Welcome to the Power Plant Computer, the most hair-pullingly frustrating dungeon in the game, if not the entire series. There are multiple gimmicks to this one, the first being the battery meter displayed at the top of the screen. Whenever Megaman moves, the meter will deplete, and when it runs out Megaman will no longer be able to heal after each battle. Fortunately though, it drains slowly, and when it does run out, the scientist with Lan in the real world will give him a hand-crank generator which can be used to recharge the battery by mashing A or B, I forget which. This can only be done three times, but unless you’re really taking your time those three uses should see you through.
The second gimmick involves invisible pathways. I hear that in the Operation Shooting Star port for the DS they added little lights to the edges of the pathways so that the player could see them, but on the original GBA game, there’s no such guide. They only way they can be found is by guesswork. The third gimmick involves the Programs in the dungeon. Some of them have been corrupted and must be fought like normal viruses, and there’s no indication as to whether a Program is corrupt or not until Megaman talks to them and the player can see their mugshot. They’re not really difficult though.
The final gimmick, the main one, is the battery puzzles. We will encounter indentations in the pathway every so often, as well as a Program that will give us a number of batteries. In order to proceed, we must insert one or more batteries into the correct slot and then turn on the power. If the batteries are in the correct slot, a bulb will turn on, illuminating the correct pathway. If they aren’t in the right spot, nothing happens, and the battery will lose half of its charge. Once a battery loses its charge, we must take it back to the Program to have it recharged. Now, there’s absolutely no indication of which slot is the correct one aside from them never being adjacent to one another, this is Trial-and-Error Gameplay at its finest and most cruel. Expect to do a lot of testing and backtracking to get the batteries recharged, all while Megaman’s own battery is depleting.
It’s very tedious and mind-numbing, so I’m going to display the solutions to each battery puzzle for the benefit of anyone who may be either playing along or are thinking of doing so. I will be the last person to suffer through this dungeon!
After having to go way out of our way to find the Program that gives Battery A, the first puzzle is thankfully quite simple (x denotes where the battery should go):
[x][][]
The invisible paths make this network a veritable maze, especially if you want to get all of the Mystery Data, but through stumbling around we eventually reach a teleporter than sends us to Area 2. The second battery puzzle uses two batteries and its solution is:
[][][x]
[x][][]
The next set has three batteries and nine slots:
[][][x]
[][x][]
[][][x]
This lets us proceed to the next area.
The first puzzle in this area has a little twist in that we don’t actually need all three given batteries for it, we need to save one for later.
[x][][x]
[][][]
[][][]
Then in the next set of boxes immediately following, we need to put the remaining battery in the bottom right corner like so:
[][][]
[][][]
[][][x]
This opens a path back to the previous battery box set. We have to retrieve the batteries that we put in before and then use two in the second set like so:
[x][][]
[][x][]
[][][]
The next puzzle is a repeat, only now with twelve slots.
[][][]
[][][]
[][][]
[][][x]
After retrieving and recharging the other two batteries:
[][][]
[x][][x]
[][][]
[][][]
Following the new path leads to a single battery box for the leftover battery. With this we can finally reach Area 4. Area 4, thankfully, is rather small and only has one final puzzle.
[x][][x]
[][][]
[][][]
[][x][]
There, that’s the end of these blasted battery puzzles. Solving this one apparently unlocks the door to the generator in the real world, so it’s time to send Lan in to get it running. Once he enters the room though, he finds that the lights are still on. It seems that the generator never stopped at all, Elecman’s just keeping the power from going anywhere. Also the room’s full of water, explaining why I knew that it was hydroelectric.
Sending Megaman forward, we encounter a platform covered with electric coils where Elecman is busy siphoning the power. He tells Megaman that he’s too late – he’s already downloaded the Elec Program and sent it off to Count Zap. We’re thrown into a battle, but it’s a Hopeless Boss Fight. No matter how much we damage him, Elecman will automatically heal himself by calling lightning down upon him. After a few turns the battle automatically ends and Elecman boasts that he’s invincible so long as electricity is being generated. Lan quickly realizes what this means and forcibly shuts off the generator in the real world, cutting Elecman’s lifeline. Now the real battle can begin.
