History YMMV / MegaManBattleNetwork

** Sean, [[spoiler:once-leader of Gospel]]. He reappears in ''Battle Network 3'' [[spoiler: looking to redeem himself]], but never shows up again in the main games after that. Especially egregious in the case of ''Battle Network 5'', [[spoiler:where a former member of Gospel (Princess Pride), someone related to a member (Tesla Gauss, daughter of Mr. Gauss), and a mercenary who worked for them (Dusk) join Team [=ProtoMan=] or Team Colonel and bring their associated NetNavis with them, allowing the latter to become Double Souls, yet Sean and [=FreezeMan.EXE=] are nowhere to be found.]] [=FreezeMan=] would have been perfect for the Aqua-element Double Soul Navi in Team Colonel, but that spot is taken by [=ToadMan=], who belongs to Ribbita, a ''side character in Battle Network 2 who offers optional boss fights against [=ToadMan=]''. Unlike the other elemental Souls - Napalm, Thunder, and Tomahawk - whose charge shots are understandably the same element as themselves, Toad Soul's charge shot is ''Elec element'', the same as Thunder Soul's, making it feel redundant. [[spoiler:Sean's reason for being in the Undernet would doubtless be better than Ribbita's excuse of wanting to make a report on it, seeing as he ran a criminal organization once and would likely be familiar with the area. The fact that Wily was involved in corrupting Sean in the first place would make him a foil of sorts to Colonel's operator, Baryl, who is Wily's adopted son, as well as Dr. Regal, Wily's ''actual'' son who leads the Nebula organization just as Sean did Gospel. Sean's redemption arc could have reached a satisfying conclusion in Team ProtoMan, with him working alongside Lan and Mega Man to save the world he once tried to destroy,]] which would have made him a much more meaningful and impactful team member than Ribbita.

** Sean, [[spoiler:once-leader of Gospel]]. He reappears in ''Battle Network 3'' [[spoiler: looking to redeem himself]], but never shows up again in the main games after that. Especially egregious in the case of ''Battle Network 5'', [[spoiler:where a former member of Gospel (Princess Pride), someone related to a member (Tesla Gauss, daughter of Mr. Gauss), and a mercenary who worked for them (Dusk) join Team [=ProtoMan=] or Team Colonel and bring their associated NetNavis with them, allowing the latter to become Double Souls, yet Sean and [=FreezeMan.EXE=] are nowhere to be found.]] [=FreezeMan=] would have been perfect for the Aqua-element Double Soul Navi in Team Colonel, but that spot is taken by [=ToadMan=], who belongs to Ribbita, a ''side character in Battle Network 2 who offers optional boss fights against ToadMan''. Unlike the other elemental Souls - Napalm, Thunder, and Tomahawk - whose charge shots are understandably the same element as themselves, Toad Soul's charge shot is ''Elec element'', the same as Thunder Soul's, making it feel redundant. [[spoiler:Sean's reason for being in the Undernet would doubtless be better than Ribbita's excuse of wanting to make a report on it, seeing as he ran a criminal organization once and would likely be familiar with the area. The fact that Wily was involved in corrupting Sean in the first place would make him a foil of sorts to Colonel's operator, Baryl, who is Wily's adopted son, as well as Dr. Regal, Wily's ''actual'' son who leads the Nebula organization just as Sean did Gospel. Sean's redemption arc could have reached a satisfying conclusion in Team ProtoMan, with him working alongside Lan and Mega Man to save the world he once tried to destroy,]] which would have made him a much more meaningful and impactful team member than Ribbita.

** Sean, [[spoiler:once-leader of Gospel]]. He reappears in ''Battle Network 3'' [[spoiler: looking to redeem himself]], but never shows up again in the main games after that. Especially egregious in the case of ''Battle Network 5'', [[spoiler:where a former member of Gospel (Princess Pride), someone related to a member (Tesla Gauss, daughter of Mr. Gauss), and a mercenary who worked for them (Dusk) join Team [=ProtoMan=] or Team Colonel and bring their associated NetNavis with them, allowing the latter to become Double Souls, yet Sean and [=FreezeMan.EXE=] are nowhere to be found.]] [=FreezeMan=] would have been perfect for the Aqua-element Double Soul Navi in Team Colonel, but that spot is taken by [=ToadMan=], who belongs to Ribbita, a ''side character who offers optional boss fights in Battle Network 2''. Unlike the other elemental Souls - Napalm, Thunder, and Tomahawk - whose charge shots are understandably the same element as themselves, Toad Soul's charge shot is ''Elec element'', the same as Thunder Soul's, making it feel redundant. [[spoiler:Sean's reason for being in the Undernet would doubtless be better than Ribbita's excuse of wanting to make a report on it, seeing as he ran a criminal organization once and would likely be familiar with the area. The fact that Wily was involved in corrupting Sean in the first place would make him a foil of sorts to Colonel's operator, Baryl, who is Wily's adopted son, as well as Dr. Regal, Wily's ''actual'' son who leads the Nebula organization just as Sean did Gospel.]]
** Mamoru, [[spoiler:administrator of the Undernet]], and Serenade as well, for that matter, never reappear after the third game.

