The Mega(man) Battle Network LP!

At Beta, Sonic Boom pretty much becomes impossible to avoid, especially if Protoman does three in a row. Just install Super Armor and tank it/interrupt Protoman.




Anyways, there are two more things I need to pick up.



First is this, which is given to you by a frightened Mr. Program (he stole something and thought you were there to arrest him, or something like that).



Second is this grade A example of “How the **** was I supposed to know this was here?!”



Alright, back to the Secret Area.










Before I go to the Bug Frag trader, there’s one last thing I need to note.



A Rook chip must be in your folder and set as your Regular.

As the game hints quite blatantly, for this cutscene to play you must spend 300 Bug Frags at the Bug Frag trader.











The screen goes blue. But this time, Megaman doesn’t look around.




The screen shakes.



The screen goes white.

Bass GS is pretty much the Beta form of Bass, with every attack doing ridiculous amounts of damage (for example, the buster shots do 300 damage each). But what does that GS stand for?





Gospel, that’s what. Remember that scene from the ending? Now we know who was growling.

In total, Bass has three new moves, all of them based around Gospel. The first two are Gospel Claws and Gospel Breath, which you just saw.





The last is Vanishing World, Bass’ desperation attack.

Anyways, why was I so adamant about making sure there was a Rook in my folder?





Because while it’s on the field it totally blocks all of Bass’ moves but Earthbreaker and Vanishing World, the two moves he barely uses. Well, as long as it’s in the front column anyways, or else it won’t be able to block Gospel Breath. Best of all, you can attack through the Rook.

Anyways, the strategy for this fight isn’t very hard. Set up the Rook, break the barrier with Hyper Ratton (since Bass stands still when he attacks this isn’t very hard), then attack at your leisure.








Because chess.



That too. Flashman is the best ally.

While Bass charges up an Earthbreaker, it explodes in his hand.





Lan asks if Megaman is okay. Megaman confirms.

Lan decides to change the subject.
















The chip we just got, Bass +, summons Bass to do an Earthbreaker. It’s pretty crappy, especially since it’s a Dark chip. White version gets the much more useful Bass chip, which has Bass do his Buster Spread, which can do ridiculously high damage if the opponent is Area Locked.

Now that I’ve defeated Bass GS, the Secret Area has one last challenge for me.




Time Trials. Oh well, I’ve beaten Bowlman Beta in under fifteen seconds. This shouldn’t be too har-



Ffff-

So yeah, the challenge here is to defeat the Alpha forms of the many bosses in under a certain time limit with preset folders. This requires a lot of luck, and the times range from generous to oh my God are you kidding me.

I love Battle Network 3, but I can not defend the Time Trials. They are just pure, unadulterated bullshit. And they would be brought back in the next three games, only optional, against the highest level of each boss, and with same time for everyone (under ten seconds).




But I may as well do a test run with my current Extra Folder (N1-C, the Snake folder) and see how things go. I’ll also be keeping my current Navi Customizer set-up, even though it’s far from ideal.




Huh, this might not be too bad after all.

The navi encourages us to try and beat every record.







Kingman’s Knight reduced me to about 100 HP, but the one good thing about the Time Trials is that you don’t need to worry about rank. So you can take all the damage you want, you’ll just get healed at the end.






Turns out Darkman can also summon Shadows to attack you.

After a bunch of resets, I gave up. Darkman is probably the worst opponent possible to use a Snake folder on (his bats and shadows can block your panels from firing snakes), and that's besides the fact that I‘m using a five code piece of crap folder. Combined with the game just laughing at me (Alright, I‘m in position to delete him! I just need some Snakes and… oh, I didn‘t get any. Okay, now I just need Darkman to go into the front column! Waiting… waiting… waiting… ARGH.), made my retries total into the eighties.

It’s possible (I got times as low as 46 seconds, yes that one was a real kick in the teeth), but it’s just not plausible without otherworldly amounts of luck. Or the Fastgauge program, but I’m not sure I could survive with this folder without Super Armor and Air Shoes.




Once again, I gave up. But this time I was my own worst enemy here, constantly making absolutely idiotic mistakes that forced me to restart over and over. So while I got a time as low as 40:12 (You can not even imagine how pissed off I was when I saw that), I decided that for the sake of getting this update done in a reasonable amount of time I should just get a better Extra Folder.




