Mega Man 5
Also known as: Rockman 5: Blues no Wana!! (JP) Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platform: NES Released in JP: December 4, 1992 Released in US: December 31, 1992 Released in EU: November 18, 1993 This game has unused code. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article

Proto Man has gone crazy! Go beat him up.

Debug Mode

Game Genie code ATUKGUOZ (for the NTSC versions) or ATUKZUOZ (for the PAL version) activates 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.

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.

Unused Objects/Graphics

Title Screen

A little developer's note, 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.

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.

Charge Man

Some kind of a window. These tiles are loaded during the second half of the stage.

Star Man

Shown	Full

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.

Stone Man

Cloud

Stone Man's stage has a lot of unused tiles. This cloud should have appeared in the first screen of Stone Man's stage, but doesn't.

Early Platform

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 Platform Tiles

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

Wave Man

An unused attack from Octoper OA. This tentacle was originally meant to rise up-and-down with Octoper OA, slightly narrowing the play field of the battle and adding another obstacle to hurt the player. This was wisely removed before the final release, though the graphics remain in the ROM.

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

Unused Enemies

Impressively, seven different enemy designs are present in the ROM but are not used. Unfortunately, none of these enemies seem to be coded.

Bagworm Robot

A robot that would hang from the ceiling and try to stab you. A different enemy based on the bagworm concept, Minoan, appeared in Mega Man 4.

Bomb Robot

A robot that would fly by, drop a bomb on Mega Man, and fly away.

This may have been an early design for the Bombier enemy, which has the same behavior.

Flying Robot

A flying head robot. Not much else to say.

Gabyoall Robot

This might be a version of the Gabyoall/Spine robot. Mega Man 5 is the only title in the classic series without a Gabyoall-type robot, but it looks like one was planned.

Grenade Robot

A robot that would fly at Mega Man and explode after hitting him or a wall. After exploding, debris would spawn in four directions.

The Jet Bomb is the final version of this enemy.

Hammer Robot

A hammer robot. Kind of obvious how this would work.

A similar enemy, Kao ga Mehda, would later appear in Mega Man 8.

Light Bulb Robot

A simple flying robot that would fire at Mega Man.

An enemy with a similar design and function, Tondeall, appears in the final game.

Miscellaneous

Early Giree Sprites

Early	Final

A less detailed version of the Giree enemy is found with the rest of the enemy graphics.

Unused Napalm Man Missile Sprites

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.

Regional Differences

Rockman 5	Mega Man 5

To fit the game's international title, four of the Beat plates were changed to spell "MEGA" instead of "ROCK". 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.

Dr. Wily Reveal Cutscene

To do: Maybe add a .gif or video illustrating the difference?

Due to text differences, the cutscene after the Dark Man 4 fight where Dr. Wily delivers his spiel is a whole eighteen seconds faster in the Japanese version!