Ten hours later Lan arrives in Netopia. Talking to the Netopians hanging around the airport at the moment results in them uttering gibberish, but when we get to the check-in desk Megaman runs a translation program so that we can understand what they’re saying. Though you can briefly dissuade him, and if you somehow answer the questions correctly Megaman will be amazed at Lan’s knowledge, heh. Ribitta’s in the Arrivals lobby in case the urge to battle Toadman again strikes, and there’s also the pickpocket from before. Confronting him, he freaks out and sics viruses on I guess Lan’s PET, but once they’re deleted he coughs up the stolen money.
We’ve got our money back, but things are about to take an even worse turn for Lan. Upon leaving to go get the bus, he bumps into a guy who offers to give him a ride, for free. A big, burly guy wearing sunglasses. Despite the age-old advice of not getting into cars with strangers Lan and even Megaman, normally the voice of reason, decide to take the man up on his offer. So Lan gets his free ride to Netopia Park, but is promptly robbed off all his battle chips save the ones in his folders and is roughly booted out of the car before it speeds off, the driver laughing at Lan’s gullibility the who time. Tsk, tsk Lan. Tsk tsk.
The only place to visit in Netopia Park is Net Castle. There’s a statue inside that we can jack in to. Inside is an Unlocker. In the lobby is a Sub Chip dealer:
- Mini Energy – 50z
- Full Energy – 400z
- Locate Enemy – 10000z
Moving on to the downtown area, there’s a Super Chip Trader against one of the buildings. Like before, trading ten chips for a single one is the name of the game, but unfortunately we don’t have any chips to offer! For now, we can only go to the hotel, easily identified by the HOTEL sign. Once inside Lan takes his anger out on Megaman, blaming him for what just happened. The two get into an argument over whose fault it is, which ends with Lan angrily throwing “Mega-dummy’s” PET on the ground and storming out of the room.
Without our PET we can’t really do much except explore the back alley slums. Yeah, they’re right behind the hotel, too. There we can find lots of roach-infested garbage, drunks, a Regular UP 2 in a dumpster, and a kid who asks who the hell we are. Not a very inviting place, obviously.
Back in Netopia Park however, is a more welcome sight. It’s Higsby
◊, who's gone on a trip around the world following the events of the first game! Lan and Higsby are happy to meet each other again, but Higsby becomes saddened when he hears of the argument between the operator and Navi. Lan eventually admits that he was wrong, and resolves to go make up with Megaman. But heading back to the hotel to retrieve the PET, a new problem arises. While Lan was out, someone broke into his hotel room and stole his passport right out of his PET! The two make up and resolve to get back everything that was stolen from them. We can now jack in to the minifridge in Lan’s room for a Bug Frag and an Elec Sword * contained inside a PMD, and examining the fridge itself reveals an HP Memory.
Well, unfortunately, we have no idea where to start looking. But not all Netopians are out to get Lan, as an old woman standing outside the hotel suggests that we visit a certain someone in Netopia Park. Higsby’s also nearby, and he’ll give us a Quake 2 W, Tree Bomb 1 *, and a Sonic Wave I in celebration of Lan and Megaman’s reunion. The certain someone is an old man in Netopia Park, who suggests that we speak to Jim, a denizen of the slums. Jim turns out to be the kid who asked “who the hell are you”, and he says he’ll only help us if we give him a Guard *. He’ll accept even if we don’t have on, so I guess that was just a promise that was worded awkwardly. He tells us that we’ll have to search Cyberworld for our passport, but we’ll need the permission of the slum’s leader, Raoul, to do so. Raoul
◊ is standing near a basketball hoop, and he wants to test our strength before he’ll consent to helping us.
Thunderman
◊
HP: 700
Element: Elec
Attacks:
- Thunderbolt – Thunderman calls down lightning bolts that track Megaman’s position for 80 Elec damage.
- Storm Cloud Thunder – Balls of lightning shoot from the storm clouds on the field down their row for 20 Elec damage.
- Cross Bolt – If Megaman blocks the paths of the storm clouds, they will turn black and discharge lightning in a + shape for 80 Elec damage.
Like Sharkman in Battle Network 1, Thunderman is another candidate of mine for Goddamned Boss status. Those clouds of his really clog up the field and there’s a lot of damage flying around. And the clouds of course have a nasty tendency to block your attacks. Since I have a Wood Style and Thunderman stays in the back row, my strategy is pretty much to cheese the fight by using Area Grab and then spamming my charge shot. It’s not a pretty win, but it’ll have to do for now.
Winning gives us 500z.
