Vimm's Lair: NES Reviews - Mega Man 5
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Nintendo
Mega Man 5

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
9.09
9.05
9.03
8.97
Votes: 91
Reviews: 5


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Reviewer: Seth Koopa Date: Dec 30, 2005
The fifth of the Mega man games for the NES, and the last of the five I'm going to review, manages, as always, to look and feel different from its forerunners. It is fun to play, and is also quite captivating in certain aspects. A good game it is, undoubtably. Yet somehow, I can't quite make peace with it.

Graphics: 9
The graphics, as always, convey the game well. Gravity man's colour scheme is mixed up in-game, true (violet instead of the supposed red), but the boss characters and levels mostly get to flourish by means of the graphics. Wave man's stage in particular looks - and, therefore, feels - excellent.

Sound: 9
The music, overall, is really catchy. And sometimes it even edges out into being captivating. A first-class example I can make of that is Wave man's tune - a melodic, energetic tune that flows as steadily as a river. It's one of the series' best tunes in my opinion.

Other examples I can make of memorable tunes are Napalm man and Crystal man. Some tunes are rather weak, such as Charge man's and the boss battle tune, the latter of which horribly stays unchanged for most of the game. However, overall, the music is very good, catchy and motivating; nearly all the tunes fall under that. Along with tunes which especially captivate me, "Mega man V"'s music earns my unoubting approval.

Gameplay: 8
Like with every Mega man game, the first thing I look at is the eight boss characters. I'm quite pleased with this game's boss characters - there are many memorable characters to speak of, such as Stone man, Gravity man and Wave man. Overall, though, they're all very inventive. Juding them by their attacking methods, however, some could have used more work. Stone man is a prime example of this; all he does is jump up and down and smash into rocks, and fire a shield of stones that you can easily avoid. I can think of a host of ways in which he could have been more challenging; that he's made of stone can offer that he's less easy to damage. When he hits the ground you could 'freeze' (ala "Mega man III"'s Hard man). Wave man also has rather monotonous attacks, and Gravity man's attacks are disappointing as well, and these aren't the only examples. Still, this doesn't make the characters any worse (and in case you haven't realised by now, I like characters).

Most of the levels are almost as captivating as the boss characters themselves. Wave man's level is the life and soul of the game in my opinion. You start in a water plant or something and then ride a scooter over great distances, through the night and into the next day. It ranks as one of the most inventive levels in Mega man history. It's not the only pleasing level, though; far from it - Napalm man's level also unfolds very pleasingly (you can see for yourself), and Crystal man's terrain is eye-candy-ishly inventive.

The Protoman continuation-storyline is quite refreshing. Seeing him thrust into the spotlight again after "Mega Man III" is rather pleasing. His fortress levels are much more enjoyable to tackle than Dr Cossack's fortress in "Mega man IV". Still, we all know who's really behind all the destruction, and that person's fortress is nothing more or less I would expect. The final boss is sadly far too easy (at least after "MMIV"'s excellent final battle). Overall, the game after the main boss characters is worth tackling, though I'm not particularly fond of it. The main game is what attracts me to "Mega man V", while the continuation is not bad.

Overall: 8
Upholds the Mega man feel with great boss characters, levels and music. Well-structured, full of bewitching elements and overall a fine addition to the Mega man games. Still, I begin to feel that a change is in order...

This review draws a close to my reviewing of all original five Mega man games. I've had a good time trying to decipher my feelings into words, and though I feel, looking back, I could have done a better job with some of the reviews (especially my “Mega man II” review, which sounds far too “impartial” to me), I feel that overall I've do

 

Reviewer: Kurt Date: Aug 6, 2005
The fifth game in the Megaman series. I found this game had its good points, and bad points. Although I found this game fun, I did not come back to it as much as the others. Let's see how it did:

Graphics: 6
Same ol', same ol'. The graphics don't really change with NES Megaman games. Overall, I think the graphics went pretty smoothly. The backgrounds were detailed, and the colors weren't too colorful (as in, cartoony colorful). Scrolling wasn't much different either.

