Introduction
(Uno) (Due) (Tres) (Quattro)
After four games of differing quality and levels of innovation, with the fourth already being light on the latter, the fifth game in the Mega Man classic series brings very few new things to the table. As such, I feel it needs little introduction. It's a very by-the-book Mega Man game; it's often said that if you've seen one, you've seen them all, and it's doubly true for this one here. It's no design masterpiece, it's nothing to write home about, it's bland as hell, it's the one I have played most of the classics.
How does the last statement gel with the others? Well, all of my badmouthing is true, in my opinion at least; that doesn't prevent the game from being fun. As this is among the most conservative of Mega Mans, it doesn't really commit any big mistakes. Also, it's probably the easiest of the NES games. Which is something I don't mind at all, in fact, it's a big plus for me. And, another big bonus for me at least, its special weapon selection is the weakest of them all. Why a bonus? Well, because an overpowered arsenal is no fun. It's experimentation and finding new uses for assumedly crappy weapons that I glean lots of enjoyment from, and as such, this game is just a treasure trove for my playstyle. If you were in the camp of only using the Buster ever in this game, which I don't fault you for, you're in for tons of surprises. Excitement! Wonder! Spectacles! I've got them all waiting for you, and dearly hope you'll be along for the ride.
Facts:
- Japanese Title: ロックマン5 ブルースの罠?! (Rockman 5 Blues no Wana?!) - Rockman 5: Blues' Trap?!
- Releases: Japan, NA: December 1992; Europe: November 1993
Story:
Dr Light gets kidnapped by Proto Man, who subsequently attempts to take over the world with the help of 8 Robot Master underlings. As always, it's up to Mega to destroy all of them and then find out what the hell got into his brother.
Sounds familiar? Replace "Proto Man" with "Cossack", and you've got MM4's plot. Which was very similar to MM3's plot. Which will be the plot of MM6, too. No points for guessing who's pulling strings behind the scenes again.
Special déjà vu bonus:
After I had watched a good number of LPs on the Archive, before I got to SA, I already knew that I wanted to do some myself. However, I have a history of not finishing things I started and I was still reluctant to pay
for what might amount to a lot of wasted time, so I decided I'd make an LP offsite as both a means to get practice before putting my toes into SA's dangerous waters and to prove to myself that I could actually complete it without too many hitches.I published it on raocow's forums, where people can plug their LPs, after Bean, whom you might know from me always thanking him for uploading the music and his chill as fuck MM4 video, showed me the basics. I got around 30 views on average (Charge Man had the most with 90, Proto 1 + 2 (one video) clocks in at a sad 16), but didn't let that deter me, I knew I had it in me and thusly registered for my first test post. Rest is history.
The first videos (up to the Proto Man stages, I believe) are live commentary because "that's more authentic" or some bullshit like that; just added to the number of times I had to re-do them because dammit, I always had standards. The quality is of course quite bad; Windows Movie Maker does that.
I'll make them public again gradually to follow the normal LP; I think it'll be a nice opportunity to compare and contrast, see how I might have improved. Hope you'll find it fun, regardless of the crude execution!
Table of Contents
Every link titled "blip" will go do baldurk's site instead because blip decided to be assholes and kicked me out. And I'm so not changing the title cards.
Music:
Contrary to the last two games, this game's soundtrack was composed by Mari Yamaguchi, who would later be on the team who composed MM10's soundtrack.
As a result, MM5's music sounds pretty damn different from the previous games; the change in composers from 2 to 3 certainly wasn't so noticeable as this one. It seems to me like it tries to be more "modern", smoother, advanced, sometimes sacrificing melody completely for a more "technological" feel. As said, it does succeed in sounding pretty different; however, it's a change for the worse in my opinion. Whereas many tunes from the past were extremely catchy, in this game, there's exactly one which I'd grant this quality. Overall, it comes across as bland and washed-out as the game itself oftentime tends to be, and I'd rate it the definite worst of all the classic soundtracks, and below most others, too. Not to say that it's bad at all; some of the stage themes still are pretty good. Its only problem is that it's a Mega Man soundtrack, and most of those are stellar. Being average, or even a bit better than average, just doesn't cut it.
Sorry, Mari.
Big thanks as always to Bean for uploading the music!
Stage themes:
- Charge Man
Wave Man
Napalm Man
Star Man
Crystal Man
Gyro Man
Stone Man
Gravity Man
Proto Man stages
Wily Stages
Thread policy changes:
- As said, the story of this game is such a blatant rip-off that it'd be a farce to keep a strict spoiler policy. And I really don't mind you talking about special weapons we haven't seen yet, either. So I don't want to see a single spoiler tag. This is the idiot check, by the way, to see who actually reads the OP.
- Contrary to the last thread, I'll only be putting enemy bios up for new enemies, not for every enemy that appears in the stage.
- No Buster videos. With how ridiculous the MM5 Buster is, I don't see the point really.
- I'm as of yet undecided on music comments. Like I just told you, I find most of it pretty damn bland and uninteresting, so I fear I might not have to say much on the individual tracks. Not that I had that much to say on the music in the past. So tell me, did you actually read any of those, do you want them this time?
Races!
There will be races again in this thread! As with the last one, Phiggle will be handling them, for which I'm eternally grateful
.Follow this link.
Start your journey through the LP with this page full of fan stuff!