This game is better than it looks at first glance, although it also has its flaws. Overall, this game is good and is one of the best games out there for the GB.

It starts off normal, just another Mega Man game where you face off against 8 space robots.... eight space robots? Yep, and to make it even better, Mega Man V does not reuse or copy anything from previous games, both the music and the scenarios are completely new, and look great. The boss and enemy designs are outstanding, although the boss fights this time around were a bit bland compared to other Mega Man games.

Being a GB game, it suffers from constant slowdowns that make the experience a little less enjoyable, although in terms of graphics it looks pretty good.

It will not be the best Mega Man, but the game gives us everything we could ask from a classic Mega Man game (and a little more), ending up being a good portable experience.

I recommend it to all those who enjoyed the other Mega Man games for Game Boy.

I took a look at some Nintendo Power archives for fun and I'll tell you what, they straight up fuckin lied about the order you're supposed to beat the robots here. Yeah, Mercury first, but then Mars?! Then Neptune, and Venus last? Mercury barely gives you a weapon, it's like an extension of your mega arm that picks up health items. It doesn’t work at all on Mars, Nintendo Power. It doesn't work. They charged a monthly subscription just to show a few rushed maps of the first few levels of a handful of games and now years later I can go on the internet and in seconds look up just some shit some dude wrote out in his spare time that just says yeah, you'll want to make sure you get Salt Water before you fight Mars.

Oh, what's that? The game? It's fine. It's probably the only good Mega Man on the GB.

The entire project of playing the Gameboy Roman Numeral Megan Mann games in the first place was all leading up to this one. I knew it was 'the one' so to speak. The people who actually played these ones would be like "This is the good one. This one rules." and while I am happy to report that they are correct and I don't think you have to play all the previous games I am glad that I did. This sucker is a victory lap. The team finally had the chance to go all out and make something entirely their own and they did it while also creating a sendoff to the entire MMGB project.

This time around, Mega "The Blue Guy" Man is travelling the solar system to fight a new, original set of bosses themed around the planets (Pluto is still in this is 1994 suckers) and all of the content is original. The music is new and catchy, even if it's not the absolute best soundtrack in the series. The levels do tend to repeat themes of machinery and outer space a lot, but they are now. Keiji Inafune had a hand in the boss designs and they're all a lot of fun. The weapons are all really weird and unique and I gleefully experimented with them, finding lots of uses.

This is helped by the boss weaknesses feeling fairly de-emphasized this time around. There's more than one fight where you just can't have it the first time around no matter what (at least according to what the wiki calls the weaknesses) but some of your other choices will tend to work fairly well.

For plot reasons, the buster itself has been replaced such that the charge shot is now a rocket fist that isn't automatically better than just shooting. This does a TON to improve the combat over a lot of Megas Men with charge shots, and also rocket fists are sweet. You also get a CAT which is only useful in a few places but he's a CAT and listen even if my pfp is not set to my cat as I write this I'm still a cat furry I gotta point out Tango the Cat.

The level designs have also been given that crucial bump into being just fully good without any caveats. The boss fights are complex enough and in the right ballpark of difficulty. There is a scrolling shooter segment that absolutely sucks shit and requires rote memorization but you won't get too hung up on it.

This is the one, kids. It clears the bar of being, if not the absolute best game in the OG Megaman series, then still high up. The same goes for its place in original Gameboy games. This one comes highly recommended.

Alright now where can I get a wonderswan

Honestly what’s taken me rather long for me to drop this log is that this is the most I’ve had to sit on a review and what to say in it before posting. This is it, this is the final game for this classic Mega Man marathon. I’ll do more in the future but this marathon in particular… It means a lot to me. This is the point in my life where I’ve finally asked myself “what does Mega Man mean to me?” And in this review, I finally plan on answering that very question.

Now my introduction to Mega Man was with both classic and X, through a combination of Smash Bros, countdown creators on YouTube shit talking Sigma and eventually culminating in Worlds Unite. I saw that Mega Man had a Snake Man and a Shadow Man and I knew immediately I needed to play these games. I didn’t manage to play through them until 2017 though. I had Legacy Collection on my 3DS but the games kicked my ass constantly and I dropped 2 completely after the robot master stages. Before 2018, I was reading the Archie comics constantly, looking up to see anything else I missed, and I beat the mobile version of Mega Man X before. I was on Fandom daily for hours trying to get as much robot master info as I could. And I finally got the legacy collections on Xbox One. I struggled at first… then I beat Galaxy Man and the rest was history.

I have marathoned all of the mainline classic games multiple times, beat the first four game boy games three times, and beat 5 on Game Boy and Bass on SNES twice. I have dedicated a disgusting amount of time to this franchise and it finally hit me. Before this marathon, there were always games I liked and didn’t like, but the ranking has shifted constantly. I then realized that these have made for the games I have played and beaten the most in my entire life. I think only Pokemon comes close but most of that time was spent grinding instead of really enjoying myself. If I really didn’t like some of these games, why was I replaying them constantly?

