Mega Man/Wily Fortress 2

After defeating the Yellow Devil, Mega Man has managed to get one step closer to Dr. Wily, but there's still a long way to go. He must now descend to the entrance of the fortress sewers which he will use to get deeper inside the fortress. There will be a few nasty surprises along the way. The first may be your discovery that your weapon energies are not replenished from the previous stage. From now on, every weapon capsule you find is precious. Be sure not to squander them; make sure you refuel weapons that need it most, or those which you know will be important in later battles.

Stage

 * A: Your only threat in the opening portion of this stage are Bunby Helis. Though they are not particular difficult to deal with, they can easily kill you if you make one mistake.  There is no ground below the platforms.  Therefore, you should not attempt to leap over any gaps while any helis are present on the screen.  Let them come to you and take them out before you jump.  Otherwise, they can push you off a ledge that you just landed on and send you falling to your death.
 * B: You will see two small weapon capsules at the end of this small hallway. However, if you attempt to run straight over to them, you will discover a secret trap door and miss them.  To collect the capsules, you must jump directly over the center of the hallway.  Whether you fall down accidentally, or on purpose, it's the only way to proceed.  When you land, you'll be confronted by none other than Cut Man!  Whether you know his weakness or not, it will make no difference since you are unable to use it against him.  You'll have to rely on your Mega Buster (or optionally the Fire Storm).  Fortunately, Cut Man is the Robot Master most vulnerable to the attack of the Mega Buster.  Stand on the right side of the room and fire away at Cut Man, jumping over the Rolling Cutter blades that he throws at you.  Once you defeat him, run over to the left side of the room and you'll discover another trap door.
 * C: You won't have to worry about any Bunby Helis attacking you in this section. There are only two Screw Drivers to be concerned with.  Don't bother trying to deal with the first one, and certainly ignore the small health capsule next to it.  You'll take more damage trying to collect it than it can restore.  You can shoot at the second Screw Driver if you like once you land to the right of it.
 * D: Once again, there is a secret trap door here before the weapon capsules. Only this time, it's moved closer to the capsules.  Leap over the space just before the capsules if you would like to collect them, and then drop down to face the next challenge.  You'll come face to face with a revived Elec Man, and it won't take long for him to begin his attack.  Naturally, if you know his weakness, it would be best to switch to the right weapon and take him out as quickly as possible.  The longer that you're in the room with him, the better chance he has of doing substantial damage to you.  Don't give him that opportunity.  Destroy him and you'll be able to drop down to the next portion of the stage by falling through the secret trap door on the left side of the room.


 * E: The most important thing to remember here is: don't die! If you get killed here, you will be sent all the way back to the start of the stage, and be forced to fight Cut Man and Elec Man all over again.  The only enemy that you encounter through this stretch is the invincible Bombombomb.  They fly up and explode into four pieces.  Let the pieces fall before you continue along the platforms.  You'll see a small weapon capsule, but it's risky to collect and best left alone.  Make it to the ladder at the end, and you'll be safe from having to worry about where you will continue.


 * F: Once you reach this spot, any time you lose your life, you'll start from here. The good news is there's an extra life hanging out on a platform to the left.  You can easily reach it by creating a platform with the Magnet Beam.  Even better news: any time you die, the extra life will return for you to collect.  Just don't get careless and fall down here.  Even if you do manage to survive by not landing on the spikes, you'll have a hard time getting back to safety.  The remainder of the trek down to the bottom is loaded with Suzys.  Remember that the Rolling Cutter makes short work of Suzy.  Activate it and use it to quickly clear the Suzys away as you make your way down the stage.


 * G: When you reach this screen, you'll see a large weapon capsule hanging out on a small platform to the left of a ladder. Four Blasters are attached to the right wall.  It's best to clear as many of them as you can before attempting to climb the ladder.  Clear away the remainder as you climb up.  Then refuel whichever weapon is in the most need of energy before making your way back down.  One more screen separates you and the boss of the stage.

Boss: Mega Clone
When you fall down to the bottom of the room, two devices will drop down from the ceiling. One will hover over you while the other remains above the space to the right of you. Eventually, a replica of you will appear, and the devices will return to the ceiling. Mega Man must now face his toughest opponent yet… himself. Not only can the clone move and shoot like you can, it has access to every weapon you do. In fact, it will switch to any weapon that you switch to, taking away any advantage that you try to gain. To make matters worse, when the two of you collide, you will be the only one taking damage! This fight is all about strategy.

There is one weapon you can use to give you a slight advantage. Remember that the Fire Storm creates a shield around you whenever you use it. Since the clone always tries to jump over you when it gets close, you can fire off the Fire Storm and hit the clone with the shield that it generates. This will only knock him back a little bit, so you may have to move away, or fire off another shot very quickly. Although the clone will be trying to hit you with the Fire Storm weapon as well, it will be unable to use it as efficiently as you can.

It is also possible to get a pattern going with the fire storm. With the clone on the opposite side of the room as you are, it will jump when you jump. When you both jump, pop off a round of fire storm and it will hit the clone and knock it back. It will never have the chance to get close to you if you keep doing it.

If you are out of Fire Storm, the Thunder Beam is also pretty effective against the clone. However, you will be just as vulnerable to the beam's wide attack range as the clone, so you'll have to try to out-fire him if you use it. None of the other weapons will help much in this fight. There are no blocks to throw with the Super Arm, it's difficult to properly time attacks with the Hyper Bomb, and the Ice Slasher doesn't even hurt the clone. That leaves the Mega Buster and the Rolling Cutter, neither of which are particularly effective against the clone. However if you time your shots correctly, you can use the Mega Buster to pin the clone to the edge of the room and keep knocking him back whenever he comes close to you. Stay on the ground to execute this strategy.