The game opens with a rather garbled conversation between two individuals, apparently a researcher and his boss, who’s a rather foul-tempered person, threatening his subordinate for being too slow in starting the “project”. When the researcher claims that they’ll be able to rule the world like the WWW, his boss snaps at him to just start the project. And no comparisons with the WWW either. Our new Big Bad must at least have some sense for irony in him.
We then cut to class 5-A of ACDC Elementary. Unsurprisingly our protagonist Lan Hikari is the last one to arrive, having overslept yet again. His Navi Megaman gives him the usual berating while throwing in that today is not only the last day of school before summer vacation starts, but it’s also report card day. Lan says that he’s not worried, but his Navi has a better perception of his operator than that.
We’re then free to talk to our classmates and poke around the classroom. Immediately we can find a Panel Grab P battle chip inside one of the desks. Some of the NP Cs provide basic control tutorials, though nothing’s changed from the first game on that front. One of them will trigger an email warning the sender of virus infections. Talking to Lan’s classmate Yai will have her go on a spiel about how she’s collecting Electopian fans (Electopia is the name of the country the games are set in) that we have to listen to no matter what. Why? That’ll be made clear later. Talking to Mayl, she tells us that Dex wants to speak with us, and talking to him reveals that he wants to go on the Net with us later, but before he can elaborate class begins. Class doesn’t take long, since they’re just there to get their report cards. Lan’s and Dex’s reactions? “Arrrgh!” and “Nooo!” respectively. I like Megaman’s response to this: “Anything you want to share with me, Lan?”
Talking to Dex again after dismissal, it turns out that there’s a new “Square” area on the Net that just opened, and they’re looking for something called City Net Battlers. Dex has invited everyone to check it out with him, except that Yai isn’t interested. With that set up, it’s time to head home. ACDC Town’s pretty much unchanged from last game save that Higsby’s chip shop is unfortunately closed, and like before the NP Cs in the area provide information about the controls for jacking in, looking at the library, etc. We can’t actually jack in to anything yet, though. There’s also a rather cross looking man standing in front of Lan’s house who says that he’s from the gas company inspecting people’s appliances. Hm, why does that sound familiar…?
Once he gets home Lan tries to pull the wool over his mother Haruka’s
◊ eyes regarding his grades, but she corners him when he reaches his room. Unimpressed with his academic performance, she tells him that he can’t go on the Net to play until he does his homework. As a side note, the poster in Lan’s room has changed from depicting Trigger to Duo. The Duo from Megaman 8 mind you, not the Galactus-esque version that appears in Battle Network 4.
Well luckily for us, Lan’s homework involves going on the Net. Once we jack Megaman into Lan’s PC Megaman starts the program up, which consists of the battle tutorial. The tutorial for this game follows pretty much the exact same format it did in the first game, but there have been a few changes. First of all, chip codes are displayed directly below the chips themselves on the Custom Screen, meaning that you don’t have to highlight the chip to see them like in the first game. The second change, and a big one at that, is the addition of a twenty-seventh chip code, the * code. *-coded chips can be picked with any other code in any order as long as there’s only one other code in the selection or all selected chips are duplicates. So your selected chip codes can look like A-A-*, *-A-A, or A-*-A. This little addition greatly streamlines the folder building process as well as opens the door to much more efficient combo-building that before.
Next, the ADD system has been tweaked a bit. The way it works now is that once you hit the ADD button the chips that you’ve selected are discarded and Megaman goes a turn without any chips at all. When the Custom Screen is opened again, the amount of chips available to select from are increased by however many were discarded for the duration of the battle. So if I discard two, I will have seven to pick from starting from the next turn on, with the maximum being ten. Much more useful than it was in the previous game, where doing so only increased your selection for a single turn at a time.
The final change to the battle system, and as far as I’m concerned one of the most appreciated, is that Megaman can now attempt to flee a battle by pressing L. The chances of Megaman successfully escaping are tied to his max HP value relative to the enemy viruses’.
With the tutorial out of the way, we receive an email from Dex demanding to know where we are. Time to get moving and enter the Net itself.
Lan’s PC connects to Den Area 1. Unlike the previous game, the Net is much more easily navigated. It’s divided up into distinguishable areas that all have unique designs, it’s far less mazelike, and your current location is displayed on the pause screen. Den Area is a simple, spacious area and Den Area 1 has a blocked-off section with teleporters to other parts of the Net that are currently inactive. There’s also an upper level that can be accessed further in.
Speaking of upper areas, there’s a Blue Mystery Data (BMD) hidden beneath an overpass, out of sight. These BM Ds contain Bug Frags, which can be used to buy battle chips at a certain shop later on. There are a limited amount of Bug Frags in the game, but enough to buy all of the available items. They’re usually hidden or otherwise out of the way, so keep an eye out.
