Mega Man X5

I wanted to start this review by waxing nostalgic about the Mega Man franchise, but I realize I already went that route in the “Command Mission” review, so there goes that.  

For such a mainstream series, Mega Man sure goes off on its share of tangents.  We already discussed one of those tangents, but there were so, so many others.  But perhaps the most forgotten games are the middle entries in the X series.

Look, I think most gamers agree the first two Mega Man X games were classic.  The third is considered a solid effort and the original cart is a SNES collector’s item, while the fourth received middling reviews in its day but has since been recognized for the quality game it is.  Mega Man X7 is pretty much universally hated (though not by me, I could probably write an entire post on it) and X8 is thought of as a return to form.  It’s weird, even though the latter two games have a reputation, its almost as if non mega fans don’t even know X5 and X6 exist.  But is that for the best?

Graphically, there isn’t much different here from X4.  It’s top quality 2D animation with anime cutscenes spliced in.  I think X5 upped the ante a little bit in terms of stage backgrounds and other effects.  The giant sigma head you fight at the end of the first level looks awesome.  Sound here is great to, but I do think it took a step back from X4.  The quality is still there, but there just aren’t as many great, memorable tracks as there are in the other games.  I think it might have the second worst soundtrack in the X series (X8 is the worst IMO unless you are counting the PS1 version of X3 we never got in the states), although keep in mind this series is renowned for its awesome soundtracks.  Also of note here, they recycled Bubble Crab from MMX2’s theme for one of the levels, which I don’t love.

As usual, you have your selection of eight mavericks.  Their naming convention differs quite a bit from its predecessors though.  This time our enemies are:

-Grizzly Slash

-Izzy Glow

-Squid Adler

-Duff McWhalen

-The Skiver

-Axl the Red

-Dark Dizzy

-Mattrex

Now wait a minute, what’s up with those names.  Axl? Izzy? Duff? Adler? Slash?  Most music fans probably picked it up right away, but for those that don’t pay attention to that sort of thing, Capcom randomly decided to name the mavericks after members of Guns n’ Roses.  If that sounds pointless and stupid, its because it is.  I don’t know if this was the localization team’s idea of a joke or what, but like, why?  

That’s a big change, but it certainly isn’t the biggest one X5 offered.  As a veteran Mega Man player, I quickly became frustrated with some of the undodgable attacks I was being hit with.  Couldn’t jump over them, couldn’t walk under them?  At one point, I jammed on the down button as hard as I could and that’s when it happened.  Mega Man ducked.  That may not seem like a big deal, but Mega Man hadn’t been able to duck for 20 years.  Also keep in mind that this is a franchise that some hardcore fans say was “ruined” by adding a slide move in Mega Man 3 back in 1990.  

So yeah, adding a duck fundamentally changes the way you can, and in some cases have to, go about this game.  Honestly, I think its a nice addition.  It adds something new to a series that critics constantly complain is lacking innovation.  The game doesn’t beat you over the head with it either, although it would be nice to have been told in-game about this new ability.  The other big new addition here is the timer.  You have 16 hours to complete all 8 levels.  You lose an hour for each time you enter a level and if it hits zero, you will end up getting the game’s “bad” ending.  It’s an interesting idea in theory, but you can essentially render it moot if you simply keep picking continue, rather than returning to the stage select.  Unlike its predecessors, you continue from the last checkpoint even if you lose all of your lives, so there is no reason not to.

The timer relates to the story, which is told through some pretty cool looking cutscenes.  As big a fan as I am, I never really cared much for the lore of the Mega Man universe, but it gets pretty heavy here.  The story does impact gameplay a bit, as you are trying to destroy a space colony that is going to crash into the earth. You need to build a cannon and a spaceship, each of which requires four parts.  You acquire these from defeating mavericks, but you need to build the cannon first, which means you need to beat those mavericks first.  This essentially locks the boss order, kind of like in Mega Man 7.  I don’t love that, but I wouldn’t consider it gamebreaking.

The level design is okay, all of the stage gimmicks are pretty solid but none particularly stand out.  To an extent, this is a good thing as there isn’t anything here that’s unnecessarily difficult.  I found X5 to be more difficult than its predecessors when playing as just X, but you start the game with his “fourth armor” which takes a lot of challenge out of some of the worst parts, particularly in the Duff McWhalen stage.  You can also play as zero, but personally that never interested me.  I hate short range characters in games like this.  Some parts are easier for him, others are more difficult but it all kind of shakes out in the end.  

