The Mega(man) Battle Network LP!

Geez, and I thought trying to get all the bugfrag items in BN5 was hellish... then again BN5 doesn't have any of the new game + crap (Thank god), but on my normal playthroughs including the start of postgame (Keep in mind this is WITH grinding), I BARELY manage 40-50 bugfrags... ugh
Makes everyone wish that BN kept the BN3 way of getting bugfrags... least BN5 you can grind its annoying gimick later to get tons, but even then that can be 15-20 minutes running around for 2-4 bugfrags >.< I feel sorry for anyone who actually (God forbid) LIKED BN4

I'll have you know that BN4 becomes a tolerable game once you reach Game 3. Though that's mostly because that's when you can assemble a folder that can S-Rank anything in the game but Duo.

Alright, let's go through the endgame.


You get Red Sun in Red Sun, naturally. This fires three meteors at the panel that is three panels forward, then the Red Sun crashes into that panel and explodes, breaking the surrounding panels while it's at that. It's nice, but I'll have a better gigachip soon.


Searchman Alpha is here.



vs. Searchman Omega

I didn't explain his chip very well: the cursor goes around the enemy area panel-by-panel, but VERY fast - and when you stop it by pressing A, Searchman fires five shots at that panel. The problem is that it's really hard to time it right.



I seem to have forgotten the Coldman screenshots. Unlike most ghost navis, he's not at a dead end - he's right before the one-way path at the far upper-left of Sharo.

vs. Coldman Omega

Coldman's chip is interesting. Normally he creates an IceCube and fires it down the row for substantial damage, but he can do more attacks if there are obstacles on the field - he teleports to those first, turns them into IceCubes and fires them down the row they were at. Useful for the BoyBomb guys, and possibly usable as a folder concept.

vs. Shademan Omega
As I said: Three DarkSwords in a row is the most practical way to win this fight.

Laserman and MegamanDS were unremarkable. Notably, though, I found that Laserman heals whenever there are DarkHoles on the field - even my side, and that Poison Panels basically neutralise this healing.

vs. Duo

The ending changes in Red Sun, mostly in the characters who show up to cheer you:


(Those being Match, Raoul and Raika)



Now back to the game being ridiculously easy until Duo again. Joy.

Incidentally, I'm running around with HP+200 in my NaviCust. My maximum HP is rather low, and I've been buying many HP Memories.

How many significantly different folders does the game have that can do that?

Four. Three for high karma, one for low karma.

By the way, Searchman's chip is actually really awesome, as it hits around five times for up to like 70 damage each hit. This is just as abusable as it sounds. Too bad the S code is pretty weak in BN4... BN5 Team Protoman is a fucking joke if you're good at using Searchman SP

I dunnow about Searchman SP, but DS does 25 per shot at base. If I had DarkStage active, I could see using it, but as it is it's too hard to use.

So yeah, I'm pretty sure this has become obvious knowledge by now just by looking at our playthroughs, but Red Sun version is significantly better and easier than Blue Moon version... if you go the high Karma route. Then you get access to a ridiculous amount of game breaking stuff.

Meanwhile, Blue Moon has... um... eh... well, Number Soul's pretty cool, I guess.

It's my favorite non-Searchsoul soul!

Drat, that's what I've been using.

So, I just caught up with this point in the thread, and I'm really glad to have jumped ship after Battle Network 3. All the translation errors remind me of before I realized they were a thing. I must have tried to parse so many nonsensical things in my youth, it's amazing I can speak English.

I have to say, though, Regal gained a point of respect from me for grabbing those cables like it wasn't even a thing.

Before I start Game 2, there’s one more thing I have to show off.



One of the options in the Network (Link) menu is the Waiting Room.



Here you can choose to either send or receive Soul Unison Navis.



Alpha Werewolf e-mailed me a copy of his save file, so I transferred over the three navis he had (and stole his Gun Del Sol 1 and 3; why don‘t you have 2 argh). With this, I can start a Free Tournament.



At the back of Higsby’s shop is this thing. As long as you have at least one Navi in the Waiting Room, you can start a Free Tournament.



Doing so brings you to this screen. Because we all wanted to play through another Tournament, right?



