Mega Man X5 Review - Quickies Don't Cut It
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
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Writing, editing & narrating: Michael Hardeman
Game creation: Capcom
Logo designs: ''RedBerd36'', Specter Salmon & ''Ollie''
Mega Man @ Capcom
All music & imagery © to their respective owners
16:24
“It would be super annoying to have to revisit the stages as X just because Zero couldn’t accept the Armor Parts for him.”
Foreshadowiiiiiiiing.
Victor Manchola you mean 16:19
Quickies do cut it
opposite of the series
X: hey zero, while you're going after the mavericks, you mind getting the energy tanks, hearts, and weapon tanks
zero: sure buddy
X: nice, no work for me, and by the way zero, you've been labeled a maverick, so now you must die
zero: wait? wha?
16:30
Fun Fact: X6 was likely going to have a fully customizable armor system, but it was dropped due to time constraints.
There is even some sprites in the beta.
which got implemented later in x8 right?
X6's unlock system is flawed as well. You can unlock black zero if you fight the zero ghost at level 4. Problem is fighting the ghost at level 4 requires 4000 nightmare souls. At 3000 you get put into the final stages and lose the ability to unlock zero.
Wish there were hacks that fixed the flaws of these games out there, cause under the rough patches there are I feel good games. But at least x5 is passable, x6 requires you to force yourself to like it.
Clint S
Wait, are you saying the black armor is impossible to unlock through normal means even though its technically implemented into the normal gameplay? I have only ever played through X6 once and dont remember such details
Thewonderjam
Yes I'm saying that, isn't that sad a big oversight like that could happen?
You know what puzzles me about Megaman X5? Duff McWhalen. I know, Duff McWhalen is a clear reference to Guns n' Roses. But what does Guns n' Roses have anything to do with Megaman X5? Nothing. It's got nothing to do with Megaman. His name is Duff McWhalen.
His stage is an underwater scrolling stage. So you already have an underwater stage and a scrolling stage. And his name is Duff McWhalen, BTW. And you know what, Capcom got really lazy here. You know what you listen to when you are in his stage? You listen to a remix of Bubblecrab from Megaman X2. And you know what? The guy's name is Duff McWhalen.
When you actually get to fight Duff... McWhalen, he's really fucking easy. His stage is a total POS to get through, but then you get to fight Duff McWhalen. And you know what Duff McWhalen's fight is? Really freaking easy. His name's Duff Mc-fucking-Whalen, BTW.
So once you beat Duff McWhalen, you know what you get, you know what you get, you know what you get? You get a shitty weapon. A shitty, stupid weapon, that has absolutely no effect on you.
HIS NAME IS DUFF MCWHALEN... HIS NAME... I LIE AWAKE AT NIGHT THINKING ABOUT THIS. HIS NAME IS DUFF MCWHALEN. WHAT IS THIS? *HIS NAME IS DUFF MCWHALEN!!!*
Oh, awesome review, BTW. :3
Actually he has an exclusive song in the beta.
Thanks for the reply. But what I wrote was just me joking around. :))
Well, remember that the real name of the game is Rock Man, with a plethora of characters pulled from musical puns. Rock man, Roll, Blues, Bass, and so on.
So to reference this, X5 named ALL its Mavericks after Guns n Roses. Axl the Rose, Iggy Glow, Grizzly SLASH, MATTrex, and so on.
Duff had his own stage theme which wasn't too bad. You can find it on youtube, came across it before. I wonder what made them go with this remix of Bubble Crab instead? It's a badass remix yeah but it's just Bubblecrab again.
Drakkan Possibly. I kind of like it. Seems more fitting for a whale.
I've done a bit of digging into the game and I've found out the reason why all four pieces of an armor have to be collected. The complete explanation is a bit long winded, but read on if you wish.
Capcom had 3 distinct methods of making an armor work. For the SNES games, every one of X's frames had some extra tile data accompanying every single animation frame off to the side for armor parts unless said animation is not meant to happen outside of a particular armor part's use. Such as the dual buster shots in X2 and X3. There are variants in the tile data that have X with no other armor parts equipped for that animation besides the arm parts just because Capcom thought that it could happen.
Then there's the X4 method, used only on the Fourth Armor and partially for the later Blade and Shadow armors. This method has every single armor piece loaded into memory at the same time for every single frame of animation X has, with the exception of the new animations in X5 which will use the following method I talk about after this. Having the Falcon and Gaea Armor parts ready to use after entering a capsule would mean having ALL of their sprite data loaded at the same time due to how the armor system is set up engine-wise. That would get in the way of loading the unique graphics for subweapons and however many tiles are needed for a particular animation, not to mention the immense amounts of objects Capcom would probably need to program for.
There's a second method that's utilized by X4, and it is much cheaper by comparison. The Falcon and Gaea Armors need to have all four pieces collected because their tile data has their armor parts as simple one-sprite overlays for all of X's basic animations, along with SNES-style optimizations for the armor exclusive animations, meaning that all that exists of X underneath the armor are the bits between armor pieces and his face. The reason why you have to game over in order to use the Ultimate Armor as X but not as Zero? Next paragraph, please.
In X4, a developer commented that the alternate palettes for X and Zero were supposed to be indications of successful code entry. Zero's is a simple palette swap, but with X you're technically playing as a third character, which is a clone of X with an alternate palette and a single "armor part" to collect that every capsule is rigged up to give you. Yes, I am talking about the Ultimate Armor code in X4. Continuing on from what I mentioned in the previous paragraph, technically speaking every single armor of X's is a separate character, and the armorless X is a version of the Fourth Armor X. As for why it works for Zero, all that is happening to Zero is a quick palette change while flipping on some basic armor abilities while also enabling the Tenkuuha from X4, or at least it's color.
With that said, fun fact time. The Neutral Armor as it is presented in X8 could be done on the PS1, and probably fully-featured at that.
