Despite having written extensively about the Mega Man series at this point, I have rarely talked about the Game Boy entries in the series, also known as Mega Man World. I have played these games, and I have a lot of to say about them, but I just never got around to properly reviewing them. And since I've been revisiting Mega Man games to review them in more depth, I thought this was as good a time as any. I won't be doing a full deep dive this time since most of them borrow bosses and stage concepts from the NES games, but I'll try to be as comprehensive as I can regardless.
Mega Man: Dr Wily's Revenge
So, the first four Mega Man World games are basically handheld conversions of two Mega Man games, so Dr Wily's Revenge primarily borrows from Mega Man 1 & 2. However, unlike its sequels, Dr Wily's Revenge feels less like a strict conversion and more like a weird reinterpretation. It takes a lot more liberties with the source material which I think helps it stand out quite well.
For its first half, I'd say Dr Wily's Revenge is actually a pretty damn solid Mega Man game, especially considering it's the first entry in the series made by Minakuchi Engineering, who'd become mainstay developers for the rest of the World games. The level design for the four Robot Master stages is surprisingly solid, each focused on fleshing out and combining a few gameplay mechanics. However, these stages aren't just slightly altered versions of the ones from MM1, they're all kind of entirely new. Cut Man's stage for example takes place in a factory this time with conveyor belts and spinning sawblades, while Ice Man's stage has falling icicles and melting ice blocks to hop across. Even the music feels new, taking the main melodies of the original MM1 soundtrack and taking them in a new direction. You can tell Minakuchi was using the experience Capcom gained through making Mega Man 1-3 to help make this game, and there's even a fair amount of QoL improvements. Fire Man's AI has been fixed, the Magnet Beam has been removed, and the Thunder Beam has less weapon ammo so it's not as broken. In general, I think Dr Wily's Revenge does a really good job at making better use of MM1's weapons, like how there are a lot more Sniper Joes to use the Ice Slasher on, and how the game tosses in MM2's bird enemies to give Fire Storm's shield capabilities more of a use.
However, even with all this positivity, there are a few niggling issues early on. The physics feel somewhat floaty compared to the tight control of the NES games. It's nothing awful, but it is noticeable. There's also a fair amount of do-or-die segments with an abundance of insta-kill pits, and I found that enemies deal a surprising amount of damage. And while screen crunch isn't an issue most of the time, certain bosses do feel a bit harder due to the lack of space to avoid their attacks. But despite these gripes, I think Dr Wily's Revenge has a strong first half. Sadly, the level design starts to fall off a bit with the brutal Wily stages, particularly the first one which has several trial-and-error drops with little time to react due to the screen size, a
tediously long hallway filled with those Metal Man drills stopping you every step
of the way, and awful Big Eye placement. This stage also has a boss rush where you fight bosses from MM2 and even get their weapons, which is a fun twist that I'd say is way better than fighting the same bosses again. However, it does feel lacking since later World games would replace this boss rush with a second stage select. I also found that most of the MM2 weapons feel quite shafted compared to the MM1 weapons, with the exception of the Atomic Fire which gets blocks it can easily destroy at a full charge.
That being said, I think Dr Wily's Revenge still manages to end on a reasonably strong note. Enker is introduced as the first of the Mega Man Killers, and he's probably still my favorite. His main attack pattern revolves around him sucking in your buster shots and shooting them back at you, which adds a nice level of risk and reward. Will you damage him quickly in exchange for having to fend against more powerful attacks, or take it slow so he can't harm you as much? The second Wily stage, while quite lengthy, is also quite a bit more fun and does a good job at taking advantage of most of your weapons, including Enker's weapon, a Mirror Shield that can block projectiles. The final boss even makes fantastic use of the Mirror Shield, requiring you to react fast to block Wily's lasers. So overall, I think Dr Wily's Revenge is alright. Its willingness to take liberties and change things from Mega Man 1 helps it stand out among the World games, and dare I say, it even manages to make improvements in some areas. However, the difficulty spikes pretty hard in the Wily Castle and its short length and lack of polish compared to several of its successors leave it as a fairly mid-tier entry in the series.