** Sean, [[spoiler:once-leader of Gospel]]. He reappears in ''Battle Network 3'' looking to redeem himself, but never shows up again in the main games after that. [[spoiler:Especially egregious in the case of ''Battle Network 5'', where several former members of Gospel or people connected to them - Princess Pride, Tesla Gauss, Dusk - along with the according [=NetNavis=] join Team [=ProtoMan=] or Team Colonel, yet Sean and [=FreezeMan.EXE=] are nowhere to be found.]] [=FreezeMan=] would have been perfect for the Aqua-element Double Soul Navi in Team Colonel, but that spot is taken by [=ToadMan=], who belongs to Ribbita, a ''completely optional character in Battle Network 2''. Unlike the other elemental Souls - Napalm, Thunder, and Tomahawk - Toad Soul's charge shot is ''Elec element'', the same as Thunder Soul's, making it feel redundant. [[spoiler:Sean's reason for being in the Undernet would doubtless be better than Ribbita's excuse of wanting to make a report on it, seeing as he ran a criminal organization once and would likely be familiar with the area. The fact that Wily was involved in corrupting Sean in the first place would make him a foil of sorts to Colonel's operator, Baryl, who is Wily's adopted son, as well as Dr. Regal, Wily's ''actual'' son who leads the Nebula organization just as Sean did Gospel.]]

** Sean, [[spoiler:once-leader of Gospel]]. He reappears in ''Battle Network 3'' looking to redeem himself, but never shows up again in the main games after that. [[spoiler:Especially egregious in the case of ''Battle Network 5'', where several former members of Gospel or people connected to them - Princess Pride, Tesla Gauss, Dusk - along with the according [=NetNavis=] join Team [=ProtoMan=] or Team Colonel, yet Sean and [=FreezeMan.EXE=] are nowhere to be found.]] [=FreezeMan=] would have been perfect for the Aqua-element Double Soul Navi in Team Colonel, but that spot is taken by [=ToadMan=], who belongs to Ribbita, a ''completely optional character in Battle Network 2''. Unlike the other elemental Souls - Napalm, Thunder, and Tomahawk - Toad Soul's charge shot is ''Elec element'', the same as Thunder Soul's, making it feel redundant. [[spoiler:Sean's reason for being in the Undernet would doubtless be better than Ribbita's excuse of wanting to make a report on it, seeing as he ran a criminal organization once and would likely be familiar with the area.]]

** Sean, [[spoiler:once-leader of Gospel]]. He reappears in ''Battle Network 3'' looking to redeem himself, but never shows up again in the main games after that. [[spoiler:Especially egregious in the case of ''Battle Network 5'', where several former members of Gospel or people connected to them - Princess Pride, Tesla Gauss, Dusk - along with the according NetNavis join Team ProtoMan or Team Colonel, yet Sean and FreezeMan.EXE are nowhere to be found.]] FreezeMan would have been perfect for the Aqua-element Double Soul Navi in Team Colonel, but that spot is taken by ToadMan, who belongs to Ribbita, a ''completely optional support character in Battle Network 2''. Unlike the other elemental Souls - Napalm, Thunder, and Tomahawk - Toad Soul's charge shot is ''Elec element'', the same as Thunder Soul's, making it feel redundant. [[spoiler:Sean's reason for being in the Undernet would doubtless be better than Ribbita's excuse of wanting to make a report on it, seeing as he ran a criminal organization once and would likely be familiar with the area.]]

** Sean, [[spoiler:once-leader of Gospel]]. He reappears in ''Battle Network 3'' looking to redeem himself, but never shows up again in the main games after that.

