(Originally published to Glitchwave on 11/14/2025)
[Image from glitchwave.com]
Mega Man X5
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre(s): 2D Platformer
Platforms: PS1
Release Date: November 20, 2000
Once again, that scoundrel Sigma persistently attempts to tear the harmony between humans and robots asunder by causing chaos and infecting some impressionable artificial minds. This time around, he’s receiving some aid in his nefarious schemes from another recalcitrant Reploid robot named Dynamo, and the disastrous duo used their combined forces of evil to upset the suspended inertia of a space colony called Eurasia and have it collide with Earth like a cataclysmic meteor. X and Zero confront the bulbous head of Sigma on the malfunctioning space colony, but their valiant efforts unfortunately result in spreading the Sigma Virus, which is also a secondary condition unleashed when the collision occurs. While I’m still not swallowing the “Sigma Virus” concept that persists here after X3 introduced it as an oversimplified source of conflict, everything else surrounding the plot premise of Mega Man X5 is quite stimulating. The stakes are high, the threat is crystal clear, and the ticking of a sixteen-hour timer until the brutal impact occurs fills the air with a frantic tension. Still, I wish that the expositional material that furthered this plot were still displayed with the anime cutscenes that the previous X game (and the eighth mainline title) showcased to flaunt the presentational capabilities of the advanced PlayStation system. Sure, the voice acting reeked of an amateurism that marginally mucked up the intended severity of the scenes, but it was a minor hiccup that could’ve easily been remedied with slightly more consideration during the recording process. The decision to instead display the scenes with a sequence of still images, recycled ones at that, is a stark regression that is totally unnecessary. Was there an especially scathing critic back then, AKA me if I wasn’t drooling and shitting in diapers in 1997, who mocked the line deliveries so harshly that the developers took it personally and removed the cinematic flair of the presentation entirely to avoid another lashing? If so, on behalf of all wiseasses who review video games, I apologize for the comments from whoever it might have been that influenced this disappointing decision.
Because the mission’s scope is extremely hair-raising and time is of the utmost essence, X and Zero can’t possibly thwart Sigma and Dynamo’s newest diabolical plot alone. Similar to X4, X’s two playable characters are being assisted by a task force operating from the sidelines. Signas is the decorated commander who hates Mavericks like General Patton hated communists, while Douglas (what kind of name is that for a futuristic robot?) is the technical mechanic who crafts modules for our heroes while he’s simultaneously building a laser cannon destructive enough to violently obliterate the Eurasia colony out of orbit. Unlike X4, these allies aren’t actually turncoats that will show their true pernicious colors when X and Zero least expect it, so they prove to be reliable throughout their time combating Sigma. However, one particular member of this coalition is perhaps TOO reliable for my tastes and serves as the first strike against X5’s new gameplay injections. The token female member supporting X and Zero here is Alia, who monitors the layout of each level and communicates her reconnaissance information to either playable Maverick hunter via a headset microphone from the vantage point of the gang’s base. When considering the utility of this supporting character, the developers should’ve been aware of Navi’s role as arguably the one smudge against Ocarina of Time’s perceived perfection at the time and avoided inserting a nagging, interruptive assistant at all costs. Alas, Capcom evidently misinterpreted the reputation of the scorned fairy because now she’s a blonde humanoid android wearing a pink, skintight armor outfit with a microphone headset fused to her cranium. To Navi’s credit, one could at least imagine her guidance to be warranted while the player attempts to navigate the untested span of a 3D Zelda game in its early experimental phase. In a 2D series such as Mega Man, where the level design is remarkably straightforward, what could be unclear enough to justify an explanation from an omniscient source? Not only does Alia prompt every level by elucidating the relevant context surrounding it, but she insists on signaling in whenever the player is faced with any unseen platforming gimmick, an alternate fork in the road of one’s progression path, or seemingly at random occurrences. The flow of action also comes to a complete halt whenever Alia dials into X or Zero’s hearing modules, which is akin to driving on the freeway and having to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a deer after every mile. Don’t think that you’ll be remiss if you mash the button that skips the scrolls of Alia’s text boxes. Anyone with enough patience to tolerate her will quickly learn that she stops the player dead in their tracks to speak nothing of anything but what should already be 100% apparent. Yes, Alia, I concur, it is indeed a horrible night to have a curse. Now, pretty please, with sugar on top, could you SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT!?
