(Played on PC via the X Legacy Collection)

X1
X2
X3
X4
X6
X7
X8
Xtreme
Xtreme 2

After 4 games that are usually regarded as being consistently good, it would only be natural that a series like Mega Man X would eventually receive an entry as divisive among its fans as Mega Man X5 for the PS1 (and PC later down the line too). I personally have to give this game credit for being the game to get me interested in playing the whole Mega Man X series to begin with after hearing some of its tracks in various outside media over the years, but it is ironic, given how you can see that this is my lowest rated console X game so far (but believe me, it isn't THE lowest). X5 is a game that's somewhat of a strange case, as while it does a LOT of elements right, there's also elements that it absolutely fucks up, but fortunately not to the point where it doesn't absolutely ruin the game otherwise I wouldn't have gave this game 3 stars. I'm not gonna spend too long on this introduction as like all the other mainline X games, I have a lot to say about this one too.

First things first with X5 is the gameplay. X and Zero are both fully playable again, retaining all the default abilities that they had in Mega Man X4. Like that game you pick between who you want to play as once you get past the title screen, but UNLIKE that game you aren't locked into one character for your entire save file. Instead you're allowed to pick who you want to play as before the start of each level, but to compromise, both X and Zero have a unique perk, but only ONE will take effect depending on who you pick on the character select screen at the start. If you pick X, you get the Fourth Armor from the get go, while picking Zero enables him to use his Z-Buster, a ranged attack that he was sorely missing in X4. Unfortunately Zeros Buster shots are VERY sluggish, they don't do enough damage to warrant their long windup and they can only be fired from a stand still. So if you're a newcomer into X5, ALWAYS pick X unless you absolutely need a ranged attack as Zero, because having an entire set of armor for X from the get go is way too good to not pass up on.

Speaking of armors, they have received a pretty significant tweak in this game, as in the first 4 X games you would immediately receive the effect of an armor capsule upon entering it, but in X5 you have to find ALL 4 of an armors capsules in order to receive any of the benefits. This is justified in-lore with "security reasons" but it was probably just because the devs didn't have the time and/or willpower to create a shit tonne of different sprite sheets, and it becomes even more justified once I get around to discussing this games items.

Also new to X5 are support calls delivered to X & Zero Metal Gear Solid style by the new supporting character Alia. These are cool on paper but in gameplay they just get in the way too much as 1.) They're mandatory so you have to sit through them or button mash, 2.) They lock you in place until you've gotten through with them which severely fucks with the games pacing and 3.) There's NOTHING INTERESTING BEING SAID IN THEM, so if the devs really were trying to mimic MGS with this then they missed the mark on what made the calls in that game actually good: they actually provided helpful information and didn't tell you to jump over a pit of spikes or something else mundane. Actually now that I'm on this point I should also discuss that X5 doesn't even have skippable cutscenes, which while not amounting to much for new players, is still one of numerous factors that make this game a slog to re-visit (and believe me, I've beaten this game 3 times for achievements sake in the X Legacy Collection. Just got my 3rd playthrough of it done earlier today).

Anyway back to actual core gameplay: also new to X5 is the ability to crouch in place by holding down on your controllers left stick/D-Pad. This is something I thought wouldn't really amount to much when I first played this game, but I actually found it to be a damn good tool to have in this game alongside the next game. It lowers the trajectory of your attacks which is REALLY helpful for hitting smaller enemies that would be a nuisance otherwise, and due to it also making your hitbox smaller it also acts as a surprisingly good evasion tool when fighting a few specific bosses.

