GAME HINTS

Story

It’s an impressive worldwide operation: the entire Net has been taken over by agents of Nebula. Meanwhile, and all part of his grand scheme, Dr. Regal, leader of Nebula, has kidnapped Lan’s father, Dr. Hikari. But, by freak chance, he misses the opportunity to steal the one thing that may have ensured his victory: Lan’s PET...

The SciLab Officials devise a counter strategy—they’ll form a team of highly competent Navis and Operators to go in and liberate the captured areas. Lan, having victories against Wily, the WWW, Gospel, and Nebula under his belt, is invited to join this special team. He accepts because it will put him one step closer to winning back his friends’ PETs and saving his dad...

Special Features

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As might be expected, this game expands upon Battle Network 4. Most of the features here come from previous games, so I’m not going to expound on them here. As always, check the strategies page for overall game play information.

Liberation Missions

The most significant change in this game is the liberation mission system. These are modeled after turn-based strategy games. This is an interesting idea, though having to defeat everything in three turns makes you ridiculously dependant on getting a good draw of chips...which, in turn, almost never happens. For normal viruses this isn’t as bad, but prepare yourself for some very frustrating boss battles.

Like turn-based strategy games, you have multiple “units” (Navis), and the game operates in rounds, or “phases”—first all of your Navis get to move, then all of the enemies get a turn, back and forth. Unlike most other games of this type, however, you are not limited in the distance you can walk during your turn, except that you can’t cross Dark Panels. You can move around as much as you like during your phase; your character’s turn ends only when he attacks something.

Liberate Dark Panels to cross them. You don’t have to liberate them all, but you do have to liberate all of the Dark Holes. Defeating the boss wins the mission, but before you can fight the boss, you must clear all the Dark Holes on the map. In order to get the best prize, you need to clear the mission in as few phases as possible; to facilitate this, skip as many Dark Panels as you can, and focus on going directly to the Dark Holes and then the boss. Usually you’ll want to skip items as well unless you bump into them along the way, because they generally aren’t significant enough to be worth the effort.

When you attack something during your phase, you actually have to fight the virus battle like normal—no sitting back and watching in this game. On the other hand, when the enemies attack you during their phase (which they can do if they are close enough to you; most enemies can only walk on Dark Panels though, which limits how close they can get to you), they simply do damage to you without opening a battle.

The layout of the battle field depends on the number of Dark Panels surrounding your character when the fight starts. The more Dark Panels there are in the eight tiles around your Navi, the more at a disadvantage you will be. On the other hand, if you liberate an isolated Dark Panel, you will have the advantage and the enemies will be at a disadvantage.

Pincher attacks have enemies on both sides of you (use L and R to turn around). This is an interesting twist and can actually sometimes work in your favor, since enemies have only two columns on each side, making it easier to use attacks with limited range (like swords). You do, however, have to watch out for attacks coming from both sides. Also, some enemies can cross sides.

If you liberate a panel in one turn (defeat everything before your Custom Screen opens again), you get a “1 turn liberation” which will liberate all of the panels on the eight tiles around your Navi’s position, even ones he did not target with his liberation attack. This can be a good way to quickly clear out panels, but—being heavily reliant on getting a good random draw of chips—it is tough to plan to do on purpose.

You can replay liberation missions by talking to gold-colored Mr.Progs that you find in the areas where the missions took place. Use this to obtain chips that you missed on your first pass through, and just to make money as well. (You can purposefully take longer than the required number of phases to earn some Zenny, not to mention the Zenny you find when you liberate certain tiles.)

DarkChips

The DarkChip system is altered a bit in this game from the previous one in that DarkChips are now ordinary chips that you can find and place into your Folder and use like normal in battle. Later in the game, you can also use them to activate Soul Unisons to end up with a ChaosSoul. (The manual tells you this, so I’m not really spoiling much.) Using DarkChips still subtracts 1 HP from your maximum health per battle where you use them, except for using Chaos Unisons.

Note that only MegaMan can use DarkChips.

Double Team DS

The DS version of the game is basically both versions packaged together. When you start a new game, you select one version or the other, and you play through the entire game as that version. The only crossover that exists between them is that once you finish one game, you can then gain Transport Chips, or TP Chips, to enable you to, during liberation missions, swap out characters in your team with their respective matches from the other version of the game. For example, MagnetMan and KnightMan both serve the same function and so you can swap the two. Given the way the story was done in this game, you’ll never notice the difference in the plot when you exchange characters.

Other notes:

  • All of the music has been re-sequenced.
  • There are a bunch of voice samples added to various aspects of the game. Too bad both Lan and MegaMan sound like they are at least 25 years old...
  • They added additional face portraits for some characters to display different expressions. (Lan’s evil grin is hilarious—particularly since it’s not supposed to look evil, yet somehow it does.)
  • Most of the interfaces have been altered to take the top and bottom screens into account, but not very thoroughly. Usually you do most of your actions in one screen while the other one is frozen in standby mode.
  • They fixed the dialogue in a number of places, correcting typos and cleaning up some instances of awkward grammar. They didn’t catch all of the errors, but they did correct a lot of them.
  • You can access some of your subscreen during liberation missions, allowing you to reorganize your chip folder and save the game using any character instead of specific ones (you can still only save once per phase, however).
  • When you jack in or out, MegaMan animates in the lower screen (this is pretty cool). Also, the jack-in sequence animation has changed.
  • Many of the homepages and some servers throughout the game are totally revamped here.
  • There’s a pretty cool semi-animation sequence displayed when you turn the game on, before the title screen.
  • There are two save slots instead of just one (you need two in order to play through both versions of the game). Saving takes forever.
  • You can bring Navi teammates with you as you wander the Internet during non-critical sections of the plot, and swap between them during battle. (This is called the “Party Battle System”). In addition to being able to switch to them, your teammate(s) can pop in to perform an attack automatically or do other things, and you can pull off a double-attack by switching characters while in Full Synchro status (at the sacrifice of the Full Synchro).
  • During liberation missions, you can team up with other Navis in a similar manner as the Party Battle System, by having all of the Navis involved standing on the same tile as you when you liberate a panel. This, however, is not at all worth it, because it uses up the turn of every single character involved in the battle.
  • You can unlock certain things by having various GBA games inserted into the system while you play the DS version. Among other things, you can copy over your chip folder from a GBA version of Battle Network 5 or even use a completed save file from that game to unlock TP Chips right from the start of the game. (Remember you need to use the completed save file of the opposite version of the game that you are currently playing.)
  • Overall, the best new feature is the map! It acts as a mini-map and it shows icons for various features like MegaMan’s current position, homepages, Net Dealers, skull doors, and such. No more getting lost in an endless tangle of maze-like paths! (In some cases you have to find map items before your map is filled in. Also, plain rectangular servers have no maps.)
  • There are other miscellaneous changes that I haven’t mentioned here.

FAQ

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  • Which version should I buy?
    Get the DS version if you can—it has both versions built in. However, if you only have a GBA, then it honestly doesn’t matter. The storyline and puzzles are virtually identical between the two versions, you just have different characters speaking the lines. (Even though you have different Navi teammates, the plots revolving around those teammates are pretty close to identical, unlike Battle Network 4 where you received totally different scenarios for each Navi.) Although admittedly, Colonel is easier to use than ProtoMan because his charged attack can reach any column (and charged attacks can make the difference in a liberation battle). And, I won’t lie, the Colonel version tends to be slightly easier because you often get better Navi teammates to boot. Still, if there’s a particular Navi that you like, go ahead and get the version with that Navi in it.
  • In Team Colonel, is Colonel the same as from the X series?
    Yes and no. It should be clear by now that the Battle Network series grabs characters from other Mega Man games when inventing Navis, borrowing their names and twisting their appearances some to fit the role. But the characters are never actually the originals regardless of the origin. MegaMan.EXE is not Mega Man, ProtoMan.EXE is not Proto Man, and so forth. So is the same with Colonel.

Review

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This review was written primarily for the Game Boy Advance versions of the game, but some points apply to the DS version as well.

Play Control: 3
Pretty much identical to the previous games.
Graphics: 4
The Net graphics have gotten updated quite a bit, sporting more detail than ever before.
Animation: 3
Pretty much the same as the previous game. This one’s still using the “shrunken” sprites. Also, there are of course a lot more animations now for the Navis that you can put on your team.
Music: 3
A lot of the tunes are remixes of musics from previous games; I have to say I don’t really like the remixes as much as the originals, but at least they use stereo.
Sound Effects: 3
Basically the same as the previous games.
Plot: 2
Sadly, the story isn’t really very well crafted toward the personalities of the characters in question; who knows what kind of personality Colonel has, for example, since he says nearly all the same lines as ProtoMan. (And since when has ProtoMan had a personality?)
Difficulty: 4 (normal to irriating)
The difficulty of the normal parts of the game hasn’t really changed (though the final boss is a bit easier than normal). The liberation missions can be very easy or very irritating depending on the luck of the draw, though thankfully, you can pretty much keep at them until you win them since actually losing a liberation mission is pretty difficult to do, unless you’re reckless.
Replay Value: 3
This one really depends on whether you like strategy games or not. The liberation missions are probably going to be the primary love/hate feature of this game (some people will love the game because of them, and some people will hate it because of them).
Polish: 3
Almost all of the polish happened in Battle Network 4, to be honest, and was carried over to here. They do continue to improve on things, such as the novelty of being able to pluck chips off the shelves in Higsby’s to buy them instead of just using the merchant interface. On the other hand, I feel they kind of missed some polish that they could have done with certain aspects of the plot, such as when you don’t have MegaMan in your PET. So it goes both ways.
Overall: 79%
More so than ever before, this game seems to have been spoiled by the split versions. Because they used the same plot for both Team ProtoMan and Team Colonel, they were unable to fully develop the story or even match the areas to the Navi bosses as they did in previous games. For example, the OldMine area would have matched a DrillMan Navi perfectly, and the cruise ship computer was nicely suited for an AquaMan type Navi, yet none of the Navis who were found in these areas ever fit their themes. And not to mention the lackluster character development that this plot suffered through. It just seemed to me as if the game was screaming with potential but ended up with its hands tied by the system. Maybe someday Capcom will learn to make one version of the game that is up to its full potential, not two half versions that can’t quite reach the bar.

