I have had this idea in my head for years now that a large part of the reason why people say the latter Mega Man NES titles are "bad" is because they play the games in order on a modern collection and are burned out by the time the latter half of games roll around. I don't think any of the original games are anything less than great if you judge them individually and don't just compare them to, say, MM2.
I agree. I told a friend he should play the NES Mega Man games in reverse. The result? Mega Man 4, 5 and 6 are his favorites, and he thinks all the other NES games are just bland downgrades! see how the order you play them and perspective matters. It even makes sense though, I can't see anything the previous games did better than Mega Man 5 or 6, they're superior in every way, especially graphics, maybe not music, but everything else is great. People are just extremely biased towards the first 4 games.
Also I find it quite annoying how ridiculous Mega Man players opinions usually are. Like "Mega Man 4 is the best because it added the charged shot!! Mega Man 5 and 6 also have the charged shot, but they didn't add it, so they're worse!!"" it feels like talking to children. Personally I think all six of the NES MM games were great, and it's a damn shame that people ignore them after 3 just because they play similarly. One of the reasons I love MM (especially classic) is because it doesn't fix what isn't broken. They're solid as they are, and I think not every game series needs to innovate to the point that it becomes unrecognizable. There's something to be said for finding a fun formula and sticking with it.
You can see a great example of that on this very channel. J reviewed every game from the Zero/ZX collection in order some years ago and by the time he got to ZXA he was completely burned out and made the most dogshit review ever, to the point where he even apologized for it later. ZXA is a game with a ton of content in sidequests, challenges, minigames, extra difficulty modes and two different story modes with gameplay variations. It kept me entertained for years when I got it as a kid, but if you get to it after five other games that you played back to back with a very similar structure and gameplay then you're already tired of the game before you even press start.
The only thing I don't like in it are the weapons, most of them are weaker than the buster which makes them pretty much useless. Everything else though is amazing, love this game.
@DOC_951 It's 50-50. He has said that 5 is one of the most well-made Megaman titles, but he not only understands why this is not a title that anyone will remember, he himself will not think much of this title after he played it. The 4-6 trilogy is just too clean to have any impact. So, idk. Maybe he has defended the title, or maybe he is commenting about the sad fate of the NES sequel trilogy. I will agree with you on the fact that he is not a defender on the game. Big difference between an active defender vs. a comment that he acknowledges.
I think another reason why MM5 is so overlooked is because it only lasted a year being the new game prior to it being overshadowed by X1 and we all know how iconic X1 is, so MM5 simply wasn't given enough time to build a legacy, sadly.
And just the SNES in general. Most NES kids were moving on to the SNES after it was released in 1991 (Christmas for me) and never experienced the latter trilogy. I didn't know anything beyond Mega Man 3 even existed until sometime in college when the NES collection was released on XBOX (yes, I'm old)
See, I never owned an SNES, and SNES emulation was tricky to get working right in those early years, so I ended up trying a lot of late-gen NES ROMs with no idea the cartridges they were dumped from would become overlooked and rare and expensive over time!
MM6 also makes the charge shot act like the MM4 charge shot: get destroyed when hitting an enemy with the exact same health as the damage the shot deals.
That stage design really is just gorgeous. There are so many vibrant colors on display that if I didn't know better, I could almost mistake them for early 16-bit.
@@alexandreturcotte6411 I see it both ways, if u have a new weapon u didn't have before doing the 8 stages, then u get to see how it performs against the 8 bosses adding to the fun factor, but if there's no new weapon's you'll really feel the game is just padding things most of the time
@@panthekirb7561 J has literally never complained about them being too difficult, the problem is entirely with them being exceedingly boring. In fact the lack of difficulty in part due to the weaknesses is probably a big part of the reason they are so boring.
@@videogamingfreak13 They aren't boring though. If your brain isn't stimulated from destroying robot masters then mega man just isn't the type of game for you.
For my problem for MM5 is that I don't find the robot master weapons that enjoyable so I find myself using the charge shot and sadly that means the ost gets overshadow from the charge shot sfx.
Are you playing a non NES version? Back in 1994 (when I finally managed to play MM5) the biggest upgrade for me was the fact that the Mega Buster was easy to silence in MM5 and I could finally be able to enjoy the music. That was the only reason I barely charged shots in MM4, but it was no problem in 5 and 6.
One thing I like about Megaman 5 was the Robot Masters character designs. Each of them look unique, and their silhouettes are different from one another. Chargeman is my favorite design wise and stage theme. The boss fights could have been better and the powers mostly lack luster and redundant.
It’s very easy to overlook Megaman 5 as a neglected middle child but you cannot deny that it is better designed and a bit more fleshed out than the first three games and even having improved graphics for NES standards. It’s a shame how Dr. Cossack is immediately tossed aside and even get a mention unless you read the manual, he also plays no part in the series after 5 either sadly. Also is the Jet Ski section in Wave Man’s stage the very first instance of a Ride Chaser before Megaman X? It’s no wonder J didn’t like it lol, but the challenge feels more fair than say, X5 Volt Kraken, X7 Ride Boarski, and especially X8 Avalanche Yeti and Gigavolt Man-O-War. Overdrive Ostrich and Jet Stingray aren’t too bad.
As someone who was there and a huge Mega Man fan at the time, it’s not that the fans didn’t appreciate Mega Man 5, the critics didn’t. The Genesis and SNES were in full swing and the critics/magazines were ready for next gen Mega Man. I was only 6 or 7 at the time and just had an NES so my friends and I loved Mega Man 5. I feel like the critics would’ve hated anything on old hardware at the time. 5 just had unfortunate timing.
Unsurprising when you factor just how biased critics tended to be, we’re talking about the same time period where critics preferred SHMUPs to RPGs after all because “they were faster.”
@@abaddon1503 Well SHUMPs are better than RPGs. Honestly, shumps are really underappreciated and are never on "best games of all time lists" where you always see Final Fantasy IV, VI, and VII (with no Dragon Quest either for some reason) but no Gradius games. Also I actually prefer RPGs, I just didn't like how you dismissed an entire genre like that.
I’ll also look at Mega Man 5 as a good game. I just get a bit more critical of it when I have to compare it to other *Mega Man* games. Despite that, I don’t see it as a forgettable game, I personally always remembered as “the game with THAT charged shot” because I often find myself using that over the special weapons most of the time(probably because the water wave, charge kick and power stone are just bad). Still fun game ⭐️, Napalm Man’s the GOAT
I definitely see where you're coming from. For example, I find Mega Man 1 to be pretty rough compared to the other NES games, but on its own? It's actually one of the better games on the system. I'd play MM1 any day of the week before the likes of Metroid, Zelda 1&2, Castlevania 2, Kid Icarus, and even Super Mario Bros. The same can be said for MM5 except on a much more drastic scale
8:50 here's something neat to know about the M Tank, if you use the M Tank while all your health and weapon energy is full, any weak enemies on the screen will turn then all into 1-Ups, a good place to do this in is Gyro Man's stage where you see the chicken enemy dispense out baby chickens, its a good way to get some extra lives.
MM5 was definitely a game I forgot at times until I saw Caddicarus's video on the classic series and to me, 5 is part of my Top 3 favorite Classic MM games.
What really hurt the game's reputation was at launch it was square in the middle of the 16 bit era, Mega Man X was already seen as the successor to the franchise. As a huge fan of the series when I was a kid the last one I had major hype for was 4 as it was being eclipsed by the newer generation of console. Still a friend of mine had 5 and 6 so we had some fun times with them. Honestly the biggest memory I have of it is the Nintendo Power coverage.
I think Mega Man 5 is probably the most underrated in the classic series. If you look past the lack of original ideas and bad weapons, it's a fun game with very unique Robot Master stages.
