This game for the Mega Man Retrospective is special, as this sub series I had no exposure to at all outside of a spin-off game in its own sub-series. So jumping into this game for the retrospective was a real treat considering its legacy.
Battle Network set completely new ground rules for the Mega Man series but it also smartly took elements from Mega Man Classic and Mega Man Legends in some really clever ways.
Development History:
The team at Capcom wanted to take Mega Man in a new direction for his GBA launch and while we got Mega Man Zero in 2002, this was something completely different. Instead of trying to refine Classic Mega Man in a new way, they looked into Pokemon and other popular handheld role playing games, and put Mega Man into that.
So, what does this mean? The game was going to be a light role playing game with heavy action elements to mirror the Mega Man series. Here is more insight on the games development from Wikipedia:
"Mega Man Battle Network was developed by Capcom Production Studio 2 amidst the success of Nintendo's portable RPG franchise Pokémon. Rather than extend upon the traditional action-platform formula for the Mega Man series as they had done with the 3D Mega Man Legends, Capcom followed Nintendo's example on the latter's then-newest handheld console, the GBA. While creating Battle Network, director Masahiro Yasuma found difficulty in blending action attributes with "the kind of fun you get from a Pokémon game" in order to make it enjoyable, new, and fresh. Yasuma recalled that production was further challenged because no effective precursor of its type had been made before. Producer Keiji Inafune stated that the development team wanted to add a "real world" feel to the Mega Man series by placing the protagonist of Battle Network in a location where the internet is prevalent. With the release of the portable GBA, the team felt that they should target modern gamers, specifically children, as an audience for the new series. The developers thought such a theme would be both successful and relevant because these younger gamers grew up with and utilized such technology on a daily basis. To ensure the game's popularity, Capcom marketed Battle Network alongside an afternoon anime adaptation, emphasized head-to-head matches between players, and provided fans with exclusive content via special events.
Inafune credited himself for redesigning the protagonist Mega Man as MegaMan.EXE for the Battle Network series, though he recounted the character designers were reluctant to hand over the responsibility to him and even altered his illustrations afterwards.The character's initial concept art went through a large number of changes before it was finalized to a much simpler design, so that even very young fans could easily draw it. Yuji Ishihara acted as a primary character artist for the game. Each of the game's boss characters was designed so that their bodies would exude a certain motif; for example, StoneMan.EXE was meant to look like a huge castle made from stone masonry. Some bosses resembled their original Mega Man series counterparts while others were a large departure from these more humanoid appearances. Ishihara explained that the artists chose size and shape variety among the characters to "provide a little bit of surprise and excitement" to fans familiar with their classic forms."
All this information suggests that Mega Man jumping into the world of the Internet was the most logical leap for the series. I agree, considering Mega Man has always showed different assets of technology across every sub-series, so why not explore the net?
Battle Network is also linked to a lot of media in both west and in Japan. For starters, it got its own anime called Mega Man: NT Warrior airing on the popular Kids WB (alongside Pokemon and Batman) and it started a long series of games across many platforms; GameCube with Network Transmission and even the Wondersawn!
The first game released in March 21st 2001 in Japan and October the same year in the west. The game got high scores and many enjoyed the game going in a different direction compared to past Mega Man games.
Story:
This is a big one considering this is a role playing game after all. So, its basically a more explained version of the Mega Man Classic series, just with the Net being the main setting for battles instead of various stages across the world.
A young boy named Lan (ha) has a PET that houses his Net Navi (digital partner) called Mega Man that his father created. They have battles with Lan's other friends and have a nice calm life. But suddenly, viruses start causing havoc and Mega Man pushes Lan to Jack into the net to see what is going on.
Mega Man takes out Fire Man and learns of a organization called the WWW ran by this universes version of Dr. Wily (with Lan's dad being this universes version of Dr. Light in some respects). Like clock-work, stuff happens to Lan and friends, so he sends Mega Man into the system to take the various viruses out.
What makes this so fun, is that the writing feels like it was pulled out of Mega Man Legends to me. Its likely from that being the most story focused version of Mega Man out their but still, got strong Legends vibes from a lot of Battle Network. The way the characters bounce off each other, how great the characterization of the villains are, and overall the story keeping me invested; it reminded me of the strong story telling from Legends. And I really appreciated that here.
The game even references Legends in Lan's Room!
Mega Man is one of the most adaptable IP around and Battle Network proves that in this regard.
Design:
This also mirrors past Mega Man games heavily. You have the main hub areas to explore as both Lan and Mega Man.EXE that allow you to talk to people for fun dialog, learn more about the world and see how things work. You can also jack-into most things in the world, giving Mega Man freedom to explore various spots for more Zenny (money) and have a few fights to get some chips.
You also have the way upgrading works, and it function like Legends. Instead of just leveling up after every single random battle, you use the Zenny you get to buy 'Power-Up' parts. After buying them, you use them for one of three options; power, charge and speed. Once you use one, Mega Man gets a higher level. This also works for your health as well, with you buying health-upgrade pieces to apply to Mega Man.
