The Mega(man) Battle Network LP!

The screen flashes white as Yuko passes on. Because clearly it’s okay to watch Navi ghosts being permanently deleted, but a human ghost being exorcized must be censored.

Lan: She’s gone…
MegaMan: Lan…
Lan: Heheh, I promised! | MegaMan, we’ve just got to win this tournament!

I’m not sure if this conversation changes if Ponta was the final round, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t.

MegaMan: You know it! No problem!
NPC: W-w-what’s going on? I’m so confused!



Next time: Advertisement and what is sadly the best soul of Blue Moon.

Current Folder

Heat Shot C x3
Wide Shot 1 C x3
Twin Fang 1 C x3
Magnet Bolt 1 C x4
Variable Sword V x4
Air Hockey 1 F x3
Air Hockey 3 V
Blinder *
Invisible * x2 - REGULAR
Attack +10 * x3
Full Custom *
ProtoMan B
Gun Del Sol EX G

Total codes (not counting * code): 5





If you count that weird incident at the beginning, it's another Bingo. If you don't, this is the first scenario that didn't get a Bingo.

For some reason, despite all the weirdness, I can't focus on anything but the fact that they missed an opportunity to slip in some sequence of inputs that was actually meaningful. I can't see how a game developer could miss an opportunity to make Megaman say the Konami Code, for instance (regardless of whether they work for Konami or not), in a scene like that. But no, we just get random sequences of computer-related words.

Not even in a way that remotely makes sense either.

holy shit an update



Lan: I’m looking forward to it, MegaMan! Should be fun!
MegaMan: Yeah!



Lan: ? | Uh, yes. That’s me.
NPC: You’ve got a message from your next opponent. | It’s from Higsby.

I guess this NPC is just assuming Lan didn’t know who his next opponent was?

NPC: Um, let’s see. | “Lan, I’m gonna withdraw from the next match. | Put up a good fight for me, buddy.” | And that’s it.

This line makes no sense considering this is the final round.

Lan: Higsby’s withdrawing from the match? | Why?! I wonder what’s going on…

NPC: He was in a big hurry, so I didn’t get any details. | Anyways, the next match will probably be a win by default. | All right, see you later!
MegaMan: Why would Higsby withdraw? It doesn’t make any sense.
Lan: He was in a big hurry, so there must be something up. | Let’s go see Higsby, MegaMan!
MegaMan: Okay!



Music: In The Room

Lan: Higsby! Why did you withdraw from the tourney?
Higsby: Ah, huh, yeah, that. | It’s the worst problem my shop Higsby’s has ever had, huh.



It’s been a while since the last mugshot error.

Lan: What?! | Higsby’s is going to go outta business?! Why?!



Music: Nothing



Music: The Quiet Darkness

Cone: I’m Cone, NAM’s special advisor. Nice to meet yah!
Lan: NAM?
Higsby: One of the top five companies in Electo… no, in the world (missing period)| They gave me lots of financing to open Higsby’s, huh.
Cone: That’s right! | Unfortunately, Higsby’s hasn’t been selling much lately.

Bullshit. A couple of weeks ago Lan bought out the entire inventory.

Cone: NAM lent Higsby a pile of cash, but there’s no return!

And if you’re talking about Higsby’s startup loan, surely he’s gotten enough money to pay for that just from BN1 and BN2.

Higsby: I can’t deny it, huh.
Cone: This location is great, a residential area by a park! | Such a shame to waste it on a worn-out old chip shop! | So it’s time to shut Higsby’s down! | We’re gonna put in a more profitable shop!
Lan: A different shop?

(In The Room starts playing again)



Lan: The
Higsby: Scrub
Nanako: Brush?

Music: Higsby’s

Cone: That’s right! | First Scrub Brush in the world! Housewives will rejoice! | It’ll be a scrub brush specialty shop! | Oh yes! I’m overjoyed to be a part of this project!
Lan: Really?
Cone: Well, anyway this unprofitable ship has got to go. | So hurry up and pack your bags! | Hahahahahaha!!!