I’ll admit my feelings on the X games are far more mixed, I love X1-4 but not as much as the classic games, and Zero and ZX I have far less experience with. For a while I’ve considered X1 my favorite video game of all time and… OK I think it’s technically the best I’ve played, or at least one of the best, it is truly flawless. And yet X1 wasn’t really a game I was super passionate about, even though it is the first ever Mega Man I have beaten. And then it finally hit me. I love X1 but it’s not my favorite game at all. In fact I don’t even have a favorite game… because the classic Mega Man games are my favorite games of all time. All of them except for 2 on Game Boy and Battle and Fighters I’d replay on the drop of a hat regardless of quality and my emotional connection to all of these games is unparalleled. Classic Mega Man is by far my favorite media franchise of all time, not only making for incredible games but also giving me so many of my favorite stories of all time, those mainly being found in Archie and Megamix. Classic Mega Man has made me happy, it’s made me laugh, it’s filled me with dread (in good ways) and it’s gotten me to cry. The impact this franchise has left on my life is unmatched and I will share my passion until the day I die.

I ended it all off with 5 on Game Boy because like I’ve said before, this game isn’t just the best of the franchise, it’s the epitome of everything I love about classic Mega Man. It’s a masterfully designed game that’s endlessly replayable and has some of the most creative set pieces and greatest moments that I have ever witnessed in a platformer. But as I’m writing this review, the last stage I played was Mega Man 10’s 3rd special stage. It’s a stage that’s packed with everything I love in a Mega Man game as well as what may be my new favorite song in the franchise… Farewell to Ballade. It’s funny really, there was an 8 year gap between 10 and 11 and before we got 11 we got the Archie comics, shitty mobile games… and this absolute banger of a swan song. We may have said our farewells years ago, but the Blue Bomber has stood his ground, and Ballade will always be in my heart. I’m so glad the collections have given me and so many other people the chance to finally play these incredible games, and I’m glad this franchise has finally opened my heart to get me to share my love and passions. I have more stuff in store for everyone, but for now I’m bumping all the classic games to (subjective) 10/10s. 5 on Game Boy is the only that 100% deserves it on an objective level for me but that doesn’t matter to me anymore. These games will always be the peak for me and I’ll do my best to spread the good word.

Happy 35th Anniversary, Rock Light. I love you so damn much.

A culminação de toda a experiência do estúdio Minakuchi Engineering. Pega a estrutura dos Mega Man de GB desde II (4 chefes iniciais > batalha contra chefe especial > 4 chefes finais > Wily fortress ou similar) e as inovações trazidas por Mega Man IV e as coloca num jogo que dessa vez é totalmente original. Nada aqui é remixado ou reaproveitado dos jogos de NES: estágios, músicas, chefes, poderes... Até os inimigos comuns são originais e, mais importante, de ótima qualidade!

Não só um dos melhores jogos de GB, um dos melhores games da franquia.

This here is, definitely, at least four things:
• One of the best platformers for the original Game Boy;
• One of the best and most graphically detailed Game Boy games;
• The best, most well built Mega Man game for the Game Boy;
• One of the absolute best Mega Man games in the classic formula.

Mega Man IV was fantastic, but this one knocked it out of the park. Unlike the previous Mega Man titles for the Game Boy (known in Japan as the “Rockman World” series), this one is completely original and do not reuse bosses and stage themes from the NES originals. The stages are marvellously designed end encourage exploration, enemy variety is abundant and the gameplay is extremely solid.

This is arguably the most well-balanced game in the series, with the Mega Arm being a much more fair weapon than the Mega Buster, which usually destroys most enemies and disencourages the use of the bosses’ weapons. Well, in this game they’re mostly situational, but some of them are really neat and helpful against a variety of enemies. I also wouldn’t go as far as to say that the bosses are too easy, but instead I’d say they are beautifully executed to provide fair fights regardless of your particular strategy.

On top of all that, the game simply oozes charm and personality, and that by itself makes a huge impact on my final rating. I had this on my 3DS for years, only waiting to be finally played, and I’m glad I went through all of the previous four games before beating this, which is definitely the high point of this series, even if still liked Mega Man IV more. Juuust slightly, though.

I have to say, though, that this game simply deserves to be played in full colour, which makes the original graphic even better. On Christmas 2022, a romhack by the title of “Mega Man World 5 DX” was released, and it’s not only a complete overhaul of the game’s graphics by giving them full colour (and, honestly, turning a black and white game into one of the most colourful Mega Man titles in a faithful way), but it also removes the slowdown that plagued the original version so much. If the new colouring isn’t enough for you, I’m sure this second aspect of it makes it the definitive way to play this game.

For one of the best Mega Man games and one of the best titles in the Game Boy library, do yourself a favour and play it, especially with the new enhanced, definitive version. I highly doubt you’ll be disappointed by the end of it.