This game just doesn’t really leave too strong of an impression of me. There’s places I like, Gravity Man’s Stage and the collapsing tower stage (Proto Man Stage 4) immediately come to mind. But most of the game is just sort of mid. The late game has the potential to be as good as MM4’s, but the dark man boss fights are some of the weakest in the series. Napalm, Crystal, and Stone Man’s stages are all just kinda dull. Stone Man is a particularly bad offender due to both his stage and boss fight being mostly boring but both just taking forever. The bubble section of Wave Man’s stage is really cool, but they elect to do only one section and move on to a very mid jet ski section.
I will say though, this game is absolutely gorgeous. The shaking of the train rooms on Charge Man’s stage, the jet ski section on Wave Man’s stage, the purple exterior sections of the first Proto Man stage, and all of Crystal Man’s stage are all just so beautiful.
Also, it’s kinda fucked up they just made War Crimes Man