Through the secret door is the staging area for Wily’s rocket, already loaded up with the Life Virus. Wily continues to laugh away, declaring that he’ll get revenge on Dr. Hikari for kicking him out of his lab. Lan rushes up and demands to know why the Endgame is revenge against his family, and the mad scientist decides to oblige and drop some more exposition on us.
Thirty years ago Wily worked at SciLab alongside Lan’s grandfather, Tadashi Hikari. Tadashi specialized in computer and network technology, and Wily of course studied robotics. One day SciLab took part in an international technology competition, and decided to choose only one of the two men’s technologies to fund and enter. They chose Tadashi’s, and the rest is history.
I know that some like to look upon this event as sort of a For Want Of A Nail scenario, like if Wily’s research had been chosen the way would be paved for the original series of Megaman games, but some of the details seem kinda irreconcilable. Namely Tadashi Hikari (who if you haven’t realized by now is the Dr. Light of the series) being well, Japanese instead of whatever nationality Thomas Light was. And then there’s the existence of Duo later on in the series. Regardless though, it’s a nice little symbolic gesture that firmly separates Battle Network from the Classic, X, Zero, ZX, and Legends series. But who knows, perhaps the Battle Network universe would’ve turned out similarly if Wily had won the day back then?
Wily wraps up his story by claiming that he left SciLab in shock (conflicting with his earlier accusations that he was thrown out, but then again, Wily’s not really sound of mind) and that he started the WWW in order to destroy the society that his rival had created. Lan of course points out that Tadashi himself wasn’t responsible for canceling his research, but Wily rebuffs him by claiming that not only did his grandfather say the same thing, but that no one will ever understand how he feels. He goes to press the button to launch the rocket, and it’s time to jack in and put a stop to things.
At the end of the short pathway of the rocket’s computer lies the black orb from before. It’s time to take down the ultimate virus and foil Wily’s plans.
Life Virus
◊
HP: 1000
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Life Cannon – After a period of charging, the Life Virus shoots a giant laser beam down the center row for 200 damage.
- Life Sword – After a period of charging a blade appears to slash the front two columns of Megaman’s area for 200 damage.
- Life Rain – After a period of charging a meteor strikes the field and creates a rolling explosion for 200 damage.
- Life Aura – The Life Virus is protected by a regenerating aura that blocks all attacks that do less than 100 damage.
- Spawn – The Life Virus will summon Scuttle viruses in the front row of its area which perform the following attacks depending on element:
- Fire – A ball of fire is sent down one row for 80 Fire damage.
- Aqua Tower – A stream of geysers is sent down the field towards Megaman for 80 Aqua damage.
- Thunder Ball – A ball of lightning is sent towards Megaman for 80 Elec damage. Megaman is electrified on contact.
- Wood Tower – A series of wooden spears are sent down the field towards Megaman for 80 Wood damage.
Compared to other final bosses in the series, the Life Virus isn’t that difficult, largely because it only has half the HP that they do. Of course it compensates to some degree with its Life Aura, but it drops it whenever it attacks, and since Megaman’s powered up with Hub.bat it’s entirely possible to bring it down with a fully-charged buster shot. Not to mention that most of your chips should be able to do the job as well by now. While the Scuttle viruses don’t have any visible HP, they behave just like regular viruses and can be destroyed just as easily. Make sure to take out the ones that are strong against whatever armor Megaman’s wearing ASAP.
With the Life Virus defeated its data starts to leak into the regular network of the WWW base and triggers the self-destruct system. Lan wisely decides to get the hell out of there and escapes with Chaud and Mayl while the base begins to crumble around them. Left alone in the staging area, Wily begins laughing once again, declaring “WWW…forever!” just as the screen fades to white as the base explodes.
Back in front of Lan’s house, pretty much the entire cast is present to congratulate Lan and Megaman for saving the day. It’s a simple scene pretty much where thanks each of his friends in turn for helping him, and even Chaud who true to form says that Lan made him look bad since he did all the work. The celebrations are interrupted with the sound of the house’s security alarm going off, but since there’s no burglar present, it must be bugged. And so in what will become tradition for series, the story ends with Lan jacking in Megaman, calling out “Jack in! Megaman.EXE! Transmit!”
Following this is the game’s credits. Interspersed throughout are little miscellaneous scenes showing the cast going about their way. We see things like Numberman helping out with the maintenance of the school server, Sal’s food stand going a brisk business while Masa’s is ignored, children visiting Higsby’s shop while Dex battles Numberman, Chaud witnessing a lost child reunited with her mother, Megaman getting lost on the Net, and a very strange scene of Megaman appearing in the real world. At the end the time it took to beat the game is displayed, as well as the file’s library completion and Megaman’s level. This game isn’t really that long, about eight to eleven hours should be an average playthrough length, though it took me almost exactly eighteen since I was constantly stopping to type stuff up. Eighteen to twenty hours is the average time it takes to complete the later games in the series, not counting postgame content.
Speaking of postgame content, we’re not with this game yet. There are still eight more areas of the Internet to explore, more chips to find, and more bosses left to fight.
Soundtrack
- Vs. Life Virus
- The final boss theme, a noticeable remix of the "Net Battle" track.
- End Roll
- The credits' theme. A slower reprisal of the main theme.
