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I like to go back in time, see what hacks they made there. And now I meet a "stereotype-breaking" hack. This is a hack on MegaMan2, not RockMan2.

It seemed like meeting a unique creation from the past. In a way, yes... Unique pain.

1. I'll start from afar, namely from the point: Enemies. Honestly, some are strengthened, some are unchanged, BUT THERE IS both dishonest and, probably, new.

• On the dishonest, I single out three: Piranha Fish, Rabbit and Mettol. Piranha fish - installed very unobviously, plus damage by 1/2 health bar; Rabbit - one shot - minus the health bar; Mettol - he is difficult to hit, plus his shot takes out 1/4 of the health bar. IT'S NOT FAIR!
• About new ones - these are flying saucers with incorrect graphics. An attempt to port from MM5 is unsuccessful, but interesting. I do not know for sure whether they are new or is it a graphic redesign - but the fact is the fact.
• Simple enemies and slightly modified ones are essentially the same. Only a few - have behavior that is not peculiar to them, in terms of: "not their attacks in their AI". But in essence - they are equal, only made them stronger

2. If you look into the past, then for the past - the graphics are cool. Looking with a fresh eye - there are some graphical inaccuracies, however - a pretty well done job.

3. Music. Sorry, but this is an average level. For the past - a real breakthrough, but hearing now: I hear a colossal difference. Doesn't hurt the ear, but it's hard to call it good either. I liked only three remixes, the rest was average.

4. Bosses. Each has something to say.

• Air man - The first attack is standard, but the next attacks are interesting. It takes off to a certain height and tries to prevent us from hitting it. Jump changed slightly. Honest boss? Yes!
• Bubble man - AI is almost unchanged, only slightly accelerated. Honest but not interesting
• Heat man - This boss I call dishonest, because he flies like lightning at you when he takes damage. The reaction may not save you. Plus, even warning sounds are inaudible!
• Metal Man - AI made it quite creatively. But low jumps - they can crush before you can neutralize him. Boss 50/50
• Flash man - Honest boss. Too fast, stopping time with a huge stream of bullets, Which take down a lot of HP. Touching the boss himself - removes 1 HP
• Crash man - Sped it up a bit, but throwing a projectile under it automatically damages the player! It's not fair!
• Wood man - Boss with a weakness for bombs. The problem in the boss: Leaves fly too fast (As in a simple attack, that you can't dodge, that an attack with a leafy shield... but with a shield - there is not enough reaction), And he himself jumps across the entire screen. Not fair? Yes
• Quick man - Changed its AI slightly. There are many boomerangs, fortunately they do not homing. If you hit it not with weakness and not with a blaster, it will freeze sharply in the air (even taking into account that it was hit when it was on the ground). An honest, weird, but interesting boss
• Boss 1 and 3 Wily Castle - no changes, only unfortunate weaknesses.
• Boss 2 Wily Castle - Without the E-tank - I could not get through. The problem is not in the boss itself, but in how the location is built. But about the locations later. But I'll stress the fact: He's too fast.
• Boss 4 Wily Castle - He himself is unchanged, but it became more difficult, because the location was rebuilt and enemies were added. Fair? Yes
• We skip Boss Rush... only fact 5 Boss of the Wily Castle depends on him. Boss 5 Wily Castle - Its two phases are non-blaster. But, it is lighter than the original. However, a WARNING: "If you run out of required abilities, you will automatically lose the level"
• Final Boss - Only one weakness for him, Requires NOT A SINGLE MISS . It's not fair. Plus the boss himself shoots a barrage of bullets, which is hard to dodge

5. Character abilities. Honestly, some are better and some shouldn't have been changed. Peculiar and unusual

6. Level Design. I'm surprised that Level Design looks good even today. Fair enough, interesting and varied in places. However, I will highlight the points that are actually made not very well thought out:

• Boss location in Wily Castle 2. Small space, no escape routes, and enemies get in the way.
• Wily Castle 4 - The problem in the stage is confusion in the most obscure maze. Fortunately, at least in the location of the boss, they did it interestingly
• Wily Castle 6 - Lots of dangerous red acid drops. There is very little room for escape. Fortunately, even closer to the end there is energy for abilities and energy for HP

Before the conclusion, I say right away: I played in Hard Mode (It is the pure essence of the game and hacks). And the results are as follows:

• Pros: Level Design and Graphic part of the game.
• Cons: Bosses and some enemies.
• 50/50: Music, enemies and character abilities.