Lastly: X5 introduces another gameplay mechanic that would become a series staple from this point until X8: that being special parts that X and Zero can equip to improve their abilities. These can range from simply gaining more HP from health regens, being able to fire a fully charged shot by simply pressing the shoot button or increased dash speed, and this IMO is a mechanic that was LONG overdue for this series, but like some of the other new additions I discussed earlier, this one was also implemented poorly. Basically, bosses in this game have levels akin to JRPGs, and the higher their level is, the more rewards you'll get. At level 1 they'll only give you the special weapon/Zero technique that's tied to them, but at level 4 and above you can choose to give X or Zero a boost to their max HP or special weapon energy alongside the special weapon/technique & at level 8 and above you can make a special part alongside the HP/special weapon boost AND the special weapon/technique. It's a very good concept in paper, but the game does jack shit to explain how to actually get the bosses levels to the point where you can start getting parts from them. The biggest factor is how much time is left on the in-game time limit (yes this game has a time limit but that's to be discussed when I get to the plot) when you enter their stages, alongside a few other factors like your hunter rank and getting game overs after having already unlocked the fortress stages. The easiest way to get the parts is to repeatedly game over until you have either 11 hours left on the time limit as Zero (dropping down to 10 hours when going into your first proper stage) or 9-10 hours left as X (going down to 8/9 hours when going into your first proper stage. I'm not sure of the EXACT remaining time needed as I have started at 10 hours only for my first boss to be level 7). However unless you have a guide and/or you already know which option gives you which part then you won't know what part you'll be getting as the game doesn't tell you when picking between HP/special weapon energy what part you'll be getting, further adding to the botched inclusion of them in this game, as it's all needlessly convoluted unless you already know how the parts system works or seek out external sources to find out how it works.

X5s level design on the other half is still fortunately decent. Aside from the atrocity that is Tidal Whale/Duff McWhalens level (extremely tedious autoscroller with 3 midbosses that you have to backtrack to up to 2 times to get all the items) I do find plenty of fun in these levels, as it takes a lot of X4s mechanics and does more with them to create more of a challenge, most infamously Volt Kraken/Squid Adlers stage, a stage that starts off with a Ride Chaser segment that involves some VERY tight and precise platforming and also throws a jump at you before the "Ready" text even leaves the screen (that does make this stage the perfect way to get boss levels to the point where they start dropping parts), overall making X4s Ride Chaser stage look like childs play in comparison.

My personal favorite stages in X5 are probably Spiral Pegasus/The Skivers stage or Burn Dinorex/Mattrexs stage, the formers being having you travelling through an air space with autoscrollers but not to the extreme of Whales stage while also having a badass setpiece alongside a neat gimmick that revolves around defusing bombs and some nice item placement, while the latter is a Volcano level with a Ride Armor, very reminiscent of Magma Dragoons level, but the level makes use of branching paths that are both very unique from one another: one has you jumping across platforms suspended over lava while you get aggro'd by an enemy that's effectively a shoutout to Mega Man 2s Mecha Dragon while the other has you travelling through the lava with a Ride Armor that saves you from getting OHKO'd by the lava normally. Spike Rosereds stage is another pretty cool one, as it lacks any major gimmicks and is one of the few stages in X5 that allows you to go ham with the speed that the Mega Man X series is known for. It also features vine enemies suspended over bottemless pits, and you'd think that getting hit by them would just be a cheap shot but their placements are subtly indicated by their tips peaking out from where they're positioned so once you know their placements you can either choose to approach them carefully, or if you're skilled enough, dash right past them before they can even jump the gun on you, therefore making it another X5 stage I like a lot due to the aforementioned reasons. Again, all very fun and unique twists on X4s level design for the most part (except for Tidal Whales stage. Fuck Tidal Whales stage, single worst stage in the Mega Man X series IMO).

Anyway the only major gripe I have with X5s level design is the item placement, as the items for the most part are placed in such a way that that they're either out on the open or require a specific armor to reach them with no inbetween (this also leads to ridiculous amounts of backtracking even if you follow any optimal stage order). There are a few items that avert this rule such as the armor capsule in Dark Necrobat/Dark Dizzys stage that requires you to guide the F-Laser through a very tight passage to blow up the wall that's blocking you from getting it. This is one of the more enjoyable items to get as the level designers knew that players would have difficulty in getting this so they put in a refill for special weapon energy alongside spikes that you can use to lose a life and restore all your energy for the F-Laser if all else fails. All in all a fun item to go for in all of my playthroughs of X5 and if all the items were collected like this then it would honestly have the best level design/item placement in the series IMO.

Speaking of which, the items! For the most part they're exactly the same as in X4, although as I mentioned earlier you can also gain additional upgrades to your max HP or special weapon energy after beating bosses at level 4 or higher. I also forgot to mention in my X4 review that E-Tanks got another re-work in that game which would persist for the rest of the series. That being you don't need to be at full HP anymore to get energy for your E-Tanks, as health pickups now go towards both your current HP AND your E-Tanks! This is another much-needed re-work as it made E-Tank farming in the first 3 X games rather annoying if you accidentally walked into an enemy and took damage because that meant one health pickup was going down the drain, so the fact that that was removed starting in X4 was a major step in the right direction for the series.

