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[RK128]

This continues my Mega Man Retrospective and this is a major game in the X series; this was supposed to be the conclusion to the X Series originally. So, this game tries to wrap up a lot of loose ends that hanged since day one.

How does the game compare to other Mega Man X titles and is it a solid conclusion to the series? Lets find out!

But first, this WILL contain complete story spiolers, so please read ahead with caution if you never played this before.

Development:
Inafune had little part of X5's development, telling the team 'Finish the series off with this title' making the team push for the game to cover everything; the series connections to Mega Man Classic, how the future series of Mega Man is set up (MM Zero), and in general, trying to make a fun final game for fans of the X Series.

The team behind the game includes the following:
Director - Koji Okohara
Designer - Toyozumi Sakai
Artists - Haruki Suetsugu, Ryuji Higurashi
Composers - Naoto Tanaka, Naoya Kamisaka, Takuya Miyawaki

But Capcom commissioned for a sequel game, MMX6, to release a year later after MMX5. Will be covering that with great detail when the time comes, but for now, lets just say they had little time to work on it compared to X4 and X5.

Localization of the game is something to note here, as the Mavericks you fight have original names for the NA/EU releases instead of translations of their Japanese names. This is thanks to Capcom voice actress Alyson Court, who was involved in the game's localization, came up with names for the Marvicks as a tribute to her then-husband's love of the rock-band Guns & Roses. This lead to some really fun names for the different Mavericks: Grizzly Slash, Duff McWhalen (amazing name by the way), Squid Adler, Izzy Glow, Dark Dizzy, The Skiver, Matterx, Axle the Red

The game released in November 2000 in Japan and in February & August in 2001 to lukewarm reception. But the series continued and we got three more mainline X titles despite this originally being a conclusion title for the series.

Story:
The game takes place a few months after the events of Mega Man X4, with the Repliforce ending and Earth being in piece. The rest of the story summary is from the detailed and well organized Mega Mega Man X5 Wiki:

"The repair of the space colonies damaged during the war was almost complete, the only space colony remaining being the giant colony Eurasia located in a Lagrangian point. As it was quite old, it was planned to receive extensive renovation. However, one day someone had occupied Eurasia and took control of it, scattering a virus in the colony and using its artificial gravity systems to set it on a collision course towards Earth. Within 16 hours, Eurasia will crash and cause great destruction, in the worst case extinguishing all life from the planet. The Maverick Hunters plan on using the large particle cannon Enigma to destroy Eurasia before it happens. The Enigma cannon is somewhat old and needs to be upgraded. Signas, the Hunters' new commander, orders Mega Man X and his comrade Zero, as they race against time to collect the four parts necessary to upgrade the Enigma and stop Eurasia before it's too late. To make things worse, Sigma scattered the Sigma Virus all over the world and the parts needed are being protected by Mavericks."

So X and Zero head out to get the parts needed for the cannon and ship, with the goal of taking out the Eurasia Ship to prevent further damage to the Earth. Where things get interesting, is based on if you play as X or Zero. X has interactions with the Mavericks and it is very interesting; some Mavericks like Squid Adler KNOW X from past events or others honorably push X to fight them for the part like Grizzly Slash and Duff McWhalen. I enjoyed encountering the bosses just to see what the Maverick will say. Its also interesting to note that The Skiver was part of the Repliforce, showing that continuity is important to the series. The story also explores Zero's past with Wily, as the Simga Virus WAS originally the Zero Virus, just transferred. This causes Zero to be immune to its effects and gets stronger the more he takes in. Depending on if you use the shuttle or not and it succeeds, this leads to Zero being activated how Wily intended and him becoming 'evil'.

The end of the game depends on if destroy the station or not but how it plays out is interesting. If Zero isn't evil, X just lives on and fights another day. But if Zero is evil, not only does X recover from his fight but we get Zero being dead, X forgetting everything about his friend & even seeing some hints toward the Zero series.

It sounds like a lot, and it is, but it isn't super interesting over all. I enjoyed the boss encounters and the end-game story stuff but the text boxes and long stills were a step down for me compared to the FMV's that X4 had.

Gameplay:
Well, its more Mega Man X in many respects. X has his Mega Buster and Fourth Armor from MMX4 (if you play as him from the start) and Zero has his Z-Saber and Z-Buster (if you start the game as Zero). Both can dash on ground & mid-air, wall jump/cling, and have basic attacks (X = Cannon Attacks, Zero = Melee Attacks).

What is different is the smaller things. One thing is a time system, where once you select a level, you lose one out of 16 hours. If you lose all your hours, you HAVE to fire the cannon/fly the shuttle. But with 8 Mavericks and two fights with a new character, you still have 6 extra hours for backtracking and stuff, so this isn't that big of a deal.

Hostages are a new system though, as if you save enough in the stages, you can increase your health or weapon energy. This is a much larger mechanic with X6 though.....an annoying one I must say.

The armor system is different too, with X having three armors to collect, but unlike past games, you need ALL FOUR PARTS for them to work. Meaning, you have to get every part to even use the thing. This is very, very annoying and makes them useless until you reach the halfway mark. Will touch on why this is annoying when I talk about the stages. But anyway, you have three armors; Falcon (ability to fly for 10 seconds in the air), Gaea (greater defense and ability to move on spikes but no air-dash) and Ultimate Armor (ability to use the powerful air dash Giga Attack). Zero even has an armor and like the Ultimate Armor, you can find it in Simga Stage 3.

Stages:
The stages in X5 are varied, ranging from a stroll through a sunken ship, racing on a jet ski to a hidden base, and exploring a location filled with literal guns & roses (ha); the level variety is on point and makes each one fun.

Squid Alder’s level is fun if you are just going through it for example, as it’s a high speed bike section during the introduction that leads to a platform heavy puzzle area where you are hit/shoot pillars into switches to continue. If you want to get the head armor piece to the Falcon Armor…….you will be here for a very long time due having to collect little spheres. This stage was the reason I never bothered collecting the armors outside of the Ultimate Armor. Otherwise, fun stage.

Also enjoy the fire level in the game where you fight Matterx; it has you hide behind rock pillars to avoid insta-death fire blasts and it is fun to avoid all the attacks plus it makes great use of the wall cling ability.

The fights themselves are sadly not that rewarding if you are going in weakness order. They get locked in place after you hit them with weakness attacks and it makes the fights very easy. I tried fighting a few of the Mavericks with only the Mega Buster and they presented fun patterns. Duff McWallen is a great one for example, as he shoots pillars of ice that make a platform you run across. And during the mid-fight, you have to avoid them being shot at you rapidly toward the wall with spikes. So if you want a challenge for X, do not use the weakness for the bosses.

Boss Weapons:
Items you get from the bosses are good; you get the Slasher which can be charged into a shield that attacks foes for a bit, Izzy Glows weapon is a movable missile, and you have the Goo Shaver which shoots a sliding across the floor. But two weapons I want to highlight; the Electric Ball and the Time Stopper. Yes, the Mega Man 1 and Mega Man 2 weapons are in this game and function almost 1-to-1 the same. Even two bosses heavily mirror Mega Man 7 and Mega Man X1 bosses.

Virus/Sigma Stages:
Then we have the Tower Levels, which are complete re-creations of past Mega Man locations. Virus Stage 1 & 2 are remakes of Mega Man 2 levels; one being Quick Man and the other being a remake of the Bubble Man’s Stage....

.....With the boss of the level being the YELLOW DEVIL! Yes, the X Series has its own Devil fight and is just as long and difficult like past Mega Man Classic games. But the final form of this thing is Wily Machine Six.

The next Virus Stage is a re-creation of Sigma Stage 1 from Mega Man X with it concluding with this guy from Mega Man X (link to image). It’s the same exact fight as well.

We have two more Virus Stages, with one concluding with a fight with Zero and the next one having the vanishing blocks from past Mega Man Classic titles. It concludes with a fight with Sigma.

