Mega Man V

A mysterious alien robot force attacks from outer space. Mega Man was just relaxing and minding his own business when suddenly he’s confronted by Terra, the leader of the StarDroids. Mega Man attempts to fight off his attacker, but his Mega Buster is useless against the StarDroid and Terra’s own shots work all too well!

It is unknown how Mega Man survived the encounter (Proto Man?) but when he awakens, he’s at Dr. Light’s lab. The kind scientist explains that while Mega Man was out, the StarDroids had stormed in and easily crushed the land, since no known weapons could hurt them. Then Dr. Light announces that he’s done some studies and used his new knowledge to equip Mega Man with a new weapon—one that will damage these invaders. Mega Man tries it out and discovers he can fire his own fist at enemies!

Aided by Rush, Tango, Proto Man, Eddie, and Dr. Light, Mega Man steels himself and his new weapon and heads off to deal with the StarDroids. Eventually he takes them on their own turf—other planets! Along the way he finds some unusual items and discovers some incredible things...!

This is my personal all-time favorite. It introduces the so-called “Mega Arm” and Tango, the green tabby. Although the hairball isn’t all that useful, it has a delightful meow.

The Item Replicator is back and improved (or so Dr. Light claims!); best items to get: the Magnet Hand (MH), the Energy Balancer (EB machine), what I call the Clobber Hand (CL), and, later, the energy-reducing item made with the four crystals. This is the recommended order, although the EB machine is mostly convenience so you might want to get CL first.

This game also features new Robot Masters for your enjoyment (or terror, as the case may be). It also includes Terra, Sunstar, cameos of characters from the previous four Game Boy games...and a new final boss!

Using the Mega Arm

The Mega Arm charges up much like Mega Man’s normal cannon; in fact he only shoots it off when it is charged; firing without charging merely shoots his ordinary arm cannon shots. The Arm takes a little getting used to, but can be entertaining.

• The Mega Arm has limited range due to the fact that it returns to you after it fires, rather than going off the screen like a Mega Buster shot. Its range at full power is one block less than the width of the screen.
• When half-charged, the arm goes only half the distance before returning. However its special MH and CL qualities still operate.
• Mega Man cannot fire while the Mega Arm is not attached to his body. Thus be careful not to fire off the Arm and then trap yourself.
  
• The MH enhancement (build it at the lab) allows the Arm to grab powerups much like the Boomerang Cutter or the Magic Card. Sometimes the Arm will even grab items from foes it defeats. The Arm is capable of retrieving items straight through walls. It can grab literally anything that you can pick up by walking over, including Energy Tanks and the four crystals in the later four stages. Also the Energy Balancer (EB) is a handy thing to have when you get the MH, because then you don’t have to worry about switching weapons when grabbing weapon energy capsules.
• The CL enhancement allows the Arm to latch onto enemies and hit them over and over. To use it, either hold B after firing, or rapidly tap it. The Arm won’t always grab, and there are a few enemies it cannot latch onto at all.
• The Mega Arm hits on the going and the coming back. You can influence how it returns to you by moving while it is in flight. If you miss an enemy with the Mega Arm, sometimes with careful positioning you can hit him with the Arm while it is returning to you!

Play Control:

The play control in this game shares the top notch with several other Mega Man games.

Graphics:

The graphics were pretty standard for the Mega Man series. Good, of course, but standard.

Animation:

Ditto.

Music:

Besides the wicked cool “story” tune (which you never really hear all of), none of the tunes really stood out for me as much as they did for other Mega Man games, but the quality of the music was fine.

Sound Effects:

This game had the same sound effects as most of the other NES and GB games. I thought they are appropriate.

Plot:

The game is half storyline, and there are enough twists and turns and new bad guys to satisfy anyone, even the “It’s not original enough” crowd. After all, at the time of its release (and for years afterward), this was the only Mega Man/X game that did not have Wily/Sigma as the final boss.

Difficulty: (normal)

There are many tricky areas, but as a general rule I found I didn’t have as many troubles with this game as some of the others.

Replay Value:

The Item Replicator adds a lot to the replay value. Also, there are special items to search for, such as the crystals.

Polish:

Although not quite as blow-away as in Mega Man IV, the polish for this game was still quite above most of the other games in the series. They even retained the kick of the Mega Buster from the previous game, even though you never actually use it during the game!

Overall: 95%

What can I say? This is my favorite game because it was very original yet consistent with the Mega Man series. (While at first I had been afraid it was going to break the Mega Man “feel”—primarily by not including Dr. Wily—I was eventually proven wrong.) After Mega Man IV I was really hoping they’d make another game like it. And they did. This is perhaps the final truly satisfying of the original series Mega Man games to ever be released. I highly recommend it.

+ Plus:

There is so much plot and so many foes in this game that it stands as the only one where Dr. Wily got kicked out of being the final boss!

- Minus:

Personally, I thought Tango was kind of cute so I wish he was more useful—and wish he would at least appear in later games...

It’s hard to suggest an order because there is no definite chain. For the first group, my best advice is to take out whichever one you can first. If one is giving you a hard time, go on to the next. For the second group, you will have to revisit a stage or two to get all the crystals, for you need Pluto’s weapon in Uranus’s stage, and Uranus’s weapon for Pluto’s stage.

Also remember that, though some Master Weapons do a decent amount of damage, sometimes it is easier to just fire away with your arm cannon. Remember this if a StarDroid is giving you a hard time; the weapons listed below are the ones that seem to inflict the most damage, but in some cases they aren’t the easiest with which to hit!

