It's the day of the final battle, and as promised the entirety of Team Colonel is assembled outside of Higsby's. After reaffirming their hype amongst each other, Lan asks Baryl where exactly Nebula's base is. He responds that it's located at Electopia's highest point: Mt. Belenus. When he says “Mt. Belenus”, he really means “Mt. Fuji”. He even rattles off the mountain's height, which matches up with Mt. Fuji exactly. We're going to be getting there by helicopter, and as he says this a shadow cast by one of Battle Network 4's invisible helicopters appears over the park. After a last minute farewell to his friends, Lan and the team depart.
The place ain't looking too good when we arrive. Instead of being snowcapped the mountain's all sooty and cracked, with veins of lava visible here and there. Dark goes ahead to scout out Nebula's base, a giant monolithic fortress guarded by numerous gun turrets. Huh, I was just joking when I suggested the helicopter was invisible. He soon calls back to report that there's a side entrance, but the call's cut off before he can divulge anything else. Onward we go, and from this point on we can get back to ACDC by examining a rope ladder dropped from the copter.
The side entrance is hard to miss, and there's a giant pipe next to it that we can jack in to for a Party HP + 100 program and an HP Memory. Once inside the base's front entrance (which is abandoned...) Baryl splits the remaining team members into two groups. He'll go with Ribitta through one door while everyone else goes with Lan through another, his justification being that he needs Toadman's ability to stymie the dark power. Before he leaves, he gives us the third Giga chip of the game, Cross Divide C. This chip has Colonel project an X-shaped slash centered three panels ahead. Since the two overlap, the enemy in the middle eats twice the chip's listed damage. In Team Protoman, Chaud hands out the trusty Delta Ray Edge chip instead, letting Protoman attack three times from three different angles, space permitting.
Before we head further in to the base, there's a BBS on the wall that we can jack in to. It connects to Undernet 3, near where the chip merchant is, and the computer itself contains the map for Undernet 2 and a Regular UP 3. While we have this chance, a Heel Navi has appeared in Undernet 2 who'll sell us Roll DS R for 3000z.
Pressing onward, Lan's group enters the area where Dark Chips are produced. All the machinery is still functioning, despite Regal calling a halt to production a little while ago. We can in fact jack in to one of the machines for Dark Circle R, the final Dark Chip in the game. With all twelve in our possession at last, the Dark Complete emblem is added to the title screen.
Just past that is our first obstacle, an energy barrier. Well, naturally there's a control console for it, but there's a catch – we'll need two Navis to jack in to operate it. Megaman's obviously going to use one of them, while Pride steps up to man the second one since, she says, they don't know what they're in for, so Knightman's defensive abilities will be needed. Dingo's bummed that he'll be sitting this one out but Higsby's certainly okay with this arrangement. Lan and Pride both jack in.
Megaman and Knightman come out in the first area of the Factory Computer. The ways these areas are going to work is that we'll have to control both Megaman and each of his teammates, switching between them with the X and Y buttons. The way forward is blocked by color-coded security doors, each one the color of one of the Navis present. To open them, we have to flip switches, but half the switches are guarded by an obstacle that only the teammate Navi can get past. So here first Knightman has to find a purple switch that's protected by a giant turret, and after he flips it to open the way, Megaman can move up to find an unguarded blue switch to allow Knightman to proceed, and so on until Megaman reaches the boss. Simple enough. As we press forward, drops of gray slime will occasionally fall on the path. If one of the Navis gets hit by it they'll lose a trivial amount of HP. On small touch I like about this dungeon is that each Navi has a unique “do you want to run? We made it/failed!” dialogue set.
As you may imagine, we'll be fighting the Darkloid Navis at the end of each area. The first one up is Blizzardman.
Blizzardman Alpha
HP: 1200
Element: Aqua
Attack:
- Snow Rolling – Blizzardman kicks two snowballs down adjacent rows for 100 Aqua damage.
