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Battle Network 3 (White) – Pre-Let’s Play Notes
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Preface
- Battle Network 3 is a game that seems to be considered one of the best in the series. Having replayed the series recently, however, I found myself enjoying it less than Battle Network 2. That may have been in part due to nostalgia, but we'll see if I'm able to address my feelings or if they change as time goes on.
- The box-art looks very bland and also is the only one to not feature Lan on the cover for some reason.
- Navis without Counterparts: BeastMan*, DesertMan, KingMan, CopyMan, BowlMan, MistMan, Serenade
- Despite having a different name, BeastMan seems to be based on SlashMan. There is a SlashMan later on, amusingly enough, that bears no resemblance to the Robot Master.
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FlashMan
- Battle Network 3 was released as two versions in Japanese originally: EXE3 and EXE3 Black. These would both go on to become White and Blue respectively. While White version would have the default color scheme used in 1 and 2, Blue would feature and alternate palette for the sake of visual distinction. However, Blue makes the ACDC squirrel golden, which becomes the default color in all later releases.
- Lan and Co. are still in the fifth grade in BN3 despite being in fifth grade in BN1 and in the middle of summer vacation in BN2. Despite that, this is not an error, but merely how Japanese schooling operates. A similar occurrence happens with the Star Force trilogy.
- Dex mentions that the other class was taken on a trip to an umbrella factory. Hopefully that's not Umbrella Corporation.
- It is a shame ACDC Elementary's exterior was removed entirely, though it's understandable given the lack of cartridge space. Most of the school also managed to remain intact, so it's ultimately a quibble.
- The Jack In animation and Game Over screen background were also removed. Apparently, these were cut due to the English text taking up more file space. This also accounts for the lesser visuals compared to Battle Network 2's more vibrant internet.
- While I do like the N1 Grand Prix scenario, the preliminary events that lead into it are undoubtedly the most boring parts of the game for me. I'm not sure why it bothers me quite so much, but I find it more intrusive than the License tests in Battle Network 2. Perhaps replaying the series will change that for me.
- It's a bit odd to me that Lan's friends are scheduling a group chat for later as opposed to just hanging out now, especially given that they're all going to be doing the N1 Preliminaries together.
- Returning with the wrong answer during the preliminary mission yields a mini-game.
- Why doesn't Dex simply email his assignment or just save it on his computer and copy it over to Lan, Mayl, or Yai's disk before school? Storing it on the PET also seems like it should be an option. This is a very unusual setup.
- Why is the security gate accessible by the main internet? Wouldn't that be on the school network only? It seems rather bizarre that any random passerby could just deactivate part of the school's security if they were so inclined. Made worse by the fact that the guard Navi is sleeping.
- On that note, how did Rei manage to slip into the school? The guard was asleep on the Net, sure, but the gate lock was still in place. Did he just climb the gate? Are there no security features in place to prevent that, especially after what happened with Higsby in a previous game?
- The Navis of Lan's friends are exceptionally quiet for this whole segment.
- I remember finding the lack of music during this section very eerie as a child. Battle Network makes you get used to having background music, so moments where there is none come across as very unsettling. Ironically, Rei's introduction and the constant loop of panic music actually made this segment more relaxing.
- Rei says he intends to murder Lan's friends, but he instead hypnotizes them and makes them dance. Is he trying to exhaust them to death? Am I supposed to see him as overdramatic or take him seriously? I can't really tell, though Yai doesn't really seem to take his implied murder threat very seriously.
- The setup of a child from another class going to an umbrella factory, getting a free parasol, and leaving it behind in their classroom just so Lan can block a single attempt at hypnotism from FlashMan before jacking in feels like needless padding. Lan can just jack into the laptop from the other side. Rei left and FlashMan can't exactly change the direction the laptop is facing.
- While he is "Flash"Man, the dungeon gimmick feels like a whole lot of nothing. The security system BMDs are also very odd; they make the security look pathetic for employing basic Mettaurs and there's no hint as to which are real or fake. This dungeon just feels like it's doing things for the sake of doing things.
- The first boss of the third game is an electric boss, much like in Star Force 3.
- FlashMan is likely the most difficult first boss in the series. Neon Light is quick, Flash Bulb allows for paralysis, and he has a basic follow-up of AreaGrab and Spark Palm to capitalize on any vulnerabilities. It's definitely a meaner fight than FireMan and AirMan, which also means that his ghost is riskier to release early on.
- Despite seeing an intruder break into the school for the purpose of stealing something, Lan and Pals will make no mention of this to the police. I imagine any concerns about getting in trouble for entering the school at night would be a distant second concern to the fact that a would-be murderer broke into the building!
- The early reintroduction of Wily into the plot takes a bit of the mystery out of the antagonists early on. Wily's back and, given that he's collecting "Tetra" Codes, he is again having his WWW agents grab four plot coupons in order to summon the final boss. For a game that is theorized to have originally been the finale of the series, it's starting off awfully derivative.
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BeastMan
Personal Notes
- In Japanese, the bosses are referred to as V2, V3, and SP. Check if that's the case for 4 - 6 as well.
- Fight FlashMan Alpha before the N1 qualifiers. After the qualifiers during the Shining Browser Crasher, run into the new viruses and FlashMan Beta. Segue into dialogue about how the bosses move to new areas, bring new viruses with them, and a complaint about how FlashMan and the WWW do nothing to take advantage of the SBC.
- Each of the Beta Navi locations seem to correlate to the character in some way, like FlashMan showing up in the area of ACDC's Net connected to the school.
Commentary
- For as mild as he becomes later, Chisao has a very obnoxious introduction.
