Unlike the GBA games which simply skip straight to the title screen, Double Team has a brief, thirty-second introduction sequence which mainly serves to show off artwork of the main characters and their Navis. Then once we select “NEW GAME” on the title screen we’re asked to choose a file and a version to play. As I mentioned in the intro, it’s Team Colonel for me.
The game opens by showing a room (the astute observer will note that it’s the exact same one that Lan and Megaman met Tadashi in after defeating Alpha) where two figures are having a conversation. We don’t hear the whole thing, only that they’ve “done all we can” and that it’s up to the next generation now to finish the research. This will become relevant about twenty gameplay hours from now.
The game opens in protagonist Lan Hikari’s room where is…wait for it…fast asleep. At least he’s at his desk this time and not in bed. Megaman wakes him up from his PET (it looks like an elongated GBA and is called the Progress PET this time around), which is also on the desk, and urges him to finish his homework. But Lan has other ideas, deciding that going online will fully wake him up. The jack-in animation is cut off by his mother, Haruka
◊, calling for him to come downstairs.
Since we’re now free to walk around one will notice that the menu interface has changed a bit from the GBA games. The menu options are now displayed on the bottom screen once START is pressed and can be manipulated with the DS’s stylus. When not accessing the menu, the bottom screen displays a rather simple 3D model of Megaman, which is visibly “transmitted” whenever Lan jacks in.
Speaking of jacking in, one of the more extraneous additions to the Double Team port are short snippets of voice acting. Whenever Lan jacks in the “Jack in, Megaman, execute!” line will be voiced out, as is the “Battle routine, set!” “Execute!” exchange when confronting bosses. In the Japanese version Lan and Megaman’s clips were provided by their seiyuu from the anime, but in the English version they’re somewhat-awkwardly voiced by people trying to imitate Brad Swaile’s and Anthony Francis’s performances from the dub.
Going downstairs to the Hikari household’s kitchen reveals that Haruka wants us to bring a recipe to a Navi of a friend who’s in a place accessible from ACDC Area 2, namely the Kitchen Computer. She could just email it, but that would deprive us of the Tutorial, since there are viruses on Lan’s homepage when he jacks in to his computer. The Tutorial itself hasn’t changed from the last game, but there has been one big change to the overall battle gameplay. Individual Program Advances can only be used once per battle, so they’re nowhere near as viable as they used to be outside of a few instances.
Battles have more voice acting, but it’s mainly just grunts and shouts from Megaman. Lan does call out transformations and Program Advances, though.
So, the Internet’s a lot less smooth-looking in this game than it was in Battle Network 4. While online you can find maps inside of Blue Mystery Data for the corresponding area, which is helpful since later areas in the game can get quite convoluted. The two areas of ACDC Area contain all of the sights that you’d expect it to by now. Each of the teleporters that lead to homepages are denoted with a house icon, and Megaman’s current location is helpfully displayed at the bottom right corner of the screen. We can meet the Navis of Lan’s friends, Roll
◊, Gutsman
◊, and Glyde
◊ while we’re out, and there’s a Sub Chip shop in the first area and a regular merchant in the second.
- Mini Energy – 100z
- Sneak Run – 300z
- Unlocker – 4000z
- HP Memory – 1000z
- HP Memory – 3200z
- HP Memory – 5000z
- Vulcan 1 C – 1800z
- Spreader * - 3200z
- Hi-Cannon E – 5000z
- Long Sword C – 6000z
- Custom Sword E – 6800z
In addition to unacquired chips being displayed in green, highlighting a chip also displays each code it can come in, and whether or not the player currently has it. Very handy to have.
The Kitchen Computer is accessed via a teleporter that’s practically right next door to the merchant. All we have to do to complete Haruka’s errand is to talk to a Navi there and that’s that. Lan then gets an email from his father Yuuichiro, asking him to gather up is friends and come to SciLab so that he can show them all something.