3/5 Stars
Mega Man II
Mega Man II is the most interesting game in the World subseries, being the only one not developed by Minakuchi. Instead, this game was outsourced to Japan System House, a company that was a lot less familiar with Mega Man and had a lot less time to work on the game. And it shows in its unpolished presentation and infamously botched soundtrack, which makes it an easy target for fans and Capcom developers alike. However, I never hated Mega Man II. In fact, I always thought the game had some serious potential, especially its soundtrack which was entirely composed of original tunes rather than remixes. So when I found out that the game was getting a mod with a complete visual overhaul including GBC color support along with a remixed soundtrack that fixes the original's technical issues, I just knew I had to give this game another shot. Will it be enough to redeem one of the most hated games in the series?
First off, let's get the mod's improvements out of the way. Mega Man World II GBC Edition primarily focuses on overhauling the graphics and music, the gameplay has been left almost entirely untouched so I can still judge the game by those merits. As far as colorizations go, Mega Man World II is incredibly thorough, perfectly capturing the color schemes of the original NES versions of each of the stages, adding much more shading and texture compared to the monochrome Game Boy version, and even fixing some visual bugs and inconsistencies. The music is easily the star of the show, though. The original soundtrack had some really strong compositions but suffered from a rendering error making the entire OST super high pitched. This redone version of the soundtrack manages to fully realize its potential, and you can even switch to the original OST if you're just that crazy. As for the OST itself, it's got some really catchy tunes like Crash Man and Metal Man, and I love the melancholic aura it has. My one big issue in terms of composition is just how leitmotif-heavy it is, which isn't inherently bad but feels really strange compared to the other Mega Man games. But overall, this mod is really great and fixes most of my issues with the game's presentation. But how's the gameplay?
Mega Man II's movement is mostly on par with that of Dr Wily's Revenge. I think it actually feels a tad tighter but I can't really say for sure. Being partially based on Mega Man 3, this game introduces both Rush and the slide, which is pretty great. That being said, Rush being based on his MM3 version means that he is once again a gargantuan game-breaker, and the slide while still fun can't be jumped out of. If you choose to slide, you're gonna have to commit. This isn't the only game to have this issue (just wait for my MM6 review), but with less screen real estate, it feels like more of an issue here. There are also certain animations that feel a bit awkward, projectiles in particular often feel like they're just floating through the air weightlessly. Speaking of projectiles, the weapon roster is sadly a big step down from the previous game. The weapons are left mostly untouched from the NES originals rather than being properly built around the game, and since one of those weapons just happens to be the Metal Blade... Yeah, say goodbye to good weapon balancing. Thankfully, the game generally lacks the resource management issue that its counterpart had... but as I'll talk about later, that is a real double-edged sword.
The level design in Mega Man II is a bit strange. You can tell Japan System House were trying to play things a bit safer here, there are barely any original level mechanics like there were in the previous game. Hell, I'd even argue many of MMII's stages kinda just feel like the NES versions ripped verbatim with certain assets shrunken to fit the Game Boy, which I think helps create that uncanny valley feel a lot of people have with the game. That being said, due to the addition of the slide, the game does toss in a fair amount of original slide-centric platforming setpieces and they tend to be some of the strongest parts of the game. Metal Man for example has a brief bit where you have to slide around while dodging shots from Mets you can't reach which was actually really fun. In general, I think MMII is at its best when it's combining elements from 2 and 3, like how Wood Man's stage gets a neat Rush Marine shortcut. However, while the level design is rarely ever bad, it's rarely ever remarkable either. I wouldn't say Mega Man II is an especially easy game like many fans say, but it's definitely lacking for challenge between the abundance of E-Tanks, the Metal Blade, the Rush Jet, and the slide. For some, it's this low difficulty that kills the game, but honestly, I'd rather take a bad Mega Man game that's too easy over a bad Mega Man game that's too hard because I can at least enjoy an easy game without wanting to pull my hair out.
As I alluded to earlier, Mega Man II's best addition is how it expands on the boss rush formula of the previous game. Once again, you get to face off against four bosses from Mega Man 3, but instead of only fighting the bosses, you have to go through their stages as well. So now you also have four recreations of Mega Man 3 stages, and they're pretty much the same. Mostly unremarkable handheld conversions with a few neat tweaks every once in a while, like how you can use the Leaf Shield against the bees in Hard Man's stage now, or how Needle Man expands upon that one ceiling spikes room from the original. The Top Spin seems to be a lot less buggy too, though it's also a lot less game-breaking. However, one weird thing is that weapon energy isn't refilled after beating each MM3 stage? The game floods you with resources so it's no big deal but... why? Once you beat the "boss rush", Mega Man II starts to get really interesting.
