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Part 9: Hell 2 U
The day has come.
Naturally, Lan almost oversleeps, because of course.
At least he has something of a reasonable excuse this time, though.
Seems like Dex had an early match, so he had to leave earlier than Lan did for the tourney.
That means it's time for Lan to make tracks.
After he stops to talk to NPCs, of course. That's what this series is really about, you know.
There's also something of a small rivalry between countries for this event, though I suppose that's not uncommon?
At any rate, it seems like these guys are going to be having fun on some kind of tour now that Beach Street's Metroline station has reopened for the tournament.
And it seems like some familiar faces may or may not be present when Lan arrives!
Not all of the teachers can make it, though.
At SciLab, things are proceeding as normal, of course.
Just because there's a tournament going on doesn't mean that they can slack off.
What a pro!
Who could it be, you guys? 
It's nice to see how the SciLab scientists are like extended family for Lan, though.
Especially considering that we never see any actual extended family for Lan, now that I think about it.
Look at this nerd who'd rather get fresh air rather than watch kids use a computer.
Nerd.
Tamako is still missing from her shop, oddly enough. Maybe she's sick.
The N1 participants have all departed for now, though!
Meanwhile, this family continues to play gin.
Have... have you guys been sleeping?
The only thing odd about this bath is that the water is brown in Blue version.
I mean they'll probably sell food at the event, my dude.
Mr. Famous is still working on improving Punk, though he does mention he was invited to the N1 and turned down the invitation given that he didn't want to overwhelm any newbie battlers that might have the potential to grow.
How sporting considering talk of him using Gater on people in the last game!
Seems like a light day for the zoo employees.
Though, that doesn't mean there's no people here.
Alright, that's enough stalling. Let's get going!
Music: Beach Street
Beach Street, the home of the DNN.
Naturally, there's quite a bit of Ribitta merchandise.
I can't say I'm surprised. Even on 4chan's Battle Network threads, there's a point where people just start blankposting with pictures of Ribitta.
It probably won't surprise you to know that she appears in half of the games in this series with that in mind, including this one.
More importantly, this guy here is a cool guy.
He's going to sell us some totally not resold at a higher price Navi Customizer programs.
Mod Tools! This feature was so broken that they actually removed it from all games after this!
Not only does it allow you to get rid of errors, but Lan can even use the Mod Tools to input bonus code into MegaMan that can give him additional beneficial effects, such as extra HP. If the effect is too good, though, like say +700 HP, then MegaMan will get some kind of bug to balance it out.
Interestingly, some of these Mod Tool codes appeared in the anime when MegaMan used the Extra Code to turn into Aqua Custom style. In the MagnetMan video that I linked, Lan actually input a code to give MegaMan more health!
As an additional bit of information, there are actually compression codes for the Navi Customizer programs that let you shrink the solid color programs by one block. Unless said programs are related to the story, like Press.
And yes, there will be more mandatory programs in the future. I'm ecstatic. 
Never mind that, though. Here's another Ribitta poster.
It also seems that the adoring public has arrived.
For whatever reason, the left side of the street is blocked off. This leads to the beachfront, as the directory nearby notes.
There's also a hospital.
Chaud, did you put this here to psychologically attack me?
Because it might be working.
Ribitta's nearby van also got a downgrade into a generic Net space. I miss the frog wallpaper!
Music: DNN Station
The TV station is a bit more interesting, though.
For starters, there's a script here from Episode 8 of a soap opera. A human/Navi romance? How delightfully absurd!
And over here we have
What the... Johnson, I thought you were dead, man!
Okay, I guess I was wrong about him never showing up again. Go figure!
Jennifer is also here.
These generic BN2 NPC models actually aren't used for minor characters in BN3, so it's almost like they have custom sprites this time around!
Here's an NPC who isn't immediately recognizable.
This isn't Whiskey Guy, much to my immense displeasure.
But could you imagine if it was, though? I'd have to give this scenario an 11/10 instead of a measly 10/10. You blew it, BN3. You dropped the ball.
Also, the spawn of Satan is competing. That's pretty cool and/or concerning.
I think that's a natural reaction to have in the face of the damned, sir.
Let's look at these charming mascots to calm down.
The last person to speak to here is this guy.
He's kind of a dick!
Lan, of course, doesn't take that lying down.
But he can't compete with the sheer enormity that is tween ego.
Tora finally gives his name (very late for someone talking about manners) and challenges Lan to a Net Battle.
