Welp, time to go see Yuuichiro. Upon entering ACDC Station we get another email about Chip Traders. This one is called a Retro Chip Trader. These types of Traders are gray in color and work by trading chips with Battle Network 1 via the GBA link cable. In return you’d get one of a set of chips dubbed “retro chips”, a group of chips from Battle Network 1-exclusive viruses. Obviously that’s not an option for me, or for most players I’d imagine, but we can buy these chips from a merchant much, much, much later in the game, so no harm done.
The Officials are out in force within the Center’s lobby, guarding the server that connects to the Square. We can take the elevator up to Yuuichiro’s lab now, which looks exactly the same as it did in the first game despite the fact that we’re not at SciLab. Well, okay, there’s a door that we’re not allowed to enter at the far end and a conference area, but other than that it’s the exact same room. The man himself turns out to be surprised that Lan knows about what happened at Yumland and the crisis facing Electopia, but enlists his son’s help in finding a certain program for him that’ll help upgrade Megaman, Change.bat. Only thing is, he doesn’t know where this program would be, but he does suggest looking for info on the Square’s BBS. That’s as good a place to start as any.
Time to poke around the lab. First, we can jack into the console that Yuuichiro’s at for a Regular UP 2. Examining the lab coat hanging up in the cubicle yields a Power UP. Jacking in to the large monitor in the conference area allows us to get a Bug Frag and an Aqua + 40 *.
So we visit the BBSes and Megaman leaves a post asking for info on the program, in the same manner that you’d expect to see an Internet n00b use. After talking to all the NPCs in the Square, returning to the board yields a few messages reprimanding Megaman’s lack of e-etiquette as well as one saying that there’s a girl who hangs out with a boy in ACDC park who might know about what we’re looking for.
Oh yeah, at this point we can challenge Toadman V2 by talking to Ribitta. His Navi chip has him use his Shocking Song attack to hit the nearest enemy, damaging and paralyzing them. It can be pretty useful on ice panels and/or for setting up combos.
The girl we’re looking for isn’t at the park, but the young man she hangs out with, actually her husband, is all too happy to point us in the direction of Okuden. The young woman we’re looking for is at the campgrounds in front of one of the tents. She says that a friend of her’s once mentioned about Change.bat, and to look for their Navi in Koto Square. Off we go to Koto Square, where the indicated Navi tells us that we can find the program in Yum Square and gives us the Yum Key item. While we’re on our way there, Cutman V2 can be found on a platform to the right of the ramp leading to the Yum Square entrance in Yumland 2. His Navi chip has him snip the panel in front of him. Very low range, but very powerful. Cutman V3 C does a whopping 300 damage.
Once we get back to Yum Square we have to go back to the room where we originally fought Cutman and use the Yum Key to open the door. The Change.bat is inside a PMD beyond, but fortunately we don’t need an Unlocker to open it. As soon as we obtain it, alarms start to ring. Looks like Change.bat is a Yumland national treasure (a computer program?) and we’re technically stealing it. That’ll do wonders for Electopian foreign relations I’m sure, leaving aside the fact that a random programmer can hack into their cyber-treasure vault. Anyway, Megaman’s unable to jack out, so we have to get back to the entrance fighting viruses that the security system dumps on us along the way to do so.
Back in the real world Lan tells Yuuichiro about what happened and he says that he’ll transmit the program back to where it belonged once he’s finished with it. I’m sure the Yumlanders will love that. He uses Change.bat to make his new program and then installs it inside of Megaman, but nothing seems to have changed. Yuuichiro says that the program won’t activate right away, it’ll take some more battling before its effects become apparent. Just then alarms go off and an announcement airs that the Square has been infiltrated by hostile forces. The Officials guarding the place have been defeated, so it’s up to Lan and Megaman to save the day, as usual.
Jacking in to the Square, we find that it’s been wiped of Navis, just like Yum Square was. There’s a hostile Navi hanging around who taunts us that Shadowman should be swiftly approaching his target, the Center’s Mother Computer, lifeline of Electopia’s IT. He then sics a miniboss on us, a Goofball virus. After deleting it we hurry back upstairs to check in with Yuuichiro. The Mother Computer has been invaded while we were busy in the Square, and the weapon that he mentioned earlier isn’t done yet. Lan tells his father that he’ll help in the defense of the Mother Computer while he finishes the weapon. The Mother Computer can be accessed through the door at the far end of the floor that we weren’t allowed through before.