+ Plus:
You can replay liberation missions to your heart’s content, so you don’t have to worry about losing out on any goodies they may hold.
- Minus:
Three turns to liberate. Need I say more?

Walkthrough

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This currently covers only the first play through the game. I cover both versions at once, noting sections which apply to only one version of the game or the other.

  • The Plot Begins
    • We begin with Lan...asleep. As usual. Leave Lan’s room and go talk to his mom.
    • Go back to Lan’s room and jack into his PC.
    • The tutorial is on his homepage. (You can get attacked by viruses on homepages now.)
    • Go out to ACDC. Follow the all of the blue paths that lead off the green road to find items.
    • Follow the green main street to ACDC Area2.
    • At the end, near the exit to Area3, head to the right, down the zigzag path, to the KitchenComp.
    • After the resulting cut scene, talk to Mayl, Dex, and Yai. Jack into everything you see along the way.
    • Go to the Metroline for the next cut scene.
    • Walk around the ever-evolving SciLab; jack into things.
    • Inside the building, go into the room upstairs.
    • In Dr. Hikari’s lab, Lan’s dad explains about a program he found when going through old documents. Lan goes to fetch his dad’s ID card and the bad guys choose that moment to make their entrance. (The gas-mask guys somehow manage not to see Lan?)
    • Afterward, Lan sleeps for three days...
  • The Net Takeover
    • After the cut scene, Lan jacks into his PC automatically. The ACDC area beyond his homepage is all dark. Otherwise, everything looks normal enough, contrary to what MegaMan says. Even the virus battles are normal.
    • Go to ACDC 2 and confront the HeelNavi there. He’ll throw viruses at you.
    • The HeelNavi says he thought all of the Navis of MegaMan’s caliber were gone. He starts to attack again, but then gets recalled by his headquarters.
    • After the cut scene, head out and talk to Lan’s mom.
    • Talk to Mayl by the Metroline station for a Roll chip, and Mayl’s P-Code.
    • Take the Metroline to the SciLab.
    • Check the door the scientist ran out. Locked.
    • Go into Lan’s dad’s office and take the ID from his desk drawer (remember that?).
    • Head back to the locked door and into the next room. Jack into the main system there.
    • You’ll encounter a mini-game soon enough. Move the data around so that the numbers display 762 in order to continue.
    • For the next set, reorganize the letters to spell NAP.
    • Next set: OWL and RAT (the Mr.Progs give you misleading clues here).
    • Go across the OWL path first and step on the purple button.
    • Go through the RAT path where the door was.
    • Next set: DOCK and HALL.
    • Go across HALL and hit the switch.
    • Go across DOCK to continue on.
    • Next set: HIP, TOE, ARM.
    • Go over HIP and ARM first to hit switches.
    • Go through TOE and avoid the moving walkways first for an item.
    • Go down the long paths of moving walkways, but avoid the single-tile one that will take you back where you came from.
    • The next set of data spawns an event. The Mr.Prog doesn’t remember the proper order, so Lan has to go find the notes of the scientist who knows. Go to Dr. Hikari’s lab and search the sofa there. Data order is 53214.
    • Past this is a large slope and another cut scene. ProtoMan/Colonel comes in. There’s a brief conversation, then the Navi attacks.
    • Boss: ProtoMan/Colonel
    • As expected, ProtoMan/Colonel tells MegaMan that he “passed.” I doubt that Regal was part of the test, though, heh.
    • After MegaMan jacks out, go into the door to the right of the room you’re in.
    • Chaud/Baryl explains that in response to the takeover of the Net, the SciLab is forming a team of Net Navis to defeat Nebula. But to keep Nebula from catching on, they’re scouting team members in secret. (Since they’re doing it in secret, I give them all of, oh, about a day before Nebula figures out exactly what’s going on.) Lan is convinced to join for the prospects of helping to rescue his father.
    • There’s a liberation mission tomorrow, so sleep in Lan’s bed when ready.
  • Operation Liberation
    • The next day, Lan is told he’ll be operating the Navis on the mission all by himself.
    • After Lan jacks in, head for ACDC Area2.
    • Find ProtoMan/Colonel where the HeelNavi was standing before. He proceeds to blow open the door with his sword, haha.
    • As this is the first liberation mission, there will be a lot of explanation going on here.
    • Remember that you don’t have to liberate all of the Dark Panels. (Just Dark Holes.) Liberate Dark Panels only to proceed, or if they have items. Try to use your special liberation attacks (which require Order Points) to speed up things, and to snag items while also opening paths.
    • For the first set of panels, take out the panel in the lower left while standing below it (not in the middle). Ignore the other two panels.
    • Next, go down the narrow path and liberate the panel blocking the way there for an item.
    • The next set will depend on where the guardian moves. The guardian on a tile will prevent you from using your special liberation move on that panel. (You also can’t use it on the Dark Hole itself.) Try to get to the Dark Hole as quickly as possible and do not bother liberating any more Dark Panels around it than necessary, because they will go away by themselves when you liberate the Dark Hole. Also, don’t waste turns fighting guardians unless they are in your way, because they also go poof once the Dark Hole that spawned them is liberated.
    • If you can, you may want to clear the way to the Dark Hole with a WideSwrd/ScrenDiv attack. Otherwise, just clear one panel then attack the Dark Hole directly.
    • Once the first Dark Hole is down, take MegaMan up the path and use his LongSwrd special liberation move on the set of two panels there.
      [Screen shot of ProtoMan saying, "How can we do that with our present shields?"]
      Shields? Uh, ProtoMan, you’re the only one with a shield...
    • Optional: If you want, have ProtoMan/Colonel use his special attack to clear the three tiles blocking the way to the ? Panel (if you do it this way, you’ll also net the item that is in the corner). Picking up the ? block doesn’t take a turn, so do it at the beginning of your next phase.
    • For the next Dark Hole, use your special liberation commands liberally to clear the way straight to the hole. You will free up a path to the ? Panel when you liberate the Dark Hole, so don’t worry about it for now. Liberating the Dark Hole will also conveniently open a path to BlizzardMan. Get the ? right before facing BlizzardMan.
    • With the two Dark Holes gone, the only thing left is BlizzardMan. Using ProtoMan/Colonel’s special move to clear the way to him will put you at less of a disadvantage during the actual battle, but then you’ll have to either give up a round or fight BlizzardMan using MegaMan, who at this point in the game is less powerful than his ally. It’s your choice.
    • If you fail to defeat BlizzardMan within the three turns, you can try again with your other Navi if he hasn’t already taken his turn. If BlizzardMan’s turn comes up, he will regain HP, plus damage you if you are within range. You can keep trying to defeat BlizzardMan as many times as you wish, but your reward will go down the more phases you use. (Then again, winning Zenny instead of a Battle Chip isn’t that big of a deal, and you can always come back and retry again later.)
    • If you are having serious troubles, you can sacrifice phases to boost your chances. Try clearing out the panels all around BlizzardMan (to put him at a disadvantage in the boss battle), then if necessary “Pass” a few turns while standing far away from BlizzardMan so that he can’t damage you. (Or go pick up some items you skipped; some of them may have hearts to heal you.) Once you’re at full health and have BlizzardMan isolated, attack him with both Navis at the beginning of a phase. He’ll have almost no room to maneuver and you’ll have 6 turns and the combined HP of two Navis in which to finish him off. (If you have to do it this way, don’t worry too much about it; you can come back later to get BlizzardMan’s chip when you are more powerful.)
    • Boss: BlizzardMan
    • When you’re done, you get a brief cut scene with Regal. Nebula has already figured out that the Officials have put together a team to fight them. What’d I tell you?
  • Official Business
    • School is canceled, and Lan’s friends want to go to the beach, but you’re an Official now (or at least on one of their teams), so you get to experience life as an Official. You’re asked to patrol the area that you just freed, plus check in on the rebuilding progress there. Jack into the Net from Lan’s PC.
    • When you reach ACDC Area3, talk to all of the Mr.Progs. You can also replay the liberation mission here if you wish. (This is a relatively fast way to make money, if you are so inclined.)
    • After the cut scene, walk to the Metroline where Lan’s friends are waiting. They all end up on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean called Oran.
    • Walk down the path to the beach that Dex pointed out. Trigger a most... um... unusual cut scene. Or better yet, just skip the whole darn thing (press SELECT).
    • Chaud/Baryl sends mail, so go somewhere where you are alone and read it. Your orders are to go to Oran Area1 on the Net to scout around.
    • Go to the speaker or whatever it is on a post in a corner. Jack in and explore.
    • (You can buy a Guardian chip from the Net Dealer here, if you have over 10,000 Zenny. He also has HP Memory items and a couple of other interesting things. Additionally, the End Area entrance is in Oran Area2, though you can’t go through it right now. Keep its location in mind, however, as you will most assuredly need it later. Also note Oran Area1 links to ACDC Area3.)
    • In Oran Area1, on the upper level, you will come across a large section which triggers a cut scene when you enter it. The area leading to your next mission is blocked by cannons, so you can’t get through.
    • Lan jacks out automatically after the cut scene.
    • Back to fishing. Pick up a bamboo pole from the woods nearby, a worm from the waterfall (Lan doesn’t know what worms are?), and finally, get fishing line by searching behind the platform that leads from the boat, where you can’t see yourself when you go there. Just walk around back there and keep hitting the A button.
    • Once you have everything, talk to Dex, then go up the stairs from the beach where Dex is standing and turn left, walking over the waterfall and to the end of the path there for a cut scene.
    • After that’s done, talk to Dex (again), then go gather driftwood from the beach near where Mayl and Yai are standing, take a branch from the dead tree near the speaker where you jacked in, and grab some dried grass from the pile near where you were fishing. Finally, talk to Dex again.
    • (I won’t mention the absurdity of a group of 12-year-olds allowed to sail to an island all by themselves—kids with lighters who skin and cook their own fish...)
    • After this cut scene, a SciLab guy mails you your Navi Customizer (hurray!). Notice that MegaMan will no longer warn you if you bug the Customizer, but if you do, during battle MegaMan’s face portrait will flicker. If you get this, read the in-game tutorial or the strategies section for an explanation of what you are doing wrong.
    • Go through where the gate was blocking your path before (along the railroad).
    • Dex and the others fall through a trap door. Go into the mine and find the elevator. Take it up. You need key data to open the door.
