Reviews from

in the past


Died 1992 Born Again 2008
Welcome back Wave Man

Mas de los mismo x2.
Pero con un mega buster mejor

Robot master designs kept getting weirder, levels stayed fun and music stayed rad though. Collecting the letters for Beat was tough but he was a cool ally to go with Rush

Video game version of “She’s mid but I like her”


Mega Man 5 is the only one of the bunch that I actually played through on my Famicom rather than on the Switch collection, and I actually played through it before Mega Man 1, but I'm putting it here order-wise for the sake of consistent formatting XD. Mega Man 5 was a game I only played through once on the Anniversary Collection when I was younger, so this was a game I remembered far far less of than the first three games. It ended up taking me around four hours to beat the Japanese version of the game.

Mega Man 5 has a bit of a different take on the story again, and does a bit of a fake out like Mega Man 4 did. Proto Man has suddenly turned traitor, and he kidnaps Dr. Light! He tells Mega Man to defeat his eight robot masters before taking him on directly if he wants Dr. Light returned safely, and Mega Man of course sets off to the task. In the end, "Proto Man" turns out to be Dark Man in disguise, and it was Dr. Wily behind it all the whole time (of course), but the scene where the real Proto Man saves you from the fake one is a really well done, text-less cutscene for the NES. It helps set up the action just fine, as the other NES games do.

However, story aside, Mega Man 5 is a pretty steep blip in quality from the generally upward trend with saw with the previous four games. Mega Man 5's stages often feel like they repeat the same thing too often and are far longer than they need to be, so they end up feeling a bit empty as a result. You also have a fair few stages, especially Crystal Man's, that have really unfair-feeling traps that require either super reflexes or downright luck to get past. They also have a letter of "MEGAMAN5" hidden in each of them, and you'll really want those if you want to unlock this game's hidden weapon: the new birdy companion Beat! They aren't awful, and I definitely wouldn't say this game's stages are worse than Mega Man 1's if only because of how much better this game controls, but they're still definitely one of the weakest among the NES games in quality.

The boss designs are also less than stellar compared to most of the others in the series. You still have your chargeable mega buster from Mega Man 4, thankfully, and it's also even better because it now unleashes a much larger projectile. But this is one of the few saving graces of this game. While this game does tend to be fairly easy with how often it gives you extra lives and health powerups compared to previous entries, the bosses also tend to be disappointingly easy in just how simple their patterns are. It often didn't even feel worth trying to use their weaknesses on them, as they're just so easily beaten with the mega buster. But on the flip side of that, you have Dark Man's stages and his bosses, which you REALLY want Beat for, as he's their weakness. The Dark Man bosses are generally really tough and not in a fun way, and drag this game down just like Doc Robot did in Mega Man 3, but even moreso. Wily's stage's bosses are pretty good, but that doesn't make up for just how short and unimpressive their stages are, and the whole thing ends up feeling way more rough than you'd expect after an entry as good as Mega Man 4.

The presentation is pretty good, but it's still a far cry from the goodness that was Mega Man 2 and 3. Dark Man's stages have a pretty good theme, but other than that, most of the music is pretty forgettable. The graphics are quite pretty though, with the robot masters and other bosses looking as nice and well-designed as ever.


Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. While I wouldn't put this below Mega Man 1 in quality if only for the reason that it has tighter controls, that's still damning with faint praise. Mega Man 5 is a really disappointing game not only because it's so mediocre, but also considering the games it followed. It's still a good NES action game, but just how rough this entry is makes its existence very confusing in the series.


As good as it gets. Keeping the improvements from MM4 and adding some graphics improvements makes this a good game, at the least.
The stages are OK (Gravity man was really interesting with such a nice gimmick, loved it) but wave man is terrible!
The bosses are great as well, did not stumble upon any BS that annoyed me.
The fortresses were... Ok? Not really a lot to comment about them.
Overall, one of the greatest. Oh, the music, as always, was good!

More like Mega Man 5/10 am I right

Já não aguento mais mega man...

It's good but man if it's so forgettable...

My mind was made up on this game from the second I entered Gravity Man's stage. This entire game is what made me kick myself for looking down on Classic Rockman in the past as "those recycled NES platformers that Capcom pumped out yearly". The level design is so creative and interesting, the Charge Shot actually feels useful, the weapons are all amazing, the animation and graphics are gorgeous, and the Robot Masters are all awesome too. If Rockman 5 came out today, its game design wouldn't feel too out of place next to other contemporary releases.

When you reach Blues' Castle Stage 4, they have a cutscene that heavily reminded me of the amazing silent storytelling found in Rocket Knight Adventures and Sonic 3; Rock and Blues start to fight, and then the REAL Blues drops a Life Can for you after exposing the fake Blues as Dark Man. And I love that they had the slightest hint that it's not the real him by playing a messed up version of the whistle when you confront Dark Man, and then playing the RIGHT version of the whistle after.

Man, I love this game.

all of the mega man games kind of blend together in my mind, but I vaguely remember this one being my favorite.

This game is perfectly fine (besides one weapon), but it really does just feel like more of the same.

In the year 20XX AD... A vicious army of robots is bent on destroying the world!! And behind this destruction is... Proto Man!?