Anyhow while X4 had 2 different armors for X in that game, X5 now has 4 armors. Alongside the returning Fourth Armor (Plasma Shot variant and in a somewhat nerfed state as it no longer has the Nova Strike or unlimited special weapon energy) & Ultimate Armor, this game introduces the Falcon Armor, which grants X with the ability to straight up fly for a few seconds while also making him invincible during said flight alongside a Giga Attack that covers the entire screen, but his charge shot is significantly weaker (but can pierce through walls), he can't charge up special weapons and he doesn't have a traditional air dash. I'd say the Falcon Armor is pretty nifty. I mean you're straight up invincible to everything besides insta-kill hazards while you fly with it and one of the special parts even makes you move faster while flying, indirectly mitigating the armors lack of a traditional air dash. With this you can trivialize pretty much every level in the game as you can just go through everything with your flight without taking much of a beating in return, but its weak charge shot alongside the inability to charge special weapons will be sure to make bosses more of a drag, not exactly my cup of tea personally so I usually stick to the Fourth Armor for the most part, but I do find my uses in the Falcon Armor too despite that.

Alongside that is the Gaea Armor which gives X a BEASTLY charge shot while also giving him a close-ranged Giga Attack that makes very short work of mid bosses, spike immunity and the ability to cling onto walls without sliding down, but at the cost of reduced range on his buster shots, a slower dash and not being able to use any special weapons at all. In execution though, it's clear the level design favors the Falcon Armor while the Gaea Armor is kinda just Life Up fodder but it is VERY useful against a certain boss in the fortress levels, but the new armors in X5 still strike a very nice balance between mobility and raw damage (the Falcon Armor trivializes levels with its flight, the Gaea Armor trivializes bosses with its fast & powerful charge shots and the Fourth Armor kinda strikes a nice balance between the 2 extremes as the Plasma Shot makes getting through levels a breeze and its respectable damage alongside the ability to charge up special weapons make the bosses not too bad as well). Something worth noting however is that the Head piece of the Gaea Armor has NO confirmed functionality whatever (the Maverick Hunters Field Guide book amusingly lampshades this by having its function listed as [DATA CORRUPTED], and I admittedly got a good laugh out of reading that part of the book) but you still have to collect it anyway because well, that's how Xs armors have always worked throughout this series.

Furthermore this is one of the few instances where you can unlock the Ultimate Armor through normal gameplay, being accessed via a hidden capsule in the 3rd fortress stage that you must visit as armorless X, making it a neat secret while fortunately not being the most cryptic glances at X3 (this same capsule also gives Zero his Black armor, which gives him the innate effects of a few certain parts without having them equipped, and what's also neat is that you can get the effects for BOTH X and Zero out of this capsule on the same file which I always liked). The Ultimate Armor itself functions identically to how it worked in X4 except it no longer has unlimited special weapon energy, but that isn't the biggest hit in the world if you ask me, as X5 already has various ways to let you prolong your special weapons for as long as possible.

However the big BIG gripe I have with X5s items is that life/special weapon energy upgrades only go towards one character rather than getting split among both of them, so you really do have to be mindful when going for those Life Ups and whichever character you beat a boss with, as THEIR energy upgrades ALSO go towards one character too. It's a very dumb decision that unfortunately doesn't get fixed until way later on in the series.

Next up is the plot, which is very in depth so I'll just give the key rundowns of it alongside my opinion. The reason as to why this game has a time limit is because a ginormous space colony has been put on a collision course with the Earth by an agent of Sigma, and to stop it the Maverick Hunters must deploy a cannon known as the Enigma, and if that fails (which it very likely will as it only has like a 10% success rate with optimum conditions) then they deploy a shuttle (which fortunately has WAY more generous RNG when the optimum conditions are met). If both of those fail, the the Earth gets fucked as the colony crashes into it, and due to the spreading of Sigmas virus across the Earth at the beginning of the game, this leads to Zero being brainwashed into going Maverick & fighting X, which also prevents you from using Zero for the rest of the game if you trigger this scenario, and due to the fact that only one hunter gets the life upgrades, any that you invested into Zero go with him if you get this ending, but fortunately all it takes is a little bit of save scumming to remedy this as despite being RNG-based, the shuttle RNG is actually very generous fortunately (also fun story, I recently started a run where I purposely got the bad ending where I used both the cannon and the shuttle without any parts. On my first attempt at the shuttle it fucking succeeded in destroying the colony, and my jaw just dropped when that happened for a good few minutes because the odds of the shuttle succeeding without any parts is the exact same as the odds of the cannon succeeding with optimal conditions. Just thought I'd bring that up in this review in regards to the RNG) but still, why the FUCK is this even in the game, and how did it ever pass over the devs radars?

