The semi-finals pit us up against Topman. Bafflingly, Lan has to ask Megaman if they’ve ever battled him before. When Lan, wait for it, goes outside he watches an old man trying to impress his grandson with some sort of electronic spinning top. The kid isn’t too impressed, as I image most would be when confronted with their grandparents’ toys, and even Lan remarks on how quaint they are. The boy, Kosuke, tells his grandfather that he’s tired of his tops and thinks they’re boring and leaves. The top suddenly starts to malfunction, but since the old man is too beside himself to handle it it falls to us to jack in and defeat the virus inside.
Instead of being grateful, the old man gets even more pissed off at Lan helping him, telling him to mind his own business. It eventually comes out that his name is Tensuke
◊, and he is Topman’s operator. Something seems to be wrong with Topman, since he keeps babbling about the tournament preliminaries. Or maybe he’s just going senile. Hm, would decaying data in a sentient AI produce that effect? Tensuke apparently programmed Topman himself to show off to his grandson, but since Navis and the Net are not his forte Topman’s always on the fritz. Lan asks why he doesn’t get a guiding, professional hand to help him, and the reason is because Tensuke’s not on good terms with a group called the Elderly Net Battlers’ Club since he used to always go on about how Net Battles were for kids. He storms off in a pique to Elec Town.
Being the good Samaritan that they are, Lan and Megaman decide to help. Megaman does a search and discovers that the club is currently meeting in ACDC’s park. So off we go. While the members are sympathetic to Tensuke’s plight insofar as him wanting to connect with his grandson, they aren’t so much for the man himself. Still, after considering Lan’s earnestness, they decide to help out, but with a catch: each of their Navis will be on the Net, and Megaman has to seek them out. They’ll pose us a riddle, and if they’re answered correctly we’ll be given part of an instruction manual on how to build and troubleshoot Navis. If we get them wrong, we’ll instead have to play a brief minigame in which Megaman gives the Navis a shoulder massage by hitting the shoulder buttons in sequence for the manual. In the end, the chief of the club agrees to meet with Tensuke in the Elec Town square.
The chief turns out to be Tensuke’s twin brother (so naturally he’s just a palette swap). The two continue to butt heads and argue for a bit before the chief hands over the information, and then it’s back to the Den Dome for the battle.
Topman Alpha
◊
HP: 900
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Top Spin – Topman turns into a giant top and either spins down one row or bounces around the field for 60 damage.
- Little Spinners – Topman creates two small tops that ricochet around the field for 60 damage.
- Top Smash – Topman turns into a giant top, leaps into the air, and comes crashing down on Megaman’s current panel for 90 damage.
From a meta standpoint I like how Topman being in his Alpha form plays in to this scenario. Topman isn’t too dangerous save for his Little Spinners attack. That one takes some pausing to dodge consistently. Apart from that the only real caveat this battle has is the high number of invincibility frames he has. Still, my chip selection makes short work of him.
Things pretty much proceed as you’d expect after the battle. Even though he lost, Kosuke admits that Topman was cool in battle and Tensuke and his brother seem to reach an understanding…only to immediately get into another argument over whose Navi is better. Sibling rivalry never fades, it seems.
After this, Topman Beta can be found in Town Area 1. His chip has him use both Little Spinners and Top Smash to damage an enemy three panels ahead.