Overall, the level design is strong here and despite some really annoying bits here and there, I had fun running through the game as X. Yes, I said X as I didn’t play as Zero for this run of the game. I completed most of the game as Zero with my X Collection copy a few years back and decided to try the game out with X and I made a good move, as you can lose Zero. This is a problem that I need to bring up; if the shuttle fails, you lose the ability to play as Zero. And this is randomized after you collect all the parts of the shuttle. One way to avoid issues is either collect three pieces of the cannon and keep firing it until you get it to work or just play the entire game as X, with you collecting heart tanks with him.

Presentation:
The anime cut-scenes are gone but that does not prevent the game from being a great looking title. The levels have a lot of detail and the sprite work is very well done. The Pre-Rendered bits here and there look nice to me honestly too. The music is filled with great remixes from past MM Classic and MMX tittles with the new tracks being really great inclusions. Some of the new tracks like the Boss Theme are personal favorites to me.

Opening Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYlf0JRqzoE&index=1&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Into Stage X: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwnRxP8Eni4&index=3&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Intro Stage Zero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-8sGtF_LX8&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=5
Grizzly Slash (Crescent Grizzly): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyIFODbDK5M&index=9&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Squid Adled (Volt kraken): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBmqIGiAHdg&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=10
Duff McWhalen (Tidal Makkoeen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLfRIlLQEe8&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=12
Shadow Devil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axwDkB9Zulo&index=23&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Boss Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHkkensA774&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=19
Zero Virus Stage 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9578n9P6I4M&index=22&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Zero Virus Stage 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duPoJrA9qwI&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=24
Dr. Light: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKzwSrmUjZQ&index=27&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Zero's Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XNcO5hBaxQ&index=30&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Sigma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3fiZXzkOOA&index=26&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244

We even have a few unused tracks too.
Deep Sea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMSW3TfqjKM&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=32
Dr. Light Beta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUTLGVbLMVQ&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=33
Zero's Death Beta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g02oEBpHoW0&index=36&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244

Corrections/Additional Thoughts:
NeoGaf Member Edion was nice enough to share his thoughts on the game and give me some insight to parts I glossed over or didn't cover with enough detail, so will be putting his post here. Thank you for the help and I appreciate your comments.

It was never going to originally be a conclusion title. Hence X6, Inafune though he had more control than he did and it got to his head.

BTW a few corrections, Repliforce didn't end, just the war (The Skiver is in charge of a repliforce base)

I think you may want to redo your story portion a bit. Eurasia is a colony. But Eurasia isn't important into after the first part of the story, in which Sigma lets' X or Zero destroy him to spread his virus all over the world. The Space Colony was actually brought down by Dynamo.

Also in the intro stage, the person you start as when you get to the Sigma fight, will see the partner lose an ability. For example if you enter as X, Zero's canon arm is broken and he can't use the Canon for the rest of the game. If you enter as Zero, X's fourth Armor is broken so you start with zero armor.

Enigma is the first attempt and is the total focus at the first half of the game. The Shuttle is the last desperation attempt.

A common mistake you made, that even I did long ago, is that the SIgma Voirus ios the Zero Virus, it's actually not, the Zero Virus is different entirely, and X6 actually goes into more detail with that than X5 (and this was supposed to be the last game Inafune? lord.)

The thing with Zero being what Wily intended never happens, because Zero actually goes maverick and then wakes up once you defeat him in combat. Sigma even clarifies that he failed. But this is a mistake that is common since the game has Zero say "Are you X I must destroy you" so maybe he almost got to that point.

Also apparently SIgma met an old man regardless of who you fight the final boss as, which we see nothing of at all, and they just leave that plot issue there because uh.,,

There are 3 endings to the game. The one that goes into X6. where X and Zero get shot through the chest and Zero shoots sigma. WHich leads to Dr.light somehow...Fixing X, and then X remembering Zero. The one where Zero sacrifices himself after he wakes up before Sigma could finish X off, resulting in Zero's death and X not remembering Zero. Then one where Zero is having a monologue and dies off.

Also the parts for the laser and ship are random. You could fire the laser as soon as you start the game from the title screen and it could work. You could get one part for the shuttle and it can work.

You also have a time limit. 16 hours if I am not mistaken. But the part you missed is it does not reset if the Laser fails, despite them saying it delayed the crash.

One other annoying thing, Alia mentions after each boss about upgrading life, weapons etc. This is only a thing if you increase the difficulty. This is kind of odd that the default difficulty removes a part of the game.

You forgot to mention you are completely invincible when using the Falcon armor (spikes are the exception)

You can also find X's Ultimate Armor in Sigma Stage 3.

You forgot to mention Dynamo, who has zero motivation for doing what he is doing other than he is bored. He is the one who Hijacked the space colony and after a few Boss fights he will interrupt the game (and still count down the timer) and make you fight him, Twice. How did Dynamo Hijack the colony? Well uh.......

*You forgot to mention you can fight X as Zero in Sigma Stage 3.

One detail that you may or may not have noticed but you may find interesting is based on whether you need the parts or not the Bosses have different Dialogue. Sometimes plot revealing Dialogue, for example, going to Grizzly as X after the Laser failed and you DID NOT get the part, or doing the same with Zero and Izzy Glow stage.

Also you there's different dialogue for when the colony hits the earth (or it explodes and the pieces hit the earth) for example, going to The SKiver at this time makes him go mad and he becomes a maverick.

Also one thing about the randomness of the Laser and the Shuttle, you can't reload saves, it's locked (unless you go and take another part. For example, I had 4 laser parts and the laser did not work, but when I got a part for the shuttle, which at this point, is useless, the Laser Worked.

Lifesaver is in the game. I don't know why he is in the game. But he's in the game.

Overall:
This is a fun action platformer that while having some issues, is still a great time for people that are fans of the X or Classic Series. The game really celebrates the entire Mega Man series (from 2000) and it is a game I recommend playing.

 

[RK128]

I hope you all enjoy this Retrospective! Revisiting this game was fun to do and I hope you all enjoy my thoughts on this tittle .

If I missed anything, feel free to let me know and I will fix it asap!

 

[FrontalMonk]

I absolutely adored this game...literally my only complaint with it was the dialog prompts with Alia that really broke up the rhythm of the levels...it was weirdly dissonant, because it felt like the game was trying to tutorialize everything by having someone explain it all to you as if you were a newbie and this was your first game, but it was also one of the toughest games in the series up to that point.

If I could find a patched version that let you skip those conversations I would replay this in a heartbeat. All the scenarios that you ran into regardless of what happened with the shuttle were all pretty apocalyptic, and it was very clear that this was supposed to be the end of the series. I LOVED the Wily callbacks, and the much more blatant references to Zero being Wily's creation.

 

[RK128]

I absolutely adored this game...literally my only complaint with it was the dialog prompts with Alia that really broke up the rhythm of the levels...it was weirdly dissonant, because it felt like the game was trying to tutorialize everything by having someone explain it all to you as if you were a newbie and this was your first game, but it was also one of the toughest games in the series up to that point.

If I could find a patched version that let you skip those conversations I would replay this in a heartbeat. All the scenarios that you ran into regardless of what happened with the shuttle were all pretty apocalyptic, and it was very clear that this was supposed to be the end of the series. I LOVED the Wily callbacks, and the much more blatant references to Zero being Wily's creation.

Outside of the bike level, the game wasn't that bad for me. The game having the lives system that X4 and later X6 have (where they mean nothing) made the hard sections more easier to deal with.

The Alia chatter was annoying, but I tend to skip those anyway . The poor X button though X(.

Agree with you on the Wily callbacks, his influence is very apparent in the game and you really wonder just where he is in the world of Mega Man X.

 

[Agent Unknown]

I know it's an old game and not a huge deal but the OP might benefit from spoiler warning since it has ending pics in it. :/

Otherwise love your threads.

 

[RK128]

I know it's an old game and not a huge deal but the OP might benefit from spoiler warning since it has ending pics in it. :/

Otherwise love your threads.

Thank you! Will take your advice and edit the OP in a bit.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

This game starts to make it very obvious that level design that was built with X in mind, starts to be broken as hell when you play as Zero. Bosses especially. That being said, I never liked how easy bosses were due to resetting patterns when you take advantage of a weakness. Though, I loved the Sigma Stage bosses. Rangda Bangda was a very nice callback, as was the Yellow Devil (though the attack where it leaves two halves of itself and randomizes the blocks can go fuck off). And although it was terribly easy, I liked the Sigma final boss battle.