Also yeah, the highly anticipated X vs Zero battle that the previous 3 games foreshadowed finally takes place in X5. Now if you get the bad ending then the battle feels really fucking climactic in regards to the games context, but if you play as Zero or get the good ending then the reasoning for its occurrence is goddamn Repliforce-tiers of stupidity as X and Zero both make schizophrenic accusations towards each other on if one or the other has gone Maverick or not leading to a GODDAMN FIGHT TO THE DEATH over baseless accusations. Anyway after this point Sigma intervenes & you go fuck him up, but regardless of whatever outcome you get in regards to the colony then Zero seemingly fucking dies for the good in this game and that leads me into another point: that this games plot has an overall sense of finality to it, likely because Keiji Inafune solely requested that X5 be the last game in the X series so that it could then link into the Mega Man Zero series on the GBA, where Zero comes back about a century after the X series ends, but fortunately this didn't end up being the last X game. X6s plot seems to imply that the canonical outcome of X5s plot was the good ending where the colony was destroyed... which is the very same ending where X and Zero fight to the death over baseless accusations. If THAT was what this series ended on then that would leave a VERY sour taste in my mouth, so fortunately we live in the timeline where it didn't and the X series continued on regardless, and I will NEVER understand why X6 gets scorn for continuing the story beyond this sloppily-written ending.

There is some nice attention to detail in regards to the bosses however, as their dialogues towards X and Zero vary on if you encounter them after unlocking the fortress levels are not. It doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things but I still find it neat regardless. Another thing I REALLY find neat is the introduction of supporting characters like Alia and Signas, which add in a sense of worldbuilding by making the Maverick Hunters really feel like a co-ordinated team of Reploids as before this, X and Zero were really the only fucking competent protagonists on screen. Likewise, the game also shows the long-term impacts that the Repliforce conflict from X4 has had on the world, as some of the stage bosses are ex-Repliforce members, Zero has developed a colder personality and the previous Maverick Hunter commander stepped down in shame over that event, leading to Signas becoming the Hunters new commander. This I like as it shows that these events have actual real consequences on the characters of Xs world rather than having everyone just immediately move on from the last big event in the previous games.

This leads me into X5s bosses. Overall they kinda feel simpler than in the previous games, but I'd say they're in between X3 and X2s bosses in regards to the complexity of their patterns. It does have Volt Kraken however, who's the funnest boss in the entire X series IMO (his attacks have range, he can cover the ground in electricity and he likes to get up close to you but there's a lot more vertical space in his arena to take advantage of). The Sigma battle is another one of my favorites as it feels very reminiscent of X1s Sigma battle in both phases, but while he's become stronger and has some extra attacks, you also have a significant new tool to deal with him in the form of your crouch. The battle against Zero is something that's been hyped up for the past 3 X games before this, and the fight with him in the bad ending is certainly deserving of this hype as he straight up has an insta-kill move alongside a shit tonne of attack and health, otherwise he's near-identical to the Zero battle in X2 unfortunately. When playing as Zero however the fight is a lot more interesting, as you fight X with his Ultimate Armor equipped, complete with some of his special weapons seen in Mega Man X4 (what the fuck, why wasn't I allowed to use Double Cyclone or Frost Tower in this game???). Anyway the rest of the fortress bosses are unique twists on previous bosses, including a Devil fight that can attack with blocks from BOTH sides of the arena, block movements that follow a random pattern as opposed to the same order like the Yellow Devil and the ability to morph into the Wily Machine from Mega Man 6 & Rangda Bangda from X1, the latter of which is so absolutely trivialized by the Gaea Armor that you just have to see it in action, even despite the new tricks the boss itself gets as well because the Gaea Armor takes away all threat in what would be its most dangerous attack: the wall jumping phase, as you can just chill on the spikes and pelt the weakspot with charged shots as it moves around in a very telegraphed pattern.

