GAME HINTS

Story

Lan and MegaMan.EXE, having just won their battle against Wily and the WWW (in Battle Network 1), are kicking back and relaxing and enjoying their days. But the news mails are now talking about a mysterious new virus, dubbed the “Zero Virus,” which affects only Navis. Lan and MegaMan go to search for a missing Roll one day, and get caught up in much more...

Special Features

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This game is literally a cross between the Battle Network series and the classic Mega Man games—right down to the slide. In fact, if you’ve never played any of the traditional Mega Man games before, you may want to check out the general strategies for the original series first, to get a basic idea of the side-scrolling platformer game genre.

There are, of course, differences; the “special weapons” of this game are Battle Chips, and as with the Game Boy Battle Network games, the method of using them can be confusing at first.

The graphics in the game are completely 3-D, sprites and all, even though the game plays like it is 2-D. And, of course, playing Battle Network in an action platformer genre is a new twist.

There’s no overworld in this game; it is a straight action title and doesn’t have the RPG-like aspects of the Game Boy Battle Network games. There’s a map which uses graphics that are styled after the GBA games, and you can view Lan’s bedroom which also looks almost straight out of the Game Boy, but you can’t walk around on the overworld the way you can in the GBA titles.

Side note: I don’t know why, but in two different game manuals, Chaud and ProtoMan.EXE are given the image of the Bug Style MegaMan...

Brief Tutorial

This game differs from its predecessors in that Battle Chips stack. This means when you equip, say, a Cannon, you are actually equipping every Cannon chip you own. The number of copies you have of a particular chip determines how many times you can fire it when you choose it. This makes it actually useful to gather lots of redundant copies of good chips.

Chips are also limited by a single global weapon energy meter, known as MP. This meter is rather inconsequential, because it regenerates. You’ll have more troubles with running out of chips than running out of energy. However it can get irritating in the middle of boss fights when you’re trying to empty your arsenal of Battle Chips in rapid succession, and you use up all your energy. So if you suddenly can’t fire a chip and you’re sure you haven’t used it up, check your MP.

You can choose up to five different groups of chips. You can pick any five you want; there are no chip codes to worry about. If you choose less than five, you will gain that many more filled slots the next time you open the menu, and again, until all of the slots are full (this resets if you die or leave the stage, or view your Folder). Any chips you leave behind in the Custom Screen will still be there the next time you open the screen, so it’s a good idea to save chips you plan to use on the boss when they come up.

As with the Battle Network games, you never “use up” Battle Chips, but you can only use each chip once per stage. Dying does not restore the number of chips you have to use. (This is similar to the original series games where your weapons did not get refilled between lives.)

(Screen shot of Lan asking if I'm ready to fight FireMan when I have 2 AquaSwrds prepped.)
Ohhh yeah, I’m ready.
During the game, your custom gauge at the top of the screen will fill. Once it is full, you can open your Custom Screen at any time and choose new chips. Note though that any chips you’d had equipped before you do this go back into the pile, and are subject to the random draw again. So if you’ve got a really good set of chips, you might want to hold off on pressing Z for a while. Unused chips will get recycled through the system and become available to choose again, but you can’t predict when you will get them (except for your Regular chips).

Miscellaneous Notes

  • If you pick up a chip during a stage that you currently have equipped, you can use it right away. Even if you already have the maximum number of that type of chip, you can refill your uses of that chip by picking up additional copies.
  • This game doesn’t technically have infinite continues; however, your Backups (extra lives) are refilled whenever you jack out. Between that and the saved games, it’s basically the same thing.
  • MegaMan can stand on top of ladders, but only after climbing up one. If you try to jump onto the top of a ladder, or if you get hit while you’re standing near a ladder, MegaMan falls through it.
  • Spikes don’t insta-kill you in this game; they do set damage of 200 health. Of course, early in the game this is enough to kill you, but later on, you can actually survive a few mistakes.
  • After you beat a Navi boss, hurry and run or slide back and forth while the boss is blowing up in order to pick up the items that the boss dropped. If you don’t do it before his explosion animation is completed, the story will kick in and boot you out of the boss room empty-handed.

