Mega Man X5

Mega Man X5
An X-elent conclusion to the X series, that is until Capcom wanted more X.
Protagonist(s): X Zero Genre(s): Action Platform Platform(s): PlayStation Microsoft Windows Release Date: PlayStation JP: November 30, 2000 NA: January 31, 2001 EU: August 3, 2001 PC TW: July 2001 JP: May 25, 2002 NA: August 20, 2002 Developer(s): Capcom Production Studio 3 Value Wave Publisher(s): Capcom Series: Mega Man X Predecessor: Mega Man X4 Successor: Mega Man X6

Mega Man X5 (known in Japan as Rockman X5) is a video game developed by Capcom released in 2000. It is the sequel to Mega Man X4, is the second/penultimate game in the PlayStation 1/Sega Saturn Mega Man X Trilogy, and is overall the fifth main (and originally final) installment in the Mega Man X series. It was first released for the PlayStation in Japan in 2000 and in North America and PAL territories the following year. The game was later rereleased as part of the Mega Man X Collection for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2006, as well as the Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam in 2018.

Mega Man X5 was intended to be the final game in the Mega Man X series, with Mega Man X and Zero finally defeating Sigma, and Zero's defeat was left on a cliffhanger as a setup for the Mega Man Zero series, but Capcom desisted to create a new X game.

Plot

After the events of Mega Man X4, the Maverick leader Sigma has been revived and seeks to unlock the true power of the former Maverick Zero and destroy the hero Mega Man X in the process. To make matters worse, Sigma has set the space colony Eurasia on a 16-hour collision course with Earth. It is up to X and Zero to stop Sigma once again and save the planet from destruction.

Why It Rocks

1. An incredible story with both tragic loss and friendship.
2. Tight and solid controls, as once again, the characters will never feel unresponsive and the collision is as good as X4, they also are fast-paced like the other games.
3. Magma Dragoon from Mega Man X4 makes a cameo appearance as a training boss.
4. Awesome bosses, like Izzy Glow/Shining Firefly, Mattrex/Burn Dinorex, the X vs. Zero boss fight and Sigma's final form.
5. Like last time, players can choose to play as either X or Zero, each with their abilities. Unlike X4, however, you can choose to play any stage as either X or Zero instead of being stuck with either one for the whole playthrough.
6. Tons of callbacks from both X and even classic titles. For example, Tidal Whale/Duff McWhalen's stage theme is a remix of Bubble Crab's stage theme from Mega Man X2.
7. Lots of replay value.
8. One of the best looking Mega Man X titles, since it uses similar sprite artwork to X4, and the graphics are just as detailed and colorful.
9. Awesome soundtrack. Highlights include the intro stage themes, Burn Dinorex's theme, the final stage theme (Zero Stage 2), and the X vs. Zero boss theme.
10. Lost of collectible power-ups for both X and Zero. It's even possible to unlock the Ultimate Armor and Black Zero without having to use cheat codes!
    • Zero can now obtain X's armor pieces via Dr. Light capsules.
11. This game has the most armor in an X series game yet:
    1. The Fourth Armor, which acts almost the same way as it did in X4 (except there's no longer unlimited uncharged ammo for special weapons), is automatically equipped by X if the player starts a new game with him.
    2. The Falcon Armor, while has a less powerful X-Buster compared to the Fourth Armor and cannot charge special weapons, it makes up for it with the ability to fly freely for about 10 seconds.
    3. The Gaea Armor gives X the ability to walk on spikes without getting hurt, stick to walls without slipping, push special V-marked blocks, and have a very strong X-buster.
    4. The Ultimate Armor gives X the abilities of the Fourth Armor, unlimited Nova Strikes, and, as mentioned previously, can be obtained without cheats by going to Zero Space stage 3 and discovering a Dr. Light capsule in a hidden area. Going there as Zero will give him the Black Zero armor, which, unlike last time, where it was cosmetic, enhances his defense and saber power.
12. The levels are plagued by the deadly Sigma virus, which may infect X and kill him, but makes Zero stronger.
13. The lives system is forgiving as it still leaves you at the same checkpoint, even if you lose all your lives.
14. Extra parts can be earned and equipped for X and Zero to improve their abilities, like running faster or jumping higher.
15. The final boss is incredible and is a great call back to the final boss from the first Mega Man X game.
16. Similar to the international version of Mega Man 2, for the first time in the X series, the game's difficulty can be adjusted from Easy to Xtreme (hard).
17. Multiple endings, depending on Eurasia being destroyed successfully or not.
18. Beautiful ending that serves as a great conclusion to the Mega Man X series, this was originally going to be the final game in the series until Mega Man X6 was released.

