History YMMV / MegaManX5

** A rather elongated one for the entire endgame. Whether you succeed in taking down the space colony Eurasia or not, the final series of levels ("[[MeaningfulName Zero Space]]") involve going deep into the colony's crater left in the earth, where suddenly everything becomes surreal data and pulsing backgrounds of information. While some have inferred this to take place within what would become a recurring {{Cyberspace}} in the series, nothing in the game nor any supplementary materials actually bother explaining any of it; even fan wikis are stumped and just coin it as a spatial anomaly caused by a virus somehow warping reality, while no cast members seem to bring note to its strangeness at all. As far as the game's aware, the Zero Virus just straight up produced a gigantic, incomprehensible hole in reality for the final levels that happens to [[NostalgiaLevel recreate old stages]] and [[BackFromTheDead certain bosses]] [[note]] The presence of Wily's icon throughout, plus the revelation that Wily and Sigma created the Zero virus to reawaken Zero's original personality imply that either Wily and Sigma have a hand in what X and Zero experience inside, or that the virus is drawing from the occupants' memories. [[/note]]

** This was the first game to have [[PermanentlyMissableContent permanently missable items]] (if one does not count the secret upgrades of the previous games, which are more akin to EasterEggs) and is arguably the most egregious. Collecting the maximum number of parts requires you to waste time on purpose to hoist the boss levels to where they become available; key operator being "maximum" since you can only choose one of a given boss's parts and the other is lost for that playthrough. You could still lose parts in the sequels if the reploids holding them were killed, but it ''was'' possible to grab them all in one go.

* HarsherInHindsight: All of Dr. Albert W. Wily's [[LaughablyEvil comedic]] and AntiVillain antics back in [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic the Classic series]] become this once this game shows that he'll go on to cheat death and attempt to end the world for the sake of finally one-upping Thomas Light and making Zero "himself" again.

** Crescent Grizzly is almost always the first Maverick to be chosen by both amateur and pro players not only due to his comparative ease, but also the sheer versatility and usefulness of his C-Sword weapon for Zero.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: A minor one, but players usually choose X for the intro stage exactly to not lock him out of the Fourth Armor, which is considerably more useful than the Z-Buster you'd keep around instead should you choose Zero.

** Zero's Z-Buster. It's nowhere near as powerful (or useful) as it was in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX3 X3]]''. Zero can only use it on the ground while stationary and its damage output is nothing to write home about. It also has slow startup, because there's a short charging animation Zero performs just before he fires it. And as if the Z-Buster wasn't already pointless, it only travels a short distance before vanishing. From ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX4 X4]]'' onward, [[DivergentCharacterEvolution Zero had become the close-ranged, melee specialist as opposed to X's long-ranged gameplay]], so giving him a long-ranged weapon that's so ridiculously flawed adds nothing to his arsenal. Obtaining the Buster by picking Zero for the intro stage also locks X out of the vastly more useful [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fourth/Force]] Armor. [[VideoGame/MegaManX6 The next game]] would counteract some of the flaws by giving the Z-Buster to Zero once he joins you, ratcheting up its rate of fire, and making Zero's Buster shots noticeably more powerful, but the Z-Buster was then discarded of thereafter.

* SignatureSeriesArc: ''X5'' was intended to be the ''X'' series' GrandFinale, and '''[[WhamEpisode it shows]]'''. The thought-to-be-long-dead [[GreaterScopeVillain Dr. Wily]] is {{back|FromTheDead}} and [[BigBadDuumvirate in cahoots with Sigma]], [[NearVillainVictory Sigma nearly wins]] [[YouCantThwartStageOne before players can even make it to the Stage Select screen]], the Maverick Hunters have to scramble to prevent the space colony Eurasia from [[ColonyDrop colliding with the planet]] (and Earth ''[[NoEndorHolocaust still]]'' suffers from immense collateral damage, one of many factors behind [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 the later "Jakob Project" and mass manufacturing of New Generation Reploids to complete an orbital elevator to the moon]]), and -- after several games' worth of {{Foreshadowing}} -- all the hints about Zero's origins, true nature, and inevitable conflict with X [[ArcWelding culminates in]] a showdown between the two friends. And in one scenario, ''[[FromBadToWorse Zero has merged with the Maverick Virus and been reawakened to his original programming]]''. Despite being rendered as a SeriesFauxnale by ''X6'', this game's influence stretches as far as the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series; ''X5'' was originally going to lead straight into ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero1 Z1]]'' and the Eurasia's crash site is revealed in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'' to have become Area Zero, the NewEden that lies at the center of that game's conflict.