However another major gripe I have with the bosses is that once you get to the boss rush they all have health bars that are the size of a fucking planet so they take FOREVER to bring down and that plays a big part in making X5 kind of a slog to replay. I can get Sigma having a ginormous health bar, but why the FUCK does it also apply to EIGHT bosses you already fight beforehand? This can be remedied somewhat fortunately as you'll likely have the Ultimate Armor at this point so you can just spam Nova Strikes and watch their health bars drop like nothing, but FUCK I'd be wrong in saying it didn't pad the game out regardless, even compared to other Mega Man boss rushes.

The special weapons aren't anything to write home about either. Maybe it's because I've honed my skills in this series to the point where I can Buster-only all but the most troublesome of bosses, but I never really found much use in most of them outside of instances where they're required for items. However I did find good use in C-Shot to keep Tidal Whale still while he spams his extremely fucking cheap desperation attack alongside Tri-Thunder to get some good damage in on the Devil boss (more than the Buster could ever manage) and charging up the F-Laser to make quick work of the Ride Arrmor enemies in the virus stages. Actually now that I'm typing this I think I did find a decent amount of usage in X5s special weapons, so was I wrong all along??? That's not even mentioning my single favorite special weapon in X5, Dark Hold which feels like one big fucking Jojo reference as 1.) It enables you to freeze everything in place and 2.) you get it from Dark Necrobat who has vampire-esque themes in his design. But with the fact that this game released only a couple of years after Capcoms own Jojo fighting game then everything matches up too well for Dark Hold to be anything but a Jojo reference. Additionally Zeros techniques function like his techniques in X4 for the most part, but one of his techniques in this game is notable as it takes away his ability to do the Saber Dash Cancel glitch, and because that's so fucking useful for the boss rush, whenever I do a Zero run of X5 I just skip the boss that technique comes from (Spiral Pegasus/The Skiver) to give myself a smoother experience with him in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, I can't help but feel as if X5s presentation is notably weaker than X4s, particularly in regards to the visuals which just kinda look cheap & dated overall when compared to X4s absolutely timeless visuals. Gone are the FMV cutscenes (which while sad is understandable as I hear that X4 didn't sell too hot to warrant Capcom blowing more money on another set of animated cutscenes) and in their place are traditional powerpoint-esque cutscenes that still do fortunately rock good art pieces.

Now remember when I said in the introduction that X5 was what got me to try out the X series? Well I can attribute this games absolutely killer OST to that. I first heard the iconic X vs Zero theme in Smash Bros and I thought that was a fucking banger, but nothing really came out of that for a few years until I heard Squid Adler/Volt Krakens theme in a random Monster Hunter video and THAT was what eventually got me to purchase both the X Legacy Collections so I will forever be grateful of that theme for introducing me to such an awesome series. Those tracks aside, other stand outs in X5s OST include Shining Firefly/Izzy Glows theme, Spiral Pegasus/The Skivers theme, Dark Necobat/Dark Dizzys theme and the 1st Sigma theme. Alongside X3 and X4s OSTs, this is the third of my favorite X series OSTs.

This review was certainly fun to do. In conclusion, Mega Man X5 certainly feels like an ambitious step forward for the X series with the mechanics it introduces and the story elements it brings to the table. However what it does try and introduce is done in VERY questionable ways, most notably the parts system and the boss levels. RNG endings can be negated by save scumming, but it's still very questionable that even the shuttle isn't guaranteed to work with all the parts for it collected. If you're a newcomer who's already beaten X1-4 then I'd certainly recommend checking X5 out (just be sure to PICK X at the beginning and not Zero), as it's certainly a lot of fun on a first playthrough but just becomes a slog on re-visits due to the mandatory dialogue fucking up the pacing of the game (as well as everything about the ocean level). Anyway, next up is Mega Man X6, the final X game to be released on the PS1. That's one that I think will be VERY interesting to review, as despite the general consensus surrounding it, I am part of the very small group of people who has actual praises to sing about that game.