Once through, Lan takes a few moments to admire the massive supercomputer resting in the heart of the building. Heading forward along the pathway that rings the room, we find that electric security gates have been activated, preventing anyone from getting near the computer. Three Officials are gathered around a control console trying to get the first one open, which they do apparently through rapidly mashing buttons on their PE Ts. The second control console is a little more tricky apparently, and so Lan sends Megaman in to help out the Officials.
Visually, the innards of the Mother Computer’s network are rather unique compared to other networks. Unlike the ‘’narrow pathways suspended in mid air’’ look that’s been the standard up until now, the Mother Computer’s areas have a flat surface, with the pathways made of glass flooring. Functionally it’s no different, but it’s still a nice aesthetic.
Continuing forward, we arrive at this network’s puzzle, password floor panels. The only way to get across these sections of the path are by stepping on the lettered-tiles in the correct order, spelling out a word that serves as the solution to a riddle that a Program will pose us. If we get it right, all the panels will turn green and can be traversed as normal. Step on a wrong panel, and Megaman is automatically teleported to a previous spot in the dungeon. For example, the first riddle is ‘’Curiosity killed the —-‘’ and we need to walk over the C, A, and T panels in that order. Doing so will allow us to proceed to the next puzzle.
After getting through our first battle in this area, Megaman changes form and color. Yuuichiro will pop up to explain what just happened; the program he made with the Change.bat allows Megaman to undergo a phenomena called a Style Change, wherein he will gain a transformation based on how he’s operated in battle. For example if he uses the buster a lot to delete viruses he’ll gain a Style whose abilities emphasize the Mega Buster, while if he uses a lot of chips to delete enemies his Style will reflect that. Every two-hundred-and-eighty battles he will gain a new Style, and the player has the option of keeping it or not. Megaman can only have two Styles at a time, either of which can be equipped through the status screen. The available Styles are as follows:
- Obtained via buster-oriented gameplay
- The buster’s attack power will be doubled, but its rate of fire drops
- By mashing B, Megaman can briefly fire his buster like a machine gun
- Megaman will not recoil when hit by enemy attacks
- Obtained via chip-oriented gameplay
- Megaman starts battle with access to seven chips in the Custom Screen rather than five
- Obtained via defensive gameplay (heavy use of Recovery and defensive chips)
- Megaman starts battle protected by a 10 HP barrier
- By pressing B and Left on the D-pad, Megaman erects a shield to block non-breaking attacks
- Obtained via Navi chip-oriented gameplay
- Up to eight Navi chips can be included in the folder.
In addition to the Style, Megaman will gain an elemental affinity and its corresponding charge shot. If the player decides to keep advancing a current Style instead of switching to a new one given the chance every two-hundred-eighty battles their charge shot will become more powerful. They are:
- Flamethrower – A three-panel-long stream of fire.
- Bubble Shot – Identical to the Bubbler chip.
- Zap Ring – Identical to the Zap Ring chip.
- Tornado Buster – Becomes a fan that generates a tornado two panels ahead that hits multiple times.
Unlike Styles, what element you get is completely random. It’s predetermined too so you can’t just reset and do the last battle over again should you get an undesirable element. I got Wood Guts Style, and I’m perfectly fine with that for now. Its charge shot can tear things apart with the right setup. Already it deals 80 damage for me, and that’s without the Style being upgraded.
Apart from those four, there’s one more Style that can be obtained, but only in the postgame, and only at the point where it’s little more than a Bragging Rights Reward.
Despite the fact that there are a number of branching pathways and dead ends, the rest of the area is pretty straightforward, and none of the passwords are really difficult. You can even get by without even asking a Program for the riddle since the correct answer will always spell out a word, and will always take you to the other end of the panel set. At the end of the area is a control panel to open the security door, but a drone Navi under Shadowman’s control appears to stop us. But the Navis of the three Officials appear to bail Megaman out so that he can go on ahead. Already damaged from previous battles, the three sacrifice themselves to take out the drone.
On to the next console, the last one before the Mother Computer itself. Once jacking in we’re joined by Chaud and Protoman, who go on ahead.
The passwords start getting a little bit tougher here, being more than simple fill in the blank puzzles. For instance, the first password has five Programs that give different combinations, with one being more honest than the others, while another password will only give you individual letters as hints that we have to piece together on our own. At the panel for this area we encounter Protoman facing down Shadowman. Chaud tells Lan to go investigate the main system while he and Protoman take on Shadowman since the final security gate has been deactivated.