I love this game, but I always thought developers didn't do as great a job of making the levels challenge you when you play Zero. X has some very good level designs, but again, it goes to shit when you play as Zero (shit as in it gets way too easy).

RK128 are you going to do X6? If so...I'd advise that you be as patient as possible (though even the best patience won't prepare you for BS level and boss design).

 

[RK128]

This game starts to make it very obvious that level design that was built with X in mind, starts to be broken as hell when you play as Zero. Bosses especially. That being said, I never liked how easy bosses were due to resetting patterns.

I love this game, but I always thought developers didn't do as great a job of making the levels challenge you when you play Zero. X has some very good level designs, but again, it goes to shit when you play as Zero (shit as in it gets way too easy).

I had a very easy time playing the game with Zero when I first played X5, so I tend to agree. Its hard to balance your game with two different characters and I feel that 2D Genesis/2D Game Boy Advance Sonic games do this best. Everyone is the same but for ONE feature (Knuckles Gliding, Tails Flying, ect).

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

This is my second favorite in the X series (second to X4), largely because the gameplay is some of the fastest in the series. I liked the backgrounds, loved the music, and kinda like that X is powered up from the start. Oh, and while I know it makes me a weirdo, I love the Squid Adler bike section. Love it. When I play through the game, I can generally nab all the orbs on my first try.

One of the oddities that I've always noticed in this game is the slowdown in the Dark Dizzy stage. I thought the game was genuinely slowing down when I first played it on PS1, but then, the slowdown appeared in the PC version, too. I guess it's an intentional thing that's supposed to make it seem like there's a gravity well in the background or something. The slowdown isn't there in the PS2 version, as I recall.



Also, I have never played as Zero in X5.

 

[RK128]

This is my second favorite in the X series (second to X4), largely because the gameplay is some of the fastest in the series. I liked the backgrounds, loved the music, and kinda like that X is powered up from the start. Oh, and while I know it makes me a weirdo, I love the Squid Adler bike section. Love it. When I play through the game, I can generally nab all the orbs on my first try.

One of the oddities that I've always noticed in this game is the slowdown in the Dark Dizzy stage. I thought the game was genuinely slowing down when I first played it on PS1, but then, the slowdown appeared in the PC version, too. I guess it's an intentional thing that's supposed to make it seem like there's a gravity well in the background or something. The slowdown isn't there in the PS2 version, as I recall.

Also, I have never played as Zero in X5.

The bolded is cool man ! If you got the stage down, it can be a lot of fun. I was only being sour about that in the OP due to getting all the orbs being very frustrating to me. That's all .

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

The bolded is cool man ! If you got the stage down, it can be a lot of fun. I was only being sour about that in the OP due to getting all the orbs being very frustrating to me. That's all .

I remember when I was over at my friend's house after he got the game. Me, him, and his brother took turns playing that level over and over and over again until finally, after seemingly forever, I was able to pull it off.

He still doesn't believe me when I tell him I can do it with ease now.

 

[SkyOdin]

I'm going to voice an unpopular opinion: I really, really dislike Mega Man X5. I think it is the second worst X game, and I actually prefer X6. I don't like the stage design, I don't like the aesthetics of the game, I don't like the way X's armor is handled, I don't like the changes to the continue system, I don't like the addition of hostages, and I particularly don't like the way boss levels and part development works.

Just about the only thing I like about X5 is the X vs Zero fight.

 

[RK128]

RK128 are you going to do X6? If so...I'd advise that you be as patient as possible (though even the best patience won't prepare you for BS level and boss design).

I have to cover X6 and......I will say this right away; using both the Ultimate Armor X & Black Armor Zero cheats for my coverage on the game. REFUSE to deal with the games brokenness without some help.

I found fun in games like Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 06 and other weaker games; X6 couldn't be as bad as those games...right ?

I'm going to voice an unpopular opinion: I really, really dislike Mega Man X5. I think it is the second worst X game, and I actually prefer X6. I don't like the stage design, I don't like the aesthetics of the game, I don't like the way X's armor is handled, I don't like the changes to the continue system, I don't like the addition of hostages, and I particularly don't like the way boss levels and part development works.

Just about the only thing I like about X5 is the X vs Zero fight.

Well, X5 introduces a lot of the BS elements that X6 has, so I can completely understand if you don't like X5 buddy .

The armor system working the way it does here is....not good. If you mean how you can start right where you die again, I can see how that is bad for a seasoned Mega Man X player but for someone revisiting the series again, I appreciate the game throwing me a bone every now and then.

I can see your points clearly and I thank you for expressing your personal thoughts on X5. Thank you for posting here man .

 

[desmax]

Y'now, I believe th

X, COME IN.
IF THE THING FALLS IN YOUR HEAD, YOU'LL TAKE DAMAGE

 

[TreIII]

The game where I think everything for the X series really started to go downhill, in my opinion.

Level design for this one just wasn't that good. Gimmicks such as ducking (after so many games of it not being a thing!) and the "Wire lifts" didn't really add much to the MM formula. And for whatever reason, they decided that THIS was the time when normal plasma shots wouldn't go through walls, any longer.

But beyond that, X5 was said to be one that was largely just rushed out because Inafune told the crew "wrap it up", and in many ways, it showed. There's just a lot here with this game that hints they had so many grand ideas to wrap up the X saga, but didn't have the time to realize any of it. Even the supposed "climatic, decisive clash" between X and Zero didn't come off as more than another regular boss battle, after all that build up that had been stewing since X2.

At least the motley crew of Mavericks were pretty fun to fight this time. Burn Dinorex/Mattrex is one of my all-time faves, after all!

 

[RK128]

Y'now, I really like th

X, COME IN.
IF THE THING FALLS IN YOUR HEAD, YOU'LL TAKE DAMAGE

Aila: "X come i..."
X: "Will you just.....I got this. Been doing this for years already."
Zero: "This is getting pointless; shut up Aila."
Aila: "........"
Zero: "Just lay off."
End Transmission
X: "I'm getting sick of this too man. Lets take out Sigma.....again. This is getting old."

The game where I think everything for the X series really started to go downhill, in my opinion.

Level design for this one just wasn't that good. Gimmicks such as ducking (after so many games of it not being a thing!) and the "Wire lifts" didn't really add much to the MM formula. And for whatever reason, they decided that THIS was the time when normal plasma shots wouldn't go through walls, any longer.

But beyond that, X5 was said to be one that was largely just rushed out because Inafune told the crew "wrap it up", and in many ways, it showed. There's just a lot here with this game that hints they had so many grand ideas to wrap up the X saga, but didn't have the time to realize any of it. Even the supposed "climatic, decisive clash" between X and Zero didn't come off as more than another regular boss battle, after all that build up that had been stewing since X2.

At least the motley crew of Mavericks were pretty fun to fight this time. Burn Dinorex/Mattrex is one of my all-time faves, after all!

I completely agree with the bolded, in the sense that it could of been that Mega Man X Crossover game with the Classic Series that would of explained everything that happened between Mega Man Classic and the original Mega Man X. But the end game was quite fun, with you citing the Maverick fights being great, which I completely agree with that statement !

 

[Syril]

I have to cover X6 and......I will say this right away; using both the Ultimate Armor X & Black Armor Zero cheats for my coverage on the game. REFUSE to deal with the games brokenness without some help.

I found fun in games like Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 06 and other weaker games; X6 couldn't be as bad as those games...right ?

X6 is super inconsistent. Some stages are tame, some have unorthodox gimmicks, and some are so overloaded with bullshit and blatant attempts to save on asset creation you'd think you were playing a shitty romhack.

 

[vala]

There are so many things wrong with this game...
Alia, ugly BG graphics, inconsistent sprites (pretty much all the atmosphere and aesthetics from the previous games is gone), the virus mechanic, armor system, boring boss battles, "infinite lives", lots of recycled enemies from X4, Sigma stages suck, ducking, rescuing reploids, cannot shot through walls, and more...