Wow, thanks for this! Very interesting read. So it would seem that the reason for not being able to equip Parts on the fly was actually engine limitations. Never would have thought. You'd think it was some kind of design decision. Now, I don't know precisely about the very specifics of the PS1's transfer rate to the RAM, but couldn't this have been resolved with better programming? When the animations are happening on the capsules for example (the blinking, the lights, the electricity, etc.) it feels like some quick data swapping would have been possible? I imagine these tiles wouldn't take long to carry over to RAM.
Retropolis Zone
I'm not knowledgable about the exact RAM transfer rates, but I can explain some of those animations. What isn't done in the tiles through sprite animation is done in the palettes. First is the stage palettes, which are, well, the colors the stage uses. Palette animation is handled there by just cycling through a bunch of palettes and applying them to VRAM in real-time by replacing them as needed.
Notably just about every palette cycling instance in X5 is bugged. The training stage's floor lights don't cycle correctly and hang on one palette for too long although there's data for smooth transitions, the puslating lights on the wall flicker to their brightest color when they should be at their darkest, and that kind of animation problem shares with every object that animates in that manner.
I think Capcom did try to set up for allowing you to use armors you didn't have all the parts to yet, and perhaps switch them on the fly. First, there's a lot of copies of X's default palette from X4-X5, which possibly could've been used as temporary swapping space for an in-engine character change masked up by some special effects while X was in the capsule if necessary. As well, I did mangae to glitch how the game loads armor graphics and I found that the Falcon Armor still has all of the sprites for it's abilities from X5.
I'm not sure how far they were pushing the PS1's RAM, I don't have anywhere near the tools that I need to analyze that, but I do know that whatever loading they do, they do in 2 "stages" on every loading screen that leads up to a stage. The first stage loading the main stage & player graphics and sound effects, the second stage loading and executing code. It's worth noting that I couldn't trick the game into loading X's graphics with Zero's programming, but it's easy to trick the game into loading the Fourth Armor ability set with the Falcon Armor via gameshark codes, just be ready for some crashes since the Falcon Armor doesn't have all of the Fourth Armor's spriteset in it's code.
FusionArmorX well that may be the technical side of it, but lore wise the game explains why. Dr Light says that because of the virus he cant equip it cause the data could get corrupted. And also that each part separately won't do anything since they where built to work as one. So at the very least the game itself gives the player a reason why it cant be worn.
FusionArmorX can you give a source. not because i don’t trust you but because i want read more in-depth if there is any source.
They just wanted to pad the game length. There's no reason you need to find several parts for two separate armors instead of finding a SINGLE CAPSULE with an ENTIRE ARMOR in it.
You have to get the Falcon Armor to get the Gaea armor. Without both armors, you won't be able to get all the hearts and tanks. It's length-padding.
That's why in the newer games, that system was completely abandoned.
Despite many shortcomings, this is the game that made me a Megaman fan.
I had a similar situation as well, except I was introduced by the GBA version of Mega Man and Bass (which I could never beat, and probably still can't).
I was introduced to series with Megaman X3 (not just X series but entire franchise) and that game was hard as frick as a kid and wasn't interested in beating it. X5 however was much more passable to my Mega-skills and made me interested in the rest of the games.
Also, Megaman & Bass.. gosh darn, that's an even harsher introduction than X3!
Same here
My introduction to Mega Man was Mega Man StarForce 2.
My introduction was megaman 11
I hope that you'll also give a Megaman Zero and Megaman ZX series a proper treatment. I find sad that those games are often left forgotten.
Probably in the future. Not anytime soon since I am not even close to done with the X series yet. Haha. Sorry :/
Retropolis Zone X8 when?
@@youmeltube it's out now
@@tahamohammad8842 Ya think I didnt notice?
@@RetropolisZone Welp they're done, any plans?
As a fan of every Mega Man series, Can I just say that I think the X series is overrated? Don't get me wrong I like it, but I only found X1,X2, and X4 to be really amazing titles, X8 is good just not in the same league, and everything else is either meh or worse tbh. The MMX spin-offs are solid though, Maverick Hunter X, Command Mission, and Xtreme 2 are all experiences I enjoyed.
I just find the other series' to be far more consistent than X. Classic ,Battle Network and Zero all have many titles I'd consider just as good as some of the X series' finest and don't have a drop-off like the X series did.
While Star Force, ZX, and Legends have a notably shorter amount of games, I will say that the Star Force games rank among my favorites in the franchise, and I had a great time with the ZX series same with Legends.
I don't hate MMX, I just get really baffled that most people find it to be the best Mega Man series sometimes, I can live with it I'm just saying I don't see it.
I agree with you there. While I haven't played the Zero, ZX or one of those other series, the X line-up feels inconsistent in quality compared to the Classic series. I am exactly the same as you; I think X1, X2 and X4 are great, while X3 and X5 are meh and X6 is just plain bad. Haven't played X7 and X8 yet.
At the same time, I think when the X series has a great game, they are really great and better than Classic Mega Man. Again, that is pretty much X1, X2 and X4.
Retropolis Zone Classic is my favorite of all the series' overall, but I do believe when X is at it's best it's better than a lot of Classic MM, or at least just as good.
Still I honestly feel the other series deserve the same kind of respect X gets, while very different in execution Battle Network and Star Force do a fantastic job at converting Mega Man into a unique set of tactical action card games with lite RPG elements, and both have a ridiculous amount of depth.
It really shouldn't work as well as it does, and you'd be surprised at how all the elements of the sidescrollers are kept intact in them, despite the genre shift.
Zero and ZX carry on the 2D Mega Man formula and actually take it to great heights on occasion.
Legends at least IMO feels the furthest from the usual stuff expected from Mega Man, but still it's very fun regardless, plus non-linearity and fun special weapons are still the name of the game, so it doesn't feel completely foreign.
I dunno over the years I've had to put-up with people saying Mega Man went downhill after X, and that only the Classic and X series were worth anyone's time, and I just don't buy it especially with the quality drop the X series goes through, the other series may come off as experimental sure, but I feel they found their footing quickly and were generally well made games, that got criticism for either not appealing to nostalgia, and/or releasing yearly(which is a lazy criticism tbh.)