Sound: 7
To me, music can either be one of two things: the factor that ruins a game, or a factor that can improve the quality of a game. In Megaman 5, there weren't too many tunes that stood out, but there were still some very bouncy and catchy ones in there like Napalm Man's tune and the boss music. The richochet of Megaman's shot wasn't as tingy either like in earlier games, for example when his shot hits a MET shell. I think the introduction of small explosion sounds when you kill an enemy was a nice touch. Overall, nothing spectacular, but nothing terrible.

Gameplay: 8
Like Megaman 3, I found this game had some great control. Megaman 4 was nearly impossible. This game definitely improved on MM4. However, I still found it relatively annoying to execute that infernal slide.
Also, the plot is explained in the beginning of the game, and you aren't left swinging in the wind if you don't have the booklet. Also, the levels are challenging and fun, and some of the enemies are a challenge, like the Joes in the helicopters in Napalm Man's stage. On a side note: Breakman's (yes, I call him Breakman) castle is nearly IMPOSSIBLE! I needed a LOT of practice to get through that without the use of game genie codes.
Overall, I think I'll come back to this one more than some other games in the series.

Overall: 8
When it comes down to it, this game is pretty good considering the era. The fifth game in the series, new features, like BEAT, new sounds, and a great plot. This game was definitely better than MM4, and almost as good as MM3. A must-have, in my opinon.

If you don't have this game, go find it! It will soothe the headache you might have from MM4!

 

Reviewer: Lilreaper Date: Sep 5, 2001
Ok, this is my favorite MM game in the entire series.
***GRAPHICS***
The graphics in this game are next to perfect (concidering the machine).
I like the black and blue when you charge up instead if the Yellow,Green,
and Blue in MM4.

***SOUND***
The sound in this game has that catchy stuck in your head tone but the sound
quality is still good. It gets a little scratchy though but only for a little bit.

***GAMEPLAY***
The gameplay is great, though some of the levels and bosses could of been alittle
harder. Like Gravity Man's Stage, I can get through the entire level plus the boss
without getting hit once, HIT ME ONCE, is all i ask. Beat is introduced in this
game which makes fighting bosses really easy because he attacks them to, but they
fixed that problem in MM6.

***OVERALL***
Overall this is a really good game and it is a must for any MM fan to download.

 

Reviewer: oingasoya Date: Jul 28, 2001
I chose to actually take the time to write a review because the first guy is obviously a loser and the second guy's review is filled with gay-looking punctuation and crap. Anyway, as far as games go for the original NES, I think that Megaman V is the best there is. The bosses, especially Gravity Man, are fun. All of the bosses are really easy, and when you use the correct weapon on each boss, the battle is over almost as soon as it starts. This is the first game with Beat, who also appears in Megaman 6 and 7, as well as ""Rockman and Forte"", which may be considered to be ""Megaman IX"". I have no idea if he's in Megaman 8 cuz I can't find it! Apparently it's not for a Nintendo system. Of the Megaman games, Megaman IV is the most similar. Play this game!

 

Reviewer: Tricob Date: Jul 2, 2001
This fourth entry in the Mega Man series is one of the best. The only NES Mega Man game with better graphics than this is Mega Man 3, which (IMHO) wasn't as good as this. The action still slows down and speeds up every once in a time, but not as much as #3 or #4. It's *much* more entertaining than #3, and more fun than #4.

Take, for example, Charge Man. Enter his world, you see this boss is part man, part train. Then the world starts, with this background music that sounds like a runaway train! Now the little ""hardhat"" guys are riding little trains that ""toot"" and fire bullets at you ... It's just delightful!

In the Stoneman world, the ""hardhat"" guys - when hit - break apart into three little bouncing things that can hurt you, and there are *mounds* of secrets in this world.

Another one of my favorites is ""Gravity Man"", where the gravity is reversing on you throughout the entire game, and you even jump downwards to climb a ladder upside down.

If that's not enough, Waveman's world pushes aside the need to recharge Rush Marine all the time by having Megaman ""borrow"" someone's Attack Boat, and there's even a ""Submarine Boss"" before you fight Waveman!

And if that's *still* not enough, each Boss World has a letter you can collect. Collect all eight, and you're awarded with the special weapon ""BEAT"", which makes killing hard-to-get enemies a lot easier.

This is frustrating at times, but well worth the effort. Go get it! :-)