MMX2 is exactly what a good first sequel should be. It's all the original X1 has and more. I'd call it even better than the first. However, its merits lie more in the addition of extra content rather than the way it expands on the formula. For that reason, I can't justify rating it as highly as the original.

I will say, save for a few annoying stages, the level design is top notch, probably better than X1. The armor upgrades finally get to trully shine too. In the original, they kinda felt like a necessity rather than a cool extra. Here, X's moveset is already great from the start, and the armor pieces really open up many more possibilities (air dash, double charge shot, giga crush).

I'm torn whether I like this soundtrack better than X1 or not. On one hand, X1 has banger after banger, and arguably better instrumentation. On the other, X2 has more variety in tone. Bubble Crab's theme is a great example.

On a personal note, I may think this one's better than X1 simply because I've already played X1 to death. It'll never stop being a great time, but it really makes me appreciate just how much variety is packed into X2.

Primeira vez que joguei achei difícil mas depois peguei no jeito, fechei primeiramente no emulador, na coletânea do PS2 foi dai que soube do macete que até que fez ficar mais fácil.
Trilha sonora belíssima, Stage Open, Whell Gator e batalha contra o chefe final.
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First time I played it I found it difficult but then I got the hang of it, I first closed it in the emulator, in the PS2 compilation that's when I learned the trick that even made it easier.
Gorgeous soundtrack, Stage Open, Whell Gator and final boss battle.

Pros compared to X1:
Stage design has more flair this time around. X1 had some pretty killer level design itself, but you could tell a couple of the 8-main stages were phoned in. X2 rectifies that and then some.
Likewise the bosses are more interesting. Many have multiple phases or quirks. Kicking a robotic snail's shell away like a football so he can't use it is peak comedic action.
X1 vividly wanted you to play Icy Penguigo's stage first to get the dash upgrade. Tackling some bosses without the dash was a nightmare (and just plain unfun). X2 has a much more uniformly balanced layout. You can pick any stage from the start and not screw yourself.
Less slowdown. X1 was nearly too fast for the SNES's anaemic CPU. X2 remedies this with an onboard enhancement chip. The slowdown's not extinct, but mitigated greatly.

Cons compared to X1:
Upgrades in the first game where acquired by simple puzzle solving or novel platforming challenges. In X2 they're cryptic bullshit.
The boss weapons suck. Replaying X1 is enjoyable because of the armament on offer. In X2 all the boss weapons are either worse than your default Mega Buster, or just flat out ineffectual.
The stage alteration mechanic of the first game is gone entirely. Another facet that made replaying X1 so fun.
The whole theme of growth and X unlocking his full potential worked harmoniously with collecting power-ups across the first game. In X2 the blue bomber inexplicably threw away all his upgrades from the previous game. Now you're collecting armour pieces, heart upgrades, ect... again without a strong narrative tie.
* It may be unreasonable to ask every X game to live up to the music of X1. X2's VGM is quite good, but pales in comparison.

Despite the game design being tighter in many ways, I find myself gravitating toward the first game more. The clogs along the way do knock X2 down a peg, but it's still a damn solid game. If you loved the first one, give this a try for sure.

Good game, but not as based as the first one.
The gameplay is pretty much the same, but they made dash available from the start, which is good.
Mavericks' levels are more challenging then ones from the first game, but I think that they were worse in design. Crystal Snail stage was grate, but for example Bubble Crab's was shit.
Bosses are more balanced, no Spark Mandrill this time, though some of them are still too hard to beat without exploiting their weakness. Wheel Gator fight felt more like a set piece, then a proper battle. And while X Hunters are a good addition, they make the game more repetitive, since now you have to return to the same level more times without even fighting Maverick. Oh, and animal (and I guess plant now) selection fucking sucks. Who though what after mammoth and eagle anyone wanted to fight a Sponge? Like, bro, the fuck is this shit? Also I feel like the designers put to much emphasis on insects and sea life.
Music is good, but it doesn't slap as much as the first game did.
Upgrades were pretty fun to use, especially air dash that you get from legs part, but Chest part's placement is so stupid, that I can't imagine someone getting it on purpose without guide.
In conclusion Mega Man X2 is just Mega Man X, but worse.