- The game pitting you against GutsMan Alpha in the second scenario of the game is pretty cool. GutsMan has no way of taking advantage of breaking the field like he does in Battle Network 2, so he coasts entirely off of big damage and hopes that you will make mistakes by panicking. That's a pretty cool way to handle a boss rematch.
- Would cutting to another camera manage to prevent people from noticing that MegaMan and Lan pointing out that they were on television? The broadcast was live, wasn't it?
- Why does Yuichiro ring his own doorbell? Did he forget his key?
- Despite ordering FlashMan to use his Shining Browser Crasher on MegaMan, Rei will not inform the WWW will of this and no attempt will be made to attack Lan, making me wonder why Rei even bothered. I mean, sure, it does mess with MegaMan for a bit, but Lan's father works on PETs for a living. He even is able to repair the damage done in one day. What was Rei hoping would happen? That MegaMan would get erased by a random virus?
- Lan's class is taking another field trip, which feels rather soon after the last one. Regardless, I find myself wondering why Chisao is allowed to come on his trip. Does Dex really not live with any parental figures?
- Kimie Urakawa is an odd character. She has a custom sprite, but the game never makes a big deal out of her. I wonder if there was an intention to do more with her in the original plans for the game that ultimately went unused due to the lack of cartridge space.
- When and how did Lan get his PET back? He can't still be using the Sub-PET, because its icon in the top left changed colors and he can jack in now.
- The Navi Customizer is one of the best additions to the series, phasing out some support chips like AirShoes by making them passive abilities. That said, it is a shame that Classic MegaMan's support robots (Rush, Tango, and Beat) wind up being reduced to PvP only programs that the average player likely won't ever see. Apparently, their designs were originally planned for the Legends games, but went unused there only to be recycled here; perhaps that is why they were shoved out of the way.
- The Navi Customizer's intro animation was also removed in the international version.
- While Quaker's shockwaves don't work on sand panels, Mettaur bizarrely don't suffer the same drawback.
- Birds of prey can typically carry only half of their weight and condors weigh about 30 pounds on average. If Chisao can be lifted by a condor, then I think his most pressing concern is malnourishment.
- I'd find it odd that Lan wants to climb a high voltage tower to save Chisao, but he already touched a live generator with his bare hands in the first game and survived being electrocuted by radiation in the second game. At this point, it's a well-established fact that Lan cannot be killed by electricity. That said, I'm not sure how Chisao and the condor aren't negatively impacted.
- I'm not really sure how chips that monitor the health of the animals were implanted without anyone being aware, nor am I certain of how long this was planned in advance. Surely Inukai could have stolen the Tetra Code in the amount of time it took to set up all of this nonsense.
- On that note, the Tetra Code. What are the odds that immediately after the previously theft of a code from his school, Lan would go on a field trip to the site of the next one? More importantly, does anyone on the zoo staff even know that that the Tetra Code is here? No one expresses any concern about it potentially being stolen, and it's in a very random spot rather than somewhere secure.
- How did Inukai lock everyone in with a simple turnstile?
- BeastMan alludes to some humanoid Navi discrimination against more oddly shaped Navis, but this never comes up in the series again. I don't dislike the fact, but it is an odd detail that I'd like to know more about, especially since a later scenario will bring up further Navi discrimination.
- BeastMan feels a bit rude for an early story boss. He reminds me of ProtoMan, where he jumps around a lot and punishes players who are prone to panicking. Except, whereas ProtoMan tends to have consistent tells, BeastMan seems to dart about randomly, which makes it feel rather unfair to guess what he's going to do next.
- Battle Network 1 - 3 seem to have an increasing level of difficulty, where the developers intentionally made the games harder to beat as the series went on. That only makes it stranger that no games in the series allow you to skip the tutorial, though.
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BubbleMan
Personal Notes
- For this chapter, Lan is predominantly trying to save Mayl and Ms. Mari from a trap. Based on that, use the Shield Style.
- Style Change Thoughts: Custom is still the best of the bunch, with the added benefit of being able to get chips in a better code at S-Rank; this lets you get some strong * chips early if you're good at farming the viruses. Shield and Shadow feel a bit interchangeable, to the point I wonder why they aren't version exclusive counterparts instead of Ground; Shadow gets slightly better programs, though Reflect is better than Anti-Damage for counters. Guts is a bit worse due to losing innate Super Armor, though the programs it yields are nice. Bug is a bit odd, but I'd put it at middle of the road for having a number of great effects and largely middling negative effects; the main drawback of it is the randomness of the effects that trigger, making it hard to build around. Team is second to last, if only because it can net V4 chips, which can be good for a Mega-build; that said, it feels like a step down due to not being able to use multiple V3s anymore. Ground would be in last for me, if only because the panel cracking seems too underwhelming of an effect to make use of unless you have a particular build in mind.
Commentary
- Even if there's been a month long time skip, it's jarring seeing Chisao at Dex's place right after the last arc ended with him going home.
- Despite Higsby returning, NumberMan does not make a physical appearance beyond his mugshot speaking from the Number Trader.
- The chip for Heat Style MegaMan is called "StandOut", though the Japanese name is "Prominence".
- Doing favors for Higsby is where Battle Network 3 begins its obnoxious trend of padding out the main plot with busywork. I can accept the N1 Qualifiers to an extent seeing as they are comparable to the License exams of the previous game. But this is the first of many instances of an NPC asking you to backtrack and do errands for them that never has any satisfying story payoff.
- For some reason, Yo-Yo doesn't work properly on Punk. It just breaks on his body after one hit.
- While the final N1 qualifier is amusing in a number of spots, I'm certainly glad to be finished with them. The survival battles are dull and never became challenging at any point.
- Mayl has Lan do a favor for her that she was meant to do for Higsby. It's rather odd to me that Higsby allows this considering that he chides Lan for trying to pay off another NPC's store debt earlier in the scenario if you engage in an optional conversation with him. It's just okay when Mayl does it? It's especially baffling since Mayl was in Yoka Area earlier and could've just gotten a Wind * for Higsby then.