 

[ZangBa]

I like the game, but compared to the rest of the games in the series it always felt really bland. The Sigma stages are great, though, and Duff McWhalen is the best name ever made.

It's also really easy.

 

[To Far Away Times]

This was the first megaman game I bought. I liked it enough at the time. Several months later I played X4, saw that it had animated cut scenes and was an all around a much better game and I was stunned.

X5 is like a reverse sequel, where the first game has way better production values than the sequel. I couldn't believe it.

 

[RK128]

X6 is super inconsistent. Some stages are tame, some have unorthodox gimmicks, and some are so overloaded with bullshit and blatant attempts to save on asset creation you'd think you were playing a shitty romhack.

After watching Clements & BrainScratch's playthrough of X6......feel ready to tackle the game.

 

[F0rneus]

The best 32 bit Mega Man game. An extremely solid platformer in pretty much every way, except for a couple duds in terms of level design. I'd still rank the overall design far above MMX4, but I realize I'm very, very alone on this (I think there's two other gaffers). The actual Mavericks designs are the strongest in the series, and I have a huge soft spot for the OST too. I'd say I only love the OSTs from X1, 2, 3 and 5. Shame about X6 and X7 though. Good luck RK128, on these ones. X8 is win, so keep trucking along!

 

[Rambaldi]

This is my favorite X game, hands down. I could play it over and over. I don't like the GnR names but eh. And I've always made it a personal head canon that Dynamo was the X series throwback to Bass.

One thing worth mentioning is that you're practically invincible to nearly every enemy if you're in the Falcon Armor and flying. It's hilarious. Definitely turns the game into an easy mode.

 

[NEO0MJ]

I had good fun with it, especially since I was a bad player at the time and the code that gave you the ultimate armor for X at the start made the game super easy.

 

[KRaZyAmmo]

I have the game on my ps3. But after many years of not pkaying megaman i can't beat a single boss. I love the music still.i need to try to beat some bosses again.

 

[SpaceCadetKeon]

This could have been my favorite installment in the X series if it weren't for Alia breaking my stride every 5 seconds.

 

[JackelZXA]

I like the game but i had a few complains that I was able to fix for myself with save-scumming (and cheat codes)

1) Alia Dialog. Theres too much of it, but if you have it triggered already and save your game without having beaten the levels you can just load that file from then on and never have to deal with the alia dialog after the intro/training stages. (I have one for ZBuster and one for Force Armor, and then 2 more of those on Xtreme Difficulty) You have to use a PAR code to set the hours back to 16 after you clear the Alia dialog, though.

2) X's Armors are annoying to get, some of them at least. There are 4 parts which are reasonable (The ones in the stages for Slash Grizzley, Squid Addler, Izzy Glow, and Mattrex can be gotten by both characters and are reasonable, most of which can be acquired outside of a pre-determined order.) The annoying parts are in the stages for Duff McWhalen, The Skiver, Axel Rosered, and Dark Dizzy are either really annoying to get or can only be accessed by X. In the aforementioned saves I also acquired the 4 annoying armor parts (through cheat codes to let me grab those armors with the falcon armor flight without having the full armor pieces) and saved it to those files as well. (Actually I only did it for the files where I'd start with ZBuster, with the idea being that 4 pieces of armor and the zbuster are an equal trade for the force armor, it also differentiates the saves in unique ways) it gives me more freedom in the order I tackle bosses in, much like how X1, X2, and X4 work, with less strict requirements on optimal stage order paths. (I don't think X3 is very good and it's design is lacking, which makes sense because it was made by the Gameboy Megaman team) This also means that, if i get the falcon armor, gaea armor, or Zero's lightning slash before fighting duff mcwhalen, I don't have to replay that stage more than once per playthrough because I'll be able to get the Heart Tank on the first run, eliminating a massive headache in the playthrough order.

3) The Ranking System and Upgrade Parts. It's stupid to have to waste hours right at the start of the game to get these upgrades. My fix for this was to set X and Zero's rank to the highest value in those save files (MEH is the highest rank) which means that I get parts on every stage, no matter how badly I do, but my rank continuously goes down anyways if I'm not playing in the specific manner that maintains a high rank, and this is happening while hours count down and victories pile up, meaning that boss level is variable and the game doesn't start out pathetically easy, because the bosses have enough health to actually perform all of their attacks in the early game. It also adds a little incentive to switching characters as one character's rank goes down too low. It, again, adds freedom to the order I fight bosses in, and allows me to become stronger as I fight the bosses without losing some of the funner aspects of the gameplay.

4) The Randomization of the Colony Incident. There's nothing I can really do about this, but by creating those save files I can pull a little trick that doesn't fix the problem, but adds a dynamic element that makes it more interesting. As long as my last stage is one of the left 4 (for instance, Duff McWhalen being my final maverick) the shuttle launch and enigma cannon cutscenes will play back to back, which at least feels cool, even if I can't remove the sting of having no say in whether maverick zero occurs or not. It also gives both dynamo fights a better backdrop (the shuttle backdrop to dynamo fight 2 looks terrible, but there's a second canon screenshot that they pull for the second fight that adds to it.)

5) Training Stage is so annoying with all it's Alia dialog and not having a real place in a standard playthrough. I dunno. It woulda been cool if it was integrated into the regular order. Maybe with Alia's dialog removed it'd be a good "stage" to lead up to the Dynamo 1 fight. Having him attack Hunter Base with a Dragoon clone would be a neat midgame gimmick, making the second fight stand out more as being JUST a duel without a level. I really wish the alia dialog had just been reserved for "easy mode" really.

Other than that, and the fact that I can manually correct these issues through cheat devices to produce reusable saves, it's a great game. It's a big fat case of "they made some poor decisions that had bigger impact problems" on a game that had decent design at its core. It's not just badly designed in the way that x3, x6, or x7 were, where there's no real way to fix those games because they have both surface level problems and deeper level problems. The stuff I did to my saves make X5 feel like the good X series games, and so it's a good X series game, but only for me I guess. (I also like the auto charge as a way to differentiate the game from X4 in the way that starting with the Dash differentiates X2 from X1.)

 

[RK128]

Just wanted to say thank you for giving this a read everyone . I hope I covered everything and that you enjoyed my coverage of Mega Man X5 .

The only thing I glossed over is an tutorial stage that you can select via options and it closes with a re-match with Magma Dragoon. Other then that, feel that I covered everything else.

 

[Reset]

The best X game. It has multiple armors for X, ability to swap between X and Zero between stages, improved the bike section from X4, has the best music, doesn't have awful voice acted cutscenes, and has the best boss fights.
The only negative thing about the game was Alia, and I wished that if you played the game in Xtreme mode it would shut her up. Other than it's the best X game.

 

[pgtl_10]

Any chance we get a Mega Man x9?

 

[Zonic]

Really need to replay X5 one of these days. This & X3 are the ones where I remember the least amount of stuff after playing it back in the day on the X Collection on GCN or PS2. I don't recall liking it as much as X4 (which is probably one of my favorites) & nowhere near hating it like X6. I think the only thing I remember was the fact you could use codes to instantly unlock ultimate armor for each character.

I also forgot about how much Alia has random dialogue in this game until I saw AVGN mention it when talking about Mega Man games.

 

[RK128]

Really need to replay X5 one of these days. This & X3 are the ones where I remember the least amount of stuff after playing it back in the day on the X Collection on GCN or PS2. I don't recall liking it as much as X4 (which is probably one of my favorites) & nowhere near hating it like X6. I think the only thing I remember was the fact you could use codes to instantly unlock ultimate armor for each character.

I also forgot about how much Alia has random dialogue in this game until I saw AVGN mention it when talking about Mega Man games.

The bolded was a very funny part of the episode XD! When he went to MM Legends.....that was amazing :').

 

[Shadow Hog]

I didn't really care for the setup of this one. Every visit to a stage taking up a set number of turns until guaranteed failure to stop the collision? Sure, you can buy more time after about four Mavericks, and after four more you'll either have successfully stopped it or already failed, making it moot, but it's an additional constraint I wasn't a fan of. Not really big on colony drops like that.

