Megaman Battle Network

Format: GameBoy Advance
Published by: Capcom
Based on: Same old, same old

Genre: RPG
Media: cartridge
Date: Nov. 2, 2001

Feedback Loop

It's a good thing Capcom has no shame, or else the creation of a fourth Megaman series - not game, mind you, series - would embarrass them so much they'd probably never set foot outside their home again. Without a fake moustache and funny glasses, anyway. But pride and modesty being foreign ideas to the cast and crew, gamers the world over have been given this: the 35th or so game to bear the Megaman name. And because Capcom has the strange ability to make regurgitated nonsense seem enjoyable and original, the resulting game - Megaman Battle Network - is one of the best RPGs ever to grace a handheld.

That's right, RPG. Despite the vague descriptions of previews which had this pegged as an action title of sorts, there's no mistake that this is a Japanese-style console role-playing game through and through. The mechanisms have a different name and even a different way of working, but the elements are all in place: terrible threat to the world, random battles, treasures to be discovered, leveling up, a world of repetitive dialogue to navigate, and finally, a cheerful kid who saves the day.

Surprisingly, the kid in question is not Megaman, but rather Megaman's user, a lad named Lan Hikari. Megaman himself is no longer a robot or an artificial human with a Canadian accent; rather, he's a program ("Megaman.EXE" - seems as though WinXP's efforts to escape DOS didn't work out so well in this timeline) who hangs out in Lan's PDA (err, I mean, "PET") and ventures into computer networks to fight viruses. This actually works better in practice than one might expect - because Lan carries the PET which contains Megaman's program everywhere he goes, the two characters split top billing. Megaman himself is as much a character as Lan, but he exists wholly in electronic form. The effect is a relationship similar to the "Digger/Spotter" interaction introduced in MM Legends and retrofitted into the Rockman Complete Works remakes and into Megaman X5 with Alia: Megaman does the dirty deed of combat while Lan does the footwork necessary to get him from place to place. For once, I'd have to say Megaman comes out ahead on the deal; Lan nearly dies of thirst, whereas his virtual pal gets to participate in one of the best-designed RPG fighting systems ever.

To call MMBN's battle system unique would be an unfair understatement. Simplistic on the surface, it somehow manages to fuse the traditions of Japanese RPG combat with the basics of Megaman's aged run-and-gun gameplay: part menu-driven, part action-based, all cop. When pulled into random combat, Megaman is given half of a 3x6 grid to move around on, and a menu from which to select five "battle chips" (these serve as compromise between RPG magic spells and the inevitable Megaman boss weapons) from which to select, drawn at random from the pool of thirty chips Lan can carry at any time. This menu can be pulled up every five seconds or so; during the interim, as his "Custom" (chip menu) meter charges, Megaman has to dodge attacks by as many as three enemies who fill the other half of the grid while inflicting damage on them with buster bullets, charge shots and the currently activated chips. Chips must be implemented for maximum effect - be it attack, enhancement, environmental disruption or even healing. There are even "summons," though they're called Navis here - chips which allow Megaman to call upon the skills of a fellow program (most of which are drawn from the Megaman series - Gutsman, Fireman, Skullman and so forth) to freeze the action and inflict various sorts of damage upon foes.

This battle system works on a surprising many levels - the randomness of chip selection can be annoying from time to time, when you're up against a powerful enemy which can easily dodge or counterattack the only skills you have in your selection. But most of the time it helps prevent the age-old RPG problem of battles which devolve into hours of nothing but pressing button X to attack/healing when necessary; because you face enemies which use varied attacks and behavior with a random selection of skills, you're always on your toes and always have to spend a moment to plan ahead. This is further complicated by the fact that you can only choose multiple chips of the same type or letter code in each round of combat; chosing which of the hundreds of chips you collect to keep in the battle folder can require as much planning as effective Element organization in Chrono Cross (or, as in Chrono Cross, you can just beef up Megaman with the most powerful skills and hope to bully your way through the game). To further keep combat interesting, battle performance is rated in a 1-10 scale (with an S rating for truly great outcomes) based on time, damage taken, spaces moved and enemies destroyed at once. Rewards are doled out according to these post-battle critiques, with some of the best skills in the game available only by beating powerful viruses with extreme precision. This also means that even the wimpy foes you face at the beginning offer greater spoils to a hyper-powered Megaman than they did at the game's outset thanks to the ability to plow through them with greater efficiency. All told, it's one of the most carefully planned and implemented battle systems ever seen in an RPG, and is without a doubt the crowning feature of the game.

In many ways, MMBN appears to be Capcom's answer to Paper Mario; the two games have quite a bit in common. Each one reinvents the RPG genre to best fit the mechanics and aesthetics of its respective series. Each one manages to be considerably more enjoyable than your average RPG as well. MMBN seems to incorporate elements from every Megaman game to date short of, say, Battle and Chase, and the aesthetics seem rather in line with those of the Legends series, with classic characters given much more stylish and angular makeovers than seen in their original counterparts (though those 80s-style racing stipes on Megaman's suit have just gotta go). Still, as so often happens, Mario gets the best of Megaman yet again; while Paper Mario was as close to a perfect gaming experience as a jaded heart could hope for, MMBN has some severe shortcomings.