    • Go back down the elevator, then up the ramp inside the mine and outside to the post out there. Jack into the speaker. You’ll end up in Oran Area1 where you couldn’t get to before.
    • Talk to the Navi. He wants 1000 Zenny for the key.
    • After the cut scene, head back up the elevator and through the door.
    • You’ll end up outside. Follow the path back into the mine. (And search everything along the way, of course.)
    • Trying to open the next door will launch viruses at you.
    • Go outside and back in the next entrance. Open the next door, fight viruses, etc.
    • Going in the first mine entrance you come across after this, you find an air filtration system that you can jack into. There’s nothing in it right now except an item.
    • Head up the ramp outside and into the entrance up there. (Dex and the others fell downward, but you’ve been heading up the entire time...)
    • You finally find an elevator leading downward. Go in the doorway down there for a cut scene. You stumble across a woman who tells you to stop the drill by shutting it off yourself. Lan jacks in automatically.
    • Talk to the Mr.Prog to get an item you need. You can smash rocks by just pressing into them and mashing the A button. You can even smash them while on conveyer belts.
    • To move against the flow while on a conveyer belt, hold B to run.
    • Work your way through the maze of conveyer belts and rocks, picking up items as you go.
    • At the end, you’ll find the control system.
    • Jack into the other three boxes and repeat. (It’s a good idea to save often.)
    • In the third computer, you’ll need to pick up a StopKey from a Mr.Prog in order to proceed. Use it to shut off certain chutes that are dropping rocks.
    • As you might be guessing, you meet up with a Navi at the end of the fourth computer...but not necessarily the Navi you might be expecting, given the theme of this place.
    • Boss: MagnetMan/KnightMan (Yay, a boss battle without a time limit!)
    • After you regain control of Lan, continue in the direction you were headed and out the other entrance to the room. You’ll find an elevator which leads to Lan’s friends.
    • (For some unfathomable reason, apparently somebody did a blind find-and-replace on the word “mine” to turn it into “OldMine” because even places where the word was supposed to be “mine” (as in, “me and”) or the verb meaning to, well, mine, got turned into “OldMine”...)
    • Inside the door lock, search the object in the center. Naturally, this triggers a defense system. But MagnetMan/KnightMan saves you from it. (I sense possibilities here...)
    • Using his brain, Lan thinks to ask for help from MagnetMan/KnightMan to get past the gauntlet in Oran. Looks like it’s back to the mission!
  • Shady Dealings
    • Now that you can get past the defenses, jack into the speaker and head to the entrance to Area3 (where all the cannons are). ProtoMan/Colonel is waiting for you. After the cut scene you will be able to enter the next area.
    • This is another liberation mission, as you already know. Though it’s a bit more chaotic at first glance than the first one. Doing 1-turn liberations whenever possible can really help you out here (though this guide will try not to assume them).
    • MagnetMan/KnightMan can shield others from taking damage outside of battle. KnightMan’s ability is passive; he blocks attacks for any member that is within one tile of his location (so try to use him to liberate things which place him near someone else). He also never takes any damage himself from any overworld attack. MagnetMan has to activate his defensive mode, and thus skip his turn (and he uses Order Points to boot), but he protects everyone regardless of their locations.
    • The new guardians here are hawks which can only be hit when they swoop. They attack when they are lined up with you, hitting all tiles in a straight line between them and you. So step back just as they swoop and hit them.
    • For your team members who have limited range in battle (ProtoMan, KnightMan), you might want to put a Fan as your Regular Chip. Either that or stock lots of AreaSteals. Remember as well that characters who have limited range have a better chance at fighting pincer-attack battles, so try to use them to liberate when you are surrounded by Dark Panels.
    • Anyway, onward with the mission. From the first two tiles blocking your way, clear the one on the upper right. It puts you at more of a disadvantage in the battle, but sets you up for your next move.
    • Use WideSwrd/ScrenDiv on the next row to net the item (Order Points) as well as clear the way.
    • LongSwrd your way to the gap before the DarkHole ahead (use the L camera to see where to liberate). You can get the ? block later so ignore it for now.
    • Liberate the panel leading to the Dark Hole. There’s probably a guardian standing on it. If you can 1-turn liberate the guardian (not as hard as it sounds since he will likely be alone in the battle if you attack him directly), you will clear out a lot of panels at once. Save first and see if you can do it.
    • Once you’ve liberated the Dark Hole, go forward (grab the ? if you want), and liberate the item tile ahead. It’s a heart, so try to grab it with someone who has low health, if possible.
    • You can use a LongSwrd on the two tiles ahead, one with the item (Order Points). Hopefully the guardians haven’t gotten in your way to prevent this. An alternative is to just ignore the two panels together and liberate the individual panel instead. You use less character turns this way but don’t get the item.
    • There are two more panels ahead, one of which needs to be cleared to continue. You can skip the other one.
    • Now you have a choice. You need MegaMan again to liberate the next set of tiles for the most ease-of-use. If you used MegaMan’s LongSwrd earlier, that would mean essentially passing the turn with your third character, either by defending or liberating another panel nearby (perhaps one of the Darkloid panels). Or, if you don’t mind being surrounded, you can just slog in with your remaining character. It’s up to you.
    • For the next group of panels, if MegaMan is available, have him use his LongSwrd on the panels before the Dark Holes, on the right side. Basically you are trying to get to the center panel between the two Dark Holes. Picture a “T” and that is the formation you’re looking for. (If you are using another character, liberate the panels in the same formation, but of course you’ll only be able to liberate one panel deep each time.)
    • Once you have reached the bar of the T, use ProtoMan/Colonel’s Order Point attack to clear out the three panels that make up the bar of the T.
    • You should now have cleared the way to both Dark Holes simultaneously. Have MagnetMan/KnightMan liberate one for now; the other will probably have to wait for your next phase.
    • With the second Dark Hole down, you just need to clear a way to the boss. (Might want to save the ? block for that.)
    • Take out the panel on the left of the two blocking the next path, and that will reduce the surrounding panels for your next liberation.
    • You can try for the item in the next set of panels either with a WideSwrd/ScrenDiv or a 1-turn liberation.
    • As with BlizzardMan, clear panels around ShadeMan for an easier fight.
    • Note: This mission gives you a generous number of rounds to clear it and still earn a ShadeMan chip. This is because they anticipate the player may want to use MagnetMan/KnightMan to defend a lot, effectively reducing the number of panels that can be liberated per turn. If you forego defense, you can reach ShadeMan within 5 rounds easily. So it is up to you how much you wish to defend.
    • Boss: ShadeMan
    [Screen shot of Baryl saying "I see you have arrived in Oran Area."]
    What’re you doing, tracking us?
  • Cleaning Up
    • Note: Right around now, you will be able to buy what is probably your first available DarkChip. Talk to the guy behind Higsby’s when he shows up; he offers you a Tuby for 2000z (which isn’t that bad, considering what a great chip Discord is) but gives you a DrkSonic instead. You can of course find other DarkChips as well. I’m not going to walk you through them; hunt around.
    • Lan is challenged by a mysterious figure that tells him to go to the squirrel statue in ACDC park. Lan jacks in automatically.
    • Note: You receive your Soul Unison tutorial here. This game calls it a “DublSoul” almost exclusively, unlike the previous one which alternated between the terms. See the previous game’s information on Soul Unisons for more information.
    • Anyway, back to the task at hand. This is a duplicate of the WaterGodComp maze from the previous game, just with the layout rearranged a little. I made a quick map.
    • Surprisingly, you don’t have to fight GyroMan/ShadowMan when you reach him. Just talk to him for a cut scene.
    • After this you receive email from Chaud/Baryl. He asks you (in badly-worded English) to go to Oran Area. You can’t reach it via the island, so you’ll have to make your way there from ACDC.
    • Go to ACDC Area3 to the end and you will be able to enter Oran Area1. Here you receive a phone call from Chaud/Baryl, who appears to be tracking you. He tells you there are 6 remaining Nebula agents that must be hunted down.
    • One’s on the lower level of Oran Area1, near the entrance. Another’s in Area2 on the main road near a skull door. The third’s on the upper level of Area2 near the gate to the End Area. The final three are in Area3, where the liberation mission was.
      [Screen shot of Baryl saying, "Describe your surroundings to me."]
      Wait, you don’t know? I thought you were tracking us!
    • The agent battles are just normal virus battles, though sometimes with slightly tougher variations of the regular viruses.
    • (There’s a Mr.Prog Dealer in Oran Area3 that you might want to save up Zenny for.)
    • Once you’d deleted all of the agents, you get a cut scene where Chaud/Baryl tells you to go restore the network in Oran Area3.
    • Go to the end of Oran Area3 and try to exit through the arrow there. You will trigger a cut scene and a battle against a HeelNavi’s viruses.
    • After that, MegaMan somehow restores the network all by himself.
    • You’re now in SciLab Area1. As you know, this area is still under the grip of Nebula. Feel free to explore the grid-like maze of paths here and pick up items and such.
    • Wander over to SciLab Area2. You will come across a nice path filled with icky black clouds. Work your way over there for, you guessed it, a cut scene. Lan jacks out automatically afterward.
    • Sleep in Lan’s bed when ready.
  • Ninja Looting
    • You receive a message from Tesla/Pride asking for your help.
    • Go to Oran Isle via the Metroline.
    • Retrace your route through the mine to the drill. You might want to talk to Mr. Famous along the way.
    • Next to the drill, talk to Tesla/Pride.
    • Jack into the various drill control centers. The drill is off so you don’t have to worry about moving conveyer belts.
    • At the ends of each of the four areas, where the control panels were that you had to activate previously, you will find MagnetMan/KnightMan’s parts. This is generally a pretty easy jaunt, though notice some of the viruses have gotten slightly powered up this time around.
    • Jack out after you get each part and go on to the next one.
    • When you have them all, you automatically trigger a cut scene.
    • You end up outside the mine. Go to SciLab via the Metroline (er, boat).
    • Inside the lab, head to the room where you first talked to Chaud/Baryl for a cut scene.
    • Jack into the Net from ACDC and head over to Oran Area.
