VectorMan 2 is a direct sequel to VectorMan, a platformer/action/shoot-em-up thing that tried to push Genesis graphically. A sequel so direct, it might as well be an expansion pack. It was developed by BlueSky Software and published by Sega in 1996. Actually, there is “Drooling Dog Studio” logo seen in background of credits. I couldn't find any info on them so I have no idea if it's some really obscure company or name of internal team of BlueSky or what. I also feel that this game was rushed. Released in North America and Brazil only. 24 Megabit ROM.
The game that you have here is nothing more than emulation of Sega Genesis version.
Now, technical part about Sega's emulation here:
The Sega Classic games that you purchase on Steam count as DLCs for "Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics" game that should appear in your library.
It has Bedroom HUB which is the one with many features yet lags for many and Simply Launcher which lacks Workshop and Online but at least it works just fine for everybody.
However, Simple Launcher has it's fair share of glitches as well. It can crash. And it does the second time you go to main menu, so always quit after saving there so it doesn't crash when you want to save next time!
Emulation itself, mostly sound, isn't that good but it does it's job. Also, yes, emulator supports quick saves.
As alternative, you can use external emulator to run games that you purchased. Sega kindly placed in all games that you purchased in "uncompressed ROMs" folder that program itself doesn't use, just change file extension to ".bin" or so. The file for this one being "VECTMAN2_U.68K".
I also demand you to read digital manual of this game first. You can find it here on store page or go to "manuals" folder of game root and open "VectorMan_PC_MG_EFIGS_WW_HR.pdf".
Having defeated Warhead last time, VectorMan is back to his duty of delivering sludge to the sun. Or at least he was, until enemy missile disagreed. Now he finds himself near research facility from whence mutant insects come from. These insects have destructive intention toward planet's environment and are led by an unknown intellegence.
Remember how environment theme had no effect on setting in gameplay in the first game, all of it being a fancy urban wackyness? Not here. Welcome to swamps, volcanos and even a single refinery level with green sloodge. All dark and moody.
And yep, VectorMan's core gameplay. You run, you jump around levels. You shoot, once per button press, which means that you better have gamepad with rapid fire function. And you can double jump, the boosting of which damages enemies. Not just underneath but all around. More powerful than shooting too.
Levels are filled with photons that give you score, which is important as you get extra lives from them. There are insect sacks instead of TVs, the only difference is that you can knock these out with double jump. An improvement. You get few powerups there, such as increase in times, lives, health. Weapon powerups with limited ammunition. Sphere inside upside-down pyramid is a checkpoint. As previously, multiplies are important as they not only multiply score but health and lives. Albeit this time around level design wasn't very friendly to multiply runs. And yep, there are few powerups in levels to find that increase your max health, as advantegous as ever.
There are also morphs. Once again there are few stages where VectorMan has exclusive morph through whole level. Tank ones are the most fun of them, even if easy, while the ones on rollers suck. They suck because you will keep running into things due to not being able to see far ahead. Then again, you can just press forward once and slide slowly, much better.
What I like better is that normal stage morphs were changed to “assimilation”. It's like VectorMan 1 morphs but they drop out of enemies of certain type and you get similar powers. So it's not just “here is a wall, here is a bomb morph, just grab it”. Too bad they are still short and you are invincible. Aside from fireant one, you still get damaged for some reason. And then there is VM1 style morph in a single stage, for some reason.
Protip: One of the shoot buttons is used to turn tank around.
And now come the level design. Oh boy. This is where the game drops the ball. Well, at first it starts at dark swamp. It's fairly difficult as you didn't get to grab any max health powerups. There are few cheapness, but you can just look down by holding down, you know. Time limits are forgiving this time. It's fun, even if it's an uncozy start. Such as getting knocked out on a level where you ascend the trees. The bosses through the game are great fun too, the lighting usage is improved at times with darker world that lights up when shot. Then you go into volcano. Destructable blocks here and there. Fun too, albeit unpolished at times. And then you get dropped into marathon of rollers stages and “digging” stages, filled with destructable blocks, without break. The game has 22 Scenes and starting with Scene 7 it becomes rather random and unpleasing. Levels are either too short or too huge while having bland layout. It feels rushed, setting keeps jumping around and not in a pleasently quirky way like original. You should see the ending, it's pretty much a congratulation message that isn't even centered properly. Somehow worse than in VM1. Game also gets much easier as you get more max health.
Which is shame, as combat was improved in comparison. Enemies are animated with less separate sprites so there can be more of them. And not just same old flying tiny insects. This time there are enemies that jump at you, that come from angles. There are a bit more of them. It's more fun.
There are bonus stages. This time you get them by collecting 80% of placed photons on the stage, unless it's a morph-stage. You get into one of the three stages that feel like lite versions of spaceship style games. Horizontal shmups, something in space with gravity, invaders. Too simplistic but fancy. You do find a life up and a max health powerup in those so you should try to get into bonus stages. Bonus for actually winning them is still poor.
There are options. Can turn off sound effects or music. Sound test. Controls. Credits, which also play when you get game over for some reason. And yep, difficulty. Lame, Cool, Wicked. The differences are: 10k, 20k or 40k points for extra life, 5 to 3 starting health points, 4 starting lives instead of 2 on Lame, bosses take more damage.
Oh, and you can see the contest winner's drawing. Apparently, there was morph art contest for VM2. Not much info. But hey, grats to John Krebs, forever immortalized through all the Genesis compilations rereleases.
Graphics are still as fancy as ever. Not going to describe much this time, it still uses “Vector-Piece” thing for animating characters made of multiple sprites. Actually, a lot of characters in 16-bit era use multiple sprites just because there was a max size on a sprite, even if they are animated as a single sprite. But yea. Smooth. VectorMan has additional animations as well, 24 Megabit spent well. With a bit more attention to lighting, more colors albeit dark ones, less dithering.
Music is still what I would call a low-key “Electronica”. But this time more ambient, fitting to game's new setting. For most parts it's not as good as in original, somehow more forgetable. Even if final level track is awesome.
Vectorman is also more talkative, getting a low robotic voice and commenting out non-stop.
Overall, eh. Not terrible, but not a good sequel. It has a better core gameplay and few good stages but most of other levels are bleh at best. It was clearly rushed before the Western Genesis market dies out.