*** Story-wise, the first three games work as a self-contained trilogy with a suitably climactic ending that tied up the plot threads concerning Megaman, Bass, Wily, and WWW; on the other hand, the second trio of games downplay continuity from the first three heavily and the first two work as their own story centering around Nebula, Dark Chips, and Dr. Regal, while setting up the sixth game as a GrandFinale with the return of [[spoiler:Wily and WWW]]. Naturally fans disagree on which story arc was better and if ''6'' was an appropriate GrandFinale or not, and if the series should have stopped as ''3'' since it felt like a cohesive end to everything.

** The fanbase is decidedly split between those who think the second and third games are crown jewels, and those who think of the sixth game as such. 3 is beloved due to its storytelling and having the most extensive gameplay in the series, but also criticized for its massive amounts of hidden information that can only be found in out-of-print materials. 6 is well-regarded for removing 4 and 5's {{Scrappy Mechanic}}s and improved some other features (compare Cross System to Double Soul for example) but some of the enemy bosses are regarded as uninteresting and the English version gets a lot of detractors for removing ''every single piece of VideoGame/{{Boktai}} content'' as well as the chips related to the Cybeasts.[[note]]The former is somewhat understandable due to memory issues involving the cartridges, but the latter went completely unexplained.[[/note]]
** Then there's the infamous debate about whether version-exclusive contents are totally fair or blatantly favors one game but not the other, the most notable example being the Souls and Crosses in the second half of the series. Though this gets less flak nowadays with some wanting to mess around with their preferred options in battle.
** The inclusion of EX viruses in ''4'' and ''5''. Some fans might enjoy the extra challenge, others are annoyed by how they end up in an "extra effort same wage" situation. (EX viruses have higher hitpoints and damage output from their vanilla counterparts but give out the same chip, only in a different code) V2 and V3 viruses (and their chips) are off-limits until post-game, which makes the players somewhat underpowered, especially in ''4''. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Their palettes are kind of ugly too.]]
** The [[ArtEvolution graphics overhaul]] for the second half of the series divided the fans over which art style is better. Although this is mainly caused by 4's overall poor reception and the graphics actually slightly improved in ''5'' and ''6''.

** The fact that Lan, who is 11-12 years old, is able to solve most problem(s) related to malfunctioning electronics and appliances showcases that teaching children how to troubleshoot and diagnose problems is a good skill to have and should be taught from a young age.
* AccidentalInnuendo: The terms for connecting a PET to a device - "jacking in" and "jacking out" - are dangerously similar to another "jacking + (preposition)" euphemism with a much less innocent connotation. This is especially evident when [=MegaMan=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmu6otC_uM says it to the player's face]] in the ''Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection'', not helped by the new pronunciation of PET as "pet" instead of "P-E-T".
--> '''[=MegaMan.EXE=]:''' "Every time I jack out, I think about how relaxing it is to be inside the PET."

** There was also the Energy Change program which is required during the [=PlantMan=] and [=FlameMan=] scenarios where you have to either use a fire ([=PlantMan=]) or aqua ([=FlameMan=]) element battle chip so you can burn a plant/extinguish a fire which permanently gets rid of your battle chip. [=PlantMan's=] scenario is more forgiving, as the hospital network is populated with fire viruses that grant you an alternative supply of fire chips, and you only needed to burn down just enough plants to proceed. The [=FlameMan=] scenario offers you neither consideration, demanding that you extinguish ''all'' fires across the Net without changing the random encounters to help with your aqua chip stock.

** After defeating plot-related Navis, you can encounter their stronger [=V2=] forms in fixed places on the Net. Defeating ''them'' causes their even stronger [=V3=] versions to start spawning as a random encounter in the same area. While this isn't that big of an issue in the first game since upgraded Navis pack more health and damage but generally remain the same fight otherwise, in ''2'' onwards upgraded Navis also tend to speed up considerably, change up their attack patterns, or even add new attacks entirely, thus practically guaranteeing that new players ''will'' be caught off-guard. If you encounter and defeat a [=V2=] Navi the moment they become available in order to obtain their basic-level summon chip as quickly as possible, chances are you'll be grossly underprepared to handle the [=V3=] version, which tends to be ''significantly'' more difficult. As many a ''Battle Network'' player can attest, there's nothing more frustrating than getting [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] completely at random by a foe you stand little chance of defeating at your current power level, thus losing tons of progress unless you have the foresight to save after literally ''every'' battle in those areas. Thus, most players tend to avoid [=V2=] fights until they're ready to handle the [=V3=] version. Of course, this assumes that you know exactly where the [=V2=] encounters are; otherwise, you could easily end up [[GuideDangIt running into them completely by accident]].
** The flag layouts present through multiple of the games, in [=PvP=]. Destroying the enemy's flag instantly wins you the round, regardless of how much HP the enemy has. Also, since they're stationary objects, folder setups have insanely varied efficacy against them: for example, the flags NoSell attempts to poison stall with Anubis and [=Geddon3=], but will be almost {{One Hit Kill}}ed by Dark Lance in ''4'' since it deals very high damage and the flags always spawn in the back row. And, perhaps worst of all, because round layouts are randomized, flags won't always appear, but when they do they'll RandomNumberGod you out of a victory because your folder isn't optimized to deal with them.