I’m sure I can at least handle Gutsman.

This battle required luck. Freaking Gutsman required luck. I had to just hope that Gutsman would use his panel cracking attack twice in a short amount of time so I could launch Snake.



Apprentice Folder is pretty much the best Extra Folder in the game.





As you can see, it has Air Shot/Guts Punch and Rock Cube, as well as Heat/Bubble Spread, Prism. Mine, and Metalman.



I’m also completely rearranging my Navi Customizer. I’ve installed Fast Gauge, Custom +2, Custom +1, Custom +1, and Super Armor via Extra Code.




With Flamman, the entire battle is basically hoping the candles don’t turn green.

Drillman was surprisingly easy. Heat/Bubble Spread pretty much ignore his drill defense, and Metalman just laughs at him.





I got really lucky in this fight and managed to assemble Bubble Spread early. As you might recall, hitting Desertman with an Aqua attack paralyzes him for a bit.





You know what’s the really cool thing about Spreaders? They work really well when there are obstacles on the field. Like, say, bubbles.





Since Beastman always returns to his original position after he attacks, hitting him with Rock Cubes is really easy.





That was close. To be honest though, I probably could have done this much faster just by powering up my charge shot.

I’m surprised I actually passed, considering how many mistakes I made. In hindsight, installing Reflect would have made this so much easier.








Whew.









Revenge is a dish best served on a perfectly-shaped cube of rock moving at high speeds.




Oh yeah, I forgot to show Protoman’s desperation move, Delta Ray Edge. He’ll let out a gleam of light, then:

Once the move ends, Megaman will be paralyzed.

Delta Ray Edge is awesome looking, but he’ll only do it if you’re in the center panel of the front or middle columns, as those two panels are the only ones where he can attack you from three angles.








Like I’d ever do this again.



Dark Aura is pretty bad. It requires a Hole, and all it does is give you a strong aura. White definitely gets the better deal here, as they get Serenade, which also requires a Hole but has Serenade do her Holy Burst attack. And like Bass, it can do a tremendous amount of damage if the opponent is Area Locked.

Anyways, to the title screen!



For beating Bass GS, I got a green star. For beating the Time Trials, I got the cyan star.

Beating Bass GS also gets me something else.





A useless program! Even when compressed (which turns the program into a “I” shape), Giga Folder 1 is pretty much never worth it.

Anyways, there’s only one more thing I have to do.



Complete my Mega chip library. All I need are the Mistman chips, but unfortunately I can’t just trade them over from Alpha Werewolf’s file due to extenuating circumstances.



And when I tried to use a GameFAQs save, I couldn’t get VBA Link to work.

So I had to cheat.

Unfortunately, unlike BN2 and its handy random encounter drop mod code, the only codes for getting specific chips I could find require you to have said chips in your library as well. So I had to hack in a complete Library.



So while I’ve completed my Mega Library…

I’ve also completed my Giga Library. I’ve removed all of the chips that you guys shouldn’t know about yet though.

As you may note the Bass + chip is not here. This is because the event chip Bass GS (which summons Bass to perform Vanishing World; powerful, but useless due to its X code) replaces it.



You’re also probably wondering where this came from. Well, remember BN2’s secret Versus chips? Delta Ray Edge (Balance in White) is pretty much BN3’s version of that, though thankfully there’s only one chip to find.

I think you can guess what Delta Ray Edge does. You’ll have to press A at the right time/mash A to get Protoman to do all three slashes though. And like when Protoman does it, there are only two panels where all three slices can hit.



Alright, five stars! I guess I’m done with the game. Not.

If highlight Continue, hold left, and input R R L R L R L L,



The stars squish together. Not only that, but in-game I’ve unlocked something very special.









The Omega Navis! These guys are hidden all over the place, and before you can actually fight any of them you have to go through three rounds of Omega viruses.

Gutsman Omega is pretty much the same as Gutsman Beta, just faster and stronger (duh). Oh, and he has Super Armor now.




The reward for beating an Omega navi is that navi’s V5 chip.



V5 chips are all Giga chips.




