Getting closer, America
Mega Man 5 is the least innovative of the classic Mega Man series, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad (just a bit lazy). It leans again on the Mega Man formula of platforming 'n stealing boss weapons, but feels a bit more fun than Mega Man 4.
Mega Man 5 takes the approach that the Mega Man franchise has an established, working, enjoyable formula, and it plays within it to great effect. There are few alterations to the game's formula, some mostly good, and one quite bad, but these are small and don't affect the game's quality much.
For example, Capcom executes a great idea to have Mega Man collect the letters
M-E-G-A-M-A-N-V
hidden throughout the levels. Finding all 8 will enable you to unlock Beat, a new robot bird friend, who can be summoned to attack your enemies. While collecting these letters was fun, they actually weren't, in the vast majority of cases, hidden that well. All but one was in plain sight, and only two or three were at all difficult to get. If these secrets hidden in a more challenging manner, like in Mega Man X, this would have been better, yet you have to give credit to the fifth game in the series for trying something new, if small, to alter the formula a bit.
A few levels feature some unique and new playstyles, most of which work to good effect. The Star Man level is in low gravity, which would be cool if it wasn't basically like being underwater, something that had been done since Mega Man (I'm pretty sure). More impressive, however, are the switching gravity sections in Gravity Man's level, which enable Mega Man to walk on the ceiling at times, and the boss fight features rapidly switching gravity, in which you'll fly from floor to ceiling and back, trying to shoot Gravity Man as he passes in the opposite direction. The level and robot master fight are among my favorites in Mega Man history, and represent a nice little tweak to the formula. Wave Man's stage also features a fun section in which you ride on a jet ski which automatically travels right. You can control the jet ski to shoot your enemies, as well as jumping over them as they come from both the left and right sides of the screen. I feel like they could have done more with this idea, and later did in Mega Man 8 with the snowboard and Mega Man X with the powersuits, but the attempt was welcome, and it was a fun diversion.
The graphics are again superb, with the best presentation to date. The sprites are excellent, and slowdown is at an all time low, showing Capcom's increasing ability to program beautiful and complex visuals while staying within the limits of the NES' power, similar to other late NES titles like Little Samson and Mega Man 6. The levels are the most detailed yet, and are really wonderful to look at.
The music is better than in Mega Man 4, and has several memorable tunes. The sound effects are again excellent.
The robot masters are much better than the boring ones in Mega Man 4, although not quite up to the par set by 1, 2, and 3. But Star Man, Gravity Man, and Stone Man are also excellent designs, and fun and unique battles.
The difficulty is similar to that in the fourth game, representing a happy medium between so easy that it becomes boring, and so challenging that it is unfun. The challenge feels rewarding here, although I enjoy more difficult games, generally. The penultimate castle in the game is very challenging, and is one of my favorite castles in Mega Man games.
Despite being a generally good game, Mega Man 5, has its weaknesses. It probably adheres a bit too closely to the formula, although it does try to differentiate itself in small ways. The new Rush Coil is positively dreadful, lacking the fun interaction present in Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 4. It's plot is even more tired and hackneyed than Mega Man 4, which is a remarkable achievement in and of itself. If you can't see the plot twist coming, you're not too bright. It again begs the question as to why it wasn't on the SNES, although it looks and plays perfectly fine, and does forge new ground on the NES, so it can be forgiven this.
An unremarkable late NES game that is nevertheless fun and does its best, I'll give Mega Man 5 a 8.4/10.
-TRO
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