Unlike EXE 4.5, the navis in the tournament actually fight each other. Transferred Navis share the HP of the player who sent them (not really) and fight with the same chips and Navi Customizer programs. In essence, they’re DS Navis.

Oh, and notice Roll’s name? That’s the reason why every single Navi has a shortened name in-battle. So they could fit in three letters for a gimmick that most people don’t even use. This doesn’t justify why bosses other than the Soul Unison Navis have this name limit, but I guess they wanted to be consistent.



You can choose to watch the fight until the end, or you can just press Select to skip through them. Much like Super Smash Brother’s tournaments, though, skipping a match causes a victor to be selected at random. If you decide to skip at the very end, it’s totally possible for a Navi near deletion to magically win.



The fight against RollDSB was pretty disappointing.



Maybe GutsManDSB will put up a better fight! (He didn’t).



Anyways, winning a Free Tournament gives you a Free Tournament Chip, as long as you defeated a Soul Unison Navi in the final match (if you don‘t you get a Bug Frag). There are 36 Free Tournament chips in total, with three for each Navi. Each chip also has at least three codes, so this is a complete nightmare for completionists.

But how does the game determine what level of chip you get? Do they track what New Game + you’re on? Nope. What level FT Chip you get is dependent on the base HP of the player who sent the Navi.

If your base HP is under 400, you’ll fight Version 1 Navis. If your base HP is over 400 but under 700, you’ll face Version 2 Navis. And if your base HP is over 700 but under 1000, or if your base HP is 1000, you’ll face Version 3 Navis. Note that if you face a Navi from a player with 1000 HP, you’ll win a version of the FT Chip you don’t have until you hit level 3.

If that was too confusing, here’s a simple chart:

If their HP = 1-399, you’ll fight Version 1 Navis and win level 1 FT Chips.
If their HP = 400-699, you’ll fight Version 2 Navis and win level 2 FT Chips.
If their HP = 700-999, you’ll fight Version 3 Navis and win level 3 FT Chips.
If their HP = 1000, you’ll fight Version 3 Navis and win whatever levels of the FT Chip you don’t have. If you have all of the levels, you’ll win a level 3 chip.

Oh, and the game doesn’t keep count of your “true” base HP. So if you use Dark Chips, you’re pretty much screwing over anyone who might want to use the Free Tournament.

Despite the tremendous effort it takes to get them, the FT Chips are pretty crappy overall. They’re also as lazy as hell. Notice how I won a Guts Punch chip? In any other Battle Network game, that would cause Megaman to do his punch animation.



In this game it freezes time and summons Gutsman to do the punch.

Anyways, the really stupid thing about FT chips is that all of the Soul Unison Navis have them. If you’re aiming for 100% Secret completion, you have to have both versions and purposefully play with your HP at dangerously low levels until you beat Game 3. Then you can start grinding the Free Tournament for the chips you want. Alternatively, you’ll have to get 1000 HP, but that means playing a high Karma file and getting only one of each level 1 and 2 FT chip.



Well, not really. You can buy the FT chips from the Chip Order, but they’re hilariously expensive.



Transferring Navis over has one more special effect: it unlocks the Navis you got for your version’s tournaments. That’s right, those scenarios aren’t version exclusive; they‘re in the data, but you can‘t access them normally. Completing the scenarios won’t get you a Soul, but it will let you fight that Navi’s Alpha to Omega forms.

Next time: More time hijinks.

Battle Against DSB Navis.

Which you, as low-karma, cannot erase by stepping on, correcT? (heck, you get a chip to make them, don't you?)

Yup; Light navis automatically erase any stepped on DarkHoles, but not Dark navis. I assume, though I haven't checked, that the same is tru for Dark navis and Holy panels.

Oh yeah, about Bug Charge? It doesn't act like Custom Sword. It just does more hits the more turns pass.

I say this because Searchman DSB just nailed me with it after a Dark Vulcan.

Okay, I think I know what this is supposed to mean, but I'm STILL confused. Does that mean you get to fight GutsMan now where you'd have fought AquaSPOUTMan?

No, both of them are on the board. Every tournament actually has eight unique scenarios. Four are "version exclusive" Soul Unison navis, two are custom navis, and the last two are just basic navi models. Once you "unlock" the other version's navis, they'll randomly replace a scenario you've already done.

