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# Introduction #

[Check out Part 1 Here](https://steemit.com/gaming/@schattenjaeger/schattenjaeger-s-previously-owned-reviews-12-mega-man-retrospective-part-1-mega-man-1-3)

After the success of Mega Man 2, the Mega Man franchise was up and running, and would become one of Capcom's top money printers for years to come.

This, of course, would mean sequels, sequels and more sequels. Putting "Mega Man" on something seemed to be a license to print money.

Mega Man 3 was a success, and new games in the Mega Man series would then pop up annually.

The interesting thing about the classic Mega Man series was that they were still made for the NES, even though the 16 bitSNES had been out for a year when Mega Man 4 came out. I guess it speaks volumes about the popularity of the blue bomber that people would go back a generation of consoles just to play Mega Man.

I have gone back and played all of the games in the Mega Man series to create this retrospective with my thoughts on how each game fared.

Without any further a doe, let's get into the next game in the series.

# Mega Man 4 #

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Mega Man 4 introduces the ability to charge up your Mega Buster for a more stronger shot, and... Honestly, that's about it for the new tricks. Well, there's also an improved menu for weapon selection, which is nice.

But yeah, Mega Man 4 does very little to innovate the series in any way, and appears very lazy compared to the last two games.

It's not just the lack of innovation that bugs me about Mega Man 4, though. You'd think that at this point you could just make a copy and paste of Mega Man 2 and 3 and create a fun game, even if it is uninspired, but the fourth gameint he series takes a few steps back overall.

First of all, Mega Man 4 has by far the most instant death moments in the entire series. Most notably it's spikes galore. Everywhere you go, there's spikes. It gets so ridiculous at times, it makes you wonder what's even the point of having a life bar if the thing you need to be worried about all the time are instadeath spikes.

The level design as a whole is also a lot worse than than in the previous two games, unfortunately; enemies come out of nowhere, the aforementioned death spikes, and a general feeling that something is lacking. It feels that Capcom decided that they can just put Mega Man on the cover and the game will sell, so no point really working hard. I guess it could honestly happen to all of us in the same situation, though.

It's a bit like a Steemit user getting heavy autovotes from whales. At some point you realize it doesn't matter what you put out, so just put out garbage, you'll make the money anyway.

Mega Man 4 is, of course, not garbage. But I wouldn't call it a good game, either. The charging of the Mega Buster was a good addition, but other than that I genuinely struggle to come up with things to say, or point out. I had noticeably less fun playing Mega Man 4 compared to 2 and 3.

The bosses are either really good, or really bad, depending on who you are. They are some of the hardest in the classic series, and for me it's a plus, but I can see some people being turned away by it. The bosses I had more fun with than the actual levels, and their difficulty was the good kind of difficulty I often talk about.

They can be a pain in the ass in the boss rush, though, since some of the bosses really do kick a significant amount of ass.

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Easily the sharpest decline in quality happens in the soundtrack department, though, and is probably a big reason why I'm not such a fan of this one. The music is what people remember from Mega Man 2 and 3, so to have a soundtrack this time around that is just dull and completely generic - save for Skull Man's theme - is mind boggling.

I mean, what happened?

All of a sudden, the series went from some of the most iconic music on the NES to generic videogame music that I can't really even hum to, and definitely would not listen to outside of playing the game.

Except, indeed, the Skull Man stage theme. That one is kickass.

Overall, I wouldn't call Mega Man 4 a good game in the classic series. Sure, it still beats out a big portion of NES sidescrolling run and gunners, but after two amazing games, the fourth entry is a really weak addition.

# Mega Man 5 #

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Let's get the good out of the way first.

Graphically, Mega Man 5 could be the best title in the classic series. There's color, there's variation, there's great scenery. The textures are detailed and the animations are smooth and very good looking. Mega Man 5 is a blast to look at, even by today's standards.

Mega Man 5 improves the level design by a huge margin after Mega Man 4, and that puts it above the previous title easily.

Like Mega Man 2, Mega Man 5 is easier than the previous title, but since the difficulty was a bitunfair in the previous game, this is not a complaint. Mega Man 5 is more fair and less cheap, and therefore more enjoyable as a result.

The soundtrack is on par with Mega Man 4, which is a shame. If I had to choose, I might pick 5's soundtrack over 4, but I often get the two mixed up.

Like Mega Man 4, Mega Man 5 does very little to innovate the series. It's lather, rinse, repeat. But this time it doesn't bother me as much, thanks to the improved level design. It goes without saying that level design is obviously a game making or breaking feature, and thankfully it makes the game this time.

One addition is Beat the Bird; a bird character you can summon if you find and pick up secret letters hidden in the levels that spell MEGAMANV.

It's a fun secret and gives the game more replay value if you missed the letters during your original playthrough. Beat deals big damage, and he can even be summoned during boss fights.

The once again improved Mega Buster makes the special weapons rather useless, though. And it's a shame because messing around with the different weapons should be a series staple and one of the main gimmick at this point.

The Metal Blade in Mega Man 2 made all other weapons useless, but at least it was a special weapon, earned through beating a boss. The Mega Buster is the default weapon, so it shouldn't be the overpowered best weapon.

It was at this point that the series was starting to show its age, and people were turning away from it. So, Capcom finally needed to innovate, and I'd say they did that with Mega Man 6.

I have a lot to say about Mega Man 6, so I will be dedicating an entire post for it, instead of just being one part of this post.

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As for Mega Man 5, it was enjoyable. A lot better than Mega Man 4, not on par with 2 and 3, but a fine addition to the series. I feel that Mega Man 5 was what Mega Man 4 should have been: a copypaste of the good parts of 2 and 3, but after those two it would not have been such a serious crime, had the installment after that one then come up with something new.

But the series suffered due to the bad Mega Man 4, and having the better but uninspired Mega Man 5 follow that one.

It left a bad taste in your mouth, and it gave you the feeling that Capcom was out of ideas when it came to Mega Man.

I consider Mega Man 4 and 5 to be sort of the two black sheep in the family, not offering much new to the series, and while Mega Man 5 was a good game, as stated, it had bad timing. The series would need revitalizing after these two, and it get in the form of Mega Man 6. So, that's what we will be talking about next time.