Review

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Play Control: 3
For a 3-D drawing engine, the play control isn’t all that bad. MegaMan is a little sluggish at times, particularly with ladders, but overall it’s pretty well done.
Graphics: 3
The graphics are all cell-shaded and generally look fairly nice. The black outlines are a little too bold, and the sprites can’t come anywhere near the level of detail that hand-drawn 2-D sprites would get at this size, but they are still well done. Also, the graphics have dynamic lighting, which is kind of rare in games of this era. (For example, as you charge up your buster, both MegaMan and the environment around him reflect the lighting change. Your shots do the same thing, and so forth.)
Animation: 3
MegaMan looks a little silly while he’s standing still, and Roll skips in place when she’s standing, for some reason. Also, MegaMan is a shrimp compared to most other Navis in this game, even humanoid Navis that he’s supposed to about equal in height. Still, most of the animations are smooth, as one would expect, and most of them do not interfere with the game play.
Music: 3
A lot of the tunes are remixes of the Game Boy music, which is to be expected. But something which was more of a surprise is some of the music is actually from the original series games. For example, the stage with FireMan.EXE as the boss uses some of the bars from the NES Fire Man tune.
Sound Effects: 2
Just as a note, even though this game seems to be based heavily on the “Mega Man NT Warrior” anime, the voice acting uses the Japanese anime voices, not the ones from the English translation. Lots of luck figuring out what Lan’s trying to tell you. Probably it’s something important, such as, “MegaMan, you’re almost dead!” “What?” *boom*
(Screen shot of some pretty ridiculous jumps.)
You gotta be kidding me.
Plot: 3
I’m most amused at how the game ties into Battle Network 2, despite taking place (chronologically) prior to that game. The plot had to be careful not to, for example, allow Lan to meet any of the Battle Network 2 characters here (though he does fight some of the Navis here...).
Difficulty: 4 (hard)
Unfortunately, in terms of difficulty, this game combines all the worst aspects of the classic games and the GBA Battle Network titles (read more about this in one of the MegaMaster Musings). Some of the stages are maddening, MegaMan’s buster is near worthless at first, and the boss battles often depend too much on getting a good random draw of chips. Having said that, I do want to point out that at least the level design here is clever, not unfair (there is a difference), and thus you can mitigate a lot of the difficulty with enough practice and power-ups. (Having said that, some of the puzzle designs they stole from the classic games are a lot easier when the screen doesn’t scroll...)
Replay Value: 2
Two words: Bank stage. I enjoy searching around looking for items, but that darn Bank stage scared me away from playing the game for nearly 10 years...
Polish: 4
The developers did pay attention to the existing games (and anime, it seems), because a large number of the enemies and chips are taken straight from the previous Battle Network games. Most of their attacks are preserved as best as possible, altering them only to fit them into a 2-D side-scrolling arena. Not to mention there are quite a few head-nods toward the original series here as well.
Overall: N/A
Definitely unique within the Mega Man series. It’s really not as bad as its first impression, and at least you don’t have to play through it all in one sitting like Mega Man 1. I really haven’t a clue what rating to give it, though. I may sit on this one a bit longer.

Suggested Order

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This is just a brief walkthrough of the main portion of the game. I don’t cover optional areas.
  • Net on Fire (Den Area)
    • Enter the Net, explore, and defeat enemies to stock up on chips. Try to have 30 Cannon and 30 ShockWav chips before taking on FireMan. Also, buy an AquaSwrd from Higsby. (Buy two if you have the money for them.)
    • Boss: FireMan
  • Don’t forget to buy all of the remaining armors from Higsby when you can afford them.
  • Global Area 2 (Elec armor is useful here)
    • Stock up on Invis1 chips: There are two Spookys near the NormalNavi, one up and to the left, and one up and to the right. (The one on the left, you can coax into attacking you at the top of the leftmost ladder, rather than climbing the final ladder to its location.) Scroll them on and off the screen defeating them repeatedly to stock up on their chips. The good news is, they drop Recov10 and Recov30 chips, so you shouldn’t have to worry about how much damage you take while doing this. The bad news is, they drop Recov10 and Recov30 chips, and with higher frequency than Invis1 chips. Expect to be here for an hour or two to gather the maximum 5 Invis1 chips.
    • After talking to NumberMan, head left, not back the way you came. Take the warp point, pick up the blue Mystery Data, hop down, and go left to the warp point. Poof, you’re back in Global Area 1. Open up the security cube and end up in Global Area 2.
      (Screen shot of the cartoon's commercial break image used in the game.)
      We’ll be right back after these messages.
    • Boss: GutsMan
  • Garden (Wood armor)
    • Stock up on chips from the various Wood viruses here. Also, there are a lot of renewable green Mystery Data here right near the entrance.
    • Boss: NeedleMan
  • Don’t forget to revisit NumberMan from time to time to buy the things you couldn’t afford before. He’s in Outer Net, in case you forgot.
  • Shopping (Elec armor)
  • Waterworks (Aqua armor)
    • In Waterworks stage you have to go through appearing and disappearing block puzzles that take forever to reset after you mess up. To add insult to injury, all of the blocks are slippery too. At least there aren’t many of them. Stock up on DblJump chips at the beginning of this stage, and use them here if you need to.
    • Boss: IceMan
  • Before going to the bank, make sure you’ve gathered all of the RegUp items available up until now. These will enable you to set the Invis chips and the DblJump chips as Regular chips when needed.
    (Screen shot of MegaMan saying he's feeling odd.)
    I wonder if I could use this as an excuse as to why I died to that boss...
  • Bank
    • Talk about classic gaming—QuickMan’s stage even has the beams from Mega Man 2! (Wish I had a Time Stopper.) Even though you have the slide here, which you didn’t have then, the play control is just sluggish enough to make this section a nightmare. Invis chips will make you invulnerable to the beams (though the invincibility wears off abruptly and with little warning, so watch out). I would recommend trying to save your chips until you reach Bank Comp 2 because you only get 5 of them.
    • Boss: QuickMan
  • Arcade
    • Pick up the AquaCode in the group of blue blocks to the left (it’s beyond a small pit of spikes with a ladder over it), and the FireCode from the group of red blocks to the right. Try to gather a bunch of HiCannons here because your regular Cannons are getting out of date with all these new enemies.
    • The Arcade is a good spot to gather Zenny because there are lots of silver Zenny coins floating around, worth 150z a pop.
    • Boss: ColorMan
  • Power Plant (Elec armor)
    • Who did you expect, given the stage name and layout?
    • Boss: ElecMan
  • Old Area
    • Get to Old Area from Global Area 3, which is up the ladder from Dex’s PC. The NormalNavi will direct you. If you aren’t powerful enough by now to blow away most things here using just your buster...you should be. Go shopping and explore to get Mystery Data to make life easier on yourself.
    • Bring Elec chips to deal with the Heady viruses here.
    • Boss: SwordMan
  • Strange Grav Area
    • Bring Aqua chips to deal with the Heady virus here.
    • Since it’s pretty unclear, when you reach the dead end in Area 2, and you’re standing on the ceiling, you can slide through a gap that doesn’t look like a gap, to the left. Remember, press Up+Jump to slide, not Down+Jump.
    • Boss: GravityMan
  • No Grav Area
    • Bring Fire chips to deal with the Heady viruses here.
    • Boss: StarMan
  • Zero Account
    • Before you beat this guy, pick up the MystData from near the Undernet entrance if you want the good result.
    • Boss: Zero
  • Global Area 3
    • This guy’s optional, but if you want to have a “friendly” duel then go back to the Undernet link after you get booted out of there the first time around.
    • Boss: ProtoMan
    (Screen shot of MegaMan riding a StrArrow.)
    The only way to travel.
  • Vacant WWW Comp
    • Take note of the gimmicks in this stage. Going through the turnstiles the wrong way will trigger Spookys to appear. Nuts without bolts you can fall through; you can drop bolts into nuts by standing on the bolts. Those sorts of things. Personally, I use a StrArrow to get across the Guts Man stage platforms in Area 2. You’ll likely smack face-first into a Kunai virus at the end of the flight, but that sure beats the heck out of falling in the bottomless pit a few dozen times.
    • Boss: ShadowMan
  • Legendary WWW Area
    • No surprise who you’re going to be fighting here, either, given the stage appearance and the music.
    • Boss: PharaohMan
  • Undernet
    • By now you should have 9 lives, full PowerUPs, and be able to set virtually any chip you wish as your Regular chip.
    • You’ll need lots of specific chips to take care of the Life Virus helpers in the Undernet. As with the Heady viruses, you can either blast their auras with an elemental chip that hits their weakness, or else use a high-powered chip that does a lot of damage (100+) in one blow. Once their aura is down you can use whatever you like to finish them off (I recommend the buster to save on chips); just be quick about it because their aura will regenerate if you dawdle. Alternately you can just walk through them with an Invis chip, and some of them are positioned such that they can be bypassed without fighting them at all. Don’t forget what armor you’re wearing as well, because you’re going to be encountering all four elements here.
    • Boss: Firewall
    • As soon as you enter Undernet 2 (and again in Undernet 3), your HP is recovered and all uses for your Battle Chips are restored (i.e. as if you’d jacked out). Your Custom Gauge isn’t filled, however, so you may want to wait on it if you want to change what chips you’re using. (In fact, even after choosing chips, you may wish to wait for the gauge to refill before entering the boss room, so that you can open the Custom Screen during the fight, if needed.)
    • Boss: Rematches
    • Assuming you picked up all the HPMemory items and have full Sub Chips, you have roughly 9500 HP to blow through here. That should be enough to see you through.
    • Boss: Life Virus

