If you told me to make the safest Mega Man game humanly possible, Mega Man 5 would probably be the end result.
Now, that's not criticism of the game itself, there's nothing wrong with just making "Another Mega Man Game." What is wrong though is that I think it's worse than Mega Man 4.
The main problem is that the new special weapons get overshadowed by the new charge shot's wider cone of damage. Some weapons are pretty good, special shout out to Gyro Man's weapon, but some are just completely worthless.
Normally battling bosses with the Mega Buster only is considered the hard mode. For Mega Man 5 however it's actually the optimal strategy because some of the weapons are that bad. They're either timed, have a random direction, or require letting myself get punched in the crotch.
It's not fun, it's not optimal, and given the Mega Buster now has a wider cone for the charge shot it means almost everything else gets put on the back burner.
The good news however is that the rest of the game about on par with Mega Man 4, fight some bosses, get some additional weapons on top of the ones you get from the bosses, then get through the villains castle.
It's similar in 4 even right down to plot when you find out the villain, Proto Man, was framed by Dr. Wily. So it's off to go re-enact World War II by breaking an angry German's shit. Said angry German escapes, presumably to Argentina, see you in Mega Man 6.
It's not a bad game per se, just one that feels a little underwhelming and kind of a step down from Mega Man 4. It's not hard to see why people tend to rag on this one as a result.
Now, that's not criticism of the game itself, there's nothing wrong with just making "Another Mega Man Game." What is wrong though is that I think it's worse than Mega Man 4.
The main problem is that the new special weapons get overshadowed by the new charge shot's wider cone of damage. Some weapons are pretty good, special shout out to Gyro Man's weapon, but some are just completely worthless.
Normally battling bosses with the Mega Buster only is considered the hard mode. For Mega Man 5 however it's actually the optimal strategy because some of the weapons are that bad. They're either timed, have a random direction, or require letting myself get punched in the crotch.
It's not fun, it's not optimal, and given the Mega Buster now has a wider cone for the charge shot it means almost everything else gets put on the back burner.
The good news however is that the rest of the game about on par with Mega Man 4, fight some bosses, get some additional weapons on top of the ones you get from the bosses, then get through the villains castle.
It's similar in 4 even right down to plot when you find out the villain, Proto Man, was framed by Dr. Wily. So it's off to go re-enact World War II by breaking an angry German's shit. Said angry German escapes, presumably to Argentina, see you in Mega Man 6.
It's not a bad game per se, just one that feels a little underwhelming and kind of a step down from Mega Man 4. It's not hard to see why people tend to rag on this one as a result.