Cone leaves.

Higsby: Humph! | This is frustrating, huh! Argh!
Nanako: I’m frustrated too!
Lan: We can’t let them turn this into a scrub brush shop! | Higsby, isn’t there some way out of this mess?

You could try using your upcoming battle for advertisement.

Higsby: I’d have to impress that NAM guy with a ton of profits, huh. | I won’t let my shop go out of business! Huh! | It’s time for a huge Higsby’s chip sales drive, huh!
Nanako: !!!
Higsby: I’ll go get the chips! | Nanako, you watch the shop, huh!
Nanako: Okay!
Higsby: Lan, help me out with the flyers!
Lan: Gotcha! | Wait, me too?
Higsby: This is great! Let’s do it, huh!

Higsby proceeds to run out of the store, despite the fact that his chips are further inside.

Nanako: Hand out these flyers, please!



Nanako: Go to the Net and hand those out to Navis and Mr. Prog! | Hand out at least ten! | If you come back without handing out ten, I’ll punch yah!
MegaMan: Pass these out in the Net? | So I guess that’s my job?!

In case you’re wondering, if you go back to Nanako before you hand out ten flyers…

Nanako: Please help by passing out 10 or | more of our flyers on the Net! We’ll pay you.

So much for punching. Anyways, this is the minigame of this scenario, and it‘s not that difficult.



Just go on the Net and talk to everyone you can. Not everyone will take a flyer, but the majority will.



There‘s actually a surprising amount of unique dialog in this scenario, but I get the feeling that if I tried to transcribe everything I’d never finish this update.

There are eleven flyers Megaman can pass out on the Net. Going back now will continue the scenario, but Lan’s reward would only be a Mini Bomb.



If you want the best prize, you need to pass out all twenty. The people willing to accept the last nine flyers are in offline areas around ACDC, Elec Town, and Den Dome.

And yes, I know it doesn‘t make any sense for Lan to give his oven program a flyer.



Two flyers can be handed out here.



One flyer can be given here.



Four flyers can be distributed here.



Finally, one flyer can be passed out here.



Nanako: Here, let me give you something for all your hard work! | Let’s see, you handed out 20, | so here you go!



Slightly better than a Mini Bomb.

Nanako: I’ve got more customers now! Business is booming!

There’s nobody in the shop, and it’s only been like half an hour since Lan started.



Cone walks in.

Cone: It doesn’t matter how much money you make, it’s too late! | This place’ll be selling scrub brushes tomorrow! | Ha! Haha! Hahahahahaha!!!

Cone proceeds to walk out. I really don’t see why he couldn’t have just used the phone.

Nanako: Bah!!! | It’s so frustrating! We can’t lose!!!
Lan: What’s taking Higsby so long, anyways?
Nanako: Huh?! Yeah, he’s taking forever. | Didn’t he just head over to the Higsby’s warehouse in town?
Lan: I’ll go see what the hold-up is.

So despite the fact that the preceding dialogue hinted for you to go to Elec Town to go look for Higsby, that’s not what you’re supposed to do.



Apparently Numberman is more important than Higsby. Either that, or Higsby has access to a Pulse Transmission System.



MegaMan: It’s locked, and I don’t see NumbrMan.



MegaMan: Huh?
Lan: What is it, MegaMan?
MegaMan: I heard someone from the other side of the door. | That sounds like NumbrMan…
Voice: Is someone there?! Help me!!!

And this is the point where I left the update to rot for about a week.

MegaMan: It is NumbrMan! | He’s in there!
NumbrMan: MegaMan, is that you?! | Ah, great timing! | I got locked in! The door won’t open from the inside! | Help!!!

That’s some pretty stupid security. Anyways, why don’t you just jack out?

MegaMan: But it’s locked…
Lan: What can we do? | Does anyone other than Higsby have the key?

The cutscene ends with that. It’s obvious who you’re supposed to go to, but it’s kind of odd how the game just completely skips over the fact that Higsby has gone missing.

