Mega Man Battle Network!

[?someone?]

After reading the Nostalgic Games thread, I wanted to post this.

Battle Network! Aww yeah, man, who could forget the isometric viewpoint, slightly obsessive focus on "friendship", 5 or 6 constantly copied NPCs, and annoying-as-hell boss stages? Indeed, they weren't perfect, or even great. But that battle system was just so much fun! I loved these games as a kid, and I still do. BN 6 was my favorite, because, oddly enough, it was the first one I got. If you've played them, which one do you prefer, and why? What was your favorite boss?

 

I think Bass in 6 was my favorite, because he was hard to find, and hard to kill.

 

[Dementuo]

3 was really good imo, except for the whole "You can't complete the Megachip Library without Mistman/Bowlman V4, which is VERSION EXCLUSIVE DURR" thing. Thus I've never 100% those games.

4 was wonderful. The New Game Plus feature along with the whole tournament thing, and the introduction of Soul Unison was really, really amazing, as well as the Dark Chip/Karma system being in place, giving access to wider ranges of strategies and the like. Also, Duo will always be the hardest Final Boss of the series, as well as the most fun to fight.

5 is by far my favorite. Liberation Missions were some of the most fun things I'd ever seen in any RPG-esque game, adding a huge strategy element to the gameplay (As well as the best grinding method ever). The story was beautifully written and came together amazingly.

6 was... a little lack-luster, compared to 5. There wasn't any sort of special game-specific mechanic (Like New Game Plus in 4 or Liberation Missions in 5). I was rather sad to see Soul Unison get replaced by the Cross System (Despite technically being better by not requiring a chip sacrifice), though BeastOut and BeastCross definitely made up for it. Being able to completely obliterate a boss or other enemies with BeastOut was loads of fun, and it was a really cool ability.

 

Having not played 1 and 3, I won't give opinions on them.

 

Oh, and before I forget, I have to comment on just how badass of a rival Forte/Bass is. He appears in every game, is always the most powerful of any of the enemies you fight, has some very cool abilities (Life Aura, Hell's Rolling), has a generally badass appearance to him, and always finds a way of tying himself neatly into the plot of each game, while still maintaining his original motive of becoming more powerful than Megaman and some day defeating him (He merged with Gospel in BN2, was absorbed by Alpha and then merged with Gospel's remnants again in BN3, was trapped in the undernet waiting for Megaman in BN4, became the Chaos Lord in BN5, and then absorbed the power of the other Cyber Beast in BN6).

[Wave_Sine]

I want Capcom to release a 3DS Battle Network Collection with every game, every version, and all of the updates to 1 and 5 that their respective remakes had. And cleaned up translation for 4, and bug fixes for 4, and not nerfing Gater in 2.

...But with Capcom's falling out with Megaman's creator, its unlikely that they'll ever commercially release any Megaman game ever again.

[Nicο]

Never played 1-4, but from what I've heard, what I've watched of the anime does a good job of taking care of some of that. Actually I did play a little of 1 too, that's why I kind of know it does.

 

5 was my favorite as well. The Liberation Missions and all that may have increased my expectations for the next game though, but while it obviously fell flat, it wasn't in any way bad for me. 

 

And while I'm here, and the fact that it pretty much is the spiritual successor, I always liked Starforce. I know the story doesn't compare, but I still had loads of fun, and was kind of sad to see it get so obviously concluded within only 3 games.

[Toffee.]

I've only really played 5 and 6, but I still love the overall style of the game series.
Speaking of which, you cannot deny the awesomeness that is Ground BeastOut:

[Dementuo]

I've only really played 5 and 6, but I still love the overall style of the game series.
Speaking of which, you cannot deny the awesomeness that is Ground BeastOut:

...Even though Ground/Dust were the two worst crosses in the game.

[Agro]

...But with Capcom's falling out with Megaman's creator, its unlikely that they'll ever commercially release any Megaman game ever again.

You obviously have not payed much attention to GDC.

[Just Crouton]

Played all 6 of them, only beat 6. They're pretty good, and 4 Red Sun is my favorite. I also have Battle Chip Challenge, which is pretty fun too.

[Shradow]

Gregor love mastering Chaos Unision, cause much enemy pain, yes?