Did like the varying armors for X and the addition of ducking. Wasn't too big on the navigators, especially them forcing themselves into your game when not desired - though I expect they had to get that wrong to get it right in later X games (where it'll just tell you they're calling, similar to MGS, and you get to decide whether you answer or not).

 

[RK128]

I didn't really care for the setup of this one. Every visit to a stage taking up a set number of turns until guaranteed failure to stop the collision? Sure, you can buy more time after about four Mavericks, and after four more you'll either have successfully stopped it or already failed, making it moot, but it's an additional constraint I wasn't a fan of. Not really big on colony drops like that.

Did like the varying armors for X and the addition of ducking. Wasn't too big on the navigators, especially them forcing themselves into your game when not desired - though I expect they had to get that wrong to get it right in later X games (where it'll just tell you they're calling, similar to MGS, and you get to decide whether you answer or not).

The bolded did happen, where X6-X8 made it a button prompt. It still is annoying in X7 where they kept talking for 20 seconds until you passed the 'help' section. But X8 worked similar to X6 regarding that element.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I waited for this game with bated breath. I was in sixth grade at the time, so the only way to get it was to convince my mom to get it for my brother as a birthday present... which meant waiting a month after it came out to play it. None of my local rental places had it for whatever reason. She hid the game in a clothing drawer, and I used to periodically take out the case and longingly read the back cover. X4 had been so good, and now, FINALLY, years later, a sequel! When I booted up the game and saw that the intro sequence not only referenced previous games with the little Variable X nod, but also had drawn stills of previous fights in the series, I flipped. I started the game with my hype at maximum. The intro stage only fueled this hype. You start with your armor from the last game!! SIGMA IS THE FIRST BOSS!? ZERO HAS HIS BUSTER BACK?? Ohhhhhh maannn kfjsdfkjsldj

...I ended up being underwhelmed from then on. The soundtrack seemed far too subdued for an X game, the character select system was a farce as you could only collect heart tanks as one character or the other, the level design was hit or miss, and I hated the armor system. I would rather the game dumped the Gaea Armor and gave us the traditional "use it as you get it" system for the Falcon Armor, because waiting to get all four pieces takes away from the concept in both the gratification felt for finding the armor capsules, and for utility, as they don't become actually useful until well over halfway through the game. The ranking system, the reploid rescue, the part system - none of the new additions clicked for me, and they all felt gratuitous and useless at best, annoying at worst. And there were no anime cutscenes - the game felt low budget compared to its predecessor. Even the Maverick intros felt really lame compared to the bombastic intros of the previous games.

Stuff I loved? Almost everything about the story and atmosphere. Five games' worth of buildup to Zero's origins as a maverick finally explored, Zero finally meeting Dr. Light, Zero mentioning his visions of Wily to Dr. Light, hints that Wily was still alive somehow and that Sigma was working with Wily behind the scenes, nods to previous games in the classic and X series, the X vs. Zero battle finally happening (with AWESOME music), and even the possibility of awakening Zero's "true" Maverick self - all of this was amazing, and just what I wanted from a finale to the series. The game that it was wrapped up in, however, fell decidedly short of my expectations.

I've grown to appreciate the game more over the years, as it is by no means a bad game. I still feel like it's one of the weaker entries in the X series, though, and it marked a decline that the series never really recovered from. X6 followed in its footsteps by having amazing concepts and a great atmosphere - and even one upping it with a killer soundtrack (possibly the best in the series) and armor design for X - but an even worse game surrounding those concepts. The Zero series would pick up the slack in its place.

Re: Alia: I liked how she added flavor text about the levels and mavericks you were dealing with, but she should have had optional commentary. Luckily, X6 fixed this, but X5 is the better game all around, so it's sorely missing here.

 

[RK128]

I waited for this game with bated breath. I was in sixth grade at the time, so the only way to get it was to convince my mom to get it for my brother as a birthday present... which meant waiting a month after it came out to play it. None of my local rental places had it for whatever reason. She hid the game in a clothing drawer, and I used to periodically take out the case and longingly read the back cover. X4 had been so good, and now, FINALLY, years later, a sequel! When I booted up the game and saw that the intro sequence not only referenced previous games with the little Variable X nod, but also had drawn stills of previous fights in the series, I flipped. I started the game with my hype at maximum. The intro stage only fueled this hype. You start with your armor from the last game!! SIGMA IS THE FIRST BOSS!? ZERO HAS HIS BUSTER BACK?? Ohhhhhh maannn kfjsdfkjsldj

...I ended up being underwhelmed from then on. The soundtrack seemed far too subdued for an X game, the character select system was a farce as you could only collect heart tanks as one character or the other, the level design was hit or miss, and I hated the armor system. I would rather the game dumped the Gaea Armor and gave us the traditional "use it as you get it" system for the Falcon Armor, because waiting to get all four pieces takes away from the concept in both the gratification felt for finding the armor capsules, and for utility, as they don't become actually useful until well over halfway through the game. The ranking system, the reploid rescue, the part system - none of the new additions clicked for me, and they all felt gratuitous and useless at best, annoying at worst. And there were no anime cutscenes - the game felt low budget compared to its predecessor. Even the Maverick intros felt really lame compared to the bombastic intros of the previous games.

Stuff I loved? Almost everything about the story and atmosphere. Five games' worth of buildup to Zero's origins as a maverick finally explored, Zero finally meeting Dr. Light, Zero mentioning his visions of Wily to Dr. Light, hints that Wily was still alive somehow and that Sigma was working with Wily behind the scenes, nods to previous games in the classic and X series, the X vs. Zero battle finally happening (with AWESOME music), and even the possibility of awakening Zero's "true" Maverick self - all of this was amazing, and just what I wanted from a finale to the series. The game that it was wrapped up in, however, fell decidedly short of my expectations.

I've grown to appreciate the game more over the years, as it is by no means a bad game. I still feel like it's one of the weaker entries in the X series, though, and it marked a decline that the series never really recovered from. X6 followed in its footsteps by having amazing concepts and a great atmosphere - and even one upping it with a killer soundtrack (possibly the best in the series) and armor design for X - but an even worse game surrounding those concepts. The Zero series would pick up the slack in its place.

Re: Alia: I liked how she added flavor text about the levels and mavericks you were dealing with, but she should have had optional commentary. Luckily, X6 fixed this, but X5 is the better game all around, so it's sorely missing here.

Thank you for posting the bolded, as I completely agree. That is why I put so much information in the story portion; it really is major to the game and does a solid job standing on its own as a conclusion game for the series (despite plans changing and it NOT being one).

The X series recovered with the Xtreme GBC games, MMX8 and I heard decent things about Command Mission........so its not like post MMX5 we got bad game after bad game for a while.

Even then, the Zero series started in 2002 (a year after MMX6), so at least we got fun Mega Man X action from that series .

 

[MooMilk2929]

I really liked MMX5. I got it cause they added the ability to duck and I wanted to see it in action. I was kinda disapointed that the series hadn't grew like Castlevania had tho. Felt pretty shorted on my money.

 

[Man God]

X5 is the beginning of the bad X games. It's the last enjoyable 2D X game. It's got a lot of really cool ideas...executed poorly. Makes a great end to the series story wise though...but then Capcom chickens out and there are three more games, each worse in that department.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I feel like X8 was too little, too late. X6 was a middling game at best (although not completely unsalvageable - I'll give my opinions on it in the X6 thread when it arrives) but X7 put a nail in the coffin that hurt the series beyond repair. If X8 was 2D and sprite based it may have been more appealing, but even though it was leagues better than X6 or X7 in level design it still felt like a budget add-on to the series. Maverick Hunter X was phenomenal, even with its ugly 3D, and I agree that the GBC games were also good, but those were all retreads of previous material in one way or another.

X5's atmosphere of impending doom was picked up perfectly by X6, though. Possibly the best connection between Mega Man games I've seen. All throughout X5 you really feel like the world might end, and then when you start X6 you see that it almost has. Even though X6 was an "extra" game, I feel like it really helped set the tone for the even darker Zero series.