I say “kind of“ because this is BN4.

Nanako: What’ll we do?! I can’t believe it! | Here’s the key! Take it and get him out! Please!



Nanako: There’s a door with a password in the back, too. | It’s to trap any burglars who try to break in! | Think hard and you should be able to figure it out!

Wait, Numberman has been locked in by a password door? Are you serious?



The next three puzzles are kind of a throwback to BN1’s Numberman scenario.



Megaman: It’s a password type.





I have to wonder what criminals passwords like those would keep out.



Higsby’s warehouse is full of little green boxes that have their own descriptions. Some are things that should obviously be here, like a list of customers, PET parts, and chip orders, but others…



Yeah.



NumbrMan: I thought I was a goner there.
MegaMan: Why were you locked up inside your own warehouse again?

This has happened before? And Higsby didn‘t change the security?

NumbrMan: It was NAM! | The Navi of that guy who always laughs locked me in here. | There’s no way I’ll let them get their way now!!! | I’ll go on ahead!

Numberman proceeds to jack out. Why he couldn’t do that before, um…



Music: Nothing

Higsby: Higsby’s can rake in the cash when it has to, huh!
Nanako: Oh yeah, do you got the picture now?!
Cone: Hahaha! Not a chance! | You just worked overtime today and got a little lucky! | It’s already been decided! This shop’s gonna sell brushes! | So why don’t you just give up the shop already!



Four kids run in.

Music: Under Justice

Looks like I was wrong about how many times Under Justice plays. Still looks like I was right about it only playing once for something Megaman does though.

Kid 1: This place is really important to us!
Kid 2: I won’t let you drive Higsby’s out of business!
Cone: Grr…
Kid 3: I won’t let you get away with driving Higsby out of here!
Kid 4: Higsby! We’re on your side!

That’s nice and all, but what exactly are you going to do?



Ahahahahaha what the hell Higsby.

Higsby: But today you’re really helping! I just might cry, huh!



Cone’s probably supposed to be talking about the kids, but the errors in the text make it sound like he’s talking about Higsby.

Cone: I guess I’ll just have to back off this time!

In any case, that was quite the fast 180. Sure hope Cone doesn‘t get fired for not doing his job.

Cone leaves.

Kid 4: Anyway, Lan and Higsby, isn’t it time for your match?
Kid 3: You’d better hurry to the DenDome!
Kid 1: We’ll be there, rooting for you!
Higsby: That’s right! | I forgot about the match in all the excitement, huh!
Lan: Let’s go, Higsby! | This mess is cleared up, so we can relax and enjoy the match!
Higsby: Yeah, huh! | I’m ready!

Lan and Higsby exit the shop.

Nanako: Good luck, both of you! | I’ll cheer for you!

Anyways, I’d like to use the Chip Trader a few times before I start the ma-



Huh.



Great how I still have the time to take the Metroline across the city.

Music: Player Entrance

NPC: At last! Everyone, the competitors are finally here!

Oh, so Lan and Higsby were late after all. Nice of the tournament to not disqualify them.

NPC: First, grade school NetBattler Lan! | Moving right along! | It’s the owner of Higsby’s in ACDC - a chip expert! | Mr. Higsby!
Lan: Good luck, Higsby!
Higsby: Hehe, Lan… If you | expect an easy win, you got another think comin’. | I do more than just kick back in my chip shop, you know, huh!
Lan: Hehe, I’m lookin’ forward to it!
NPC: Let the battle begin!



NPC: Battle routine, set!!
MegaMan: Execute!
NumbrMan: No way I’ll lose!



So Numberman has gone through two changes since BN1: he no longer stays in the back row, and he’s got a new move.



He’s still got Number Ball, so I hope you have a good buster.



