Mega Man X5

So it's come to this, a final battle between best friends. Only one will walk away from this battle, the other, will come back in the next sequel totally butchering the whole purpose of this game and then be written into his own series introducing a whole new can of worms into the storyline continuity. So X5 is the accumulation of all the events of X1-X4 coming to a head for a grand finale of the series, if you ignore the sequels after this one.

X5 doesn't really go out of it's way to improve much upon X4 gameplay wise. There's a few new elements added in and the overall design is different but its really more of the same with the storyline pumping up the sum of all the story's conflicts. X5 does have a few stupid things about it though, but this game is all about the encounter between X and Zero and its easy to over look a lot of flaws because of it.

New Features

• New Characters: Signas the new Maverick Hunter Commander, Alia the Maverick Hunter's HQ navigator, Douglas the mechanic, and Dynamo who only gets a mention because he survived to make it to X6.
• X and Zero are now selectable interchangeably through the game. You can choose to do any mission with either character during a single playthrough.
• Bosses now have levels, although it's stupidly complicated how they work in this game.
• The player can unlock "parts" during the course of gameplay which add little enhancement to the characters.
• This game starts X with the armor he found in X4. X6 would follow this as well.
• X and Zero can now duck! Wonder why it took them so long?
• This game introduces difficulty levels. Easy, Normal and XTREME!!!!

Story

This is going to be reeeeeeeeeally long. Buckle up.
Dr. Cain has died of old age (probably for the betterment of man kind at the rate he was going) with his last creation being Signas, here's hoping he doesn't go batshit insane. We open up with an unknown Maverick speaking to Sigma over a radio communication. The Maverick has caused a bunch of wreckage and noted that the colony is "ready to fall at any time." Sigma laughs and tells him to stay behind while he heads to Earth.

Hunter HQ gets reports about the Sigma virus spreading all over the city causing reploids to go maverick and X and Zero head out to investigate. There the giant head of Sigma attacks them. Yeah, you fight Sigma in the very first level, well this shouldn't take long. He goes down and laughs. With his explosion the Sigma virus spreads all across the world. "Damn it! Sigma planned to lose!" shouts Zero. Yeah, before you can digest how stupid that sounded the Space Colony Eurasia is about to crash land into the Earth! So that's what that Maverick was talking about!

There's only 16 hours left until impact and Hunter HQ comes up with a plan. They can use a giant laser cannon called "The Enigma" to destroy the colony so the impact won't obliterate all the life on Earth. Unfortunately the weapon sucks ass so they'll need X and Zero to go ask several Reploids for the pieces they need to complete it. Guess whose turned Maverick thanks to the wide spread of the Sigma Virus?

There is also a back up plan in case the cannon fails. Someone will have to drive a shuttle directly into the colony to take it down. It's a suicide mission but at that point they won't have a choice. Since the Maverick Hunters tend to teleport everywhere instead of taking a shuttle, its surprisingly not finished and Zero and X will have to get the parts from the other reploids gone Maverick to complete it.

The game diverges quite a bit here, either plan can succeed or fail and the mavericks you fight in the game actually say different things depending on what happens. Most of them are more sympathetic than before although they all decide to fight for the hell of it which is kind of dumb.

During the course of the game, Zero will discover that the Sigma virus for some reason is actually increasing his strength where as the other reploids it is weakening and making them more hostile. The Maverick Hunters notice this too and are getting concerned over this mystery.

If either plan succeeds the pieces of the colony will still crash land into the Earth and fuck up a bit of it. Alia will note that the Maverick Virus on the space colony has merged with the Maverick Virus on the Earth and... it has the exact same readings as Zero!? This new virus is dubbed the Zero Virus and both Hunters go to check it out.

At the wreckage X fears Zero may have turned Maverick because his readings match the virus. He tells Zero to go back to HQ. Zero rejects this and when X threatens to use force, Zero suspects that maybe X has gone Maverick, and the two duke it out.