Mega Man II introduces the second and worst Mega Man Killer, Quint, who's a doppelganger of Mega Man with sunglasses. That's a cool idea in concept, but his fight is comically pitiful. His weapon of choice is a jackhammer called Sakugarne which he uses by... drilling in place and jumping occassionally. You can take Quint out in seconds, and he barely even tries to attack you, what a loser. Thankfully, the actual final level is probably the best part about Mega Man II, a Dali-inspired time station with clocks everywhere and a hodgepodge of hazards from previous stages. Apparently this game had a story about time travel, but aside from this final level, it's sadly rarely ever explored. The final boss isn't great, though, it's a three-phase fight whose weakness is the Sakugarne, a poor weapon with barely any ammo that's so close-range that you're bound to take multiple hits while using it.
I believe Japan System House had the potential to make a genuinely great Mega Man game for the Game Boy. There are some legitimate signs of brilliance here. The original soundtrack has some stellar compositions, the time travel concept is really cool and shows its potential in the fun final stage, and some of Mega Man 3's new mechanics like the slide and Rush Marine get explored much more thoroughly here. If Japan System House had the time to take more risks, develop their original ideas, and not rely on the source material so much, I think Mega Man II could've been really good. But as it is now, Mega Man II is less bad and more mediocre. Most of my big issues with it are the deliberate level design and severe lack of polish, but it never outright frustrated me like some of my other least favorite Mega Man games, and it's nowhere near as unplayable as something like X7.
2.5/5 Stars
Mega Man III
Mega Man III is probably the biggest reason why I'm so generous towards II. I kept saying that I'd rather a game be too easy than too hard, and III is easily the biggest example as to why. And it's a real shame too because Mega Man III does make a ton of improvements over the previous two games, with Minakuchi even returning. It looks so much nicer and more detailed, and it sounds way nicer too. The music isn't quite as original as in the previous two entries, but the remixes sound pretty great and far less tinny than many of the earlier Game Boy games. Mega Man's movement is the best it's ever been in the World games, and they added the Charge Shot to really put it in line with the later NES games. The level design feels a lot more derivative than the levels in Wily's Revenge once again, but at least the ones based on MM3 are pretty solid conversions, and the bosses in particular hold up quite well, even if some can feel a bit more cramped on such a smaller screen. On the surface, Mega Man III seems pretty great, but it starts to really fall apart once you hold it up to scrutiny.
Right when you start playing MMIII, something feels off. It took me a bit to put my finger on it, but then it really hit me, why are these enemies taking so long to defeat? Early on, Capcom often struggled to figure out how to balance the Charge Shot properly, and III is very much a product of that time, it even uses the dinky looking shot from MM4. While the NES games made the Charge Shot so powerful that it was able to easily one-shot every enemy, I feel like III instead went the route of beefing up the enemy health-bars, and this kills the pacing in a series usually known for fantastic pacing. Mega Man has never been a series where you slow down to take on every tanky enemy you come across, it has this flow to it where if you keep perfectly lining up your shots, you don't stop moving. But in III, sometimes a single Charge Shot isn't even enough for some of these foes, and don't even think of trying to use the standard buster, or even the weapons! Despite having some good options like the Shadow Blade and Drill Bomb, the weapons in this game feel so nerfed that they're just not worth using compared to the Charge Shot, in case you thought Mega Man 5 was bad. Couple this with the game's tendency to fill rooms with enemies and you get a game that often feels tedious and overwhelming to play, it's like every enemy is a miniboss! It's especially uncanny in the levels based on Mega Man 3, a game that didn't have the Buster Shot so all the enemy health values feel completely borked.