Much like with GutsMan V2, this is a battle that has two possible outcomes. So let's pretend Lan suddenly became a scrub.
Oh no, h-he's fast. I've never felt ki like this before. No one can just deflect the Emerald Splash.
Lan says that he'll pay Tora back if they fight again next time, but Tora says if they do fight next time then it'll be even worse for Lan since he still has two transformations left in him.
He then walks off and the scenario continues from there.
But what if I actually did something other than stand in place and wait for his 30 damage attacks to slowly kill me?
Boss Fight: KingMan
Hey, look at me, uploading my own boss videos now. I can almost call myself a big boy LPer!
KingMan is one of those bosses that likes to sit in the back row while he attacks you with things. Things being chess pieces in this case. He's actually kind of interesting, since he has three different strategies he will use to attack MegaMan that depend on how you fight him, but he still tends to sit still far too often for his own good. Not really hard at all.
- Plan A: KingMan's default strategy. Two pawns and a knight are on the field. The pawns slash at MegaMan with Long Sword range while the knight tries to hop on MegaMan directly, also shooting a shockwave if there are panels in front of it.
- Plan B (En Passant): If KingMan's pieces are destroyed by breaking attacks, or MegaMan stays in his back column out of the pawns' range, KingMan uses an Area Grab to increase his pieces' attack range.
- Plan B (Castling): If MegaMan uses an attack that knocks back a pawn, KingMan swaps the pawns out for two knights and a rook that continually moves in front of KingMan to block attacks.
- Checkmate: Used by later versions of KingMan. This move is only used if MegaMan's HP is low enough for it to finish him. It "locks" MegaMan into a position so that MegaMan is unable to avoid KingMan leaping at him and hitting him with a shockwave, but it's possible to survive it with UnderShirt.
Here's the other two versions of Plan B!
After losing, Tora again reveals that he hasn't even activated his Bankai yet.
lan stop, you're killing me
The two fight outcomes sync up here with Tora wandering off.
Sunayama then shows up and directs everyone to the stage.
This is definitely not Whiskey Guy.
The following cutscene is best watched rather than transcribed, just for the flourish of it all.
If you don't watch it, the only thing you're missing is the contestants, whom we've all just met, being introduced for an audience. But it's still a fun scene, so I recommend it. I didn't record it for nothing.
Music: N1 Grand Prix!
It's also set to a good track.
After introductions, Bonzu (not!Whiskey Guy for you filthy anti-YouTubers out there lovely people who will probably watch the video later) asks how many people are in the tournament total.
Sunayama answers that there are four blocks from A to D, each having 8 people. Which... seems like kind of a small turnout for a worldwide tournament!
As it turns out, though, Sunayama has no intention of just having four big rounds of Net Battling, though. There's some additional weeding out to be done!
Before they Net Battle at the DNN building, they need to first venture to another location in order to compete in a bit of preliminary trials.
This was called Hell Island in Japanese, hence this update's title.
Apparently, we'll be ferried to Hell, courtesy of DNN.
Sunayama really seems to be playing things up quite a bit for the audience.
Perhaps feeling the PET Case was a bit unhelpful for a Net Battle competition, Yuichiro sends the much more useful ExpMemory, which increases the size of the Navi Customizer window. Now I have room for more programs!
Mayl and Co. have come to the lobby to see Lan off now.
I'm assuming the rest of the class is still in the audience.
Fortunately, there are no rowdy Netopian mobs here at the studio today, but instead a bunch of good-natured fans.
The maid at the cafe even tells you to come back safe if you speak to her.
Yeah, I'm sure you've got this in the bag, Johnson. You were a big help against KnightMan.
Alright, let's get on-board.
Sunayama is waiting for everyone in front of the boat.
Lan is momentarily distracted by etymology as MegaMan helpfully explains that pronto is derived from the Spanish language. After that small aside, Lan boards the ferry along with everyone else.
Sunayama then gasses everyone while the danger music plays.
While Lan is out, someone comes in and does something to everyone's PETs, much to MegaMan's concern.
I think Sunayama might be trying a liiiittle bit too hard to get ratings.
Music: Hades Island
Everyone eventually comes to just fine and disembarks on Hades Isle upon arriving. Sunayama assures them that Hell Hades itself indeed awaits them inside.
Jennifer and Tora seem to be getting tired of his theatrics, so off we go.