* TearJerker: Even if later sequels mitigate the feeling intended, getting Zero's ending is going to be a hell of a PlayerPunch when some of his final memories are of Iris, his creation, and realizing that [[ItsAllMyFault he has to die for peace to happen]]. Heck, it hurts even more ''knowing'' he gets better; Zero effectively gets denied the final rest [[DeathSeeker he was wishing for]].

* ToughActToFollow: ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'' is commonly regarded as the only other game in the series that can match up with ''X1''[='s=] own tough act, so it's common to find detractors comparing ''X5'' unfavorably to it.

* BrokenBase: The Music/GunsNRoses names of the bosses in the U.S. version are a rather heavy point of contention within the fanbase. Either people find them a nice and awesome ShoutOut to the band, or redundant and laughable compared to the original Japanese names (not to mention being completely incongruent with the naming conventions for Maverick bosses up to and after that point). Oddly enough, when the ''X Legacy Collection 2'' version of ''X5'' changed these names back, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor some of the fans who wanted the original Japanese names]] were upset at the loss of [[SoBadItWasBetter Duff McWhalen]], considering the name so stupid that it was oddly endearing compared to the others.

** A rather elongated one for the entire endgame. Whether you succeed in taking down the space colony Eurasia or not, the final series of levels ("[[MeaningfulName Zero Space]]") involve going deep into the colony's crater left in the earth, where suddenly everything becomes surreal data and pulsing backgrounds of information. While some have inferred this to take place within what would become a recurring {{Cyberspace}} in the series, nothing in the game nor any supplementary materials actually bother explaining any of it; even fan wikis are stumped and just coin it as a spatial anomaly caused by a virus somehow warping reality, while no cast members seem to bring note to its strangeness at all. As far as the game's aware, the Zero Virus just straight up produced a gigantic, incomprehensible hole in reality for the final levels that happens to [[NostalgiaLevel recreate old stages]] and [[BackFromTheDead certain bosses]].

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Rescuing Reploids is officially introduced here, but the mechanics that made the quest so cumbersome in ''X6'' and ''X7'' are not present, nor are the players actually ''obligated'' to rescue them.

** The final showdown with Sigma in his "ultimate body" can be hard to take seriously. Despite basically becoming a HumongousMecha, all it amounts to is a static image of Sigma in the background while he summons things to attack you with. Ultimately, his first form could be considered far more intimidating due to the fact that he actually ''moves'' in that form. The irony is that the final battle is essentially a CallBack to [[VideoGame/MegaManX1 the original game's]] final fight -- Sigma's body is a static image and the player has to hit the weak point in his forehead while dodging attacks from his hands and head.

** A rather elongated one for the entire endgame. Whether you succeed in taking down the space colony Eurasia or not, the final series of levels ("[[MeaningfulName Zero Space]]") involve going deep into the colony's crater left in the Earth, where suddenly everything becomes surreal data and pulsing backgrounds of information. While some have inferred this to take place within what would become a recurring CyberSpace in the series, nothing in the game nor any supplementary materials actually bother explaining any of it; even fan wikis are stumped and just coin it as a spatial anomaly caused by a virus somehow warping reality, while no cast members seem to bring note to its strangeness at all. As far as the game's aware, the Zero Virus just straight up produced a gigantic, incomprehensible hole in reality for the final levels that happens to [[NostalgiaLevel recreate old stages]] and [[BackFromTheDead certain bosses]].

** In an interconnected example, a different camp applies the split to both ''X5'' and the ''[[VideoGame/MegaManLegends Legends]]'' series, theorizing that the latter takes place in an AlternateContinuity branching off from the bad ending of ''X5'' due to [[spoiler:the implications there that X goes on to create the artificial planet/space colony later known as Elysium]].

