I have finally been given the chance to look at Nintendo Power's guide to Mega Man X2, and after taking many looks, I've noticed some odd things about it. What's odd about it? Well, I've decided to list them page-by-page, so follow me as I delve into the world that is Nintendo Power...

Credit goes to Indy for supplying the scans. I appreciate it.

Cover
So this is the cover, and as you can plainly see, X2 is the main feature for this issue! Must admit, I like the picture of X in his armor with Wheel Gator behind him. They could have been a lot lazier with it...

Table of Contents
...Like the cheap Photoshop edit of X on this page! Oh well, guess they can't all be winners.

On a different note, I noticed it had a preview of Star Fox 2 listed! Ahh, what could have been...

Page 1
On to the actual guide, I immediately noticed some things about the first page... not only do they recommend the "Mega Buster" (shouldn't that be X-Buster?) for Wire Sponge, but they also recommend it for Overdrive Ostrich. I would definitely say that the Crystal Hunter is far more effective on Overdrive, but maybe they thought that one attack where Overdrive causes Sonic Slicers to rain down was more trouble than it's worth.

Now when reading this guide, one thing immediately strikes me as odd: Where is the help for the intro stage!? Granted, it's easier than anything else, with probably the easiest intro boss in the entire series, but this can't be a good way to start the whole thing off.

Another interesting thing to note, is that they say that blowing up the four orbs in the Weather Control stage "doesn't seem to change anything", which is incorrect--they change the environment if you use the proper weapons on them (Speed Burner, Crystal Hunter, and Bubble Splash).

Page 2
There's nothing really special to note here, although I won't lie; the X-Buster upgrade's second shot is indeed "extremely wicked".

Page 3
Strangely, they don't list how to obtain the Heart Tank (which I think would be useful to know) for the Energen Crystal stage. Not only that, but they don't even show it on their map! Another weird thing is that you can see Agile in the X-Hunter room with the dialogue box. Ooooops. Guess it doesn't matter too much, though, since they also failed to mention the room in general.

Nothing particularly wrong with the Desert Base stage, only you can spot Serges in the X-Hunter room. Not particularly a big deal, although it could trick some people who are new to the game.

Page 4
Like it was listed on the first page, they recommend the "Mega Buster" for Overdrive rather than the Crystal Hunter... although curiously enough they show X using the Crystal Hunter in one of the images! Explain that, Nintendo Power!

Page 5
Nothing here to really make note of, although I do find it interesting that they only suggest to use the dash jumps to reach the armor capsule. Personally, I find using the air dash to be much easier (as I've never succeeded with just normal dash jumps). They also failed to mention the possibility of using the Strike Chain as another method, although I think most would have trouble with it.

Page 6
I'm not really certain why they didn't bother to mention either of the mini-bosses in the Central Computer stage. Especially the second one, since it'd be a nice tip to know to DODGE the scanners so it won't get powered-up. They also did this for the mini-boss in the Energen Crystal stage which, when I think about it, is odd because they made such a big deal about it in the opening paragraph. With that said, they did still place the sprites of the mini-bosses in their rooms on the map... so I have no idea what they're getting at.

Furthermore, I wish they'd make up their minds about these boss weaknesses. Despite listing Wheel Gator's weakness on the first page as the Strike Chain (which is correct) they simply recommend using the "Mega Buster" in the actual section for fighting him. Personally, I don't mind this since I usually start with Wheel anyway, but please be consistent for our sake, NP!

Page 7
...For whatever reason, they recommend this stage only if you have the boot upgrades. I know that the stage has that annoying lava section, but if you are proficient enough at dash jumping then it shouldn't be that bad. At the very least, it isn't "uh, that's like, hard" difficult. That said, not much else to comment on.

Page 8
Once again, they failed to mention how to obtain a Heart Tank on the Robot Junkyard stage, and also failed to place it on the map! Seriously, how could they miss this stuff and publish it in a magazine? At least they mentioned the mini-boss this time!

Page 9
Minor nitpick, but did they seriously refer to Morph Moth as a butterfly? And to top if off they are saying a turbo controller to beat Bubble Crab with his weakness makes him easy? I could easily say some profane things about these statements but I will spare you all.

Finally, they got the X-Hunter door information wrong for both stages... in the Robot Junkyard stage they don't even mention it, and in the Deep Sea Base stage they tell you to just follow the submarine, but if you simply do that then you will miss the X-Hunter in the stage. In order for it the X-Hunter appear you must destroy the submarine before it reaches the room. Also, why do they recommend a powered-up Bubble Splash? All you need to do is climb up the wall...

Page 10
Gotta love how they only list how to beat the X-Hunters second forms, despite going out of their way to mention where most of the doors are listed in the eight stages (most is the keyword, since they only listed six of the eight. The only one that will really be helpful otherwise is Violen, minus the disappearing and reappearing blocks. With Serges, it mentions using the Silk Shot and then the Sonic Slicer, although I think most use the Giga Crush, which is exactly what the picture is showing. Also, you have got to love how they mention the only safe spot when fighting Agile is right beneath him, when the picture clearly shows X right next to him above the platforms. Seriously, what is going on with these images?

A few more notes to make, why is there no mention of the optional Zero boss battle? I know that optional is something to note, but chances are not everyone is going to get all of the Zero parts their first time playing. Also, why is the Strike Chain listed as "mostly useless", when according to this guide, it has been COMPLETELY useless up until this point? They never even bothered mentioning it the times were it can come in handy.

Lastly, why is there a screen shot of Flame Stag next to the title "SIGMA RETURNS"? Am I missing something here? Is Flame Stag secretly Sigma? Is Sigma secretly Flame Stag? Tell me, because I don't know anything anymore.

And that's basically it for the scans. Other than the obvious errors that I pointed out, it's not too bad of a guide, but considering that this game was their main highlight for the issue, you'd think they would have done a better job. If I had to rate this walkthrough, I'd give it a 6/10. Oh well, there's always next time, NP!