I didn't like Zero 1 very much, so I was worried if the next game was gonna keep the same level of mediocrity as the first game. Fortunately it didn't! I might not love Zero 2 but it's a huge improvement over the first game in every way.

The levels are a big improvement over the first game, not only are all of them fun but they give you some goodies like lives or Cyber-Elves as a reward for experimenting with the different abilites of your weapons, especially the Chain Rod which, despite being a bit janky and imperfect, was a ton of fun to use. The soundtrack was also an improvement over the first game, it wasn't amazing but there were definitely some bangers. The mission format went back to the more traditional Mega Man style which I definitely appreciate and thank god they improved the save system.
Despite liking all the levels, I do feel like Zero 2 suffers from the same imperfections of Zero 1 within the levels, there are definitely some points where the game can be a little cheap. But it's pretty infrequent and it's definitely not as cheap as Zero 1. Mega Man Zero 2 really slaps, if you haven't played any Zero game I highly recommend starting with this one.

Also Elpizo is epic