The Mega(man) Battle Network LP!

This cube is really stupid in the fact that you have to beat Beastman Beta in Lan’s Doghouse after you fight Beastman Beta for Rank 8 in order to open the cube.

So yeah, all that time I spent getting Beastman V2 and V3 means nothing.




This is a chip I’ve been waiting for. Oh, and Attack +30 *, but it’s a Mega chip now so it‘s much less useful.



Step Cross is essentially Step Sword, only instead of a measly Wide Sword, Megaman somehow releases an X shaped slash that deals 260 damage if you hit the enemy right in the center of the X.

More importantly, it’s part of a Program Advance. But before I talk about that.





You need to have Black Mind installed for him to give the code.

The three S2 *letter* Error codes are used for a specific program we’ll get post-game.

Getting back to Step Cross P, excuse me while I backtrack a bit to find a good test dummy.






Plantman has a new move now. Every time he plants his vines into the ground, he’ll form a Leaf Shield (you‘d think it‘d be Plant Shield, but nope, it‘s the Leaf Shield chip from BN1). Anything that hits the shield will dissipate it, but the damage you would have dealt goes to Plantman’s HP.

In other words, just shoot it with the buster.

Also, turns out you can destroy his desperation attack plants.

It took a few resets until I finally got the components I needed before I deleted Plantman Alpha (Reflecting his thorn barrages quickly chews through his HP).








Evil Cut is essentially a three part Step Sword that can do up to 600 damage. It’s a very useful Program Advance as long as the opponent is exactly two steps in front of you.

But how can you guarantee that?

(Excuse me while I reset and actually fight Plantman Alpha so my results screen looks more impressive).



With this.

Like Flashman, Plantman is one of the most broken Navi chips in the series.

Unlike Flashman, Plantman is the most broken Navi chip in the series. In my opinion anyways.



To Hospital Computer 3.

Anyways, back to the awesomeness that is Plantman.






Plantman’s chip has him do his vine attack, hitting everything on the opponent’s side of the field three times.



And if anything survives, they’ll be prevented from moving by vines that will hit the enemy a certain amount of times (twice for V1, three times for V2, and four times for V3 and V4) for 30 damage each before they fade.

Alright, let’s break down why Plantman is better than Flashman.

First, like Flashman, Plantman hits the entire enemy field for piercing, elemental damage. However, while Flashman V1 only does 50 damage, Plantman V1 does 90 damage in total. That, incidentally, is the amount of damage Flashman V3 does.

Second, as a multiple hit attack, Plantman benefits from Attack + chips far more than Flashman does. Just one Wood +30 elevates Plantman V1’s total damage to 210. Even on ice, Flashman V1 needs three Elec +30’s to surpass that.

Third, Plantman can hit Momogra viruses while they’re underground, making things much simpler. Meanwhile, Flashman can only hit them after they pop up behind you.

Fourth, while both Plantman and Flashman can combo into Plasma 3, Higsby’s order system gives out Plasma 3 P’s. That, and you can only get Plasma 3 F in White anyways, so you‘re kind of stuck with Plantman. (This advantage is admittingly mainly Blue version only).

Fifth, Flashman folders require Ice Stage in order to run smoothly. If you don’t have Float Shoes, that’s naturally a massive pain. Plantman folders, on the other hand, don’t need any more set-up than a bunch of Attack + chips.

Now, with all of that said, excuse me while I head over to Hospital 3 and go get Plantman V2-V4.



The following are all of the result screens I got while resetting after my first Plantman Beta battle (which was a Rank 9 with a 1000 Z prize).

Sheesh, finally.

Alright, quick hack later and



Just to hammer in how easy Plantman is as long as you have the Reflect program installed, I picked Elec Team.








There we go.

Next time: One of the more theory provoking parts of the game.