Teleporting Hatches

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There are no teleporting hatches here, per se; however, in classic game tradition, you do have to fight most of the previous bosses all over again. You fight them in a running battle, one right after another, with absolutely no break in between. This is the order they come out (at least for me; it might be based on what order you fought them during the game):
Despite the Professor’s claims that these guys are “upgraded,” I didn’t notice much difference in their stats, so in spite of how impossible this sounds on the surface, you should be able to breeze through them with only a couple of Sub Chips at most. If you want to overkill it, change your armor to suit each new opponent as he appears.

Bosses

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Note: These boss descriptions assume you have picked up the MystData item. I have not yet tested what happens without it. You can find the location of the MystData item in the Items section.
Zero
He walks/dashes back and forth, and can also teleport, and has several sword-swing patterns. You can’t clear him with your jumps, but sometimes you can slide through him without the direct contact hurting you (mostly you should do this when he’s attacking, to avoid his swings). You can generally only hurt him while he’s attacking because he tends to block otherwise. Try to keep your distance or get on his back side when he starts to swing. When you get him down to low health be prepared to kill him quickly because he gets angry by that point...

Since Zero has a bad habit of positioning himself directly on top of MegaMan (overlapping him), it can sometimes be hard to get out of his sprite and then get yourself turned around so that you can actually shoot him before he’s gone again. I personally find bombs (LilBomb, CrosBomb, etc.) to work pretty well here in that you can toss them at him while he’s plastered on top of you and even if he blocks the first explosion, since they do multiple hits, they’ll usually damage him. Swords can also be helpful.