This is Numberman’s new move, and it’s pretty damn frustrating. Numberman throws a triangle at Megaman, and it’ll stop on Megaman’s front column. Then it will either fly directly at Megaman if he’s standing in its row/column (if he‘s not in either it‘ll just continue flying forward), or it’ll fake you out and go around the border of Megaman’s area. There’s pretty much no way to tell which will happen, so you just need to react. That can be kind of difficult when there’s Number Balls everywhere, and Numberman will always throw the triangle after a wave of balls.



Finally, at low HP Numberman busts out his old Dice Bomb. It still works the same; the number on the top of the die will determine how much damage the attack does. Thankfully, it no longer hits the entire area. It’s still hard to dodge between the triangle and the balls though.

I actually really suck at the Numberman fight. It’s pretty much a battle to keep your side of the field clear, and that can get really difficult. Usually I just stun lock him to death.

NPC: NumbrMan, deleted! | Lan wins!
Lan: All right!
Higsby: Ouch! I lost, huh! | You’re quite a fight, Lan!

Was that supposed to be “You’re quite a fighter”?

Lan: You too, Higsby!
MegaMan: Yeah! | I was really impressed with NumbrMan’s calculating style!



Higsby: I’ll bring some better chips to the next battle, huh! | I do own a chip shop, after all!

Speaking of the next battle, do you know where Numberman’s ghost is? It’s in Town 4. You know, the area you only access at the end of the game.

Lan: Yeah! I look forward to it!
Higsby: All right, my customers are waiting for me, huh! | I’ll see yah!

Higsby walks off.

MegaMan: I’m really glad he doesn’t have to lose his shop.
Lan: No kidding! What’d we do without Higsby’s?!
MegaMan: Hey, Lan… | Let’s buy some stuff at Higsby’s every once in a while.
Lan: I agree.

Sorry, still saving money. And besides, you’ve bought him out three times.

Next time: I have no idea. Hopefully Metalman.

Current Folder

Heat Shot C x3
Wide Shot 1 C x3
Twin Fang 1 C x3
Magnet Bolt 1 C x4
Variable Sword V x4
Air Hockey 1 F x3
Air Hockey 3 V
Blinder *
Invisible * x2 - REGULAR
Attack +10 * x3
Full Custom *
ProtoMan B
Gun Del Sol EX G

Total codes (not counting * code): 5





Battle With NumberMan.EXE Alpha

Ball's in your court Alpha Werewolf.

This is actually correct-the expression itself contains bad grammar, but this isn't...technically... an error on BN4's part. And Higsby does tend to speak somewhat dialectically, ne?

No, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be "You've got another thing coming". Higsby's only verbal tic is "huh".

It refers back to "think". It is a slang version of "If you thought X, think again."- except it's more "You will be forced to think again" -> "You have another think coming".

And if that's not how Higsby talks, okay, that's an error, but the phrase itself is a pretty old usage.

Well, I had the update all written up, only to discover that I uploaded the wrong set of images - the unresized ones.

So I'm going to have to go over every image and replace it with reuploaded ones - all 158. I'll post it all tommorow, I reckon.

Whoa, I’ve been slacking way off.


I missed a couple screenshots here; Lan just says something about Fireman being their next opponent.




Match (That’s Mr. Match for you) is one of the strangest characters in Battle Network if you ask me. he’s quite obviously a ruthless criminal, but he never seems to be imprisoned for his crimes, coming back every game (don’t quote me on this: I’m not entirely sure if he was in 5 or not). In fact, in BN6 Gregar he’s one of your crosses.
I mean, don’t get me wrong – I really like the guy, he’s pretty cool and doesn’t afraid of anything, but it’s pretty ridiculous what he gets away with and still manages to be Lan’s sort-of-friend.
Anyway, on with the scenario.



Match tells Lan “nevermind that”, and that he should worry about Fireman, not him. Lan immediately tells him that he doesn’t know what he’s up to, but he’ll stop him! Match just tells him to make the fight a good one for the crowd (but not before commenting on Lan being a skeptical little kid), and leaves.


