Mega Man Battle Network 4

When the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection [ロックマンエグゼ アドバンスドコレクション] was first announced, my plan was to work backward from Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar, through the other versions of prior games I've owned first (Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel, Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun, Mega Man Battle Network 3 White), leap over Mega Man Battle Network 2 [バトルネットワーク ロックマンエグゼ2] and into the first Mega Man Battle Network [バトルネットワーク ロックマンエグゼ], then progress forward, hitting the versions skipped earlier. I've already fucked this up, as partway through Gregar I'd started feeling a sick desire to play 4, somewhat masochistically.

The thing is... I never really disliked 4. The first time I beat Duo as a kid, I was briefly disappointed that I only had three out of a promised six DoubleSouls, but the existence of New Game+ blew me away, being I think possibly the first time I experienced such a thing in any game, now that I think about it. I guess the thing about childhood gaming is you used to tolerate a lot of wackness, so I didn't give a shit about questionable BattleChip variety or the fact that a lot of things are near-missable if you don't explore and grind thoroughly before starting the next playthrough. The mere fact that I could fuse with the power of other Navis - me, a huge Dragon Ball fan, particularly fond of Vegetto, Gotenks, and Gogeta - was enough to keep me pleased.

Getting back to the game after so long... eh, it's fine to me still. Or, at least, I'm writing now after only a single playthrough, so maybe there's still time for other shit to get annoying, especially if I run into too many repeat scenarios in Tournaments. My two biggest problems are that some viruses are unfun to fight and grind against for Chips (namely, Molokos, who only drop their Chip on Busting Level 9 to S, but who have never dropped the Chip on Level 9 for me so far, making me hunt the Green Mystery Data in Town 3 that can contain the MokoRush1 Chip), and that Souls are actually kind of shitty compared to the Crosses I just used throughout Gregar (less so the time-limit, and more that Power Attack damage doesn't scale to MegaMan's Buster stats; GutsSoul's GutsPunch will always do 60 damage, no matter how strong your Buster is, and ThunderSoul's ZapRing will always be 20 damage, even if its utility is more in the stun effect anyway). I guess I don't really care for how you are forced to fight ShadeMan twice in the story, but cannot defeat him with conventional means, but I feel it's rectified by the sequel where he returns as a major boss, and I like the little Boktai [ボクらの太陽] side-quest that unlocks his ghost data, even if I wish it allowed us to fight the Version 2 while the PileDriver keeps him still....

Battle Network 3 was apparently written as an ending for this subseries, but the games, anime adaptation, and toys were so popular that Capcom couldn't help themselves, and production was rushed on a fourth installment. It seems also that the development team started feeling quite ambitious in general, so they made a new engine with smaller sprites to be able to use the GBA cart's meager storage space for neater shit, including each DoubleSoul having unique sprites as well (contrast 6's Crosses, which only palette-swap MegaMan's lower body rather than redesign his boots, so the team need only draw the top-half transformations). It's more or less an accepted "excuse" by the fandom that 4's story (or relative lack thereof) is the way it is because technical changes were prioritized over writing, maybe.

There are, like, three plotlines running, that kinda-sorta tie in together by the end, but not really. A new evil organization, Nebula, is spreading DarkChips to corrupt the world's Navis. Meanwhile an asteroid is on a collision course to Earth and the world's scientists, including Lan's father and newcomer Dr. Regal, must band together to stop it. Meanwhile meanwhile the world is hosting a series of NetBattle Tournaments, in which Lan participates. It turns out the asteroid is host to a computer program, Duo, who is angry at humans for being evil, especially considering the invention and spread of DarkChips. And Dr. Regal and company came up with the international tournaments to help find a NetBattler strong enough to stop whatever viruses and programs may be on the asteroid. But... Dr. Regal is also the leader of Nebula, so there's this weird, muddied plot-point about... uh... Dr. Regal having his Navi, LaserMan delete MegaMan so Regal and LaserMan can then defeat Duo together in front of the whole world, tricking everyone into seeing him as a hero so he can more easily spread DarkChips in secret(???).

In the beginning, Lan and his father take a trip to ElecTown (a pre-otaku-ized Akihabara analogue) to get a new part for their microwave (where a virus served as the obligatory tutorial). Shortly afterward, ShadeMan kidnaps Roll, and we're thrown into our first dungeon, where ShadeMan cannot be properly defeated (he can turn into incorporeal mist like Dracula), but he fucks off and drops a DarkChip. Lan asks Higsby about the Chip, and Higs warns Lan never to use it under any circumstance. Then it doesn't matter for a bit, because we get a tournament local to DenTown. ShadeMan pops back up soon afterward, and you are forced to use DarkSword to defeat him, granting MegaMan his DarkSoul, which is never an actual problem unless you suck at dodging attacks (like me when I was ten) or just deliberately want to play with DarkChips for shits and giggles. Regardless, you are soon thrown into the second tournament, encompassing all of Electopia, but which is hardly discernible from the DenTown tournament in scope (that is, we don't get to visit any new locations beyond Castillo). Then you go to the last tournament, without a real break for the DarkChip plot, which segues somewhat roughly into the endgame.