In my mind Mega Man 5 holds this weirdly rarified place in gaming history to me. Grew up obssesed with the franchise and owned 2 & 4 as a kid so when 5 came out I literally showed up to my local Blockbuster (even though this was technically still the era of the mom and pop video shop on most blocks, in my experience most of them were usually too poor to acquire or keep up with new games coming out so where I lived Blockbuster was the only one to have it) like two hours after opening day when it came out. Of course somebody got to it before me. I spent almost six months showing up every Friday trying to rent that damn game. It was never in. Finally one day a manager said to me “Hey kid: some brat rented that the first day we got it and never returned it.” To this day I wonder how many other kids felt as jilted as I did, fingers crossed and brimming with optimism they’d finally get it, only to be heartbroken week after week. So I never got to play it until many years later and it has always maintained this elusive glow to me. This is just further reinforced by the fact that it is now handily the hardest to find CIB in the wild and as such usually comes with the price-tag to match.
Megaman 5 is actually super memorable to me for a specific reason: When I first was binging the classic games, I actually missed one of the letters spelling Megaman V, so I never unlocked Beat. (It was actually that same blind drop you pointed out in the video. And I didn't feel like redoing the level, which unbeknownst to me would later come back to bite me.) So I played through the entire game and made it to the final boss, only to realize I couldn't damage him without Beat! This was really upsetting, cause it meant not only would I have to replay that one level and unlock Beat, but I'd also have to re-play that entire final gauntlet just to get back to where I was. So, I put the games down for a few years. It's super funny to me in hindsight, cause one of the most forgotten Megaman titles actually made a lasting impression on me!
if I'm being honest this is by far my least favorite of the classic series, mainly due to how bad most special weapons are (they're either way to weak like the crystal eye or napalm bomb, awkward as hell to use like the charge kick or powerstone, or both like the gyro attack, with the only one I can call good being the gravity hold) and particularly how bad it felt to play, I played all the NES games on the legacy collection and 5 just felt so much choppier in its frame rate then the others, its hard to explain if you didn't play it on 3ds but that alone made it feel so much worse to play
Yeah, I always wondered what was up with the choppiness on 3DS. Anyway, Mega Man 5 is also my least favorite of the classic series - not only do the weapons suck, but enemies also have really long I-frames (which isn't the case in any other Mega Man game).
The only weapon that is decent is gyro attack, because it gets some uses that the buster can’t obliterate. Gravity hold seems good until you realize it only does one damage and you can only kill weak enemies with one blast.
@@megaedge2762 ah well then I guess all of them suck (I just don't like the gyro attack its really awkward to use and doesn't do nearly enough damage to compensate)
Glad you have reviewed this. After playing MM5 twice yesterday and a bit today, I've decided that it is my favorite out of the NES Mega Man games, edging out MM6.
My main problem with Mega Man 5 is its charge shot, not because of the bigger hitbox, but because when the shot kills an enemy with one hit, it continues to travel across the screen. Not all of the weapons in the game are bad, but the charge shot is so powerful that players have less incentive to use the special weapons as a result. Thankfully, Mega Man 6 nerfed this aspect of the charge shot while retaining the larger hitbox. Other than that, I agree with all of your points. Great video, as always!
MegaMan 5 is and will always be my favorite Classic MegaMan of all time it is my first Megaman game and the first game I ever beat. This game also introduced me to the series when I was 8 years old in 1993 without this game I wouldn’t be here right now regardless of 5’s reputation this game holds a special place for me.
All the NES mega man games (except maybe the first one) are very good. They did themselves a disservice by not changing the graphical style. It's the same way people look at The Lost Levels and think of it as just a ROM hack more than an individual game. The Mario series otherwise changed the graphic style with every NES entry and it made a big difference. Also applies to the NSMB series and how bored people got with the same style every game
Mega Man 5 is my favorite in the entire series. The music and level design is top-notch. Every weapon is useful (except the Power Stone), but none are annoyingly overpowered like some of the ones in the first two games. I love it.
Megaman 5 is the only one I actually owned, so I ended up playing it a lot more than the others. So naturally my nostalgia glasses made it my favorite. But it's certainly worthy of that, it's a fun game!
I actually think that Mega Man 4 is important entry as well for the charge shot which is a staple of the series and should get recognition for it. And I really like what you said at the end there about wow factor, as that is definitely an important factor even if it’s not “objective”. Although MM5 was actually made by a different team than the first 4 entries.
Speaking of charge shot I’ve talked with some fans and some of them say the charge shot should’ve debuted in the X series to differentiate both series more, I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Rgarding the charge noise, only MM4 makes you listen too it. You can cancel the charge noise out in 5 and 6 by fully charging, going into the weapon select screen, then backing out.
I like your assessment on why Mega Man 1-3 are more discussed than 4-6. I feel that the games really hit their creative stride with 4-6 and unfortunately they are in the shadow of 1-3 because those games simply did a lot of stuff first. Mega Man 5 definitely deserves more love with all of the ambitious ideas it introduced for stages.
Minus the still loud chargeshot, i cant recall a set of Wily-castle stages as colorful as MM5 but also challenging. While MM4 did start the trend they did get bit short past Cossack, and we got a more diversified instrumentation in soundtrack.
The level design in MM5 is so cool and shows that they were still experimenting and getting creative. The soundtrack isn't up to par with the first 4 games but it still has some genuine bops as well.
Fun fact, the 1-up drop rate is the same in MM4 as it is in MM5, you just kill a lot more enemies in 5 so it happens a lot more. I'm glad you didn't strike down the robot design in 5 as well. It's very amusing to me when people say by MM5 they were running out of ideas when it's clear they didn't. 1) These designs were made by fans won in a contest and the developers loved their ideas, clearly and 2) what people mean by "out of ideas" is actually "they didn't use another element again and I think something unique looks weird". Having something like Charge Man just shows how *creative* this series is with good designs and I hope (if they continue the series) they keep up those kinds of designs. 5 is such a good game, glad to see a positive review for once.
Joke's on you; it was already my favorite NES Mega Man. (Though my favorite classic Mega Man in general was Mega Man 3 Game Boy.) That being said, it's always great to see these games getting a newfound appreciation with the benefit of hindsight.
I am just glad I that it gets a tiny bit more love these days, it's my personal favorite game in the series because of it just being so fun and relaxing to play, I an hop into it and always enjoy myself. it's such a good Mega Man game. I cannot wait for Mega Man 7, I wanna see how much he talks about how hard the Wily Battle is lol
Just a tip to make hitting Chargeman with Stoneman's weapon is to shoot while you jump over Chargeman, it makes the shot line-up nicely so you don't have to deal with the akward trajectory of the weapon.
I'm glad mm5 is getting more positive recognition as of lately, people always tend to sleep on games that don't bring many new ideas to the table but in its execution I'd say it's better than 1, and in other cases even 3 and 4.
It’s worth mentioning that Mega Man 5 was the first game to actually FEEL completable buster-only, like it was a canon play-style. It’s why I never cared much about the lackluster weapons - my enjoyment comes from what these games feel like _without_ having to rely on weapons to do the hard sections for you, or serve as band-aid solutions for shoddy level design. 5 feels like a gift to the buster boys
The one thing I always think about Mega Man 5 is that the bosses of the Protoman castle are all boring little robots, while the Wily castle bosses are proper giant mechs.
Mega Man 2 was the first of the series I played as a kid (in my grandparents' basement). Mega Man 5 was the first one I owned. They both have a special place for me
i totally get what you mean by the "wow factor" thing that exactly how i felt when playing legend of zelda tears of the kingdom while i still had fun exploring the overworld in that game especially with now having the skies and depths it kinda lacks the "wow factor" i got from exploring the overworld in breath of the wild, cause its kinda hard to recapture that feeling of exploring a massive world twice when it already been done, the game mostly having the same overworld as its predecessor probably didn't help.
The Mega Buster in MM5 is a good version of the Mega Buster, but none of the Robot Master weapons are good enough to want to actually use their ammo outside of specific fights where they're a weakness and even then it's questionable for most of them. Basically it's a nice upgrade but the other offensive options weren't thought through well enough in comparison to it.
