Following the events of the N1 we get yet another peek at what Wily’s up to. He’s not happy about Sunayama’s arrest, but he’s still got the two Tetra Codes and it’s time to get the last two, enabling him to resurrect “the beast.” After laughing to himself for a bit a new operator enters, a young woman named Anetta
◊. Wily asks her she’s been doing and Anetta brightly replies that she put a stop to three factories that were polluting the air. Oh boy, we’ve got another “environmentalist” on our hands. Anetta asks for her next target, and after receiving it openly questions what the point of attacking the place will do. Wily tells her that the target has a third Tetra Code, and that if nature is to be preserved WWW needs it. Anetta perks up and happily goes to work.
When we get back to Lan it’s been a week since the N1’s abortive conclusion and apparently Yai still hasn’t been released from the hospital. So after school he, Mayl, and Dex decide to go visit her, only Lan has to stay behind because he’s on classroom cleaning duty. Once he’s done he’s free to go.
But before we go to Beach Street we ought to drop by Higsby’s. Higsby has started up a chip ordering system. If a chip is recorded in the library Lan can buy a duplicate from Higsby, even Mega chips. It’s simple, but very useful when trolling for certain chips codes. The downside to this service is that it only works once per chip.
Beach Street is quieter since the N1 is over with, but there are still a few things that we can do now that it’s done. If we go up to the second floor of the TV station we can jack in to a control panel located right outside of the editing room for a Regular UP 1 and an Attack + 1 program in a PMD. There’s also another Navi hosting a new gambling minigame. This time there are three panels and the bet is 500z. Choosing the right panel triples the bet this time, but I’m not crazy enough to go for it. Inside the editing room itself there’s a secret jack in point in a far corner of the monitor bank, and inside is a PMD containing Jealousy J and an HP Memory inside of a regular BMD.
What’s unique about this little area is that there’s a teleporter at the far end which takes us to an isolated area in the Undernet, Undernet 6 to be exact. Before us is a security cube and upon examining it we’re told that a “cowardly Navi of bubbles holds the key.” So, in order for this security cube to open we need to defeat Bubbleman Beta. There are several more of these security cubes scattered throughout the Undernet, each one corresponding to a different WWW Navi, and they’ll only open in the same way. Behind this one is a chip for Aura F.
Hades Isle is also freely accessible now via the DNN ferry. Hades Isle’s network can be accessed from the eight-man Net Battle machine, and the NP Cs scattered around still have the five Extra Folders should the player want to still use any of them. There’s another secret jack in point outside, on one of the gargoyle statues at the top of the ziggurat. This place has the program Weapon LV + 1 for upgrading a Style Change’s charge attack, and another teleporter that leads directly to the Undernet, this time to a Bug Frag merchant in Undernet 2.
- Elec + 30 * - 15 frags
- Wood + 30 * - 15 frags
- Full Custom * - 30 frags
- God Stone S – 80 frags
- Meteors R – 150 frags
- Folder Back * - 200 frags
Some good stuff here, but Folder Back is the real prize. This is the first Giga chip in the game, and probably the most useful, and broken, single chip in the entire series. Folder Back acts like a Full Custom chip, instantly throwing the player back into the Custom Screen. However, all the chips in their folder get replenished, including itself. Already used up you super-ridiculous one-hit kill combo or Program Advance? Folder Back lets you use them again and again and again. If this is used in a player vs. player battle the opponent will be thrown back into the Custom Screen again as well, only their chips won’t be replenished. White version gets the less impressive Navi Recycle which simply reuses the last Navi chip used in battle, albeit with any and all attack multipliers still active.
