Mega Man 5

aka: Mega Man V, Rockman 5 Blues no Wana!?, Rockman Complete Works: Rockman 5: Blues' Trap!?
Moby ID: 5108
NES Specs
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Description official descriptions

Dr. Cossack, humbled by his defeat and his allowing of Dr. Wily to influence his ways, decides to help Dr. Light by providing him and Rockman with tools and weapons to help foil Dr. Wily for good. All seems calm and peaceful, until...

A sudden rampage breaks out, and the cause is found to be a group of robots, led by a mysterious figure. As Dr. Light begins to investigate this rampage and attempts to find a way to stop it, he is kidnapped by the leader of the robots. Rockman hurries to save Dr. Light, but is too late...the only thing he can find at the scene is a yellow scarf...one that almost seems to belong to...Blues!?

Could Rockman's supposed brother, the strange but good-hearted Blues, be the one who kidnapped Dr. Light? Is Blues the one responsible for the rampages? With these questions racing through his mind, Rockman sets off to find Blues and get the answers he wants.

Like the other early Rockman / Mega Man games, the Playstation version was only released in Japan, as part of the Complete Works series.

Spellings

  • RockMan 5 ブルースの罠!? - NES Japanese spelling

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (NES version)

58 People (26 developers, 32 thanks) · View all

Gravity Man Design
Wave Man Design
Stone Man Design
Gyro Man Design
Star Man Design
Charge Man Design
Napalm Man Design
Crystal Man Design
Planner
Object Design
Scroll Design
Adviser
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 74% (based on 17 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 55 ratings with 3 reviews)

No game design evolution, but solid title

The Good
Mega Man 5 adds BEAT to the game. In each stage is a word from 'Mega Man V'. Once you have all eight, you can call on BEAT (a robotic bird) who will attack enemies for you. It is a nice addition.

Mega Man 5 stays true to the formula pioneered in the first three games. Graphically, the game is very cartoonish and well done for an 8 bit system. Mega Man 5 turns away from Mega Man 4's upbeat style and adopts Mega Man 3's darkish tones

Some levels are very well done. Gravity Man's stage has you walking on the ceiling (or on the ground) and you can 'flip' which way to go. Star Man's stage has the high jump capability of being underwater to simulate low gravity. Everything here in this game works as it did in the previous games.

The Bad
The formula is starting to get tired to play through. You beat 8 bosses, beat another few levels, and then go through Wily's Castle.

Some levels do not seem well done. Charge Man is little more than trains and hard hats. Drill Man's stage seems identical to Hard Man's stage. Gyro Man's stage seems identical to Air Man's stage.

The weapons seem similar from the previous three games. BEAT is a nice addition but adds minimal gameplay. to it. This is essentially the same game as Mega Man 3 and 4.

The Bottom Line
I think this game is better than Mega Man 4 and a worthy contender to the Mega Man series of NES games. The game does not alter the design formula which is good and bad (good in that it is fun like the previous games but bad because NOTHING will seem 'new').

NES · by Jonathan Hollas (24) · 2005

Fun game, still the same old gameplay though.

The Good
I loved the story presentation, very well put together. I also liked the fact that there was a bit of mystery added to this installment. You didn't know what the final plot outcome would be, so Kudos to the producers for this installment very nice work.

The Bad
I didn't like the fact that there was nothing really new brought to the table here. It was more of the same ol' Mega Man gameplay, which really is not a bad thing. But after playing the same kinda gameplay for a long, long time, it gets repetitive and tired after awhile.

The Bottom Line
I would describe this game as a must have game, for mega man fans. I being a mega man game loved this game, however. if you're a person that likes a game that takes hours and hours to complete. Or if you're looking for innovation in a game, this game is not for you.. But if you love run and gun action, and memorable music tracks. Then by all means go out and find this game.

NES · by David Bryan (21) · 2007

It's a tossup between this and Rockman 4 as the best of the early Rockman games.

The Good
Before I begin, I'd like to make one note: since I am reviewing the PlayStation Rockman Complete Works version, and since it's only (for now) available in Japanese, I'm going to use the Japanese names of Mega Man and Protoman (Rockman and Blues) in this review.

Anyway, let's get going. Rockman 5 wasn't my first Rockman game (that honor goes to...natch...Rockman 1), but it was the first one I completed entirely alone, without any help. But that alone isn't what makes it my favorite. Read on to find out why...it was the story of this one that really drew me into it.

It isn't often that Capcom gave the Rockman series (or even the X or Dash/Legends series, for that matter) much of a story, but in Rockman 5, they really went for an interesting premise. A group of robots is rampaging throughout the world, and their figure is only seen as a mysterious shadow. When Dr. Light begins to investigate where or who sent these robots out, their leader kidnaps him. Rockman tries to save Dr. Light and fails, only finding a yellow scarf where Dr. Light once stood. The only problem is, Rockman only knows one robot with a yellow scarf, and he could not have possibly done this...or could he? And if you're gonna ask, that robot is his brother...yep, Rockman thinks Blues kidnapped Dr. Light, and now has to find out if it really WAS him, and why he did it.