While Sunayama gives everyone the choice to turn back, MegaMan will be very disappointed in you if you try.
Settle down, cowpoke.
So Hades Mountain! A bit over the top.
I'm starting to get the feeling that Sunayama used to host crazy game shows before this.
Sunayama and the DNN staff love their 
, so I'll trim this down a bit.
Lan crosses the bridge and meets up with everyone else at this machine. Round 1 involves the eight of them being pit against each other in a contest to find four VictDatas inside of the machine. The four contestants who do not find them are immediately eliminated from the tournament. Additionally, everyone is being made to use the same Extra Folder in order to test their skills, which is the "something" that happened to their PETs while they were unconscious.
So, between all of the blocks, we're having 16 people dropped from the tournament already!
Music: Dangerous Black
Man, this game suddenly doubled down on the new music, huh?
This is actually the Undernet theme for this game. Fitting, considering a small path in the back of this area connects the Undernet to that portal in Beach Area where the Heel Navi is asking for a Tally.
If you were so inclined to jack out, Jennifer is the only one that actually talks to you without being rude (Johnson) or condescending (Tora). Everyone else ignores Lan to focus on the task at hand.
No matter what you do, you can't actually lose this segment of the game because the last VictData is hidden behind a Press pathway. And yes, as soon as you jack in, three of them are grabbed by the advancing NPCs immediately. Guess who they are!
Since there's no risk of losing, I take a moment to get something I'll be needing to advance the story later.
ColdHeads are an ice version of the HardHead viruses from the last game. Whereas HardHeads broke the panels they shot their cannonballs at, ColdHeads freeze them. There's also a LavaHead or something in that door in SciLab. However, both it and ColdHead have a new irritation that BN3 introduces for viruses!
Before I go into that, though, I managed to get exactly what I needed for my good buddy.
So, Battle Network 3 decides to make getting Standard Chips kind of a pain.
For starters, some viruses like ColdHead only appear if you use certain programs. In this case, it won't show up here most of the time unless you use the Fish program, which can be bought from Beach Square. This forces water viruses to show up more frequently in battle.
Not really Navis, though, because BubbleMan Beta only shows up to fight you if you're at 25% HP. Thanks, Capcom!
There's one program for each element, of course. And that means four programs to toggle through as you go through multiple dungeons and internet areas that may have viruses whose data you'll need to get 100%. Kind of a bother.
But that's not the real problem.
The real issue is that Navis now drop V4 chips if you S-Rank them in under 20 seconds, which can only be gotten with Team Styles. Furthermore, there are viruses that also drop their own "V4" types of chips, which require an S-Rank with a Custom style to get! And you can only have one Style at a time in this game!
Kind of an annoyance, you see?
Despite MegaMan using the key in front of this Navi, he'll continue to stay here and complain that he's locked out.
Maybe it's like Security Cubes and only the person with the actual key can advance?
Well, sucks to be you.
With the last VictData obtains, everyone is made to jack out.
There is a pregnant silence as the results are tallied, though the losers know who they are.
Bonzu, Koetsu, Yosh, and Johnson are all eliminated!
Quite literally, it would seem!
Not that it matters now, but Koetsu was one of the posters on the BBS boards, in case you didn't realize that from reading those. I've heard that Yosh is a BBS poster as well, but I've posted all of the BBS dialogue from the past games and didn't see anything from him. So unless it's a case of "Kiddo is Koetsu" and he had a different name in BN2, I'm gonna have to call BS.
Tora, being at the cusp of his edgy 13-year-old phase, is okay with this casual execution of tournament participants for the entertainment of viewers like you.
After Yasu talks about social darwinism for a bit, the path ahead appears.
And no, they're not actually dead, nerd.
The DNN probably deserves at least two or three lawsuits by this point, but they're not actively trying to kill anyone.
Up ahead, Lan and Co. run into four doors. Each leads to a room of unimaginable horror!
And also a person from C-Block, I guess.
Lan opts to be the first one in, while Tora decides "Good things come to those who wait." and saves his choice for last.
Alright, that's a little funny.
Jennifer is as agreeable as always. And Q just... stands there.
It's gonna be mental!
So there is actually a choice here. While your opponent remains the same no matter what, the room you choose has an effect on the battle.
The leftmost door leads to the Blazing Inferno, which covers the field in lava panels. The door two down from it leads to the Arctic Pit, which covers the field in ice panels. The rightmost door leads to the Amazon Pit, which covers the field in grass panels.