[Dementuo]

Played all 6 of them, only beat 6. They're pretty good, and 4 Red Sun is my favorite. I also have Battle Chip Challenge, which is pretty fun too.

ijelly

 

Gregor love mastering Chaos Unision, cause much enemy pain, yes?

Chaos Unison was OP.

Knight Soul was 800 damage per charged shot against Nebula Grey, while also being very good in general.

Shadow Soul gave you free berserker modes.

Toad Soul gave you a 300-power board wipe.

Proto Soul gave you Lifeswords for days.

Tomohawk Soul gave you a decent 400-power charged shot as well as a field that let you recover automatically.

Not to mention Medi Soul basically gave you a second life.

[Shradow]

Chaos Unison was OP.

Knight Soul was 800 damage per charged shot against Nebula Grey, while also being very good in general.

Shadow Soul gave you free berserker modes.

Toad Soul gave you a 300-power board wipe.

Proto Soul gave you Lifeswords for days.

Tomohawk Soul gave you a decent 400-power charged shot as well as a field that let you recover automatically.

Not to mention Medi Soul basically gave you a second life.

 

Yes, at cost of 1 turn of unison and lose unison if failing charge attack. Is very fun regardless.

[Toffee.]

...Even though Ground/Dust were the two worst crosses in the game.

Apparently I'm a hipster, since Ground/Dust Cross are my favorites O,o
(I dunno', I just really like those two)
Regardless, Ground Beast's Gurren Laggen-esque attack is incredibly badass.
 

Shadow Soul gave you free berserker modes.

Chaos Shadow Soul was best soul.
Trigger it -> GG BRO

[TheComposer]

3 was really good imo, except for the whole "You can't complete the Megachip Library without Mistman/Bowlman V4, which is VERSION EXCLUSIVE DURR" thing. Thus I've never 100% those games.
4 was wonderful. The New Game Plus feature along with the whole tournament thing, and the introduction of Soul Unison was really, really amazing, as well as the Dark Chip/Karma system being in place, giving access to wider ranges of strategies and the like. Also, Duo will always be the hardest Final Boss of the series, as well as the most fun to fight.
5 is by far my favorite. Liberation Missions were some of the most fun things I'd ever seen in any RPG-esque game, adding a huge strategy element to the gameplay (As well as the best grinding method ever). The story was beautifully written and came together amazingly.
6 was... a little lack-luster, compared to 5. There wasn't any sort of special game-specific mechanic (Like New Game Plus in 4 or Liberation Missions in 5). I was rather sad to see Soul Unison get replaced by the Cross System (Despite technically being better by not requiring a chip sacrifice), though BeastOut and BeastCross definitely made up for it. Being able to completely obliterate a boss or other enemies with BeastOut was loads of fun, and it was a really cool ability.
 
Having not played 1 and 3, I won't give opinions on them.
 
Oh, and before I forget, I have to comment on just how badass of a rival Forte/Bass is. He appears in every game, is always the most powerful of any of the enemies you fight, has some very cool abilities (Life Aura, Hell's Rolling), has a generally badass appearance to him, and always finds a way of tying himself neatly into the plot of each game, while still maintaining his original motive of becoming more powerful than Megaman and some day defeating him (He merged with Gospel in BN2, was absorbed by Alpha and then merged with Gospel's remnants again in BN3, was trapped in the undernet waiting for Megaman in BN4, became the Chaos Lord in BN5, and then absorbed the power of the other Cyber Beast in BN6).

NO. NONONONONONONO. 4 WAS GAWDAWFUL. AND THIS IS WHY

[spoiler=My Rant on BN 4]
First off, let's deal with the tournaments shall we? They were AWFUL. In every game before this, every boss had an interesting stage dedicated to them. However, thanks to the tournament, you had to go through a gawdawful scenario that usually led you around the main internet just to do anything. Remember the Protoman scenario? Or the hunt around for Dex's brother? Or SPARKMAN'S WHERE YOUR FOLDER WAS LOCKED?? OR HOW ABOUT PAULIE'S AND THE MAZE OF WARPS THAT SERVED NO PURPOSE? Or gawd forbid you run into the mafia guy and have to play NINJA MEGAMAN AND SNEAK BY ALL THOSE NEBULA NAVIS!! And don't think I forgot about the cooking challenge, oh no, I'd never forget that piece of....