After the battle Raoul gives us permission to access the Net via his radio, and gives us Raoul Code so that we can open his security cube. Inside Raoul’s homepage is a Navi + 20 * and a Bug Frag. The denizens of the slums will also react to Lan much more favorably now that we’ve bested their leader.
Netopia’s network is rather complication, but fortunately we’re given direction from a Navi right outside of Raoul’s homepage saying that someone in Net Square might know something about the stolen passport. There’s a sign nearby that’ll point us in the direction of Net Square, and there’s also a merchant near the entrance with the following:
- Wind * - 2000z
- Fan * - 2000z
- Barrier * - 4000z
- Zap Ring 1 * - 5000z
With this we can assemble the mighty Gater. A little further in we can find Higsby’s Navi Numberman
◊ with a few chips for sale:
- Recovery 120 O – 4000z
- Elec + 40 * - 5000z
- Custom Sword B – 7500z
Net Square is probably the biggest of the squares that we’ve visited so far. The merchants here sell the following:
- HP Memory – 8000z
- HP Memory – 12000z
- HP Memory – 16000z
- Power UP – 10000z
- Repair * - 2400z
- Wide Sword * - 3000z
- Hammer U – 4800z
- Jealousy J – 10000z
I’m definitely buying Repair. It restores all panels on Megaman’s field to normal, so it’s very useful as an in-game default chip.
As far as our passport goes, we can learn from NP Cs that a Black Navi was seen leaving the square with one. We can find him trying to sell it in Netopia 3. Defeat his viruses, and the Navi will return it. That’s one stolen item returned. Now for our battle chips.
Returning to Jim, he asks for another Guard * and this time you have to actually have one. Getting the chips back turns out to be much more straightforward than the passport, as Jim tells us that a certain millionaire recently bought a whole pack of ‘em. Heading to the VIP room of the jewelry shop located a little ways the hotel, we find Mrs. Millions
◊. According to her bodyguard, she doesn’t normally deign to speak with commoners, but apparently Lan is an exception. If we want our chips back, we have to entertain her through a Net Battle. Also, her dialogue is steeped with double entendres.
Snakeman
◊
HP: 600
Element: Wood
Attacks:
- Snake Arrow – Snakes will constantly dart from the empty panels on Snakeman’s field down one row for 40 Wood damage.
- Snake Buster – Snakeman fires a machine gun that tracks Megaman’s movements and deals 5 Wood damage per hit.
- Snake Bite – Snakeman appears on Megaman’s row and lunges three panels forward to bite him for 100 Wood damage.
Snakeman’s main gimmick is that he’ll hide in his pot whenever Megaman enters the same row, resulting in another boss that frontal attacks are useless against. The largest opening for attack is when he’s using Snake Buster, but probably the most efficient way of taking him down at the moment is through Program Advances. Area Grab plus Life Sword works well, or you can be cheap and just wait for Gater to finish him off in a single hit.
Winning gives us 500z.
Thoroughly “satisfied”, after the battle Mrs. Millions returns all of our chips to us, in addition to 10000z and the Millions Code item, which lets us deactivate her security cube in Netopia 3. We can jack in to her purse (it’s electronically locked, see) to access her homepage, which contains Wood + 40 *. Her homepage is located near an exit to Yumland 2 and the path to an entrance to the Undernet. However, both are blocked off for the time being, the Yumland path by a rogue security cube, and the Undernet by a Program.
Now that we have all of our chips back, the next part of the trading chain from before is located in Net Square. There’s a Navi there who will trade a Silver Fist V for our Hammer Z. After a bit of chip grinding in which I get Heat Shield Style and trying out the Super Chip Trader a few times, it’s time to return to Lan’s hotel room for bed.
Virus Listing
- Cloudy
- Cloudys hop slowly around the field, occasionally drifting into the air to spit a small raincloud to move up and down one of Megaman's columns.
- Twisty
- These viruses remain immobile, but they operate a remote-control drone that hovers above Megaman's field which moves from panel to panel, breaking them with a bolt of lightning.
- Ratty
- These rat viruses move quickly and do their best to stay out of Megaman's row. They shoot rattons, small projectiles that can make a ninety-degree turn to track Megaman. Rattys move faster and fire more rattons more quickly when low on HP.
- Candevil
- These demons send fire down one row upon aligning with Megaman. In the back column they're is set a candle that will slowly regenerate this virus's HP. Destroy the candle to deprive the Candevil of its lifeline.
Soundtrack
- Netopia Castle
- This track probably would've been better with a different soundfont. It's a little too loud for me.
- Busy Street of a Foreign Country
- Sounds...trendy, I guess.
- Alley
- Music to get mugged to.