So I grew up with the anniversary collection on Gamecube and Megaman 5 was always interesting to me because the vibe of it didn't feel like the rest of the other nes titles. Plus i remember it being difficult but a recent revisit on the legacy collection is making me question that memory because well yes, it isn't that hard.
Loving this Mega Man marathon! Also, speaking of Exo Paradigm Gamer, do you know if he's going to come out with any new content anytime soon? I enjoy his in-depth reviews, as well!
I've always thought that Mega Man 5 perfected the classic Mega Man style. And for several years after it came out it was my favorite Mega Man game. Even now I look back on it quite fondly.
I believe Megaman 5 is overlooked is because it came out in late 1992, by this point most everybody had moved to the 16 bit machines of the time and it just set gathering dust at your local department store.
Surprisingly, even though I was binging the classic Mega Man games through the Legacy Collections, I personally grew rather fond of 5 upon replaying it; 4 and 5 were most likely the ones I remembered best from my childhood even though they weren't my first (ironically that was 7, who I've kinda gotten soured on upon replaying it, but even amongst the NES ones I played 2 beforehand). I'd rank it as my second favorite of the classic MM titles, second only to 4 and that's purely because I enjoy the extra contributions of 4 a lot (5 was still fun but we already knew Proto Man existed so a part of me still feels Cossack was somehow just more... "fresh", if that makes any sense. A larger window into the world beyond the Light and Wily feud). Everything else from level design to boss design to the endgame to the weapons were all pretty notable improvements, 4 just hit harder imo. Looking forward to the review of 6, as I feel that one sadly also isn't that appreciated, when its levels are pretty solid imo as well.
I rented Mega Man 2 in 1989 and was hooked from then on. When Mega Man 3 came out, I thought it was amazing and was at least as good as Mega Man 2. I eagerly looked forward to every new entry, and when Mega Man 4 came out even though I was still very young I could tell it was great, just not quite as great as the first 3 for some reason. And that it how I felt about 5 and 6: eagerly looked forward to them, loved them, but they weren’t as great as the first 3. All of the NES Mega Man games are phenomenal and we are lucky to have them, a slightly less than amazing Mega Man game is still an incredible game experience compared to any others. -Cast
People complained about the weapon while there was some good one like Gravity Hold a Screen Nuke that fun and unique, Star Barrier which basically Skull Barrier but can be shoot, Super Arrow which Hard Knuckle and Item-2 combined, Gyro Attack which Magnet Missile but manual guided, Charge Kick which allow Megaman to slide and BYPASS any enemy without taking damage perfect for speedrun and finally th Beat which is the best weapon in 5. Mega Buster is also the strongest in the franchise which larger and faster charge which mow down any enemy. And sure some of the weapon are completely crap like Power Stone, Water Wave, Crystal Eye and Napalm Bomb but 6 out of 10 weapon actually works and quite underrated which obviously triumphed by the OP Mega Buster.
Mega Man 5 is the game I bust out when I just want to run a Mega Man game start-to-finish in a single, swift sitting. It IS the easiest of the first six, no doubt about that, but there are a few parts that hold a place in my heart. While I STILL consider it the weakest of the original six games I don't consider it a 'bad' game by any metric as far as the Mega Man formula is considered, and I personally LOVE how powerful the Mega Buster feels in this game. No other Mega Man game has ever matched it. I remember this game more fondly than, say, 9 or 10, even if I can admit that 9 is a better game on the whole. It still annoyed me more than anything else in some parts, and I don't hardly ever remember 10 at all, having only ever beaten it once. I'm very curious to see your opinion on 7. A lot of people give it a bad rap but 7 also holds a special place in my heart in spite of its flaws (some of the best Mega-Buster only robot master fights are in that game).
part of me wants to beat every megaman game on each collection but the problem is I will never beat da first game cause I can't do the ice stage in 2 mins. i spent like many many hours and still never beaten that stage. you have to precise every flipping jump while sliding on ice its redicolus.
I'm one of these cretins who greatly dislikes charge loss when taking damage, so that lowers 5 in my favourites list. The music is definitely up there as one of the best, though.
Hey! Didn't expect you to show up here! The charge loss is hardly an issue; in fact, it's the *only* thing balancing the Charge Shot, and even that's not enough.
This is a really great video, I have never thought about why the 4-6 trilogy gets that reputation, the later section of the video really made me understand it all I am glad that you are doing this series because these videos are really good. I am interested in seeing your opinion on 8 or why you don’t like 9 as much as others do if this series continues after 6 I hope
MM5 has the smoothest gameplay of the NES MM games. Silky smooth screen transitions in the levels, which I think they slowed down in MM6 so the player doesn't breeze through the levels. MM6 went on to nerf the jump-out-of-slide move, and I think the fully charged megabuster uses the same sound effect as the regular shot. MM6 slid backwards in a few ways.
@@RollingCutterif not THE worst. It looks cool until you realize that it only does 1 damage and kills weaker enemies only. You’d then have to spam it, and oh no, there goes all the weapon energy.
@@megaedge2762 I think its utilitarian purpose for clearing the screen of annoying dickhead enemies is why I like it so much. Megaman games have never been toothgrindingly difficult (save for a handful of really shittily designed scenarios in certain games) but they've never been "shut your brain off and play" easy either so with how many enemies you have to deal with simultaneously sometimes, having an option that can mitigate that crap instantly is only a good thing. Even if it's on a limited resource. But I've never been one for spamming special weapons in these games anyway.......save for Metal Blade but I mean that's kind of an unspoken standard. And even then I don't like solely relying on it like I've seen metric tons of other players do
Your channel is great, man! I just picked back up my OG Mega Man playthrough(dropped it years ago after finishing Mega Man 2, lool), and watching these after finishing a Mega Man has been a great part of my reflecting on each game! You also catch things that I missed, which is cool! You nabbed a sub from me, man. Mega Man is fucking greeeaaat. I might start the Battle Network titles soon. Any chance you'll visit those ones in some videos down the line?
MM5 has some of the most creative and memorable stage gimmicks/setpieces in the franchise, but I feel that the comparatively lax difficulty makes things blend together and feel more forgettable in retrospect than the experience as a whole really is. If MM5 were comfortable with pushing each gimmick's potential by adding them into increasingly complex scenarios (like MM9 and 10) so that the player would have to consciously recognize how each could affect traversal and problem-solving, then I think a lot of people would remember the strong variety of technically-impressive gimmicks that MM5 has to offer. As is, the gimmicks just feel like a nice bit of variety that you only ever need to consider at a base level, which makes less of a lasting impact compared to obstacles that trust in the player's ability to evolve alongside their increasingly complex applications.
Thank you! everyone thought i was crazy when I said the Mega buster ruined the experience of MM4-6. The sound distracts from the stage music, and you are less inclined to use boss weapons
Capcom actually collected the first 3 games once as "The Wily Wars". It's a good name for the Classic series as a whole. Which makes X "The Reploid Wars" and Zero the "Neo-Arcadia Wars". Not exactly Elf Wars since that was it's backstory. And please do the Gameboy Megaman games reviews too.
Dunno but considering how much the peeps behind Mega Man 5 squished out of the aging console at that point was amazing, despite the game just doing a refined more of the same thing in the end. Also i absolutely loved its soundtrack.
I think objectively that 4, 5, and 6 are better than 1, 2, and 3. The last three games are just so polished in gameplay, graphics, music, and presentation. Clearly 4, 5, and 6 could not have this polishing without the predecessors games, so maybe that fact joined with nostalgia and the tendency for people to root for the underdog is why so many seem to think more highly of 1, 2, and 3. Also, 5 and 6 in particular are quite easy, so the older installments being more difficult may also give the illusion they are better designed.
