Going into the 21st century, the state of theMega Manfranchise was becoming hazy. ClassicMega Manhad run its course for the time being, and theXgames were intended to end atX5in 2000, and thenX6in 2001. AnotherMega Man Legendssequel was not in the cards, so theMega Manseries suddenly had a huge opening for new projects. TheMega Man Zeroseries would not be announced until 2002, so while theXgames continued to plug along on PlayStation consoles, there looked to be a sizableMega Mandrought for Nintendo consoles.
That changed whenMega Man Battle Networkwas announced in August 2000. The game would become a Game Boy Advance launch title in Japan on March 21st, 2001, and a North American release would follow later that year. It was meant to capitalize on the ongoingPokemoncraze while also providing a new take on theMega Manfranchise.Battle Networkwas swiftlyjoined on the GBA byMega Man Zero, and the two series carried theMega Manfranchise for the next five years. Although the firstMega Man Battle Networkwas rough around the edges, its ideas were stellar, and fans were rewarded with a unique series that went on to inspire its own subgenre of action-RPGs.
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Mega Man Battle Network Offered a Brand New Experience
TheMega Man Battle Networkgames are a series of action-RPGs that combine classic dungeon crawling with twitch-basedMega Mancombat set on a 6-by-3 grid. Players and enemies could move in real time, using different attacks to damage each other and affect the tiles themselves. Players also had access to Battle Chips that functioned like a deck of cards built throughout the game. The player’s chip collection in the firstBattle Networkcould already grow fairly large, and by the end of the six-game series, there were over one thousand individual Battle Chips. Later games had crossover content with theHideo Kojima GBA seriesBoktai, which was unfortunately cut in the English release ofBN6. Combined with the different forms that MegaMan.EXE gained over the course of the series, along with some other playable characters, theBattle Networkgames had a staggering amount of content.
The statement thatMega Man Battle Networkwas positioned to rivalPokemonwas no idle threat. Right from the get-go, theBattle Networkseries came equipped with competitive multiplayer. Players could match their Battle Chips against each other, bet chips on fights, and trade them. A few installments in, the series also copied thetwo-version release format of mainlinePokemontitles. An anime, most of which was dubbed, loosely adapted the stories of severalBattle Networktitles, and a surprisingly good manga series worked its way through all six installments. There were even spin-off games for thisMega Manside series, several of which never made it out of Japan.
Battle Network Reinvented the Mega Man World
Mega Man Battle Networkwas a sensational success, and while its experimental gameplay played a large part, its world and characters may have been even more important. TheBattle Networkgames take place in analternate timeline from the otherMega Mantitles. In this timeline, Dr. Light, who is instead named Dr. Tadashi Hikari, majored in computer science instead of robotics and created an advanced form of the internet. This spiraled into creating a whole dimension entirely within cyberspace, within which living programs can be found. Some of these are viruses, but others are NetNavis owned by human operators who use them to perform various digital functions.
Just about every classicMega Mancharacter, alongside a fewMega Man Xcharacters, has been redesigned and inserted somewhere in this franchise along with a human partner. Protagonists MegaMan.EXE and Lan Hikari are just the tip of the iceberg. These designs have received massive praise from fans, and contribute to the excellent art design of the whole series. Diligent players had better get used to seeing them, as they all put up a stiff fight when challenged as bonus bosses. TheMega Man Battle Networkseries gave way to theMega Man Star Forcegames on the DS, after which the Battle Chip gameplay style was abandoned. Fan projects and a few games likeOne Step From Edenhave keptBattle Network’s spirit alive, and fans would love nothing more than to see the nextLegacy Collectiontackle theMega Man Battle Networkgames.
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