Players with Wood and Fire element Styles will enjoy the areas in the Mother Computer due to the plethora of grass panels in battle. There are several areas to this network, and the passwords start spelling out short phrases like “VIRUSES AHEAD” and “DON’T GIVE UP”.
At the end of Area 5 we reach the core of the Mother Computer, which naturally looks like a giant brain with wires sticking out of it. Amusingly, when the camera pans right as the cutscene begins we can see that one of the two pillars flanking it has the Game Cube logo on top of it.
Shadowman’s waiting for us, the one that Protoman was tangling with unsurprisingly a fake. In the real world, Yuuichiro runs up to Lan to give him the completed weapon that he was working on, the “Ultimate Blaster”, which once transferred to Megaman takes the form of a gigantic cannon. There’re two problems with this. The first is that It Only Works Once, the second is, as Shadowman points out, the fact that if Megaman misses the blast will destroy the Mother Computer’s core. Lan’s response is one of the things that makes this game notorious – the utterance of the word “damn”. While that’s not anything to really sniff at in today’s society, coming from an E-rated game, and from Lan of all people, it’s certainly a little eyebrow-raising. And that’s not the last of this game’s d-bombs either.
Luckily for us though, Protoman jacks in and grabs Shadowman in a Full Nelson (the ultimate technique!) to ensure that the blast will hit its intended target. Only now Megaman is unwilling to fire for fear of deleting Protoman, despite Protoman saying that he can just be restored through his backup data. Megaman ultimately resolves to fire, but Shadowman summons several more drones to take the blast. Ah well, looks like we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way.
Shadowman
HP: 800
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Fire no Jutsu – Shadowman sends a wave of fire down one row for 20 Fire damage. If any copies are on the field they will use the attack simultaneously.
- Kawarimi – Shadowman jumps into the air and throws three shurikens at Megaman for 50 damage.
- Kage no Bunshin – Shadowman creates two copies of himself. These copies can be destroyed.
- Image Slash – Shadowman creates two blue copies of himself that will move onto Megaman’s field and attack the panel before them with sword slashes that deal 10 damage. These copies can only be destroyed with sword-based attacks.
Shadowman’s learnt a new trick since Battle Network 1, so I hope you have sword chips, ‘cause without them there’s no way to get rid of his Image Slash copies. As with the first game, I find it best to wait until he stopps to use Kawarimi to attack since it leaves him open and you don’t have to worry about accidentally hitting a clone instead. Wood Guts Style’s tornado charge shot works great for this, especially since Wood attacks don’t activate Mercy Invincibility when a Navi recoils, allowing us to use a follow-up attack afterward.
Winning gives us 2500z.
After the battle Chaud leaves to fix up Protoman, while Megaman turns out to be just fine after his battle. Yuuichiro even ran the backup data for the three Official Navis who sacrificed themselves, and on top of that he says that with the crisis over he’ll be able to return home for the first time in ages, so it’s a happy ending all around.
It’s time to finally put this update to bed.
Virus Listing
- Octon
- These stationary octopus viruses attack by creating a bubble that drifts down their row. Whenever this bubble is his by an attack it grows in power, denoted by the number right below it. If the bubble hits something, it explodes a 3 x 3 area. If it reaches the end of the field without hitting anything it will explode harmlessly. Octon's are Aqua element, while Octor's are Elec and Octavians are Fire.
- Puffball
- Puffballs are mask-wearing bushes. They will eventually remove the mask, which blocks all non-breaking attacks, and us it to spread poison to the surrounding panels.
- Vacuum Fan
- Unlike their cousins the Wind Boxes, Vacuum Fans suck in air instead of blowing it, constantly pulling Megaman to the front of his field.
- Kill Plant
- These immobile flower viruses attack by spitting seeds onto the field that will turn into Wood Towers that home in on Megaman.
- Mushy
- These mushrooms can only move on grass panels. If there is a grass panel on Megaman's field, they will appear there and spread damaging spores on the adjacent panels. If there are no grass panels on the field, they will simply tremble in place.
Soundtrack
- A Serious Mission
- The Mother Computer's theme. A rather calm, low-key piece.
- Style Change
- This plays whenever Megaman undergoes a Style Change.
- Proof of Courage
- The first of the "hero" tracks, a reprisal of the main theme. This one's my favorite hero theme in the series.
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