- When I was younger, I liked the Lan/Mayl pairing. But now that I'm older, I can't help but frown a bit. Ignoring the fact that Lan seems oblivious to Mayl's advances, the fact that Lan seems to want to just remain friends at the moment is never treated as a valid response and everyone shames him for it. It doesn't help that Mayl is very pushy at times, such as during this particular instance.
- While I am amused at BN3 predicting smart dishwashers, I have no idea why Mayl is putting her nice tea set into one.
- What's the point of Security Cubes if BubbleMan can jump over them? Am I supposed to see this as Wily being genre savvy enough to code a Navi that can get around them? I suppose it does make sense, but I can't help but feel a bit annoyed by it all the same.
- The Bubble Brigade seem like they're exactly the kind of guys that would be willing to jump MegaMan while he's weakened by the Shining Browser Crasher, so I have no idea why they weren't involved.
- Yuichiro calls Lan to give the Style Change tutorial, and Lan doesn't bother asking for advice on the BubbleMan situation at all despite being in a panic over it not that long ago. Even if the Press issue has been resolved, you'd think he'd still ask for help given that Ms. Mari and Mayl's lives (among others) are in the balance.
- In an outright baffling conclusion to this situation, Lan and MegaMan decide to spare BubbleMan so that he'll dissolve the bubbles. Up to this point, Navis have operated on a lack of ontological inertia, with any effects they cause disappearing on death. Deleting a Navi has been the solution for every single problem, so it's strange to think that in this particular instance they're worried because of the possibility of explosives. That was never a concern during QuickMan's incident in the previous game, which was a comparable situation, and deleting him even stopped the bombs from activating.
- Additionally, Lan and MegaMan have never had issues with deleting Navis before. Despite that, the game tries to make Lan out to be too softhearted here so that Chaud can chide him for his weakness. And then immediately afterwards, Lan and MegaMan agree that they don't need to change at all and then it's never an issue for the rest of the game. There was essentially no point to the drama. The situation might be intended to set up the idea that Chaud's harsh demeanor stems from his equally harsh father, but it's still awkward in that it introduced a non-existent problem for Lan and MegaMan that gets no proper resolution.
- Lan does a chore for Higsby. Lan does a set of qualifiers that take him around areas he's already been. Lan does another chore for Mayl. MegaMan heads to Yoka. MegaMan revisits three areas he's already been. MegaMan heads back to Yoka. This section has some of the worst padding in the game thus far. It's as if the developers learned nothing from FreezeMan, and they even worsened the problem by mandating the use of Press.
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DesertMan
Personal Notes
- For this chapter, Lan is competing in a contest of strength. Based on that, use the Guts Style.
Commentary
- If you defeat BubbleMan Alpha before this scenario is over, the NPC that warns you about BubbleMan Beta does not spawn during the incident with the rioting Netopians.
- This is around the point I began to get tired of the ProtoMan shilling. The rowdy Netopian fans added nothing to the plot. The situation was resolved immediately and never comes up again. It seems like another moment for ProtoMan to come in and have characters drool over him, which was already accomplished when he cleared the qualifiers the fastest and defeated BubbleMan. At this point, it's just masturbation.
- While it is optional to pick up, it is funny to me that Lan can purchase illegal Mod Tools to power up MegaMan and feel absolutely zero remorse about the fact that he's cheating in order to progress in the N1.
- Chip command codes, lottery numbers, compression codes, Error Message codes, Mod Tools buffs, etc. A number of these would go on to become staples in the rest of the series, which I'm not sure how I feel about. Most of these things are accessible online, making them inconsequential to make use of, but it does seem rather bizarre that BN3 is so intent on hiding useful features in order to sell additional merchandise. Considering that this trend continued all the way to Star Force 3, it seems people didn't mind too much.
- Around this point, it became apparent to me that Battle Network 3 has a frustrating lack of fast travel compared to Battle Network 2 with its GateKeys. This is further compounded with issues like being unable to jack into Yoka Area from Yoka until you defeat MetalMan Alpha twice or not being able to jack into Beach Area from Beach Street.
- Tora is from Swapopolis. While I can't figure out what its real world variant is supposed to be, it's apparently a part of Electopia and features a chess computer named "Deep Green" in the anime, an obvious parody of "Deep Blue".
- The first qualifier of this set is alright. My only complaint is that the Navi in front of the door you're meant to open doesn't react at all to the door opening. Undoubtedly, it would've been impeded by the Press pathways anyway, but a bit more effort in that extra reaction would've been appreciated.
- That said, how is anyone supposed to get past all of these Press pathways if compressing a Navi is considered nonstandard and was just done by Cossak on the fly? I had this same issue with the earlier segment in Beach Area.
- The rematch against MetalMan is a reasonable challenge. The gears, the field, and the folder restrictions can work together to make what is normally a fairly sluggish boss more challenging. However, the rematch with GutsMan is a letdown. It's exactly the same battle from the start of BeastMan's chapter, except the player has Style Change and the Navi Customizer at this point, as well as the possible game breaker of Mod Tools. If you managed to beat him before, there's even less issue now; even if you didn't, the amount of tools at your disposal should make this inconsequential. Ideally, the battle with GutsMan at the end of FlashMan's chapter would be cut entirely, making it so that the fight in front of Chisao is GutsMan V1. Then, a proper GutsMan V2 battle could happen here at the N1 without the need to nerf him into the ground for the sake of making him easier for the early game.
- MetalMan's battle chip allows him to be moved around, but he can also be moved into obstacles on the field to break them.
