Capcom shipped Mega Man 5 for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. It came out in Japan on December 4, 1992, reached North America the same month, and arrived in Europe in 1993 through Nintendo. The game lands two months after Mega Man 4. Proto Man, Mega Man’s brother and ally, apparently leads an army of robots in attacks on the world and kidnaps their creator, Dr. Light. Mega Man sets out to stop him.
Star Man, Gravity Man, and Eight Robot Masters
Mega Man fights through eight Robot Masters under Proto Man’s command: Star Man, Gravity Man, Gyro Man, Stone Man, Crystal Man, Charge Man, Napalm Man, and Wave Man. Dr. Cossack, the scientist from the previous game, assists from the sidelines. He powers up the Mega Buster’s charge shot and hands over Beat, a robotic bird given as a gift.
A Charge Shot That Covers More Ground
The charge feature from Mega Man 4 returns, upgraded so charged shots cover a wider area. Take a hit before firing and the accumulated charge is lost. Destroying a Robot Master lets the player copy its Master Weapon, which drains weapon energy and must be refilled. Rush still transforms into Coil and Jet to reach high platforms and cross gaps, on the same energy budget.
Gravity Flips, and a Water Craft
Some level design breaks from the earlier games. Gravity Man’s stage reverses gravity from floor to ceiling. Wave Man’s stage puts the player on a water craft from the halfway point to the boss room. Hidden in each of the eight stages is a collectible letter; find the set and Beat becomes a usable weapon.
The Fourth Dark Man
Mega Man reaches Proto Man’s fortress and fights the four Dark Men. He beats the first three. The alleged Proto Man then ambushes him and nearly kills him, until a second Proto Man arrives and reveals the first as an imposter: the fourth Dark Man. Dr. Wily was behind it all, retaliating after Proto Man ruined his last plan by rescuing Dr. Cossack’s daughter Kalinka.
Artist Keiji Inafune had to re-illustrate the bosses several times but described his work as fun.
Why the Formula Still Holds
The criticism that Mega Man 5 breaks no new ground in plot or gameplay is fair. It carries over the same graphical style and action-platforming as the four chapters before it, and that is the point.
- The charge shot, widened.
- Beat, earned through eight hidden letters.
- Gravity Man’s inverted stage.
- Wave Man’s water craft.
- The Dark Men twist.
What matters is execution. The Beat hunt gives the eight stages a second reason to exist, and the Dark Man reveal gives the plot a turn. The music and difficulty hold up. Mega Man 5 is the original series at its most confident.
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