The Mega(man) Battle Network LP!

What, are you suspicious of Lan?



The scene changes.





Mayl heads for the door, all thoughts of tea forgotten.

After a short pause she walks back.











Lan agrees and thanks Mayl.



Ms. Mari thinks that’s a splendid idea.



Higsby notes it must be like when he gets a rare chip.

Not… really.






Lan and Higsby quickly rush to the kitchen.







Er… she just said the bubbles don’t bre-



Never mind.

Higsby quickly backs away.




Megaman’s stunned (or annoyed, hard to tell) that the WWW have struck again, and declares that they can’t let the WWW get away with this. He reminds Lan that the Bubble Wash is connected to the Net, so they should be able to trace the perpetrator.





Higsby tells Lan to contact him if he runs into any trouble.



I’m going to be blunt.




Everything about this scenario is idiotic.




Megaman warps in.

Megaman orders Bubbleman to dissolve the bubbles.




Bubbleman realizes that if he deletes Megaman, Wily will reward him.



Lan asks if Megaman is ready for battle.



…What? It’s the Net. There isn’t going to be much of a difference no matter where you are.



Hey, Megaman, shouldn’t you shoot Bubbleman right now?



…The only thing behind Megaman is a warp to Mayl’s HP. He’d have to be an absolute moron to fall for tha-



*sigh*



It’s kind of hard to show, but Bubbleman just jumped over the Security Cube. Which really makes me wonder as to the effectiveness of said cubes.



Lan orders Megaman to chase after Bubbleman.





I have no idea why or how Bubbleman is leaking bubbles.

After that, we get some mail from Mayl.

Let’s not ask how she managed to type that.

Anyways, she gives us Mayl Code, which lets us pass through the Security Cube, and Roll V2.



So even though this random NPC noticed Bubbleman run by…




The trained official didn’t. Hmm.




I’d like to make a snaky comment here, but I just can’t find the words.




So apparently Bubbleman has a CYoka Pass.



All of the other Officials are too busy being idiots. Sorry.



Are you kidding me? Just follow the bubbles!




Hell, just follow the blue path!




He doesn’t need to. He has a gun.

So apparently Bubbleman is made out of some really light weight data (because data has weight now apparently), and as such is capable of balancing on a path that honestly any standard navi should be able to walk on.



Bubbleman begins to dance.



NO IT’S NOT.



See? Megaman can totally walk on that!




Why don’t you just SHOOT BUBBLEMAN. WITH THE MEGABUSTER.





Megaman remarks that if he was compressed, he’d be able to easily cross the bridge.

Lan wonders where they can get a compression program. Megaman recommends SciLab.




Bubbleman runs off.

Lan notes they have no choice but to find a compression program.

At this point, we can finally exit Mayl’s house.



Everyone in ACDC is panicking about this, so it seems quite a few people bought the Bubble Wash.

The program apologizes for being rude and gives us what we need.



Megaman tells Lan to insert the Press Data inside the Navi Customizer.









Lan groans that of course Yuichiro would be gone at a time like this. He wonders who they should ask for help, and if they even have time to go search.

Megaman then suddenly remembers something.






Higsby replies that he’s never heard of a Navi Customizer, but if the program only needs a few modifications he should be capable of doing it.




Lan begins to panic.

What we need is a deus ex machina.









We get one.

Sure is convenient Fred just happened to be wandering around out here right?

Lan thanks Fred. In response, Fred rushes off.





Lan decides to ask Yuichiro the next time he sees him.



Press is one of the few things BN3 got wrong. But really, I can see where the designers were going with this. BN3’s new gimmick was the Navi Customizer, so why not have some of the programs affect the story?



Why not? Because you have limited space on the NC and because Press gives no positive benefits at all. It can’t even be compressed.



And all it does is shrink Megaman’s sprite and slow his overall movement. You still have to fight viruses too, which are apparently also compressed.



Yay.

Another nearby BMD held a Full Energy.




While it’s easy to get Bug Frags, the traders ask for an exorbitant amount.

Anyways, past the bridge Bubbleman ditched us at was a PMD with a Tornado L.



Bubbleman boasts he won’t be defeated that easily.

Megaman finally decides to use the Megabuster.



Too late now.












Because obviously it’s not safe with you behind an unbreakable “door”.




Bubbleman tells them to just go.

The three navis prepare to leave, but the leader suddenly stops.










Bubbleman turns to Megaman and explains his underlings left with the only thing that can break his Bubble Door: the Needle.

Lan and Megaman decide to rush over to ACDC 2.

After that, we get some mail form Higsby, alerting us the bubbles have turned yellow.



They have.






In White, you’d have to face a significantly more annoying battle against Pengis.




As in the last game, Yuichiro joins the conversation somehow.





Yay.