I honestly think they fare better as a whole than the X series did, and I think Mega Man never really went downhill, and tbh if it ever did, it would've started with X3 or X5.
Because of dash, wall jump and armor upgrades. I have played X before any classic main series and after you experience the most skilled Megaman X, you can adapt to the classic scheme, seems like it lecks something. And that is why Megaman 7 was so hated.
X5 has its flaws, but X5, X8 and X2 are some of my favorites in the series. At least X5 is a step up from X6
We don’t talk about X6
No it’s not..
Lol X6 wasn't that bad for me
X6 is actually my second favorite game in the X series after X3. Pretty much everything that X5 got wrong, X6 fixed. If it had more time in the oven, though, it would probably have been the best game in the whole X series
In what way is it a step up from x6? Because the music, pacing, and levels are way better. The only thing X5 has going for it is it explains the beginning of x6. That being said neither game is my favorite in the series. But at least they're both better than X7
RNG for whether you get the good ending or not? Who's brilliant idea was that?
Dinkelberg
Yusuke…
Almost as great as needing to buy a DLC to get the true ending to the game, such wonderous game design
@@valentinobisaccia1258 What game did that?
@@cryguy0000 The Binding of Isaac and Hollow Knight both did that... But Isaac just straight up doesn't have a story and the God Master ending in Hollow Knight seems not canon.
My biggest complaint that you didn't cover is the virus mechanic. In nearly all of the stages there's not even enough Sigma viruses to inflict the Virus state on either character! And then the upgrades that affect viruses, because of that make them kind of pointless. There's no reason to ever equip them on Zero.
They just should have been a much bigger threat since this is supposed to be the game where the Sigma virus is at its strongest. It could have been much more interesting to design more stages around the idea of avoiding the viruses. As they are they're kind of just stuck in at random intervals. And/or making the virus status stay inbetween loading zones/levels. Imagine if you went through an area quickly and got into the Danger state, and had to stay with that in the next stage?
I totally agree, actually. In fact, I had trouble finding the clips for getting infected because of how rare it is and I think I, in fact, triggered them on purpose if I remember correctly. I just wanted to give the game another positive remark before moving on and I thought the video was really, really pushing it in terms of length. I cut some corners here and there in an attempt to keep the video as '''short'' as possible. In hindsight, that perhaps wasn't the best thing to do.
Mega Man X4 is best game for the X series on the PlayStation. The rhythm, the pace and the presentation of the game is great and very fun and replay ability is high.
X5 feels like one of those games which you can seriously enjoy if you know what you're getting into. Most of its shortcomings (The weird system with the Enigma and the Shuttle, the parts system, the force beams section) CAN be overcame, but you have to know what's coming before hand, and be able to prepare for it. It's different from X6 in that regard, which has many sections which are only really passable with either decent luck or absurd cheese.
This game is one of the best examples of the idea that one's personal opinion don't need to match their views on objective quality. I love this game, but I just can't defend it.
Are you going to do the Zero games as well? Those ones are amongst my favorites in the whole franchise!
Probably in the future, but not anytime soon since I am not even close to done with the X series yet. Of course I also don't want to dedicate my entire channel to just Mega Man. Sorry, man. :(
It's okay. Take your time.
Love your reviews by the way. They're right up my alley.
Thanks for understanding and I'm glad you enjoy the reviews!
z buster is broken on bosses, no invincibilty buffer, good damage, and i'm pretty sure it can stun certain enemies
X5 is the epitome of a love/hate game for me. Great graphics (at some points), music, level of true difficulty, and level design (minus Adler and McWhalen), but its gimmicks shoved down my throat and cumbersome backtracking make it hard to fully enjoy.
X Vs Zero theme is the best
yay! finally a video in youtube that doesn't refer to Keiji Inafune "the father of megaman" or "the creator of megaman". extra symbolic thumbs up for that
But refers to him as Kai-ji. You know, reading the name like a German name.
Why does Zero seem more like the main protagonist of the X games than X?
Because he was supposed to be
I know but man Zero just shits on X not only in story, but gameplay as well. In Mega man X6 it seems like the game was designed for Zero instead of X.
Mega Man is much stronger than Zero in X4 though.
He's fucking broken. Especially with Ultimate Armor
DTY16 Zero was designed to be the hard mode of the game
Because X is a pacifist I guess. X1 was mainly about X, introduced us to him, we watch him grow. The rest seemed heavily around Zero's story, with exception of X3. Zero easily had the more interesting story as things went on.
I love X5, and along with X4 it's my favorite entry in the series. Despite that, I have to agree with you, the game falls short of the polish and game design of its predecessors. And I have to say you're probably the best game reviewer in youtube, you truly go in depth and your videos are both entertaining and informative.
Well damn, thanks a lot for telling me this! I am really flattered. The best game reviewer on UA-cam is quite a huge statement. :o
Retropolis Zone Thank you for making this amazing content, I have learned a lot about game design, and personally, understanding how a medium works makes me enjoy it more. I don't think any other game reviewer has made me love games more than I already do.
I am flattered by your comment. Thanks! If you're interested in these types of videos, I highly suggest checking out Matthewmatosis, Novacanoo and KingK, all on UA-cam. They also make in-depth reviews. :)
Great review man, excellent stuff! While X5 is my favorite in the series,i have to admit it does have some pretty major flaws as well. Looking forward to whats next.
Excellent review! This is my personal favorite entry in the series, and all of your points were very well presented and either stuff I couldn't agree more with(Like Dynamo and the tone of the story, including the RNG) or at least understand where you're coming from(such as your analysis of the level design and bosses). I may just check out your other stuff sometime later, but you've made a great first impression.
Wonderful comment. People who don't necessarily agree with everything but can still appreciate and respect different perspectives; it's perhaps one of the biggest compliments you could get. Thanks! :)
Whilst I personally put this game in the top half when ranking the X series it does seem to be a let-down coming after the fantastic X4, still a pretty good game though.
All I can say with regards to X6 is good luck, that's where it all came crashing down.
