Compared to the first Xtreme game, Mega Man Xtreme 2 does have more original content, though. It has an improved story (although it's still rather shallow) and unique fortress bosses (with the exception of Velguarder, Sigma's dog, who was taken from Mega Man X for the first fortress stage, and Sigma's first form which is taken from Mega Man X2) and it has mostly new stage designs that are not so much ripped straight from the SNES games. In fact, Neon Tiger and Blast Hornet's stages have more in common with Sting Chameleon and Storm Eagle's stages, respectively.

The most significant addition compared to either the SNES games or the first Xtreme game is that Zero is a fully playable character here for all our slashing needs. He plays a bit like Zero out of Mega Man Zero, but has animations like those from X4/X5 and X6. Zero can gain weapons from bosses like X can, including an obligatory uppercut slash and drill stab, but also other, more different moves such as a variant of Mega Man X's charged Fire Wave and boss moves like Wire Sponge's Lightning attack and Launch Octopus' homing fish attack. Just plain old slashing with the Z-Saber typically remains the most efficient tool, though.

The game has a Parts system like in Mega Man X5 and Mega Man X6, although it doesn't really have a lot of upgrades, much less useful ones. The only really useful ones, that are used in this speedrun, are the Buster +1 and +2 parts for X and Saber +1 and +2 for Zero. Stacking both upgrades for each character causes a significant damage boost for both characters, which saves a lot of time on boss fights.

Other than that, the gameplay of Mega Man Xtreme 2 is very similar to the first Xtreme game. It has similar pacing and glitching.

In this run, both X and Zero are used. Zero turns out superior early on, while X is faster in the middle part. The action then returns to Zero for the final couple of stages.