- I wish the tournament bracket had been divided a bit more. It's very weird seeing Lan, Tora, and Q all in the same bracket and then seeing them all progress to the semifinals. While having Q around is fine, I don't think moving Tora to another section and replacing him with a different NPC would've hurt the story very much.
- While it would be a bit of a jump, I wouldn't have minded fighting KingMan V2 in the actual tournament. I guess Capcom wanted to give players who might have lost to him a break.
- I do like the fact that Sunayama shows up several chapters before he's the antagonist. It's rare for Battle Network to pull that move and a genuine surprise given that you've been around him for so long without him causing any trouble. He's probably my favorite WWW member in this game as well due to his showmanship.
- Chaud notes that, should he defeat Sunayama, the WWW will become a laughingstock worldwide for losing to a child. Did he forget that Lan was introduced earlier in this very scenario by Sunayama as the one who defeated the WWW and saved the world?
- Why don't Lan, Chaud, and Shuuseki just beat Sunayama's ass once he's free from the chair? I guess we need a DesertMan battle, but it's not like Sunayama has a weapon or anything immediately threatening anyone. Just beat him up.
- The N1 is a rather enjoyable scenario. The build-up and new areas help give it a sense of grandeur that's typically not given to middle of the road sections of the games. Its presentation is also pretty fun, introducing a new boss theme and having a twist villain that is a genuine surprise and actually makes sense. It's also nice to see some characters from the previous game return as well, even minor ones like Johnson and Jennifer.
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PlantMan
Personal Notes
- For this chapter, Lan is visiting a hospital. Based on that, use the Bug Style.
Commentary
- I guess from Anetta's point of view, Dr. Wily is Ted Turner and the WWW are the Planeteers. Maybe if they gather all of the Tetra Codes, they can summon Captain Planet.
- For a place called Beach Street, the beach here is very underwhelming and doesn't look very pleasant.
- For as much as Yai boasts about the high-tech nature of the hospital, it's pretty underwhelming. Mamoru is able to slip out of his room without anyone being aware of where he's going. Shouldn't there be Navis monitoring the patients and alerting the hospital staff when they duck out of their rooms? Particularly someone like Mamoru who has a particularly sensitive condition.
- Navi Recycle is underrated by fans. From a glance, its only ability is recycling Navi Chips. However, it can actually recycle Navi Program Advances, reuse Navi Chips that require a Hole without a Hole being present (or even some Program Advances like Body Guard in the Japanese version/Legacy Collection!), steal the Navi Chips of your PvP opponent, and also retains any damage buffs that were attached to the recycled Navi.
- While Folder Back does have the benefit of being a Full Custom that resets your chip folder, most Battle Network enemies are able (and encouraged) to be defeated in a few turns. As a result, while it can be useful for everyone, Folder Back feels more like a crutch for bad folder building.
- After the N1 managed to be an engaging scenario, the game manages to nose-dive quality again by mandating jobs for Tora in order to learn information of little consequence. Okay, so Chaud trains all day. Who cares? It has no bearing on anything. He still loses to Lan despite that.
- Additionally, I wish NPCs of completed jobs didn't stick around forever in this game. It gets a bit annoying trying to remember which NPCs I need to talk to for new dialogue and which are going to regurgitate the same lines forever.
- Why would the emergency exit of the hospital have an electronic lock on it? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the emergency exit?
- Yet another new program is introduced for the purpose of padding the gameplay. While the animations for Energy Change are cool, I find myself baffled by the developers deciding to not only make players grind for chips just to throw them away. Made worse by the fact that, if you want to obsessively clear out all of the digiplants, there are 94 in total!
- At this point the shoe has dropped. PlantMan has revealed what the true intentions of the WWW are, and Lan knows enough of the deal with Alpha that he could inform someone. Despite that, he continues to not tell anyone a single thing about what's going on, leaving everyone in the dark as to Wily's intentions.
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FlameMan
Personal Notes
- For this chapter, Lan is supposed to be getting a swelled head and is continually reminded by some NPCs earlier on to stay grounded; there is also an earthquake later. Based on that, use the Ground Style.
- Talk to all NPCs around SciLab. Look for any dialogue about Mr. Match to see how he managed to get employed. Purportedly, there is dialogue from an NPC suggesting that WWW agents infiltrated SciLab and pulled strings to get Match hired.
- After defeating FlameMan, jack back in and return to where he was fought. He should still be there and have dialogue from the Legendary Tomes quest. This will cause a later NPC to react as though you spoke to them already, so make an alternate save.
Commentary
- For a public commendation, it feels as though the turnout is rather low. You'd think there would at least be people from the hospital staff in attendance.
- This scenario seems to be building up the idea that Lan is going to have a fall for his hubris. He's on top of the world after being publicly acclaimed as a hero, and that's going to lead to him being humbled by his own error. This is strange to me. For starters, Lan has already been publicly acknowledged as the hero who saved the world from the WWW during the N1. At no point does that go to his head, nor does the fact that he's defeated Gospel. On the topic of Gospel, Lan even receives televised notoriety about his work in stopping Speedy Dave, getting all of the credit due to Chaud not wanting any. So why now does Lan get a swelled head? Is it purely because he saved Mamoru's life?
- Does Mr. Match work at SciLab or did he just put on a lab coat and pretend he was working there? He is seen talking with a receptionist in his first appearance, but he conspicuously is avoiding interaction with all SciLab personnel for the rest of the scenario. It's very strange, particularly that Yuichiro would never notice that the guy who tried to kill his family was on the payroll suddenly.
- Between the Netopian mugger and Mr. Match, MegaMan continues being a bad judge of character. This is also yet another "revisit previous areas to do a tedious task" section.
- Why does FlameMan not have an e in his name? BeastMan and DrillMan have their full names in-game.