In the end: "To be honest, in the past it was a really good hack, but judging by common sense, it is the bad decisions that outweigh the hack. At that time, I would have liked it, but now - it is outdated and bad decisions - they don't rush only in the eyes, but was able to annoy players like me"

If not for the mistakes in the hack, then I really would have liked it. And so - it is outdated.

I can't recommend this. Reason: "Not my hack that seemed better before"

Rock Man Exile

Levels: Okay

Graphics: Okay

Music: Okay

Enemies: Good

Bosses: Good

Weapons: Okay

Castle: Good

Difficulty: MEDIUM (Occasionally HARD)

Comments: A decent early hack that attempts to shake things up. At times it can be a bit ruthless (Alien Wily is one of the hardest final bosses you'll ever face), but it puts up a decent challenge most of the time. One of the best things Exile does is lower the health of a number of enemies, which helps speed up the game tremendously. The graphics can be a bit garish at times, but there's really nothing here that'll turn you off (other than the agonizing final boss).

This is one of the older Rockman 2 hacks out there and I remember playing it many years ago now. For fun, I went ahead and replayed it again recently. It's about as good as I recalled.

It's a tough hack, definitely harder than the original game, but the difficulty feels fair. There are very few points where you'll find yourself blaming the game rather than your own inputs. This is, of course, in contrast with a lot of other hacks for this game which are hard as nails and couldn't care less. Seasoned players will be able to beat this on normal difficulty without any tool assistance.

There's four levels in the game where you have to learn what the author was thinking to successfully advance. Those are (a) Metal Man's stage, where you must understand the rollers and the platforming, (b) Heat Man's stage, where you must use observation and tricks to discover safe invisible ground, (c) Quick Man's stage, where you navigate maze-wrapping passages and through the dark, and (c) Wily Stage 4, where you must survive a tough gauntlet while routing through another maze. Honestly, the types of challenges presented by the different levels are pretty diverse and this keeps the hack interesting.

Graphics and music are generally solid throughout. Some stages look and sound better than others, for sure, but none of them are hideous or grating.

For more information, check the review 8.bit.fan wrote; it's all reasonably accurate.

This particular romhack packs quite the hard punch with each stage, but if you're expert at stuff like this then it would not be a problem, but unfortunately sometimes it gets a bit too hard, and requires the occasional save state. Now when it comes to the bosses..don't be afraid of their speed, they're actually quite weak to the normal attack, and their weakness, so there is little problems, and even the final boss is quite easy too!

Overall this was a decent romhack, it just lacks a little polish.

I grew up loving my Mega Man games and it's been one of my favorite series ever since, with 1 & 2 being my favorite of the NES classics. So, naturally, when the game hacking scene came to be, I sought out Mega Man hacks to play and boy was it like reliving my childhood! But, as you know with most of the hacks out there, it's not always fun and games. Some being brutally hard, and others being just silly. There are but a handful of them that I truly enjoy and regard as great hacks that could be warranted as brand new official Mega Man games and then some. And Rockman Exile was one of the first hacks for MM2 that I truly liked.

Now don't get me wrong, this hack is far from perfect and certainly felt rushed and unpolished in more than a few areas, and fairly difficult to boot. However, the challenges never felt too unfair or difficult for me to write it off as a 'bad' hack(ie. Deus Ex Machina). My gauge for that is this: is the hack enjoyable to play through without the assist of save states? And in the case of Rockman Exile, yes it is. :)

Gameplay - 9/10

Changes made to weapons and boss AI are nicely done here. I love the fast P-shooter. Boss AI changes are nicely done in order to increase the difficulty IMO, and never seems unfair.