    • You stumble across GyroMan/ShadowMan just as you enter. You’re essentially challenged to a game of tag...and you’re “It.”
    • Follow your target and talk to the Mr.Prog standing near the clouds to get a vacuum program that you need. Use it to suck up clouds; vacuum gold clouds for items.
    • At the end of the area you encounter GyroMan/ShadowMan; chase him to the next area.
    • Ditto in Area2, where a Mr.Prog amusingly enough even hints you to go vacuum the gold clouds.
    • Once GyroMan/ShadowMan runs off again, retrace your route back to Area1 (or use the moving walkways as a shortcut) and go up to the entrance to Area3.
    • Remember the grid-like formation of SciLab? Well, put it to use now and be selective in what clouds you vacuum to save trips to the Mr.Progs.
    • There’s a Mr.Prog in one place which will give you hints as to what order to do the clouds. It’s a little hard to tell which one is positioned where since they overlap, but take out the only white cloud you can reach, then a gray (not lightning) one, then move up and around to another white. After that it’s just one more white to another Mr.Prog.
    • Remember that you can change areas to empty your vacuum, but you reset the clouds as well. You can do this to collect gold clouds more than once, though often they have viruses. To actually navigate an area, you must find a way to do so by talking to the Mr.Progs scattered around.
    • In SciLab Area2 the Mr.Progs direct you from one to another. Upon initially entering the area, suck up the gray cloud blocking the way first, then a storm cloud, then move along in a straight line to the upper right to a white cloud which hides a Mr.Prog. Talk to the Mr.Prog, then go down-left to a gray cloud, then white and gold. Talk to Mr.Prog.
    • Next, take out the storm cloud blocking the way to the upper right. You want the one to the right of a group of about three storm clouds next to each other. By going this way, you will find another Mr.Prog to the upper right behind a gold cloud, not far from the first Mr.Prog you talked to.
    • Retrace your route and go near the lower left Mr.Prog. Take out the storm cloud above him and to the left a bit, then gray. Go to the open area to the left for the final Mr.Prog which can empty your vacuum as often as you need.
    • After this, just suck up whatever clouds you feel like, and return to the Mr.Prog as needed to empty your vacuum.
    • In the end, find your target at the far corner of SciLab Area2, near the line of evil clouds that are blocking your way to the liberation mission (no, you can’t suck them up with the vacuum).
      [Screen shot of a HeelNavi saying, "If I beat you, they will make me into a big boss too!"]
      Nah, you need a more unique appearance.
    • Boss: GyroMan/ShadowMan
  • Cloudy Skies
    • For this liberation mission, you have a character who can move over Dark Panels. He still cannot cross most other types of tiles, nor can he pass guardians. Additionally, GyroMan can liberate panels underneath him by using Order Points; you don’t have to fight the liberation battle in this case. ShadowMan can attack enemies on the overworld up to two tiles away by using Order Points; this does not open a battle, but simply subtracts some HP from the enemy and uses up his turn, similar to when Darkloids attack you.
    • The basic idea in this mission is to use GyroMan/ShadowMan to cross panels and take shortcuts where possible. But you can’t do that right away because there is a guardian blocking the way.
    • Starting out, liberate any panel in front of you that will open the way forward.
    • Use a LongSwrd on the two panels in front of the guardian.
    • Liberate the guardian, then the Dark Hole.
    • (You can get the ? block using GyroMan/ShadowMan at your discretion.)
    • On your next phase, use GyroMan/ShadowMan to move forward. You can wind around the locked tiles until you finally reach a dead-end. Liberate the item panel here for the key to the locked panels.
    • Move everyone else forward. LongSwrd, then WideSwrd/ScrenDiv, then liberate the rest of the panels leading to the Dark Hole. You can reverse this, using the WideSwrd/ScrenDiv later to net the item in one swoop, but using the former method will open the paths sooner. Also, doing 1-turn liberations will help here.
    • (Note: The item in the corner near this Dark Hole is a heart, if you ever need it.)
    • Move to the lower right to liberate the Dark Hole down there. You can do this in any order, either moving all of your characters down there, or splitting your forces as desired.
    • Move to the upper right down a narrow path to the Dark Panels at the end. You can use any Navi for this, since there are no Dark Panels to cross. Liberate the item that is surrounded by Dark Panels for the second key that you need. (Liberate the other item block in this group for Order Points if you need them.)
    • Cross over the tiles that you just unlocked. WideSwrd/ScrenDiv the next area, near the ? block. You should net some more Order Points here.
    • Destroy the guardian if necessary, then liberate the Dark Hole.
    • After this, it’s a short trip over to CloudMan. You should know the drill by now. CloudMan can paralyze a character by hitting him with his overworld weapon. With MagnetMan/KnightMan you can avoid the damage but not the stun, so try to blast CloudMan within one phase if possible.
    • Boss: CloudMan
  • New Horizons
    • Immediately after you defeat CloudMan, you receive a cut scene where MegaMan is snatched out from the middle of his group of allies (why didn’t Nebula just do this to begin with?). You now see that Nebula has removed Roll, GutsMan, and Glyde from their stolen PETs and imprisoned them together. The Nebula goons proceed to inject MegaMan with a DarkChip (whatever happened to the one he got during Battle Network 4?). Mysteriously, being already evil by having used DarkChips before now doesn’t affect this plot point one iota.
    • Back with Lan, you now no longer have a Navi at all. Chaud/Baryl tells you to meet him near the docks beside SciLab. Talking to him triggers another brief cut scene.
    • Go inside the SciLab to the room where Chaud/Baryl is standing. Entering this room starts yet another cut scene. You come out of this with a new Navi. Yep, Chaud/Baryl gives you his own Navi. (He wasn’t using him anyway.) You get to play with ProtoMan/Colonel in your PET for a short while.
    • Note: You cannot pick up HP Memory items when you are not using MegaMan because only MegaMan can use them (ProtoMan/Colonel comes with a preset amount of HP that cannot be altered). If you try to get a Mystery Data and ProtoMan/Colonel says he doesn’t need it, it’s an HP Memory item so keep its location in mind and come back later. You also cannot use the Navi Customizer unless you have MegaMan. Oh yeah, and I shouldn’t have to say it, but only MegaMan can use DarkChips as well. (You can’t turn somebody else’s Navi evil. ;))
    • (Capcom remembered to change most of the subscreens and error messages during this section of the plot to match not having MegaMan, but they forgot the “PET” item in the Key Items area. They also skipped a few extra touches in the GBA versions that could have been done; the main menu still says “MegaMan” and the status screen never shows ProtoMan/Colonel, it simply displays a blank place when MegaMan isn’t there, and it still says “MegaMan” as well even though the HP value and other stats match ProtoMan/Colonel’s data instead. And so forth. At least the NDS version gives you a new polygon model for your new Navi which is kind of cool.)
    • You are sent to End Area (get there via Oran Area2). But you can’t get through the gate; mysteriously enough, despite Chaud/Baryl’s clearly high-ranking position in SciLab, he is equally unsure how to get through the darn door that only authorized SciLab members can go through. (If Chaud/Baryl isn’t authorized, who is?)
    • Head to SciLab Area4; you reach it through the SciLab Area3 where the liberation mission was. You can either go there through the Net, or take a shortcut by jacking into the computer in the wall near Chaud/Baryl.
    • (Speaking of SciLab Area3, there’s a BugFrag trader there.)
    • Find the guard Navi that is standing toward the back of Area4. He will test you by sending some viruses at you. (You have to have searched the End Area gate first for this to happen.) Actually this battle is pretty easy, so don’t sweat it. Toss a CrakBom for a quick win.
    • Take the key to open the door to End Area. Walk down the main path of End Area (feel free to divert to get items) and trigger a cut scene. Lan actually (gasp) jacks out before the HeelNavis attack. Never seen that before.
    • (Note: you can pick up an AntiDmg in this area from random Mystery Data that appears during battle.)
    • Chaud/Baryl now sends you to a “presenta—I mean, auction” to get an item. But you need an invitation first.
    • (Side note: If you go talk to Yai here you’ll see they remembered to give her a special response to this part. She’s not the one you need; however, it’s nice that they thought of this.)
    • Go to Oran Isle (in the real world) and talk to Tesla/Pride. Bam, instant invitation.
    • Sleep in Lan’s bed when ready.
    [Screen shot of an Official Navi saying to ProtoMan, "I have no choice but to recognize your power."]
    Um, just who do you think you’re talking to?
  • Luxury Cruise
    • Lan goes off for the fancy party without dressing up at all! Heh heh...
    • Head over to the docks beside SciLab and board the cruise ship. Not far inside is a brief cut scene.
    • Follow the suspicious man onto the deck. Talk to people and jack into things, you know the drill.
    • Play the stamp mini-game. One stamp is on the bow of the ship (to the right of the deck). Another is on the wheel in the ship’s bridge. The third relates to the mirror in the entrance hallway, but search the sofa nearby, not the mirror. (I think this is a clue for later, actually.)
    • Winning the stamp game triggers the cut scene that opens up the Net Battle machine. Lan challenges Fyrefox/Dingo but is interrupted before the battle can start.
    • Run to the engine room. (Not the bridge, the engine room! Remember?)
    • You need a code to open the door, so go back and talk to the guy who gave you the stamp mini-game.
    • Return to the engine room and enter 11922911.
    • Down the stairs, enter the engine room proper and trigger a tiny cut scene where Lan gives you a rather needless hint.
    • Search all the machines looking for a place to jack in. The last one will be a winner.
    • As soon as you jack in you’ll encounter a Nebula Navi. He runs off. Chase after him. You end up jumping from one machine to the next. (Pick up Mystery Data as you go, of course.)
      [Screen shot of ProtoMan saying, "It would appear everyone in the room is innocent."]
      Based on what information do you come to that conclusion?
    • At the EngineComp you face off with the HeelNavi. His operator jacks him out before you can attack, however.
    • Lan starts to chase the operator, but ProtoMan/Colonel stops him, saying they’ll get him at the party.
    • (Jack back into the EngineComp for an item if you wish.)
    • Go back to the first part of the ship and enter the double doors there for the party. Search everything and talk to everyone, as usual.
    • After you’ve spoken to all the people, the presentation begins.
    • (The Ubercorp rep explains that the booster item is inside the ViewComp, yet when you jack into it, all you find is an HP Memory item that ProtoMan/Colonel can’t use... Anyway.)
    • (The power was cut, but the Navis inside the ViewComp were still able to move normally. Wouldn’t the ViewComp’s computer have shut down when the power went off?)
