Mega Man Battle Network

The series uses a hybrid action-RPG/card battle system. Battle screens feature a 6x3 grid, with each character initially controlling half of the playing field, which can be modified by Battle Chips.

Like the original games, the player is in control of MegaMan who has the use of his weapon, the MegaBuster. However, core gameplay revolves around "Battle Chips" which are selected by Lan who is also controlled by the player. The chips are selected at the beginning of a battle and every time the player activates the full "Custom Gauge" which refills over time. Selection takes place during a pause in the battle. Specific selections of Battle Chips lead to "Program Advances" which combine chips to form a more powerful temporary Battle Chip. The player must choose 30 Battle Chips which act as a deck for each battle and is refilled after each battle ends. A secondary objective is the collection of Battle Chips which can range in rarity from common to Mega to Giga. With the success of the collectible genre with series such as Pokémon, Battle Network games (beginning with BN3) were released in two similar versions, and had content that were exclusive to one version of the game.

Exploration in the game takes place in two ways. First, the player controls the protagonist Lan Hikari in the real world, where the player can interact with other Non-player characters, and travel around the world map. These real-world areas allow the player to progress the story, and do side-quests as well. The real-world also contains jack-in points in which the player can jack-in to the net world, and explore as Megaman.EXE. The net world is where the player controls and plays as Megaman. While traveling in the Net World, battles can ensue at random, and to progress the story, Megaman must travel through these Net Areas in order to defeat enemies, and fix issues with the machines these areas are located within.

The music of Mega Man Battle Network was primarily composed by Akari Kaida,[2] Yoshino Aoki, and Toshihiko Horiyama. The soundtracks for 1 through 6, alongside the Japanese-only 4.5: Real Operation was released in 2021 on Spotify to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary.[3]

Starting with Battle Network 4, the series began including content from Hideo Kojima's series Boktai, which was published by Konami;[4] the crossover content mainly included battle chips, bosses, and entire areas themed around Boktai and vampires.[4] However, content related to the third Boktai game would be removed in international versions of 5: Double Team DS and 6 (likely due to it being unreleased outside of Japan), as would Lunar Knights (the fourth Boktai game) content in Star Force.[4]

A terrorist organization called WWW (World Three) attempted to destroy the world with the use of a super virus known as the Life Virus. Despite interference by Lan and MegaMan, the members stole the four element programs they needed in order to make it and succeeded in its creation. The virus was as strong as predicted, but was destroyed by MegaMan. Its defeat forced WWW to retreat. This game received an averaged score of 80% score on GameRankings and 79% on Metacritic.

Mega Man Battle Network was later re-released for the Nintendo DS as Rockman.EXE: Operate Shooting Star, which serves both as an enhanced port of the original, as well as a crossover with the Star Force series.[5] The NetNavi exclusive to Operate Shooting Star, ClockMan.EXE, was a winner from a CoroCoro Comics contest.[6] Despite initial strong sales,[7] Capcom ultimately deemed the sales figures underwhelming, which contributed to the cancellation of Star Force 4.[5] Despite fan demand, the re-release remained exclusive to Japan until the release of an English fan translation in 2018.[8][9]

The following summer after WWW's defeat, a new terrorist group called Gospel emerges. Their tactics differed considerably compared to WWW, as they appeared to have no set goal. Gospel's plan had seemingly consisted of only causing random destruction with their navis. Lan and MegaMan battled every member and prevented the worst possible situations. However, Gospel's hidden plan was to re-create the ultimate net navi, Bass. Using bug fragments, they planned to make a large army of Bass navis to take over the world. Unknown to Gospel, their method of creating Bass was imperfect, and his abilities were vastly below predictions. In an attempt to make copies of Bass to create an army, the leader of Gospel overloaded energy to the bug fragments; but something went wrong and the concoction transformed into a giant wolf-like multi-bug organism. Although the bug beast was stronger than before, Lan and MegaMan managed to eliminate it. This game received an averaged score of 82% score on GameRankings and 81% on MetaCritic.

Mega Man Battle Network 3 was released in late-2002 in Japan, and mid-2003 internationally; the game follows a revived WWW seeking to release Alpha, the original prototype of the internet. New to the game is the ability to customize Mega Man by placing blocks in a grid, however placing blocks incorrectly will cause a bug to occur.[10] Battle Network 3 was the first game to get two distinct versions,[11] although this wasn't the case in Japan initially, which didn't get Blue until a few months after White's release.[lower-alpha 2]

Like with the previous two games, reception to Battle Network 3 was positive,[12] although some thought the game had innovated too little.[11] The game also topped sales charts, with both versions selling a total of 768,000 units in Japan at the end of 2003.[13]

Released in December 2003 in Japan, and June 2004 in North America, Mega Man Battle Network 4 involves a meteor on trajectory towards Earth, and a new crime syndicate "Nebula" corrupting Navis with Dark Chips.[14][15] Style Changes are removed in this installment, instead being replaced with Double Souls (Soul Unisons), which can be activated by sacrificing a certain chip.[14][15] During the game, players will have several scenarios they encounter which are different depending on the version.[16]

Reception to Battle Network 4 was mixed-to-positive, although it too received lower review scores than the first three, which much criticism going to the lack of any real story outside of tournament scenarios.[14][15] In addition, Blue Moon received criticism due to a bug on the Nintendo DS that would cause the game to slow down significantly when exiting from battle during the WoodMan scenario, which was acknowledged by Nintendo and fixed in time for the DS Lite.[17] Despite this, Battle Network is the best-selling entry in the series, selling 1.35 million copies worldwide as of 2009.[18]

Nebula attacks again, this time with an all-out invasion. They kidnap Lan's father and use SciLab's computers to take over the internet. In response, either Chaud or Baryl (depending on the version) create a team of elite net navis and operators. Lan and MegaMan are the first members. As the story progresses, more team members are gained, and more areas of the net are liberated. When all of the net is won back, the team locates Nebula's headquarters and attempt to defeat the organization. The GBA versions received an average score of 68% on GameRankings and 67% on MetaCritic, whereas the NDS version received 70% on GameRankings and 68% on MetaCritic.