* AccidentalInnuendo: The terms for connecting a PET to a device - "jacking in" and "jacking out" - are dangerously similar to another "jacking + (preposition)" phrase with a much less innocent connotation. This is especially evident when [=MegaMan=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmu6otC_uM says it to the player's face]] in the ''Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection'', not helped by the new pronunciation of PET as "pet" instead of "P-E-T".

--> '''[=MegaMan.EXE=]:''' "Every time I jack out, I think about relaxing it is to be inside the PET."

* AccidentalInnuendo: The terms for connecting a PET to a device - "jacking in" and "jacking out"m- are dangerously similar to another "jacking + (preposition)" phrase with a much less innocent connotation. This is especially evident when [=MegaMan=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmu6otC_uM says it to the player's face]] in the ''Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection'', not helped by the new pronunciation of PET as "pet" instead of "P-E-T".

* AccidentalInnuendo: The terms for connecting a PET, "jacking in" and "jacking out", are dangerously close to another "jacking + (preposition)" phrase with a much less innocent connotation. This is especially evident when [=MegaMan=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmu6otC_uM says it to the player's face]] in the ''Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection'', not helped by the new pronunciation of PET as "pet" instead of "P-E-T".

* AccidentalInnuendo: The terms for connecting a PET, "jacking in" and "jacking out", are dangerously close to another "jacking + (preposition)" phrase with a much less innocent connotation. This is especially evident when MegaMan.EXE [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmu6otC_uM says it to the player's face]] in the ''Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection'', not helped by the new pronunciation of PET as "pet" instead of "P-E-T".
--> '''MegaMan.EXE:''' "Every time I jack out, I think about relaxing it is to be inside the PET."

* FandomRivalry: While most of the time the ''Mega Man'' fanbase is [[FriendlyFandoms on friendly terms]] with the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fanbase, the ''Battle Network'' fans ''loathe'' the ''VideoGame/SonicExe'' creepypasta, due to the BigBad's "Sonic.EXE" alias and the fact he uses a corrupted game to [[YourSoulIsMine steal other's souls]] smears the name of the [=NetNavis=].

** Poor, poor Mayl is the target of the straight-pairing-hating part of the fandom usually called the "Pink Fiend" by the yaoi shippers. In fact, even on the hetero pairings she gets some heat for hogging and having a monopoly on Lan (some say at least the Yaoi has variety), partly because of the lack of female characters around his age in the games. This results in Lan being paired with other girls who he barely had any serious contact with in the series by people who are tired of the Lan/Mayl pairing. Some other alternatives are [[NiceGirl Sal]]/Lan, [[AnimeChineseGirl Jasmine]]/Lan, Princess Pride/Lan, and even some [[HospitalHottie Anetta]]/Lan. The latter three call upon [[Anime/MegaManNTWarrior the anime mythos]], since that's where Jasmine, Mayl and their respective Navis are love rivals, where Pride/Lan pairing originates and also where Anetta isn't ''crazy''.

** Dr. Regal and the Darkloids of Nebula. Regal and Shademan.EXE have cool enough looks to start with, but they are notably [[AdaptationalBadass far more hardcore]] in [[Anime/MegaManNTWarrior the anime adaptation]] compared to the games. Same goes for Cosmoman [[Manga/MegaManNTWarrior in the manga.]]

** Many fanfics will mix details from one version of the series and put it in [[Anime/MegaManNTWarrior others]].

** Betrayal fics where the government decides Lan and [=MegaMan=] are too powerful and try to separate them, imprison them, or delete [=MegaMan=]. That this was the basis of an arc in the Anime/MegaManNTWarrior manga helps.