Firewall
There are three cannons here, along with a conveyer that continually tries to push you into the spikes on the back wall. This battle isn’t really all that hard, but you’ll probably be getting hit a lot, which makes it difficult to charge your buster. The upper cannon uses homing attacks; the lower cannon aims pellet-shots at you; and the center cannon charges large lasers (you can stand under these). Jumping frequently can coax the other two cannons into missing you a lot, but watch out for the laser. The eyeball laser cannon in the center can only be hit when it is open (generally this means while it is charging). Chips that explode or spread (such as V-Gun, Spreader, 3-Way, that sort of thing) can be useful to hit multiple cannons with one shot. Feel free to blow all your chips on this thing because they’ll get restored after the fight.
LifeVirusR
First, don’t panic; it’s not as bad as it looks. The Life Virus has an aura, so I recommend a high-powered chip that can easily break it (M-Cannon works wonders here—which is precisely why Lan used it in the opening anime). Shoot the chip once to drop the shield, then blast the heck out of the Life Virus with your buster or lesser chips. The virus really doesn’t have very much health once you have the aura taken care of. When the aura regenerates, switch chips and do it all over again. You’ll be getting hit by attacks of pretty much all elements here so the easiest thing to do is to take off your armor altogether so that you don’t have to worry about getting hit by a weakness.

Note: I’m pretty sure the Life Virus’s auras have elements; you can guess the element based on the appearance of the aura. I haven’t tested this yet, but if this is true, then you can use elemental chips to break the aura as well. But any chip that deals over 100 damage ought to do the trick regardless.

Life Virus Spawn
When you defeat the main Life Virus, it turns into this little monster thing that floats around gripping an orb. As it moves it releases little droplets that fall straight down and can damage you. This thing does not appear to have an aura and actually is pretty easy to defeat too, since you can pretty much just jump and blast it over and over.

Items

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This details locations of blue and purple (locked) Mystery Data. Remember, green Mystery Data is random. I may have missed a few, but this list should get you started.