Completely agree with you on Mega Man 5. It was my favorite NES Mega Man game for a while, until 6 dethroned it completely. It may have one of the weakest selections of weapons, but I prioritize great level design over great weapons. And then comes 6 with great weapons and level design.
Every time I watch videos about MegaMan, I wish there was a way to play level/boss/power mashups. Mostly X since I'm more familiar with those games but with some tweaking it'd be cool to see it done with the originals
Mega man 5 (NES) was my introduction to the series. Even after playing the others, I still consider it the best. Yes, I know some of my criticisms are matters of preference (for example, I absolutely _hated_ the "whole screen time stop" bosses that were Flash/Light/Centaur Mans). I also didn't acquire Beat until _after_ having beaten the game. (For the longest time I was missing only the letter from Stone Man's stage, partly because the overscan of the CRT I played it on cut approximately 1 full tile from all borders making the destructible wall harder to notice.)
Considering New Super Mario Bros. Wii was one of my first ever games, it makes sense why I also like Mega Man 5 quite a lot. Both of them, while not huge on innovation, are just really polished.
I first heard about Mega Man 5 from Nintendo Power #44, way back in Jan '93. I didn't play 'til 10 years later, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Still do. The Robot Masters are in 5 are among some of my favorites.
I feel that MM5 had very nice graphics, some atmospheric music and some very interesting mechanics, like Gravity Flipping, High-Gravity or the spike navigation courses in Gyro Man's stage. The biggest problem is that it's way too easy. The drop rate for 1-UPs and other items is very high in the game, meaning you can max lives within two stages. The weapons are generally all very weak - Stone Man's boulders miss most of the time, Gravity Hold drains very quickly, Water Wave is a worse Search Snake, Charge Kick tends to collide with enemies when sliding through, Napalm Bombs don't deal splash damage and have tiny range, Crystal Eye's big shot does the same as a regular buster shot. The Gyro Attack, however, is a very nice sniping tool and Star Crash at least shields you. Stage design is pretty mediocre, a lot of rooms are often empty, with weak and easily predictable enemy layouts. The charge shot instantly breaks all the other weapons apart, as it destroys practically everything and breaks the difficulty in half. Wily 1's stage design is also the first stage to kill you without you knowing, when you jump down the spike shaft.
I don't even remember my own playthrough of Mega Man 5, but maybe that's also part of it- not a lot of people out there with nostalgic memories of this, I played MM3 as my first and played MM2 and 4 in my childhood, but around 5 I think I was drifting into Super NES games and then we soon had Mega Man X... so I played 5 on emulation just because I wanted to play Mega Man games, but I never really challenged it or engaged with it in the same way as with 2-4. Hard to really build solid memories int hat case.
A matter of perspective. A megaman game that looks like the last one when the last one was a year ago vs a megaman game that looks like the one before it when there have been no releases for 30 years
An interesting thing for me personally is this is my FAVORITE of the classic NES MegaMan games, and I think a large part of that is because. THIS was my FIRST. I had seen what Megaman WAS thanks to a friend renting MM3, but I only got to play like a few minutes of it. I later found MM5 for like five bucks used at a video rental store that was trying to clearance it out, and remembering how much I liked those few minutes of 3 (though I didn't know which one it was at the time) I bought MM5 because I felt like I'd enjoy it, and boy did I ever. It's since become my favorite video game franchise. Even more interesting is the fact that because I started the series with five. MM2 actually isn't all that big on my list of favorites, because it's a DOWNGRADE from what I started with. It's one of the biggest gripes I had with MM9 and 10. I want my damn slide and Mega Buster.
I remember it being a fun, mostly accessible game *and* I have been recommending it as the entry point for the Classic series. Now, I only realized that a few years ago...
For some reason the "M" Tank doesn't stand for "Mega" Tank, it's stands for "Mystery" Tank. Why it's called Mystery Tank instead of Mega Tank is the true mystery
@@JsReviews Now I'm wondering if I was fooled by a Wiki. I double checked a video and in the Japanese "Rock Man 5" on Famicom, it's still an "M" Tank, but it still seems to be littered with English, so I apologize if I'm spreading false information. EDIT: I just doubled checked in Mega Man 11, and it appears to be called a Mystery Tank there as well, so I guess English manual maker jumped to a logical conclusion, or it was renamed somewhere down the line? Mystery Tank indeed
As someone who has been playing all the original Mega Man games in order (taking breaks in between) I will say I very much so enjoyed 5 due to its polish. (This is from the perspective of someone who has never truly played the originals to their full extent) I just reached the Mr. X stages of Mega Man 6 and so far that one has been my favorite.
If Mega Man 5 had a more memorable soundtrack like 2 or 3 then I think this game would be top tier. I played Mega Man 5 recently after not having played it for 20 years and I was really impressed with it. I like it more than 4.
It's really nice seeing more appreciation for 5, it's always been one of my favorites. And tbh it's become my favorite NES entry. Some complaints I can get like like some of the weapons and the charge being a bit too overpowered, but yeah it really doesn't deserve to be considered the blandest classic entry. Especially when 10's literally right there. If I had to rank the NES games... 5 > 6 = 4 > 2 > 3 >> 1
Mega Man 5 is EXCELLENT. Being released after the launch of the Super NES and right around the launch of Mega Man X, this game was ignored by most. That's a shame because this is a beautiful, and beautifully made game.
I have had this idea in my head for years now that a large part of the reason why people say the latter Mega Man NES titles are "bad" is because they play the games in order on a modern collection and are burned out by the time the latter half of games roll around.
I don't think any of the original games are anything less than great if you judge them individually and don't just compare them to, say, MM2.
I agree. I told a friend he should play the NES Mega Man games in reverse. The result? Mega Man 4, 5 and 6 are his favorites, and he thinks all the other NES games are just bland downgrades! see how the order you play them and perspective matters.
It even makes sense though, I can't see anything the previous games did better than Mega Man 5 or 6, they're superior in every way, especially graphics, maybe not music, but everything else is great. People are just extremely biased towards the first 4 games.
Also I find it quite annoying how ridiculous Mega Man players opinions usually are. Like "Mega Man 4 is the best because it added the charged shot!! Mega Man 5 and 6 also have the charged shot, but they didn't add it, so they're worse!!"" it feels like talking to children.
Personally I think all six of the NES MM games were great, and it's a damn shame that people ignore them after 3 just because they play similarly. One of the reasons I love MM (especially classic) is because it doesn't fix what isn't broken. They're solid as they are, and I think not every game series needs to innovate to the point that it becomes unrecognizable. There's something to be said for finding a fun formula and sticking with it.
You can see a great example of that on this very channel. J reviewed every game from the Zero/ZX collection in order some years ago and by the time he got to ZXA he was completely burned out and made the most dogshit review ever, to the point where he even apologized for it later. ZXA is a game with a ton of content in sidequests, challenges, minigames, extra difficulty modes and two different story modes with gameplay variations. It kept me entertained for years when I got it as a kid, but if you get to it after five other games that you played back to back with a very similar structure and gameplay then you're already tired of the game before you even press start.
Not mine, but I respect your opinion.
Honestly, even with the comparison I think Mega Man 2 is one of the weaker entries to the series, second only to 1 in terms of aging badly.
MM5 isn't better than I remember because it's my favorite classic MM game.
Same
well… there you go!
It's still better.
The only thing I don't like in it are the weapons, most of them are weaker than the buster which makes them pretty much useless. Everything else though is amazing, love this game.
Me as well. Got it for my birthday at release as a kid. Still have it. I've almost perfected The game.
I’m happy someone is defending 5, it’s not as bad as what people say, even though I literally never hear anyone say anything about it lol
It’s a decent game, but it’s my least favorite of the hexology in my opinion
Still better than x6 and x7
@@Kain5thThat's not hard 🙄
He didn’t defend 5 lol… did you actually watch the video??