Not only did tournaments ruin the number of unique areas, it slaughtered the story. The only time the villains showed up was for a small scene in between tournaments. The flow of the story was ruined by this, because it never stayed on the same track. It was all a jumbled mess.

Now for the most tedious, and worst part of it. Beating it once or twice isn't enough, YOU NEED TO BEAT THE GAME 3 TIMES JUST TO GET ALL THE SOULS! This game is long and tedious as it is thanks to the 3 tournaments, and all the boring and drawn out scenarios before every opponent. No, you need to do it 3 FREAKING TIMES. No, no, and more no. It was DREADFUL. Not to mention if you forgot to open a purple mystery data in one run, and it had a chip, YOU COULDN'T 100% THE GAME.[/spoiler]

Surprisingly enough my favorite soul was Searchman's soul. Being able to shuffle chips and use the smexy gun.... that was the only thing keeping me through that game.

3 was amazing. The Virus Breeder was good, the chips were good, the aftergame content was wonderful. My only complaint is the story had a lot of "find this item" quests to progress, and they got boring FAST.

5 got on my nerves. It was fun, but I never really liked the Liberation missions, but that was just a personal taste, since I know quite a few people liked them. But I just preferred the bosses having their own area, rather than is just being a place on the main net (one of my complaints about 4)

I loved 6. It was a bit easy thanks to the cross system, but being able to always access the crosses made it fun, even if it was a bit overpowered.

I played 1 and 2 as well, but my memory on them is hazy.

[Shradow]

Gregor agree with voice from wind, 4 is much bad times.

[?someone?]

Nice to see people like them.

In terms of Star Force... Well, ugh. They did the same things as with Battle Network, but worse. Less of a battlefield, less fun, lesser story, and friendship lasers.

FRIENDSHIP. LASERS.

[Shradow]

FRIENDSHIP. LASERS.

 

[url=http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4wysps7Kg1rx8jmbo1_500.jpg]You say like is bad thing.[/url]

[Toffee.]

Nice to see people like them.
In terms of Star Force... Well, ugh. They did the same things as with Battle Network, but worse. Less of a battlefield, less fun, lesser story, and friendship lasers.
FRIENDSHIP. LASERS.

>Starforce
>Bad
OH HELL NO~
Starforce's smaller battlefield is because the battle system was in 3D, and gave you a sort of 1st-person perspective on the battles. It's an interesting take on BN's system.
Less fun? Please. This game was original and very entertaining. The characters were brilliant, Omega's lines were perfect, hell, you even fight evil versions of your friends in order to rescue them.
Lesser Story? No. Just no. Starforce, throughout all 3 games, they, more or less, all lead into the next game. Since each game had some bits that were carried over into the next game, and had it all woven into it's own little story. Plus, half of that is getting Geo out of his mopey state and watching him make friends for the first time n' junk.
(Despite the fact a lot of that was just Luna pressuring him, but still...)

Also, BN/Starforce has always had a Friendship motif that leads to Megaman getting stronger. So you can't say Game X suffers because it's Friendship-centric, when all of them are.

tl;dr Starforce kicks ass.

[Shradow]

Gregor enjoy Starforce, but never get past junk level. Gregor search for little program men, and always get radar to red and search, but never find before trucks do with the shuffling. Seems easy enough, yes? But Gregor still become stuck.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

I think I played just about all of them. BN and Starforce. Beat probably 4/6 of the Battle Network games (I think 4 and 5 but I just know I didn't beat 4 because I really didn't like it and maybe 5 because I was a dumb kid who got his ass wiped on anything requiring strategy) and 2/3 of Starforce games. I'm sorry, I was not digging anything about Starforce 3 at all. The gameplay was not really hitting me like BN so after game 2 I was pretty much done and the story felt lackluster. Though it has been years and years since I played them so it's really hard to say what exactly I have played or not or if I'd still feel this way today. I also played that Gamecube Battle Network game that had more of the style from the original Megman games. Was not a fan of it like I was Megaman Zero (okay, I was a dumb kid when I played this one so I got my ass kicked and when I came back to it when I wasn't sh*tty at videogames my DS was kind of broken so playing was kind of hard) and the Megaman ZX games (I'm sorry, I really liked them but then got my ass kicked at the bosses and quit because I was still lil dumb Desu).

