Mega Man V

Mega Man V, known in Japan as Rockman World 5 (ロックマンワールド５), is the last game from the original Mega Man series for Game Boy, released in 1994. The game has Super Game Boy support. At one time it was considered to be rereleased in 2000, but unlike Mega Man II, the project was abandoned. Unlike previous Game Boy titles, the game did not reuse levels or bosses from the NES titles, but is a completely new game with its own storyline, new assets and a full series of new bosses and weapons. This game marked the introduction of the Stardroids. This game is currently available for download on the 3DS Nintendo eShop.

Story
The game opens in an unspecified year in the 21st century ("20XX AD"), several months after the events of Mega Man IV and another failure by the infamous Dr. Wily to conquer the world. Mega Man and his sister Roll are strolling through a grassy field, when they are confronted by a mysterious robot who calls himself Terra. Mega Man attempts to fight Terra, only to find that his "Mega Buster" arm cannon has no effect on him. Mega Man is knocked unconscious, and powerful robots calling themselves the "Stardroids" attack Earth, defeating numerous robots, including Robot Masters from previous Mega Man games. Waking up in Dr. Light's laboratory, Mega Man is presented with the new and powerful "Mega Arm" and a new robotic feline companion "Tango" to help him fight the Stardroids in his newest mission to save the planet.

After defeating all the Stardroids, including Terra, Mega Man finds out that his archenemy Dr. Wily was ordering them to dominate Earth. Mega Man sets off to the mad scientist's new base, the Wily Star to stop him. In the base, Mega Man has rematches with four foes from his previous adventures (Enker, Quint, Punk, and Ballade). Wily releases an ancient robot called Sunstar to destroy Mega Man. However, Sunstar attacks Wily instead, and then turns his attention to Mega Man. Mega Man wins the battle and tries to convince Sunstar to be repaired by Dr. Light. However, Sunstar is already too badly damaged, and minutes later he explodes, taking the Wily Star with him. Mega Man escapes using Rush. He walks through a field, pondering the recent events, when Wily makes one last, unsuccessful attack. The game ends with Mega Man chasing Wily off the screen.

Bosses
Instead of using eight bosses from two NES games like the previous Game Boy games, all eight main bosses from Mega Man V are new and unique.

Final Stages
* The weapons from the Mega Man Killers and Quint cannot be obtained in Mega Man V.

†The Skull Blazer is fought between Terra and Enker.

Reception
Overall critical reception for Mega Man V has been average to positive. While many aspects of the game were commended, critics found very little change from previous installments in the series. VideoGames summarized, "If you don't have a Mega Man game for your Game Boy, this one is a good as any. It's entertaining...it's Mega Man. If you're thinking 'rehash', you might be right and it's still a pretty fun game, though." Nintendo Power was impressed by its gameplay and graphics, but felt that the game is too short, "especially when you sit down with the Super Game Boy and cruise". GamePro was contrastingly unimpressed with the controls on the SNES, considering the use of Game Boy much simpler.

In 2008, Nintendo Power listed Mega Man V as the 14th best Game Boy or Game Boy Color video game, praising it as the best of a quality series of portable Mega Man games. Game Informer's Ben Reeves called it the 11th best Game Boy game due to its relative ambition compared to its Game Boy predecessors. Mega Man V was available for the similarly named Nintendo Power cartridge service in Japan on April 13, 2001 alongside its four Game Boy Mega Man predecessors. Outside of Japan, the game is considered to be quite rare. All five games on the Game Boy were to be released as part of a Game Boy Advance compilation in 2004 titled Mega Man Anniversary Collection, but it was delayed indefinitely, renamed Mega Mania, and eventually cancelled. In 2011, IGN listed the game among titles they wished to see downloadable from the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS. On July 18, 2013, it was confirmed that Mega Man V is planned for release on the 3DS Virtual Console; it came out November 6, 2013 in Japan and on May 22, 2014 in North America.

Mega Man Gigamix
The characters and plotline for Mega Man V were incorporated into the Mega Man Gigamix comic books by Hitoshi Ariga, with the battle against the Stardroids acting as a finale.

Archie Comics
They were also present in the Mega Man series from Archie Comics, with a full adaptation of Mega Man V being foreshadowed in various stories but not coming to pass before the series went on indefinite hiatus. The comic storyline takes unique action of linking the Stardroids with Shadow Man and Ra Moon, the primary antagonist of Super Adventure Rockman, as well as giving them a history with the alien robot Duo and Trio, his unnamed antagonist from Mega Man 8. Ra Moon's intent during Super Adventure Rockman to prepare the Earth for the arrival of its Stardroid creations; when its defeat at Mega Man's hands made this impossible, it sent a signal to the Stardroids aboard their craft, the future Wily Star. Terra appeared briefly in Mega Man #20 of the series while Mega Man was caught up in a time travel adventure, and later during a flashback in which he sent Ra Moon to Earth under the protection of the Kuiper Droids, a group of bodyguard robots of whom Shadow Man is the last surviving member. Dr. Light later witnessed the Stardroids' future invasion in a vision experienced during Mega Man #55, the last issue before the series went on hiatus.

Trivia

 * Mega Man V was programmed to have Super Game Boy support, which resulted in a multitude of colors featured in the game when used with the adapter on the Super Nintendo. If used on a Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advanced, Game Boy Player or any e-shop release, the game features only a minimal 4-pallette color scheme that does not change, leaving the Super Game Boy as the only option to play the game with its full color capability.
 * Unlike most games, several of the Robot Masters (Mercury and Neptune) can't be fought against using their weakness (Black Hole and Spark Chaser) before their rematch.
 * Like Sunstar, the Stardroids are robots from an alien civilization that Dr. Wily found in some ancient ruins. Dr. Wily then reprogrammed these robots to use them for his world domination scheme.
 * The names for the Stardroids are taken from the names for the Planets of our Solar System.
 * Though Pluto has long since been said to not be a planet, but rather a dwarf planet.
 * The weakness sequence from Mars to Mercury (Mars -> Venus -> Jupiter -> Saturn -> Mercury) is a reference to Wu Xing, a five-element theory of Chinese philosophy. The element names in their corresponding planets' Chinese names (Mars: Fire(火); Venus: Metal(金); Jupiter: Wood(木); Saturn: Earth(土); Mercury: Water(水)) form an order of "mutual overcoming" law, "Fire -> Metal -> Wood -> Earth -> Water". Additionaly, Mars' weakness, Salt Water from Neptune, can be considered as "Water element" which overcomes Fire element in the same law.