Seaside Hospital is pretty big, so one can’t miss it once they head through the area that was previously blocked off. The lobby has a Super Chip Trader, a vending machine and a TV that can be jacked in to which contain 9000z and a Recovery 120 * between them. The vending machine has another gambler, only now with four panels and a 1000z bet, while the TV has a Sub Chip dealer:
- Mini Energy – 100z
- Full Energy – 1000z
- Locate Enemy – 10000z
The centerpiece of the hospital is the Tree of Life, a massive tree that grows through the center of the building and even out through the hospital’s roof. In fact, examining the tree on the third floor yields an HP Memory. According to the nurse at the front desk Yai’s room is on the second floor so up the elevator we go. When we arrive the others are already there at Yai’s bedside. She’s certainly in fine spirits, complaining about how the doctors won’t discharge her even though there’s nothing wrong with her and how boring it is here. Can’t say I blame her, since I’ve been hospitalized on flimsy pretexts before myself – it is very boring. I must say though, the hospital rooms in this place are incredibly spacious. I wish my room had been like that. The group talks about the Tree of Life for a little bit (its growth is managed by computers so that it never withers – uh oh, I’m getting a feeling of foreboding…) and then Yai ropes Lan into buying her a drink from the lobby vending machine. Yai must be better if she’s able to send us on more errands, as usual. We can jack in to her hospital bed for a Regular UP 2.
Once Lan buys the drink a nurse asks him if he’s seen a boy in a wheelchair who’s gone missing right before an exam. Lan and Megaman decide to help search for him since they’ve had people help them in the past. He’s told that the boy’s name is Mamoru, and he’s one of the long-term hospitalized patients.
Mamoru can be found outside, watching the sea from the beachfront right outside of the hospital. As soon as he sees Lan he recognizes him from the N1 and starts to hero-worship him. After getting over their initial bashfulness Lan tells the boy that the nurse is looking for him and Mamoru agrees to return on the condition that they talk a little longer. Lan asks him if he likes Net Battles and Mamoru says that he loves it because it online it doesn’t matter what a person’s like in the real world, not even if one’s invalid like he is. Lan asks if he wants to have a Net Battle with him, and Mamoru’s eyes go even wider before admitting that he can’t since that sort of excitement isn’t good for his condition. He decides to go back to the hospital, but before he goes he asks Lan if he can visit him some other time. Lan agrees.
After Mamoru leaves we have to go back to Yai’s room. Mamoru’s the patient in the room next door, BTW. After getting a small earful for taking so long Lan notices that Dex has been unusually subdued throughout this visit. He asks if something’s wrong and Dex awkwardly says that there isn’t and that he has to go. After he leaves the others wonder about him, but ultimately figure that it’s nothing to get worked up over. Lan and Megaman decide that they should be getting home.
Since it’s been a while I’m gonna do the two new jobs that are available at the Job BBS.
Job 8: Be my boyfriend!
For this job we have to pretend to be the boyfriend of a Navi in Beach Square during a talk with her friends. Well, I guess it’s a change from all of those hit requests that Battle Network 2 had as jobs. Basically the other Navis will talk about stuff with Megaman occasionally putting in a word or two, and when he does we have to pick the correct dialogue option from a list. Choose the right one and the conversation continues. Choose the wrong one and things get awkward, so the client tries to distract everyone with a virus battle. Things get awkward no matter what, but we are given a Step Sword O for our G-rated pimping of Megaman.
While we’re in Beach Area Desertman Alpha lurks in Beach 1, on the open plaza near a rogue security cube. His chip attack is Lion Head. Desertman Beta can then be found inside of the old TV at the Ura Inn.
Job 9: Will you deliver?
Our client is an old woman in front of the Ura Inn who wants us to deliver the chip Time Bomb N to a man in DNN. That’s easy enough, he’s in the TV station’s main hallway. Unfortunately we learn upon returning to the old woman that she gave us the wrong chip. So we have to now deliver an Invisible * to the man’s Navi in ACDC Square. For all that gopher work we’re given an Aqua + 30 *.
Alright, now it’s time to start heading home.
Virus Listing
- Heavy
- Heavy viruses look like shake-a-weights. They'll appear on one of Megaman's columns and rapidly move up and down it.
- N.O
- N.O viruses look like little humanoid sprites who fire a laser shaped like a projection of themselves down one row that I think gets more powerful if there are viruses or obstacles behind them. They rapidly regenerate HP when idle.
- 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
- Tree of Life
- This is the theme for the hospital, and while it is a nice track I feel that the soundfont doesn't do it justice. This official piano arrangement on the other hand, is downright beautiful.
- This is the theme for the hospital, and while it is a nice track I feel that the soundfont doesn't do it justice. This official piano arrangement
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