If both plans fail or time runs out (yes this game has a time limit), Zero will awaken from the wreckage full blown Maverick, bathing in the in the combined viruses. He has gained an enormous amount of power and he recognizes his purpose, to destroy X. X reluctantly accepts his challenge and heads to the wreckage. When they meet, Zero is glowing, power levels over that stupid internet meme, etc. He only wishes to destroy X, but X says he'll bring Zero back.

No matter what you do, or who you play as, Zero and X will have their predestined duel from Mega Man X3. During the fight, both of them collapse from exhaustion (even if you manage to not take a hit) as at the end of the fight the other robot you fight will use their giga attack.

Just then as they are at their weakened state Sigma appears and laughs as he goes to fire on X. No matter if Zero went Maverick or not he will jump in front of the fire to save X. If he went Maverick, he'll die here for X and tell him that X should be the one to live. If he didn't go Maverick, he'll live through the attack and you can play as either X or Zero to face Sigma.

Sigma reveals his whole plan to X or Zero, but in different parts to either character. Sigma had been met an old man who knew about Zero's potential and purpose. He knew why Zero started out Maverick, where the virus came from and Zero's true purpose. The point of the attacks was to awaken Zero to his true form. Zero recognizes the man from his dreams but has no idea who he is, Sigma says "He is your father" and to check his circuits, for he knows it to be true. (Ok, I exaggerated that a bit). If Zero died, Sigma says it was all for not because X was always the better hunter all along.

X and Sigma or Zero and Sigma then fight. After Sigma is defeated he takes one final shot at X while Zero is lying there dying. X is nearly destroyed and Zero with his final strength blasts the remains of Sigma into oblivion. Zero's memory functions start going crazy and everything finally makes sense to him. Zero accepts his death as a means to end the Maverick Wars for good.

X on the other hand is found by Dr. Light's AI hologram (fuck if I know how that works) and he repairs him saving X's life. X continues fighting for the Maverick Hunters in honor of his friend Zero and carries his Z-Saber 3 years later.

If Zero went Maverick however, Sigma will just pretty much blow the fuck up out of X and Dr. Light will save him AND remove all the memories of Zero from X AND install a protection in him to prevent X from receiving data related to Zero. Everyone states that it is a miracle X has returned, but X has no memory of Zero. They ask X what his plan is, and X wants to build a utopia called Elysium where humans and reploids can live in peace. This would tie into the Legends series at that point in time... but a rewrite totally threw that idea away. This does prove though that early on Legends has always taken place after the X series at the very least and is in the main time-line. (More on Elysium in Mega Man Legends 2, up next).

So which ending is the canon ending? None of them! The Eurasia colony was mostly destroyed but the remnants of it wiped out most of the Earth's ecosystem. X kept his memory of Zero and continued fighting with the Z-Saber, but he wouldn't be fighting for Zero 3 years later. No, X6 takes place merely 3 weeks after X5 and took just about as long to develop (ok it wasn't that long but it still was embarrassingly short).

I kinda enjoy the story of this game but boy does it have a "don't ask questions" type of mind set going into it, and Alia will likely piss you off so much the first time you'll probably skip all the text anyway.

Aesthetics

The game doesn't have any real graphical upgrades from X4. There's no animated cutscenes, instead being replaced by still images with text over them. They don't look bad and each image does a good job of capturing just the right emotional impact of each scene. Animation would have been nice but the absence of it doesn't affect the overall presentation.

One problem with X5 is that a lot of levels look a lot visually just like X4's levels. One of the overall critical complaints about X5 is that is was just more of the same from Capcom a very common complaint of all the Mega Man games but here it's really apparent. Grizzly Slash's level resembles Slash Beasts level. Squid Addler's level is a combination of Jet Stingray and a pallet swap of the final levels of X4. Mattrex is like Magam Dragoons, Dark Dizzy's stage reeks of Cyber Peacock and Storm Owl's stages and Izzy Glow's stage even directly rips out a segment straight from Split Mushroom's stage. Even levels within the same damn game look similar as the Skiver's and Izzy Glow's stages both resemble each other. That's gotta be my major complaint aesthetic wise is that not only does this game seem more of the same, it really IS more of the same. Note that they do play different though.