Blazing Inferno and Amazon Pit would be my preferred choices, seeing as I have a Heat Style.
So naturally, I wound up not only choosing the door I didn't want but also the worst possible choice, because I forgot what each one corresponded to. 
This is the Desert Pit, which covers the field in sand panels. This means that every time you take a step, you get to experience the joy of lagging in place. I was tempted to reload and choose an easier door, but I figured that'd be dishonest to my watchers. I hope you enjoy this, you sadists!
Hey, now THAT's a familiar face! ...er, back? I guess that explains why she wasn't around at the inn earlier.
For the sake of preserving the tone, I kept the cutscene for this video, so watch it to see the pre-fight dialogue!
Boss Fight: MetalMan Alpha
Alright, it's time to fight this guy aga-
Music: Great Battlers
Is that a new boss theme just for this scenario!? I think it is!
MetalMan is largely the same as before, only now he uses Metal Fist suddenly to get in your face fast! Since his attacks come out faster, the slow movement of the gears will also prove to be rather frustrating for you when he uses his Metal Boomerang. He also seems to hold off on using the Boomerang until it's a sure possibility that you'll be hit by it!
Sadly, you can't really remove the gear on your side with your present folder, so you've just gotta shoulder on for now! It is what it is!
Also, if you're wondering, I forgot to take a picture of MetalMan, so I redid the fight after the recording. In the easy room this time!
To the surprise of no one, MegaMan triumphs over MetalMan again.
Tamako is a good sport about her loss, at least.
Too bad she's dead now.
Much like C and D had their own matches at this point, A and B have gone through something similar and reduced their numbers to just four.
But before Lan can battle them, he has to get a new Extra Folder (or not, I guess).
So there are a number of NPCs around the island now that have folders to hand to you.
However, you actually do only have three minutes to do things.
Unless you bring up the start menu. Then the timer stops. 
The folder I went with was from this kid on top of Hades Isle, which might be the strongest folder? I'm not sure.
Either way, you have to do a five question quiz in order to get it. And yes, each of the people who give you folders try to waste your time in some way, usually because they're stammering or rambling on due to nervousness.
However, there are also two NPCs here who only exist to talk a lot and waste your time without giving you anything.
The man mentions he has a super powerful folder, but he forget it at home before going off on a tangent and making bad jokes. The woman mentions how the other people who actually give folders are part-time workers who aren't good at ad-libbing like her. She then goes on a pretty lengthy talk about her plans to advance her career.
She's... quite the chatterbox.
Eventually, the timer hits zero (though it won't advance this scenario until you finish talking to whatever NPC you might be chatting up in case you're contemplating getting their folder).
It's time to advance to the next area!
Sunayama, please. Don't you have enough scenery in your teeth?
To progress, you indeed have to return to whatever door you entered.
The folder NPCs now cheer you on, aside from the guy who forgot his. He just continues talking about his bad stand-up.
Like before, the cutscene is included in the link below. Scroll down when you finish!
Boss Fight: Quarter Finals
Poor GutsMan! I suppose there's the possibility you could have lost to him beforehand, but at least MetalMan Alpha was a new fight!
Hopefully you'll blow us away with GutsMan Beta.
With Dex defeated, Lan has advanced once again.
Dex also takes it like a champ, though, and encourages Lan to win.
Meanwhile, Yai is having trouble with Q,
who is doing the sieg heil for some strange reason.
Not sure what kind of advantage that gives him in battle, but okay.
At any rate, it seems like Q pulls some kind of underhanded trick to defeat Yai.
Remember this for later.
MegaMan isn't impressed with Q needing to cheat to beat Glyde of all people.
At any rate, the losers are dropped through the flo- Why are you still making that pose?
oh thank god i don't have to fight sharkman in this game
Also good, since ThunderMan is rather annoying. As if there was any chance of Chaud losing, though.
Kind of fun that all of the top Net Battlers that attended the conference at Net Castle were in the N1. Aside from Pride, of course.
With that done, the Semifinals are next, and Lan and Co. can now use their folders again.
Kinda sad that 75% of the people that made it to the end are from D-Block, though.
Taking the bridge to the north brings Lan to the top of Hades Isle. Seeing as we're done here, Lan heads down to the ferry along with the others and heads back to the DNN building.
I'm sure it'll be fine.
Who will claim the vaunted title of Champion? Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion that I'm definitely not putting off because it's 2 AM!