Den Area
  • HPMemory: Den Area 1. After the first security cube that you used the Lvl1Code to get past, climb the ladder, scale the floating platforms to the left, pick up the blue Mystery Data.
  • Backup Chip: Den Area 2. You can’t miss this one. It’s just to the right of the Lvl2Code.
  • MemUp: Den Area 2. When dropping through the hole just after the warp, hold right. Ignore the green Mystery Data you see, and jump up through the narrow gap near the Canodumb. Then slide across the gaps to the right, and by jumping up into the gap near the blue Mystery Data, you should be able to then angle your next jump up and around the single block there, to land on top of it.
  • LongSwrd: Den Area 2. Right near where the MemUp is. Use a DashAtk chip (or a DoubJump or something) to cross the gap to it.
  • HPMemory: Den Area 3. It’s up just a bit from the NormalNavi. Stand to the right of it, face the gap, and use the DashAtk chip to get across the gap to the blue Mystery Data.
  • FullCust: Den Area 3. Up and right from the NormalNavi. Navigate through a bunch of spikes by dropping down through a vertical tunnel landing on alternate sides of the blocks. After carefully jumping over singular blocks, use a DashAtk to get across that final gap.
  • RegUP: Den Area 3. Go along like you’re heading for FireMan (up and right, mostly). When you follow the Zenny trail down and land on the crumbling bricks, run left. Though I don’t believe it to be strictly necessary, it is helpful to have a DashAtk or something handy to make the final jump (and/or a Repair to fix things up if you goof up so that you don’t have to jack out just to take another stab at it). Alternately, you can also come up from below using a DoubJump.
    (Screen shot of defeating FireMan with a Busting Level of S.)
    That’s called an AquaSwrd and a LifeSrd1.
  • HiCannon: Den Area 2. Near the MemUP. Hold right when dropping down, and head right. Use a DoubJump to get up to the ledge to the right, over the Mettaur. Then carefully jump up and angle your jump up and around the ledge to get to the higher ledge. (Be careful about the narrow passages with Zenny; there are spikes at the ends.)
  • PowerUP: Den Area 2. Near the HiCannon. Move to the right over the narrow gaps, avoid the spikes, and use a DoubJump to get up to the blue Mystery Data. (You can also go on to the right, and use the moving platform to slide through the gap, and then head left to get there. But it’s easier to use a DoubJump.)
  • HPMemory: Den Area 2. Near where you come in, jump the gap and shoot the Canodumb, then stand before the wall with the different bricks and use a punch (e.g. BrnzFist). It’ll break the wall and you can go through. Navigate through the spikes carefully (or use a DoubJump) to the right, then slide through the narrow gap to the left (don’t drop down!). Whew!
Global Area
  • HPMemory: Global Area 1. After dropping down the first drop to the big open space, head right until you see the floating platforms with spiked bottoms (be careful about jumping around here!). Scale the floating platforms and head left. On those platforms, carefully angle your drop to the right when you drop off the higher ledge onto the lower one with the blue Mystery Data.
  • CrosBomb: Global Area 1. It’s right to the left of the HPMemory. Jump up into the niche in the wall.
  • MemUp: Global Area 1. In the big room with the horizontal rails, navigate the rails upward. Remember that you can hold Up and press Jump while on a rail to land onto the block that forms the endpoint of the rail (as long as the block is level with the rail and isn’t too high). Then you can jump upward from there. Ride a rail to the right over some spikes for the blue Mystery Data.
  • WideSwrd: Global Area 1. In the same place as the MemUp, go left, hop off the end of the rail, then jump up and curve your jump around the upper ledge so that you land on top of it, and walk to the left.
  • HiCannon: Global Area 2. Go up the ladder that the NormalNavi tells you leads to Global Area 3, and head left.
  • MemUp: Global Area 2. To the left of the HiCannon.
  • HPMemory: Global Area 3. Drop down toward the Undernet and the “graveyard.” Head to the left, over the conveyer belts over the spikes, to the blue Mystery Data.
  • MystData: Global Area 3. From where you found the HPMemory, jump up and around the block to the ladder. Navigate the spinning platforms across the spikes, then up another ladder and across, to the big yellow Mystery Data.
Outer Net
  • Backup Chip: Outer Net. After the section of spike pits, use a DoubJump or some other chip to get up to a ledge to the left with Zenny on it.
  • PowerUP: Outer Net. Go through the warp point to the left of NumberMan. The blue Mystery Data is just to the right of the warp point you come out of.
    (Screen shot of one of Lan's dialogue lines missing some words.)
    I think Lan’s the one with the virus.
  • Slasher: Outer Net. Beyond the Lvl5Code security cube, scale the ladders, then near the link, use a DoubJump or something to hop up onto the blocks on top of the ladders and then from there to the Mystery Data. Requires Unlocker.
Garden Comp
  • FireSwrd: Garden Comp 1. It’s down the first ladder and to the left.
  • HPMemory: Garden Comp 1. Take the second ladder down, past the pinecone virus.
  • HPMemory: Garden Comp 1. A blue Mystery Data sitting on a hub of those horizontal rails above the logs that drop when you step on them.
  • PowerUP: Garden Comp 2. Behind the Spiny. Requires an Unlocker.
  • Spreader: Garden Comp 1. Not sure if this is blue or green Mystery Data. It’s just to the right of the warp to the boss room.
  • MemUp: Garden Comp 1. It’s just below the Spreader. You have to angle your way around the edge of the ledge (both on the way down and the way up) to avoid falling into the bottomless pit.
Shopping Comp
    (Screen shot of MegaMan standing beside ProtoMan.)
    Why is MegaMan such a shrimp?
  • HPMemory: Shopping Comp 1. On a ledge right near the beginning. You can’t miss it.
  • PowerUP: Shopping Comp 2. Near the beginning, as you are dropping down, slide through the small hole toward the right (where you see the Zenny) instead of continuing on to the left. You’ll fall onto the blue Mystery Data.
  • MemUp: Shopping Comp 2. At one point you can go down a narrow passage to the left instead of continuing on. There are gray circuit-like blocks at the bottom. Drop down between the gaps and go left, then drop down and head back right, to the blue Mystery Data.
  • HPMemory: Shopping Comp 2. Need Unlocker. It’s around, then up and to the left, in a fairly easy-to-find location.
  • HPMemory: Shopping Comp 2. Blue Mystery Data to the right of the boss portal.
Waterworks Comp