The final stages are a bit of an acid trip though through Cyberspace. They look good and have a real "final stages" feel.

I do like like the look of the bosses in this game and it does have the best selection of the PSX series. Although their names are absolutely retarded Guns N Roses references they still look good. Axl the Red, Duff McWhalen, Grizzly Slash, Squid Addler, The Skiver... they all look good. Dark Dizzy seems like a throw back to Shade Man of Mega Man 7.

Their animations are fantastic too. The personalities of the bosses really shine through here. Axl the red rhythmically taps his foot as he attacks you, Dynamo has a swirling aura of arrogance with each move he makes and let's not forget the fight between X and Zero. No matter who you fight as, the other fights just as fluidly as if the player was controlling them.

I really wish there was more originality in the visuals but they still look good and I am really just nitpicking here.

Sound

Very, very good sound track. X5's music is one of the better sound tracks in the series. The opening theme really sets the mood of the game and proves why Capcom and Mega Man are so well known for their music.

Each stage really sounds good and has its own mood. X3 and X4 went for more heavy metal over laid on each stage rather than appropriate ambivalent music. Here however the musical choices really compliment the levels, both in the pace you'll take through them and the overall feel of the stage.

To compliment a few of the tracks, Dynamo's music is fucking awesome! Skiver's is great too. I enjoy the boss music, but nothing beats the epic feeling of emotion poured into the X vs Zero battle music!

There are even some throw backs to older tracks on this game. Duff McWalen's stage is a remix of Bubble Crab's from X2, and both the first and second boss of the final stages have throw backs from their original musical tracks in which they appeared (Yellow Devil and Rangda Bangda). My favorite track has to be the first Zero stage music. It has a good rhythm and a distinct sound that sets it far apart from the rest of the series. I can't compliment the soundtrack enough in this game and it easily rivals X1 in comparison.

The other sound effects are lifted straight from X4, but this time there's no voice acting to complain about. Hell, they actually removed X's yelling of his attack moves in this game. Gotta say that's a plus actually...

Design

Where X5 resembles X4 up and down, it has a completely different play-style. X4 is about speed and rushing through the levels as fast as you can. You can't do that in X5. X5 requires you to take your time, stopping at each screen either to defeat an enemy or solve a puzzle before moving on. This isn't necessarily a bad thing and it's not necessarily a better thing. It's just different, and variety doesn't hurt.

The stages offer up different gimmicks suited differently to X or Zero since both are interchangeable this game although the game seems to play easier for Zero overall. Most of the levels are fun but some levels, specifically Duff McWhalen's can get tedious on repeat playthroughs. The Difficulty level select does help with this however as the enemy selection and placement significantly changes with each difficulty although there isn't anything you can do to alive the pain that is Squid Addler's Jet Bike segment which requires strict memorization to get past and is nearly impossible to beat your first time through. The first stage of the Zero levels is also painful because it has a throw back to Quick Man's stage and not the part where the lights go out. Dodging the lasers is a pain in the ass and it'll take you a while to figure out the path. It is something that gets easier and easier as you replay it. They do give you a time stopping ability called Dark Hold, but it won't last the entire descent so you'll need to learn the route.

The bosses on the other hand are some of the best in the series despite their retarded names. Duff McWhalen himself has an interesting gimmick in that he can't actually damage you, but what he does do is try to push you into an instant death, making him dangerous if you are careless. Skivers fight is a throw back to Storm Eagle, although it is much easier. You'll also fight Black Devil (throwback to yellow devil), and Rangda Bangda (the wall enemy from X1). These fights were fun in their day and still fun now. Oh did I mention the Zero vs X fight yet?