Alia’s inane input is particularly patronizing because it’s not as if the player won’t know the process of extinguishing the eight Mavericks, the idiosyncratic gameplay formula from Mega Man that has been tested so many times at this point,where I now have to count with fingers on both hands. The octet of Mavericks here may not continue the conceptual mold of Reploids gone rogue like the ones featured in X4, but they’re still an eclectic assortment of stylized robots shaped like animals, as the case has always been. If you’re playing the English translation, which I assume the majority of players are, one particular commonality that this crop of Mavericks shares is that their names reference the members of the multi-platinum selling, seminal 80s hard rock titans Guns N Roses. Dueling double guitars here are the shredding talents of the cyborg bear Grizzly Slash and the luminous insectoid Izzy Glow, while Duff McWhalen lays down bass riffs as thick as the mechanical blubber of his blue exterior. The bat Dark Dizzy is the sole provider of keyboards if needed, but the fiery Jurassic lizard Mattrex will provide drums for the Mavericks if Squid Adler’s drug problem leaves him incapacitated. The mystical flying horse, The Skiver, does not allude to any specific band member to my knowledge, but there’s no mistaking the parallels between the thorny Axle the Red and a certain frontman with a penchant for wailing. Fun fact: if the player knocks Axle’s health down to about a quarter of the way, the Maverick will throw a hissy fit and leave the arena. How many of you will understand that joke?
Anyways, while it’s amusing to poke fun at these particular Mavericks for their odd referential names, the entertainment factor of their respective levels all reach various new lows for the series. Remember the compactor from Armored Armadillo’s stage all the way back in the first X game and how the player had to acutely evade or quickly combat it while it was gaining on him, lest it liquidate his entire health bar in one fell swoop? Well, a hostile submarine shaped and colored like a porpoise channels the same objective at the beginning of Duff McWhalen’s stage, but at the grueling pace of a snail with no tension involved in the slightest. Flipping the stage on its opposite end in Dark Dizzy’s space domain is easily the lamest utilization of a gravity gimmick the series has ever seen, while the jet bike ride that begins Squid Adler’s stage is the newest bane of my existence. I’ve chastised many automated vehicle sequences in instances across the entire Mega Man franchise before, but the margin of error here is so chokingly tight that I sought out guidance to see if there was a hidden navigation trick that went over my head. Not to mention, it’s laughably egregious that any player starting this stage won’t anticipate the pit at the very start of this track, as they’ll likely fall to their death immediately as a result. No one bothered to test this before they shipped it out? I quite enjoy the adrenaline of leaping from a series of train cars set to explode in Grizzly Slash’s stage, and dismantling active time bombs by blasting them with the Mega Buster, which certainly requires the player’s fullest attentiveness and reaction skills. Still, none of the admirable moments across any of these levels are enough to offset the game’s countless uninspired and or grating moments that seem to be higher in quantity than in any X game before it.
I can’t say that any of the special weapons that X absorbs from these Mavericks really resonated with me either. None of them proved to be utterly useless like the all-timer duds we’ve seen throughout series history, but I think the lukewarm reception stems from their lack of creativity. Classic elemental themings like fire, ice, and electricity have been recycled ad nauseam to the point where they’re now cliches, and I swear that the series has seen homing missiles and a vertical cyclone power before stemming back to the original iteration of Mega Man. Not only does Dark Dizzy’s “Dark Hold” freeze time in the same fashion as Flash Man’s ability in Mega Man 2, but it’s also used for the same express purpose of evading lethal lasers as one did in Quick Man’s stage long ago. Am I intended to be amused by this overt episode of deja vu?
Because I find the special weapon array to be rather unremarkable, I’d rather focus on X5’s other method of accessorizing the blue bomber. Suits of superior armor have been a core component of the upgrades in the X series since we were introduced to Mega Man’s enhanced, 22nd-century model, and they’ve served as the primary incentive for the player to search more methodically through each level and fracture their stringent linearity as a result. Previously, one impressive protective suit was unlocked after finding every Dr. Light capsule, but X5 extends the number of armor sets, so the player can feel the gratification of unlocking additions to X’s body twice over. Both the Falcon and Gaea armor sets increase the blue bomber’s overall durability like an enhanced suit of armor ideally should, but the fundamental difference between the two is their polar traversal properties. The Falcon Armor allows X to soar like the bird of the armor’s namesake through airborne bullcharging that can be directed in a myriad of angles and offers a minor invincibility frame in its brief duration. Meanwhile, the Gaea armor’s bulkiness exudes the sensation that X is a walking battle tank, which comes at the cost of his standard rate of nimbleness. Their respective attributes are mostly utilized when the player is gathering collectibles, with some heart containers being perched on steep ledges that are out of reach or the surfaces of spikes that would decimate X on contact if not for the metallic layers of the Gaea Armor. Even though offering a pair of contrasting armor suits presents a neat bit of gameplay diversification, the prospect of using either for the purpose of actually protecting X won’t be as compelling. For some reason, the ultimate armor from X4 returns and is available automatically. It may come as a nerfed version without a few of its potent perks, but it will still prove to be efficient enough to carry X through the game’s entirety, even if Douglas spruces up X’s default armor with upgrades in the stage select menu. Hell, the qualifications to receive the “ultimate armor” is to simply find the coinciding capsule in the third Sigma palace stage while X is donning his birthday suit (his regular armor, just to clarify). When the game’s pinnacle of protection only requires finding it off the beaten path, what incentive is there in partaking in the good ol’ armor part scavenger hunt?