Okay, before I get started on the individual Styles and how they’ve changed, I should probably note the main differences between BN2 styles and BN3 styles.



First off, and most importantly, you can now only have one style.



Second, your style (not your element), as I mentioned earlier, will determine what color programs you can use. As you can see, Custom allows you to use Blue programs.



Third, though you can level up Styles you can no longer boost the damage of the elemental charge shot without the use of a Weapon Level +1 plus program.




Like the last game, you level up your styles by defeating viruses. However, every time you do so you’ll gain a Navi Customizer program. The max level for most of the styles is four, so that’s three new programs total.




If you ever decide to switch to Normal Style (or if you just got a new style), you’ll probably need to reprogram.



This is what happens when you try and use a color your Style can’t process. You won’t be able to run the Navi Customizer until you fix the error. Of course in true BN3 tradition there’s a way around it, but that’s later.

Okay, let’s move on to the styles. In general, all of the returning styles were nerfed, but they also all got a new feature.

Note: When I say at base, I mean without the Navi Customizer.

Guts

Guts lost Super Armor at base, but it still doubles Buster Attack. It also no longer drops Rapid down to 1.

It’s new feature is the Guts Machinegun. If you mash B, Megaman will fire his buster five times at a speed far faster than Rapid 5.

It can use Red programs, and when leveled up it grants Super Armor, Break Buster, and Break Charge in that order and all Red. Super Armor is the same as always, and Break Buster and Break Charge simply allow either your normal shot or your Charged shot to pierce guards.

Team

Team now can only add 1 more Mega chip to your folder at base.

However, if you S rank a Beta Navi under 20 seconds while in Team, you’ll get a special V4 navi chip. As such, to 100% the game you basically need to use Team.

It can use Green programs, and when leveled up it grants a Green Mega Folder +1, a Pink Mega Folder +1, and a Green Mega Folder +2. As the name implies, these allow you to use more Mega chips. But since you can now only use one of each Mega chip, it’s pretty worthless.

Shield

Shield still has Fast Barrier, but it no longer has a < + B shield at base. Which is kind of odd since the sprite still has the little shield thing.

Anyways, if you equip the programs that grant it a shield, proper timing can have the shield absorb the attack and heal you. More notably, the shield will actually go up as fast as you press < + B, so it’s very possible to be invincible to all non-breaking attacks as long as your fingers can last.

It can use Blue programs, and when leveled up it grants Block, Shield, and Reflect, all Blue. They all have the same button input, but while Block halves damage, Shield simply stops the attack, and Reflect sends a shockwave back.

Custom

I’ll let Yuichiro explain this one again.



So yeah, Custom went from 8 chips to 6. Pretty significant nerf, but it’s still the best style out of the main four.

If you manage to S rank a virus while in Custom style without using your buster or any time freezing chips, you’ll get a Special Custom drop; in other words, the same drop as normal but in a unique code.

For example, if you S ranked a bunch of Canondumbs in Normal Style, you’d get a Cannon C. If you do it Custom style though, you’d get a Cannon *.

It’s notable that some chips in the game can only be acquired through Special Custom drops, so you need to go into this style.

As you saw earlier, it uses Blue programs, and when leveled up it grants a Blue Custom +1, a Yellow Custom +1, and a Blue Custom +2.

Time for the new styles.

Bug

Bug Style is weird. To get it, you have to fight with a glitch in your Navi Customizer.

Bug Style is essentially a slightly skewed game of chance. Every time you start a battle (and if the battle takes long enough during the battle as well), Megaman will randomly generate some bugs.

These bugs are either positive (max buster, invincibility, 10 chips on the Custom screen, etc) or negative (HP drain, forced movement, poison panel movement, etc).

However, while Megaman can generate all of the positive bugs at the same time, he can only have one negative bug at a time. So yeah.

It uses “Dark” (read: Gray) programs, of which there is only one in the game. It only goes up to level 3, but it grants two ridiculously amazing programs: a White Bug Stopper, which as the name implies stops Bugs, and a Dark/Gray Dark License, which allows you to use certain chips without fulfilling the necessary requirements.

Shadow

Shadow Style is annoying to get. You have to set Invisible, Anti Damage, or Shadow as your Default chip and use it every battle. And you have to have Blue version.

It turns Megaman’s charge shot into a temporary Invisible (something like 1/10th the normal time), unless you equip a Weapon Level +1, in which case it will do the normal elemental charge shot.

It uses Red programs, and when leveled up it grants Shadow Shoes, Float Shoes, and Anti Damage, all Red.

Shadow Shoes just lets Megaman walk on cracks without breaking them. Float Shoes is one of the more broken Navi Customizer programs, as it allows Megaman to ignore all terrain but holes and poison. And Anti Damage allows Megaman to jump up and throw three stars at the enemies if you press < + B at the right time.