Lan’s stomach growls, and tells Megaman that they should find a place to eat. After running a short search, Megaman informs Lan of a nearby hot dog stand (and considering that I already jacked into that stand’s computer, it’s a rather entertaining moment). So they leave.




Match arrives, clearly expecting some big, big hot dogs

Lan asks Match what he's doing here.


Lan is surprised that the hot dog lady knows Match; She explains that a while ago, Match fixed her hot dog fryer, and even boosted it’s power for a yummier hot dog (No idea how that works. Boosting the power should only make making them faster). She apparently has Match to thank for still being in business.




Hot dog lady asks if Lan and Match are friends, remarking that they must be close, but Lan responds “not even!”. She laughs, and then the two mob goons from every other scenario ever show up.

So, yeah. Match is clearly still up to his old tricks.
Anyway, hot do lady thanks Match, saying that these guys have been coming to the stand lately requiring protection money. Match just says he remembered he has to go somewhere, and that Lan can take his hot dog instead.



Naturally, the hot dog is burned up by now. Hot dog lady says she’ll make another in a jiffy, but the fryer appears to have broken down again.




The source of the problems seems obvious.



FACEPALM x2 COMBO

Anyway, this is just a fight against two VulGears.


Lan says that the fryer still doesn’t work. Hot dog lady (would it have killed them to give her a name? From now on she’s HDL) comments that it must be completely broken down by now.


That’s thrice within a single short scene.

Lan says that Match seems to be the only one who can fix it, so he tells HDL he’ll go find Match.




Match is no longer outside of DenDome, and he’s nowhere to be found in ACDC or ElecTown. Neither is Fireman anywhere on the net.

Paradoxically, the only way to find Match is to go back to the DenDome’s waiting room.


Lan asks if the man is also looking for him, and the man says that Match dropped something. Lan says he’ll be happy to take it to Match.



FiredID is used in ACDC3:


Leading to this teleporter, which takes you elsewhere in ACDC3:


(The reason Megaman isn’t in the second screenshot is because I took it just before he teleported in)

Moving on in this small area…




Fireman then tells the two heelnavis to stay away from the hot dog stand, saying it’s an order from Match.



Sometimes I wonder what the translators were thinking.

The heelnavis leave…


…Just as Megaman arrives.

I love how Fireman is facing down the navi who deleted him the last time he tried anything criminal, and seems to not care about it at all.


Match says that, and I quote, “He’s probably just tired”. Which raises quite a few questions about technology in the BNverse...


Fireman says that Megaman only bought some time before being deleted, and jacks out. Megaman says that HDL should be okay now.


Lan agrees, saying he knew Match was up to something, and that they should keep a closer eye on him.


HDL thanks Match, saying he’s been nothing but kind to her and she’ll have to repay him someday. Match tells her to forget about it and keep making him tasty hot dogs.


Match then tells Lan off for deleting the virus inside the fryer; Apparently, it was what started the fire for the fryer.


I find this section a bit weird. Isn’t a virus, by definition, a malicious piece of software? If it’s a ‘helpful virus’, wouldn’t that just make it another program?

Actually, this had me wondering, so I checked the definition: “a segment of self-replicating code planted illegally in a computer program, often to damage or shut down a system or network.”

Doesn’t sound like something I’d like to have in my hot dog fryer!

Regardless, Lan says that it’s not a good idea to use viruses, but HDL agrees with Match.

Man, this scenario is weird. Suddenly Lan is the Only Sane Man.

Match says that it’s time for the match (heh).


Ominous!


Lan says they’re up against each other in the next round; HDL is disappointed that Match didn’t tell her.

This is also a weird section. Her stand is literally right outside the DenDome – How could she not hear the announcer? Scratch that, how can she not know who are the 8 finalists at all?





Huh. No convoluted minigame inserted just to irritate the player? No random padding inserted in the scenario for some minimum-scenario-length-limit?

Match chuckles.


Oh, I guess the scenario’s not over yet. Of course.

Lan asks Match what he’s up to.