@DOC_951 It's 50-50. He has said that 5 is one of the most well-made Megaman titles, but he not only understands why this is not a title that anyone will remember, he himself will not think much of this title after he played it. The 4-6 trilogy is just too clean to have any impact.
So, idk. Maybe he has defended the title, or maybe he is commenting about the sad fate of the NES sequel trilogy. I will agree with you on the fact that he is not a defender on the game. Big difference between an active defender vs. a comment that he acknowledges.
I think another reason why MM5 is so overlooked is because it only lasted a year being the new game prior to it being overshadowed by X1 and we all know how iconic X1 is, so MM5 simply wasn't given enough time to build a legacy, sadly.
It's true. These are good games, but as a child X1 was just mind blowing in that "next gen" feeling.
And just the SNES in general. Most NES kids were moving on to the SNES after it was released in 1991 (Christmas for me) and never experienced the latter trilogy. I didn't know anything beyond Mega Man 3 even existed until sometime in college when the NES collection was released on XBOX (yes, I'm old)
See, I never owned an SNES, and SNES emulation was tricky to get working right in those early years, so I ended up trying a lot of late-gen NES ROMs with no idea the cartridges they were dumped from would become overlooked and rare and expensive over time!
This is technically the best charge shot of the NES era. It got a pretty noticeable size nerf in MM6.
It also sounds less powerful.
They replacement the sound when it furse with the same sound the regular buster makes.
Yeah. Too good. It breaks the game
@spoopy0262 Of course it nerfed. It was too damn strong in the fifth game.
It's huge but you lose the charge when taking damage. I guess that's a balance, but charge loss sucks and is frustrating.
MM6 also makes the charge shot act like the MM4 charge shot: get destroyed when hitting an enemy with the exact same health as the damage the shot deals.
That stage design really is just gorgeous. There are so many vibrant colors on display that if I didn't know better, I could almost mistake them for early 16-bit.
In Megaman 5, the megabuster continues if it hits a three shot enemy. In Megaman 4, the buster shot gets absorbed when hitting a three shot enemy.
J: "I've no fear of boredom"
[Cue the Megaman boss-rush]
J:"I've 1 fear of boredom"
I love boss rushes. Idk why people complain when in almost every game the weaknesses decimate the robot masters. To me its a skill issue.
@@panthekirb7561 Probably the "padding/reused content" aspect. I wish you a nice day.
@@alexandreturcotte6411 I see it both ways, if u have a new weapon u didn't have before doing the 8 stages, then u get to see how it performs against the 8 bosses adding to the fun factor, but if there's no new weapon's you'll really feel the game is just padding things most of the time
@@panthekirb7561 J has literally never complained about them being too difficult, the problem is entirely with them being exceedingly boring. In fact the lack of difficulty in part due to the weaknesses is probably a big part of the reason they are so boring.
@@videogamingfreak13 They aren't boring though. If your brain isn't stimulated from destroying robot masters then mega man just isn't the type of game for you.
For my problem for MM5 is that I don't find the robot master weapons that enjoyable so I find myself using the charge shot and sadly that means the ost gets overshadow from the charge shot sfx.
Are you playing a non NES version?
Back in 1994 (when I finally managed to play MM5) the biggest upgrade for me was the fact that the Mega Buster was easy to silence in MM5 and I could finally be able to enjoy the music.
That was the only reason I barely charged shots in MM4, but it was no problem in 5 and 6.
One thing I like about Megaman 5 was the Robot Masters character designs. Each of them look unique, and their silhouettes are different from one another.
Chargeman is my favorite design wise and stage theme.
The boss fights could have been better and the powers mostly lack luster and redundant.
MM5 and MM6 had very great themeatic stage design and stage themes.
Finally! My favorite Classic Mega Man game gets the justice it deserves!
MM5 is my favorite of the NES games. MM11 is my favorite overall.
It’s very easy to overlook Megaman 5 as a neglected middle child but you cannot deny that it is better designed and a bit more fleshed out than the first three games and even having improved graphics for NES standards. It’s a shame how Dr. Cossack is immediately tossed aside and even get a mention unless you read the manual, he also plays no part in the series after 5 either sadly. Also is the Jet Ski section in Wave Man’s stage the very first instance of a Ride Chaser before Megaman X? It’s no wonder J didn’t like it lol, but the challenge feels more fair than say, X5 Volt Kraken, X7 Ride Boarski, and especially X8 Avalanche Yeti and Gigavolt Man-O-War. Overdrive Ostrich and Jet Stingray aren’t too bad.
As someone who was there and a huge Mega Man fan at the time, it’s not that the fans didn’t appreciate Mega Man 5, the critics didn’t. The Genesis and SNES were in full swing and the critics/magazines were ready for next gen Mega Man. I was only 6 or 7 at the time and just had an NES so my friends and I loved Mega Man 5. I feel like the critics would’ve hated anything on old hardware at the time. 5 just had unfortunate timing.
Which is BS, because the Mega Man games felt better to play than on the SNES or PS1. Would rather play Mega Man 6 over Super Castlevania IV
Unsurprising when you factor just how biased critics tended to be, we’re talking about the same time period where critics preferred SHMUPs to RPGs after all because “they were faster.”
@@abaddon1503 Well SHUMPs are better than RPGs. Honestly, shumps are really underappreciated and are never on "best games of all time lists" where you always see Final Fantasy IV, VI, and VII (with no Dragon Quest either for some reason) but no Gradius games.
Also I actually prefer RPGs, I just didn't like how you dismissed an entire genre like that.
I’ll also look at Mega Man 5 as a good game. I just get a bit more critical of it when I have to compare it to other *Mega Man* games. Despite that, I don’t see it as a forgettable game, I personally always remembered as “the game with THAT charged shot” because I often find myself using that over the special weapons most of the time(probably because the water wave, charge kick and power stone are just bad). Still fun game ⭐️, Napalm Man’s the GOAT
Yeah if I’m in the mood for the charge shot, 5 is the game I play. But I don’t particularly like the charge shot, so that’s rare, but it does happen
I definitely see where you're coming from. For example, I find Mega Man 1 to be pretty rough compared to the other NES games, but on its own? It's actually one of the better games on the system. I'd play MM1 any day of the week before the likes of Metroid, Zelda 1&2, Castlevania 2, Kid Icarus, and even Super Mario Bros. The same can be said for MM5 except on a much more drastic scale
Also Power Stone is probably the most awkward weapon to use in the series, hope Capcom gives Power Stone another chance someday if you catch my drift.
8:50 here's something neat to know about the M Tank, if you use the M Tank while all your health and weapon energy is full, any weak enemies on the screen will turn then all into 1-Ups, a good place to do this in is Gyro Man's stage where you see the chicken enemy dispense out baby chickens, its a good way to get some extra lives.
Gravity man’s theme in Mega Man 5 is definitely my favorite ost from the game. It sounded both Uplifting and desperate at the same time
Wave Man’s theme is so calming and relaxing for a Water Base level.
Napalm Man's theme was always my favorite from this one
MM5 was definitely a game I forgot at times until I saw Caddicarus's video on the classic series and to me, 5 is part of my Top 3 favorite Classic MM games.
What really hurt the game's reputation was at launch it was square in the middle of the 16 bit era, Mega Man X was already seen as the successor to the franchise. As a huge fan of the series when I was a kid the last one I had major hype for was 4 as it was being eclipsed by the newer generation of console. Still a friend of mine had 5 and 6 so we had some fun times with them. Honestly the biggest memory I have of it is the Nintendo Power coverage.
I think Mega Man 5 is probably the most underrated in the classic series. If you look past the lack of original ideas and bad weapons, it's a fun game with very unique Robot Master stages.
5 has always been one of my favourite classic games
In my mind Mega Man 5 holds this weirdly rarified place in gaming history to me.