• Mercury ((or is it Mercury Man?) Anyway, use Salt Water (NE) on him or the Mega Arm if you don’t have it. Keep firing so he won’t fire at you; his shots will cause you to drop items!)
• Neptune (Use your arm cannon, or later, Photon Missile (MA) or Electric Shock (JU))
• Mars (Use Salt Water (NE) or, later, Electric Shock (JU))
• Venus (Use Photon Missile (MA))

• Dark Moon (Yellow Devil take 3) (Use your Mega Arm or Photon Missile (MA); try to plant the Photon Missiles a little before the eye opens since they pause before shooting forward)

• Jupiter (Use Bubble Bomb (VE))
• Saturn (Use Electric Shock (JU))
• Pluto (Use Grab Buster (ME) when he’s on the ground and Bubble Bomb (VE) when he hangs out in the corner of the ceiling)
• Uranus (Use the Mega Arm or Break Dash (PL) if you can hit with it. When Uranus jumps and closes off half of the screen, you can be crushed (and thus killed instantly) so stay near him.)

Terra:

All that building up of suspense and the battle’s a piece of cake. Why do you suppose they gave you all those blocks on the ground? Use Deep Digger (UR) to chuck them all at Terra!

Enker:

He’s back (also appears in Mega Man Soccer, in case you didn’t know). Deal with him the same way you do in Mega Man I—use your arm cannon and dodge.

Quint:

This guy’s still a piece of cake. Stay on the far side of the screen and hit him in the head.

Punk:

And this guy’s still a pain. However, Electric Shock (JU) and Salt Water (NE) work quite well.

Ballade:

Use Photon Missile (MA) if you can hit him with it.

Wily 1st and 2nd time—the two fists:

Use the Grab Buster (ME) if you need energy; otherwise your Mega Arm. Keep moving so the fists don’t pound you, and when the second one holds out its fingers, never ever walk underneath it. Only slide.

Wily 3rd time:

Dodge the missiles and blast the little robot that reverses gravity, then use the arm cannon to shoot the time bombs up against the machine so that when they explode they will hit Wily’s contraption. This is the only way to damage it. (Avoid contact with the bombs; if the bomb starts at 1, just fire at it. If it starts at any other number, stand near the center of the area and let it jump over your head.)

Wily 4th time:

Use the Grab Buster (ME)—you won’t get energy from Wily’s saucer but it does fair damage and is easy to hit with. Or you can try Photon Missiles (MA). If you are out of weapon energy, use powered-up Mega Arm shots. You want to hit the glass dome over Wily.

Sunstar:

Spark Chaser (EA)! When you run out, use a Weapon Tank. This is by far the easiest and most effective weapon to use!

Another website has created a password generator for Mega Man V. I haven’t personally tested the passwords it creates, but it’s worth checking out!

• Tango: You have this from the start. He’s not very useful, but you gotta love that meow!
• Rush Coil: Get it by defeating Venus.
• Rush Jet: Obtained by defeating Saturn.

Each of the final four worlds contains a hidden crystal. Get all four for an item that will halve the energy your Master Weapons consume!

• Jupiter’s stage: The crystal is in a hidden passage under a ladder late in the stage. When the path branches, climb up the ladder near the right of the screen (instead of going off the screen to the right) until you enter the next room, then drop back down. The path to the right is now closed up and there is a shaft right below the ladder. Take the plunge holding to the left. Go left. Use the MH (Magnet Hand) to grab the crystal.
• Saturn’s stage: Near the beginning of the stage is a shaft that leads downward, on to the rest of the stage. Jump it (with Rush Coil if necessary) and exit to the left. The crystal is over there.
  
• Pluto’s stage: Look for a block over a ladder that you can lift with UR, the Deep Digger adapter. It’s in the area where there are two ladders leading up off the screen and a shield-tank robot pacing below them.
• Uranus’s stage: It is behind a wall. There are walls characterized by a certain type of block that you can use the Break Dash (PL) to smash through. This is also true in Dr. Wily’s fortress; look for them in the long vertical shafts after beating each of the mini-bosses, for two lead to Proto Man.

• Here are a few maps of Dr. Wily’s fortress for your reference. Each square is a screen. To get the items listed, you usually need either the Deep Digger (UR) or Break Dash (PL). If you want to reach an item on the right of the second screen down, you must use Rush Jet from the ledge that leads from the gate, or use some other means to get yourself over there; you won’t make it by simply jumping.
  

• Press SELECT while on any of the Robot Master selection screens to visit Dr. Light’s lab.

• Lose all your lives and continue four times in a row for a Turbo Accelerator.

• Continue three more times for another one!

I still love this ending, for more than one reason. For one, since Wily isn’t the final boss, when you do defeat him, he does not do his normal begging routine that he does in every other game. I wanted to see him beg, heh! But that was taken care of during the ending...

The ending begins with Mega Man sitting in that open field again, gazing at the sky. Finally he gets to his feet and starts walking. (Strangely enough, there are no credits—just naming of the StarDroids.) Anyway, once all the text is done, a laser comes from off the screen, aimed at Mega Man. He jumps it and skids to a halt as Dr. Wily’s battered saucer flies onto the screen.

“Curse you, Mega Man!” Wily yells. “This war ends now!” He tries to attack, but his saucer is too damaged. Instead it simply breaks apart under a surprised scientist’s fists, dumping him to the ground.

Dr. Wily glances at Mega Man in front of him and doesn’t even bother to get up. He just starts to beg.

(Yes!)

Suddenly the scientist leaps to his feet as if yelling, What am I doing!? Ahhh!! Then he races off the screen.

Mega Man shakes his head and follows.