Huh.

So it's my anti-Duo chip in every way.

Kinda belated, and not sure if it's been talked about here, but I'll give it a mention anyways. Apparently the music when you're in the final area of Battle Network 3 (not sure what to call it, the music track just says Wily Stage) is a remix of the Wily 2 theme from Mega Man 8.

Wily 2 (Mega Man 8)

Wily Stage (Mega Man Battle Network 3)

It'd be pretty interesting to see how many BN tracks are remixes of music from the Classic series. I think there are a few in Network Transmission.

Every single boss area in Network transmission is a remix of the original Robot Master's theme. Excluding Gutsman, Zero, Protoman, and Bass, of course.

When you start a new game, will all of the ghost navi unlocked in the previous game still be waiting for you?

Yup. I should really get around to slogging through Shademan's scenario again.

Alright, found the time to speed through to the City Tournament. Let's see who I'm up against.





Anyways, as always, updates will continue once Alpha Werewolf catches up, though considering how long I took he's probably already done with the Den Tournament.

EDIT: Should I go over the Gutsman scenario again, or are you guys happy with Alpha Werewolf's write-up?

Unless something of note occurs, I think you could skip it fine.

Just skip it.

Battle with GutsMan.EXE Alpha

Incident Occurrence Count: 22



Next time: The weirdest (but not the stupidest) scenario in the game.

If that's the Ponta scenario, go on and put that up. I got to the tournament, and the next original scenario I'll get to is in the finals.

MegaMan: What a cute name.
Lan: Yeah, doesn’t sound very strong. | Still, be careful. You can’t judge a Navi by its name! | MegaMan, let’s go full-bore!
MegaMan: Of course!

The cutscene ends with no real reason for Lan to go outside, but you have to do it to trigger the next scene.



Lan: Hmm?

Lan looks around him, but doesn’t find anyone.

Voice: Lan!
Lan: …?
MegaMan: Lan, I heard it too.
Lan: What is this? How freaky! Where’s that voice coming from?







Girl: Heheh, did I surprise you?
Lan: H-how did you get here?
Girl: Hey Lan, you’re MegaMan’s operator, aren’t you?
Lan: Yes, so?



I get the feeling those names might mean something, but I don’t really care enough about this game to check. They sound normal enough though.

Lan: Ponta? So you’re our next opponent?
Yuko: That’s right! | I’ve always wanted to do a NetBattle with a strong, nice, | handsome Navi, like MegaMan! | I’m so happy.



Lan, I know you’re the one who usually accidentally gets girls to fall in love with you, but she just said she was talking about Megaman.



Seriously though, this is probably two consecutive mugshot errors.



Not. What, were you expecting this game to make sense?

MegaMan: Huh? | Uh, yes. Right.
Yuko: Hey Lan, do you have time to spare before the match? | Let’s go hang out!
Lan: Uh, sure, I don’t have any plans or anything. Let’s go!
Yuko: Yea! I’ll be waiting!

Yuko runs out of the room, but fades away before reaching the exit.

Lan: Huh?! | Is it just nerves, or am I getting a little tired?
MegaMan: Lan…
Lan: Yeah? What is it, MegaMan?
MegaMan: How do I put this… I dunno for sure, | but I’ve got a strange feeling about that girl.



If you were new to the Battle Network series, this line makes no sense at all. If you’re not new, this line pretty much spoils the scenario’s twist. In any case, nice to see Megaman now has the ability to magically sense the real world.

Lan: The same as you? What do you mean?
MegaMan: …… | Never mind. Sorry for talking nonsense. | Anyway, let’s go! Yuko is waiting for us outside!



Lan: Sorry! So, what did you want to do?
Yuko: Let’s play tag! You’re it!



Lan: You’re on! Hey, wait for me!!!

Lan, who is wearing roller skates, isn’t able to catch a little girl. Truly he is an inspiration to us all.

The screen fades to black after that last chase. When it returns to normal, Yuko’s literally running circles around Lan.

Yuko: Hey Lan, I’m over here!
Lan: *pant pant* *pant pant* | Heheh, she sure has a lotta energy.
MegaMan: She’s like a little sister or something.

Where the hell did that come from?