Grew up obssesed with the franchise and owned 2 & 4 as a kid so when 5 came out I literally showed up to my local Blockbuster (even though this was technically still the era of the mom and pop video shop on most blocks, in my experience most of them were usually too poor to acquire or keep up with new games coming out so where I lived Blockbuster was the only one to have it) like two hours after opening day when it came out.
Of course somebody got to it before me. I spent almost six months showing up every Friday trying to rent that damn game. It was never in.
Finally one day a manager said to me “Hey kid: some brat rented that the first day we got it and never returned it.”
To this day I wonder how many other kids felt as jilted as I did, fingers crossed and brimming with optimism they’d finally get it, only to be heartbroken week after week.
So I never got to play it until many years later and it has always maintained this elusive glow to me. This is just further reinforced by the fact that it is now handily the hardest to find CIB in the wild and as such usually comes with the price-tag to match.
I might be one of the few people who really liked the charge kick.
I dunno, it's Just fun, like using the gravity hold to send enemies into oblivion.
Megaman 5 is actually super memorable to me for a specific reason: When I first was binging the classic games, I actually missed one of the letters spelling Megaman V, so I never unlocked Beat. (It was actually that same blind drop you pointed out in the video. And I didn't feel like redoing the level, which unbeknownst to me would later come back to bite me.) So I played through the entire game and made it to the final boss, only to realize I couldn't damage him without Beat! This was really upsetting, cause it meant not only would I have to replay that one level and unlock Beat, but I'd also have to re-play that entire final gauntlet just to get back to where I was. So, I put the games down for a few years.
It's super funny to me in hindsight, cause one of the most forgotten Megaman titles actually made a lasting impression on me!
I always thought the soundtrack to this game was as good as 2
if I'm being honest this is by far my least favorite of the classic series, mainly due to how bad most special weapons are (they're either way to weak like the crystal eye or napalm bomb, awkward as hell to use like the charge kick or powerstone, or both like the gyro attack, with the only one I can call good being the gravity hold) and particularly how bad it felt to play, I played all the NES games on the legacy collection and 5 just felt so much choppier in its frame rate then the others, its hard to explain if you didn't play it on 3ds but that alone made it feel so much worse to play
Yeah, I always wondered what was up with the choppiness on 3DS. Anyway, Mega Man 5 is also my least favorite of the classic series - not only do the weapons suck, but enemies also have really long I-frames (which isn't the case in any other Mega Man game).
The only weapon that is decent is gyro attack, because it gets some uses that the buster can’t obliterate. Gravity hold seems good until you realize it only does one damage and you can only kill weak enemies with one blast.
@@megaedge2762 ah
well then I guess all of them suck (I just don't like the gyro attack its really awkward to use and doesn't do nearly enough damage to compensate)
True. They should’ve just done what megaman 3 did. Stick the gyro attack with magnets!
@@megaedge2762 yeah
Mega Man 5 has always been my favorite. I first played all the NES games on the Anniversary Collection and it just stood out to me.
Same here, 🙏🙏 i love 5 quite a bit, it was the first nes game I've ever beaten in my life
Glad you have reviewed this. After playing MM5 twice yesterday and a bit today, I've decided that it is my favorite out of the NES Mega Man games, edging out MM6.
My main problem with Mega Man 5 is its charge shot, not because of the bigger hitbox, but because when the shot kills an enemy with one hit, it continues to travel across the screen. Not all of the weapons in the game are bad, but the charge shot is so powerful that players have less incentive to use the special weapons as a result. Thankfully, Mega Man 6 nerfed this aspect of the charge shot while retaining the larger hitbox. Other than that, I agree with all of your points. Great video, as always!
MegaMan 5 is and will always be my favorite Classic MegaMan of all time it is my first Megaman game and the first game I ever beat. This game also introduced me to the series when I was 8 years old in 1993 without this game I wouldn’t be here right now regardless of 5’s reputation this game holds a special place for me.
All the NES mega man games (except maybe the first one) are very good. They did themselves a disservice by not changing the graphical style. It's the same way people look at The Lost Levels and think of it as just a ROM hack more than an individual game. The Mario series otherwise changed the graphic style with every NES entry and it made a big difference. Also applies to the NSMB series and how bored people got with the same style every game
Mega Man 5 is my favorite in the entire series. The music and level design is top-notch. Every weapon is useful (except the Power Stone), but none are annoyingly overpowered like some of the ones in the first two games. I love it.
Megaman 5 is the only one I actually owned, so I ended up playing it a lot more than the others. So naturally my nostalgia glasses made it my favorite. But it's certainly worthy of that, it's a fun game!
I actually think that Mega Man 4 is important entry as well for the charge shot which is a staple of the series and should get recognition for it. And I really like what you said at the end there about wow factor, as that is definitely an important factor even if it’s not “objective”. Although MM5 was actually made by a different team than the first 4 entries.
Speaking of charge shot I’ve talked with some fans and some of them say the charge shot should’ve debuted in the X series to differentiate both series more, I’m not sure how I feel about that.
@@brandonwilliams6119 I actually think the charge shot is better implemented in X series.
Rgarding the charge noise, only MM4 makes you listen too it. You can cancel the charge noise out in 5 and 6 by fully charging, going into the weapon select screen, then backing out.
Mega Man 5 is a vibe, and the charge shot having a larger sprite and hitbox is a far more significant upgrade than initially let on.
If your ad skipper isn't working, then you can watch from 0:00 - 0:25 for the opening, then skip to 1:32 for the actual video.
You're welcome.
Bold of you to assume we thanked you.
I like your assessment on why Mega Man 1-3 are more discussed than 4-6. I feel that the games really hit their creative stride with 4-6 and unfortunately they are in the shadow of 1-3 because those games simply did a lot of stuff first. Mega Man 5 definitely deserves more love with all of the ambitious ideas it introduced for stages.
Minus the still loud chargeshot, i cant recall a set of Wily-castle stages as colorful as MM5 but also challenging. While MM4 did start the trend they did get bit short past Cossack, and we got a more diversified instrumentation in soundtrack.
The level design in MM5 is so cool and shows that they were still experimenting and getting creative. The soundtrack isn't up to par with the first 4 games but it still has some genuine bops as well.
this game has an absolutely phenomenal soundtrack
My fav game including other series too like MM 1, 2, 3 ,7, 9 and a little bit of 8 and 10!
Fun fact, the 1-up drop rate is the same in MM4 as it is in MM5, you just kill a lot more enemies in 5 so it happens a lot more. I'm glad you didn't strike down the robot design in 5 as well. It's very amusing to me when people say by MM5 they were running out of ideas when it's clear they didn't. 1) These designs were made by fans won in a contest and the developers loved their ideas, clearly and 2) what people mean by "out of ideas" is actually "they didn't use another element again and I think something unique looks weird". Having something like Charge Man just shows how *creative* this series is with good designs and I hope (if they continue the series) they keep up those kinds of designs. 5 is such a good game, glad to see a positive review for once.
Joke's on you; it was already my favorite NES Mega Man. (Though my favorite classic Mega Man in general was Mega Man 3 Game Boy.)
That being said, it's always great to see these games getting a newfound appreciation with the benefit of hindsight.
I am just glad I that it gets a tiny bit more love these days, it's my personal favorite game in the series because of it just being so fun and relaxing to play, I an hop into it and always enjoy myself. it's such a good Mega Man game. I cannot wait for Mega Man 7, I wanna see how much he talks about how hard the Wily Battle is lol
Just a tip to make hitting Chargeman with Stoneman's weapon is to shoot while you jump over Chargeman, it makes the shot line-up nicely so you don't have to deal with the akward trajectory of the weapon.
I'm glad mm5 is getting more positive recognition as of lately, people always tend to sleep on games that don't bring many new ideas to the table but in its execution I'd say it's better than 1, and in other cases even 3 and 4.
MM5 is far from my favorite NES era MM title, but I still think it's a great game with its quality of life features.