 

Like pretty much everything I played when I was younger...or now too really...I never got too technical with damage/multipliers/etc. so I can't really comment on what I didn't pay much attention to or really understand at the time. Although if I actually did beat 4 megaman games then I'm gonna give lil dumbsh*t Desu some credit there for at least his stubborness. Batttle Network still stands as one of my favorite game series though. Damn fun games.

[Shradow]

One thing Gregor always enjoyed was Bokutai crossingovers.

[?someone?]

>Starforce
>Bad
OH HELL NO~
Starforce's smaller battlefield is because the battle system was in 3D, and gave you a sort of 1st-person perspective on the battles. It's an interesting take on BN's system.
Less fun? Please. This game was original and very entertaining. The characters were brilliant, Omega's lines were perfect, hell, you even fight evil versions of your friends in order to rescue them.
Lesser Story? No. Just no. Starforce, throughout all 3 games, they, more or less, all lead into the next game. Since each game had some bits that were carried over into the next game, and had it all woven into it's own little story. Plus, half of that is getting Geo out of his mopey state and watching him make friends for the first time n' junk.
(Despite the fact a lot of that was just Luna pressuring him, but still...)

Also, BN/Starforce has always had a Friendship motif that leads to Megaman getting stronger. So you can't say Game X suffers because it's Friendship-centric, when all of them are.

tl;dr Starforce kicks ass.

 

Oh hell yes. He was guided back with friendship lasers. Not like "Oh hey bro believe in yourself", more "friendship power is a physical thing now because believing really hard makes technology work and do stuff." And it didn't have to be some over-the shoulder thing. It could have, I dunno, flipped between or something, but, no. I never did give a sh*t beyond the dad thing. That was good, then... then ugh. Also, the characters were as 2-d as can be. Not that I expect much, but... "Yo, I'm mean at first but I get better" does not cut the mustard, and my mustard is easily cut. The games were Battle Network 0.5, and, with a smidgen of effort, could've been Battle network 9.5. 

 

At least your cyber-bro looked cool.

[Nicο]

Oh hell yes. He was guided back with friendship lasers. Not like "Oh hey bro believe in yourself", more "friendship power is a physical thing now because believing really hard makes technology work and do stuff." And it didn't have to be some over-the shoulder thing. It could have, I dunno, flipped between or something, but, no. I never did give a sh*t beyond the dad thing. That was good, then... then ugh. Also, the characters were as 2-d as can be. Not that I expect much, but... "Yo, I'm mean at first but I get better" does not cut the mustard, and my mustard is easily cut. The games were Battle Network 0.5, and, with a smidgen of effort, could've been Battle network 9.5.

At least your cyber-bro looked cool.

The characters really, really were not much better in Battle Network. That same thing happened more than once from what I can remember. They just kind of... present themselves differently, so whichever one you like more, that's fine, but you can't complain about the characters being 2-d when they're both games made so kids can play. Pretty much for kids. Like I said, not much of a difference. You probably just grew put of being able to like Star Force by the time it came out. Last time I played BN, I didn't get much done because I felt the same way with Lan, and I just don't feel like playing either anymore. They were great when I was a kid, though.

[?someone?]

You probably just grew put of being able to like Star Force by the time it came out.

 

Gah, it's probably that. It still feels worse, though.

A new series on the 3DS, with a highly developed online mode would be pretty exciting... having a main story, then making a character for multiplayer, customizing it, etc.

[TheComposer]

Starforce 3 is so easy if you get Rogue Noise and SWORD FIGHTER 3, SWORD FIGHTER 3'S EVERYWHERE.

It was fun but very easy. Even Rogue ZZ was too easy.

[Nicο]

A new series on the 3DS, with a highly developed online mode would be pretty exciting... having a main story, then making a character for multiplayer, customizing it, etc.

Yes. Even if it's somehow a series that already happened, despite hardly not being possible, I would so buy a 3DS Mega Man game like that.

 

Starforce 3 is so easy if you get Rogue Noise and SWORD FIGHTER 3, SWORD FIGHTER 3'S EVERYWHERE.

It was fun but very easy. Even Rogue ZZ was too easy.

Huh. True.