- It is strange to me that an NPC tells Lan outright that Match is shady and Lan believes that Match is a good guy just because he point out some random Heel Navis on the net that were doing nothing particularly noteworthy. It costs Wily literally nothing to lose those guys.
- "Hey, Lan, help me with something at work." "Sir, I'm a child and not a qualified scientist. Ask your co-workers." "No, I want you to do it and I'm willing to guilt trip you over the small amount of help I provided earlier."
- While this section is short, it is yet another "Lan runs an errand for someone else" section in this game.
- The receptionist at the front tells Lan not to touch the computers and the Mr. Progs all complain about overheating, but nothing can stop Lan from being too oblivious to see the obvious warning signs.
- Putting something into his father's computer should be the biggest red flag of all, but neither Lan nor MegaMan even contemplate the issue with doing this.
- To revisit an earlier point, this scenario acts as though Lan is taking a fall because of his hubris. That is not what happens. Lan's ego over protecting the hospital disappears immediately from the moment he lays eyes on Mr. Match and he is on guard around him up until the point where he is introduced to FlameMan. From that point on, he only assists Match because he believes he is helping him with something job related. And even then, he has to be guilted into helping him with that task. If anything, the issue here is Lan's naivete rather than his pride.
- While I mentioned the previous scenario had 94 digiplants, most of those are not required to burn. Some are shortcuts, many are duds, and there are Mr. Progs who at least try to give hints as to which to burn. This time around, there are 27 fires on the internet, with 3 in each area, and you need to put out all of them. Additionally, there is no convenient presence of Aqua viruses in the area. If you run out of chips, you will need to go to an area with Aqua viruses and grind until you can progress. Ridiculous.
- It's also at this point I can't help but notice that ACDC Area is the only section of the main internet with more than two areas until the Undernet.
- Bass arrives and deletes FlameMan, deciding to take on MegaMan himself as he sees him as a worthy opponent... despite the fact he was about to lose to FlameMan, who Bass wrote off as being weak. What?
- FlameMan is about to delete MegaMan for the WWW. Bass then arrives and deletes FlameMan before taking on MegaMan himself. Bass then is prepared to delete MegaMan, only to be interrupted by Wily calling him back. How many times can the WWW sabotage itself in one cutscene?
- Haruka is very distant with Lan when she arrives at the hospital. I know Yuichiro is in a bad condition and she might be in shock, but you think she'd at least check on Lan to see how he's doing mentally.
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DrillMan
Personal Notes
- For this chapter, Lan is taking part in a process in the shifty part of the Net. Based on that, use the Shadow Style.
Commentary
- It's strange to me that MegaMan never seems to get emotional or apologetic about events he has responsibility for causing. He never apologizes to Lan for getting him mugged in BN2 by following his advice, and he doesn't seem to be particularly torn up about helping to set SciLab on fire. If anything, the story focuses exclusively on how Lan was culpable there, as if MegaMan wasn't even a major part of the equation.
- Given that Wily is behind Gospel, I wonder if he copied Sean's Bug Fusion set-up and made his own copies of Bass in the WWW Area, accounting for the one seen there at the end of 2.
- The Aura Battle Chip behind BubbleMan's security cube does not spawn until after the cutscene with Yuichiro and Sean.
- The Virus Breeder is a neat mechanic. I wish it was one of the features of this game that managed to return in later entries, though there is something comparable in 6 that's enjoyable in its own right.
- Chaud states that ProtoMan is too well-known to enter the Undernet, but then hands Lan a program that is meant to disguise MegaMan so he can enter the Undernet. Why not use that on ProtoMan? Is the disguise just a fake mustache or something?
- I'm not a fan of how the Under Square only opens up because of the plot. The previous game didn't let you go to the Undernet much earlier than BN3 does, but being able to visit the Under Square or later Undernet areas and get the upgrades and new chips there was always something I enjoyed about BN2. This game lets you do neither, locking you into Undernets 1 - 3 until the plot is ready for you to visit the other sections.
- The statue presiding over the Ranking claims that there are no rules. Despite that, nothing comes of this. It could have been cool if there were some Bug Style-esque handicaps for a few fights suggesting MegaMan was hacked by his opponents to show how lawless the Undernet is, but at most you get four virus battles back to back.
- Were the Ranked Navis always in the places they are found in originally? It must have been awkward for Rank 10 to have to avoid being seen by the N1 participants if so.
- Despite Black Mind no longer being needed to progress the Ranking, the four Heel Navis from the Reckless 10 inexplicably not only recognize MegaMan, but somehow also find out enough details about Lan and his friends to send a fake email as Mayl.
- Mayl disappears during the section where the Navis are impersonating her and only returns after they are defeated, commenting on the absurdity of her calling someone "kiddo".
- A mandatory battle against BeastMan Beta is a bit mean, but he has low HP and this is very late in the game, so it's workable.
- The mandatory BeastMan Beta fight causes BeastMan's security cube to reset if you have beaten the doghouse fight first.
- The origami birds seem to be a notorious part of this game. I've seen many people comment on how unintuitive finding them is.
- As I replay the Ranking, it occurs to me that this is yet another section that makes you backtrack through every single dungeon that you've done in the game. FlashMan's dungeon is where Rank 7 is, BeastMan's has the four Heels, Hades Isle has Rank 10, and PlantMan's has Rank 9. It serves to highlight how few locations there are to visit, which is likely why Ranks 4 - 6 are skipped.
- I wonder what Navi CopyMan was disguised as when he sent a message to MegaMan on the BBS.
- The picture on Navi Recycle might be CopyMan's true form.
- BowlMan/MistMan will delete you if you lose the first fight with them, but all subsequent battles are for fun.