And then there's the level design. As I mentioned, I think the levels for the Mega Man 3 stages are fine enough. They do feel pretty watered-down in places and can have some iffy bits, but generally manage to capture the appeal of the original stages. They also introduced the Blizzard Man bomb hazards before MM6 even came out, somehow? Snake Man's stage, one of my favorites in the original MM3, is a good example of how these earlier stages are. The visual design in the MMIII version is on par with the NES version and many of the memorable setpieces have been translated quite well, but this version also removes the cloud-hopping bit, repeats the same room designs a bunch, and occasionally tosses a weirdly wide jump at you. They don't ruin these stages, but the cracks are starting to show. Even the intermission stage at Wily's Castle is fine, if really short, and the boss fight against a Giant Suzy is admittedly really funny. But then, you get to the Mega Man 4 stages, and it just all falls apart.
First off, they picked the worst stages in the original game. Dive Man? Skull Man? Seriously?! But more importantly, this is where all of the tiny issues that the previous stages had really become common issues. Ultra-wide jumps, tanky enemies in awkward positions, frustrating gimmicks, lengthy level runtimes with poor checkpoint placement, sheer claustrophobia, janky hitboxes, MMIII's second half has pretty much every issue in the book. Drill Man's stage now has those boulders explode into often unavoidable shrapnel, Skull Man's stage while the best of the bunch still has you deal with enemies and ricocheting projectiles in tight hallways, and those are the better ones. I'd actually say Dive Man's stage looks better than the original as it now takes place inside a submarine, but unfortunately all that good will is quickly lost once it starts asking you to make absurdly precise jumps underwater around spikes (and of course, there's no Rush Marine this time). And then there's Dust Man's stage. Oh, there is a special place in hell for Dust Man's stage in this game. Several pixel perfect jumps, Up N Downs everywhere, Jumbigs in the worst spots possible, horrible checkpoint placement (right before the dust crusher part so you have to do that again every time you die), and a five-block spike pit that's so ungodly difficult to get around that it's better to just damage boost through it. This might actually be the worst Classic Mega Man stage, either that or Dive Man's stage.
And in case you think things couldn't get even worse, then there's the Wily Castle. Well, okay, credit where it's due, I like the new Mega Man Killer, Punk. He's got a cool design, a cool theme, a pretty fun fight, and his weapon is the only one that actually feels useful. But excluding that, this final stage blows. Among the many highlights include lots of Up N Downs, fighting a beefy enemy on one of those collapsing platforms from MM3, a blackout section with spikes, a dust crusher with spikes, long jumps under low ceilings, the return of the Drill Man boulders, more annoying Jumbig placement, and a boss rematch in the middle. It's not as bad as Dust Man's stage, maybe not even Dive Man's stage either, but it's a grueling finale to an already difficult game. At least the final boss is pretty easy, if a bit annoying since its projectiles can block yours.
I've been asked a few times why I have such fondness for X6 and not Mega Man & Bass, and ultimately, it's because the bad design in X6 feels like it's counterbalanced by how utterly broken the player is. That game has some of the most overpowered weapons in the series, cheat codes that give you Ultimate Armors right off the bat, upgrades that are shared between X and Zero, it doesn't redeem the game but makes X6 enjoyable for me despite its many issues. And hell, even & Bass has its fair share of powerful weapons and upgrades. But Mega Man III is a far more limiting experience. There often aren't any ways out of an especially tough segment, the weapons are often useless, the Rush Jet is hidden behind Dust Man's stage, and as I mentioned, the Rush Marine isn't even in this one. You have to beat these stages the way the developers intended, regardless of how unfun, frustrating, tedious, or unfair it is. I'm able to defend games like Shadow The Hedgehog and Mega Man X6 because I think there's still fun to be had in their bad design elements, but like with X7, I find it hard to find the fun in III. The poor level design and balancing issues are just so oppressive, especially in the latter half, that it pretty much kills any of the goodwill I had towards the game's better elements like the presentation. Despite being more polished than MMII, it's just not as fun for me.
2/5 Stars
Mega Man IV
Mega Man IV is such a massive jump in quality not just from III, but from all the Game Boy entries before it. With this game, it feels like Minakuchi has not only mastered the craft of making a good Mega Man game, but has developed the confidence to expand and iterate on the formula as well. This is still a game mostly comprised of returning stages, but they're fleshed-out, modified, and expanded upon far more compared to their NES counterparts. And Minakuchi even took the liberty of introducing some legitimately new additions to the series, some of which would even be carried over to the mainline entries. As a result, not only would I say that Mega Man IV is one of the better-made Mega Man games, but I'd easily take it over the actual Mega Man 4 any day of the week.