Current Folder

Air Shot 2 *
Sword L x2
Wide Sword L x2
Long Sword L x2
Fire Sword P x2
Bamboo Sword P
Air Sword *
Step Sword P
Step Cross P
Guts Straight P
Guard * x2
Area Grab L x2
Invisible * x2
Attack +10 * x3
Wood +30 * x2
Hero Sword P
Full Custom *
Plantman V2 P
Plantman V3 P
Plantman V4 P

Total codes (not counting * code): 2

So I just noticed that I’ve been posting that I have two Bamboo Sword Ps in my folder. While that would be really awesome, unfortunately I only have one.

Wait, I thought there were Area Grab *'s in that version?

If you're talking about Blue, it gives you one Area Grab *, but I put that one in my Flashman folder and there's no real need to take it out.

If you're talking about White, an early Net Dealer sells I think three of them, but I'm not playing that version so yeah.

...To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what your question was about.

Whoops, thought you were playing White version and was confused about why you didn't have any in this folder.

Wow, this update should have been done three days ago, but I’ve just been ignoring it in favor of playing Megaman X Command Mission, which is hilariously bad (or at least the beginning is). Seriously, between laughing at the all of the forced drama (“Oh no! The guy I literally JUST MET has, in the span of the two minutes since I met him, ripped out his core, given it to me, and gone to commit suicide to stop three robots I could have handled on my own!”), getting frustrated at the unbalanced battle system (either fight long, uphill battles or go Hyper and crush all opposition), and wincing at Super Macho X (“A FILTHY BOUNTY HUNTER LIKE YOU HAS NO RIGHT TO TOUCH THAT!”), I’ve been ignoring the good RPGs in the Megaman series.

Alright, back to Under 4.



Oh hey, another one.



If you’re wondering why it’s a different element now, it’s because before I hacked in Elec Team I activated the One Battle For Style Change code and accepted the new Wood Style (Wood Custom, I think). So as far as the game is concerned, right now I’m in a Wood style. And I am, so things worked out just fine if you ask me.

As for why it’s Team, the One Battle For Style Change code has to be deactivated during the Style Change animation, or the next battle will also give a Style Change. Since I finished this battle with a quick Plantman V2, all I have is one Team point, so naturally I got a Team Style.

I’m sure none of you needed that explained to you, but meh.



If I ever find the guy who thought up Press, I’m going to Press... him… or something.

Anyways, I’d like to go check out Under 5-7, but I really should advance the plot now.




I see nothing wrong with descending down a ramp that leads to a dead end.



Megaman gasps and turns around.




Megaman asks which navi is Rank 3.




The navi snickers and orders his companions to attack.






The return of the cyber boulder sprite. I think this is the fourth use total?

The navis throw the boulder. But before it reaches Megaman, a familiar face warps in.





Seems the sprite designers got pretty lazy about how they were going to animate Gutsman punching the stone, and just made it suddenly shrink then collapse into more fragments then it should have had.

Oh well, you can’t tell at normal speed.




Megaman wonders if he’s dreaming.





Dex explains that they’ve been training hard in Netopia.





The screen shifts to the Heel navis, who look around while the screen shakes from the Guts Hammer. However, nothing happens.




Dex warns them not to underestimate Gutsman.

The screen begins to shake again.




Kind of a bad image, but better than nothing. Basically, a burst of air(?) came up under each navi.



With one final scream, the navis finish exploding. The camera then scrolls back to Gutsman and Megaman.






So Lan blowing off Mayl and Yai back then turned out to be a good thing.



You mean you tracked Megaman’s signal deep into the Undernet and somehow warped straight there.

Man, I really wish Megaman could instant warp to places too.







Dex recommends Lan jack out so they can talk over what’s happened. He then proceeds to jack out Gutsman.

But before Lan can jack out Megaman, Gutsman jacks back in.

“Gutsman” snickers.





And of all people to copy you chose Gutsman?

Megaman’s surprised to hear he’s talking with Rank 3. He then realizes that the subordinates Gutsman beat weren’t just random Heel navis.



Seems kind of odd that Rank 6 through Rank 3 are all working together.



Copyman asks if Megaman is looking for the Forbidden Program. In response, Megaman asks if Copyman knows S.




