28/40

By Zack - April 6th, 2026

This game is my first experience with the Mega Man series, and I was looking forward to seeing what Mega Man has to offer. This is one of the more unique titles, released in arcades. There are only boss fights and no levels!

Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters

Arcade, 1996

~$1000 Used PCB

Other Releases:

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium

$3.00

Presentation

8

Mega Man: The Power Fighters has amazing pixel art without relying on 3D graphics. This looks great and helps to not age the game. A lot of games around this time used a lot of 3D as it was new, but this sticks to extremely detailed pixel art for the most part. The game is in the Mega Man 7 style and the developers did a good job converting everyone to fit the Mega Man 7 art style. The music is also very well done with new remixes of old stage themes. However, the art direction feels a little off. The menus are tacky and there some weird sound effects. There are some voice lines, but they feel kind of annoying due to how many times they're used.

There are 3 sets of 6 Robot Masters.

Controls

8

Mega Man controls well and the Special Weapons are all great. The charge shot and slide are still present and work well. Each character also gets their own unique "Special attack". One issue with the special weapons is that it is somewhat awkward to switch between them. In this game, Eddie comes to give you a special weapon to use, but these can be annoying since you can't use a boss weakness while these weapons are equipped.

Bosses and level backgrounds look great.

Content

4

This game is far too short, since there aren't even any stages in the game. It's just one big boss rush. This makes sense, as it was originally an arcade game, but it is still disappointing how quickly the game goes by. You can play as Mega Man, Bass, Proto Man and Duo, and there are 3 different stories, each with 8 bosses. The boss fights are all very well designed with clear and readable attacks. Just like in the main series, you get a Stage Select, so you can use Special Weapons against bosses that were too difficult with just the Mega Buster. There is also a two-player mode, which is a great addition.

There are 3 different stories with 8 bosses.

Fun Factor

8

Although it's a very quick experience, Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters is really fun. The boss fights are all well-done, and the variety of stories and characters keeps things interesting. This game doesn't feel like an adventure and that's ok. It turns a platforming series into a fighting game and does a fantastic job. Since you get to skip the often-forgettable levels, it feels like you get a "best hits" of Mega Man. As usual with Mega Man, the main problem is that you see everything the game has to offer pretty quickly.

The whole Mega Man team is playable.

Worth the Time?

Worth the Money?

I think this game is definitely worth the time. It's quick and a lot of fun. If you enjoyed The Power Battle, this is a great sequel.

The Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium version of this game is very inexpensive, so I think it's worth it. There's definitely some replay value, so you will get your money's worth.

Screenshots from [Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium] © [Capcom], used for review purposes.