You can’t talk about Mega Man games without mentioning the weapons.  Like the level design, the powers here are just okay.  The only ones that really stand out are the Skiver’s, a jumping uppercut that launches a tornado, and Izzy Glow’s, a missile you can control with the D-pad.  Most of the others are your standard stuff, a buster replacement, a shot that travels on the ground, a powerful but short range attack, you get the idea.  That being said, none of the weapons are useless and the all have parts of the game where they can be put to good use.  Few bosses here suffer from what some fans call “Spark Mandrill Syndrome,” where they are completely nerfed by attacking them with their weakness, so that’s a positive.  My biggest complaint is that they recycled Flash Man’s weapon, as the Dark Hold is just the Flash Stopper that turns the screen a cool color.  

None of the stages really stands out as particularly memorable.  The rushing lava in Mattrex’s stage, train jumping in Grizzly Slash’s stage and constellations that turn into enemies in Dark Dizzy’s stage probably stand out the most.  The Skiver stage has you diffusing bombs, which is meh.  Duff McWhalen’s stage is probably the most frustrating, as it is a very slow auto scroller where you are constantly facing off against an frustrating battleship mini boss.  Squid Adler sees you take on an always annoying ride chaser section, but it gets better as it goes.  Izzy Glow’s lab and Axl the Red’s Jungle are fairly generic, combat based Mega Man stages.  Side note, the developers really missed a chance at making Axl’s stage theme a re-mix of “Welcome to the Jungle.”  If you are going to go all in on the joke, really go all in on the joke Capcom.

The stages may be generic, but the boss fights here are great.  You have a good collection of easy (Dizzy and Grizzly), Medium (Izzy, Skiver and Duff) and hard (Mattrex, Axl and Squid).  Capcom also had the wherewithal to make Grizzly Slash the boss you essentially have to start with, which is a good decision.  Izzy’s fight really requires you to make use of your new ducking ability while Duff McWhalen’s ice block mazes make his battle as much a puzzle as an action set piece.  The Skiver is like Storm Eagle on steroids, Mattrex is huge and takes up about half the screen real estate and Axl and Squid’s battles both have constant, non stop action requiring you to multitask while recognizing and reacting to their patterns.  

My biggest gripes here come from the slowdown in pace of play.  While you are in each level, your associate Alia will contact you from hunter base with hints on how to proceed forward.  The problem is, the game stops you in your tracks and makes you scroll through text every time she does this.  It’s not so bad on your first playthrough, but it gets old fast.  It would be nice to have the option to just ignore her.  Each maverick yammers on about some randomness before you fight them, which kind of takes you out of the element as well.  The cutscenes also take away from the pace of play, although not nearly as much as the awful videos from X4 did.

Speaking of the videos, they are nowhere to be found here (thank god).  Instead, you have all text.  It’s better than having to listen to the abysmal voice actors from X4, but the translation and localization are still unacceptably bad.  You kind of sort of understand what the characters are talking about...but not really.  One moment that fans often bring up is the conversation X has with Squid Adler before their fight, where he apologizes for what happened to “Octopardo.”  Any casual fan, or even western Mega Man fan who is just playing to get their action game fix, is going to read that and be instantly confused.  Thanks to the internet, I learned that X is talking about Launch Octopus, one of the mavericks from the first game who was apparently a friend of Squid’s.  His name is Octopardo in Japan.  Little things like that can really take you out of the story, although it just isn’t that important in an action game.

Mega Man X 5 is a really good, solid video game.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Fans of the franchise won’t find anything new, but its still worth a playthrough.  Folks who are new to Mega Man might actually find more to enjoy here without the frame of reference of having played the rest of the series.  I wouldn’t advise you play X5 first by any means, but its certainly worth your time.  The difficulty has actually been ramped up a bit, but its offset with the game being more generous with continuing at checkpoints and easy access to strong equipment.  Overall, its not an all time classic like the first game but solid all around.

8/10

Play this if:

You love Mega Man and are burnt out on the more popular titles

You are looking for a good sidescroller to occupy some time

You are a fan of both sentient robots and 80s hair metal

Avoid if:

You still consider Mega Man a trilogy and think any of the games released after 1990 don’t count.  

You are looking for a big time, standout game.