Lan: Heheh, yeah.
MegaMan: Lan, you’ve got mail! It’s from your Mom. I’ll read it. | “Lan, someone’s here to see you. Come back home.” | And that’s all.
Lan: Someone to see me? | Oh well, I’ll just tell Yuko and head back home for a bit.

Lan proceeds to walk over to Yuko, who‘s in front of the Metroline exit. For some weird reason, the cutscene stops right before he says anything. In fact, the following lines of dialogue are part of a different cutscene.



Yuko: No problem! I’ll see you in the battle, then!
Lan: All right! | No matter who wins, let’s play again afterwards, okay?
Yuko: Sure… Sounds like a plan…



Lan: That’s right. Um…
NPC: I’m Yuko’s father.
Lan: Yuko’s?!
NPC: ! | You saw her, right?
Lan: Huh?
NPC: Ah, excuse me… | Lan, what was Yuko like? | Was she having fun? Or was she bored?
Lan: She was having fun. | She was really looking forward to our battle.
NPC: Just as I feared… This is bad, very bad indeed.
Lan: What’s wrong?
NPC: It’s… um… how do I put this… | Yuko has a special power. | You’ll see what I mean if you go to the Net.



That’s all? Megaman does that all the time by just running around. Of course, these navi ghosts are super powered and often kill Megaman, but that‘s neither here nor there.

Lan: Navi ghosts?
NPC: The residual memory of Navis that have been deleted.



Not only is that rude, it’s also completely contradictory with the actual events of this scenario. Anyways, the next two lines make no sense at all.

Lan: Yuko does that?
NPC: Wow…

Seriously, what?

NPC: The NetBattle has her thinking about the Net, and this | has the strange effect of causing ghosts to appear. | The Navi ghosts are popping up all over the Net now.

If they were residual data, weren’t they already there in the first place?

NPC: Not many people are aware of what’s happening yet, but | unless something is done, things’ll get out of hand fast.
Lan: I’ll do something about it, sir!
NPC: Huh?
Lan: I played with Yuko a little bit, | and she seemed almost like a little sister to me.
MegaMan: Lan…
Lan: My big brother passed away when I was little. | I bet if I’d had a chance to play with him, | it would have been just like that.

For all of its quirks, the Ponta scenario is one of, if not the best written. In fact, have you noticed that there hasn’t been a single grammatical error so far?

Lan: Playing with Yuko made me feel that way. | That’s why I feel like I’ve got to do something. | If something bad’s happening because of her, I’ll fix it up.
NPC: I’d usually ask the Officials to handle it, but okay! | You’d better be careful - these Navis are invisible. | Here, you can have this.



This is the part where things just get weird.

NPC: You can use this “CybCryst” to find invisible Navis. | If the Navi ghost is far away, it’ll be blue. | It’ll turn yellow if a ghost is detected, | or red if the ghost is near. | If the “CybCryst” turns red, check the area carefully, | and you can bet the Navi ghost will make it’s presence known.

I just had to say it. Oh well, this has still been the longest drought of errors.



I wish I could do that for the Omega Navis.

Lan: I got it! Sound good, MegaMan?
MegaMan: Of course!
NPC: The Navi ghosts are beginning to appear in the Net. | Apparently, four of them are evil Navi ghosts.

how do you even know this

NPC: If you can get those four to move on to the next world, the | outbreak should settle down. Note | that even the good ghosts want to go to the next world. | They’ll appreciate your Navi performing the CybSutra. | Anyways, Lan, please try and find those four evil Navis.



And with that, it’s time to do some Cyber Exorcism! This is pretty easy.



Just keep your eye on the Cyber Crystal.



Not. The Cyber Crystal will change color as long as you’re in the general area of a ghost, but it doesn’t account for whether or not you can actually reach them from your position. You’re better off just running to the section of the area that requires the most time to reach, because you’re almost guaranteed to find a ghost there.



Ghost: Perfect! I’m through here! Can you please send me on?
Lan: MegaMan, use the CybSutra!
MegaMan: Roger! Umm…





So yeah, this whole thing is just… ugh.



There’s a surprising amount of NPC dialogue though.

Heal Navi ghosts require a battle before you can exorcize them. Each battle is against EX viruses, and there will always be some poison panels to deal with.