Elecman
◊
HP: 600
Element: Elec
Attacks:
- Lightning Blaze – Elecman calls down lightning bolts to strike the field three times in a row. They track Megaman’s movements and deal 200 Elec damage.
- Set Rod – Elecman summons three conductors onto the field. Electricity passes between them for 100 Elec damage.
- Elec Heal – Elecman summons two conductors on either side of him to strike himself with lightning, healing 100 HP.
Despite his high damage output, Elecman is easy. Really easy. His attacks are really predictable and easy to dodge, his movements are languid, and a single Wood Tower to the face will take out almost half his HP. He’s the perfect boss to let your aggression on after that fiendish dungeon.
Winning gives us 3500z.
As soon as Elecman blows up, Protoman jacks in. Apparently it took he and Chaud much longer to break through the jack in protection than it took Lan and Megaman. Apparently the two had a plan to get the WWW’s server location from Elecman’s data, and we just had to go and ruin it by deleting him before they could get to him. Chaud decides that he’s had enough of us and orders Protoman to delete Megaman. Back-to-back boss time.
Protoman
HP: 500
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Fighter Sword – Protoman moves to his front column and swings a three panel-long s word for 200 damage.
- Step Sword – Protoman spends a few moments charging up before moving directly in front of Megaman and attacking him with a Wide Sword slash for 200 damage.
- Surprise Sword – Protoman appears in front of Megaman and attacks him with a Wide Sword slash for 200 damage.
- Proto Shield – Protoman puts up a shield to block incoming attacks.
Contrary to expectations, battling with Protoman in this game is more of a game of cat and mouse than in future installments, where he’s much faster and doesn’t stick to the back row. Frontal attacks are useless thanks to Proto Shield automatically blocking them, so the only way to damage Protoman is either when he’s just about to attack, or through indirect methods, such as Navi chips or area of effect chips like Quake 2 and Quake 3. Countering is the name of the game here.
Winning gives us 3000z.
Protoman is shocked that a civilian Navi has beaten an Official. Megaman gives him the ol’ friendship speech: unlike Protoman, who fights alone, he has Lan backing him up. They fight as a team, as friends. This gives Protoman some food for thought (I think this is the only time in the series he undergoes any sort of introspection), but Chaud simply jacks him out in disgust.
Back in the well-lit restaurant, Lan gets a somewhat oblivious email from Yuuchiro asking if he’s all right following the blackout. Haruka suggests that they go home and get dinner on the way. Lan agrees since, after all, he can’t just recharge daily! Hahahaha.
Back in Wily’s secret base, the mad scientist is beside himself with glee. He’s finally obtained all four of the superprograms. Nothing will stop him from destroying Net society now, or from getting revenge on…Hikari!
Hey kids, pop quiz. We saw the WWW make off with the Fire, Aqua, and Elec Programs. Where did Wily get the Wood Program from? Is it A) From Den City’s botanical gardens? B) Sal’s lunch stand? C) Straight out of his rectum? Or is it D) From the country’s nearest granary? The answer may surprise you!
Virus Listing
- Evil Program
- These corrupt Programs attack by making a ball of electricity circle themselves at the cost of 5 HP. If Megaman gets hit my them he will be electrified and proceed to take movement damage just like it he were hit with a Billy's attack. Evil Programs will steadily advance forward, using Steal to increase their field when they run out of room.
- Tornado Fan
- These stationary fan devices create a stream of tornadoes that travel down the field in various ranges. These streams are capable of ninety degree turns in order to track Megaman.
Soundtrack
- Electrical Crisis
- The theme for the power plant network. It will be burned into your mind by the time the dungeon's over.
Comments
