Not as bad as people will have you think, but that doesn't mean its good. The 'ending' is way too short, and ends out of no where, and the combat usually leaves you so outnumbered that you forced to take a few lives.
Improves upon the original game in most aspects, except the controls. Alex feels so slippery, its hard to finish a lot of the levels that I originally breezed through in the first game.
Even though it brought Astro mans' stage and Wily Stage 3 into existence, the game is still fantastic on most other factors, having banger's like Tengu man's stage and wily stage 2. The anime cut-scenes are iconic.