The most notable of these is the terrible layout of the dungeons. The game's network connects to DenCity much in the same way as the Sub-Gates and Kattelox Island in MMLegends, being one huge, contiguous maze with numerous access points to the outside world. Unfortunately, the forced isometric perspective that you grew to hate in Landstalker and Solstice (and will probably hate in Spyro Seasons of Ice if you become desperate enough to play it) makes things a real hassle at times (on ice, for instance) - combined with the monotonous, practically landmark-free design of the network, finding your way through this maze of twisty passages (all alike) becomes an exercise in irritation. Furthermore, several of the isolated boss-battle dungeons are even worse - the most egregious being the Power Plant area, which consists of invisible platforms, seven incredibly vague trial-and-error puzzles, constant random battles, and a countdown against a failing PET battery that punishes you for not knowing the path and solutions in advance. And on top of that, an enemy inside the dungeon revives an old friend we had hoped was dead after all this time. And then you face two bosses without a break in between. It's like they're exacting revenge for some unknown crime, and it makes me sad, sad, sad. Whatever it was, I'm sorry, and I swear never to do it again. Please be merciful to this poor sinner in the future. On the plus side, you can save anywhere, anytime.

Another flaw, although one much less grievous than the aforementioned problem, is that the story is pretty inane. As in Final Fantasy VIII, the plot and premise do a great deal to justify the actions and gameplay gimmicks of the game; unfortunately, unlike FFVIII the characters and dialogue have the approximate depth of a drought-stricken pond. There's little logic to the behavior of the WWW terrorists, who always seem to attack whenever Lan shows up in the most predictable and obvious of ways; the writing is even more juvenile than that in your average Klonoa game. Things do get better once the true villain reveals himself and the secrets of Megaman.EXE come to light, but it never really reaches a point where there's enough of a story to care about. Good thing that the gameplay is so solid.

Of course, as with anything Capcom, a sequel is not far behind. And if anything, the company has so much experience building properties that their second games are always better than the first; so Megaman Battle Network 2 will likely correct most of the problems in this game. In short, as with MMLegends, Capcom has managed in MMBN to reinvent gaming's most overextended series (and most inexplicably durable third-party mascot) into something fun and different, with promise for the future. And even more amazingly, they've made something that will appeal to gamers besides the usual cadre of freakishly loyal Megaman freaks - no small feat in and of itself.

But don't feel bad; if you want a crappy new Megaman game to kick around, there's always XTreme 2.

DISCLOSURE: I PAID FOR THIS GAME MY OWN DAMN SELF.

No journalistic integrity was exercised in the making of this review.

Navel-gazing

One of the more enjoyable parts of Megaman Battle Network (for long-time series fans in any case) is spotting all the references and cameoes by various characters from Megaman's 15-year history which have been sprinkled throughout. There are the obvious ones, such as the bosses (Woodman, Gutsman, etc.), but there are also quite a few less blatant elements as well. Luckily, many of them are visual and the rest are translated properly, which makes them easier to spot than the nods in FFIX.

I've probably missed a crapload of them even with the list below, but oh well. And if you're the kind that worries about spoilers, don't read any further. You big baby.

  • Lan's last name is Hikari, which is Japanese for "light." Meaning, more or less, that his father is Dr. Light.
  • There's a Megaman Legends 2 poster in Lan's room, and a Servbot rug.
  • Mayl has a Servbot (MML) doll in her room.
  • There's a Data (from MML) plushie on Yai's couch. Yai herself looks exactly like the creepy little girl in the mayor's quiz house in Pokte village in MML2. Her Navi is Glyde, who seems a lot more agreeable than the foppish egotist in Tron Bonne. She also has a Pikachu rug, but never mind about that...
  • Lan mentions needing to watch "The Bonne Bunch."
  • Dex has both a Servbot doormat and and a poster of the cover of Tron Ni Kobun on his bookshelf.
  • Masa's Navi Sharkman is actually based on a robot master - in this case, a master in one of the terrible Hi-Tech Expressions MM PC games from waaaaay back in the late '80s. Mercifully, this is the only element taken from the PC games.
  • Joe, the cyborg digger from MML2 whose dropship allowed Megaman to reach the Forbidden Island, appears in a sign above a store front in DenTown.
  • Vile, the Maverick who creamed Megaman X in their first encounter, appears on a poster in the Chip Shop.
  • Protoman appears to be a fusion of the original Protoman and Zero.
  • And of course, the main villain fits right into the series as well.
  • Sadly, Tron and Teisel are nowhere to be seen. Alas.