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Mega Man 5 Game Review

Mega Man 5 is a 1992 platform game developed by Capcom for the NES. It was the fifth game in the Mega Man series and the most standard entry in the series so far.

The main issue that this particular entry continues to have is predictability. Its predecessor was very problematic to me in its difficulty and some questionable bosses while this fifth installment was simply not as hard, but the lack of originality made it not as impressive today. It only rarely got that iconic gameplay moment. Most of it is regular and been there, done that.

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The plot is again the same and that twist near the end is borderline ridiculous for being repeated countless times by now. Again, this game would have benefited wildly had they included at least some authentic elements. They do happen, but only sporadically.

Running, jumping and continuing to meet a boss at the end of each world. This was the basic pitch here and it worked once again despite it being so familiar. The game-changing (literally) Mega Buster is still here, so obviously that addition from the fourth stuck around. I loved this decision because it helped me with the stretch of final bosses.

However, that led to the many bosses giving you forgettable or plain terrible weapons that are useless for the overall game and they don’t help you in the slightest. They really could mess up these Robot Master designs from time to time. The power-ups are the same as always and they all worked, but the bird that you could get was too much of a help for the future bosses.

There are eight stages in Mega Man 5, excluding of course the final stage, which is where the final bosses are along with all of the previous bosses that you have to get through once again in order to beat the game. For me, the difficulty level was wildly uneven in this entry to the point where some bosses and stages were ridiculously easy, and some like the last stage were super hard. Still though, the final couple of bosses were easier than they were in ‘Mega Man 4’, which I appreciated, though the same old plot twist in the end started to bother me here.

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Star Man’s Stage is cosmic in aesthetic and quite cool, but those star-shaped obstacles could get quite difficult to evade, though the designs of the levels were excellent here. Gravity Man’s Stage is one of the most impressively unique and inventive stages in this entry. This is where the gravity is changed and you must go on the roof in certain areas. This invention made the whole stage very fun to play.

Gyro Man’s Stage is also fun in those moving platforms as this is the mechanic in platformers that I always gravitate toward. Crystal Man’s Stage is somewhat less memorable in its obstacles and enemies, but the visuals here are absolutely splendid. Napalm Man’s Stage is quite dated in its Vietnam War-inspired setting, and it simply felt out of place in an otherwise futuristic-themes game.

Stone Man’s Stage is also better, but again far from visually appealing and rarely as fun as the others. Charge Man’s Stage isn’t memorable in setting and aesthetic, but the enemies are interesting and demanding. As for Wave Man’s Stage, it includes another fascinating invention that was a scene-stealer along with the aforementioned gravity play. That jet water surfing part of the level was visually pleasing, kinetic and wildly entertaining while being genuinely hard to beat as well.

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As for the bosses, they are as always a mixed bag. Some are ridiculously easy and just terrible (Napalm Man and Stone Man are the worst), some of them are typical in their moving patterns (Wave Man and Charge Man among others) and a couple are just fantastic with the best ones being Gravity Man, Gyro Man and the very well imagined Crystal Man.

The Final Stage introduced the Dark Men boss fights and they were all super forgettable, but the final bosses are per usual among the best imagined ones in terms of mechanics and strategy. Yes, Wily was rather standard in his moves, but some previous bosses were so well realized that they led to genuinely fascinating fights. Big Pets was by far the best of the bunch here.

Mega Man 5 actually has improved level designs for most of its stages when compared to its predecessor, but the uneven difficulty and a definite lack of originality for the most part made it inferior to the fourth entry, even though I found it more pleasant to play due to its easier difficulty.

Graphically speaking, the game is excellent. They managed to make most of the stages pop with impressive color work and some very cool and even striking futuristic imagery. The world building is surprisingly solid in this entry as most of the stages are intricately designed and different from each other in setting and tone.

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The game also controls very well and it sounds amazing given that most of the levels feature some of the best 8-bit music out there. This series has always had great music and the majority of the tracks here are reliably outstanding and cool.