For every good idea X5 does have, it seems to have another idea that either wasn't fleshed out as well or was straight out bad. For instance, the bosses all have levels that raise how much health they have but how the system works is extremely convoluted. The game looks at your rank, your armor, your speed, the number of viruses that have hit you, the difficulty level and the number of hours left in the day among other things. This wouldn't seem to matter so much except that the only way to enjoy the new upgrades in this game is to fight higher level bosses.

This game introduces "parts" which are little upgrades to specific functions of your character, such as your buster always being charged or being able to jump higher. They give X a boost in addition to his armor and Zero some upgrades as he initially always had none to begin with. Because of the convoluted boss leveling system however, the best way to gain the parts in this game is, I shit you not, repeatedly kill yourself until the hours left in the day is significantly low enough to raise up the bosses levels.

The games hour system seems pointless too. The games story and endings change based on the success of the two missions, and both of them are based almost entirely off of chance. The enigma laser mission almost always fails and you can still fail with all items collected for the shuttle. This can screw you up royally if you've been powering up Zero for the majority of the game.

Speaking of powering up, whichever character collects the heart tank or defeats the boss will be the one to receive the upgrade. This is countered by some of these items being only available to X. A minor complaint as you won't need 100% of them anyway, but taking away the option to fully power up Zero is really annoying.

X has 5 forms in this game. Unarmored and Fourth Armor which you start with (unless you picked Zero at the start), then 3 more armors which you can find, Falcon, Gaea Armor and later Ultimate armor. The armors only work if you find the entire set this time and the Gaea Armor requires that you have the Falcon Armor. They are cool Armors though. Fourth Armor works like it does in Mega Man X4 (although the buster is changed), Falcon Armor gives you limited flight, and Gaea Armor powers up your buster and makes you immune to spikes (use this on Ranga Banga), and Ultimate Armor gives you unlimited Giga attacks.

Zero also gets his Black Armor in the same spot X gets his ultimate armor and it powers up your Z-saber and reduces how much damage you take.

Also, Alia makes every player hate her guts because she keeps interrupting your game play with unskipable text... ARG!

Mostly the problems with this game amount to nit-picking though and it still is a lot of fun.

Playability
The only thing you should remember is you can duck now. Ducking has its uses but it won't break the game for you.

Also, the Falcon armor's flight mechanics are required for many of the hidden items. It controls well though as does the rest of the game so it shouldn't be a problem.

Extras

• Boss Order: Die and waste time until hour 11. I'm serious, recommended you try to get the X armor upgrade in Squid Addler's level while you are wasting time. After this do Grizzly Slash, Izzy Glow, Squid Addler, Duff McWhalen, The Skiver, Mattrex, Dark Dizzy, Axl The Red. This route minimizes backtracking for armor. You will have to backtrack for hearts, it's unavoidable.
• Extreme mode is tougher than normal by a considerable margin. Get used to the game before trying it.
• To get the Ultimate armor, go into Zero level 3 with unarmored X. There is a pit you can slide along to find the armor capsule. This is the same spot to get Black Zero. If you want to use either of these armors in the fight against X/Zero, you'll have to die and equip it.
• To destroy the blocks in Axl the Red's and Squid Addler's stages, you'll need the Gaea Armor. Behind them is a heart, you can't get these with Zero.
• Regardless of what you do, X and Zero will still fight, you'll still collapse after it even if you don't get hit and Zero will die no matter what ending you get. Kind of a downer huh?
• The cutscenes of Zero going Maverick are awesome and pretty much worth destroying the Earth to see.

X5 is really a good game, with a decent (for a Mega Man game) story, a great sound track and interesting level design. Players who don't like this game cite the few really annoying things about it that hold it back, such as Zero 1's lasers, Squid Addler's Jet Bike, and Alia never shutting up and also the Guns N Rose jokes. If you train yourself past the difficult parts of the game, and look past the other bullshit, you'll have a decent rewarding experience.

Playthroughs
Mega Man X5 Minimalist Speed Run by HideofBeast
Various other speed runs with various goals at Speed Demos Archive