- I think I would've preferred a simple change up to the Ranking: cut the origami guy and have BeastMan be where the Ranking trail goes cold. The battle with the original Rank 8 could still happen. If you want to preserve the skip, CopyMan can be Rank 4 and have 5 - 7 working for him, leading to the return of GutsMan. Then BowlMan can be Rank 3, and MistMan can be Rank 2. Of course, that would almost completely invalidate White version, but it's not as though there are a lot of compelling reasons for this game to have two versions anyway.
- If I had a nickel for each time the Internet was in danger of freezing over, I'd only have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's still strange that it happened in two games back-to-back.
- What does being a Chosen One entail? To go with a more mundane answer, it could mean that a Navi has been coded to not be affected by the Giga Freeze so that they could handle Alpha in the event of an emergency. However, Tadashi was already dead by the time MegaMan was created, if I'm not mistaken, which begs the question of how MegaMan could be given that clearance. Furthermore, Bass had already severed ties with SciLab by the time that Alpha was brought under control. Is it perhaps some kind of mystical prophecy, then? If so, that mysticism is never explored or explained. The concept of a Chosen One also came up in Battle Network 2, but in that case, it had no bearing on Alpha at all! If the plot had been rewritten to Wily trying to find a Chosen One for a specific purpose, perhaps this plot point could've felt less unresolved.
- Mamoru having the code to where Rank 9 is hiding might have been a clue to his identity.
- Mamoru arrives to reveal that his family are the Urakawas, which has me wondering why Tamako and Kimie never make any appearances at Beach Street or in Mamoru's presence. It feels very strange that he has relatives in the game that simply never interact with him.
- Why is Alpha even stored on the main internet considering the danger it poses? For that matter, why does it still exist? It's not the basis of the internet anymore, and the Net will continue to exist from Battle Network 4 onward. If it's a danger to the stability of society, why not just delete it? Are SciLab's scientists keeping it around to study despite the immense risk?
- DrillMan baffles me. Why does he need the TetraCodes if he can just enter and exit through holes in space? He can just teleport to the other side of the doors! Furthermore, why does he just sit in the Undernet doing nothing instead of going back to Wily? He is genuinely just sitting in a dead end, up to nothing in particular.
- Apparently, BubbleMan is DrillMan's younger brother in Japanese.
- Bass arrives to pick up Alpha for Wily and I find myself even more confused by this scenario. If Bass was willing to do this for Wily to begin with, why not lead with him? If anything, I'd think Bass would be less interested in doing this for Wily after seeing how weak his agents are. For that matter, the introduction of the Giga Freeze and the purpose of the Undernet wind up feeling pointless when Bass simply catches the former, stores it away somewhere, and it's never mentioned again for the rest of the game. What was the point of Lan's feelings of guilt spurring him to action if he's not allowed to accomplish anything meaningful in this scenario?
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Endgame
Personal Notes
- For this chapter, Lan is preparing to end it all with the WWW and bringing his A game. Based on that, use the Custom Style.
- At Castle Wily, GutsMan can have the issue of being in one of his previous forms. He can still be in his base form if you skip fighting him in FlashMan's scenario, and I have typically seen him in his Alpha form here. Check to see if there is an optional GutsMan Alpha fight that can be done at some point that will upgrade him properly.
Commentary
- Why is Yuichiro taking aspirin to deal with being cooked alive? That seems like an incorrect prescription.
- Instead of asking Yai to upgrade the engine on a DNN boat, why not just ask Yai for a new boat? It's not like he owns the DNN boat, nor did he ask anyone if he could use it.
- In a bizarre sequence, Lan decides that Yai and Mayl cannot come to the final dungeon, even though Yai correctly points out that she made it as far into the N1 as Dex himself did. Tora is allowed to come, though, for no real reason.
- For the only time in the series, the main villain decides to simply make a room where no one can stop his plans by jacking in. It's a wonder more people don't do this, or that Wily never tries to do this again.
- Cossak appears at this point and reveals his true identity. However, the children here have no familiarity with him or his history, making the landing of this reveal feel rather weak. I think it would've been better if Cossak met with Dr. Hikari in the archives and gave the exposition about Bass then and there, also giving his assurance that he would be leading the charge against the WWW and that he'd look after Lan. As it stands, the game clings to its mysteries so tightly that the payoff wind up being rather tepid.
- It is very likely that the Mysterious Official Navi from earlier is meant to be Cossak's Navi. Cossak would be the human most likely to investigate Bass after all this time and feel most inclined to delete him. Presumably his knowledge of Mr. Match would also stem from his research into the WWW, particularly since Wily tried to clone Bass in the previous game and recruited him in this one. Cossak also seems to appear wherever WWW incidents are occurring. Presumably seeing Lan get involved results in him supporting him from a distance rather than getting directly involved himself? But the game says none of this; it has no time to say this, because Cossak only has enough time to dump his history before he's rendered comatose and kept offscreen for the rest of the series. This all is just supposition on my part, as Cossak has so much screen-time devoted to being mysterious that there's barely any time to learn about the guy. I wish we got to see more of him and his new Navi, as well as exploring more of his ties to Bass.
- I would've much preferred if Wily, anticipating that Lan would want to make up for his prior mistakes, used DrillMan as a diversion to draw his attention while Bass stole the TetraCode. That way, part of the Bass reveal could've happened sooner and in a relevant place that he has enmity with, and the Giga Freeze could potentially be used in a more meaningful way instead of just dropped and never mentioned again. At the very least, it should've been a Program Advance, more-so than the Ultimate Blaster.
- Lan has a parasol that can block FlashMan's beam still in his inventory, and yet he doesn't use it here.