Yeeeeep. X6 isn't the next video, but it will probably be done after the next video. I am mentally preparing myself.
29:20
Wait, the slowdown is a gimmick? I always thought it was just the game straining.
I am pretty confident it was intentional, yeah. It seems very convenient that Dark Dizzy possesses the Dark Hold and that the game slows down exactly when the background warps up.
Hmm, makes sense. Though in that case I suppose it would be nice of them to include a sound effect or something.
Retropolis Zone 29:20 that slowdown was fixed in the megaman x collection, so it wasn't a gimmick.
@@Focalors21 bet
Renato Acevedo it might as well be that they removed it because it was not a good gimmick. it happens in remasters you know
The difference in quality between this game and X4 always reminded me a bit of the difference in quality between Spyro 2 and Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Even the health bar and the menus in X5 make the game look cheaper somehow.
+RedBlueGiG Spyro 3 was just more of the same, how does it mop the floor with 2? it was just an uninspired rehash besides adding in some boring new characters that nobody asked for.
I prefer the health bar of x5 muuuch more
Misael Toral Spyro 3 was the game dawg. Both 2 and 3 are tbh
@@MallyPureSmooth Spyro 3 is the best! I actually got bored of the second game rather quickly.
Even if I like X5 about as much as most of the other games, yeah, it needed more polish in a lot of areas (especially in the whole RNG of the story and the parts system, I don't know what was going on there). X6 suffers from the same thing, only worse, so you're probably gonna hate it. But hey, at least you won't be reviewing X7, that game could kill you. Haha
Oh, and of course, good job on the review. :)
If Crapcom continued his plans to do a X2-X6 remake, if think X5 and X6 would be the most improved, Imagine playing X5 without RNG, The X6 Parts System, a mix of armors, a better time count, etc and X6 with a better story, improving the parts system, rebuilding Gates 1 and 2, Ground Scaravich and Blaze Heatnix Stage.
Carlos Eduardo Aguiar Yep, I always thought of that too. To be honest if I had some knowledge of programming I'd make a fan remake or at least a DX version of X1-6 and fix all the problems and adding new content and such.
Sometimes I feel more games deserve the same thing as Sonic CD, a remake that fan made and Sega financed, I was not the biggest Sonic CD fan, but now it is on my top 10 Favorite Sonic games.
I agree. I wish more companies did the same thing.
Thanks! Glad you liked the review!
While I do see how reusing the same background over the final stages can validly be considered lazy, I do like the way it's color-value progressively leans away from blue to red; it sort of helps convey a sense of diving into multiple layers of this "cyber-realm" before reaching what looks to be the core.
Or to reference X and Zero
I'm bored at work and I just ran through the entire review... wow. I can tell you, as a Megaman series fan (Both Lore and games from all sagas) you just gave the ultimate review of the game and in a professional way, a Capcom Megaman game designer or a fan making a game from the blue bomber can really take what is good amd bad and polish it to make an 10/10 game that this times lacks off. You are the man! Keep up the good work and waiting for X6 review haha
Thanks for the support and positive comments, man! Glad I could spice up your workday!
Check out J's Reviews on the X series as well. He's buddies with RZ, and has some great reviews as well.
"It's better than nothing" damn straight, Keiji. But eh result.
Eh.
I thought you said Kaiji but you didnt :v
I take back what I said about your last video this is definitely your best.
Haha, thanks man!
Life is simply unfair...don't you think?
Yep, a fact of life, init?
There are moments when a single snail can make the world go extinct.
X5 is actually my favorite mega man game
Two things I hated about this game was constant exposition and confusing mechanics
42:39 Oooh, I almost forgot Hidden Block took this victory jingle for themselves. Also, nice reference.
I literally thought that I had somehow accidentally opened a Hidden Block video in another tab when it kicked in XD
And I literally thought that I had somehow accidentally opened a Hidden Block video when I was actually playing the game for the first time. Hahaha.
@@RetropolisZone question. Do you actually watch hidden block videos? Personally I love space hamster
@@RetropolisZone haha, I was so confused.
Welp retro, you know what games next...... I can smell the salt already if you thought this game felt rushed in some areas ._.
And here we get to start the oft-considered worst trio of games in Mega Man history, X5-X7. As much as I wanted SO bad to love this game, as it fixed several of the biggest issues in "atmosphere" from X4 with a way better soundtrack IMO, well-done still-image cutscenes instead of that cheesy compressed-video game with terrible voice acting, and a REALLY cool story that's probably my favorite in the series, the game itself just left so, so much to be desired. I've always felt like it stage layouts on the whole felt incredibly gimmicky with very few stretches of just good ol' dash-and-shoot Megaman X action, there are TOO many horrible parts I dread every time I play like Squid's and Dark Dizzy's first halves and most of the endgame stages, and just thinking about putting up with stuff like all of Alia's pointless interruptions and the bizarre, uncomfortable way the slottable upgrades are handled makes me shudder. Not to even mention the idiotic RNG with the cannon/rocket, uncomfortable, mostly-pointless time system, just plain stupid high-level healthbars in the boss rush, and so on. You laid it out very well in this video and hit pretty much everything spot-on, and I find myself agreeing with you here the most completely of any of your reviews so far.
I DO think there are some awesome things about the game aside the aforementioned atmosphere like multiple armors and the idea of the slot-upgrade stuff at least, but honestly I have to say for me it's my second-least-favorite of the whole series over only X7. Yes, I'd say X6 is better, and again I'm excited to see what you have to say about that one, since it's probably the most severely divisive and has some of the lowest lows but some very high highs. And you might not even loathe X7 nearly as bad as I do, I have a huge pet peeve against clunky 3d adaptations of 2d series' but it's not like it's the worst game ever made, so perhaps you're already past the worst of it now. ....Perhaps. Probably not. But we'll see!