 

[RK128]

I feel like X8 was too little, too late. X6 was a middling game at best (although not completely unsalvageable - I'll give my opinions on it in the X6 thread when it arrives) but X7 put a nail in the coffin that hurt the series beyond repair. If X8 was 2D and sprite based it may have been more appealing, but even though it was leagues better than X6 or X7 in level design it still felt like a budget add-on to the series. Maverick Hunter X was phenomenal, even with its ugly 3D, and I agree that the GBC games were also good, but those were all retreads of previous material in one way or another.

X5's atmosphere of impending doom was picked up perfectly by X6, though. Possibly the best connection between Mega Man games I've seen. All throughout X5 you really feel like the world might end, and then when you start X6 you see that it almost has. Even though X6 was an "extra" game, I feel like it really helped set the tone for the even darker Zero series.

Considering how the game even feels more tailored fit for Zero, I can agree with that. I like the harsher look of X6 and visually it honestly isn't even that bad.

I will cover it in great detail later this week but the issues with the game stem mainly from level design and the really horrid Nightmare mechanic. Otherwise, it has all the foundations for a strong MMX title honestly.

And of course Maverick Hunter X was fantastic, they had the amazing Mega Man X1 to work with as a base !

 

[rockmanjoe]

I played this before X4 or X6. It's an interesting X game full of odd quirks and that's what I like about it.

I like the different endings and how the story felt like a final chapter of sorts. I like how in the beginning of a playthrough you can go straight to the Sigma stages if you wanted to. I liked all the references to previous games (yellow devil is a huge chore to fight in this game though). The soundtrack is excellent.

Zero is just as fun to play as in X4, and I'm super glad X's Fourth Armor is selectable since I don't like the two armors this game introduces. Gaia limits movement too much and Falcon's charge shot is lame as hell. The ability to equip enhancement parts (like speedster and such) is an interesting addition even though there's no way to know which part you'd get when you make the weapons/life/energy choice after beating a boss. Oh and you can finally crouch.

There are some baffling inclusions, like the Alia handholding (wtf were they thinking). Some were odd like the boss levels, which seemingly had no effect other than to extend their life bars. I prefer the autoscrolling vehicle level in this game over X4's if only because I get to hop out of it for the 2nd half of it. I also wish the Sigma stages had more visual variety since looking at the disco neon backgrounds got old quick.

But the good outweighs the weird/bad easily. Overall it's a very solid game.

 

[pauloshinobi]

X vs Zero theme is one of the greatest pieces of music in the entire series.


Also the bit of X1's Zero theme at the American Intro / Japanese start screen is a amazing nod to what is going to happen

 

[Shadow Hog]

The bolded did happen, where X6-X8 made it a button prompt.

Yeah, uh, that's why I said they did it.

 

[RK128]

Yeah, uh, that's why I said they did it.

Okay, thank you for pointing it out and sorry if I just repeated your point XD!

 

[BassForever]

I feel like X5 was saved from being the worst X game by nature that it was followed up by X6 ans X7 which continued to lower the bar on the X games. Honestly what kills x5 for me is the stupid timer mechanic and how it influences what rewards you can or can't get along with how "strong" the bosses are. For me a big part of the Mega Man series is getting everything as your player character gets progressively more powerful. MMX5 is the first game where it is impossible to get everything in one run by the nature of the game. Also the random nature of the two weapons to stop the ark was always stupid I feel influence on what happens to Zero in the story should be based upon player choice not random chance.

 

[Voost Kain]

This continues my Mega Man Retrospective and this is a major game in the X series; this was supposed to be the conclusion to the X Series originally. So, this game tries to wrap up a lot of loose ends that hanged since day one.

How does the game compare to other Mega Man X titles and is it a solid conclusion to the series? Lets find out!

But first, this WILL contain complete story spiolers, so please read ahead with caution if you never played this before.

Development:
Inafune had little part of X5's development, telling the team 'Finish the series off with this title' making the team push for the game to cover everything; the series connections to Mega Man Classic, how the future series of Mega Man is set up (MM Zero), and in general, trying to make a fun final game for fans of the X Series.

The team behind the game includes the following:
Director - Koji Okohara
Designer - Toyozumi Sakai
Artists - Haruki Suetsugu, Ryuji Higurashi
Composers - Naoto Tanaka, Naoya Kamisaka, Takuya Miyawaki

But Capcom commissioned for a sequel game, MMX6, to release a year later after MMX5. Will be covering that with great detail when the time comes, but for now, lets just say they had little time to work on it compared to X4 and X5.

Localization of the game is something to note here, as the Mavericks you fight have original names for the NA/EU releases instead of translations of their Japanese names. This is thanks to Capcom voice actress Alyson Court, who was involved in the game's localization, came up with names for the Marvicks as a tribute to her then-husband's love of the rock-band Guns & Roses. This lead to some really fun names for the different Mavericks: Grizzly Slash, Duff McWhalen (amazing name by the way), Squid Adler, Izzy Glow, Dark Dizzy, The Skiver, Matterx, Axle the Red

The game released in November 2000 in Japan and in February & August in 2001 to lukewarm reception. But the series continued and we got three more mainline X titles despite this originally being a conclusion title for the series.

Story:
The game takes place a few months after the events of Mega Man X4, with the Repliforce ending and Earth being in piece. The rest of the story summary is from the detailed and well organized Mega Mega Man X5 Wiki:

"The repair of the space colonies damaged during the war was almost complete, the only space colony remaining being the giant colony Eurasia located in a Lagrangian point. As it was quite old, it was planned to receive extensive renovation. However, one day someone had occupied Eurasia and took control of it, scattering a virus in the colony and using its artificial gravity systems to set it on a collision course towards Earth. Within 16 hours, Eurasia will crash and cause great destruction, in the worst case extinguishing all life from the planet. The Maverick Hunters plan on using the large particle cannon Enigma to destroy Eurasia before it happens. The Enigma cannon is somewhat old and needs to be upgraded. Signas, the Hunters' new commander, orders Mega Man X and his comrade Zero, as they race against time to collect the four parts necessary to upgrade the Enigma and stop Eurasia before it's too late. To make things worse, Sigma scattered the Sigma Virus all over the world and the parts needed are being protected by Mavericks."

So X and Zero head out to get the parts needed for the cannon and ship, with the goal of taking out the Eurasia Ship to prevent further damage to the Earth. Where things get interesting, is based on if you play as X or Zero. X has interactions with the Mavericks and it is very interesting; some Mavericks like Squid Adler KNOW X from past events or others honorably push X to fight them for the part like Grizzly Slash and Duff McWhalen. I enjoyed encountering the bosses just to see what the Maverick will say. Its also interesting to note that The Skiver was part of the Repliforce, showing that continuity is important to the series. The story also explores Zero's past with Wily, as the Simga Virus WAS originally the Zero Virus, just transferred. This causes Zero to be immune to its effects and gets stronger the more he takes in. Depending on if you use the shuttle or not and it succeeds, this leads to Zero being activated how Wily intended and him becoming 'evil'.

The end of the game depends on if destroy the station or not but how it plays out is interesting. If Zero isn't evil, X just lives on and fights another day. But if Zero is evil, not only does X recover from his fight but we get Zero being dead, X forgetting everything about his friend & even seeing some hints toward the Zero series.

It sounds like a lot, and it is, but it isn't super interesting over all. I enjoyed the boss encounters and the end-game story stuff but the text boxes and long stills were a step down for me compared to the FMV's that X4 had.

Gameplay:
Well, its more Mega Man X in many respects. X has his Mega Buster and Fourth Armor from MMX4 (if you play as him from the start) and Zero has his Z-Saber and Z-Buster (if you start the game as Zero). Both can dash on ground & mid-air, wall jump/cling, and have basic attacks (X = Cannon Attacks, Zero = Melee Attacks).

What is different is the smaller things. One thing is a time system, where once you select a level, you lose one out of 16 hours. If you lose all your hours, you HAVE to fire the cannon/fly the shuttle. But with 8 Mavericks and two fights with a new character, you still have 6 extra hours for backtracking and stuff, so this isn't that big of a deal.

Hostages are a new system though, as if you save enough in the stages, you can increase your health or weapon energy. This is a much larger mechanic with X6 though.....an annoying one I must say.