- Full Synchro is treated as a special power that boosts the efficiency of the WWW Navis. But despite that, what it actually does is not clearly defined. For starters, BeastMan hit Beta without Full Synchro, yet despite this game preaching how Navis and operators need to work together to be their best, these can only hit Alpha? Additionally, they gain no new tricks or abilities in these rematches to indicate that anything is different from before beyond a marginal stat increase. Adding on to the oddity, BubbleMan is able to hit the exact same level of power as FlashMan and DesertMan despite having no operator. And then, PlantMan and FlameMan don't even get upgraded and are no different from before, only further muddying the concept of Full Synchro. Finally, if this is meant to be the same as Lan and MegaMan's Full Synchro, then I don't understand why these operators wouldn't die from their Navis being deleted in the same way that Hub Batch was supposed to put Lan himself at risk.
- For the third time in a row, ProtoMan doesn't join in on a fight he plausibly could have. I guess a lack of pulse transmission chairs does justify things a touch, but Chaud didn't even try to come in the room. At least the next three games give good reasons for ProtoMan to not help out.
- Adding on to the list of Full Synchro gripes, Lan and MegaMan don't even get a marginal power-up for the final battle ala BN1. Full Synchro is essentially devoid of meaning.
- If the Guardian was Dr. Hikari's greatest protection program and Bass can break it, that only makes it more ridiculous that Bass didn't just burst into SciLab, wreck the gates, and steal Alpha to begin with. The TetraCode portion of Wily's plan was entirely unnecessary. And considering Bass' backstory, it'd make more sense if Bass wanted to ravage SciLab for what they did to him in the past.
- While Alpha's laser can't spread if it goes into a hole, the shockwave that comes from the laser will go over holes.
- How the hell did the WWW members survive four months of being exploded and detached from any kind of life support whatsoever on top of the likely brain damage?
- In hindsight, Alpha never kills a single person despite all of the hype it gets.
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Secret Area
Personal Notes
- For this chapter, Lan and MegaMan's teamwork is said to be the source of why they can defeat adversaries like Bass GS. Based on that, use the Team Style.
Commentary
- While I was not the biggest fan of BN3's internet color scheme, it does bother me that the colors aren't restored after Alpha is defeated. The post-game turned off the danger music; surely it could set the internet back to its previous appearance.
- I do like Serenade's ability to convince others to become their bodyguards. YamatoMan is a more direct case, but DarkMan is more or less fulfilling the role as well despite only being there to have a duel with them.
- That being said, isn't the point of the Ranking to keep information on Serenade kept to a minimum? I can buy the idea of someone like Bass being able to find Serenade and fight them without going through the ranking, but what about these thousands of Navis that DarkMan has deleted? This is supposed to be a Secret Area, but this many Navis being implied to have come here suggests that it might be due for a rename.
- There's something kind of funny about the fact that the BN3 post-game grind is so intense that even DarkMan has to grind just for the chance to fight Serenade.
- While the original Classic character and Japanese EXE is named YamatoMan, he has been renamed JapanMan. BN6 in the Legacy Collection's Graveyard area bafflingly renames him again as SamuraiMan despite BN3 leaving his name the same.
- YamatoMan is believed to be the Navi elite who gave Bass the trademark wound on his chest during the Alpha Revolt. I don't see the purpose of this connection, though, as he's not treated as a particularly important character, nor does he meet Bass. Perhaps it's just a fan theory. The manga also shows an entirely different Navi give Bass the wound in question, and the manga backstory seems to align pretty well with the game canon.
- Serenade says the secret to their power is mercy and one of their attacks ignores mercy invincibility. Amusing.
- Serenade goes on to appear again in Legend of Network, albeit as a voiceless entity, much like Duo in Battle Network 5 and 6.
- Bass GS dwelling inside of the Bug Frag Trader to heal and getting restored back to full health by MegaMan is a rather cool concept that continues to build on the misuse of Bug Frags he and others were trading to Kotobuki's Net Dealer in the previous game. It's a shame this is the last time the potential misuse of Bug Frags comes up in the series.
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Seven Stars
- While there is a Punk Omega, he is not accessible to fight. He will need to be battled with a code.
- For whatever reason, there is no ghost of Bass on the internet. Bass Omega is the last time you're able to fight him at his maximum capabilities, with only the base form of Bass before the Alpha fight remaining.
- The 100% screen was removed in English, likely due to space issues.
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Bonus (Battle Chip Challenge)
- TurboMan and Ring are both non-elemental despite having elemental abilities.
- Mary (Marry) and Ring. Intentional wedding puns or coincidence?
- Ring dresses like she stepped out of the 70s. Popped collar and bell-bottoms.
- This game marks the first instance of Haruka (and Yuichiro?) being named.
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Final Thoughts
- This game is very strange to me. While I wouldn't deny that it's definitely Top 3 in the Battle Network series, it manages to be both jam-packed and very empty at the same time.
- For as much as 3 tries to be a grand finale, there are many underdeveloped story beats and a number of dropped plot points. FlashMan's suicide attack may as well have never happened, functioning only to serve as the introduction for the Navi Customizer. Only, as later games will show, there was no need to destroy Lan's PET to introduce that feature. BubbleMan scenario's has a lesson that amounts to nothing. The Chosen One is never elaborated upon. The Alpha Revolt Navi never resurfaces.
- Wily's plan is a retread of what he wanted in the first game, and still manages to trip into the same pitfalls. There is no explanation given as to why the Fire Program was in Lan's oven, and there's no more explanation given for why the first Tetra Code is in the PC of Lan's Principal. Same with the rest being where they are. Wily even gets the fourth of his plot coupons offscreen again, with no indication as to where it came from!