(Also, did you notice some of the laziness of how the Maverick bunch are almost copy-pasted from X4? Of course they have unique fights and different enough stages but the designs / overall shape/size/'element' of the bosses, plus elements of their stages, are identical. Slash Beast - Grizzly Slash, Split Mushroom - Izzy Glow, Jet Singray - Squid Adler and so on, going on for EVERY maverick. Plus, you didn't mention the TERRIBLE naming conventions they got in English this time, but I guess everyone's gone over that by now :P)
There is a great game in here with neat ideas, but the execution fails to do them justice way too many times. The end result is just sloppy mess that isn't bad persay in my eyes, but just not as good as X1 to X4.
And yes I did kind of notice that but I wasn't very bothered by it. I was pushing the length of the video which is why sometimes I don't mention certain details or skimp over them if I don't consider them very important. The naming convention of the Mavericks is another one of those points.
"Also, did you notice some of the laziness of how the Maverick bunch are almost copy-pasted from X4?" Not only X4.
Good review! Honestly, X5 is one of my favorites. My God, this game is sloppy. I usually have a lot of fun running through it as both X & Zero. I think your idea of having the Virus fully infecting Zero would have been better story-wise for sure. Also, THANK YOU for pointing out my biggest complaint with the game at 12:08. Zero is the main character for this game. Why can't he get all of the Heart Tanks? That makes NO sense at all! BTW, at Dr. Glow's stage, Zero can get that Tank if he has the Hyper Dash equipped.
Thank God they fixed the Power-Up System in X6.
And honestly, the fact that destroying Eurasia is completely random REALLY hurts the game. For me, I always manage to get the Shuttle to work when I get all the parts. The Enigma? HAHAHA, no. When I'm in the mood to try to get it to work, I always fire it before I get all the parts since it works better for me. And yes, I do reload in order to do so, BUT I shouldn't have to do that to begin with!
Surprised how quickly you managed to make such a long video. Despite not agreeing on many of your points, this is a very enjoyable review nonetheless. Keep up the good work!
See, this comment kicks arse. We may disagree on things, but there's mutual respect regardless of such. If only more people could bring to be so reasonable!
There are too many things with game that ruin it, the RNG of the destruction of the space Colony, the bosses are dull and boring and if you play on a standard or hard setting, the bosses all have HP Bars that are ridiculously long, drawing those fights out for no reason, especially Shadow Devil at Lv.99.
The Armors for X are both complete junk, the Gaea Armor only serves 2 purposes, gathering any remaining upgrades only X could get and maybe using it to burn down Bosses, but I value X's mobility too much to care for the Armor, while the Falcon Armor, although nice in mobility is overall pointless, sticking to the Fourth or Ultimate Armor would be better.
Many of the stages are also just horridly designed, Duff McWhalen's, Squid Adler's & Dark Dizzy's stages are just a damned grind to go through, especially Duff McWhalen's stage, having to re-visit that stage 3 times to finish it 100% is just bull. As for Sigma, I sort of liked his 1st form but they could have animated him better, compared to his 4 past incarnations, this model is so stiff....his 2nd form is a joke, much like X2's and X4's.
Cannot wait to see if you see any of the issues or reasons why X6 isn't as bad that people make it out to be.
Xebenatros Xeracroft Wow...just...wow. You essentially summed up almost exactly why this game grates on my darn nerves. I just recently finished it and felt as if I was giving myself a root canal. I legit had to force myself to get through X5 because after a few stages, I was so done with this game. You pinned down all the fine details that made me despise this game. Heck, I was looking forward to X6 (assuming that if the predecessor was such garbage, then sequel HAS to be good because the devs OBVIOUSLY learned from their mistakes). But after reading YT comments/reviews of X6, I kinda don't even wanna finish the rest of the MMX series.
I really do appreciate that someone else noticed how poor the level designs were. I was bored to tears running through them.
I thought this was going to be yet another X5 fanboy review, but you were so objetive that I felt absolutely satisfied at the end of the vid. Awesome job!
Can't wait for the X6 review!
Awesome, man. Thanks! Hope I can deliver on the X6 review when that comes out!
Your review doesn't count because you didn't make a joke about Squid Adler's stage killing you during the _READY_ sequence.
I find the Z Buster gets more useful tactically if you equip it with the Buster+1 upgrade, giving zero a 2 damage shot that pierces enemies instead of a less useful 1 damage shot.
...Honestly through out all my playthroughs of X 5 I never got that "bad" ending. That caught me off guard completely.
Great work with this review. This game should have been much more. I love all X games because im a diehard fan, but x5 dropped the ball on many points. I slightly like X6 better but that game has its own share of bullshit (rescuing the soldiers to say one) that can make it a pain in the ass to complete. X8 is where things started getting better but alas, that was the last game...
Thanks! I am glad you liked the video!
I hear so many conflicting opinions on the rest of the X series. Some say X6 is easily the worst, some say X7 is more of a crap-fest. Sometimes I will even hear X8 is shit. lol
I loved X8 but maybe for the wrong reasons... after so many lackluster games, it was nice to see one actually trying.
Can I ask a question? How in the heck do you know who composed what on this soundtrack? I do not know of a legitimate composer breakdown on any of the main databases on the internet. Well, that would be the English ones. But seriously, if you could show me where this information came from I'd be very thankful. I mean the only songs I know the composer for sure are the reprises and the x6 reprises.
"Kaiji Inafunei"
... Y'know what? Close enough! :D
THE TIME HAS COME AND SO HAVE I.
brb watching
This was the beginning of the ending for the X series
MrCalverino Well it actually was supposed to be the last X game
MrCalverino I’m getting J reviews flashbacks!
It's good at least. But X8 was the last good X game IMO.
Quickies don't cut it
Me: (laughs in rookie hunter mode)
I used to cry over this game’s ending a lot as a kid. It probably is my favorite of the X series even though X4 is technically superior.
Sigma hired dynamo....and what is he payingnhim with? Money? Women?
Whats any of that worth if theres no civilization left? Also reploids are robots, a harem is pretty much worthless.....
Probably power or resources
This is pretty insightful. And X5 was the first X game I ever owned.
