vs
Completely opposite opinions huh? Well, I can't say which one is a better idea: no weight with extremely high reps (definitely safe, but wouldn't build much strength), or high weight with spotter (still dangerous). But I can be sure about one thing: 500 reps of bodyweight squat is much more painful, my best attempt was 150 and my heart was jumping out of my chest - 5 reps of heavy weight squat is dangerous but require much less mental toughness.

I would stick with 5 reps heavy weight.

If you're talking about martial art, then doing 500 squats is not much better than doing low horse stance for 30'. And isometric build incredible strength.
I agree that with 500 squat you have achieve respected gain. But still I guarantee that you cannot compete BB squat with someone who train heavy weight squat for the same amount of time. Strength and endurance are two different aspects and you can't excel in both, you can only excel in what you train for.

I'd definitely go for squats, but since Mike asked this question, no matter what most people say here, I know he'll not do free weight squats, maybe only with machines, which pretty much locks any natural movement the torso and knees are designed to execute, as well as eliminating all stabilisers, therefore I'll recommend lunges.

Some people said lunges felt safer for them, yet I know many people who find lunges harder on joints, I could be one of them but I love both exercises and find them to work for different purposes (squats being superior), instead of showing them as alternatives to each other. Just like we divide upper body exercises
 
1. Horizontal pull
2. Horizontal push
3. Vertical pull
4. Vertical push
5. The rest, we could easily divide lower body exercises

1. Squats
2. Deadlifts
3. Lunges
4. Twist
5. The rest, which means all 10 categories should be in an average person's routine (What I mean by "the rest" is additional exercises, such as bicep curls, tricep extensions for the upper body, crunches, calf raises, leg raises, leg curls etc for the lower body. Which one of these exercises you choose to do depends on your view and personal needs. That's my classification though, not written on the stone. Personally I always do cleans too but our subject here is hypertrophy, not necessarily sports-based exercises). This does not mean you can't go anywhere without these basic exercises such as squats, but avoiding them and their variations is one of the ways to limit your potential very well. They're essential if you want to be as strong as you look, but if you want to look good but fragile like some valuable vase in a museum, go do leg extensions, it'd still work for hypertrophy (though not as fast as squats would).

By the way I agree with wolf squats being harder for the taller, but after watching dwight howard doing heavy barbell squats, I believe everyone can do it

Woodchops, reverse pushups, russian twists, t-pushups, swiss ball rolls, lower body russian twists, etc. They have really big functional importance, both in real life tasks and all sports.

thats the exact same with me im feeling the DOMs in my legs from sunday

I don't care much about big quad. I want the good feeling that squat give me though. I don't like Lunges as much because I feel too much burn on leg but don't feel the whole body tightness like in squat.
(Does anyone have that feeling? Feeling like you are focusing strength your whole body to turn Supersayan or something  )

Do the German Volume Training 10X10. Or if you will, do 20repsX10 (50% weight 1RM).

Magnus whats your leg workout for martial arts?

I prefer Lunges instead of Squats.
Personnally, i dont like to do "hard" exercies for my legs, like Squats and Deadlift.
I suffer in focus when doing those, and definitly prefer lunges and leg extensions for quads.