- Battle Network 2's plot was hardly perfect, but there was a sense of progression to things. Gospel engages in some small local attacks, then moves on to targeting countries. Lan and Chaud go to join a resistance in order to make plans against Gospel, only for that to fail. Gospel then gets their hands on a necessary program component that will allow them to complete their plans. FreezeMan's section is the odd one out, particularly with how success could have potentially destroyed Kotobuki, but otherwise there is a degree of sense to how the plot unfolds. In Battle Network 3, no one seems concerned about the constant WWW attacks despite their frequency. Wily makes an evil dishwasher just because... because. The WWW decides to televise its strength just because... because. Lan never tells anyone about the events that are occurring despite knowing what's going on, leaving everyone unaware of Wily's goals until he's about to succeed. The first three scenarios are just random events with Lan and his friends, and then the latter half of the games builds up Lan's meeting with Mamoru, only to do nothing with the plot device that his Navi provides to MegaMan. Everything feels directionless, like the writers were trying to shovel a lot of cool things onscreen, but had no idea how to make them naturally flow into each other.
- For as much build-up and hype as it got, the N1 strikes me as a particularly weak portion of the overall narrative. I enjoy the scenario immensely, but it does nothing for the plot. It does little for Dex, Tora is a nothing character that could've easily had his role given to Sean and FreezeMan, and Chaud is given some daddy issues as an explanation for his behavior, but the rivalry between him and Lan is already well-established by this point. If anything, the game would've been better served building on the idea of younger characters paving the way to the new era of Net Society and not falling into the same traps as their forebears.
- On the topic of gameplay, I have my fair share of gripes here as well. One thing that bothered me in particular was the Navi Customizer. While it is a net positive to the series, programs like Press, Energy Change, Black Mind, and Alpha serve as a noose around the neck of a perfectly good system. It's made worse by the fact that from BubbleMan's scenario all the way to the post-game Omega bosses, at least one of these programs is heavily encouraged if not mandatory to use. Press is the worst offender, as not only does it interfere in traversal, the existence of paths that no one except BubbleMan can use don't even make narrative sense. It feels almost as though Battle Network was trying to ape the concept of HMs from Pokémon.
- On the topic of Pokémon, the game is split into two versions, and this is where Capcom seemed to experiment with the concept the most, making a number of exclusives. Unfortunately, these exclusives are more annoying than engaging. It's not enjoyable having the same viruses in both games, but arbitrarily told I can't get a chip of a certain code because I don't have the right version.
- While I understand the game has size limitations, it does feel as though Style Changes took three steps back. I can live with the decision to trim Styles down to just one in order to adjust for the Navi Customizer taking up space, but the amount of battles required to unlock a new Style or level up a Style should have been reduced in order to account for that.
- Similarly, the nerfs to Style Changes that take away their passive abilities and make them Navi Customizer programs is a bit disappointing. One of the things enjoyable about BN2 was how each Style had its own uses that made them good. Maybe some of them were a bit too powerful, but I would've preferred a mild reduction to capability rather than just eliminating the passives altogether.
- On that note, making it so that some Styles can't equip programs of a certain color is another pointless restriction. There are already three rules for the Navi Customizer, in addition to the shape of the programs to consider. Is there really a need for there be a restriction based on the forms? I much prefer the later games' limiting of the number of different colors you can use at once rather than tying specific colors to forms.
- Ground Style is perhaps the most baffling of the new Styles. Shadow Style has a nice innate ability of being able to use a short Invis as a Charged Shot and Bug Style has RNG positives/negatives, but Ground Style only has the ability to crack panels with its charge shot. This not only feels unusually at odd with its level-up programs, given that it can destroy the panels it wants to make use of, but it also overlooks the obvious choice of simply giving the form FloatShoes in order to make it a master of terrain or, better yet, making its charge shot create the panels of whatever Set program it has loaded.
- Mandating the need for Custom and Team Style both in order to get all of the chips is particularly terrible when each version of the game has six Styles. If someone is unfortunate enough to have Guts, Shield, Shadow, or Bug Style, they need to do a significant degree of grinding in order to get the forms that allow them to get the chips missing from their library. It's very frustrating having six types of Styles available in a particular version of the game, only for the game to decide that I need two particular of those six in order to get all of the Chip Library in the game completed unless I want to gacha roll with the Chip Trader. Worse yet is needing to play a specific game in a specific style at a specific rank and hoping that the virus I want a chip from drops it instead of one of the other two enemies in the encounter!
- Finally, it's ridiculous that trading Styles has been removed in a game where multiple Styles are necessary for completion. Even the Legacy Collection didn't fix this issue. Losing a second Style for the Navi Customizer was already enough of a loss, but mandating two different Styles and making it so you can't even have the benefit of trading them is absurd. Either tone down the requirements or retain the feature.
- This game doesn't have very many dungeons, in hindsight, only having one for FlashMan, BeastMan, PlantMan, and the WWW HQ. If you want to be generous, there's technically Hades Isle, but that's only one room.
- While it is a step-up from Battle Network 2 gameplay-wise and has my favorite selection of bosses in the series, I can't help but note that it suffers from the same problems I lambast FreezeMan's scenario and Battle Network 4 for: too much backtracking. I think I prefer Battle Network 2 to this game, even if I can see where this one is better in a number of ways.
- Ultimately, Battle Network 3 is oddly ignored. The manga shortened its arc to a speed-bump on the way to Battle Network 4 and completely glossed over all of the Alpha Revolt lore (outside of a Bass Side Story), and the anime just didn't have a Battle Network 3 arc at all, instead cannibalizing parts of the game for Axess and Stream's adaptations of BN4 and BN5. Alpha is just a containment pod for Bass GS in the manga and never named, and it doesn't appear at all in the anime, even though every other final boss featured fairly prominently. The Life Virus, the least important of the final bosses, even managed to show up as a minor villain in one episode. It feels like a very overlooked entry, and I'm not entirely sure why. So many ideas are raised here and then never touched upon again.