Match explains that after the WWW (canonically named here World 3 in Match’s dialogue’s parenthesis!) broke up, he formed a group from it’s remnants which he’ll unveil today. He then explains that his people planted igniters in the DenDome, Which (as Lan helpfully informs us) would cause a disaster if they, uh, ignited. Incident starts playing now. Match says that his plan is about to begin…



Match is surprised to see HDL here, and Incident stops playing. Match understands that Lan must have told HDL about the tournament and tell his goons to pull out.


Tough Goon says that they’re already past the point of no return. When Match tells him it’s an order, Tough Guy informs him that he’s taking over the operation, and if Match tried anything – he’ll push the switch. He then cuts contact.



Announcer guy asks what’s wrong, BUT THEN!



Incident starts playing as the crowd screams. Shades Goon tells them all to shut it, and informs them they have just one chance to live: They must choose a person to go look for and disable the igniters, and if he’s successful they’ll all go free.

I have no idea how this makes sense, but hey, unnecessary padding.

Match tells Lan to do it, since they’ll torch the place if he himself tries anything. Naturally Lan agrees, and Match informs him that there are 5 igniters throughout the dome, and we must delete the viruses in each to disable them.

Each igniter gives a different message, but I only bothered to capture a few. They are in the following locations, and you just need to examine them normally to find them; Each contains just one virus battle against some fire virii:

1. A bag in the waiting room

2. The blue soda machine

3. The front desk

4. A flower vase:


(before the virus battle)

(after the virus battle)
5. Behind the blinders:


Well, that was simple enough. Who bets there’s a minigame now?



I dunnow about that. I mean, you hid the igniters in locations that wouldn’t cause much damage to the crowd in the actual dome, and the igniters were trivial to disarm.

Regardless, Lan asks what Shades Goon means, and the latter replies that they were saving a big bang for the finale. He informs Lan that they placed the most destructive igniter in the most obvious of places.


I’m not really sure what the hell.

Alternative caption: "METAL GEAR?!?!"



Match shouts at his goons that it’ll blow the place to smithereens if used here, and Shades Goon tells him that’s the whole idea.

Let’s recap this scenario for a moment, shall we?

Match and his goons form a plan to hold the entire DenDome hostage in return for… something or other. Match winning the tournament, I guess? Not sure what that would get him, considering that at this point the ONBA are chasing him, but eh. Match then shows that he doesn’t know much about what his goons do in his three-man syndicate: He has no idea as to what shops they take protection money from, and leaves the planting of the DEADLY FIRE BOMBS that are in the same place he is to them. And then they betray him and start acting like Bond villains.

The sad thing is, I could name half a dozen weirder/less kid-friendly scenarios in BN4 off the top of my head.

Back to the game, then. Match tells Lan the MT igniter is in the netbattle machine (you know, in case you haven’t figured it out by now), and that it’s the most secure igniter he designed; Megaman and Lan must do exactly as he says, for only he knows how to disarm it.




Oh, great. Minigame time.

Match’s explanation is long-winded, so I’ll sum it up. There are two stages of security for the MT igniter: A minigame and viruses (which is odd, considering that the viruses are supposedly what activates the bomb and not security, but I digress).

The minigame is simple enough. Four bombs will show up on the pedestals, one of them big, like so:


The numbers are seconds, and the bombs count down. If one reaches zero, it explodes and damages you. The strategy is simple: Go for the bomb that starts at 4, then just choose whichever bombs you like because the rest are too high to be a threat assuming you can use the B button to run. The annoying thing about this part is that you still need to fight random battles while disarming. Disarming is as simple as pressing A next to a bomb, at which point it’ll immediately vanish.

As far as I can tell, the big bomb always starts at 10 seconds, and the small bombs always start at 4, 8 and 9.



Match tells Megaman that there’s one more security measure, and that he has to be really careful.



The amazing secondary security amounts to…


This. The only reason this battle didn’t take five seconds is because the confusion from DarkVulcan still gets me sometimes, so I accidentally wasted the DarkBomb (and took quite a few hits in the proccess - not that I care, as I'm doing a low karma run)

Match tells Lan not to waste his breath; They’re long gone.