There’s one more Style, but it’s White version only. I’ll let Alpha Werewolf explain it.

Okay, on to the elements.

Heat, Wood, and Elec are still the same really. Heat is still meh, Wood now has some potential since Tornado does double damage on Sand, and Elec still sucks ass.

Aqua, on the other hand, was nerfed significantly. The charge time, even at Charge 5 is much slower (though it’s still the fastest charge, sadly enough), and the Bubbler now flinches the opponent.






More importantly are these. These Mega chips (and their previous forms, which we don’t have yet) can only be used with the appropriate Style Element.

Salamander can only be used if there’s a hole on the enemy field. Megaman will send a Fire pillar towards the hole.

Fountain can only be used if there’s a hole in front of Megaman. It sends an Aqua pillar out from the hole to home in (?) on an enemy.

Bolt only works if there are obstacles on the field. It will damage the area around each obstacle.

Gaia Blade is a really weird Long Sword. Basically, its attack power is equal to its base damage and the base damage of all the chips after it.

So if you used it and four Cannons (40 damage each), you’d do 260 Wood damage. It can be pretty game breaking if you use it right, but if you miss you’re probably screwed.

Okay, back to the game.





Megaman orders them to hand over the Needle.





Yeah.

Anyways, excuse me while I go get the Navi Customizer programs from each Style so I don’t have to spend time doing it later.

Another of the annoying things about BN3 is the sheer amount of grinding you have to do to get all of the Style programs. It’s 100 battles per style, and in general around 300 battles to fully level a Style.

Next time: The WTF conclusion to the Bubbleman scenario.

Current Folder

Cannon D x4
Air Shot 1 * x2
Air Shot 3 *
V-Gun D x2
Sword L
Wide Sword L
Long Sword L
Variable Sword F
Shock Wave D x4
Yo-Yo1 D
Guard * x3
Area Grab L
Area Grab *
Invisible * x3 - REGULAR
Attack +10 * x2
Flashman F
Flashman V3 F

Total codes (not counting * code): 3



I’m in Normal Style right now because, once again, I’m leaving it up to you guys what Style I should be.

I still want to see Shield styles, but this time let's see a Wood element.

Go with shield. Plus, you can still use blue parts. Your pick for element.

ElecCustom

Well, looks like I'm going to be using Shield again. Why do you guys like that style so much anyways?

Anyways, element is still undecided. As things are right now it's:

Heat: 1
Aqua: 0
Elec: 1
Wood: 1

Well, the reflect program DOES turn the final battles into chumps.

Defensive playstyles are AWESOEM! But that's just my personal preference more than anything.

Blech. I'd forgotten about Press. And also Tally - which I think is some weird translation quirk.

When I was playing through this game, I remember just plain not being able to get any style other than Custom, even when making sure to use Navi chips every round. Go fig.

As far as elements go, I'd say go for Wood, because that charged Tornado is about as broken as you can get for a charged shot.

About when do you get access to FolderBack again?

Use Wood style.
I would have voted for Bug style but it seems you've already decided.

Not... really.

Bass, yeah, but Alpha? Pretty much all of his main attacks count as Breaking.

Also, still waiting on you to explain Ground Style.

You get points for Custom the more chips you use per round. If you use all 5 slots, you'll get 60 Custom points, which overrules the bonuses gained from using a Navi chip (50 points).

Adding also gives Custom points (30). And since it's unlikely that you'll be able to get Navi chips every turn, you're probably going to have to do that.

Team Style is only really possible once your Memory is high enough to set one as a regular.

Anyways, looks like we're going with Wood Shield. Guess I should start incorporating Gaia Blade into my folder.

Another upload, another spectacular failure by Photobucket.



Well, time to modify the NC.





There goes what use my buster had. Oh well, Custom +2 makes up for it.

Alright, let’s get to SciLab 1.





Megaman demands they hand over the Needle.






One of the navis ask where they should run to next.



So yeah, in the end we just head back to where we started.

Bubbleman walks off.












You already said that.

And really, if they’re so good at running why did they even bother to fight at all? They should have just lead Megaman on a wild goose chase.

Nope, full HP.





Lan gets a phone call from Higsby at this point.







That’s what Bubbleman says but there’s apparently still enough time before the explosion for us to fight him.

Many people consider Bubbleman to be one of the hardest bosses in the game.

This is a completely false statement. Heck, I’d consider Punk for that position.

That’s not to say Bubbleman is a piece of cake though.

Bubbleman is the most annoying boss in the game to newbie players.

There are various reasons (for example, to fight his Beta form you have to be in critical HP. Seriously.), but the main reason is that hole in the center of his field.



From the hole, bubbles will constantly spawn. They only have 1 HP, but they take up space and damage you if you walk into them.



Meanwhile, Bubbleman will throw crabs at you. They essentially act like Magnet Missiles, amusingly enough.