- Blizzard Breath – Blizzardman breathes a blast of icy air down two panels and freezes them for 100 Aqua damage.
- Rolling Slider – Blizzardman tumbles down one row for 120 Aqua damage. Additionally two globs of snow will fall from the sky and briefly block off two panels.
He certainly got buffed! Elec chips would help in swiftly cutting through his HP, but there aren't that many good ones in this game. He's still deceptively fast, as well.
Instead of simply exploding when defeated Blizzardman instead creates a portal, one that leads to what he calls “the Dark Galaxy”, a space of darkness created by Regal. Since this is fictionland, the black hole acts like a vacuum cleaner and begins to pull Megaman forward. Blizzardman goes out in the usual pyrotechnics show, but Megaman cannot jack out. Knightman, ever the chivarlous fellow, jumps in the way, his huge bulk shielding his ally from the suction long enough for him to jack out. Sadly, Knightman cannot follow suit, apologizes to Pride, and is sucked in. He will be missed.
Despite Knightman's sacrifice the barrier switches off, allowing Lan and his two companions to continue until they reach another energy barrier. This time though, the second control console is located on another catwalk, out of reach, something that another Nebula goon, the only one we see in the whole base, taunts us with. Too bad for him that Dark shows up on that side and kicks his ass. So it's Megaman and Shadowman for the second area. This one has two levels. Megaman's on the bottom while Shadowman's on the top. Shadowman is going to be doing most of the work in this area, as Megaman's section is basically just a straight shot. Shademan's the boss here, and he preemptively sucks up our companion with another black hole before the battle even begins. Hmph.
Shademan Alpha
HP: 1000
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Shade Talon – Shademan slashes the column in front of him for 100 damage.
- Red Wing – Shademan summons three small bats that behave like slow-moving rattons, traveling down the row and making a right angle turn to strike Megaman for 80 damage.
- Crush Noise – Shademan fires a sonic beam that hits the panel in front of him and the following column for 80 damage as well as either paralyzing or confusing Megaman.
- Shade Drain – Shademan appears either in front of or behind Megaman and bites him several times, draining away a total of 120 damage and healing himself by the same amount.
His Alpha buff isn't as drastic as Blizzardman's. I found it ironic that I finished him off with Toad Chaos when he keeps doing on about darkness and crap.
Goodbye Shademan (he'll be back again). Dark tells Lan not to worry about Shadowman and that he'll cede him the honor of defeating Nebula. If you talk to Higsby at this point he'll express worry for Numberman, obviously seeing the pattern here. Soon enough we reach another barrier, this one equipped with not one, not two, but three consoles. It's a three-Navi-job, so let's get to it.
Factory Computer 3 is a little different from the previous two areas in that there's a lot more obstacles for Numberman and Tomahawkman to get through, and they're not just guarding switches. This is the third area, so Megaman gets the pleasure of fighting the third Darkloid at the end of the line.
Cloudman Alpha
HP: 900
Element: Elec
Attacks:
- Thunder Ball – One of the clouds will shoot a ball of lightning down one row that deals 60 Elec damage and paralyzes.
- Cross Spark – A thundercloud is summoned to Megaman's side of the field and emits lightning that strikes a plus-shaped area for 80 Elec damage.
- Elec Storm – Cloudman hides in a number of clouds as a giant thunderhead roams the friendly side of the field, dealing 80 Elec damage.
I swapped out Dark Wide for Dark Lance. Tomahawk Chaos, just for you Cloudman.
Upon defeat Cloudman summons up two more portals to suck up Tomahawkman and Numberman, and then goes and tells Megaman to blame his own powerlessness as he explodes. What a spiteful bastard.
Nothing to do but to head forward alone. Heading deeper into the factory we can see the beginning steps in the Dark Chip production process, and apparently it involves refining dark matter. Hm, between this, the name of the organization, Laserman, Cosmoman, and Duo's asteroid it's like Nebula wants to have a space theme really badly but at the same time doesn't try sticking to it very hard.