Really solid follow up to the first game, in fact its essentially the first game plus. More levels, more mavericks and more weapons to choose from. However, most of the bosses don't live up to the iconic original. The levels play great and are fun to use the different armors and vehicles to traverse the stages. Backtracking can be a chore though, as you have to go back and collect upgrades throughout stages you already have completed. It's not a huge deal as most levels are short enough to just quickly dash towards the upgrade, though how you were supposed to figure out some secrets is beyond me. The X-Hunters are also kind of annoying as even if you lose once, you lose out a chance to get all the Zero parts. Though doing so is kind of useless so why did they even bother adding this feature is perplexing. Grievances aside, this is an excellent follow-up to the original and in many ways surpasses it.

There’s nothing new to say about the story of these games except that x and zero are absolutely the flavor of cis gay white dudes that wanna be accepted by the mainstream so badly that they’ll slip a knife between the ribs of any and every other marginalized group at any moment to get even the obviously false façade of that.

Anyway Mega Man X2 rules. If X1 is an immediate, obvious, stone cold classic, where every level and character design and upgrade and hidden collectible placement is tightly designed and meticulously placed for maximum effectiveness, X2 is simultaneously scrappier and more ambitious, leaning harder on spectacle and gimmicks to decidedly more mixed success, and it’s a better game in my eyes for it.

Where X1 has a tutorial level so famous even I, a girl who thought until like a month ago that Mega Man and Mega Man X were the same guy, knew about it, X2 eschews the elegant intro for something that feels a lot more at home in the 90s – gritty and cool, our war hardened hero making a bombing run on a giant warbot factory, his adorable partner getting sniped off of his sick hover-motorcycle in an unintentionally hilarious opening cutscene. The difficulty is amped up here compared to the opening of the first game, the graphics noticeably more complex, with lots of background layers and big, fluidly animated sprites, and everything caps off with a boss that isn’t a test of skill so much as the kind of wowza look what we can do that is less about showing off what kind of GAMEPLAY is possible now and more about showing off what kind of COOL LOOKING SHIT is possible now. And it worked on me its rad.

This is an ethos that permeates the entire game. Levels aren’t as consistently fun and they’re certainly not as tight as X1 but they ARE consistently beautiful and I think the score is better to. It’s still goofy, fuzzy SNES soundchip buttrock but it’s more sonically varied, more likely to switch up the sound even outside of obvious level-theme-dependent musical cues.

The bosses here, too, are just a straight upgrade to X1. I appreciate that we’re taking advantage the SNES’ power to vary what the bosses are able to do, something that this team dabbled in a little bit last time with the likes of Storm Eagle’s open arena but you see a LOT more of here. You get arenas with unlimited vertical space, bosses who don’t populate the arena at all, bosses that don’t HAVE arenas. Overdrive Ostrich is a king and I will not hear otherwise. The endgame, too is a flat upgrade over the first game. Better levels and better bosses. I saw that final form of the final guy and my jaw hit the floor, utterly joyful.

Mega Man X is a series in an interesting place, at this point in its life. It doesn’t feel like it quite has its own identity. It seems like it wants to be distinct from Mega Man proper, what with the emphasis on movement tech and secret upgrades hidden in all the levels, expanded here with the addition of hidden boss fights to unlock an alternate ending. At the same time though, it’s clinging to convention in a way that I don’t think is helpful. Like, the X games have enough going on in them, with much more incentive to revisit levels and thoroughly explore levels, to lengthen the games enough that having me refight the first eight bosses at the end of the game feel like an exhaustive exercise in padding rather than an exciting road to the endgame. Even though I don’t think this game is as consistently excellent as X1, I appreciate the intensity of its ambition, and I think it hits higher highs, especially when it pushes against the boundaries of what Mega Man is allowed to look like. I hope the X series finds it in itself to keep exploring that space, and find a more unique identity in Mega Man’s legacy.