and are 2004 tactical role-playing games developed and published by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld game console. Combined, they make up the fifth mainline installment in the Mega Man Battle Network series, and follows Lan Hikari and his NetNavi MegaMan.EXE as they attempt to take down Nebula once again, who have kidnapped Lan's father Yuichiro Hikari and taken over the internet, with an anti-Nebula task force.
Development on the game started during the localization of Battle Network 4, and alongside the development of 4.5: Real Operation. It was announced in CoroCoro Comics in August 2004, with Team ProtoMan releasing in December 2004 in Japan; Team Colonel released three months later in February 2005, while both versions were released simultaneously for Western territories in June 2005. Battle Network 5 retains the same gameplay as its predecessor, but with the addition of "Liberation Missions" where the player must liberate squares with limited time to defeat the boss. The game also includes crossover content with the Boktai series by Konami.
Mega Man Battle Network 5 received a generally tepid reception from critics, with many finding it too similar to previous entries, and criticizing the aging presentation; in mid-2005, both versions were combined and re-released for the Nintendo DS as , which has updated sound and additional content not found in the GBA versions. The GBA versions were re-released through the Wii U Virtual Console in 2015, and as part of the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection compilation in 2023. It was followed up by Mega Man Battle Network 6 in 2005, which acted as the finale of the series.
Gameplay
left|thumb|MegaMan.EXE battles viruses in Double Team DS.
The gameplay of Mega Man Battle Network 5 is largely similar to that of its predecessors. The player explores the real world through Lan Hikari and the Net through MegaMan.EXE. When Lan plugs his PET, a handheld computer, into a computer with an interface jack, he can upload MegaMan.EXE to the cyber network, allowing him to explore and fight viruses as random encounters.
MegaMan.EXE joins a team led by either Lan's and MegaMan.EXE's rivals Chaud and ProtoMan.EXE or new characters Baryl and Colonel.EXE, and the members of this team assist MegaMan in various ways. MegaMan.EXE can take on the attributes of one of his teammates with a Soul Unison. The Dark Chip system from the previous game was also reworked, with them now having to be obtained; it is also possible to use them to activate a "Chaos Unison", which resembles a normal Soul Unison with the main difference being that the Mega Buster is replaced with the effects of the Dark Chip he used for the Chaos Unison. While using this effect doesn't cause HP loss, it has to be done with careful timing, as charging with poor timing will end the Chaos Unison and cause an invincible, evil version of MegaMan.EXE to join the viruses and attack him for a short period of time using random battle chips. such as a crossover battle feature unlocked by combining both Battle Network 5 and Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django. The game was first advertised in the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comics in August 2004.
Team ProtoMan released in Japan on December 9, 2004, and in North America on December 12, 2015. The games are also included in the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam, released in 2023.
Double Team DS
thumb|The updated version, titled Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team DS released for the [[Nintendo DS console.]]
In May 2005, it was officially announced that both games would be coming to the Nintendo DS as Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team DS, although its existence was previously hinted at when Nintendo Power added an untitled Battle Network game to its release schedule. It was released in Japan on July 21, 2005, The DS version was also handled by 14 other people.
The developers had also experimented with fully 3D graphics early on, as 3D models of several areas and characters were found within the data of Mega Man Star Force, although Christian Svennson, who served as Capcom's Vice President of Strategic Planning & Business Development, theorized in 2009 that the assets may have been made as a test of the DS' capabilities.