entire game!(except the beggining of Chill Penguin, the rest is the F***ING SAME

Me: sees the green biker dude. Also me: ITS GBD!

5:10 how are supposed to reach that normally, or was that their design choice?

J’s Reviews Will you do a review on Gunvolt?