What can I say about X5? I enjoyed it more than X4, and consider it a VAST improvement over its aforementioned predecessor. I do so hate that the infamous rider level concept returned from X4, though the Rider itself at least has a higher threshold for damage than last time. In X4, I'd swear that damned Rider was made of porcelain, so easily was it destroyed. That was always my problem with that stage. It wasn't navigation problems. I navigated that level like a champ. It was that the f***ing Rider kept getting destroyed. In X5, I never had that problem.
I love that the villains of X5 are named for members of Guns N' Roses. LOVED THAT. The interesting thing about X5 is that they crammed an overwhelmingly time-consuming amount of backtracking into a time-sensitive story. I was on hands and knees thanking God that Capcom finally instituted an Easy difficulty level. Having it actually let me sit back and enjoy the experience for once. I also like that this game gave you the option to finish the game with the Ultimate/Nova Armor without having to enter a code, though it was MADDENING that it wasn't equipped to you right then and there in the armor capsule (but Zero's was).
I just knew you were gonna touch on pretty much all of the things that pissed me off about this game. It'd be great if they remade this game to make the difficulty more smooth. As much as this game copied from past installments, they really did away with some of the things that shouldn't have been changed. Like the way they name the bosses. It used to be simple: animal/element name. It just feels so weird seeing this and that was the biggest sign that something was really fucked up about this game.
But X6 dropped the ball completely. My main gripe was up + attack move on there while at the same time you need up to hang on the bars while you're battling enemies. It was instant death all the time.
I love your review, cant wait to hear your opinion on X7
It wasn’t very good
30:34 There is a Trophy called "You're Quick, Man" in the Legacy X Collection 2 where you have to get through the entire stage of lasers without the use of Dark Hold. It took so much muscle memory and trial/error just to get that achievement to pop. Goddamn.
not too hard in rookie hunter mode
i love how x say to zero " if i become a maverick take off me" (or something like that in x ending x4) and at last x have to defeat zero for that reason in the future :D
I'm just curious to know whether or not you've played or know about Astro Boy Omega Factor on GBA, since it was developed by Treasure (and Hitmaker as well). Astro Boy was probably the game that defined my childhood gaming experience, and I'm wondering how it holds up today.
I'm also looking forward to that Crash Warped review (and X6 when you get to it), but then again, I'm always looking forward to reviews from this channel ever since EPG recommended this channel a few months back. I really enjoy all of these reviews, and especially recent reviews have been fantastic.
I have never played Astro Boy Omega Factor, no. I have heard of it, though.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the positive comment! Glad you enjoy the videos. :)
Where x5 feels complete yet sloppy, x6 is heavily rushed an uninspired.
47:31 *It took you 5.5 hours to beat the game? Ha you suck!*/saracsm
Yeah this game is ass, but your review is well thought out. Good job my mang
You didn't mention the character ranking system. For whatever reason, X starts at B rank, while Zero starts at SA.
Personally, I didn't enjoy this system at all. In order to raise the rank to MEH or MMH, you're pretty much forced to speedrun through the levels without taking damage, and without killing enemies. In some levels, that's pretty much impossible, like Duff MacWhalen. If you want to acquire everything, get max rank, and still earn the good ending, you have to plan your route carefully and can't really afford to make mistakes.
If it weren't for the Dynamo fights, you'd be unable to reach max rank. At least, Capcom made it so that the last level you can level up is the X/Zero fight one. One of the easier choices.
Not fun at all, overall. I personally enjoyed farming Nightmare Souls a lot more on X6, in order to maximize the ranks of both characters.
To be honest, I couldn't be bothered to fully research how the ranking system works. Your rank seems to affect the level of the Mavericks and not much else (from what I could tell, anyway). The game gave me little reason to care since the ranks largely seem so irrelevant. It comes across to me as another element that make Mega Man X5 way more complicated and vague than it should have been.
Agreed, for the most part. The idea of speedrunning for rank goes against the exploratory nature of the series. And it definitely comes across as overly complicated and vague. I had to look up a guide to figure out the ranking system.
I have to disagree with your conclusion here, and say that X5 is tied with X7 as the worst MMX games I have ever played. The clunky parts system, the crappy way you have to get the armors and heart tanks, the endgame bosses (the room boss and Sigma especially), the weapons all being mediocre to bad, the mostly forgettable music (aside from X vs Zero and Dynamo), and the piss-poor pacing with Alia's unskippable interruptions, the atrocious excuse for a "hard mode" actually being a "shit hits too hard and nothing drops health or weapon energy mode," and the many autoscroller segments make this game just not fun to play for so much of the experience that I just can't say it's anything other than a bad game. The armors introduced in this game, Falcon and Gaea, are really good armors in this game, though, so I wouldn't say the game is terrible, but it is pretty bad. Too bad the Falcon armor is dogshit in X6...
Also keepnote that the "bad ending" is canon. That means the game directing you towards the bad ending, even if you collected all the parts to maybe trigger the happy one, is the actual prefered way. Hencemy lack of interest to make it a X & Zero game. Zero is meant to vanquish. Only in X6 is where Zero is meant to be foundand used as a playable character. Playing as Zero in X5 is badly communicated fan service at best.
For me it was asthetics.. the levels and backgrounds feel so poorly set and look like cheap screenshots made for a crappy windows game. There are many instances where platforms don't look like platform. The intro stage looks horrendous. There is so much unfinished grey... At the end of the day where X4 and X6 look believable (looks like i am standing on something..) X5's world and stages look like a cheap computer simulation. Lastly why did they change the charged shot? This charged shot animation looks like a cheap 2d layer.
@2:34 Have you never met someone named Douglas or heard the name said in your life? As a Douglas, I feel personally attacked by this pronunciation... 🤣😜
Think “ Dug less” not “Doo glass”
X5 is definitely a mixed bag. But at least it's not a half baked mess like X6. I still enjoy X5, whereas I don't particularly enjoy X6.