Er… what?



Yeah, because they were morons who didn’t move.



Gutsman Beta has a very powerful new move. If you take too long to finish him off while he’s at critical HP, he’ll suddenly start moving around rapidly. Then




Gutsman, now invincible, proceeds to rapidly move around his area, firing 150 damage Rocket Guts Punches down the rows. He’ll stop eventually.

Copyman explains that that’s why everyone calls him S.

Megaman asks where S is now. Copyman admits he doesn’t know, but notes that Rank 2 should.



Megaman excitedly notes that he and Lan are only one navi away from S.






Proclaiming he never wants to see Megaman’s face again, Copyman logs out.

Alright, let’s go talk with Dex.



Dex laughs that he was going to stun Lan with tales about Netopia, but notes that it seems Lan’s gotten involved with something dangerous again.




Hmm, Dex doesn’t seem surprised that Lan took so long to jack out.

Okay, on to the Copyman theory.

Basically, some people think that Copyman and his subordinates were actually Yuichiro and three other SciLab scientists. This explains why Rank 6 to Rank 3 were all working together, why Rank 3 was able to get Lan’s contact information so fast, why Dex didn’t seem too surprised that Lan took so long to jack out, and why Copyman took the loss fairly well.

But where’s the proof? Alright, remember how back in BN2, Yuichiro was revealed to be the Navi Master? And how he had the V2 Navi data for all non-Gospel/WWW navis?

Yeah.

The theory itself branches into two similar theories: either Copyman is just the Gutsman V2 data Yuichiro made as the Navi Master, or Yuichiro’s navi is actually Copyman, and the V2 data boss rush was just Megaman fighting Copyman over and over.

The former sub-theory would imply that Yuichiro is such a good programmer that he was able to effectively copy other navis without taking a look at their base code (remember, Chaud refused to give Protoman’s back-up data to Yuichiro) .

The latter sub-theory would imply that Yuichiro is such a good operator that he was able to use a series of completely different navis without negatively effecting their power in any way.

Personally, I go with the latter sub-theory. Why? Because it kind of explains just why Lan is such a good operator (in BN5 and BN6, and technically Battle Chip Challenge, Lan also can operate a series of completely different navis. To be sure, he can’t operate them as efficiently as their own operators, but he’s able to improve significantly over time with relatively little practice); it’s in the blood.

Anyways, as to why Yuichiro would battle his sons, it’s likely he just wants to test them.

Alright, we may as well check in with the other two.




I wonder when Dex got the news about Lan anyways. I mean, Lan’s only been moping for three days.




*sigh*

Alright, off to find the “place of battle”!



Well thanks random old man.



This looks like the place.



Are those…




Oh God.




That doesn’t even make sense.




Looks more like Net Purple to me, but Purple rangers don’t exist. At least, not when I watched Power Rangers, and I doubt Super Sentai had them either.




Meh.




Again, meh.

You know, these guys look a lot different from



The statues outside.



Anyways…

Megaman introduces himself with both his name and his rank. He then announces that he’s looking for S.




Bowlman then admits the best way to meet S is raising one’s rank.









I’m not sure if this line’s mugshot was supposed to be Bowlman‘s.



Megaman’s already done that.



Bowlman’s attacks, as you might have guessed, all center around bowling.




His main attack has him rapidly fire bowling pins down all three of your rows. These pins can trigger Reflect, but they’ll pierce right through it. If you do enough damage to the pins, though, they’ll bounce up… and land on your panel, so don’t do that (doesn‘t really matter though; unless you have max Attack and Speed, your buster won’t be able to effectively stop the pins before they get too close. And that’s just for V1).

If you want to dodge this, either figure out the timing to avoid it with repeated up-down movements (it’s not too hard at V1), or just stop Bowlman before he uses it.

Or use Invisible.




Bowlman’s second attack has him summon bowling pins on your side of the field. He will then roll a ball down the row, and any bowling pins hit will fly towards your panel.

Note the ball has a Breaking element.