I digress. Just past that is another three-man-operated electro-barrier. We're all out of companions, so Lan and Megaman resolve to try to press on as far as they can alone. Luckily however, Baryl and Ribitta stumble upon them, and lend their powers so that we can jack in to the final area of the Factory Computer.
There's barely anything to do in this place for Megaman – Colonel and Toadman do almost all of the heavy lifting. Cosmoman's at the end, and like Shademan he sucks up Colonel and Toadman before the battle even begins, though they do try to resist. Cosmoman quotes Emperor Palpatine for a bit and then the battle commences.
Cosmoman Alpha
HP: 1200
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Cosmo Buster – Three artificial planets are sent down the field. They are surrounded by rings that may need to be destroyed if they are to be dodged successfully. They deal 100 damage.
- Cosmo Ring – Cosmoman throws his ring, which spins in a 2 x 2 space for 100 damage.
- Cosmo Gate – Cosmoman blocks an attack with a black hole, then calls down a meteor that hits a plus-shaped area and cracks the center panel for 100 damage.
- Cosmo Prison – Cosmoman disappears into a tear in space-time and dozens of mini- artificial planets randomly fly down the field for 100 damage per hit.
Cosmoman with 20% more HP and 25% more damage-dealing capability. Um, not much else to say, except that Cosmo Prison hurts.
Cosmoman tells us upon defeat that Soul Net is about to activate, and sure enough the scene switches to Regal admiring the completed Soul Server (which looks like a giant metal brain). I think the room he's in is supposed to be surrounded by lava, but due to crappy graphics it looks more like radioactive red jello. He turns to a shackled Yuuichiro and tells him that their fathers would be pleased to see their research completed, only for the man to retort that no scientist would delight in finishing defective research. How is Soul Net defective (aside from the general concept, of course)? Whether is was a matter of the technology needed not being available yet, or some wall Tadashi and Wily ran up against, this “defect” is never explained. Yuuichiro is correct in his further retort that what Regal plans to do runs counter to Soul Net's purpose, at least.
This scene isn't a total wash as we do finally learn exactly how Regal's going to make everyone go crazy-evil: simply using a program, Nebula Gray, to corrupt all of mankind's souls over Soul Server. Yuuichiro berates himself for not destroying the Hikari Report and allowing things to get to this point. Great going, pal.
Back to Lan, moving forward brings us to the room where Regal's been in during his numerous interludes throughout the game. The room shakes, and Megaman suggests they look for a secret passage. The only points of interest in the room are three glass containers, one of which we can jack in to. Inside is a PMD containing a Mud Wave D chip, and a fallen Normal Navi who reveals that this is where Roll, Gutsman, and Glyde were held. Apparently they got sucked up by the black holes too. He tells us that their PE Ts are being stored in the case on the left, and that there's a switch that opens a secret passage to where Regal is in the middle case. I wonder where he came from. Did he happen to be Yuuichiro's Navi?
Regardless of who he is, he told us the truth. We recover the PE Ts and flip the switch, opening a door next to a giant monitor. It's at this point that the rest of the team arrives to give Lan their final support. Without Navis, there's really not much else they can do. Lan tells them that he never would've made it this far against Nebula without them, and that's true, he wouldn't. Well, thanks for the help guys, but it's time to move on and confront Regal...
...in the next update.
Virus Listing
- Flashy
- Flashies are crosses between a firefly and a lightbulb. They move quickly, and attack by generating a plus-shaped spark of electricity. Stronger versions will follow up with an X-shaped spark.
- Appley
- A rather odd virus. Appleys live inside apple-shaped shells, and while the shell is closed only Fire attacks can hurt them. When they pop out to spit a seed that generates a grass panel they can be damaged normally. Upon defeat they will automatically restore an ally's HP to full, so it's a good idea to take them out first or last.
Soundtrack
- Dark Chip Factory
(DS)
- An unusually straightforward title.
- A Total War (DS)
- Back to the standard of final dungeon network themes being awesome.
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