Mechanically, Mega Man IV continues to refine the fundamentals. Mega Man's movement in this game is pretty much perfect, you have full precision, and you can jump out of a slide unlike in MM6 which came out the same year. On top of that, enemy healthbars are back to normal, they are nowhere near as tanky as they were in III. The Charge Shot is now more like the one in MM5, and the Beat Letters are here as well, though they are a bit different. The letters in the first four stages unlock Beat, and the letters in the second four stages are mandatory to open the Wily Castle, but either way, it's still the game encouraging you to explore. And as mentioned, a decent amount of new stuff was added. The Charge Shot now has a recoil which didn't really affect the gameplay much for me, but it's a cute little addition that encourages you to be a bit more careful while using it. There's also a new collectible called the P-chips which can be used in a shop to buy refill tanks and a few other upgrades like the returning Energy Balancer, which I love because it encourages you to explore levels more. And you can tell Capcom liked it too because from MM7 onward, we'd have shop systems exactly like this in the mainline games. Finally, if you die a lot, you can even get an upgraded Mega Buster, making this the first Mega Man game with some sort of Easy Mode. In general, this is some of the best core Mega Man gameplay to date.
The level design is where Mega Man IV really shines, and you can tell this almost immediately. Each Robot Master stage in IV takes the concept of a stage from MM4 or MM5, but it proceeds to really flesh them out. Let's run through the initial four MM4 stages as an example, which funnily enough mostly ranked among my favorites in the original game. Toad Man's stage in 4 had a jarringly tough first exterior room, but Toad Man's stage in IV has a more gradual difficulty curve, alternates between interior sewer areas and exterior rain areas to keep things varied, and fleshes out the waterfall mechanic more by having them drop on you unsuspectingly. Bright Man's stage, in a stroke of genius, carries over the light switches from Drill Man's stage and has you actively choose to turn them off to make platforms appear. Pharaoh Man's stage sadly removed the cool balloon platforms, but it adds some neat puzzles around sliding across falling rocks and is way longer than the original version. And Ring Man's stage just fixed the minibosses because the rest of it was already perfect. It really feels like Minakuchi looked at the original stages and made a conscious effort to improve and expand on them.
That being said, I do have some small gripes. First off, the slowdown is definitely the worst it's been in one of these Game Boy entries so far. I'm not really surprised, this game pushes the hell out of the hardware, but it is a bit of a shame. It's also a shame that, despite how vastly improved the levels are, the bosses and weapons are left mostly unchanged (except for the Ring Boomerang being able to pick stuff up which is very cool). This is a problem because Mega Man 4's bosses (Toad Man) and Mega Man 5's weapons (Power Stone) are both pretty bad, so both the boss roster and the weapon lineup end up pretty lopsided in this one. And finally, while Mega Man IV certainly has some great music especially some of the original tracks, a decent chunk of the remixes like those for Pharaoh Man and Ring Man just sound like slowed-down versions of the originals for some strange reason. None of these issues are nearly as glaring as the problems the previous games had though, they're basically nitpicks by comparison.
Like the previous games, Mega Man IV has an intermission and it's easily the coolest one so far. You get a sick cutscene of Mega Man shooting at a giant Wily cannon, followed by a boss fight against said cannon, and then your first encounter with this game's Mega Man Killer, Ballade. This is the first time you meet one of those guys before the final castle, and it really helps to drum up anticipation. The music during both the intermission and Wily Castle are completely original and they're absolutely fantastic too. The succeeding MM5 stages step things up over the MM4 ones, as it seems Minakuchi borrowed stages they knew needed a bit more work rather than the fan favorites like Gravity, Star, or Wave Man. These stages are far more open than most Mega Man stages have ever been, full of fun side rooms to discover, and repurpose existing mechanics in increasingly clever ways, from using shielded enemies as platforms to slide on, to using Rain Flush to extinguish fires. They even tossed in a bunch of chase sequences that weren't in the original, and I'm not complaining, they're very fun and frantic. The high point is definitely Napalm Man, which is rightful praised as a massive improvement over the fairly unremarkable original and one of the best classic Mega Man stages period.