Personally this is actually a ok game not the best in the megaman X series but it's ok I love the music because it has a 80s vibe going for it the only character I actually like play as is X because of the RNG because who thought that was a good Idea well anyway X is more fun to play as then Zero in this game that sucks because I love playing as Zero in the last game and even the Next game after this one yah I won't lie i am a Unapologetic fan of Megaman X6 oh believe me that game sucks but I don't think it's the worst game in the series now that honor goes to X7 and X8 was actually a good game after that not the best ever funny teasing game
I must be really lucky because the first time I played and beat the game, the Enigma failed but the Shuttle succeeded and I got the good ending.
Me too.
Me too!
So first of all, MMX5 was my favorite MMX game growing up. Unpopular opinion, I know, and while it may be misguided by nostalgia, I believe that there are still so many endearing qualities to the game, such as its amazing music. On that note, I played through it recently and noticed all the trash features that you talked about throughout the video, such as the enigma RNG and being stuck with ass X if you played with zero and got the bad ending. I also love how MMX lore is such a maze and 8 year old me playing this definitely had no idea what was going on. On that note, well done on the video! I hope there's others out there who thoroughly enjoyed the game as much as I did growing up :)
it took me 10 years to find out you can duck in mmx. The whole time I dashed instead of ducking
If only the overly tutorialized nature of X5 explained THAT to you, but no the game likes to tell you to watch out for enemies already on screen. ;)
I love that thrown in "But you can savescum!" argument.
... _how in the world_ does the possibility of savescumming justify bad design? xD
I'm new to the X series and I'm still kind of in shock at that design choice, so maybe it's denial. 😆
3 Years of delvelopment between two games is better than a few month... I´am looking at you X6....
Great review
Great profile pic!
Thanks!
the weird thing is that the bad ending never occurred to me when i had my ps one, only until i bought the megaman X collection i knew that it had a bad ending
Critics hated X4?
Yup, that would be the case. However, after X7's failure to fulfill their desires, I guess the critics may have regretted it.
Even though I may agree with them sometimes, they are hypocritical in the worst way. Most notable being the fact 2D games in the 32-bit era are not innovative and being considered outdated in their eyes.
Mega Man X, the reboot that makes me cringe
like sonic boom
I do like both franchises though.
pretty sure you can get the heart container in duff mcwhalen's stage with zero's lightning uppercut thing
This game was unpolished, but I liked it overall. The soundtrack was the main reason why, specifically two pieces: Eurasia as Zero, and the ending theme in the US/International releases, which you featured in this video. That one gives me chills combined with the endings. It's really easy to see this was supposed to have been the end of the series, and as it is I consider X6-8 mostly non-canon, though some creative rejiggering with Zero's ending in X6 did actually make it fit the timeline (but then X7 and X8 and Command Mission...).
What this game does right above all else is atmosphere, and the soundtrack is the main way. There's something foreshadowing and melancholic about the Zero/Eurasia stage theme; I remember hearing it for the first time and wondering why something so energetic sounded so sad, and got an odd sort of presentiment from it...only to realize later that the ending themes quote the first few bars of the melody almost verbatim, albeit slower and in a different context. The Sigma stages sound appropriately dark and somber, but driving, and the bizarre cyberspace background actually works really well. Remember one theme of this game is the Sigma/Colony/Zero viruses becoming so powerful that they corrupt physical reality around themselves, hence the VR-looking environments in these stages.
Above all else is the apocalyptic theme. This game does not mess around: even in the best ending, the Earth is ruined and huge swathes of the human and Repliroid populations die out. You can open the final stages early by various means and then still go after the Irregulars, many of whom have changed dialogue and have become either hopelessly nihilistic or outright insane because of what's happened. The X vs Zero fight, while it was a bit disappointing due to the engine's limitations, had been hinted at since at least X3, possibly X2 where Sigma in death mentions that Zero is the last of the "Wi--_*static*--numbers." In other words, he's a Robot Master, likely with serial number DWN-000 for symbolism's sake.
For all that this game is imperfect mechanically, it's more than the sum of its parts, and the story is what really elevates it above its own technical failings.
I've played this game many MANY times and ive only got the enigma to fail when I purposely launch it at a low percent. Every other time it blows it up. Also, great review. I've been binge watching your megaman x reviews and am looking forward to more content
i once just went right into the fireing of the canon at bare minimum and it worked and i was all....but i want to play the game so i reloaded
The art is so bad compared to X4.
Personally I prefer the art of X5 over X4, it is more consistent.
I found the UI in this game a pain in the ass to navigate. I couldn't figure out at first how to equip armor, nor why I should even have to as it should have ben automatically equipped.
I cheated from the very beginning by using the ULTIMATE ARMORE CODE and the game is STILL ridiculously hard as the Ultimate armor's flight time is not as good as the Falcon armor - which you need to get the Gaea armor - and the Energy tank - and the energy hearts...
The game - like X4 isn't too hard, but it can be quite tedious. I am glad the checkpoint system is forgiving but annoyed by the lack of 4 energy tanks and the fact they won't auto refill on continues.
The Music was great.
I'm finishing this game up tonight: Boss Rush and Sigma.
The thought of having to play X6 and X7 give me anxiety.
just watched all your mmx reviews, and i'm surprised at how spot on and detailed these are considering you apparently never played them until this year. so kudos sir.
Muchos gracias! I am glad you enjoyed the videos. :)
Funny thing about X vs Zero is: if you fight X, it uses X4's charged attacks. It almost feels like it was going to be a battle added in Zero's Story on X4.
X5 wasn't bad at all. The only thing I "HATE" about it is that Alia...just...won't...shut....the fuck...up
You can literally turn her off in the options
My biggest problem with these games is that Mega Man nor Zero ever feel as powerful as they should be. Zero has larger hit boxes than X and he's ALWAYS getting hit - especially when trying to hit the enemies due to the short range of the Z-saber. Make the Z-saber a 1 or 2 hit slash killer and it'll solve most issues.
ZERO should be as powerful as RAIDEN in Revengeance.
It should feel like Mega Man can blast holes in anything.
Ironically, you need to cheat to have the ultimate armor to make X feel as powerful as he is proclaimed to be.