EDIT: Oh shoot, I skipped 15 images. If you want to see them, skip ahead to page 39.

Right before Kingman Omega is a N.O. Omega (those guys who shoot their souls at you), who is quite capable of stun locking you to death.





Hate. Momogas. So. Much.







My decision to remove Area Grab from my folder proved to be a very bad one.






And on the other side of the machine…

Yup, you can fight the other version’s Rank 2 navi as well. Since Alpha Werewolf’s video had some audio issues, I’ll take the time to explain what Mistman does.



As the floating numbers indicate, to damage Mistman you need to hit the lamp, not the genie. But that’s pretty much Genie 101.



If you line up with Mistman, he’ll fly across the row to tackle you.



Mistman’s main gimmick is Poison Mist, which creates moving clouds of mist all over Megaman’s area. If you line up with one,



Mistman will pop out of it and punch you.



And as the name implies, standing in the mist damages you.

Anyways, the mist will eventually fade away on its own.




Mistman’s desperation attack, Soul Gang, creates two devils that will try to latch on to Megaman and drain his HP. Thankfully, they don’t replenish Mistman’s HP.

Okay, load save state time.











Protoman Omega occasionally follows up his Step Swords with a back attack.

The sheer speed Protoman Omega rips through Megaman’s health at makes him IMO the hardest boss in the game.

And now for the guy I forgot about, Plantma-



No, not Plantman Beta.






Plantman Omega.



This is going straight in my Plantman folder.

Plantman V5 probably would have made some of the above fights easier. Curse my memory.



The last four Omegas are all in the Secret Area.





Only reason I didn’t get an S was because of Darkman’s Sensor beam, which hits through Super Armor.

I don’t think I’ve actually gone over what Darkman’s chip does. It’s just his bat hole attack. To maximize damage, Column Lock the opponent.






Plasma 3 is so fun.

Remember how I said I usually use Mom Quake against Serenade? There’s a very good reason why.




Mom Quake drops a huge amount (I don’t even know how many, though I do know that it stops if you use another chip) of 200 damage rocks on the opponent’s area. These rocks stun anything they hit (so no mercy invincibility), so if the opponent is Area Locked they’re forced to take every single hit and die.



That was way too close.




Alright, time for the final Omega boss. Can I defeat a super powered Bass with only 200 HP?




With a Rook in place, of course I can.



Looks like I’m ending the Omega challenge on a low note.



Defeating the Omega Navis earns me a red star. As you can see, there’s enough space for one more.



That would be the star earned for performing every single Program Advance. I’m missing just one.

The thing about the last Program Advance is that all of its components are gained through side quests. I’ve already gotten two of the pieces, now I just need the last.

If you’ve installed Black Mind…



Megaman’s reluctant to help, but Lan eventually convinces him.










And now, the final Program Advance!

Prix Power has three possible combinations, each one requiring the V5 form of one of the fan-designed Navis. As such, it’s the last Program Advance you can perform.



With that, I have obtained all seven stars, unlocking the final challenge of the game.








Remember when I said that Bass Omega was the last Omega boss?



I lied. BN3 introduced the series trend of a super form of the final boss that could only be fought if you obtained all of the title screen marks.

Incidentally, I love how the rename from Proto to Alpha has produced a really awesome boss name.

Alpha Omega is pretty much a stronger Alpha, with only one new move.




Though really, it’s just a variation of one of his original moves. Alpha’s golden claws both steal a column of your area and change one of your rows to a random panel type.



*Insert credits*

Defeating Alpha Omega gets you the very last chip in the game.



Alpha Arm. Once again, White beats Blue in Giga chips, as they get Alpha Arm Sigma, which does ridiculously high damage on ice.



In the Japanese version, beating the game with a 200/85/20 library gets you a special ending screen. I don’t have the Japanese version, obviously, but I can show you the screen.

But first, I must defeat the final boss in style. Excuse me while I cobble together a new folder from my two main folders.

I honestly can not stress just how powerful Plasma 3 is on ice.

Now then, if I were playing the Japanese version I’d see this screen:



Next time: It’s all downhill from here.