  • HPMemory: Waterworks Comp 1. Blue Mystery Data down a drop to a lower level. I don’t think you can miss this one.
  • AquaBlde: Waterworks Comp 1. Past the polar bear mini-boss.
  • HPMemory: Waterworks Comp 1. If you use a DashAtk or something after you drop down to the slippery snow area (to cross the large gap that you normally drop down), you can reach another area. Need an Unlocker.
  • RegUP: Waterworks Comp 2. After all the appearing/disappearing blocks in this stage, hold left when dropping down the long pit instead of just dropping straight. The blue Mystery Data is to the left behind a yellow crab.
  • HPMemory: Waterworks Comp 2. It’s on a ledge just below the RegUP. You can also get up there from down below using a DoubJump.
(Screen shot of Chaud starting off by saying, "I won't criticize you, but...")
Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?
Bank Comp
  • HPMemory: Bank Comp 1. Drop down the first gap while holding right. You should hopefully land in a niche just big enough for MegaMan to stand. Head right. You need to carefully angle your jumps up and around to avoid touching the spikes. Remember you can slide over one-block gaps.
  • MemUp: Bank Comp 1. It’s just below the HPMemory. Drop down through the gaps carefully, or take a hit to the spikes and rush to grab it.
  • Recov150: Bank Comp 1. After dropping down the first gap, there is a ledge to the upper left that you can reach with a DoubJump. Run to the left from there without dropping down.
  • ElecSwrd: Bank Comp 1. It’s below the Recov150 but you have to be careful not to drop down too far because once you do, you can’t get back up. Navigate to the left and you should find a Worm (boomerang dispenser) enemy from the classic games. The blue Mystery Data is just beyond that.
  • RegUP: Bank Comp 1. With a DashAtk or something you should be able to reach a blue Mystery Data to the left of the first Shield Attacker. It’s right above Roll. Destroy the Shield Attacker and get across that gap and it’s all yours.
  • FireBlde: Bank Comp 2. Work your way up and right, past the yellow Swordy, and over the horizontal rails over the spikes.
  • Backup Chip: Bank Comp 2. After getting the FireBlde, carefully jump over the spikes, past the Sniper Joe, and you’ll find it there.
  • HPMemory: Bank Comp 2. To the left after the first set of insta-death beams in this area. It’s on a safe spot so you don’t technically have to suicide to get it.
(Screen shot of Lan's dad saying he's going to administer first aid to a NetNavi.)
I’m sure that Band-Aid patched him right up.
Arcade Comp
  • HPMemory: Arcade Comp 1. Follow the regular trail past the security cubes toward the red and blue blocks (or use DoubJump to jump up early). Navigate upward toward the blue blocks on the left. Follow the Zenny back to the left and then up and around to the right. You need a DoubJump or something to make the leap to where the blue MysteryData is.
  • RegUP: Arcade Comp 1. Follow the regular trail past the security cubes toward the red and blue blocks (or use DoubJump to jump up early). Head right over the blue square cubes until you see the blue Mystery Data. I think you need a DoubJump to reach it.
  • HPMemory: Arcade Comp 2. In the pinball area, bounce your way upward and to the right a little. The blue Mystery Data is up there on a block. There are spikes nearby, so be careful.
  • HPMemory: Arcade Comp 2. In the pinball area, there’s a hallway up to the right you can reach by bouncing. You need a DoubJump (or an IceCube or something) to get up to where the Mystery Data is. Requires Unlocker.
  • MemUp: Arcade Comp 2. In the pinball area, near the main hallway toward the bottom right, there’s a ledge overhead with a green Mystery Data that you can reach with a DoubJump. Just above that is the blue Mystery Data, but a DoubJump doesn’t get you there. (I haven’t tested it yet, but two cubes might, or some cubes and a DoubJump.) Alternately, drop down from above and use a DoubJump or a DashAtk or something to get to the right.
(Screen shot of Lan saying, effectively, "What could possibly go wrong?")
Lan. Don’t set yourself up like that.
Power Plant Comp
  • Backup Chip: Power Plant Comp 1. Easy to get, just go right until you can reach the ledges above, then follow the upper ledges to the left.
  • MemUP: Power Plant Comp 1. After sliding through a narrow gap, use a DoubJump or a cube or something to get up onto a ledge to the right. Need Unlocker.
  • PowerUP: Power Plant Comp 1. Near the MemUP, use a DashAtk or something to cross a gap to the left.
  • SilvFist: Power Plant Comp 1. This is right below the PowerUP above.
  • HPMemory: Power Plant Comp 1. Near the SilvFist, instead of dropping down to the yellow floor, hold right and land on the metal platform. Can also use a DoubJump or something to get there.
  • HPMemory: Power Plant Comp 2. You can use a DoubJump, or you can scale up the left side and then drop down from above.
  • Recov150: Power Plant Comp 2. Above the HPMemory. You need about 8 DoubJumps or cubes or whatever to get up there. Or drop down from above.
  • PowerUP: Power Plant Comp 2. It’s in plain sight near the boss portal. You can’t miss it.
(Screen shot of MegaMan saying the viruses are stronger in this area.)
I’m very scared of that deadly Mettaur.
Old Area
  • HPMemory: Old Area 1. It’s near the beginning, past some of the sword traps. You need a DoubJump or cubes or something to get up there.
  • HPMemory: Old Area 1. You kind of run over this one as you’re working your way back to the up and left after having gone to the right for a good distance.
  • MemUP: Old Area 2. You should see it as you navigate through. You need to be careful not to hit the spikes as you jump over to it. You can make the jump just with a regular jump; don’t need any special chips.
  • HPMemory: Old Area 2. As you’re going along avoiding spikes and navigating winding, twisting passages, slide through the first narrow passage you see (near the Swordy). Follow this route and carefully get across the pit (e.g. DashAtk) to the blue Mystery Data. Try not to bonk your head into the spikes on the ceiling. Also, don’t fall; it’s a bottomless pit down here.
  • PowerUP: Old Area 2. It’s to the left of the HPMemory. Same story here.
  • HPMemory: Old Area 2. It’s right on the other side of the boss portal. Just jump over the teleporter.
(Screen shot of Chaud saying, "It's not like ProtoMan was deleted or anything.")
Plus, we have these snazzy things called Backups!
Strange Grav Area
  • GoldFist: Strange Grav Area 1. You practically trip over it. Requires Unlocker.
  • HPMemory: Strange Grav Area 1. Jump up the little hyper-gravity platforms and you’ll reach the Mystery Data. Requires Unlocker.