Difficulty - 8/10

Although the hack might seem brutally difficult at first, once you get a hang of the style of the hack, it's really not that bad...especially if you choose 'Normal' mode. Now, there are certain parts that are pretty hard and require some practice. The 3 parts that I find most challenging are Metal Man's stage, Wily 2nd stage disappearing blocks section, and Alien Wily boss fight(in Hard mode). First of all, Metal Man's stage is BRUTAL with its single block conveyor belts and pits, and the constant barrage of helicopter guys, the spinning/flying things that pops out of holes, and crushers. All the while having to dodge, jump, and land on single moving blocks. However, with practice, I am now able to breeze through this level without losing a life. (TIP: first time players, play Metal Man's level last, as its difficulty might give you a bad taste of this otherwise good/fun hack). The disappearing blocks in Wily 2nd stage is self explanatory, takes lots of practice but eventually beatable without dying. Lastly, the Alien Wily boss fight. This really isn't that bad in Normal mode. In Hard mode however, not only you die in 3 hits, but you need EVERY SINGLE metal blades to kill him. Yes, that means if you miss once, you'll have to die and do it over again because you won't have enough to kill him(each blade does 1 damage to him). To this day, I'm not able to beat him in Hard mode without at least one energy tank.

Music - 9/10

I like the music! :) I know the other 2 reviews complained about the music, but I rather enjoy them! Especially some of the nicer pieces and renditions of older games such as the Boss Selection Screen, Quickman's stage, Crashman's stage, etc. I guess you either like it or you don't! :)

Graphics - 7/10

No major change from the original Mega Man 2 other than color swaps, and other graphics ripped from other MM games. To be honest, most of the color swaps make the game look a little worse than the original. But that's ok, as long as they look good enough and not overly bad, I generally don't judge a game by the looks that much.

Hacking Effort - 8/10

Pretty nice hacking effort here from the musics, level layouts, and weapons/boss AIs. My only complaint to the hack are the graphics really...could've made some of the areas look nicer.

Overall - 8.5/10

Overall, this is a pretty good Mega Man 2 hack and one of the first MM2 hacks that I enjoyed thoroughly. The new gameplay mechanics are nicely done and plays well, most of the musics are enjoyable for me, and some of new level layouts are fun to play through. Give this hack a try! For first time players, be sure to play it in 'Normal' mode! ;)

Well,the description says that the hack have new musics, and that is rare to find. Well, is true. But the musics, oh the musics are so........ AWFUL!

If is rare to find, so why not made a GOOD work with then?

Like I said in MM2 ultra review, musics that come from other mm games is what breaks the soundtrack of any mm hack. If you want to know why, then read my mm ultra review, I´ll not repeat that again.

I can`t say how much I HATE musics that came from other mm games(except from x6 maybe). I could only play your hack in mute.(That's why Minimum, Final Mix, Claw, GX VER musics rules, and why? Because they are from other games, easy as that.)

Not only because of that. Is also because they are very annoying to hear. Their melody is so broken and f...s up with it entirely. So yeah, I had 2 reasons to hate the music of this hack.

BUT, at least, everything else is ok, so we can enjoy the gameplay (in mute at least).

You guys don´t have to agree with my opinions, but that is what I think about this hack.

I'll cut to the chase here and get started on a big problem with this hack: the music is awful! The author has tried to port music from the GB Mega Man games (and music from other games), but the results are off-key, have tones that aren't pleasing to the ears, or sound nothing like the original song. There are other issues too, the difficulty can be obnoxious at times, such as the prop-tops in Crash Man's stage, and the fact that Sniper Joes shoot crash bombs. The only thing I like about this hack is the gimmick in Quick Man's stage, but other than that this hack is best left avoided.