Before I speed over to the end, there’s something I need to do.





I spent a while practicing here, so I can now safely deal with Gutsman. Hopefully this will let me survive the inevitable Omega encounter.





One of the “good” ghosts dropped 3000 Z, and another dropped a Bug Frag.



The other…



Gave me something useless.



In any case, I found the seven navis above easily enough, but for the life of me I couldn’t find the eighth. I only need to find the four evil navis to pass this scenario, but it just so happens that the eighth is an evil navi.



I finally found out what was wrong. See how the Cyber Crystal is blue in this image? If I take one step forward…

Yeah.



I would like to note that while Megaman uses the Cyber Sutra, his hand is moving the same way Lan’s did when he was “operating” back in BN1-3. You know, like he was, er, rolling some dice.



NPC: …And it’s done. Looks like the Navi ghosts are all gone.



MegaMan: Lan! The match is about to begin!
Lan: All right, Yuko is waiting for us! | To the DenDome! MegaMan!
MegaMan: Roger!

Wait, so the time between Gutsman’s match and Ponta’s match was long enough for Lan to spend an hour or so playing tag, ride the Metroline to ACDC, talk with Yuko’s dad, and exorcize ACDC 1 to Town 3? What is up with this game’s sense of time?

NPC: Lan… | Thank you for taking care of my daughter, Yuko.

You’ve already told Lan that Yuko was your daughter.

NPC: Please give her an excellent battle.
Lan: Huh? Um, sure! Of course!

Music: Player Entrance



NPC: First, we have the grade school Net-Battler! | Lan! | And his opponent! | She’s young, but she’s got the skill! Please welcome Yuko!



The music stops here for a bit.

NPC: Yuko…



Player Entrance starts up again amidst clapping and cheering.

Yuko: Teehee! It’s time, Lan.
Lan: Another totally unpredictable entrance. | I won’t go easy on you, Yuko!
Yuko: Of course not!
NPC: All right, let’s get this battle started!



NPC: Battle routine, set!!
MegaMan: Execute!
Yuko: This must be my last battle… | Here I go! Ponta!



*Insert lame battle against a Normal Navi*

NPC: Ponta, deleted! | Lan is the winner!
Lan: You were amazing, Yuko!
Yuko: Teehee, I lost! But that was fun! | Thank you, Lan. Thank you for not going easy on me.

Music: Nothing



Yuko: I… I have to go.
Lan: Go? Where? What’s wrong, Yuko?
Yuko: I’m sorry, Lan. I’m sorry for not telling you earlier. | It happened a long, long time before you were born.



What, you thought I put Ghosts on the bingo card as a joke?

Music: Sad Rain

This is the first (maybe only) time this song is used for an appropriate situation.

Lan: No!!!
Yuko: It’s true. | That’s why all the Navi ghosts appeared in the Net. | It’s because I came back to this world.

How exactly does Yuko’s ghost returning to the real world cause digital remnants on the Cyber world to gain sentience?

Yuko: You sent all those Navis on to the next world, didn’t you?

Yup, even made sure to empty the Recycle Bin.

Yuko: Thank you, Lan. | Now I’ve finally had my chance, to go up against nice, | strong and handsome opponents like you and MegaMan.

This line may sound awkward, but remember that Yuko is like twenty years older than Lan so it’s totally okay by anime standards.

Lan: Wait! No, don’t go Yuko!



I wonder what the audience is thinking.



So Yuko died a long time before Lan was born, right? Lan’s grandfather created the Net, and judging by NPC dialogue (though it’s admittingly BN4 NPC dialogue) the Net is still kind of recent. So what happened when Yuko manifested before the Net was created? Could this be related to how Alpha went berserk?



While I’m at it, Yuko has apparently done this many times before, yet this exorcism appears to be a permanent one. I’m just going to chalk that up to Lan being a protagonist, but how must Yuko’s father feel?



Lan: Watch me Yuko! I’ll win this tournament! | I promise!
Yuko: I’ll be watching! | I’ll always root for you, Lan!

And now Lan has a powerful friend in the afterlife. Yeesh, his friends list is almost as long as Ash Ketchum's.

...Actually, no, it's not even close, but whatever.