  • HPMemory: Strange Grav Area 1. To the left of the Hammer Joe, which is above some hyper-gravity bricks.
  • RegUP: Strange Grav Area 1. Jump the portal to the next area and go to the right of it.
  • HPMemory: Strange Grav Area 2. It’s right after the first gravity-switch, on the “floor” which is now the “ceiling.” Just jump up (down?) and touch it.
  • Recov80: Strange Grav Area 2. It’s after you switch back to normal gravity, out in the open, before a Hammer Joe.
  • MemUP: Strange Grav Area 2. It’s right near where the gap is in the ceiling that you need to slide through.
(Screen shot of Lan saying, "I can't believe we beat him!")
Piece of cake, with a generous application of Roll chips. Chaud needs to learn the power of friendship!
No Grav Area
  • FireBlde: No Grav Area 1. Upon entering the area, turn around, jump over the warp point, and head left.
  • HPMemory: No Grav Area 1. After you drop down, in the area with spikes. It’s sitting on a ledge pretty much out in the open.
  • Backup Chip: No Grav Area 1. As you’re working your way to the right, you’ll see a narrow pit with spikes on either side with Zenny floating in the center. Drop straight down this pit.
  • MemUP: No Grav Area 1. You pretty much have to pick this up on your way back out from getting the Backup Chip.
  • GoldFist: No Grav Area 1. As you’re moving upward crossing a midair field of spikes, you come across this. Requires Unlocker.
  • HPMemory: No Grav Area 2. It’s tucked between two columns after a section of spikes and horizontal rails. You can either go up over the floating platforms, or down along the rails and then circle back around from the right side (lower path is easier).
(Screen shot of Zero asking "What is it? The power of friendship?")
You see?
Zero Account
  • HPMemory: Zero Account. From the entrance, go to the right, use a DoubJump or something to get up to where the Beaks are, and pick up the blue Mystery Data to the left.
  • PowerUP: Zero Account. Same as the HPMemory, except it’s to the right.
  • RegUP: Zero Account. From the entrance, jump over the passage that leads downward and go left, past the Burner Fishy. Get across the spikes using a DoubJump or whatever you want to use. Requires Unlocker.
  • HPMemory: Zero Account. From the RegUP, go further left past some more spikes, and get to the higher upper ledge using a DoubJump or something. Requires Unlocker.
  • MemUP: Zero Account. Drop down the first passage with the “correct way” bricks. Follow this route until you can head left along some ledges instead of dropping down further. Go past another Heady virus (Fire) and some Beaks. Keep jumping across the ledges until you get to some spikes. You can navigate this part without any special chips, or you can shortcut your way up with DoubJump or whatever. The blue Mystery Data is near a green one.
  • HPMemory: Zero Account. When going along the conveyer belts, jump down through the first gap. Follow the ledges to the right.
  • Backup Chip: Zero Account. It’s to the right of the HPMemory (past the conveyer belts). By the way, don’t jump down from there because it’s a bottomless pit below.
(Screen shot of Chaud telling Lan to go on ahead.)
Hey, Chaud, how about you give me a ProtoMan chip before I go? Since we’ve learned the power of friendship and all?
Vacant WWW Comp
  • Recov150: Vacant WWW Comp 1. After crossing some bolts that drop when you step on them, keep heading right, across more bolts near spikes, and you’ll find the blue Mystery Data at the end.
  • HPMemory: Vacant WWW Comp 1. Take the low route along the moving conveyer belts. Requires Unlocker.
  • MemUP: Vacant WWW Comp 2. Just after the first set of turnstiles, use a DoubJump or something to get up to it. Requires Unlocker.
  • PowerUP: Vacant WWW Comp 2. Up on a high ledge after a long series of those Guts Man style platforms that dip and drop you. Requires Unlocker.
  • Backup Chip: Vacant WWW Comp 2. Up on a high ledge after a one-way gate and a Kunai enemy. Need a DoubJump or something to get up there. It’s right before the turnstile.
  • HPMemory: Vacant WWW Comp 2. Underneath a ledge, pretty much in plain sight. Just head to the right, drop down, and slide your way back to the left.
(Screen shot of Lan asking, "What? Is that all you've got?")
Lan. Don’t taunt him.
Legendary WWW Area
  • Slasher: Legendary WWW Area 1. After the first set of appearing/disappearing blocks, you pretty much run over this one. Requires Unlocker. Beware, those blocks it’s on drop when you step on them.
  • HPMemory: Legendary WWW Area 1. Near some narrow passages; drop down and slide. Might want to kill the Ratton first.
  • GoldFist: Legendary WWW Area 1. Ride one of the spiked platforms up into the gap in the ceiling. Requires Unlocker.
  • Backup Chip: Legendary WWW Area 1. To the left of the GoldFist. Yay, 9 lives!
  • RegUP: Legendary WWW Area 2. Climb a ladder instead of following the “right path” blocks. Head left over the blocks that drop, over spikes. You’ll want to jump along so that you leave some blocks for your return trip.
  • MemUP: Legendary WWW Area 2. After the Big Eye, use a DoubJump or something to get to the tops of those horizontal rail blocks. Slide through the gap and then DoubJump again. Head left. Requires Unlocker.
  • TreeBom3: Legendary WWW Area 2. You literally fall on this one shortly after the Big Eye.
  • HPMemory: Legendary WWW Area 2. Near the boss portal, head right (where the energy capsule is) and navigate those gaps in the wall upward. I used DoubJump from each gap, angling my jumps around each one.
(Screen shot of Lan asking, "Can we defeat this many?")
Given enough Sub Chips, anything is possible...
Undernet
  • Recov150: Undernet 1. After the first couple of Life Virus helpers, it’s out in the open.
  • HPMemory: Undernet 1. It’s right above the first Aqua Life Virus helper. You need something to jump up there.
  • MemUP: Undernet 1. It’s right next to the HPMemory. Requires Unlocker.
  • MemUP: Undernet 1. As you’re dropping down the pit after the first Aqua Life Virus helper, hold left. You should fall into a little niche with this Mystery Data in it. You can also ride the virus’s ice block down and jump off.
  • HPMemory: Undernet 1. After dropping down and getting the MemUP, jump over to the left to the ladder and climb up it.
  • Hammer: Undernet 1. It’s right next to the HPMemory.
  • Slasher: Undernet 1. It’s right next to the HPMemory. Requires Unlocker.
  • HPMemory: Undernet 1. After the second Aqua Life Virus helper, use a DoubJump or something to jump to the ledge above it (similar to before).
  • MemUP: Undernet 1. It’s right next to that HPMemory over the second Aqua virus. Requires Unlocker.
  • GoldFist: Undernet 1. From the final HPMemory and MemUP, jump up and climb the ladder. Requires Unlocker.

