Mega Man 5

Mega Man 5
Also known as: Mega Man V (US) Rockman 5: Blues no Wana!? (JP), Rockman 5 (CN) Developer: Capcom Publishers: Capcom (JP/US), Nintendo (EU/AU), Ubisoft (CN) Platforms: NES, Windows Released in JP: December 4, 1992 Released in US: December 31, 1992 Released in EU: November 18, 1993 Released in CN: 2001 (Rockman 1-6 Collection) This game has unused code. This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article This game has a Data Crystal page

Proto Man has gone crazy! Go beat him up.

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Prerelease Info

Debug Mode

Use Game Genie code ATUKGUOZ for the Japanese and US versions or ATUKZUOZ for the European version to activate a spiffy little debug mode where you can do some neat stuff.

Controller 2:

• Left: Freeze/unfreeze the game.
• Up: Pass through obstacles. Be careful, as you can fall through the floors and die with this too.
• Right: Open the palette editor. Use controller 1 to move the cursor and change values.
• B: Allows Mega Man to touch spikes and pass through enemies without taking damage. However, if he falls in a pit while this is held, he'll be trapped there until you release the button.

Controller 1:

• Select: Exit the palette editor. This also restores your energy and gives you every weapon in the game, including Beat.

(Source: Tony Hedstrom)

Unused Debug Code

At NES address $E43B (ROM address 0x3E44B) is another debugging routine that is not called anywhere in the game's code. This particular routine would have allowed you to press Down on controller 2 to reverse Mega Man's gravity, or A to advance to the next stage. It also checks whether Right is pressed, though the associated functionality no longer exists (it performs a BEQ $00); it's possible that it was removed when the palette editor was added to prevent a conflict.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Graphics

Title Screen

A little developer's note that's found below the title screen graphics in the Japanese version. The tiles being pointed to are the right edge of the "N" in ROCKMAN, and are duplicated in the sprite (OBJ) graphics. This part of the logo was converted into a sprite to work around palette limitations. Interestingly, the J here differs from the one in the game's standard font.

Stage Select

A traffic cone. Japanese sample cartridges of Rockman games (such as Rockman 4 and Rockman 7) often used these in place of unfinished Robot Master portraits, and this game was probably no exception.

Wave Man

An unused attack from Octoper OA. This tentacle was originally meant to rise up-and-down with Octoper OA, slightly narrowing the field of the battle and adding another obstacle to hurt the player.

The tentacle is still visible in Octoper OA's official artwork.

(Source: Toad Titan and the Rockman Corner)

Stone Man

This cloud should have appeared on the first screen of Stone Man's stage, but doesn't.

Early	Final

The first half of Stone Man's stage has an unused version of the metal platform tiles seen in the second half of the level. They appear to be an earlier design of the tiles that were never updated. The final platforms are shinier, and the middle of the platform juts out a bit more in the older version.

Unused background tiles from Stone Man stage. An earlier version of them can be seen in some pre-release material.

These tiles are taken from the second half of Stone Man's stage. They're probably from an earlier design of the metal platforms.

Gyro Man

This unused sprite was intended to be used for Gyro Man's throwing animation. It seems they accidentally used the same foot sprite for both frames of the animation.

Star Man

In-game	Intended

One tile from this piece of scenery is never used. The "tip" of this in-game uses a repeated tile.

Whatever these tiles are supposed to be, they're not used.

Charge Man

Part of some kind of a window. These tiles are loaded during the interior segment of the train.

Napalm Man

An unused missile is found alongside Napalm Man's graphics, right after the missile used in the final game. Its size and shape seems to match the shoulder missiles on Napalm Man's sprite.

Strangely, while Napalm Man's missile firing graphics show effects coming from his shoulders, the missile used in the final game more closely matches the head cannon. This animation oddity may be related to the unused missile.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Crystal Man

Sprites for an unused running animation for Crystal Man.

This is how they might have looked animated. In the final game, Crystal Man just jumps around everywhere.

Proto Man Castle 4

An unused platform found in the graphics bank used by Proto Man Castle 4. There are two versions in the backgrounds data, each with a different palette. The gold version can be seen in pre-release material.