Anyways, Bowlman is either a tremendous pain in the ass or a total chump. It all depends on whether or not you can stop his bowling pin barrage.




My folder can totally do that, so I’m set.










I’m not sure why Megaman is so stunned in that last picture. Maybe he’s amazed he’s found another navi without “man” at the end of their name?

Megaman asks where he can find Serenade. Bowlman answers that he can be found deep within Under Square.



Megaman asks how he can get to the area.








Er, could you give a hint?

Boy, that’s specific.




Huh, that’s strange. The buckets that were here are gone now.



Hmm… this is suspicious, but I don’t see any boulders.



I do see a Quiz person though. Might as well get this over with.

Okay, seriously, let’s go to the Under Server.



I don’t know about you, but I’m not seeing a boulder.

Lan ends up in a dim room.




Lan walks over to the server and marvels at its size.




Lan looks around rapidly, but finds nothing. Meanwhile, the voice once again asks Rank 2 to jack in.







We end up behind the statue in Under Square.



Megaman obliges and runs up a nearby ramp.



The voice compliments Megaman for coming so far.

After a bit of silence, Serenade answers that, unfortunately, the Forbidden Program can not simply be given.



Well, unless all of the BN2 Bonus bosses were liars, Megaman’s clear for it.









The ball floats over to Megaman.










Megaman doesn’t respond.

Megaman doesn’t move.




Those lying bonus bosses!



Next time: More bad things happen.

Current Folder

Air Shot 2 *
Sword L x2
Wide Sword L x2
Long Sword L x2
Fire Sword P x2
Bamboo Sword P
Air Sword *
Step Sword P
Step Cross P
Guts Straight P
Guard * x2
Area Grab L x2
Invisible * x2
Attack +10 * x3
Wood +30 * x2
Hero Sword P
Full Custom *
Plantman V2 P
Plantman V3 P
Plantman V4 P

Total codes (not counting * code): 2

Well, that's the end of the LP. I enjoyed it while it lasted, the kinda sudden cliffhanger ending made it seem like the developers ran out of budget at the last second, but it was still a pretty good game. Onto Battle Network 5!

Yeah, I never got this part of the game. It wasn't until looking at Nethack LPs years later that I learned about the use of cocktarice corpses to freeze enemies, so that a gloved Gutsman swinging Megaman around to delete everything made more sense. It also explains why Battle Network 4's plot makes zero sense.

Speaking of BN5- I just got double team DS today, so I have the feeling I'm gunna have fun playing along with it XD

Despite the fact that this is a short update (the upcoming events deserve their own update), Photobucket proved unable to handle uploading the massive figure that is 143 until an hour had passed.





It’s never really explained why the Forbidden Program takes so long to recognize Megaman as a Chosen One. If I were to take a guess though, it had to scan Megaman’s data, and as a digitalized human soul there’s a lot to look through.



Before Lan can go into a full fledged rant, Serenade interrupts him.




Lan cheers that the mission is over, causing Megaman to remind him that they still have to get Giga Freeze over to the Officials.




After Megaman jacks out, Serenade mutters one last thing.



Meanwhile, in the real world





An unexpected figure rolls over.



Remember how I pointed out that Mamoru’s last name was Ura (it means “reverse“, IIRC)? In the Japanese version, the Undernet is called the Uranet.

As a complete side note, as I mentioned earlier in a spoiler note, I think the reason Lan got all of that praise for saving the hospital was because Mamoru’s family pulled some strings.

Lan’s stunned that the Undernet was a SciLab project.









As a note, this all makes sense when we find out what Alpha is.

Lan’s amazed at the power of Giga Freeze.

Mamoru continues his explanation, revealing the Undernet was created as an entirely separate Net so that if any accidents occurred, the damage would be contained.

However, because it was so isolated it ended up also being the perfect hiding place for criminals.










Uh-oh.

Err, I think you can just walk up and open each gate one by one. Drilling through all of them is pretty unnecessary and just alerts authority figu-







As soon as he destroys the last gate, Drillman returns to his normal form.