The armor system is different too, with X having three armors to collect, but unlike past games, you need ALL FOUR PARTS for them to work. Meaning, you have to get every part to even use the thing. This is very, very annoying and makes them useless until you reach the halfway mark. Will touch on why this is annoying when I talk about the stages. But anyway, you have three armors; Falcon (ability to fly for 10 seconds in the air), Gaea (greater defense and ability to move on spikes but no air-dash) and Ultimate Armor (ability to use the powerful air dash Giga Attack). Zero even has an armor and like the Ultimate Armor, you can find it in Simga Stage 3.

Stages:
The stages in X5 are varied, ranging from a stroll through a sunken ship, racing on a jet ski to a hidden base, and exploring a location filled with literal guns & roses (ha); the level variety is on point and makes each one fun.

Squid Alder’s level is fun if you are just going through it for example, as it’s a high speed bike section during the introduction that leads to a platform heavy puzzle area where you are hit/shoot pillars into switches to continue. If you want to get the head armor piece to the Falcon Armor…….you will be here for a very long time due having to collect little spheres. This stage was the reason I never bothered collecting the armors outside of the Ultimate Armor. Otherwise, fun stage.

Also enjoy the fire level in the game where you fight Matterx; it has you hide behind rock pillars to avoid insta-death fire blasts and it is fun to avoid all the attacks plus it makes great use of the wall cling ability.

The fights themselves are sadly not that rewarding if you are going in weakness order. They get locked in place after you hit them with weakness attacks and it makes the fights very easy. I tried fighting a few of the Mavericks with only the Mega Buster and they presented fun patterns. Duff McWallen is a great one for example, as he shoots pillars of ice that make a platform you run across. And during the mid-fight, you have to avoid them being shot at you rapidly toward the wall with spikes. So if you want a challenge for X, do not use the weakness for the bosses.

Boss Weapons:
Items you get from the bosses are good; you get the Slasher which can be charged into a shield that attacks foes for a bit, Izzy Glows weapon is a movable missile, and you have the Goo Shaver which shoots a sliding across the floor. But two weapons I want to highlight; the Electric Ball and the Time Stopper. Yes, the Mega Man 1 and Mega Man 2 weapons are in this game and function almost 1-to-1 the same. Even two bosses heavily mirror Mega Man 7 and Mega Man X1 bosses.

Virus/Sigma Stages:
Then we have the Tower Levels, which are complete re-creations of past Mega Man locations. Virus Stage 1 & 2 are remakes of Mega Man 2 levels; one being Quick Man and the other being a remake of the Bubble Man’s Stage....

.....With the boss of the level being the YELLOW DEVIL! Yes, the X Series has its own Devil fight and is just as long and difficult like past Mega Man Classic games. But the final form of this thing is Wily Machine Six.

The next Virus Stage is a re-creation of Sigma Stage 1 from Mega Man X with it concluding with this guy from Mega Man X (link to image). It’s the same exact fight as well.

We have two more Virus Stages, with one concluding with a fight with Zero and the next one having the vanishing blocks from past Mega Man Classic titles. It concludes with a fight with Sigma.

Overall, the level design is strong here and despite some really annoying bits here and there, I had fun running through the game as X. Yes, I said X as I didn’t play as Zero for this run of the game. I completed most of the game as Zero with my X Collection copy a few years back and decided to try the game out with X and I made a good move, as you can lose Zero. This is a problem that I need to bring up; if the shuttle fails, you lose the ability to play as Zero. And this is randomized after you collect all the parts of the shuttle. One way to avoid issues is either collect three pieces of the cannon and keep firing it until you get it to work or just play the entire game as X, with you collecting heart tanks with him.

Presentation:
The anime cut-scenes are gone but that does not prevent the game from being a great looking title. The levels have a lot of detail and the sprite work is very well done. The Pre-Rendered bits here and there look nice to me honestly too. The music is filled with great remixes from past MM Classic and MMX tittles with the new tracks being really great inclusions. Some of the new tracks like the Boss Theme are personal favorites to me.

Opening Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYlf0JRqzoE&index=1&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Into Stage X: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwnRxP8Eni4&index=3&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Intro Stage Zero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-8sGtF_LX8&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=5
Grizzly Slash (Crescent Grizzly): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyIFODbDK5M&index=9&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Squid Adled (Volt kraken): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBmqIGiAHdg&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=10
Duff McWhalen (Tidal Makkoeen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLfRIlLQEe8&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=12
Shadow Devil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axwDkB9Zulo&index=23&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Boss Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHkkensA774&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=19
Zero Virus Stage 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9578n9P6I4M&index=22&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Zero Virus Stage 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duPoJrA9qwI&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=24
Dr. Light: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKzwSrmUjZQ&index=27&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Zero's Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XNcO5hBaxQ&index=30&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244
Sigma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3fiZXzkOOA&index=26&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244

We even have a few unused tracks too.
Deep Sea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMSW3TfqjKM&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=32
Dr. Light Beta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUTLGVbLMVQ&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244&index=33
Zero's Death Beta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g02oEBpHoW0&index=36&list=PL7oGGg7qjS8FBThZq07Zoub84l0-Eu244

Overall:
This is a fun action platformer that while having some issues, is still a great time for people that are fans of the X or Classic Series. The game really celebrates the entire Mega Man series (from 2000) and it is a game I recommend playing.

It was never going to originally be a conclusion title. Hence X6, Inafune though he had more control than he did and it got to his head.

BTW a few corrections, Repliforce didn't end, just the war (The Skiver is in charge of a repliforce base)

I think you may want to redo your story portion a bit. Eurasia is a colony. But Eurasia isn't important into after the first part of the story, in which Sigma lets' X or Zero destroy him to spread his virus all over the world. The Space Colony was actually brought down by Dynamo.

Also in the intro stage, the person you start as when you get to the Sigma fight, will see the partner lose an ability. For example if you enter as X, Zero's canon arm is broken and he can't use the Canon for the rest of the game. If you enter as Zero, X's fourth Armor is broken so you start with zero armor.

Enigma is the first attempt and is the total focus at the first half of the game. The Shuttle is the last desperation attempt.

A common mistake you made, that even I did long ago, is that the SIgma Voirus ios the Zero Virus, it's actually not, the Zero Virus is different entirely, and X6 actually goes into more detail with that than X5 (and this was supposed to be the last game Inafune? lord.)

The thing with Zero being what Wily intended never happens, because Zero actually goes maverick and then wakes up once you defeat him in combat. Sigma even clarifies that he failed. But this is a mistake that is common since the game has Zero say "Are you X I must destroy you" so maybe he almost got to that point.

Also apparently SIgma met an old man regardless of who you fight the final boss as, which we see nothing of at all, and they just leave that plot issue there because uh.,,

There are 3 endings to the game. The one that goes into X6. where X and Zero get shot through the chest and Zero shoots sigma. WHich leads to Dr.light somehow...Fixing X, and then X remembering Zero. The one where Zero sacrifices himself after he wakes up before Sigma could finish X off, resulting in Zero's death and X not remembering Zero. Then one where Zero is having a monologue and dies off.

Also the parts for the laser and ship are random. You could fire the laser as soon as you start the game from the title screen and it could work. You could get one part for the shuttle and it can work.

You also have a time limit. 16 hours if I am not mistaken. But the part you missed is it does not reset if the Laser fails, despite them saying it delayed the crash.

One other annoying thing, Alia mentions after each boss about upgrading life, weapons etc. This is only a thing if you increase the difficulty. This is kind of odd that the default difficulty removes a part of the game.

You forgot to mention you are completely invincible when using the Falcon armor (spikes are the exception)

You can also find X's Ultimate Armor in Sigma Stage 3.

You forgot to mention Dynamo, who has zero motivation for doing what he is doing other than he is bored. He is the one who Hijacked the space colony and after a few Boss fights he will interrupt the game (and still count down the timer) and make you fight him, Twice. How did Dynamo Hijack the colony? Well uh.......

*You forgot to mention you can fight X as Zero in Sigma Stage 3.

One detail that you may or may not have noticed but you may find interesting is based on whether you need the parts or not the Bosses have different Dialogue. Sometimes plot revealing Dialogue, for example, going to Grizzly as X after the Laser failed and you DID NOT get the part, or doing the same with Zero and Izzy Glow stage.