ACDC’s the same as it was in the last game, except that Higsby’s is closed, as per the usual early-game status quo. As always, Lan’s doghouse can be jacked in to for a Regular UP 2 and there’s a tree near the Metroline station that can also be jacked in to because it’s actually a weather monitor. It contains an HP Memory. And of course there’s also a scientist hanging around who’s selling more Sub Chips.
- Mini Energy – 100z
- Untrap – 500z
- Locate Enemy – 6000z
Hey, Locate Enemies are actually reasonably priced now!
Amidst the usual tutorial stuff the NP Cs spout, one of them mentions a new minor element that’s unique to Double Team. That is the Critical Emotion Window. This sometimes comes up when Megaman’s in a real tight spot in battle. When this happens we can “cheer our Navi on”, meaning “blow in to the DS’s microphone. This gives Megaman one of several short-term power boosts: Full Synchro, a barrier, or some HP recovery. It’s not something that the player should count on, but it’s a nice little boost that can pull one’s ass out of the fire.
Back to the matter at hand, inviting Dex
◊, Mayl
◊, and Yai
◊ to SciLab is simply a matter of talking to them in their homes, where their homepages and the goodies within are accessible. The homepages are very sprawling in this game, to the point that the English version of the GBA games greatly simplified their layout and removed an area from some later dungeons. Examining a climate control device in Yai’s mansion gives us the option to turn it on, which doesn’t seem to do anything right now but will in the future.
Once everyone’s talked to we’re supposed to meet up at the Metroline station, where Dex is the one who’s late, not Lan. The group automatically departs and soon arrives at SciLab. Or rather, SciLab’s outdoor campus. It too has been hit by the post-Battle Network 3 Chaos Architecture bug, but at least here it’s justified in that since Lan never saw its exterior in that game we can assume that this is a different part of the same building. There’s an art display that we can jack in to for an HP Memory (they’re just giving them away on a silver platter this time around), and of course there’s another Sub Chip seller hanging around.
- Full Energy – 1000z
- Unlocker – 4000z
- Locate Enemy – 6000z
As soon as Lan’s group enters the building the camera pans to show a black car with an occupant muttering that it’s about time to start the operation…
Inside is a main lobby with two additional exits and an information terminal that can be jacked in to for a Sea Seed * chip and a Bug Frag. One of the doors we’re not allowed through yet, but the other is the elevator that leads to Yuuichiro’s lab (which is very spacious, but the way). Once everyone’s assembled, the man himself says that he found a certain program when going through some old files that he wants to show everyone. He goes up to a giant bank of monitors to call it up, but realizes that he can’t access the computer since he doesn’t have his ID with him. He has Lan go over to his cubicle to retrieve it when he notices that the ID confirmation window isn’t even coming up.
As he’s pondering that alarms begin to ring and a frantic voice comes over the PA announcing that several Internet areas have been taken over by mysterious Navis. The link is quickly cut off, and before the characters can speculate as to what’s going on a gas grenade is rolled into the lab. One by one everyone succumbs to it and falls unconscious, save for Lan who’s able to hold on a little longer since he’s further away. A trio of Gas Mask Mooks enter the lab, and once they confirm the air is safe their leader shows himself. It’s Dr. Regal, having magically survived his apparent suicide at the end of Battle Network 4, back to grace us once again with his charming presence. It seems he’s here for Yuuichiro, since he has one of the mooks cart him off, and then he has the other two steal Mayl, Dex, and Yai’s PETs. So far, so good…until he completely misses Lan, despite him only being hidden by the partition of Yuuichiro’s cubicle. Seriously, all he had to do is take a few steps to the left! Well, regardless, Regal says that they have what they came for, and he and his men depart, leaving Lan and his friends behind on the floor.
Lan wakes up in his room and learns from his mother that he’s been out for three days. Yikes, what kind of sleeping gas was that?! Everyone else is okay, just sans PET, but Yuuichiro has been kidnapped. Lan is chomping at the bit to go save him, but Haruka forces him to stay in his room. At least he can still jack in to the Net from his PC, though.