Drillman picks up Alpha.



Drillman turns around and bitterly notes the Officials have come.

What, is he going to just fly away?





What.




So yeah, Drillman can create his own shortcuts. I’ve got to hand it to Wily, that’s pretty impressive.

I’ve actually heard some complaints about this ability. It pretty much boils down to: if Drillman can just warp wherever he wants, what was the point of even getting the Tetra Codes?

I personally think Alpha’s defenses were more than just those four barriers; they probably also had protection around the entire area that would only go down with the Tetra Gates because if they needed to release Alpha for whatever reason, to do his thing he has to be able to spread out..

Now then, back to Lan.




Wow, that’s pretty impressi- huh, SciLab 1? Oh right, yeah, Net Society’s in danger.



Chaud seems to have vanished. How helpful of him.




Yeah, I guess we can’t possibly expect the Officials to do their job and chase Drillman themselves.



Man, this guy sure is negative.



Alright, let’s see where this hole goes.




Huh. You know, now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve fully explored the Undernet yet.

You can actually enter Under 5 from an alternate warp in Under Square, but this navi will block you from going any further.

Anyways, I need to warp back to the Under Square so I can get to Under 3, allowing me to return to Under 2 after a brief cut through Under 1 so I can go to Under 4 so I can go to the upper levels of Under 5.

Confused yet?




Fitting, but useless.

Alright, back to the bottom part of Under 5.



This warp is probably the best way to get into the Undernet. Beats installing then uninstalling Press anyways.



Under 5 has a lot of one way panels, but it’s mostly just straightforward “You can’t go here from this direction”.



Under 6, on the other hand, is just a giant maze.



Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve beaten Flamman Alpha yet. Should probably get around to that soon, since his cube blocks the way to Under 6.




This is probably the only program worth using, but it’s mostly useless due to its auto-bug.

By auto-bug, I mean that even if you install this program correctly, it will give Megaman a bug. Buster Max’s auto-bug causes Megaman to automatically use every chip he has one after another as soon as you exit the custom menu.

I remember freaking out when that happened the first time I played this game. I also recall thinking the problem was my A button (despite the fact the game didn’t rapidly scroll through dialog), resulting in me putting my SP through all sorts of stress.

Anyways, installing Bug Stop will prevent Buster Max’s auto-bug. However, I don’t really have enough space for both of them right now, so oh well.

Back to Under 5.




Huh, I forgot that the game auto-restores your HP before a Navi Alpha battle.




Just a second over the limit.



To Yoka 1, specifically the area around the water heater. Now that I mention it, that water heater’s there to help mask the Under Server’s presence (though if you ask me it just draws attention to it).

Drillman is overjoyed at how lucky his day has been.



Megaman is confused.




What.



How is that even possible?



As you can see, Drillman has very low HP. There is a very good reason for this.




Drillman, along with two other drills, will constantly be rocketing down all three rows throughout the battle. Note that the drills block anything that isn’t a breaking attack and that Drillman actually takes up two panels.

Dodging this isn’t really that hard at V1, but at later versions Drillman moves like lightning.




One way to handle this is to use the various Wide Sword variants to hit him from another row.



Another is Slasher, in one of its very few uses.




And then there’s Plantman, who is basically anti-Drillman.

Drillman actually has another attack, but his V1 form doesn’t use it.






The screen goes white as Drillman explodes. When the light fades, all that is left is Alpha.




*sigh*

Lan tells Megaman to get Alpha back to SciLab. But before Megaman can move, the screen suddenly warps for a bit.





Bass floats over and retrieves Alpha.





Megaman confirms, noting that it’s their only chance.

The screen goes white as Lan wonders if it worked.




Frustrated, Lan wonders why Bass hasn’t frozen. At the same time, Megaman realizes that Bass must be a Chosen One as well.

Bass dissipates Giga Freeze.





Bass warps out.





“Yeah, uh, Chaud? Everything’s gone to hell.”

The scene cuts to WWW HQ.




Wily approaches the machine.