Match is pissed off about the fact that his goons stole his plan then left him behind. Lan, of course, responds by asking security to take Match away.


It’s how it went in my logical, and therefore completely unrelated to BN4 dreams, that is.
And was it really neccesary to stretch this out into three textboxes?


(This is one of the reasons I like Match: Unlike most BN villains, he can lose honorably)

Lan asks Match what he’s talking about; They have a battle to get to. Match asks him if he won’t report him to the officials.


…What.


The crowd cheers. And Lan asks the announcer to get on with it.

vs. Fireman



Why is this split in two textboxes?




This is probably the least logical Soul bonding in BN4, but don’t quote me on that either; Raika's already some pretty good competition, for example.

Match takes off, saying there’s one more thing he has to do, as HDL walks up to him.


Match says there’s a matter he has to finish off, and when HDL asks if he’ll deal with ‘them’ (his goons) now his only answer is silence. As he starts walking off, though…


Match tells HDL that his passion lies in the heat of battle; It wouldn’t work between them. Incidentally, I find this part odd. If he wants battles, why did he want to pull that hostage stunt earlier?

Anyway, Match leaves.


Megaman and Lan tell HDL that she’ll get over it in no time, and the scenario ends.

We never see HDL again, in any of the games. Lan never gets the hot dog she promised him, and Match never mentions her again.

Now, FireSoul. It’s not very special, really; It would’ve been more fitting to get it as my first soul, as it has parallels to AquaSoul. It’s probably the better soul, though:

-Your element becomes Fire, meaning you take double damage from Aqua attacks, and can walk on Magma panels with no ill effect.

-When you activate FireSoul, all but the corner panels of your and the enemy’s areas become grass panels - on which, to remind you all, fire attacks do double damage but turn the panel to normal.

-Your chargeshot becomes a 50-damage straight 3-panel flamethrower.

-You can charge fire chips with A to shoot off a 50+(chip power) damage straight flamethrower with no length limit.

The grass panels mean you can decimate early bosses with a few well-placed chip charges, and afterwards you should already have better souls so you won’t need this one; Solid, but not very exciting.

I'm going to be busy for a while, so the only thing I'll say right now is that Fire Soul is IMO the only Red Sun soul objectively worse than its Blue Moon counterpart.

I'll edit this post with more detail later.

Oh yes, FireSoul is definitely worse than NumberSoul. But then again NumberSoul is pretty damn great - better than quite a few Red Sun souls.

I return.




Utilize the power of numbers with Number Soul!

Required Chip Element: Plus
Charge Shot: Dice Bomb (10 damage * result)
Features: 10 chips on Custom Screen, +10 to all Null element chips.

Number Soul is okay. You'd think that a +10 to all Null chips and a 10 chip select would be great, and you'd be right, but it doesn't really do much beyond that. Look, let me compare it to the Red Sun souls that have already been examined.

Number VS Guts

Guts is obtained on the first playthrough, and Number on the second. This works out great for Guts, as its main purpose is to let you sweep through the game until you reach the Red Sun tournament and hopefully get Search Soul. As for Number, at the second playthrough you're unlikely to have a unicoded folder, so you won't be able to maximize its chip drawing potential. And aside from that, Guts' +30 to Null trumps Number's +10.

Number VS Roll

As I mentioned earlier, Roll is not a combat soul. Her main purpose is to keep you alive, and at that she excels. Meanwhile, Number could let you draw more Recovery chips, but then you'd be wasting chip slots.

Number VS Search

Here's the real match up. Red Sun's best Soul completely trumps Blue Moon's, and I'll be breaking the examination down even further to explain why.

Chip Type

Search requires Invisible chips. Number requires Plus chips. Now while it's perfectly safe to give up an Invisible chip (especially since you can have one active before you even use Soul Unison, giving up a Plus chip means giving up extra damage. You're unlikely to have Plus chips in your folder unless you're abusing multiple hit moves (which you should), and for those every point of attack counts.