Tips

Top Help
(Screen shot of me hanging on a ladder shooting a Hot Dog-like virus in the head.)
This is just classic.
  • Don’t forget your slide: MegaMan can safely slide through many of the Navi bosses. Instead of jumping them, try sliding between their legs! You can also cross one-block gaps by sliding.
  • Use Battle Chips! Even though this game is modeled after the traditional Mega Man side-scrollers, unlike in the classic games, here MegaMan’s buster is very weak at the beginning. Having said that, if you don’t mind not earning anything for defeating your foes, you can afford to peck away at enemies from a distance with your buster. It’ll take some time, but you’ll save on Battle Chips.
  • Keep your distance: You can shoot enemies even when they are off the edge of screen. You might not hear your shots connecting, but you are doing damage. (Notice though that your charged buster shots have less range than your regular shots.)
  • Don’t forget what armor MegaMan is wearing. Equip different armor depending on what stage you are entering. You can even change armor during a stage. MegaMan takes half damage from attacks of the element of his armor, and double damage (ouch!) from attacks that his current armor is weak against. This includes environmental hazards like the zappy beams in the Power Planet stage.
  • You can jack out at almost any time during a stage, even if you haven’t completed the stage yet. There is no penalty for jacking out, except that you have to redo the stage from the beginning. It’s a good idea to spend some time defeating enemies and gathering green Mystery Data and Zenny, then jacking out and coming back over and over again, to build up your power and obtain lots of Battle Chips. The game will become a lot easier if you do this.
  • Always jack out on your last life (when Backups are 0). If you do, you will get to keep any Battle Chips and other items that you found along the way and doing this operates about the same way as “Continue” in the classic Mega Man games. If you don’t and you die on your last life, you lose everything you’d done and have to restart from a save, and this operates like “Continue” in the Zero series. The former is always preferable to the latter.
  • Program Advances are preannounced in this game (giving you a chance to refuse them), but otherwise operate quite similarly to the GBA games. They are much easier to obtain here though, not only because there are no chip codes to worry about, but because chips that you leave behind always come back up again each time you open the Custom Screen. So if you want to get a certain Advance, just avoid using the appropriate chips and wait until the rest are drawn. Also, since you can just stand in a safe location for as long as you want and wait for the Custom Gauge to fill (over and over if necessary), you can in theory wait on a particular chip until you get it.
  • You can look at your Folder and change chips during a stage, but you’ll lose any chips you have equipped. It’s best to do this when your Custom Gauge is already full. As an added bonus, since you can change your Regular chip when looking at your Folder, you can obtain any chip you desire (that fits into your Regular memory, at least) at any time by simply changing your Regular Chip setting and then waiting for the Custom Gauge to fill.
  • A related trick that Joseph points out is that you can ensure you get the 5 chips that you want for a boss by deliberately using all copies of all other chips. The game will never draw a chip that has 0 uses left, so, if you fill your Folder with 15 chips with 0 uses, then the game will be forced to always give you the remaining 5 whenever you open the Custom Screen. (Alternately, reduce yourself down to 10 available chips, open the Custom Screen, don’t pick any chips, and get the Custom Gauge full again. You will then be offered all 10 chips in your Custom Screen.)
  • Fighting Bosses: The technique that works best for me is to forget the finesse and just focus on eliminating bosses as quickly as possible. The sword Battle Chips in particular are quite overpowered in this game, since they do not suffer as much from the range limitation (as you can get yourself right next to your target at any time you wish, which is unlike the GBA games). Therefore, focus on swords and other high-damage chips. Save your Program Advances for bosses. Wait on your Custom Gauge before you enter the boss room to make sure you are using optimal chips. And make sure you’re using chips (particularly swords) of the boss’s weakness whenever possible. Finally, buy lots of HP restoration Sub Chips for bosses. If you use them all up and still die, reload from a save.

Saved Games

Top Help
(Screen shot of the "Are you sure you want to save?")
No, I hit the “save” button for my health.
As you might expect, this game utilizes saved games. The game will only look at the card in slot 1. As an odd sort of oversight, if your card in slot 1 is full, but you have some Network Transmission data saved on it already, you can save over the existing games, but you’ll receive a warning every time you boot up the game, and will have to choose the incongruous “Continue without saving” option to continue. The warning message also incorrectly implies that you need 1 block free to save over an existing game, which is untrue; as long as you’re saving on top of an existing saved game, you don’t need any blocks free.

Ending

Top Help
(Screen shot of Lan saying "It's finally over!")
What about that Life Virus that’s sitting right there in front of you?
Note: As mentioned before, so far I have only seen the ending when the MystData has been obtained. If the ending sequence changes without it, this page does not yet cover that.

Even after Lan and MegaMan defeat several forms of the Life Virus, the Professor gloats that with enough time and money he can make as many Life Viruses as he wants. Lan is in the middle of wondering what to do when Center Officials break into the Professor’s house and arrest him. You got it—Zero showed them where to find him. (That’s the trouble with developing viruses—your own machines might end up getting infected.)

So the Zero Virus has been eliminated from the Cyberworld, the Professor is in jail, and Lan is busy procrastinating on his homework reading in a Net Battling magazine that armors are becoming obsolete (this is an in-joke reference to the next game). Then the ending references the opening of Battle Network 1, with Lan’s mom complaining about the oven not heating up. Lan jacks in, and that’s the end of that. Cut to credits.

After the credits there’s a brief epilogue sequence between ShadowMan and Dark, and then the game says “To be continued...in Mega Man Battle Network 2!”


Special thanks to NinjaLibre for the initial aid in expanding this page.