I want to say the bulk of the game is in its three tournaments, and that probably is accurate, technically, but all the scenarios for each tournament are pretty short. This is a good thing, since some of them are... not great. Each tournament consists of one generic green NormalNavi, one generic purple HeelNavi, two unique Navis who can grant you a DoubleSoul power, two unique Navis who cannot, MegaMan himself, and a free space taken up in the bracket as another Normal or HeelNavi. You will always fight one generic, one Soul unique, and one non-Soul unique, unless you use the link feature to receive opposite-version Navis for your game, which... replaces the non-Soul unique Navis instead of the fucking generics (which is especially silly, as the Legacy Collection gives you Trophies for defeating each of the six total non-Soul unique Navis, meaning you have to play the game more than three times to see everything). Oh, actually, that's too important to leave in parentheses: you have to play the game at least three times to see everything. You get three Souls in your first run, two more in your second, and the last in your third. You need all six to unlock the postgame area, including Bass fights and so on. There are nine tournament fights for each playthrough, three playthroughs are required for a total of twenty-seven fights, but there are only eighteen unique Operators to battle (thirteen or fourteen unique Navis, as all generics fight the same, and it's a matter of whether you want to count Normal and Heel as distinct for having different spritesheets...), so it's inevitable you will fight several people more than once. Indeed, you are guaranteed to fight Soul-granting unique Navis more than once, as the game can't just fucking make it two playthroughs only...!

The above paragraph makes it seem like I really hate the tournament structure, but I really don't mind it. As I said, the scenarios are all pretty short, so it's hard to be too mad. My biggest issue in my most recent run was that I had Riki's HeelNavi in the second tournament, followed immediately by WindMan, and both foes have super-similar scenarios; the HeelNavi makes you do a quick stealth mission through all three maps of Park Area, and WindMan makes you go a similar path through the same maps while dodging circling whirlwinds, feeling redundant as fuck. In fact, Riki's HeelNavi was preceded by BurnerMan, who... makes you go through Park Area dousing out fires... but you also have to go through the other areas a bit, at least. I'll be reminded later when I start NG+, but right now I can't recall if all scenarios in the second tournament are mostly limited to Park Area. The first tournament at least has ACDC and Town Areas to play in, and the third has Netopia, Netfrica, Sharo, and Yumland Areas to expand things a bit (even if they're all only one map each...), as well as the Undernet for some bosses, which is the single largest Area in this game.

I think I used to be shitty at these games when I was a kid, despite my love for them. DoubleSoul was the coolest shit, and I would build my Folder such that I can activate all six Souls, but as an adult I'm a little peeved at the lack of power-scaling, and I just removed Elec Chips from my Folder earlier, and will probably abandon Panel Destruction Chips soon enough. This leaves WindSoul as the primary Soul for me, but it's really just because of his Float/Air Shoes and the permanent Fan effect, as I don't appreciate how the MegaBuster becomes an AirShot that can't shoot as rapidly as my base form. I was able to get BustPack in my NaviCust pretty early, slapping +1s for Attack, Charge, and Speed to give me all 5s in my Buster stats, and I fully intend to make use of it all. The Charge at least aids DoubleSoul PowerAttack charge time, pretty sure, and Speed mostly still works for other Souls (especially Guts, I guess?), and the basic Buster will still do 5 damage, just the problem is PowerAttacks are not guaranteed 50 damage from the stat-scaling. Contrast the Cross System where EraseCross's charge attack does 140 damage with level 5 Attack!

The introduction of Full-Synchro as a gameplay mechanic is pretty fantastic (even if it means BugFrags are harder to grind for). And god bless AirHoc!

BN3's late-game theatrics became the main characteristic of Battle Network 4, their most ambitious but not necessarily their most accomplished effort. Sleek new graphics, a welcome overhaul to the Metroline, and a further-streamlined Net world accompany updates that don't improve over their recent standard but simply changes the approach. In particular, this is Battle Network at its most 'action-y', best represented by the extra combat mechanics (notably fighting game-esque counter hits and even a performance gauge crossed with rage mode and a morality system) as well as bonus items and the removal of chip mulligans. Fight optimization now relies on a greater dose of good old-fashioned timing, not only synergies or elements. Its narrative and dungeons are - instead, a step in the wrong direction (the former resorting to fantasy JRPG cliches, and the latter containing some of their worst ideas so far), while the randomized overworld progression still detracts from what they do best.