Mega Man Battle Network

The Good
Here it is. Capcom's gone and created a new Mega Man game...but MAN is it different! Yeah, there's a bad guy named Wily in it, and yes, there's a Roll in it, and we do see some familiar faces...but why is everything so...so...different?

Simple...because this isn't quite what you had in mind! MegaMan Battle Network took Capcom's classic Mega Man and truly reworked him for the 21st century! So what's it all about? Simple. The future has come, and the Internet has become a big part of life. People everywhere access the Internet through whatever...TVs, computers...hell, even your stove! And to help when you're on the road, there's the PET (Personal Exploration Terminal): a hand-held PDA, cell phone, e-mail station, and computer all wrapped up in one package. Our hero, a young boy named Netto Hikari (Lan in the U.S. version), has a PET of course, equipped with an A.I./A-Life program named MegaMan.EXE, who is a highly skilled Virus Buster and all-around good friend of Netto's. And together, these two will stop the threat of the sinister WWW (World Three), led by the evil hacker Dr. Wily.

So now that the intro's over, I'll let you know about the gameplay. Many people say that the game plays like an RPG, but they're only sort of correct. You do have dungeons and treasure boxes (here called "Mystery Data"), and you do encounter enemies in the dungeons, but that's where the similarities end. The battle system works as follows: When MegaMan encounters enemies in the Net, he'll battle them. When a battle starts, a menu appears showing your Battle Chips. Battle Chips are your weapons, and come in 175 different types (shades of Pokémon abound! ^_^), ranging from cannons to swords to special Navi summon chips which call other people's Navis in to help MegaMan in a bind. At the start of any "turn", you can choose up to 5 Chips to use in battle, as long as either: A) they are of the same type (e.g. maybe 3 Cannons), or B) they are of the same code (e.g. MCannon "C" and MiniBomb "C"). If you choose to, you can add more Chip Data, but forfeit a turn of using chips. If you add more data, however, the next turn will present you with 10 chips, and you can even add more for a total of 15. MegaMan also has a Buster cannon, which is fast but weak until you power him up. The battles range in difficulty from either complete pushovers (Metools, for instance) to hair-yanking hard (most Navi bosses). And as a final addition, only MegaMan fights battles; Netto's only problem is sending him into the Net and getting to places to help MegaMan out. Thankfully, at times Netto's friends will help him out, whether it be his childhood sweetie Meiru, class rival Dekao, the precocious genius Yaito, or shady Enzan, he's never alone!

As for graphics, sounds, and music: the graphics and animation are both quite sensational for an early GBA game, with clean, sharp colors and crisp animations abound. Even the most insignifigant things animate with such fluidity and finesse that I was shocked it all fit into a tiny cartridge! The sounds are quite fitting (except that MegaMan's buster cannon sounds just a BIT squeaky), and the music is at least adequate: nothing stands way too out at me, but there's one piece that I really thought was cool, and that's the Boss theme.

The Bad
One problem I have is that once in a while, you may be caught completely off guard in a heated battle and be summarily wiped right out without warning. Heaven knows just how many times Navis like SharkMan.EXE and MagicMan.EXE had me ticked off to no end.

Also, I was shocked that everything was so well animated except for Roll's attacks...talk about MINIMAL!! ><

The Bottom Line
Wanna try a different Mega Man game? Love card battle games? Or are you just an insane, hardcore otaku who SWEARS by every Japanese game made? Get yer cash out; you're gettin' a copy! ^^

And as Masa would say, "Ya can't win a battle without taking your calcium!" ^_^