Once online, the two find that the Net has a dark and foreboding aura about it, and the few Navis and Programs that are about are majorly freaking out over the change. Lan and Megaman decide to look for clues, and in ACDC Area 2 they find a giant gate blocking off the way to ACDC Area 3. In front of it is a Heel Navi who declares that the Dark Chip Syndicate Nebula is now in charge of this area and attacks him. Instead of fighting the Navi himself like how Battle Network 4 did it, we’ve gone back to just fighting a proxy virus battle. After winning the Heel Navi says that he’ll show his true power to Megaman (so…fighting him himself?) but is instead contacted and told to withdraw by whomever his boss is, in the process revealing to Lan and Megaman that it was indeed Nebula who kidnapped their father. After taunting the two, the Navi leaves via the gate, but when Megaman tries to follow it closes in his face, and not even the Mega Buster can damage it. While pondering what to do, they get an email from SciLab mentioning that their main system has been infiltrated. Geez, for being the lifeline of Electopia’s IT industry, its defenses sure do suck. I don’t think a game’s that’s featured the place as gone by without it being compromised in some way. Assuming Nebula to be behind it, Lan decides to go check it out.
Virus Listing
- Mettaur
- The classic Mascot Mook of the Megaman franchise appears in this series as the most basic enemy virus. Mettaurs will move up and down one column, and upon aligning with Megaman will swing a pickax, unleashing a shockwave that will travel down one row. If there are more than one Mettaur on the enemy field they will only attack one at a time, and stronger versions of the virus are able to hide under their helmets to block attacks when not attacking themselves.
- Cannoguard
- Cannodumbs return, or rather, their slightly-evolved cousins make their debut. Cannoguards are still immobile cannon turrets that still attack by sending a cross hair down one row and firing if it locks on to Megaman. Stronger versions will shield themselves with their metal shutters when not firing, necessitating breaking attacks to delete them.
- Powie
- These viruses are renamed Flappies, returning from Battle Network 2. They will quickly flit from panel to panel before appearing above Megaman in the form of a giant metal weight and crashing down, cracking the panel below. Later versions can damage additional panels.
- Bugtank
- These viruses are renamed Beetanks, also returning from Battle Network 2. They trundle up and down one column, periodically firing bombs into Megaman's fields that explode in a three-panel-wide detonation. The basic Bugtank's bombs just deal damage, but stronger versions can crack panels and even reset the Navi Customizer.
Soundtrack
The unique thing about this game's soundtrack is that they were all rearranged for Double Team, so eachsong has two different versions, and I'll provide them both for completion's sake.
- Be Somewhere
- "Why am YOU posting a J-pop song, what does that have to do with Megaman?" you may ask. This was the opening theme for the Stream season of the anime which very loosely adapted this game and part of Battle Network 4. A thirty second snippet of the song was played during the game's introduction sequence in the Japanese version. I doubt that it's a particularly deep song, but it's catchy enough and since Stream was the very first time I watch anime raw, I guess it made a bit of an impression on me.
- Theme of Megaman Battle Network ~TGS 2002 mix~
- And this is what played instead in the overseas version. I don't really care for the remix, but it is nice to hear the series's main theme again.
- Theme of Megaman Battle Network 5 (DS)
- And this game's proper theme. A step up over Battle Network 4's if I do say so myself.
- In the Room (Battle Network 5 ver.) (DS)
- A nicer arrangement of the version from last game.
- Network Space (DS)
- The main Internet theme for this outing. The DS version benefits from the cleaner sound.
- Battle Start! (DS)
- The edge goes to the GBA version here. I love how cheery this is for a battle theme.
- Enemy Deleted! (Battle Network 5 ver.) (DS)
- Ditto.
- Hometown (Battle Network 5 ver.) (DS)
- ACDC's old theme makes its return as well.
- Scientific Forefront (Battle Network 5 ver.) (DS)
- Incident Occurrence! (Battle Network 5 ver.) (DS)
- Thankfully not as grating as in the last game.
- Theme of Nebula (DS)
- I like the very 8-bit boops in the GBA version.
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