Battle Network 6 is the final game in the series. Lan's father gets a new job and the family moves to Cyber City, leaving behind Lan's classmates and friends from ACDC Town. WWW attacks once again, aiming to revive the legendary Cybeasts, Gregar and Falzar. This game received an average score of 64% on GameRankings and 63% on Metacritic (the low scores were due to recycled art, sound, and gameplay).

Released as part of Mega Man's fifteenth anniversary, Mega Man Network Transmission is a platformer developed by Arika and released for the Nintendo GameCube in mid-2003.[19] The game was first announced in September 2002 at the Tokyo Game Show.[20] The game acts is set between 1 and 2, and involves a new "Zero Virus" that makes Navis go berserk.[21] The game mixes the gameplay of the Classic series 2D platforming and Battle Network series tactical RPG elements,[22][23] with Keiji Inafune stating the decision was made by Arika to "preserve the core of Rockman".[24]

Reception to Network Transmission was divisive; a major point of contempt was the game's high difficulty, while the overall presentation drew mixed reactions.[22][23] On Metacritic, the game averaged a 65/100 indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[25]

Lan Hikari and MegaMan.EXE face off against the WWW. The story adapts aspects of both the first Mega Man Battle Network game as well as the anime series, MegaMan NT Warrior. The game play is similar to that of Mega Man Network Transmission.

Developed with help from Inti Creates, who also developed the Mega Man Zero and ZX series,[26] Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge utilizes a different battle system where players setup 12 Battle Chips on a grid called a "Program Deck", three of which are randomly selected.[27] Aside from the Game Boy Advance version, the game also saw a release on the WonderSwan Color under the title Rockman.EXE: N1 Battle.[28]

Unlike other games, contemporary reception to Battle Chip Challenge was mostly negative, with many critics disliking the lack of audience participation and aging presentation, although the audio was praised.[27][29] The game currently has a 54/100 on Metacritic.[30]

Rockman.EXE 4.5: Real Operation was released in Japan-only on August 6, 2004.[31] The "Real Operation" part of the title refers to how the Game Boy Advance functions as its own PET; during battles, players don't control the Navi directly, instead giving it instructions to follow.[32] Reportedly, the game's development was "hell" due to it being completed in less than a year, alongside Battle Network 4 and 5.[33][34]

The game was re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2016.[32]

Rockman.EXE: The Medal Operation, and Rockman.EXE: Battle Chip Stadium are a pair of arcade games released in 2005 and 2006;[35] The Medal Operation is a medal game based on Battle Network 5 where players could win chocolate, and Battle Chip Stadium uses the familiar battle system and is based upon Battle Network 6. Service for Battle Chip Stadium ended in April 2014.[35]

Two mobile games were released in Japan, Rockman.EXE: Phantom of Network in 2004, and Rockman.EXE: Legend of Network in 2006;[36] both games feature the same gameplay as the mainline entries and include exclusive characters.[36] As of January 1, 2018, both games are no longer available for purchase.[37] Despite their obscurity, many people wish for a re-release of them onto modern platforms.[34]

The games were adapted into an anime series titled MegaMan NT Warrior, which premiered in Japan on March 4, 2002,[38] and concluded on September 30, 2006,[39] lasting 209 episodes; the English dub of the series was handled by Viz Media, who outsourced the voice acting to the Ocean Group.[40][41] It lasted for five series, EXE, Axess, Stream, Beast and Beast+, although only EXE and Axess would be dubbed into English. An alternate English dub by Voiceovers Unlimited would air in South-East Asian countries, which followed the Japanese script more closely, and lacked the censorship NT Warrior had.[42]

A film set during the events of Stream, Rockman.EXE the Movie: Program of Light and Darkness, premiered in Japanese theatres on March 12, 2005, as a double-billing with the Duel Masters film Duel Masters: Curse of the Deathphoenix. The film grossed a total of US$6,178,840 within three weeks of its release.[43]

Two separate manga series were created by Shogakukan and published in their monthly magazine CoroCoro Comics; MegaMan NT Warrior by Ryo Takamisaki which lasted for 13 volumes, and Battle Story MegaMan NT Warrior by Keijima Jun and Miho Asada which consisted of 4 volumes. Viz Media would release MegaMan NT Warrior in North America between 2004 and 2008,[44] while Battle Story only saw a release in Japan, Indonesia and certain European countries.[45]

In 2004, Capcom released Rockman.EXE: Catan, a licensed version of The Settlers of Catan with the Battle Network motif.[46] The game came in standard and portable types, with the portable version being magnetic.[46]