Rockman 5 introduces a few new gameplay changes. First up is an improved Rock Buster. Now you can charge up nearly instantly, and you do not have to have fired a shot before you can charge. Plus, the charged shots are also more powerful now and are also larger, so they have better range than before. Also new is Beat, a cute blue robot bird that can home in on enemies and kill them in one blow, which is extremely useful for keeping Rockman safe from danger. But you have to earn Beat (you don't automatically start with him) by gathering 8 different plates to spell ROCKMAN5 (or MEGAMANV in the U.S.), and these are scattered across the 8 Wily Robot stages, 1 per stage. Also, besides the standard "E" Tanks to refill Rockman's life meter, he can also gather the new "M" Tanks to refill all of his weapons. All he needs now is his Energy Balancer and he'll be really set!

As in the other Rockman Complete Works volumes, you can play the game in Original Mode (exactly like the NES/Famicom version), or in "Navi Mode", which gives you hints and tips for the stages (press Select when a "!" flashes in the corner of the screen), and arranged music and some graphical facelifts (more on that later).

Now, a few things before I move onto graphics, sound and music: all of the Rockman Complete Works games are basically the original NES/Famicom games ported to the PlayStation, with no major graphical sound or music changes. That being said, I'll review the graphics and sounds as how they originally were on the NES. That being said, the graphics for the time were great, with a lot of parallax scrolling and other cool tricks not normally seen in your average NES/Fami game. The sounds were pretty much the same as the other Rockman games, however they gave a few enemies some extra sounds which adds a bit to the environment. Now, as for music...

In Original Mode, you can hear the music as it sounded on the NES/Fami. Play the game in Navi Mode, however, and you get some WICKED remixes of every song! I already loved the music in the NES version, especially some pieces like Wave Man's stage, Gravity Man's stage, and Blues' castle, but to hear their remixes...absolutely awesome!!! Blues' castle theme remix especially sounds awesome, and Wave Man's theme sounds really different and much, much better...you simply have to hear it for yourself! Also in Navi Mode, you do get some graphical touches, such as a new life meter graphic, with an icon under it representing your lives remaining, and the weapon subscreen has been redone and looks better.

The Bad
I wish Capcom weren't so lazy with the Rockman Complete Works. While it's nice to play the games on my PlayStation, it would've been nice to actually have the games take advantage of the PlayStation's power and maybe have all redone graphics and sounds, and not just music. Come on! We only get Original and Navi Mode, and all Navi Mode has is just remixed music and some minor graphic overhauls? Why not just give us a full-blown Arrange Mode?

The Bottom Line
Even though it's a bit of a bummer to only have a partially enhanced Rockman 5, I'm still glad Capcom made the Rockman Complete Works series. It's great for those of us who loved Rockman in the days of the NES/Fami and want to play the games again. If you know where to shop for Japanese imports, ask for any of the Rockman Complete Works series. It may not be what we wanted (i.e. a real Rockman remix), but hey! It's better than nothing!

PlayStation · by Satoshi Kunsai (2020) · 2001

Trivia

Blues

Apparently, Rockman 5 did a very good job of convincing people that Blues was a bad guy (he isn't, by the way). In fact, it did it so well that when it came out a couple of years later, the Mega Man TV show (produced in the U.S.) decided to makes Blues one of Dr. Wily's assistants as opposed to his normal enigmatic and good hearted self. Also, even though no one bothered to explain it, Dark Man appeared in the old Mega Man animated series that ran in the U.S. Now this begs the question of how could the creators know about Dark Man if they automatically made Protoman/Blues a bad guy? (Play the game to see more clearly what is meant.)

Manga adaptation

In Japan, you can find a manga adaptation of Rockman 5, which more or less follows the game's story straight through, but is still an entertaining read if you can read Japanese. It was published by the Japanese manga label BomBom, and is apparently a doujinshi (fan manga).

Robot design contest

In nearly every single classic Mega Man game that had Robot Design contests (from Mega Man 2 onward), all of the entries came from male designers. Well, not anymore. Gravity Man was the first (and about only) Wily Robot to be designed by a female. The game credits his designer as Yukiko Mori, definitely a female's name.

Awards

  • EGM
    • 1993 Buyer's Guide - Most Number of Sequels

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Satoshi Kunsai.

PS Vita, PlayStation 3, PSP added by Charly2.0. Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo 3DS added by CrankyStorming. Wii added by yenruoj_tsegnol_eht (!!ihsoy). iPhone, iPad, Android added by Sciere. DoJa added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Alaka, Freeman, Dan K, yenruoj_tsegnol_eht (!!ihsoy).

Game added October 9, 2001. Last modified March 24, 2024.