DARK HOLD is the only way I can get past the Quick man stage.
One thing you didn't mention is that X automatically HOLDS onto platforms sideways in ways he didn't in the classic games. It feels like he's a spider glued to the surface. Costs you just enough time to DIE.
Z-buster is a good bosskiller IIRC, it deals as much damage as a full 3 slash combo, but I'm not sure on the damage. But I do remember it doing good damage
I must say they should have gave Alia a better job...lol owo Plus also nice new profile pic by the way. owo Just gonna say by the way that I heard X6 is the worst to put up with..So good luck on that if you are. ow
Haha, thanks dude!
I really enjoyed watching your coverage of the x series. Thank you sir.
I know this game is pretty mixed, but I dont care what anyone says, I think is the best in the entire series (unless you count Megaman Zero Collection as a 1 game), it has the second best soundtrack in the series, I personally find the graphics stellar, awesome weapons, the best bosses in the series, the story is by far the best in the X series (Zero series still have better stories), personally only dislike one level (Duff McWhalen) and even than it is not that bad, the rest is amazing, some people dont care about story, but I think it is one of the best things about the X series, I love the references to the past games, it really feels like the epic ending, but I think it deserves a remake to fix all the problems (in my opinion are only nitpicks), my 3rd favorite plataformer game, I still prefer some Metroidvanias, DKC2 and Yoshi Island, but this is close, defenely in my Top 25 games, but I respect your opinion, you are talking with the guy that doesnt likes the majority of the Sonic games and consider Megaman 2 the worst in the classic series.
About your review, I really like it, while I disagree with many of your opinions, but it is the best I have watched in my opinion and I hope this review have many views, you deserve more.
I agree, the only thing I disliked about X5 was the fact that the new characters were never properly introduced. Aside from that, the game was a total improvement all around(nope I don't look for UI criticism as a valid point to judge a game, and nor do I think that the RNG in it was also a bad point).
X4 still has the best characters, though.
At least the new characters will eventually grow on you if you manage to not drop the series after x7, and play x8, one of the best games and by far the most underrated Megaman game ever.
I think what's missing is a 2 player co-op for Mega Man and Zero - like a CONTRA game.
There are a lot of issues with X4, X5 and X6 that should have NEVER made it through Play Testing.
18:15 lol
Some heart tanks that you thought zero couldn’t get, it’s actually possible with zero. Hyperdash and zeros lightning ability opens those opportunities.
There is ONE good thing about X5: It has an excellent remix of Bubble Crab's theme from X2 in Duff McWhalen's stage
And a great Quick Man, Yellow Devil, X1 Capsule, etc, X5 is the second best soundtrack in the Megaman series.
X2 fanboy alarm!
One good thing? Oh side quest, so gae
yea, the music was the best thing about x5
I actually like the randomness with the Enigma and the shuttle. It makes the whole scenario remain stressful even if you have all the parts because even with your best laid plans, you could still fail. Plus, if you do want a particular ending, its not hard just to reset your save and run the scene again.
It's also really fun just to fire the enigma right at the beginning of the game and blow up the space colony. I had that happen once, and it was pretty glorious. lol
another great review! I always want to hear your thoughts on the soundtrack.
I've heard that if you complete the first stage, save and then watch the demo of the main menu, and then return to the game and activate the cannon it has a guaranteed chance to blow up the space station
I don't know... X5's OST made me love this game so fucking much, regardless of the plot.
Hey it's not random, I found the formula to get the enigma to destroy the colony. Next time you play try this
Pick x forth armor for the intro stage
Second pick zero for the following bosses in this order: grizzly slash in his stage you have to get the falcon armor power up with zero, duff mcwahalen, then squid Adler, but in squid adler stage you have to get seven blue spheres no more no less.
The with forth armor x go to izzy glow stage and get the other falcon armor pick up
After duff mcwahalen stage pick weapons life, squid Adler weapons energy, and izzy glow weapons energy. That should fire the enigma every time destroying the colony 100%
No, it is random. Stop spreading misinformation. That method can also fail as well if you are not careful. Remember, this paragraph below will prove you wrong here. This is taken directly from the Mega Man Knowledge Base Wiki.
"The RNG roll for the Enigma's (or the shuttle's) success chance is constantly changing during gameplay, apparently stopping when the Results Screen is called up after a boss battle. i.e. If emulating, a save state before the final shot in the preceding fight will be far back enough for a re-roll. The demonstration on the title screen also counts, and it can be used to manipulate the success rate in the PlayStation version."
Even a certain Steam user mentioned that most people in the Internet that said the Enigma and Shuttle success chances are not random are not aware of the game's complicated design. Refer to this other paragraph below as it also contains a method on how to manipulate the RNG.
"Don't waste your time looking on the internet, it's full of BS for the most part. Chances of a successful shot will always be low even if you get all the parts, so the best thing you can do is get 3 parts and save.
From this point forward, you should shoot the Enigma and if it fails reload the save, waste an "hour" going to a stage you already completed and going back to HQ (And save again while you're at it) and shoot the Enigma again. Continue this loop until you run out of hours.
The reason why you're not just getting 4 parts and reloading that save over and over is that the chances reroll only after you go through the results screen and getting all the parts forces you to shoot the Enigma after loading, making it impossible to reroll your chances.
I got it to shoot down the colony after wasting 2 'hours' (With 3 parts collected). Have fun with the rerolling and always keep a separate save with no hours wasted after getting the 3 parts so you can reroll again from that point if you manage to waste all the hours." - Red (aka that certain Steam user)
I wasn’t talking about the original PlayStation version of Mx 5, but the Mx 5 on the collection series
Interesting review, good to see an objective view of how this game could be bad.
It seems the issues are mostly worth being extremely bad at explaining things and having a lot of newbie traps.
Of course this makes it terrible experience when playing blind, but can be great when replaying.
Also, the two gaea armour capsules you mentioned being X only are possible to get as Zero, given some creative use of parts and even virus. There's even unique conversations of you do so!