Also you there's different dialogue for when the colony hits the earth (or it explodes and the pieces hit the earth) for example, going to The SKiver at this time makes him go mad and he becomes a maverick.

Also one thing about the randomness of the Laser and the Shuttle, you can't reload saves, it's locked (unless you go and take another part. For example, I had 4 laser parts and the laser did not work, but when I got a part for the shuttle, which at this point, is useless, the Laser Worked.

Lifesaver is in the game. I don't know why he is in the game. But he's in the game.

 

[Voost Kain]

After watching Clements & BrainScratch's playthrough of X6......feel ready to tackle the game.

If you play the game as X properly it's literally not even remotely hard. Literally.

You start out with the Falcon Armor and just go in this order, Yammark>Scaravich>Heatnix>Wolffang>Turtoloid>MetalSharkPlayer>Sheldon>Infinity

This also removes you dealing with the blunt of the nightmare system which is where the majority of the issues in the game come from.

Don't just look at videos of some guys who have to cheat with Zero by using a stun trick to beat bosses.

In my honest opinion I don't think X6 and X5 are far apart in their quality. X5 had quite a few issues itself that are arguably worse in some areas. X6 has a reputation of being this hard game you need help with when it's actually not hard at all. Even the nightmare thing is overblown, the one IMPORTANT part you need had ZERO nightmares near it unless you literally get it to follow you all the way over and that would have to be intentional. Likely you'll get the Jumper without even realizing it.

X7 now... That's uh...

 

[RK128]

It was never going to originally be a conclusion title. Hence X6, Inafune though he had more control than he did and it got to his head.

BTW a few corrections, Repliforce didn't end, just the war (The Skiver is in charge of a repliforce base)

I think you may want to redo your story portion a bit. Eurasia is a colony. But Eurasia isn't important into after the first part of the story, in which Sigma lets' X or Zero destroy him to spread his virus all over the world. The Space Colony was actually brought down by Dynamo.

Also in the intro stage, the person you start as when you get to the Sigma fight, will see the partner lose an ability. For example if you enter as X, Zero's canon arm is broken and he can't use the Canon for the rest of the game. If you enter as Zero, X's fourth Armor is broken so you start with zero armor.

Enigma is the first attempt and is the total focus at the first half of the game. The Shuttle is the last desperation attempt.

A common mistake you made, that even I did long ago, is that the SIgma Voirus ios the Zero Virus, it's actually not, the Zero Virus is different entirely, and X6 actually goes into more detail with that than X5 (and this was supposed to be the last game Inafune? lord.)

The thing with Zero being what Wily intended never happens, because Zero actually goes maverick and then wakes up once you defeat him in combat. Sigma even clarifies that he failed. But this is a mistake that is common since the game has Zero say "Are you X I must destroy you" so maybe he almost got to that point.

Also apparently SIgma met an old man regardless of who you fight the final boss as, which we see nothing of at all, and they just leave that plot issue there because uh.,,

There are 3 endings to the game. The one that goes into X6. where X and Zero get shot through the chest and Zero shoots sigma. WHich leads to Dr.light somehow...Fixing X, and then X remembering Zero. The one where Zero sacrifices himself after he wakes up before Sigma could finish X off, resulting in Zero's death and X not remembering Zero. Then one where Zero is having a monologue and dies off.

Also the parts for the laser and ship are random. You could fire the laser as soon as you start the game from the title screen and it could work. You could get one part for the shuttle and it can work.

You also have a time limit. 16 hours if I am not mistaken. But the part you missed is it does not reset if the Laser fails, despite them saying it delayed the crash.

One other annoying thing, Alia mentions after each boss about upgrading life, weapons etc. This is only a thing if you increase the difficulty. This is kind of odd that the default difficulty removes a part of the game.

You forgot to mention you are completely invincible when using the Falcon armor (spikes are the exception)

You can also find X's Ultimate Armor in Sigma Stage 3.

You forgot to mention Dynamo, who has zero motivation for doing what he is doing other than he is bored. He is the one who Hijacked the space colony and after a few Boss fights he will interrupt the game (and still count down the timer) and make you fight him, Twice. How did Dynamo Hijack the colony? Well uh.......

*You forgot to mention you can fight X as Zero in Sigma Stage 3.

One detail that you may or may not have noticed but you may find interesting is based on whether you need the parts or not the Bosses have different Dialogue. Sometimes plot revealing Dialogue, for example, going to Grizzly as X after the Laser failed and you DID NOT get the part, or doing the same with Zero and Izzy Glow stage.

Also you there's different dialogue for when the colony hits the earth (or it explodes and the pieces hit the earth) for example, going to The SKiver at this time makes him go mad and he becomes a maverick.

Also one thing about the randomness of the Laser and the Shuttle, you can't reload saves, it's locked (unless you go and take another part. For example, I had 4 laser parts and the laser did not work, but when I got a part for the shuttle, which at this point, is useless, the Laser Worked.

Lifesaver is in the game. I don't know why he is in the game. But he's in the game.

Thank you for the heads up; will add your post to the OP right now.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

The first Megaman game I ever played was Megaman X. A game which I love dearly and still consider the best MM ever made and I've since then beaten all of the Megaman Classics and almost all of the X series.

So there I was in early 2001. It had been only a year since I stopped being a Nintendo-only console owner and asked for a Playstation for Christmas in 1999 with FFVIII. I barely went a year with it until I sold it for a PS2 the next Christmas. With so much PS1 backlog to go through I never played so many different games in one year ever in my life. That's when I discovered the likes of Parasite Eve, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and countless RPGs like Chrono Cross, Thousand Arms, Lunar, Legend of Legaia, and many more.

I found out that the newer Megaman X, just like every other still alive franchise that started on NES or SNES, continued on Playstation so I went to Best Buy decided to buy Megaman X4 since I heard it was so good but then it happened.

I saw Megaman X5 sitting besides X4 and I was torn. Get the at the time 3 year old X4 or get the brand new X5 I knew nothing about. I figured the new one had to be better right? Fuck me sideways it was NOT! X5 was mediocre to okay at best and I hated Arla's interruptions just as much in 2001 as I do in 2016. I would go without trying X4 until it was made available on PSN last year!


TL;DR: I loved the X series. The day I went to buy X4 I saw that the new X5 was available and bought the newer one instead. Big mistake and to this day I wished I had gone with X4.

 

[Bolivar687]

Hope this isn't too egregious of a necro but I've been replaying this and X4 on Vita for months and wanted to add some thoughts.

As you may know, the bosses have different dialogue depending if you play as X or Zero and I think the game uses this to differentiate which interactions are canon and establish that there is a correct order of when to play as X vs Zero. It starts with X in the intro stage and alternates from there. By talking to Dr. Light as Zero in the first Grizzly Slash stage, Zero brings up the nightmares from X4 and Grizzly repeats the revelation that Zero was a Maverick who defeated Sigma. There are conversations where the bosses reference past games or go deeper into their motivations, whereas if you play with the wrong character, the game almost penalizes you with brief, dismissive, or otherwise unsatisfying dialogue. It also seems to reflect the appropriate armor to use for a stage, as the Fourth Armor's buster shot demolishes the underwater battleship, whereas Zero absolutely pulverizes Grizzly Slash and the Skiver in a notably shorter amount of time. It also culminates with the conversation between Zero and Axle the Red that reintroduces the hint from MMX4, that Mavericks might just be political opponents designated by the humans and not actually AI who turned to a life of crime.

X4 and X5 are obviously a duology and two sides of the same coin. While MMX4 might be the perfect mega man game as far as something you play quickly straight through and in different boss orders, and has better music, story, and all around presentation, X5 to me is the more robust game. There's more variety in the levels and the duck, ropes, low gravity help augment this diversity. The end stages are also much more challenging by going beyond the memorization required in X4. Lastly, it makes an effort to tie the series' together nicely. If it madethis point more explicit via the FMV cutscenes a la X4, and removed the Alia dialogue, it would've been one of the best action platformers of all time. It's still a classic in its own right which begs to be played over and over again.