Towards the back of the area is a warp point that’ll take Megaman to the upper level where the entrance to Yai’s homepage (currently blocked by a security cube) and a merchant with the following await:
- HP Memory – 1000z
- HP Memory – 2000z
- Shotgun B – 200z
- Lil Bomb J – 500z
- Recovery 10 * - 500z
- Spreader Q – 1000z
At the start of Den Area 2 is a Program that’ll heal Megaman’s HP to full. This game, and all the others following it, don’t utilize After-Combat Recovery. The only way to restore HP while jacked in is either through using Recovery chips in battle or by using Sub Chips outside of it. Sub Chips are a new addition to the series. They’re items used outside of battle to do a handful of things, such as restoring HP, temporarily lowering the encounter rate, or unlocking Purple Mystery Data (PMD). You can only carry a few of each type at a time, but there are Sub Memory items found throughout the game that can increase that limit. Sub Chips can be bought from merchants in both the real world and cyberworld, as well as found in Mystery Data.
The entrance to the Square is in Den Area 2. Once through the teleporter, we’re taken to a wide, open area filled with teleporters to additional areas. Gutsman and Roll are already here, waiting for Megaman. After a bit of banter concerning Megaman’s lateness, we resolve to do ask about becoming City Net Battlers in the Square itself, which can be accessed through the red teleporter at the north end of the entrance area.
The Square itself is something like an area’s hub. Here a Navi can gather information from other Navis who’re hanging out, or buy items from merchants. There are two merchants here, a normal one and a Sub Chip dealer. Their stocks are as follows:
- HP Memory – 2000z
- HP Memory – 4000z
- HP Memory – 8000z
- Cross Gun J – 600z
- Wide Sword L – 800z
- Recovery 30 H – 1000z
- Barrier B – 1200z
- Mini Energy – 50z
- Sneak Run – 200z
- Unlocker – 4000z
In addition there’s a room that we can’t get into yet that’ll contain BBS boards for sharing information on current events and battle tips.
We want to talk to a Navi that’s calling for people to take the Z License test to become City Net Battlers. Basically, in an effort to cut down on what I assume to be cyber vigilantism, Net Battling is illegal for normal citizens except in certain controlled settings. The reason that Lan was presumably able to fight the WWW in the previous game was because most of his battles were in self-defense. City Net Battlers are allowed to solve online crime and access areas that normal people can’t – they’re sort of like low level, volunteer Officials. Taking the Z License test is the first step to becoming one, as it will allow the recipient to take the exams for higher level licenses.
The Z License test involves finding two items hidden in Den Area, Hero Data and Hope Data. Hero Data can be found in Den Area 3, a small area that connects to two foreign networks, which are currently blocked off by security cubes. Hope Data is found allll the way back in Den Area 1. Returning the two items to the examiner nets us our Z License. We’re told that a place called The Center will be sending us notifications for future tests. We also get something called the Regular System added to our PET. This allows us to designate one chip as out “regular” chip. The designated chip will always appear on the Custom Screen at the start of battle. However, we can’t just set any chip as our regular. Each chip has a certain MB size, can we can’t select a chip that has a larger size than Megaman’s own memory, as shown on the folder edit screen. There are Regular Up items scattered all around that can increase Megaman’s memory.
Gutsman and Roll end up passing the test and getting their licenses too. Mayl also gives us Mayl Code via email, which will allow us to open the security cube blocking the entrance to her homepage in Den Area 1.
That’s all for now. Time to jack out.
Virus Listing
- Mettaur
- The classic Mascot Mook of the Megaman franchise appears in this series as the most basic enemy virus. Mettaurs will move up and down one column, and upon aligning with Megaman will swing a pickax, unleashing a shockwave that will travel down one row. If there are more than one Mettaur on the enemy field they will only attack one at a time, and stronger versions of the virus are able to hide under their helmets to block attacks when not attacking themselves.
- Cannodumb
- These viruses are immobile cannon turrets. They send a pink cursor down one row and should they lock onto Megaman they fire a blast that hits the first obstruction, Navi or no, in the way so they're easily dodged by moving to an adjacent row.
- Bunny
- These rabbit viruses hop quickly from panel to panel. Their method of attack is to shoot a fast-moving electric ring down one row that damages and paralyzes the target.
Soundtrack
- Theme of Megaman Battle Network 2
- The title screen theme, a more techno-inspired rendition of the series' main theme.
- Secret Maneuvers
- Our as-of-yet unseen Big Bad's theme. Sinister indeed.
- Hometown (Battle Network 2 ver.)
- A remix of ACDC's theme.
- Internet World
- The background music for the Net. Rather calming.
- Virus Busting
- The regular battle theme for this game. One of the catchier ones in the series, I feel.