Folder 1

Air Shot 3 * x2
Variable Sword F
Ratton 1 F x4
Ratton 2 F x4
Ratton 3 F x4
Fast Gauge *
Invisible * x2
Ice Stage * - REGULAR
Elec +30 * x4
Gaia Blade *
Full Custom *
Navi +40 *
Flashman V2 F
Flashman V3 F
Flashman V4 F
Folder Back *

Total codes (not counting * code): 1

Folder 2

Yo-Yo 3 P x4
Bamboo Sword P x2
Step Sword P
Step Cross P
Plasma 3 P x4
Panel Grab *
Area Grab *
Fast Gauge *
Invisible * x2
Wood +30 * x4
Navi +20 * x2
Hero Sword P
Full Custom * - REGULAR
Navi +40 *
Plantman V2 P
Plantman V3 P
Plantman V4 P
Plantman V5 P

Total codes (not counting * code): 1

Extra Folder: Apprentice Folder

Air Shot 1 * x4
Guts Punch D x4
Bubbler E
Bubble-V E
Bubble Side E
Heat Shot J
Heat-V J
Heat Side J
Random Meteor S x3
Plasma 1 J x3
Time Bomb K
Mine D
Rock Cube * x3
Prism K
Prism W
Metalman M
Metalman V2 M
Metalman V3 M

Total codes (not counting * code): 9

Oh yeah, as a side note I never got to assemble my all time favorite folder of Battle Network 3.

Here's a video of it being used.

I'm not sure if I went over it, but BN3's version of Sensor is one of the most ridiculously broken chips ever.

Goddamn, that is ridiculous.

Can you explain what's going on there? It's a bit hard to follow, it goes so fast.

The folder revolves around using the Sensor series to paralyze the opponent, allowing use of otherwise powerful but unwieldy chips.

All of the fields start with an Ice Stage because of Ground Style's Set Ice program.

Serenade fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge (for obvious reasons), then uses MetaGel 2 because why not really. Player then proceeds to kill time by abusing Serenade's Reflect. Next turn, player uses the Killer Eye Virus chip and stops the roulette on Killer Eye Omega, which hits straight forward for 250 paralyzing, piercing electric damage. Player then sets up a Sensor 3, which repeatedly blasts Serenade for paralyzing, piercing electric damage. Normally, Serenade Omega would escape before the second Sensor 3 blast, but the player uses N.O. Beam 2 (deals massive paralyzing damage to Megaman's row as long as an obstacle is behind Megaman) to keep Serenade still. Player finishes with Elemental Sonic Wave, which keeps Serenade still long enough for Sensor 3 to hit one more time.

Bass fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge then uses Curse Shield 3 (essentially acts as a super powered Guard chip) to break Bass' aura. This is followed by Killer Eye Omega, then Rope 2 (hits anything in the direct area around Megaman with vines, producing the same effect as Plantman). The next turn, the player uses Rope 2 again then sets up a Random Meteor and uses it to launch a N.O. Beam 2. The next turn a meteor hits Bass and flinches him, causing the player to have to wait out Bass' mercy invincibility, which he does in style by Shielding Gospel Breath. Player then uses N.O. Beam 2 for damage and Meta Gel 2 to make certain that the next combo will hit. Next turn, player uses one last N.O. Beam 2 to stun Bass, then uses a boosted Gaia Blade (remember, Gaia Blade's attack power is 100 + the attack power of the following chips, and the player loaded it up with Mines and N.O. Beam). Finally, the player uses Elemental Sonic Wave, which doesn't do anything until the last two hits (Elec slash uses the ice to break through aura, Wood slash hits Bass), followed by one last Killer Eye.

Japanman fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge and two MetaGel 2s, then uses Elemental Sonic Wave and Curse Shield 3 while waiting for the Custom Gauge to fill. The player then sets up two Mines (Mine chips, as you might have guessed, set up a Mine somewhere on the enemy field. There can be up to two at once, and they hit through Mercy Invincibility), and since Japanman only has one column he's forced to step on both. Player then uses Killer Eye Omega and finishes Japanman off with a Rope 2.

Darkman fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge and uses Curse Shield 3 to block the starting Fire Tower, followed by Killer Eye Omega. Player then waits for next turn, during which player uses MetaGel 2 to ensure a Gaia Blade hit. Player waits for the Custom Gauge to fill up then uses Gaia Blade and on the next turn Killer Eye Omega to finish Darkman off.