It’s worth mentioning that Mega Man 5 was the first game to actually FEEL completable buster-only, like it was a canon play-style. It’s why I never cared much about the lackluster weapons - my enjoyment comes from what these games feel like _without_ having to rely on weapons to do the hard sections for you, or serve as band-aid solutions for shoddy level design. 5 feels like a gift to the buster boys
The one thing I always think about Mega Man 5 is that the bosses of the Protoman castle are all boring little robots, while the Wily castle bosses are proper giant mechs.
Mega Man 2 was the first of the series I played as a kid (in my grandparents' basement). Mega Man 5 was the first one I owned. They both have a special place for me
i totally get what you mean by the "wow factor" thing that exactly how i felt when playing legend of zelda tears of the kingdom while i still had fun exploring the overworld in that game especially with now having the skies and depths it kinda lacks the "wow factor" i got from exploring the overworld in breath of the wild, cause its kinda hard to recapture that feeling of exploring a massive world twice when it already been done, the game mostly having the same overworld as its predecessor probably didn't help.
Mega man 5 is literally my fav outside of 2 and 3. Also the intro is beyond my favorite, with castlevania 4s intro coming a close second 🫡💯👍🏾.
The Mega Buster in MM5 is a good version of the Mega Buster, but none of the Robot Master weapons are good enough to want to actually use their ammo outside of specific fights where they're a weakness and even then it's questionable for most of them. Basically it's a nice upgrade but the other offensive options weren't thought through well enough in comparison to it.
6:58 There is no pattern for those falling crystals, they are extremely random and can sometimes fall immediately after the prior one despawns.
So I grew up with the anniversary collection on Gamecube and Megaman 5 was always interesting to me because the vibe of it didn't feel like the rest of the other nes titles. Plus i remember it being difficult but a recent revisit on the legacy collection is making me question that memory because well yes, it isn't that hard.
Loving this Mega Man marathon! Also, speaking of Exo Paradigm Gamer, do you know if he's going to come out with any new content anytime soon? I enjoy his in-depth reviews, as well!
I've always thought that Mega Man 5 perfected the classic Mega Man style. And for several years after it came out it was my favorite Mega Man game. Even now I look back on it quite fondly.
I believe Megaman 5 is overlooked is because it came out in late 1992, by this point most everybody had moved to the 16 bit machines of the time and it just set gathering dust at your local department store.
Surprisingly, even though I was binging the classic Mega Man games through the Legacy Collections, I personally grew rather fond of 5 upon replaying it; 4 and 5 were most likely the ones I remembered best from my childhood even though they weren't my first (ironically that was 7, who I've kinda gotten soured on upon replaying it, but even amongst the NES ones I played 2 beforehand).
I'd rank it as my second favorite of the classic MM titles, second only to 4 and that's purely because I enjoy the extra contributions of 4 a lot (5 was still fun but we already knew Proto Man existed so a part of me still feels Cossack was somehow just more... "fresh", if that makes any sense. A larger window into the world beyond the Light and Wily feud). Everything else from level design to boss design to the endgame to the weapons were all pretty notable improvements, 4 just hit harder imo.
Looking forward to the review of 6, as I feel that one sadly also isn't that appreciated, when its levels are pretty solid imo as well.
WAKE TF UP NEW J’S REVIEW MEGA MAN REVIEW JUST DROPPED
imma say it best boss theme of the nes hexology. this was my first and favorite megaman game snd tied with 8 for mt favorite
One standout thing about MM5 is it apparently getting banned in Vietnam because of Napalm Man.
I rented Mega Man 2 in 1989 and was hooked from then on. When Mega Man 3 came out, I thought it was amazing and was at least as good as Mega Man 2. I eagerly looked forward to every new entry, and when Mega Man 4 came out even though I was still very young I could tell it was great, just not quite as great as the first 3 for some reason. And that it how I felt about 5 and 6: eagerly looked forward to them, loved them, but they weren’t as great as the first 3. All of the NES Mega Man games are phenomenal and we are lucky to have them, a slightly less than amazing Mega Man game is still an incredible game experience compared to any others.
-Cast
People complained about the weapon while there was some good one like Gravity Hold a Screen Nuke that fun and unique, Star Barrier which basically Skull Barrier but can be shoot, Super Arrow which Hard Knuckle and Item-2 combined, Gyro Attack which Magnet Missile but manual guided, Charge Kick which allow Megaman to slide and BYPASS any enemy without taking damage perfect for speedrun and finally th Beat which is the best weapon in 5. Mega Buster is also the strongest in the franchise which larger and faster charge which mow down any enemy. And sure some of the weapon are completely crap like Power Stone, Water Wave, Crystal Eye and Napalm Bomb but 6 out of 10 weapon actually works and quite underrated which obviously triumphed by the OP Mega Buster.
Mega Man 5 is the game I bust out when I just want to run a Mega Man game start-to-finish in a single, swift sitting. It IS the easiest of the first six, no doubt about that, but there are a few parts that hold a place in my heart. While I STILL consider it the weakest of the original six games I don't consider it a 'bad' game by any metric as far as the Mega Man formula is considered, and I personally LOVE how powerful the Mega Buster feels in this game. No other Mega Man game has ever matched it.
I remember this game more fondly than, say, 9 or 10, even if I can admit that 9 is a better game on the whole. It still annoyed me more than anything else in some parts, and I don't hardly ever remember 10 at all, having only ever beaten it once.
I'm very curious to see your opinion on 7. A lot of people give it a bad rap but 7 also holds a special place in my heart in spite of its flaws (some of the best Mega-Buster only robot master fights are in that game).
In Mega Man 5 and 6, I used the Mega Buster way more than the special attacks.
part of me wants to beat every megaman game on each collection but the problem is I will never beat da first game cause I can't do the ice stage in 2 mins. i spent like many many hours and still never beaten that stage. you have to precise every flipping jump while sliding on ice its redicolus.
I'm one of these cretins who greatly dislikes charge loss when taking damage, so that lowers 5 in my favourites list.
The music is definitely up there as one of the best, though.
Hey! Didn't expect you to show up here!
The charge loss is hardly an issue; in fact, it's the *only* thing balancing the Charge Shot, and even that's not enough.
This is a really great video, I have never thought about why the 4-6 trilogy gets that reputation, the later section of the video really made me understand it all
I am glad that you are doing this series because these videos are really good. I am interested in seeing your opinion on 8 or why you don’t like 9 as much as others do if this series continues after 6 I hope
MM5 has the smoothest gameplay of the NES MM games. Silky smooth screen transitions in the levels, which I think they slowed down in MM6 so the player doesn't breeze through the levels. MM6 went on to nerf the jump-out-of-slide move, and I think the fully charged megabuster uses the same sound effect as the regular shot. MM6 slid backwards in a few ways.
I think the Gravity Hold alone makes Megaman 5 worth some notoriety.
why? It's one of the worst screen-clear weapons in the series.
@@RollingCutterif not THE worst. It looks cool until you realize that it only does 1 damage and kills weaker enemies only. You’d then have to spam it, and oh no, there goes all the weapon energy.
@@megaedge2762 I think its utilitarian purpose for clearing the screen of annoying dickhead enemies is why I like it so much. Megaman games have never been toothgrindingly difficult (save for a handful of really shittily designed scenarios in certain games) but they've never been "shut your brain off and play" easy either so with how many enemies you have to deal with simultaneously sometimes, having an option that can mitigate that crap instantly is only a good thing. Even if it's on a limited resource. But I've never been one for spamming special weapons in these games anyway.......save for Metal Blade but I mean that's kind of an unspoken standard. And even then I don't like solely relying on it like I've seen metric tons of other players do
MM5 is my favorite of the NES era games. Best music, best levels [sans Wave Man], best bosses, best powerups.
My favorite Mega Man game in the nes!