The final stretch of Mega Man IV keeps up the quality as well. Like the previous final stage, we have the Mega Man Killer fight followed by a long final stage. Ballade's second fight is as great as the last one, and it even ends with yet another fun chase sequence, but it's that lengthy final gauntlet that really steals the show. A fantastic test of all your abilities with multiple fun boss fights scattered throughout and stellar music to boot, though unlike III's final stage, it's also incredibly fair. The only downgrade is the fact that we now have a proper boss rush again, how sad. At least they were generous enough to give you a huge energy refill afterwards. Thankfully, the final boss more than makes up for this. It's a genuinely tough three-phase fight against a giant Wily robot, basically doing what Mega Man 3's final boss should've done. Mega Man IV ends with one last fantastic cutscene, where a broken Ballade sacrifices himself to help Mega Man escape the exploding station. It's not like some heartwrenching tearjerker or anything, but it's a surprisingly somber moment in a series that has been quite light on story so far.
Overall, Mega Man IV is genuinely fantastic. I'd even rank as one of the better Classic Mega Man games overall, even above games like 6 and 11. From a level design perspective, it has some of the most expansive, engaging, and fully-realized stages in the entire series, along with a stellar final stretch that just feels like the icing on the cake. While it is held back a bit too much by having to take from previous games in the series, Mega Man IV makes the most with what it's given and stands out as one of the most overlooked entries in the entire franchise.
4/5 Stars
Mega Man V
And here we are, the game that this entire subseries was building up to. Minakuchi took everything they've learned from their previous work and got to make their first original Mega Man project, and it's easily their magnum opus. Mega Man V isn't only the best Mega Man World entry, it ranks among my favorite Classic Mega Man games, right up there with 5, 7, and 9. It's bold, creative, consistently fun, and pushes the hardware to its absolute limits.
On a story level, Mega Man V isn't quite as strong as its predecessor. Nothing really hits on the same level as Ballade's arc, but it makes up for that by being incredibly epic and large in scale. The game starts with Earth being invaded by a group of Stardroids, with their leader Terra being impossible for Mega Man to defeat in his current state, a very cool twist as Mega Man never lost to a villain like this before. So Dr Light gives Mega Man a bunch of upgrades and sends him off into space to save the planet. If you think this premise sounds somewhat familiar, that's because it is! The Mega Man goes to space plotline was already done in Mega Man 3, but infamously, the game's rushed development prevented it from actually exploring this premise. So seeing Mega Man V actually run with the space theming, having each Stardroid stage be set on one of the other Milky Way bodies (not saying planet since Pluto was included here), and even having sequences where Mega Man gets to use Rush as a spaceship is really refreshing.
Speaking of refreshing, Mega Man V actually makes a bunch of interesting mechanical changes that are exclusive to this game. The biggest change is that the Mega Buster has been replaced with the Mega Arm. It functions mostly the same way, but instead of shooting a big charge shot, Mega Man shoots out a rocket fist that returns to him. It may seem a bit weird at first, but it's surprisingly versatile when you get used to it. Since it basically functions as a boomerang, you can finagle your Mega Arm to hit enemies on the way back or at an angle. On top of that, MMV expands on the shop from the previous game by letting you actually buy upgrades for the Mega Arm which allows it to cling onto and repeatedly grab enemies, and retrieve powerups like the Ring Boomerang could in IV. It all adds up to making the Mega Arm a genuine upgrade on the Buster and it kinda kills me it never returned. On the other hand, MMV also adds in a new pet named Tango who you can use to aggressively attack enemies. Despite how much I love his design though, I found Tango pretty useless, to the point where I pretty much forgot he existed by the second half of the game. Still, I appreciate the attempt, and it's a shame Tango never showed up again.
The level design is definitely the standout here, as being able to have original level themes allowed Minakuchi to really go wild with the settings here. Mercury's stage is a factory with conveyor belts and falling blocks to dodge, Neptune's stage has you fight across the roof of a ship before going inside, Uranus's stage is a pyramid with a ton of booby traps and shifting platforms, Pluto's stage has you dodge falling girders while working your way through a construction site, Jupiter's stage brings back the low gravity from Star Man's stage in MM5, and Saturn's stage has you contend with a bunch of gravity fields of varying intensity. The Stardroid stages are all fantastic, not a single weak one in the bunch. While the first half of stages are fairly linear and straight-forward, the second half brings back the explorative elements that helped IV stand out, with secret areas hidden behind special weapon use and hidden crystals that will unlock an upgrade that decreases your special weapon consumption. I will say I think this is a bit of a tougher game than IV overall, but it still manages to be pretty fair and isn't anywhere near as bad as Wily's Revenge or III.