    • Some of the people drag out you-know-who from underneath a table. But, as you are probably expecting, he’s not the culprit (though he claims he wanted to be).
    • Search all the items in the room. Eventually you get a prompt. Choose “mirror.” Then choose “reflection.” Finally, well, you get the drift.
    • Go into the engine room and search the ladder on the far wall. It’s a ventilation shaft. People always crawl through ventilation shafts, right?
    • You end up outside. Move toward the man lying on the deck and Lan will talk to him.
    • Enter the bridge for another cut scene. Lan jacks in automatically.
    • Talk to the Mr.Prog at the entrance for an explanation of the mechanics to this place. (For some mysterious reason your Navi needs oxygen...) You might want a SneakRun for this area, due to the fact that getting attacked at exactly the wrong moment can really mess up your day.
    • The bubbles and eddies are pretty self-explanatory. But when you come across a current, you’ll probably be already pressing in a direction to walk, and this is what will throw you off. You need to press into the flow of the current, but if you’re already pressing in that direction when the current hits you, it won’t work. When ProtoMan/Colonel gets briefly frozen, let up on the control pad then press it down again in the direction that is against the flow of the current. If you did it correctly, ProtoMan/Colonel should go into his defensive stance for a moment while the current passes, then you can move normally again.
      [Screen shot of Baryl saying something about "Ubercorp."]
      And I thought “All your base” and “DarkMega” were bad...
    • Like the gas bursts in Battle Network 2, currents can push you from one ledge to another. Use this to reach areas or take shortcuts.
    • Don’t worry too much about running out of oxygen. Your health doesn’t drop nearly as fast as your oxygen does. If your health is running low, put a recovery chip as your Regular Chip.
    • Starting off, enter the water, pass the eddy, and push against the current to move up the path. You should eventually wind your way around to a key. Behind the key is a teleportation tile. It will take back up to the top of the ramp.
    • Open the pink door in the way and go on. Enter the water to find another key.
    • In ShipComp2, you need three keys for one door. One of the keys is actually above the water level, so don’t step on the nearby teleporter until you’ve fetched the key.
    • In ShipComp3, you have to dodge past some currents and utilize others to wind your way around to the key.
    • If you’re low on health by the time you open the door in ShipComp3, put a healing chip as your Regular Chip and run around fighting viruses to get back up to speed.
    • Boss: NapalmMan/TomahawkMan
  • Reinforcements
    • Head back over to End Area1. (If you haven’t found this already, note you can get there from the warp point in SciLab 4. Cross through the server comp, past the HP Memory that you practically trip over, then go into the next warp point and you end up in Oran Area2.)
    • When you reach that same spot as before, you’ll trigger another cut scene. NapalmMan/TomahawkMan takes out the entire legion of HeelNavis with a single swing... (Doncha wish he was that powerful in battle?)
    • After that’s done, move onward into End Area2. It’s mission time! Yep, you gotta do a liberation mission without MegaMan in your team. Never thought you’d miss him, did you?
    • First order of business. Don’t bother spending Order Points on the first Dark Hole; just liberate the panel in front of the guardian, liberate the guardian, and take out the hole. Save NapalmMan/TomahawkMan for last.
    • Once the Dark Hole is gone, move NapalmMan/​TomahawkMan forward. TomahawkMan can take out the squares near the ? panel if you aim his special attack correctly. NapalmMan has an even better shot and can clear straight toward the Dark Hole (though there might be a guardian in the way). Get the ? panel when desired.
    • Now, you need to reach the two Dark Holes in the center. There’s a sweet spot by standing where the ? panel was that allows NapalmMan/TomahawkMan to clear the way to both holes at once. However, if you’re unlucky like me and a guardian has moved into the precise spot to prevent you from doing this, just clear the way to the leftmost Dark Hole instead. Your other teammates can liberate the panels leading to the right hole without wasting too many turns.
    • Liberating both of these Dark Holes will knock out most of the Dark Panels that are in your way in this section, so focus your attention on getting to the holes as efficiently as possible.
    • Now you need to move on to the isolated area with a Dark Hole to the right. The keys that you need to unlock the barrier panels are in this section. One is in the lower item block (toward the bottom of your screen), and the other is in the uppermost block.
    • GyroMan/ShadowMan can run over and grab one of the keys easily, but he will be hard pressed to liberate both keys and the Dark Hole all by himself. So bring the rest of your team over as well.
    • You can use NapalmMan to quickly clear the way to the Dark Hole. TomahawkMan can do so as well if you don’t mind sacrificing the heart item there. An alternative is to attack such that you just miss the HP item, then use your other team members to liberate the rest of the way to the Dark Hole. (ProtoMan/Colonel can use his Order Point attack to snag the heart and clear the way to the Dark Hole at the same time. Or, you can try for a 1-turn liberation to accomplish the same thing.)
      [Screen shot of a replaced "OldMine" used inappropriately.]
      This “OldMine” thing is getting out of hand...
    • Clear the Dark Hole first, then grab the other key item that is nearby. This way you don’t have to waste turns liberating your way to the key.
    • If you need it, grab the remaining item in this area for Order Points.
    • Head back to the barrier panels that you just unlocked. Depending on where the guardians are standing, you should be able to have NapalmMan/TomahawkMan clear out a bunch of tiles, then if necessary use one more person to liberate the rest of the way to the Dark Hole (or vice versa).
    • Have a third team member take out the hole itself. Try to do this quickly before the Bladia gets in your way. (Bladias can revert liberated panels back to Dark Panels. It’s a good idea to take them out ASAP.)
    • With the last Dark Hole out of the way, for once, you still need to clear some panels before you get to the ones immediately surrounding the boss. The obvious way is to simply use NapalmMan/TomahawkMan to knock out a path all at once. However, with TomahawkMan, keep in mind if you use his Order Point attack on the tile directly in front of any boss, it will also clear out the tiles to either side of him, leaving the boss at a disadvantage in the resulting battle. (I’d recommend doing this at the start of a phase if possible, so that you can try to defeat the boss using your other characters without giving him a chance to attack you.)
    • Grab the ? panels (using GyroMan/ShadowMan if necessary) before taking on MegaMan.
    • Boss: Dark MegaMan
    • After a rather anticlimactic cut scene, you now have MegaMan back as your Navi. Feel free to go around picking up the HP Memory items and so forth that you were unable to get previously. Also, don’t forget to program your Navi Customizer with any new parts you may have acquired while MegaMan was gone.
  • Black Sheep
    • So you’ve got a new person just begging to join the team. Capcom tries as hard as possible to make this plot point painfully obvious; you will see why later.
    • Head over to End Area4. Blocking the way to End Area5 is a gate. SearchMan/NumberMan comes to open it, but then is interrupted by his operator. The mission is postponed until the next day.
    • Lan only now thinks to look in his dad’s lab for whatever it was that Dr. Hikari was going to show him and his friends...
    • When you get near the door to Dr. Hikari’s lab, you trigger a cut scene. MegaMan says that they have Lan’s Dad’s ID so they should be fine. But then they see Raika/Higsby. He’s in SciLab, but he walks off, evidently without seeing Lan.
    • Go search Dr. Hikari’s computer (the big one with the security).
    • Go outside and chase down Raika/Higsby. He’s by the bench near the exit to the SciLab docks.
    • Go back to Dr. Hikari’s computer. SearchMan/NumberMan analyzes the data awfully quickly...
    • This triggers the beginning of what is perhaps the most perplexing sequence of puzzles in the plot. Go to Lan’s house and search the dog house behind the house (through the glass door in the dining room), not the one in the front of the house.
    • Go to the air filtration unit in the OldMine that you passed by before. (You probably have this mine memorized by now...)
    • Talk to the Mr.Prog inside, then search the area in the upper right corner, behind the Mr.Prog (just face the corner and press A).
    • The data says Gow loves fish, which somehow Lan connects with gargoyles...
    • Jack out and go back to the boat to end up at the world map. End City has magically appeared on the map where there was nothing before.
    • Go to End City in the real world. Talk to people and jack into things.
    • Find Raika/Higsby near the castle and talk to him.
    • Talk to the man next to the castle entrance. He’ll tell you security was hacked in End Area3. You need to clean it up before he’ll let you in the castle.
    • Jack into the statue down the slope.
    • Go to Area3 to the cyber-castle for a cut scene.
    • The castle system appears fine, so jack out and go back to the real-world castle. Wander the castle and jack into things. (Notice you can jack into the castle homepage here.)
    • Eventually you will end up on the castle roof. (Yes, Lan is roller-blading on a rooftop.) Search the eye of the gargoyle on the right (stand down below, not on the golden ramp) for a cut scene.
    • Your next clue leads to ACDC. Jack into the castle HP if you want to save some time. Use the link tile to warp back to Lan’s HP and then from there over to ACDC Area3.
    • Find the guard Navi standing in Area3 in a branching path. Talk to him, then face right and walk over to the center tile of the right row of the 9-tile grid of squares. Face the invisible wall (walk until you can’t go any further) and press the A button to search until you trigger a cut scene.
    • Go through the door. You will end up in the “VisionBurst” area that the manual talks about. Walk around and talk to people and search things.
    • Eventually MegaMan will decide to leave. He bumps into some HeelNavis on the way, though.
    • Run around and talk to all of the HeelNavis and defeat them. They throw viruses at you.
    • When you’re done, you now bump into none other than SearchMan/NumberMan, who freely admits to working for Nebula. He flees before you can attack, however.
    • Jack out and go report to Chaud/Baryl (who doesn’t seem all that terribly distressed with your news).
    • Sleep when ready.
  • Fight On!
    • There are widespread errors on the Net, so Lan thinks to go to End Area3 where that communications castle was.
    • Jack into the Net; you can’t talk to anyone because you won’t be able to understand what they say.
    • Go to End Area3 and search the cyber-castle.
    • Jack out and head into the real-world castle.
    • Inside, a gate is blocking the way, and the samurai is missing his armor.
    • Jack into each of the three display items that have ports (katana, helmet, and armor) and talk to the Navis inside each. Fight viruses. (I wonder why you don’t fight the Navis themselves in this game...)
    • Once you have the data, go search the samurai hologram again.