Wily Castle 2

Unused background detailing for Wily Castle 2. It appears to be a bolt. Even though the tiles are nowhere to be found during gameplay, they are also in the game's 16x16 background blocks data, showing that they were meant to be part of the metallic slab:

Wily Castle 3

Unused background tiles found in the graphics bank of Wily Castle 3. Purpose unknown.

Enemies

Impressively, nine unused enemy designs are present in the ROM. Less impressively, about half of these are early designs for enemies that appear in the final game. Unfortunately, despite some of these graphics being loaded into memory alongside other enemies that are used, none of these enemies have any programming left over.

Early	Final

An earlier, slimmer version of the Bombier enemy.

Early	Final

A less detailed version of the Giree enemy, the only real difference being the size of the dot. Despite never being used, they are loaded alongside the Toss Machine enemy's graphics.

Early	Final

An early design for the Jet Bomb enemy, which greatly resembles the Walking Bomb enemy from Mega Man 3. Despite never being used, they are loaded alongside the New Shield Attacker and Asteroid graphics.

The Walking Bomb enemy from Mega Man 3 for comparison.

Early	Final

An early version of the Metall Cannon, boasting a smaller and overall less detailed design. Notable differences include a thinner foot, no shielding on the cannon, and no backrest to provide the poor little guy some much-needed lumbar support.

Early	Final

An early version of the Tondeall enemy.

A robot that would hang from the ceiling and try to stab Mega Man. While there's nothing concrete that places this enemy in any one stage, it's possible it was meant for Gyro Man and/or Stone Man's stages, due to the former's stage being referred to as the "Hanging Garden" and the latter's stage being in close proximity to said garden. A different enemy based on the bagworm concept, Minoan, appeared previously in Mega Man 4.

A small, head-like robot with a jet booster on the bottom. Presumably would've flown out of pits in order to knock Mega Man into them.

Mega Man 5 is the only title in the classic series without a Gabyoall-esque robot, but it looks like one was planned. Judging by the turned-over sprites, it can be reasonably assumed that Mega Man would've been able to knock them over, either with a fully-charged Super Mega Buster shot like the Pooker enemies from Mega Man 6 or with one of his special weapons.

A simple hammer robot. Despite never being used, it's loaded alongside the Metall Swim enemy's graphics. The concept of a hammer enemy would later be revisited with the Kao ga Mehda enemy in Mega Man 8.

Regional Differences

Copyright Screen

US	Europe	China

This screen will only appear in the US and European versions because in the Japanese version it is skipped and goes directly to the "Capcom Presents" screen. In the European version it is not copyrighted by American Capcom for obvious reasons, in addition the year part is 1992, 1993 because the game was released in Europe in 1993, in addition the text "Licensed By Nintendo" became "Licensed To Nintendo". The Chinese version's text is taken from the North American release, just without any mention of Nintendo.

Title Screen

Japan	US	Europe	China

The options, copyright text, and Proto Man's scarf have been moved down to accommodate the taller Mega Man V logo. In the European version, Capcom's copyright text shows the year 1992,1993.

The Chinese version predictably uses the re-drawn English logo used for the last two games. And similar to the third game (but UNLIKE the fourth), Mega Man's name remains intact everywhere else in the game, not just in the cutscene after Dark Man 4 is defeated, but also in the collectable letters found throughout the eight Robot Master stages!

Miscellaneous

Japan	International

And speaking of those letters, to fit the game's international title, four of the Beat plates were changed to spell "MEGA" instead of "ROCK" outside of Japan. The one in Crystal Man's stage was also changed from a number 5 to a Roman numeral V. The "5" was left as-is in Mega Man Anniversary Collection, however.

Revisional Differences

Mega Man Anniversary Collection

• During the post-battle cutscene after Mega Man has defeated the fourth Dark Man, the text speed is significantly faster than it was in the original.
• Oddly, the song that originally played in the escape sequence during the ending cutscene was removed and replaced with the credits theme. It's most likely an error and not a deliberate change, as the theme is still present in the game's files.