The bosses are also quite solid too, with the highlights as far as the Stardroids go being Pluto, who feels almost like a proto-Slash Man, and Uranus, who shifts around the arena's terrain to try and squash you. I especially like how the bosses are designed to be countered by their weaknesses. Jupiter has a jetpack and can fly around, so of course, you'll use the vertical Bubble Bomb. Venus jumps when you shoot, so you should use the Photon Missile since it has a delay before it zooms forward. It reminds me a lot of Mega Man 9's approach to boss design, how you can figure out what they're weak to just by watching how they fight. The intermission segment probably has the best boss fight out of the World series too, being a fun Yellow Devil encounter that can actually be hit multiple times in a single cycle if you're fast enough so it doesn't drag on as long as other fights of its kind.
Sadly, as good as the bosses are, the weapons are pretty weak, one of the weaker lineups along with 5 and 10 for me. There are a few standouts, siphoning pickups from Grab Buster is satisfying despite its unassuming presentation, Electric Shock is a decent short range option, and Proton Missile is a solid reinterpretation of the Hard Knuckle. And as usual, the weapon you get from this game's Mega Man Killer, Terra, is very good, a fast homing laser that can hit multiple times with a single ammo use. However, there's also a lot of duds here. Bubble Bomb is basically the Bubble Lead but it floats upwards and actually landing a hit with it is tough. Salt Water is just Crystal Eye again and it takes way too much ammo for how little damage it does. Break Dash is like the Charge Kick and while the addition of i-frames is a plus, it takes too long to charge. And the Deep Digger is just the Super Arm which automatically renders it fairly situational. Like with its console counterpart, I think Mega Man V's weak weapon lineup is the one thing that truly holds it back.
The final act is also a bit of a mixed bag, though that's mostly because IV's ending was so strong. The level design of the Wily Star falls into the same issue that Mega Man 6's castle stages had where there's so many split paths that it feels like you're skipping a lot of the challenges, and as mentioned, nothing really hits as hard as Ballade's sacrifice in terms of storytelling. However, where Mega Man V's finale shines is in the bosses and setpieces. Before you even enter the Wily-looking Death Star, you get a full-on shmup section with Rush that ends on an impressive zoomed-out fight against the giant base itself. The main stage is peppered with rematches with all the Mega Man Killers that really makes this game feel like the finale of the series, and they even managed to make Quint's fight somewhat challenging this time? Like, he actually jumps around and shoots rubble at you. And then there's the final boss. As usual, you fight Dr Wily in a giant mech and it's as solid a fight as ever, but then, Dr Wily wakes up a powerful robot named Sunstar who proceeds to betray Wily and take over as the final boss. This is a rare case where Dr Wily isn't the final boss, but ironically enough, Sunstar ended up being my favorite Classic Mega Man final boss period. This dude is fast, he's got a ton of different attacks, blows up the floor from underneath you occassionally, has a rocking boss theme, and boasts an impressive three phases. It's a fantastic way to end off the series.
And speaking of the music, it's really good too. Not among the absolute best the franchise has to offer, but it's definitely my favorite out of the Mega Man World soundtracks, going for a somewhat somber tone while still packing in a lot of catchy Mega Man-sounding tunes. And as I mentioned, Sunstar's boss theme is a soaring highlight as far as the Game Boy goes, it's an incredibly fast-paced and rocking track that pushes the console's sound capabilities as far as they will go. Overall, Mega Man V is awesome. It's a strong ending to this strange little subseries of Classic Mega Man, bringing together all the best aspects of the previous entries while adding in a ton of new ideas of its own that could've pushed the series forward. From how the fresh space premise informs the incredibly inventive level design, to the fascinating new mechanics like the Mega Arm, to the epic finale filled with exciting boss encounters both old and new, Mega Man V easily deserves a spot among the best games in the franchise.
5/5 Stars