Retro Game of the Day — Mega Man II (NES, 1989)
The original Mega Man was released in 1987 and while critically successful it underperformed sales wise. This prompted Mega Man publisher, Capcom, to put any sequel plans on the backburner while they focused on more financially lucrative projects. However, the original development team continued to express interest in making a sequel. Lead director of Mega Man, Akira Kitamura, petitioned Capcom to allow the team to create a sequel. Kitamura and the team were granted their request on the condition that they continue to work on other projects as well.
The returning development team included artist Keiji Inafune, who was responsible for designing most of the characters featured in the first game. He would go on to become a mainstay of the series’ development and an important fixture at Capcom for years to come.
Mega Man II was received as a rousing success, not only critically, but sales wise as well. It is one of the best-selling games in the franchise and one of Capcom’s most successful titles of all time. It would lead to nine more direct sequels and spawn several spin-off series that were hugely successful.
Without the determination of the development team to make a sequel happen despite Capcom’s apprehensions, we may never have had the opportunity to see Mega Man flourish into one of the tentpole franchises of gaming history. It also helps that they course corrected from the horrendous North American cover art design of the first game to something more indicative of the actual product.
First featured at retrohandhelds.com.