Twin Omega fight:

The Twin attack (cursors on Megaman's side of the screen) counts as an obstacle, so N.O. Beam can be used on them. Since Twins have to be finished off at the same time, Rope 2 is used.

Protoman fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge and uses Lance (Protoman always goes to the back column to launch Sonic Booms). Player then Shields a Sonic Boom and sets up a Random Meteor, which luckily hits Protoman as he moves, letting the player use N.O. Beam 2 and Elemental Sonic Wave. The next turn, player Shields Protoman's counter attack and uses a boosted Gaia Blade for the victory.

Drillman fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge and uses Sensor 3 to paralyze Drillman (I don't want to think about how many times the player had to reset until Drillman attacked the middle row first), followed by N.O. Beam 2, which keeps Drillman still long enough for another Sensor hit. Next turn, player uses Lance and Fighter Sword, with Sensor 3 scoring the last hit.

Bowlman fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge and proceeds to completely humiliate Bowlman (Hub Batch gives Break Buster so the buster now immediately knocks the pins out of the air). Player uses Lance near the end of the first bowling pin barrage then gets in position to Curse Shield 3 Bowlman as he starts the second, followed by two Meta Gels. Player then uses Killer Eye Omega, followed by the Random Meteor-N.O. Beam 2 combo, followed by another Killer Eye Omega, and last but not least another N.O. Beam 2.

Mistman fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge and hits Mistman with Lance (Mistman always goes to the back column at the beginning of the fight) then sets up a Random Meteor and uses N.O. Beam 2 and Killer Eye Omega to keep Mistman in place. On the next turn, player uses MetaGel 2 and N.O. Beam 2, then waits for Mistman to stop flashing before using Rope 2. Finally, Elemental Sonic Wave.

Alpha fight:

Player starts with Fast Gauge and immediately uses Yo-Yo 1 to destroy Alpha's barriers, followed by a Spikey Omega and another Yo-Yo 1. The player then uses Alpha's claws to launch another N.O. Beam 2, then on the next turn essentially does the same thing. On the next turn, player uses a boosted Gaia Blade and waits for the Custom Gauge to fill. Next turn, player uses Fighter Sword to break Alpha's barrier again and sets up a Hole. Right before the Custom Gauge fills, player uses one last Spikey Omega to break Alpha's regenerated barrier. On the last turn, player waits for the Hole to open and uses a boosted Bass to finish Alpha off.

Well, there goes my morning.

Thanks, that was incredibly informative, and I think I have a good idea of what sort of strategy that folder's using now. I like seeing that sort of mechanical-level detail in game playthroughs (one of my favourite pieces of gaming information I've read is a hilariously detailed breakdown of an entire MMBN1 playthrough that used savestates constantly to manipulate luck).

It's still not Battle Network 4...which is next...
Don't do it man!

Battle Network 4's on hold until Alpha Werewolf deals with some real life stuff. He should be done by/after tomorrow.

Are you aware of the patch for BN6 Falzar version that restores the cut content?

Yes, but I don't think there's enough new content to justify playing through the game again.



If you’ve followed my LP’s up till now, you know I have a burning hatred for this game. But while I could just detail out why I hate it, it wouldn‘t have the same effect as me actually showing you how terrible this is. So because you guys are jerks and voted for me to do this I’m going to LP this game.








The game cuts to the BN version of NASA, NAXA (no, I don‘t know what the X stands for).



For no real reason, in BN4 and BN4 alone text is formatted so it’s spaced out to the middle.




The scientist sighs.








“Shilly” is not a word (though shilly-shally is slang for being late), so I can only assume that’s the blond scientist’s name.

Battle Network 4 probably has the worst (or at least the most noticeably worst) text formatting in the series, with text often randomly cutting off between dialog boxes.




The other scientist asks if Shilly is saying he wants to discover something.





Shilly reluctantly agrees.




The nearby female scientist walks over and snickers.



We aren’t even a fourth of the way through the prologue and there’s already a typo.

The boss snickers again.






The scientist confirms. Even him.