** Dark chips in the fourth and fifth game, as well as dark-aligned chips. Dark chips generally lack the power required to make their permanent HP reduction useful in battle, and ''5'' had the far better useful Chaos Unisons to use the chips anyway. Dark-aligned [=MegaMan=] also had a second LastChanceHitPoint that also had Dark Mega take the wheel for about ten seconds that is completely random in its usefulness, which is a neat gimmick but nowhere near as good as Full Synchro, Soul Unisons or SP Navi chips, abilities that you lose by going dark. Similarly, dark-exclusive chips are clearly strong (Static is strictly stronger than Tornado, and Muramasa has proved itself time hand again) but are not worth the tradeoff. Amusingly, they ''aren't'' this in the Japanese meta, where you're just as likely to see a dark player as a light player. The reasons for this are the previously listed dark-aligned chips, the emergency Darksoul, and either for emergency utility (four) or being able to use offensive dark chips that would suffer from PoorPredictableRock if used with Chaos Unison like Drill and Sword instead of utility chips like Thunder or requiring setup like Search (five).

* CharacterTiers: Or, well, transformation tiers. There have been a few agreements regarding the general usefulness of certain power-ups.
** Back in the days of Style Change, the Guts Style suffered because, while it buffed the Buster, it didn't provide enough to justify using it much when you're at the point you rely on Battle Chips more. Custom was pretty unanimously the best, outside of Hub Style in the second game.
** Aqua Soul was also rather unpopular because of its lack of special abilities; mostly it just made Water chips more powerful, and its Charge Shot was uninteresting and very weak.

* LowTierLetdown: Dark chips in the fourth and fifth game, as well as dark-aligned chips. Dark chips generally lack the power required to make their permanent HP reduction useful in battle, and ''5'' had the far better useful Chaos Unisons to use the chips anyway. Dark-aligned [=MegaMan=] also had a second LastChanceHitPoint that also had Dark Mega take the wheel for about ten seconds that is completely random in its usefulness, which is a neat gimmick but nowhere near as good as Full Synchro, Soul Unisons or SP Navi chips, abilities that you lose by going dark. Similarly, dark-exclusive chips are clearly strong (Static is strictly stronger than Tornado, and Muramasa has proved itself time hand again) but are not worth the tradeoff. Amusingly, they ''aren't'' this in the Japanese meta, where you're just as likely to see a dark player as a light player. The reasons for this are the previously listed dark-aligned chips, the emergency Darksoul, and either for emergency utility (four) or being able to use offensive dark chips that would suffer from PoorPredictableRock if used with Chaos Unison like Drill and Sword instead of utility chips like Thunder or requiring setup like Search (five).

* TierInducedScrappy: Dark chips in the fourth and fifth game, as well as dark-aligned chips. Dark chips generally lack the power required to make their permanent HP reduction useful in battle, and ''5'' had the far better useful Chaos Unisons to use the chips anyway. Dark-aligned [=MegaMan=] also had a second LastChanceHitPoint that also had Dark Mega take the wheel for about ten seconds that is completely random in its usefulness, which is a neat gimmick but nowhere near as consistent as the content it locks out. This ends up affecting the dark-aligned chips, as while they're better than their light-aligned chips (Static blows Tornado out of the water, Muramasa has proven itself in the earlier games, etc.), they aren't really that worth it for the price. Amusingly, they ''aren't'' this in the Japanese meta, where you're just as likely to see a dark player as a light player. The reasons for this are the previously listed dark-aligned chips, the emergency Darksoul, and either for emergency utility (four) or being able to use offensive dark chips that would suffer from PoorPredictableRock if used with Chaos Unison like Drill and Sword instead of utility chips like Thunder or requiring setup like Search (five).

* TheWoobie :
** Sean, [[spoiler:due to his background leaving him with no family or friends to rely on. Lan is his first-ever real-life friend.]]
** Mamoru, ''especially'' when it's revealed the poor kid [[spoiler: suffers from HBD, the same thing [=MegaMan=] (as Hub) suffered]].
** Poor, poor, ''poor'' Lan, losing [=MegaMan=] ''nearly all the time''. [=MegaMan=] obviously, especially considering [[spoiler: his past as Hub Hikari]].

* AccidentalAesop: Don't make things [[EverythingIsOnline accessible via the internet.]] "Smart" devices are an ''incredibly'' bad idea.