Lastly, is the chips themselves. You have different chips that function like the different Pokemon that this game was inspired by. Each chip does unique actions and will cover that in the gameplay portion soon enough. But some chips are the Navi's you fight/befriend and they offer different abilities. For example, this series version of Roll will give you some health while later games have Protoman.EXE or Bass.EXE do an attack for you. You also get Navi summon chips from the Robot Master Navi's (called WWW Navi's in the game) that function the same way.
Overall, its a really well set up game and world that you can really lose yourself in.
Gameplay:
The core gameplay in Battle Network is what you would expect out of a Mega Man Role Playing game; action packed gameplay with tight reponsive controls. The way the game works is that the mentality behind the Classic series comes through with Mega Man moving around and shooting his Mega Buster but he cannot jump.
So instead of jumping and shooting, you are moving and shooting. This is further pushed with the chip system, which gives Mega Man a wide selection of attacks he can used. For example, you can use bomb chips that allow you to throw powerful bombs in an arc (three spaces on the grid) and they can be useful for taking out turrets. Another example is using a Sword Chip for a powerful slash against a gliding foe charging at you.
Mega Man can have a 'hand' of chips equipped at once, but only ones that have the same letter class or same type. This leads to you making smart choices when initially selecting your hand for the fight, but there is a lot more to this system.
You have a 'custom' meter that builds up over time (happens very quick, as least 20-30 seconds) and you can equip a new hand of chips......or select modify and enter the fight with no chips. This allows you to fight with only the Mega Buster and after the custom meter is full again, you have a new row of chips to select. This is a great risk-reward system that should allow you to have a choice; fight the battle hard with only your Mega Buster until you get a hand you like, or use whatever the game throws at you and base your battle set up around that.
But there is further depth to this system, as Mega Man can only have 30 chips in his folder at a given time. Thankfully, you can change this at any time when running in the map (same thing with saving). The higher the letter ranking, the stronger the chips.
Thanks to the Mega Man Wiki, found a detailed breakdown of a mechanic called Program Advance. Sorry if I originally glossed over this feature everyone. Here is what the Wiki stated about the mechanic. "A Program Advance (プログラムアドバンス Puroguramu Adobansu?), PA for short, is an incident in the Mega Man Battle Network series when certain Battle Chips are used in succession to form a very powerful to enormously powerful offense or defense. One of the most known examples would be the Life Sword PA, which uses the Battle Chips Sword, Wide Sword, and Long Sword, in that order with the same code."
One final part of the combat system is the weakness system from MM Classic and MMX; its back but done differently. You fight various robot masters from the Classic series in new ways as WWW Navi's and each one has a different set-up. Fire Man has fire attacks for example and these fights can be very challenging. Sometimes unfair but with the great save system, enough pushing and Zenny grinding (to power yourself up) can get through things with little issue.
If you have a water chip attack, you could use it on Fire man to cause more damage and this extends to the other Navi's you fight across the game. This comes into my only issue with the game; the zenny grinding. You get enough of it to get by fine enough, but considering how expensive it is to power up Mega Man's Buster, it can be tough at first getting through the game. But again, the game has a great save system, so this can be somewhat megated.
Overall, the gameplay is strong here and something I was honestly surprised by; really enjoyed my time battling on the net with Mega Man!
Presentation:
The game looks great on GBA hardware and it scales up nicely to larger screens. The game has a great stylized look and if you loved the art direction of the Legends series, you will enjoy the art here.
Battle animations are solid and the music like all Mega Man games is a treat to listen too here. It only gets better from what I heard from the other BN OST's online, so looking forward to listening to more of the series soundtracks.
Main Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZocM0ZCnH5Q&list=PLACB9E941ADAC2F21&index=1
Home Town: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nSxBlJKvHs&index=2&list=PLACB9E941ADAC2F21
Incident Occurrence!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJZO0Drz2KQ&index=6&list=PLACB9E941ADAC2F21
Fire Field: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cplRj1b2b9c&index=8&list=PLACB9E941ADAC2F21
Running Through the Cyber World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtX-oC5eCnc&list=PLACB9E941ADAC2F21&index=9
Boundless Network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai3Lr-Sgyuw&index=10&list=PLACB9E941ADAC2F21
Cold and Silent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8aD8lDKUww&index=12&list=PLACB9E941ADAC2F21
Electrical Crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuMDZGcEYEI&list=PLACB9E941ADAC2F21&index=14
Overall:
Really enjoyed my time playing this game, as it was an honest surprise for me. The game can get hard but its rewarding. The gameplay systems are very original and really like how creative Capcom got with the core combat system here. And while the game has issues with sometimes hard fights and making you grind Zenny at points, the good save system can make up for those issues.
I enjoyed this game a lot and from impressions online, it only gets better from here. Lets jack into the network and join Mega Man on more online adventures!
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