    • In the next room, talk to the big statue with multiple weapons. This is another (groan) mini-game. Actually, it wouldn’t be so bad except that you must press in diagonal directions in order to face Lan in the right direction, and that means pressing two directions together to make a diagonal (such as up and left). If you don’t hit both of the directional buttons at exactly the same time, neither will work and Lan won’t turn around, often costing you the game.
    • Keep at it until you win, and the Budda statue will move out of your way.
    • Onward up to the roof. You trigger a cut scene as soon as you get there.
    • Go up to the gargoyle and jack into the computer there.
    • This server consists of a bunch of puzzles, but the Mr.Progs stationed around the place will tell you which ninjas to take for every situation. Also, you can reset the ninjas by talking to the Mr.Progs, if need be.
    • First, grab the only ninja in the area, the red one, and take it to the spear trap.
    • After that, grab the white ninja right in front of you, and circle around areas to avoid running by the other colored ninjas standing around. Walk down to the ceiling trap.
    • Talk to the third Mr.Prog. Go grab the white ninja, not the blue one, then run around the circle to the blue ninja. You’ll leave the white one behind and can now walk through the opening that the white one had been standing in front of.
    • With the blue ninja behind you, go past the next ninja—you’ll end up with the wrong color again. Keep walking forward and step on the moving walkway tile to circle around so you can grab your blue ninja back again.
    • Then you just have to run around a circle one more time (picking up the wrong color first, then the correct color) to get past the final ninja, and you’re at the water trap.
    • For the next one, pick up the red ninja, do the circle thing to get by the blue one and reclaim your red one, then you have to walk past a white ninja. Pick him up by moving down the left branch (you can also grab a Mystery Data while you’re at it), then when you walk back toward the trap, you’ll snag your red ninja again, just in time to go through the trap.
    • Now you’re in GargoylComp2. Grab the white ninja, then keep walking forward and walk around the circle to take the red one instead.
    • Now, for the time being, take the blue ninja and walk down the other branching path. You’ll pick up another blue ninja. When you do, go back and walk through the red ninja to stick him on the end of your lineup. (You’ll leave behind one of the blue ninjas.)
    • Retrace your steps and walk through the second red ninja. If you keep circling around and going through the various colors, you should eventually end up with two red ninjas trailing you.
    • Avoid all ninjas until you come across a line of one-way panels. Walk across the only one that is going the right way that isn’t blocked by a ninja (see screen shot).
    • Avoid the rest of the ninjas and find your way to the spear traps.
    • (Go back later to pick up items; the ninjas will be gone then.)
    • Talk to the next Mr.Prog. Go through the white ninja, then the red, then the next white. Walk to the ceiling trap.
    • Get the Mystery Data, then grab the blue ninja nearby.
    • Walk through the red ninja, then across the moving walkway.
    • Go down and pick up the second red ninja.
    • Circle back around to the blue ninja. You should now have one red and one blue.
    • Walk across the moving walkway to avoid the white ninja. Move down across the next moving walkway and pick up the blue ninja. You should now have the two blues that you need.
    • Circle around to the water traps.
    • You’re now in GargoylComp3. Past the Mr.Prog, walk to the left and dodge the ninjas to pick up your first red ninja.
    • Retrace your route and cross the moving walkway. Do the circle thing to ditch the white ninja and reclaim your red one.
    • Beyond will be a circle with a white and blue ninja. Pass the blue ninja by stepping onto his tile, then walking down, into that little niche there. Then walk back and go on your way.
    • Do the circle thing to walk past the white ninja, then circle around and get your red one again.
      [Screen shot of a draw of several Battle Chips that would prove to be overkill in the given situation.]
      Let’s see, should I barbecue him, or just lightly roast him?
    • Pick up your second red ninja.
    • Walk upward, passing by the spear traps. Continue on in that direction and you will see a blue ninja. Avoid it and go down the last path to get your third red ninja.
    • Take the three ninjas back to the spear traps.
    • Pick up any Mystery Data you had to pass up.
    • Past the spear traps, and down the long corridor of moving walkways, is the last Mr.Prog.
    • From the Mr.Prog, walk down the passage and across the moving walkway tile. Head back the way you came and dodge around all the red ninjas. Keep dodging and you will find a passage with one white ninja in it. Take him.
    • Do the circle thing to pass a red ninja that is blocking the way down-left while still keeping your white ninja.
    • Head down toward the right. Do the circle thing again, though pick up the blue Mystery Data while you are at it.
    • Right near the ceiling trap is the other white ninja you need.
    • Pick up the blue ninja past the trap and retrace your route. Do the circle thing to get past the red ninja (again). You’ll need to do so again further on ahead.
    • Head upward this time. Avoid ninjas and pick up the next blue ninja up above. You might need to circle a few times to get the right ninja setup.
    • Head down a bit. The third blue ninja is in a little alcove down there. You will need to circle around to avoid the red one that’s in the way.
    • Go down from there, across the one-way tile, then back across the long moving walkway over to the Mr.Prog, and then on from there to the water traps.
    • That’s it! You’re done.
    • Boss: SearchMan/NumberMan
    • (This next plot point is a little confusing since it’s hard to tell who is speaking at first, but if you pay attention it becomes clear.)
  • One Step Closer
      [Screen shot of a 1-turn liberation that resulted in hitting a trap panel.]
      This is what not to do.
    • Go to End Area5 for the next liberation mission. From here on out you’ll be leaving behind one or more of your team members for each mission (I guess you’re gathering just a few too many). No, you don’t get to choose who gets left behind.
    • For this mission, try to make maximum use of SearchMan/NumberMan and NapalmMan/TomahawkMan. You can use the former to search for items, then the latter to knock out the entire group of tiles. (If you just use NapalmMan/TomahawkMan, you will destroy the items but still take damage from the traps.) Try to use SearchMan/NumberMan where you can get at least two, preferably three or more item panels at once.
    • Be careful about doing 1-turn liberations. If you 1-turn liberate and hit a trap panel, even if it wasn’t one you originally targeted to liberate, the panel will still blow up and hurt you. You could even potentially hit multiple traps like this if you’re not careful. Take note of your surroundings before you enter battle so you will know when it is not safe to do a 1-turn liberation.
    • For the first turn, use SearchMan/NumberMan first if you want (this is optional; just do this if you want the items), then have NapalmMan/TomahawkMan clear the rest of the way to the Dark Hole. Most of the traps are toward the left side, so if you stay toward the right, you shouldn’t hit many if at all. You should be able to get to and liberate the Dark Hole using three or four characters.
    • (There are Order Points in the item panel a little down left from the ? panel, if you need them. Also in the corner near the line of BarrierPanel1s, close to a heart.)
    • Either way, once you have that Dark Hole out of the way, you need to move left, toward the narrow passage over there. There is a trap panel near the entrance, and another right before the group of six items over there. If need be, just hit them with one of your characters, being aware that you’ll take 50 damage after the trap goes off.
    • Have NumberMan do his search ability on the group of six tiles over there and you can net all of the items at once. You’ll need to clear out the trap panel in front first, though. SearchMan can just search in a straight line over the trap panel to the key. The key is in the center.
    • With the first row of barrier panels down, go liberate the Dark Hole to the right that’s closest to you, and then the one near to it.
    • The next key you need is in the extreme rightmost corner next to the row of BarrierPanel3s. There are Order Points right next to it. Note that getting this key puts you very close to CosmoMan so be aware he may take advantage of it.
    • The last key is in the large group of tiles to the upper left. The key is between the two Dark Holes, and between the two ? panels. Draw an X from those four points and the key is right near the middle of it. There are also Order Points right next to it.
    • When you liberate one of the Dark Holes, it will clear a lot of panels for you to get to the other one. Liberating either Dark Hole will also clear the way to both the key and a ? panel, assuming the guardians don’t get in your way.
    • Take out the last Dark Hole and you can move on to the boss.
      [Screen shot of CosmoMan saying, "No! I am invincible!" right before he is deleted.]
      Don’t you know better than to say something like this?
    • Boss: CosmoMan
  • New Operations
    • Chaud/Baryl asks you to come to the SciLab. There, he tells you about the Hikari Report that Lan was already halfway toward finding.
    • Jack into the Net and head for ACDC Area3. When you get to the VisionBurst, go up to where the dog was and ProtoMan/Colonel will come in behind you as you both notice the dog is gone.
    • Jack out and go to Lan’s house to talk to his mom. She gives you a photo and from her words you know that Gow wasn’t around during the time that the VisionBurst was captured. The dog apparently was a visitor there...
    • Go to Oran Isle to the OldMine and talk to the old man up the ramp above the main entrance. Lan shows him the photo, and the man says he knew Lan’s grandfather.
    • Jack into the pole outside, above the main entrance to the mine. Talk to the Navi you find there. You get a P-Code to unlock a security cube.
    • Go to the end of SciLab Area3 and use the P-Code on the old cube there.
    • Beyond the old terminal computer, you will find yourself in ACDC Area2, in a place where you couldn’t reach before. There is a Navi here. Take careful note of what he says because you can only do this once.
    • Talk to the old Navi and get a key to the past (no, really!) and a clue.
    • Go to OldMine (again!) and head on down to the drill. Jack into the fourth drill computer and run to near the end. Talk to the Mr.Prog there.
    • Go up past the Mr.Prog and search the empty space next to the control panel that controls the dropping of the rocks. You have to be pretty flush against the edge for it to work.
    • You end up in a VisionBurst of Oran Isle. Run around talking to everyone, as usual.
    • After speaking to everyone, you get a cut scene. A Nebula agent has come to snatch Gow, but Gow makes so much racket that MegaMan finds him. As expected, you fight viruses.
    • MegaMan has saved Gow, but the dog doesn’t seem to appreciate his help. He bowls MegaMan over and runs off.
    • Go search the stand of bamboo nearby.