Every now and then, a bubble will spawn with a fish in it. Popping the bubble will cause it to fly down its row. Later forms will also have Bubble Mines. These bubbles won’t pop as easily, and if they line up next to Megaman, they’ll detonate, hitting the 3x3 area around them.



At low HP Bubbleman will throw up a Bubble Wrap and start shooting harpoons at you.

Take all of this, and add the fact that Bubbleman is not above hiding behind that rock.

So how do you deal with him?

There are actually many ways, depending on your style and your folder.



If you’re Elec Style, you can take advantage of the rock and all of the bubbles he spawns with Bolt (and you can actually get Lightning, Bolt’s predecessor, by now) to hit him for a massive 420 damage (840 if you do it right). This is pretty much instant deletion.




Other elements can either use the hole for their benefit with Geyser, or abuse the fact that Bubbleman stays in the back row with Boomerang or Lance.




Moving on to the individual Styles, while Team can’t do that much, Shield (and Custom since they both use Blue programs) can abuse the shield to completely nullify all of his moves but the harpoons. Hell, Shield style can use it as free HP.

Likewise, Shadow (and Guts since, again, they share colors) can use the Anti Damage program to great effect here.



And if you’re good at it, Elemental Sonic Wave is just one big screw you to Bubbleman. As long as you do it on the bottom row anyways; otherwise you’ll just hit the rock.



Area Grab can also completely change the tide of the battle, as it puts Bubbleman in range of many powerful attacks.



Like Gaia Blade. Remember, its damage is 100 + the base power of all chips behind it. So if used it with two Shockwaves and a Cannon…



260 damage.

But if you’re feeling REALLY cheap, as in, “I don’t even give a damn anymore” cheap, there’s an instant kill tactic you can do right now.




Requiring a whopping four Mega chips to perform, Master Style is one of the worst program advances to build a folder around.




When used, Megaman will split into Heat Guts, Aqua Custom, and Elec Team Styles.

They will disappear, and the screen will start to flash







As each of the Styles start to lay waste to everything on the field that has HP. They can attack up to a total of 8 times, depending on how much HP the opponent(s) have, each time doing 100 damage.

They’re also supposed to attack from behind, but Bubbleman’s in the back row.

Once they’re done with the solo attacks, Megaman reappears on his side of the field.





He will charge while flashing through all of his Style colors. He will stop at his current color.



Then he nukes the entire screen for a final 100 damage.

So four Mega chips, three of which are generally useless, and only a 900 base damage PA. Gater did that for only three chips, and it could be used repeatedly.

But damn if it isn’t one of the most stylish PAs ever.



It also completely destroys Bubbleman. As long as he’s on the bottom panel of his column though; if you don’t have Air Shoes on you can’t hit him if he’s behind the hole, and you just plain can’t him if he’s behind the rock.

But then again, these all assume you either took the time to grind Style programs, or used the Number Trader. What if you didn’t do either of these?

Well for one, you’re either challenging yourself or are new to this game.



For two, there’s always Area Grab + Plasma.

So which of these strategies will I use to completely destroy Bubbleman?

None.



I’ve got Flashman on my side.








This… what… you were mocking us and now you’re… ARGH.





Well, I guess the threat is go-




Well, I guess Megaman will have to delete you now.



Out of here? To where? There’s a dead end behind you.

Bubbleman jumps up, but while he does so



Protoman shows up, late as usual.

And just what the hell were you two doing this entire scenario? Twiddling your thumbs? You do not get to show up at the very end, after the Navi has almost been deleted, steal the kill, and insult the guy who did all the work.



And they wouldn’t have been in this much danger if you had shown up on time for once in your life. Seriously, your navi may be renowned as being one of the fastest around but that doesn’t mean you should always wait until the last minute!

Anyways, Megaman and Lan are stunned at Douche’s words.








Hmm, let’s count the delete ratio for scenario bosses up to this point, shall we?

Megaman: Fireman, Numberman, Stoneman, Iceman, Colorman, Elecman, Bombman, Magicman, Life Virus, Swordman, Pharoahman, Starman, Zero (technically), Life Virus R, Airman, Cutman, Shadowman, Knightman, Magnetman, Freezeman, Gospel, Flashman, and Beastman.

Protoman: Quickman (after Megaman already critically damaged him) and Bubbleman (again, after Megaman had already heavily damaged him).

I don’t really think you get to talk Douche.






They actually do something kind of nifty here. There are two possible cut scenes; one with Lan running down the stairs, the other with Lan running through the door. Which one you get depends on where you were jacked in, obviously enough.



Mayl confirms.

Higsby then notes that he should probably get back to his shop.










Mayl thanks Lan again.




Lan is not having any of this ten year old romance stuff.





Lan sighs that Douche was right: because he hesitated, thousands of people almost died.