Rockman X5: Duel of Fates is a web animation series done by the YouTube channel Legacy VM
in celebration of the 34th anniversary of the Mega Man series. The series is an adaptation of Mega Man X5 with a huge dose of expanded lore and characterization for both heroes and villains alike. Although the series is voiced in Spanish, it also includes English subtitles.
The story follows closely the videogame. It is the year 21XX several months after the Great Repliforce War. After too many conflicts, Earth seems to finally be enjoying a period of peace. Repairs from the war's damage include the renovation of the space colony Eurasia. However, the dreaded Sigma suddenly reappears, goading X and Zero into an explosive battle that scatters his Sigma Virus across the globe. To make matters worse, a mysterious mercenary called Dynamo hijacks the empty Eurasia with a virus and sets it on a collision course with Earth. If it impacts, the results will be catastrophic for both humans and Reploids.
With only 16 hours until global devastation, the Maverick Hunters must quickly find a way to stop Eurasia's fall. Plan A is to repair the aging supercannon Enigma to blast it out of the sky, while plan B is to outfit a space shuttle with explosives and crash it into the colony before it hits the Earth. With time running out, X and Zero split up to collect the parts for both plans, the fate of the world in their hands.
Rockman X5: Duel of Fates contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Explanation: The first chapter explains that the reason why the Force Armor only has two slots available for the parts system is because X's CPU consumes two of the four slots available when the armor is equipped.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- The Training Mode stage seen in X5 serves for X to test the Force Armor as reproduced by Alia, who proceeds to explain how she was only able to partially reproduce the original armor's abilities. The boss fight against the simulated Magma Dragoon is also intertwined with flashbacks to X's fight with the original one during the Repliforce War.
- There's a scene of Dynamo's attack on Eurasia, showing how he kills the staff prior to hijacking the colony and setting it in collision course towards Earth, before he talks to Sigma through the commlink. This is also followed by a brief scene of Sigma as he sets up his trap in the statue for X and Zero.
- Chapter 2 has a flashback of X's fight with Double, with the two of them exchanging a lot of talk during their fight.
- Adaptational Jerkass: During the Christmas Gaiden chapter, Iris is depicted being very confrontational towards X, berating him over his hesitation with killing his former comrades turned Maverick, and resulting in many innocents killed or gravely injured.
- Apocalypse How: Lampshaded by Zero in Chapter 1, who outright says that the situation they're facing could easily be considered the Apocalypse itself.
- Bad Vibrations: Right after X and Zero defeat Sigma's floating head, the earth begins to rumble before the virus is unleashed.
- Boom, Headshot!:
- An operator of the Eurasia gets his head blown up by Dynamo when he asks if someone can operate the colony's teleportation system.
- X makes a point of avoiding this when he fights Volt Kraken, to defeat him without killing him. It doesn't work as he dies anyway from the damage he sustained.
- Break Them by Talking: In X's flashback in Chapter 2, Double constantly taunts X in order to enrage him and prove his point that X isn't that different from the Mavericks he fights.
- The Cameo:
- The first Gaiden chapter "Rockman Day" features an appearance of Phoenix Wright talking with Dr. Cain as they walk through a park in Sky Lagoon.
- The second Gaiden chapter features Kirby, Mario and Astro Boy among the balloons during the Christmas parade. In addition, Cammy appears as a news reporter at the start.
- Christmas Episode: The second gaiden chapter takes place during Christmas Eve one year after the Doppler Incident.
- Combination Attack: X and Zero use a Final Strike to destroy Sigma's head in Chapter 1. Unfortunately, this unleashes the virus on Earth.
- Cruel Mercy: Inverted when Zero mentions that he hopes whoever attacked the Eurasia colony has killed everyone else up there, since it would be a tragedy if they were still alive when they destroy it before it crashes against Earth.
- Due to the Dead: Following X's defeat of Volt Kraken, he and Signas give him a small funeral, along with a Deathbed Promotion to Captain of the 7th unit (as he was the third in command below Launch Octopus and Bubble Crab).
- From a Certain Point of View: At the end of Chapter 2, Signas states that the official report on Volt Kraken will say that he left the 7th unit to carry out a covert mission, died in the line of duty and thus was given a posthumous promotion. When Miss Jazzmin tells them that's a lie, X replies that, in a way, it was the truth, as Kraken resigned because he had a life mission, and he will honor his wishes.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: In X's flashback in Chapter 2, he defeats Double tearing him in half with a Nova Strike.
- Handicapped Badass: Having gotten his arm torn off doesn't stop Zero from fighting alongside X against Sigma.
- Heroic Willpower: X mentions that he was able to resist Dr. Doppler's bug using his willpower, avoiding its corruption.
- Hypocrite: Chapter 2 is even titled "Hypocrisy", and centers on X and the Maverick Hunters often being called out for their Double Standards when dealing with Mavericks, sometimes being willing to spare mass murderers because they used to be their friends, while also exterminating others without hesitation for lesser crimes.
- It's All My Fault: X blames himself for the destruction caused in the world, after Sigma corrupted the Goddess Irene's statue and forced him and Zero to destroy it. Zero however gives him some encouragement words to snap him out of it so he doesn't lose his hope.
- Mythology Gag: X calls Volt Kraken "Adler", in a reference to his Dub Name Change in the PSX version of X5. It's explained to be a nickname given to him by Launch Octopus.
- Older Is Better: The Enigma is the only weapon the Maverick Hunters have available that won't be affected by the Sigma Virus, since anything else with higher and more advanced processors are vulnerable to it.
- Original Character: Miss Jazzmin, who acts as the representative of the human council before the Maverick Hunters.
- Suicide by Cop: Volt Kraken wanted to die in his own terms, trying to push X into fighting him at his best. Even when X tried to avoid aiming to his head, the damage he sustained, adding up to his lack of maintenance was enough to cease his functions altogether.