Bad Qualities

1. Alia interrupts you while playing several times, even enough to make Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time look tolerable. Thankfully this doesn't happen in the final levels and is fixed in future games.
2. The game introduces new characters, Alia, Signas, and Douglas, but they aren't properly introduced and feel a bit forced into the story, though thankfully most of them will had more characters development in the next games.
3. If you get the bad ending, you lose Zero, that doesn't sound so bad, but you need to know that Zero can also collect Heart Containers, and doesn't share them with X, so you could pump everything up to Zero, only to lose him, so you could be stuck with X, who is not as armed up. It also makes the Zero boss much harder, with stronger attacks, one of which can instantly kill X if fought long enough.
   • This is made worse if you pick Zero at the start of the game, as X will lose the Fourth Armor, so you could be stuck with regular X.
4. X cannot use special weapons with the Gaea Armor equipped.
5. To use the Falcon Armor or Gaea Armor, you have to collect all four parts of each, compared to the previous games, where the armor's ability is automatically equipped upon collecting the part before even completing the armor set.
6. Some of the levels are frustrating, like Squid Adler/Volt Kraken's stage (Power Plant), especially the beginning part, as it expects the player to be ready to jump before the "READY" text leaves the screen, catching the player off-guard. Similarly, the first Zero Space stage is rather tough due to it being based on Quick Man's stage from Mega Man 2, complete with insta-kill lasers, making this one of the hardest levels in the game.
   • There are boss difficulty problems.
     • Two of the bosses, Grizzly Slash/Crescent Grizzly and Dark Dizzy/Dark Necrobat, are way too easy.
     • Then some bosses are too hard, the aforementioned Squid Adler/Volt Kraken and the Shadow Devil, a callback to the Yellow Devil boss from the original Mega Man game.
   • The RNG is incredibly luck-based.
   • The Power-up parts are very hard to obtain because you must defeat the boss which is at least on level 8, and you must die and return to the stage select screen to waste the hour to level up bosses.
7. For some reason, the game no longer has anime FMVs during the story. Instead, we get artwork with text & no acting/voice provided, which is a tad bit disappointing.

Tips

1. Of the two main characters to play first, play the game Mega Man X as you start with the armor from the previous game.
2. If the Space Shuttle does not hit the Colony, and it falls, just reload the save file until it successfully hits.

Trivia

• All of the Mavericks' names in the original Western PlayStation version and the Mega Man X Collection version were inspired by the Guns n´Roses band members (Squid Adler, Duff McWhalen, The Skiver, etc.). According to Alyson Court (Claire Redfield from Resident Evil 2, another Capcom game), the game's English translator, her husband was a big fan of Guns n'Roses, and Court decided to give the Mavericks unique Guns n'Roses-inspired names as a nod to her husband. Those names were changed to translations of their Japanese names in Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2.
• As previously stated, according to Capcom producer Keiji Inafune, Mega Man X5 was originally intended to be the final game in the Mega Man X saga and a setup for the Mega Man Zero series. However, Capcom wanted more games in the X series due to its overwhelming success, which led to the creation of Mega Man X6, Mega Man X7 and X8.

Reception

Critical Reception

While not as positively received as Mega Man X4, it still receiving positive reviews by critics and fans, it had a score of 76/100 on Metacritic, even though the reception is divise for the fans of the series due to how much Alia interrompt you in the levels.

Sales

According to the Japanese publication Famitsu, Mega Man X5 was the third best-selling video game in Japan during its release week at 46,033 copies sold. It placed at number eight the following week with an additional 22,963 copies sold. Media Create sales information showed that the game was the 96th best-selling video game in Japan in 2000. Dengeki Online reported that Mega Man X5 sold a total of 215,687 copies in Japan by the end of 2001, listing it as the 132nd best-selling game of the year in the region. The game was eventually re-released as part of Sony's PlayStation The Best for Family range of budget titles in Japan.

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