    • MegaMan gets knocked over again and Gow runs down to the beach below. MegaMan follows him and finds that BlizzardMan has captured Gow. Naturally, after we spent all that time gathering clues and figuring out the puzzles, the bad guys just waltz right in and grab the prize at the end.
    • Lan gets a phone call from a SciLab scientist asking for help. Head back over to the SciLab (at least you don’t have to run all the way back out of the mine) and jack into their homepage.
      [Screen shot of Chaud saying, "We must get the report before Nebula does."]
      No, no, no. If you try to do that, the bad guys will end up with the report, guaranteed.
    • Help out ProtoMan/Colonel. You take your side, he’ll take his. You’ll fight three battles against viruses.
    • After you win, MegaMan and ProtoMan/Colonel discuss the issue that is Gow.
    • You need to find a new mission control center now that Nebula has attacked the SciLab.
    • Go to the chip shop and talk to Higsby. He agrees to loan you some space if you do a task for him.
    • Go to End Area3 (easy way is to go through the Gargoyle Castle homepage) and walk around behind the cyber-castle there, pressing the A button to search.
    • Go back to Higsby and return the data. This triggers a cut scene where Higsby shows you to his back room.
    • Chaud/Baryl comes to scope out the place, and a signal comes in alerting them that someone is trying to get to the Undernet.
    • (Search around your new command center before leaving, and jack into things.)
    • Go to End Area5. When you near the door to the Undernet you’ll trigger a cut scene. Meddy/ToadMan ignores all warnings and boneheadedly tries to get into the Undernet, only to run into CloudMan. Both MegaMan and ProtoMan/Colonel put themselves on the line. CloudMan finally blows himself up; ProtoMan/Colonel jumps in front of Meddy/ToadMan to take the hit and is deleted.
    • For some reason, there’s some hubbub over who’s going to be the leader now (whatever happened to Chaud/Baryl leading?). Chaud/Baryl nominates Lan, who of course tries to refuse.
    • You can’t do anything for now, so go to Lan’s room and sleep for the night.
  • Monopoly Broken
    • Jasmine/Ribitta comes to visit Lan, asking to be a part of the team so she can get revenge for ProtoMan/Colonel. When Lan refuses, she runs off in a huff, heading for (all together now) the Undernet again.
    • Chase her down, of course, since we can’t just teleport in to our final destination like all the NPCs can do. Make sure you bring an Unlocker with you before you go (or enough Zenny to buy one).
    • As soon as you step foot into the Undernet you get a cut scene where a Navi runs by and explains how this place works. You really can’t avoid getting snagged by a ghost, but luckily they don’t really hinder you in battle very much. (No worse than using a DarkChip.) However, it does seem to add more bugs as time goes by, so try to finish battles quickly.
      [Screen shot of an evil Colonel acting as a boss.]
      No fair, I have the monopoly on being evil!
    • In Undernet1, buy an Unlocker if you don’t already have one.
    • In Undernet3, grab the purple Mystery Data to expand your Navi Customizer grid. There are also some shops here.
    • The path you are looking for is the wide ramp in the middle of Undernet3.
    • Boss: Meddy/ToadMan
    • When you’re ready, start the liberation mission.
    • This one’s a little strange; despite the fact that MegaMan is now the de facto leader, he’s not the one who can save the game—Meddy/ToadMan is.
    • This is one of the primary liberation missions where you must take significantly different strategies for each version of the game. ToadMan’s ability allows him to sacrifice his turn (and Order Points) to boost someone else, which lets them use their normal liberate command to liberate all tiles in a straight line all the way up until some sort of obstacle is reached. Meddy, on the other hand, has to do a “Twin Liberation” which involves first having her liberate a tile, then having someone else liberate the matching blinking tile on the other side. If both of them liberate successfully, all of the tiles between them will be liberated. You can use GyroMan to fly over Dark Panels and reach a tile for Meddy to use for her Twin Liberation, but if you have to bomb to free the tile, you have to wait until the next round because GyroMan will have already used up his turn, and a Twin Liberation must be done all in one round or it won’t work.
    • The first section of Dark Panels is set up rather inconveniently for using either of these special moves. Just try to liberate to the Bladia, then target him directly to take him out. Have a third person liberate the Dark Hole. (Suggestion: Don’t use Meddy to fight Bladias. Trust me on this one.)
    • Moving forward, you’ll want to use a combination of Meddy/ToadMan and NapalmMan/TomahawkMan to clear away panels. You can use SearchMan/NumberMan if you wish, as there are traps around here, but they aren’t as critical here.
    • The first key is all the way up and to the right, in the corner there. There is a blank tile next to it, so you could simply run GyroMan/ShadowMan over there and grab the key. You’ll most likely have to deal with the Bladia though.
    • To the down-left of the first key is a section of Dark Panels with a lot of item panels and traps. Here is probably the primary area where you’ll want to use SearchMan/NumberMan.
    • Taking out the Dark Hole there will clear the path to the barrier panels that you’ve probably already taken care of. From there, you can reach the next Dark Hole without hitting trap panels if you go directly to it. The traps are more on the corners. Note that although clearing a Dark Hole will clear out all tiles around the hole, trap panels will not be cleared automatically in this way, so you can tell which panels are trap panels in this case.
      [Screen shot of ProtoMan asking, "You look familiar. Why do I feel nervous?"]
      Because we’re going to mop up the deck with you?
    • The second barrier key is down-right from the Dark Hole, up against the edge of the stage. It’s right in the center, so you’ll need to either liberate your way there, or use GryoMan to bomb a nearby tile so you can liberate the key. Be careful of the trap right diagonal to it.
    • With the second barrier down, the rest of the path is rather straightforward as there are no longer any item panels. Use NapalmMan/TomahawkMan to quickly hack through to the Dark Hole (or ToadMan’s song if you want).
    • Note that once you clear the last Dark Hole, you still need to clear an additional panel before you can reach the area where ProtoMan/Colonel stands.
    • Boss: ProtoMan/Colonel
  • Back from the Dead
    • So Regal is talking about a SoulNet and activates it with some cryptic eight-letter words.
    • You need to find four microservers. They are:
      • ACDC Town in a tree behind the Metroline. Fight SearchMan/NumberMan.
      • SciLab in the information terminal in the lobby. Fight MagnetMan/KnightMan.
      • Queen Bohema in the battle computer (it’s hard to miss this one). Fight NapalmMan/TomahawkMan.
      • GargCastle, in the Gargoyle Comp 3 (jack in from the roof), at the end. Fight GyroMan/ShadowMan.
    • Go to the Undernet to find the source of the radiation. It’s found in Undernet Area4, the liberation mission area.
    • ProtoMan/Colonel shows up and destroys the device himself, saying it’s no longer needed.
    • At this point you get a cut scene where Meddy/ToadMan appears at the behest of Colonel/ProtoMan. (No, that’s not a typo.) Together, the three chase the Dark Power from ProtoMan/Colonel and destroy it, thereby freeing him.
    • So you have your leader again. Yip yip yahoo. (Neither Chaud nor Baryl seems terribly excited by this.) The plan is to meet in the park in front of Higsby’s shop the next day. You’ve got a few things to do until then, however.
    • Enter Lan’s house and he’ll receive another clue written by his grandfather.
    • Go to SciLab Area3, the liberation area. You can follow the instructions (they start from the entrance from Area2) and count off your steps, or alternately just walk all the way across in a straight line from the entrance, then through the winding narrow path to the isolated platform there. Search against the upper-right edge, directly in the center.
    • Once again, this leads to a door which leads to a VisionBurst area. This shows you a cut scene between a much younger Wily and a much younger Dr. Tadashi Hikari. (Wily looks more like Regal here than himself...)
      [Screen shot of Colonel saying to MegaMan, "Even you want the Dark Power, don't you?"]
      Actually, I’ve been using it... for quite some time now...
    • (For some reason, Hikari and Wily decide they have to stop their work and leave the research to their kids...even though they’re barely even middle-aged by the time of the VisionBurst. Why are they quitting now? And who says their sons will even know what to do when the time comes?)
    • Once you’ve seen this, there’s nothing left that you need to do. Jack out and go sleep in Lan’s bed.
  • Final Assault
    • Note: Before leaving, take care of any last-minute business you need to do, such as getting items and such. You can return, but it’s just easier to get it done with first.
    • Go to the park in front of Higsby’s for a cut scene.
    • You end up at Nebula’s base. Wind around to the back and go in the door there. (Jack into everything along the way, of course.)
    • Chaud/Baryl splits the group into two, sending Lan in another direction. Go in the nearest door, just past the BBS. (Notice you can use the BBS to get back to the general Internet if need be.)
    • Soon enough you will reach a barrier next to a couple of terminals. You’ll have two Navis cooperating to get through this area (use SELECT to switch between them). Basically, use MagnetMan/KnightMan to get through the cannon traps and then hold switches while MegaMan winds his way to the boss.
    • Note: Always run using B through these sections and the glop that drops from the ceiling will miss you, as long as you are moving.
    • Boss: BlizzardMan
    • Go to the next barrier. Now you have GyroMan/ShadowMan as your teammate. He can cross the clouds and get to the switches beyond. Otherwise this is basically the same story here.
    • Boss: ShadeMan
    • As Lan again, walk right up and search the third electric barrier to trigger the cut scene that will proceed you forward. The remaining two members of your current group are now required simultaneously. NapalmMan/TomahawkMan are used to knock down the sturdy doors, and SearchMan/NumberMan to take out the chip-like doors.
      [Screen shot of ProtoMan popping up in the Team Colonel version of the game.]
      ProtoMan, aren’t you in the wrong game?
    • Boss: CloudMan
    • Okay, so that was totally predictable. You now have nobody remaining in your group. Walk forward alone.
    • The next room requires three people again. You know what this means. Yep, it’s time to lose the last two members of your team.
    • But before that, you get to use them for a bit. ProtoMan/Colonel take out those doors that look like the one from way back at the beginning of the game, and Meddy/ToadMan eliminate the curtains of dark power like the one that was blocking the way to the Undernet before.
    • Boss: CosmoMan
    • You lose your last two teammates as expected, though at least ProtoMan/Colonel goes down fighting.
    • Go forward into Regal’s office. Jack into the chip case and talk to the downed Navi.
    • Search the left chip case for the missing PETs.
    • Search the middle case to open the path.
    • You can’t save after this point. However, there’s not much farther to go. You’ll walk down a winding path, pass another cut scene, then travel the rest of the way and you’re at the end.
    • Final Boss: NebulaGray