Mega Man 5 is a good time, but, at this point, it starts becoming clear that Capcom was resting on their laurels a bit. Most of the Robot Masters are well designed, as is generally the case, but the bosses and their weapons mostly underwhelm. Some of the stages were fine, though! Proto Man's castle is fantastic. Still, this game just feels an awful lot like Capcom biding time until the Super Nintendo.

*I should also mention that this game is banned in Vietnam. One of the Robot Masters, Napalm Man, has a jungle stage filled mechanical tigers and punji pits. What on Earth.

Esta bien, no es mejor que los 2 anteriores, pero cumple, eso si, esta un tanto roto el mega buster.

Mega Man chegou no seu pico em seu terceiro jogo, sinceramente, não tem muito pra onde ir com a limitação do NES e o quinto jogo da franquia é a prova viva disso, infelizmente, é mais do mesmo, agora, com bosses fraquíssimos e power-ups ridículos, sim, estou falando de vocês, Stone Man, Star Man e Charge Man.

Não deixa de ser divertido, porém, já está defasado.

Nada pra se falar, o jogo mantém o nível do 4, porém os bosses são fracos.

Played on the GameCube version of Mega Man Anniversary Collection, as well as the 3DS and Switch versions of Mega Man Legacy Collection. Collected all Beat parts and finished the game.

Good, but that certainly was a Mega Man game

It would be far too easy to focus on everything Mega Man 5 lacks. It still feels a bit like Zombie Simpsons, and I don't think that stink ever truly goes away, but coming off of the massive disappointment of Mega Man 4 I think MM5 deserves appreciation for what it does right, and how it (mostly) course corrects the franchise into something that feels more gameplay-oriented than MM4.

Sometimes it's the little things. Having the weapon get screens show a rotating version of the sprite you control rather than a large cartoon head makes it feel like the plot is shifted ever so slightly back. And it is. Whilst the "is Proto Man evil?" plot does drive things, it feels more like a straight run of fun robot masters followed by a couple of trench runs through two big bases. I'm still largely of the mind that having two bases to conquer is kind of needless padding, but you can forgive it a bit when the rest of the game feels tight enough.

The robot masters are mmmmmmostly good. Star Man is a joke, but at least he's a joke that's fun to take on. Charge Man is... theoretically fine, but using Stone Man's absolutely dogshit weapon against him is... embarrassing? It's embarrassing that any weapon could be as poorly designed as the power stone. Especially as most other weapons are decent! Gravity Hold is a big old nothing, but these two aside I actually really like the implementation of the other weapons, including the new, rideable Super Arrow, which renders the weirdly nerfed Rush Jet pointless while also being a versatile weapon that feels essential to at least one fight.

Actually, poor Rush eats a lot of shit this time out. Rush Coil has changed so that he jumps with you, and it sucks. Just 99% less reliable and prone to all sorts of glitches, a stupid change that gained us nothing. And that's... it. Two forms, both not very good at all. I'm glad that his big expansion is on the horizon, at least.

No, the real useful creature is he mid-game unlockable bird Beat, who allows you to just fire and forget, freeing the player up to focus on precision dodging while Beat chips away at enemy health. An inspired idea that's just a smidge too over-powered to feel fair, especially as the letters you have to collect to unlock the bird are far too sloppily placed.

The final run of levels are pretty fun. The bosses in particular are neat challenges that kept me on my toes (except whenever I had energy for Beat) with memorable enough designs, and the levels leading to them merged repeating challenges from the main stages with new ideas that made it feel like more than a long victory lap before Wily.

I don't know, I'm feeling positive here. It's a good time. Even the charge shot is useful now. But the game still suffers from the negatives MM4 had, just a bit less so, and brings new problems to the table just to make this hard to rate. Still, a solid 3 stars, and evidence that just because you've entered a safe pattern, you don't have to just wallow in mediocrity. Let's hope 6 keeps this energy up.

This has just what Mega Man 4 was missing: War Crimes.

Mega Man 5 also has a charge shot that looks great and melts through everything in the game.

Mega Man 5 ALSO has nothing but bangers in its soundtrack. I love every song in this game, especially the Proto Man stages. They were cookin here.

The Super Arrow is pretty redundant in this game though, considering Rush Jet is present, as well as an upgraded Rush Coil. It's pretty cool though!

There's not much else to be critical about here, the game is really solid all around. I love every bit of it. They added some extra frames of animation so that Mega Man can spin around. It's great! How could you be mad with that?

I've beaten Mega Man 5 four times and enjoyed it each time. I recommend it to anyone who likes video games. You don't even gotta study or play the previous games to enjoy it, just jump right in and have fun.

Honestly might be my least favorite. Star Man and Gravity Man had pretty good stages but for most of the end of the game I just found myself wanting it to be over with, like it was finally the point where the loop gets old for me. Ended up using save states around the final boss

Por esta altura o game loop do jogo já começa a fartar um pouco, ao ponto de não me lembrar grande parte do jogo, é bom ig

Amazing megaman game, loses points for that one part in wily stage 1 where you jump down a screen and you die if you jump off the right side


The charge shot in this game is so strong that it makes your other weapons and even just regularly firing feel completely worthless. A lot of people play Mega Man games to mess around with the weapons, and they'd completely hate this one. The music isn't even anything special either.

Mejora el diseño de niveles del 4 y se ve excelente para los estandares del NES, aunque igual repite varias cosas.