Your channel is great, man! I just picked back up my OG Mega Man playthrough(dropped it years ago after finishing Mega Man 2, lool), and watching these after finishing a Mega Man has been a great part of my reflecting on each game! You also catch things that I missed, which is cool! You nabbed a sub from me, man. Mega Man is fucking greeeaaat.
I might start the Battle Network titles soon. Any chance you'll visit those ones in some videos down the line?
MM5 has some of the most creative and memorable stage gimmicks/setpieces in the franchise, but I feel that the comparatively lax difficulty makes things blend together and feel more forgettable in retrospect than the experience as a whole really is.
If MM5 were comfortable with pushing each gimmick's potential by adding them into increasingly complex scenarios (like MM9 and 10) so that the player would have to consciously recognize how each could affect traversal and problem-solving, then I think a lot of people would remember the strong variety of technically-impressive gimmicks that MM5 has to offer.
As is, the gimmicks just feel like a nice bit of variety that you only ever need to consider at a base level, which makes less of a lasting impact compared to obstacles that trust in the player's ability to evolve alongside their increasingly complex applications.
This is my favorite classic series game! :3
MegaMan 5 has the best classic MegaMan stage with Gravity Man, so I think it deserves some credit
This is the most nostalgic game in the classic series for me, it was the first Megaman game of the original 6 I played and beat
Thank you! everyone thought i was crazy when I said the Mega buster ruined the experience of MM4-6. The sound distracts from the stage music, and you are less inclined to use boss weapons
Capcom actually collected the first 3 games once as "The Wily Wars". It's a good name for the Classic series as a whole. Which makes X "The Reploid Wars" and Zero the "Neo-Arcadia Wars". Not exactly Elf Wars since that was it's backstory.
And please do the Gameboy Megaman games reviews too.
I like how this game gets criticized to death but when it comes to MM4 nobody has anything to say…
Dunno but considering how much the peeps behind Mega Man 5 squished out of the aging console at that point was amazing, despite the game just doing a refined more of the same thing in the end. Also i absolutely loved its soundtrack.
I think objectively that 4, 5, and 6 are better than 1, 2, and 3. The last three games are just so polished in gameplay, graphics, music, and presentation. Clearly 4, 5, and 6 could not have this polishing without the predecessors games, so maybe that fact joined with nostalgia and the tendency for people to root for the underdog is why so many seem to think more highly of 1, 2, and 3. Also, 5 and 6 in particular are quite easy, so the older installments being more difficult may also give the illusion they are better designed.
Completely agree with you on Mega Man 5. It was my favorite NES Mega Man game for a while, until 6 dethroned it completely. It may have one of the weakest selections of weapons, but I prioritize great level design over great weapons. And then comes 6 with great weapons and level design.
Every time I watch videos about MegaMan, I wish there was a way to play level/boss/power mashups. Mostly X since I'm more familiar with those games but with some tweaking it'd be cool to see it done with the originals
the intro theme was so chilling and mysterious. And then my favorite theme which is proto castle (aka darkman theme).
Mega man 5 (NES) was my introduction to the series. Even after playing the others, I still consider it the best.
Yes, I know some of my criticisms are matters of preference (for example, I absolutely _hated_ the "whole screen time stop" bosses that were Flash/Light/Centaur Mans). I also didn't acquire Beat until _after_ having beaten the game. (For the longest time I was missing only the letter from Stone Man's stage, partly because the overscan of the CRT I played it on cut approximately 1 full tile from all borders making the destructible wall harder to notice.)
Considering New Super Mario Bros. Wii was one of my first ever games, it makes sense why I also like Mega Man 5 quite a lot. Both of them, while not huge on innovation, are just really polished.
I first heard about Mega Man 5 from Nintendo Power #44, way back in Jan '93. I didn't play 'til 10 years later, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Still do. The Robot Masters are in 5 are among some of my favorites.
I feel that MM5 had very nice graphics, some atmospheric music and some very interesting mechanics, like Gravity Flipping, High-Gravity or the spike navigation courses in Gyro Man's stage. The biggest problem is that it's way too easy. The drop rate for 1-UPs and other items is very high in the game, meaning you can max lives within two stages. The weapons are generally all very weak - Stone Man's boulders miss most of the time, Gravity Hold drains very quickly, Water Wave is a worse Search Snake, Charge Kick tends to collide with enemies when sliding through, Napalm Bombs don't deal splash damage and have tiny range, Crystal Eye's big shot does the same as a regular buster shot. The Gyro Attack, however, is a very nice sniping tool and Star Crash at least shields you. Stage design is pretty mediocre, a lot of rooms are often empty, with weak and easily predictable enemy layouts. The charge shot instantly breaks all the other weapons apart, as it destroys practically everything and breaks the difficulty in half. Wily 1's stage design is also the first stage to kill you without you knowing, when you jump down the spike shaft.
I don't even remember my own playthrough of Mega Man 5, but maybe that's also part of it- not a lot of people out there with nostalgic memories of this, I played MM3 as my first and played MM2 and 4 in my childhood, but around 5 I think I was drifting into Super NES games and then we soon had Mega Man X... so I played 5 on emulation just because I wanted to play Mega Man games, but I never really challenged it or engaged with it in the same way as with 2-4. Hard to really build solid memories int hat case.
2,3,5 and X were the best 5 was the most refined before X
A matter of perspective. A megaman game that looks like the last one when the last one was a year ago vs a megaman game that looks like the one before it when there have been no releases for 30 years
An interesting thing for me personally is this is my FAVORITE of the classic NES MegaMan games, and I think a large part of that is because. THIS was my FIRST. I had seen what Megaman WAS thanks to a friend renting MM3, but I only got to play like a few minutes of it. I later found MM5 for like five bucks used at a video rental store that was trying to clearance it out, and remembering how much I liked those few minutes of 3 (though I didn't know which one it was at the time) I bought MM5 because I felt like I'd enjoy it, and boy did I ever. It's since become my favorite video game franchise.
Even more interesting is the fact that because I started the series with five. MM2 actually isn't all that big on my list of favorites, because it's a DOWNGRADE from what I started with. It's one of the biggest gripes I had with MM9 and 10. I want my damn slide and Mega Buster.
I remember it being a fun, mostly accessible game *and* I have been recommending it as the entry point for the Classic series.
Now, I only realized that a few years ago...
For some reason the "M" Tank doesn't stand for "Mega" Tank, it's stands for "Mystery" Tank. Why it's called Mystery Tank instead of Mega Tank is the true mystery
Interesting. The US manual calls it the Mega Tank.
@@JsReviews Now I'm wondering if I was fooled by a Wiki. I double checked a video and in the Japanese "Rock Man 5" on Famicom, it's still an "M" Tank, but it still seems to be littered with English, so I apologize if I'm spreading false information.
EDIT: I just doubled checked in Mega Man 11, and it appears to be called a Mystery Tank there as well, so I guess English manual maker jumped to a logical conclusion, or it was renamed somewhere down the line? Mystery Tank indeed
As someone who has been playing all the original Mega Man games in order (taking breaks in between) I will say I very much so enjoyed 5 due to its polish. (This is from the perspective of someone who has never truly played the originals to their full extent) I just reached the Mr. X stages of Mega Man 6 and so far that one has been my favorite.
If Mega Man 5 had a more memorable soundtrack like 2 or 3 then I think this game would be top tier. I played Mega Man 5 recently after not having played it for 20 years and I was really impressed with it. I like it more than 4.
It's really nice seeing more appreciation for 5, it's always been one of my favorites. And tbh it's become my favorite NES entry. Some complaints I can get like like some of the weapons and the charge being a bit too overpowered, but yeah it really doesn't deserve to be considered the blandest classic entry. Especially when 10's literally right there.
If I had to rank the NES games...
5 > 6 = 4 > 2 > 3 >> 1
Mega Man 5 is EXCELLENT. Being released after the launch of the Super NES and right around the launch of Mega Man X, this game was ignored by most. That's a shame because this is a beautiful, and beautifully made game.