Charge Shot

This isn't even a contest. Scope Gun is fast, homes in, pierces defenses, and deals a set amount of damage. Dice Bomb is slow, is a throwing attack, is slow, can be easily avoided, is slow, does random damage, and did I mention that it's slow? Because it is.

Chip Finding Capability

This is Number's main focus. If you have a unicoded folder and a Full Custom, you can see half of your folder in seconds (use 5 chips the first turn, immediately Full Custom and see 10 new chips on the Custom screen). This is excellent, but it's no match for Search Shuffle because you're still relying on the RNG to give you what you want. Meanwhile, Search gives you a total of three shuffles (six if you use a Full Custom), and while you may only be able to shuffle eight chips at a time, you'll still have a much higher chance of finding the chip combo you need.

Actually, chip combos deserve a bit more focuse. Remember, using Soul Unison requires you to give up Full Synchro. As I've mentioned before, Full Synchro is incredibly game breaking, and the only way Souls can match that power is with crazy chip combos. Search Soul can get those pretty easily. Number Soul can too, but you have to be luckier. I think it's obvious which is superior.

So how should you use this Soul?

Number Soul's a lot like Search Soul in that if you don't have the chip type needed to fuse with it, something is dreadfully wrong with you.

Final Thoughts

Number Soul's great, though it doesn't match up at all to most of Red Sun's souls. Still, best soul in Blue Moon. Doesn't mean you should use it over Full Synchro though.



Fire Soul is a hot one to handle!

Required Chip Element: Fire
Charge Shot: Fire Arm (50 damage, three panels long)
Features: All non-corner panels turn into grass (looks something like "++") on activation, Fire chips can be charged into a *base chip damage* +50 Fire Arm that hits the entire row, and Lava panels can be absorbed for 50 HP by standing on them.

Yeesh, Fire Soul. Like I said above, it's the only RS soul that can be considered to be objectively worse than its BM counterpart. This isn't because Number Soul is excellent, though, it's mostly because Fire Soul sucks. Believe it or not, it's pretty much Aqua Soul lite. Its main damage dealer relies entirely on your folder having Fire chips to charge up, but unlike Aqua Soul's 2x damage charge, Fire Soul just gets a row long Fire Arm that deals the chip's damage plus 50. Pretty much the only thing Fire Soul can do well is abuse the crap out of Black Bomb chips, but there's only one set of them in this game and it's got crappy chip codes.

So how should you use this Soul?

Well, you'll want lots of Fire chips and as many Black Bombs as you can carry. What else can I say?

Final Thoughts

Fire Soul makes me question my earlier assertion that Aqua Soul was the worst soul in BN4. But at least you're not forced to get in on the first playthrough.

Is it worth using Fire Soul for the free grass panels if you use a Heat Spread folder? Or are you still better off with Search Soul?

Just use Search Soul to assemble the PA then go into Fire Soul right before you use it.

Ughh the intermission between the City and Eagle Tournaments is just horrible. Castillo's long ass unskippable boat rides and the 50 Point collection are just the epitome of not fun.

(The next update could take a while.)

Hey, remember when I said that if you exchange Navis with the other version, said Navis will appear in the main story's tournaments as a replacement for one of the non-Soul Navi spots?

Turns out the game doesn't do that.



(Those two Normal navis are the same scenario)

No, BN4 just randomly selects which slot will be replaced. And this time around, it chose to replace Metalman. Metalman is the Soul I was supposed to get. Worse then that, looking at the match ups it's very likely that I will not have a new scenario until the final round, and if I'm unlucky and get Videoman on the second round, I will not get any new scenarios at all.

And if my fears prove to be correct, I might have to play this game more than three times.

Wow. This doesn't have anything to do with the bug that happens when you link the two games before you get a soul right? What does that do anyway.

I feel your pain. Yet I still want to play this.