Bosses

Top Help

Most of the bosses in the game are Net Navis or normal virus enemies (sometimes super-powered but still with the same basic battle patterns) which are detailed in the Data Base. This section only contains details which differ from the Data Base. Note: Hidden bosses are not yet listed here. I will get to them later.

NebulaGray:
This battle takes place on a field layout identical to Duo in Battle Network 4. You must hit the glowing blue ball of flame to damage NebulaGray. The ball will be in front of Nebula at the start, but then it disappears. After Nebula makes an attack, the fiery ball will move on-screen from the bottom right, then upward to the middle tile. Then Nebula will perform another attack and the ball will disappear again. Get to know this pattern and you will know when you can use your Battle Chips. Also, be sure to choose Battle Chips which can strike the ball in those positions because other chips will be useless. It is not possible to use DarkChips on NebulaGray.
     NebulaGray starts out using small bursts of purple flame which appear on a tile next to you and arc to your tile. Simply move up or down to avoid them. Another attack is like a “tower” type attack which follows you; move around rapidly to avoid it. This attack cannot cross holes. Nebula can also summon a Dark MegaMan which will stand in front and use a random DarkChip. Finally, Nebula has a couple of other attacks such as flinging down debris at you rapidly and an attack that hits a 9-tile area, cracking all the tiles in the blast radius.
     I highly recommend AirShoes for this one. Not only will they allow you to dodge more freely, but you can avoid the tower-like attack by simply standing on a hole. (Do not couple FlotShoes with the AirShoes as those prevent you from breaking cracked panels, which defeats the point.) Also, chips like AntiFire and AntiElec will trigger off of the DarkChips that the Dark MegaMan uses; these can be a quick and effortless way to hack off large chunks of NebulaGray’s HP. Finally, use a BubWrap to negate half if not more of the damage that you’ll take. (Just don’t get hit by Dark MegaMan’s DarkThnd chip. This is pretty easy to avoid, however.)

Items

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Here are the locations of some of the more significant items in the game. Search for others!
  • NebulaID: Buy it from an ex-Nebula guy in OldMine after defeating CosmoMan. This gets you through all those skull doors you’ve been seeing.
  • SpinWhit: Mystery Data in RadarComp (the first computer in the engine room of the cruise ship).
  • SpinYllw: Mystery Data in End Area4.
  • SpinPink: Inside the old computer in Higsby’s storage room, hidden behind the boxes.
  • ExpMemry: Mystery Data in ShipComp3.
  • ExpMemry: Purple Mystery Data in Undernet3.
  • SubMemry: Mystery Data in ShipComp2.
  • SubMemry: Mystery Data in EngineComp (the last computer in the engine room of the cruise ship).
  • SubMemry: Under the pamphlets on the desk outside GargCastle.
  • Guardian: Buy it in Oran Area1. You can also have Higsby’s order you one (get it in your library from the XFolder later) but it’s cheaper from the Net Dealer. Since you can only have one Guardian in your Folder at a time, there is little point in obtaining more than one copy of the chip.
  • AntiFire: Get it from an item panel during the CosmoMan liberation mission (replay the mission if necessary).
  • AntiElec: Get it from an item panel during the ProtoMan/Colonel liberation mission. You can also find it in green Mystery Data in Undernet Area1 (and perhaps other places).
  • AntiWatr: Get this from a BugFrag trader in Undernet Area2.
  • AntiDmg: Mystery Data in battle in Oran Area1. Not as powerful as it once was, but still useful.
  • Django: You can buy this by searching the shelves at Higsby’s a little later in the game. A pretty powerful chip for the price.
  • BubWrap: You can also buy this off a shelf from Higsby. This one is pretty powerful because it keeps coming back. Just don’t use it against Elec viruses.
  • SloGauge: Mystery Data in battle in End Area3. This is useful in liberation missions to give you more time during your mandatory three turns. You can also trade one for a NrthWind later.

Tricks and Secrets

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General Tips

  • You can access more areas in the Net by turning on devices in the real world. Search everything and look for prompts asking you if you want to turn something on.
  • You can only have one of each kind of Navi Chip in your Folder at a time. However, you can, say, put both BlizMan and BlizManSP in there at the same time, so if you really like a particular Navi Chip, it’s actually worth it to try to earn multiple versions of it.
  • Certain Order Point commands during liberation missions don’t gain any benefit if you get a 1-turn liberation or not. So don’t worry about it too much in those cases.
  • If you’re having troubles with a liberation mission boss, clear out the panels around him to put him at a disadvantage in battle, then pass your turns while standing far away from him to recover your health. When ready, attack the boss with all of your characters at the beginning of the next phase. And if even then you can’t defeat him, take the hit from him and try again in the next phase; if you keep pounding on him, you should eventually win.
  • Here are some of the lotto numbers you can use in this game. Find others!
    • 28706568: Unlocker
    • 48958798: Static S
    • 00798216: Untrap
    • 90914896: FullEnrg
    • 45654128: HP+400
    • 68799876: DarkInvs *

1-Turn Liberations

Getting 1-turn liberations typically requires using a good combination of Battle Chips. Here are a few suggestions for some unlikely combinations which can be useful in getting 1-turn liberations. (You might want to put one of these chips as your Regular Chip.) Note that I only list chips with codes that can be used together; otherwise you can’t choose them both in one turn and you can’t get a 1-turn liberation with them. Also, I don’t bother listing obvious chips like the Guardian that can be used in isolation.

  • Use a Fan or a Wind chip to line up all of the enemies, then toss a LilBomb or CrakBom onto the column. A FireHit will also do the trick.
  • Use a Fan then swipe the enemies with a WideSwrd.
  • Stand two blocks from a Champy type virus. Move into its row, and as it moves to attack, take a step back then toss a BlkBomb so that it lands where the Champy had been standing. When the Champy returns to its spot it will set off the bomb.
  • Do a Fire-type Soul Unison, then drop a BlkBomb and hit it with your charged attack.

Ending

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Regal tries to flood MegaMan with evil energy to make him into his own Navi. Lan takes off his amulet and tries to contact MegaMan’s soul directly, but a voice speaks up and says that Lan and MegaMan are always connected.

MegaMan appears in Hub form (a glowing blue boy who isn’t wearing anything). He nearly destroys NebulaGray, but a piece remains, and now MegaMan is back to normal and too exhausted to move. ProtoMan/Colonel shows up to help him, and the other Navis add their power as well. With their strength, MegaMan finishes off the dark energy.

As a result, the SoulServer in the real world blows up, naturally. Everyone starts to escape, but Lan’s dad stays behind to try to talk Regal out of his evil path. After all, Dr. Hikari argues, even Wily, Regal’s father, didn’t make use of the SoulNet for his evil aims, and he helped invent it. Regal, however, fails to be convinced, thinking he’s already sold himself to evil and that it’s too late to change.

Acting completely out of character, Wily himself shows up, saying he failed to raise Regal right. He then uses the SoulNet to erase Regal’s memory of the last 10 or so years so that he can start over.

Back at the SciLab, the Navi team is officially disbanded, and Regal, who seems to have turned over a new leaf thanks to his missing memory, has been given a position on the SciLab staff. Credits roll.

After the credits, Lan takes his friends to the VisionBurst of ACDC town. As they explore the area, Lan’s dad points out to them that his father’s vision of a perfect world supported by SoulNet will take years to realize. Lan promises to continue the research. (I wonder what would have happened if these guys had had sons who didn’t want to be scientists?) Anyway, Lan and his friends jack out to attend a celebration and that’s that.