Compounding the decreased stimulus to engage with the standard upgrade-seeking process is X5’s unique, overarching gameplay stipulation. The sixteen-hour time limit isn’t solely a narrative construct: it’s a relevant component to how the player manages their productivity throughout their playthrough. Or, at least that’s the impression that X5 desires to instill in the player to promote an anxiety-filled sense of severity. The clock will count down by a single digit once the player selects a level, and returning to the stage select menu if a “game over” screen presents the opportunity to waste an hour of progress. If the player fails to defeat all eight Mavericks within the allotted time, the game will lock the player to the “bad ending,” which involves the erasure of Zero as a playable character. Sounds pretty serious, right? Given the consequences of lollygagging, one would think that the game's trajectory to avoid failure would have been much smoother. If the player is still inclined to collect all of the various armor pieces and augmentations scattered throughout each level, know that their positioning will often contradict the urgency of the time limit. For example, one armor piece in Duff McWhalen’s stage is obscured by a thick block of wood, and the button that will combust this obstacle requires the weapon of the stage’s Maverick. That’s two visits to the whale’s watery domain and two units subtracted from the timer. Not to mention, the health-maximizing items that require either the Falcon or Gaea armor to access in the same stages, which will often consume more time from the total throughout the majority of the game’s levels. But you know what the kicker is behind overwhelming the player with this condition? After accepting that I could only eke out a C-grade collection, Douglas then destroyed the Eurasia colony with the Enigma after I defeated all eight Mavericks and suddenly, I was free to revisit any Maverick level without the stern stipulation breathing down my neck. I believe I also yelled, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Spoilers shmoilers: I’m doing a grand service to every reader by revealing X5’s chicanery so their chosen path to completion isn’t bogged down by this mirage. That is, their trajectory is still dependent on the ways in which X5 will tighten the tension and pretend that its encompassing condition still matters.
Despite the fact that X5’s bleaker narrative can be easily avoided by promptly defeating all eight Mavericks, the unsavory ending seems to be the only conclusion that makes any sense. The Sigma Virus outbreak amongst the machines is especially concerning for Zero, for it will awaken the malicious streak that Dr. Wily programmed into him when the mad doctor was still alive and breathing. If the player either manages to screw around completely or dive down the unrecommended narrative direction, Zero will get down with the Maverick sickness and as mentioned, be excluded from the player’s character/armor roster. Extremist Zero will be encountered by X in the third Sigma stage, and the battle that ensues will put X’s infected former mentor and friend out of his misery. What puzzles me is that even if the player is on the right track, the ending still results in Zero getting critically incapacitated. The reason for putting Zero out to pasture regardless of the player’s trajectory is that, little-known fact, X5 was originally intended to be the grand finale of the Mega Man subseries. Still, while I will concede that losing such a steadfast figure is an emotional event worthy of concluding the series, having all routes lead to it sort of voids the accomplishment of working towards the ending with a more desirable outcome.
The one aspect of X5 that I can’t decide whether or not salvages all of its mistakes is that the game is as forgiving to player error as a battered 1950s housewife. Remember the strides X4 took in streamlining the Mega Man experience by letting the player continue at a halfway point if they exhausted all of their lives? In X5, checkpoints and continues are now interchangeable, with a new checkpoint stamped after completing every frame of a level and returning to it if the player’s life counter is totally depleted. As relieving as this might sound to some players, the caveat is that the game will consistently implement more instant-death opportunities and other steeper damage inflictors. The Sisyphean process of constantly repeating a section without the stiff penalty of a progress erasing rewind is definitely displayed during the bosses of the Sigma stages. Exhibit A of X5’s habit of killing the player instantly comes with a remixed bout from the first X game, where spikes will sprout from the cramped walls in addition to the constant presence of the sharp impalers on the arena’s floor. On paper, this blackened version of the Yellow Devil would be the toughest iteration of this abomination of globular matter if it weren’t for the addition of a crouch feature. How clever of the developers to dye the Devil this particular color to limit my vitriol against him! Lastly, the waves of energy that Sigma produces during his first fight will knock off about a third of X’s total health if they touch him, and the hitboxes have some noticeably questionable detection to them. What, you want me to thank you for chaining me closer to these aggravating bosses, Capcom? I’d rather you just cut the crap altogether.
Hey, Alia, could you tell me if Mega Man X5 kind of sucks? The reason why I’m requesting Alia’s opinion here is because she only parrots what is already abundantly clear to me. Besides being at the mercy of Captain Obvious at every step, Mega Man X5’s objectionable quality is a mix of confounding contradictions. On one hand, the game is rife with gaping holes where intended mechanics fail to follow through, and progression is now orchestrated around said pussyfooted mechanics. Not to mention, the profusion of unsatisfactory level aspects that range from tedious to outright insufferable. If it weren’t for the liberal checkpoints keeping me afloat, I’d outright declare X5 as a record-breaking low for the series. However, I think it’s on par with X3, which was the original point of caution for Mega Man X. My kingdom for a timeline where the subseries actually quit while the series was relatively ahead as initially intended but, spoiler alert, the series illness that besets X5 is terminal, and it’s only going to appear more sickly from here on out. Donate some flowers to express your condolences.
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