** When it comes to platforming, the Falcon Armor destroys almost all challenge as its; its flight capabilities include an energy barrier that blocks attacks and damages anything X comes into contact with, makes any platforming section over BottomlessPits that would usually require careful dashing or air dashes a cakewalk, with only the threat of spikes or crushing attacks from above being a threat. And the armor's offensive abilities aren't half-bad either. It's possible to speedrun a stage by just flying as much as possible to avoid enemies and obstacles while only making sure to have somewhere to land safely between flights. It was so bad that ''X6'' ''massively'' [[{{Nerf}} downgraded it]] when it became X's starting armor set.
** The Ultimate Armor, which comes with Nova Strike, making it ridiculously easy to destroy anything in sight. Even if its helmet function is nerfed like the Fourth Armor (only reduces the energy usage of uncharged special weapons instead of making them free), it's still a pretty deadly and useful armor. Worse (or better) yet, you can get them without a cheat code: it's in a secret passage in the third Zero Space stage, accessed in a similar manner to ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX2 X2]]'s'' {{Shoryuken}} capsule.

* GoddamnedBoss: U-555, the submarine Mechaniloid MiniBoss of Tidal Whale's stage. Heck, it [[LevelInBossClothing practically is the stage]] (save for a brief breather in a sunken ship). It's also an obnoxiously long battle, with loads of annoying attacks, weak spots that take forever to destroy and, because of the underwater setting, sluggish and floaty physics, making for a rather unfun experience. And you have to endure it every time you attempt revisits.
* HarsherInHindsight: All of Albert Wily's comedic and AntiVillain antics back in the [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Classic series]] become this once this game shows that he'll go on to cheat death and attempt to end the world for the sake of finally one-upping Thomas Light and making Zero "himself" again.

* ItWasHisSled: If you're a ''Mega Man'' fan, odds are you know about [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Awakened Zero]] and a number of twists and revelations involving it that are all directly tied to the entire mystery of ''X5'' in the first place, not to mention the much-hyped X vs. Zero battle. ''X6'' straight up recaps this game's plot for extra measure.
* MoralEventHorizon: Dr. Wily, who Sigma says built him his latest body and conspired with the truth of Zero's creation to attempt to awaken his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide true self]]. In X's story, a great amount of this motivation even seems to be specifically to kill X so he can finally defeat Dr. Light's legacy. Going from an egotistical scientist [[EvenEvilHasStandards with some sense of honor]] to attempting to ''cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt out of petty competitiveness'' singlehandedly twisted Wily as an irrevocable evil upon the Earth, leaving many fans to wonder just ''what'' caused such a horizon to be crossed and for Wily to go JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope by aiding Sigma in trying to send [[ColonyDrop a virus-infested Eurasia]] crashing towards on Earth during this outing.

** Related to AnnoyingVideoGameHelper is Alia's mission calls. During select intervals in the stage, Alia will halt X and Zero's progress with dialogue boxes that the player must skip through before being able to continue. Aside from breaking the flow of the game, it is possible for Alia to interrupt the player while they are in the middle of dodging a hazard or performing precise platforming, making it possible to get hurt or die during instances that could have otherwise been avoided. There is no way to disable this function, and her messages will persist in repeat playthroughs. All future games have the select intervals instead display a prompt that the player must press a button to see the dialogue boxes for, and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX8 X8]]'' gives the option to disable MissionControl entirely.

** Zero's Z-Buster. It's nowhere near as powerful (or useful) as it was in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX3 X3]]''. Zero can only use it on the ground while stationary and its damage output is nothing to write home about. It also has slow startup, because there's a short charging animation Zero performs just before he fires it. And as if the Z-Buster wasn't already pointless, it only travels a short distance before vanishing. From ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX4 X4]]'' onward, [[DivergentCharacterEvolution Zero has become the close-ranged, melee specialist as opposed to X's long-ranged gameplay]], so giving him a long-ranged weapon that's so ridiculously flawed adds nothing to his arsenal. Obtaining the Buster by picking Zero for the intro stage also locks X out of the vastly more useful [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fourth/Force]] Armor. [[VideoGame/MegaManX6 The next game]] would counteract some of the flaws by giving the Z-Buster to Zero once he joins you, ratcheting up its rate of fire, and making Zero's Buster shots noticeably more powerful, but the Z-Buster was then discarded of thereafter.

* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: [[CrackPairing Dynamo x Alia]]. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, really]]. This is despite his characterization in the game and the fact that the two only interacted indirectly just so Dynamo can pass on a fight request to X and Zero.
* SignatureScene: X vs. Zero, a battle that had been foreshadowed from the beginning of the series, naturally became a major selling point and is often discussed whenever the game is brought up.
* SignatureSeriesArc: ''X5'' was intended to be the ''X'' series' GrandFinale, and '''[[WhamEpisode it shows]]'''. The thought-to-be-long-dead [[GreaterScopeVillain Dr. Wily]] is {{back|FromTheDead}} and [[BigBadDuumvirate in cahoots with Sigma]], [[NearVillainVictory Sigma nearly wins]] [[YouCantThwartStageOne before players can even make it to the Stage Select screen]], the Maverick Hunters have to scramble to prevent the space colony Eurasia from [[ColonyDrop colliding with the planet]] (and Earth ''[[NoEndorHolocaust still]]'' suffers from immense collateral damage, one of many factors behind [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 the later "Jakob Project" and mass manufacturing of New Generation Reploids to complete an orbital elevator to the moon]]), and--after several games' worth of {{Foreshadowing}}--all the hints about Zero's origins, true nature, and inevitable conflict with X [[ArcWelding culminates in]] a showdown between the two friends. And in one scenario, ''[[FromBadToWorse Zero has merged with the Maverick Virus and been reawakened to his original programming]]''. Despite being rendered as a SeriesFauxnale by ''X6'', this game's influence stretches as far as the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series; ''X5'' was originally going to lead straight into ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero1 Z1]]'' and the Eurasia's crash site is revealed in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'' to have become Area Zero, the NewEden that lies at the center of that game's conflict.

* TearJerker: Even if later sequels mitigate the feeling intended, getting Zero's ending is going to be a hell of a PlayerPunch when some of his final memories are of Iris, his creation, and realizing that [[ItsAllMyFault he has to die for peace to happen.]] Heck, it hurts even more ''knowing'' he gets better; Zero effectively gets denied the final rest [[DeathSeeker he was wishing for]].

* ThatOneBoss: [[ThatOneBoss/MegaMan Has its own page]].
* ThatOneLevel: [[ThatOneLevel/MegaMan Also has its own page]].

* UnintentionalUncannyValley: Both the Sigma Head and Final Sigma W. His pre-rendered face in a game full of traditional sprites adds to its creepiness.

* MoralEventHorizon: Dr. Wily, who Sigma says built him his latest body and conspired with the truth of Zero's creation to attempt to awaken his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide true self]]. In X's story, a great amount of this motivation even seems to be specifically to kill X so he can finally defeat Dr. Light's legacy. Going from an egotistical scientist [[EvenEvilHasStandards with some sense of honor]] to attempting to ''cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt out of petty competitiveness'' singlehandedly twisted Wily as an irrevocable evil upon the Earth, leaving many fans to wonder just ''what'' caused such a horizon to be crossed and for Wily to go JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope by aiding Sigma in his path that him trying to ColonyDrop a virus-infested Eurasia on Earth during this outing.

* MoralEventHorizon: Sigma has already done so many attempts to wipe out everyone in his path that him trying to ColonyDrop a virus-infested Eurasia on Earth isn't a surprise after [[VideoGame/MegaManX4 the last game]]. The one that really crosses this line is Dr. Wily, who Sigma says built him his latest body and conspired with the truth of Zero's creation to attempt to awaken his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide true self]]. In X's story, a great amount of this motivation even seems to be specifically to kill X so he can finally defeat Dr. Light's legacy. Going from an egotistical scientist [[EvenEvilHasStandards with some sense of honor]] to attempting to ''cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt out of petty competitiveness'' singlehandedly twisted Wily as an irrevocable evil upon the Earth, leaving many fans to wonder just ''what'' caused such a horizon to be crossed and for Wily to go JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.

** Despite the awesome setup, high drama and story making the most of the moment, the actual [[LetsYouAndHimFight X vs. Zero]] fight is laughably easy. Especially in the non-Maverick ending if you play as Zero; the A.I. is just pathetic. He's a lot harder in the ending where Zero goes Maverick, though, and the stakes are much higher.