The game opens with a short little preface that explains the setting – the year is 200X, the world is connected via the Cyberworld, etc. After this we turn to Lan and Megaman, who’re on a class trip visiting the Virus Lab at SciLab. Unlike the sleepy office at the Government Complex from the first game, here it’s a more lively, bustling, futuristic-looking place with lots of flashing lights and machinery. This ain’t a case of Chaos Architecture either, in-universe it’s a brand new building. The segment is pretty much an excuse for another tutorial segment. Talking to Lan’s fellow students nets small basic gameplay hints like “talk to your Navi by pressing the L button”, “use the menu to look at your folder, battle chips, stats, email, etc”. The menu has gotten a very welcome aesthetic upgrade, no doubt because Lan no longer uses the PET from the first two games. Now he’s using the Jack-In PET, the first of the little nods to the anime in this game. I’ve always thought that they looked like those real primitive electronic toy games for little kids from the early-mid 90s, like Connect Four and stuff. Once we talk to everyone, a scientist calls the class together to give everyone a virus busting demonstration, which means that the battle tutorial is upon us once again. We have to jack in to start it up.
Curiously enough, the English version of this game has no jack-in animation. Usually after Lan does his bit where he jumps into the air there’s a quick animation graphic showing the cyberworld being accessed. In the Japanese version the effect was almost identical to the one used in the anime (anime reference #2) but it was cut from the localization. We just get the sound effect played over a blank screen.
Anyway, aside from the Custom Screen also getting a facelift, there’s no change in the tutorial from the last game. The first battle lays out the basic controls, the second talks about chip codes, and the final one covers the ADD System. There is a new feature in this game’s battles though, and that’s countering. If Megaman is able to delete an enemy right as they’re about to attack, a chime will play and the enemy will be knocked back as they explode. Countering enemies nets us Bug Frags after the battle, which can be used to buy items from certain merchants. If only one enemy is countered Megaman only gets one Bug Frag, but if he counters two in the same battle he’ll get three, and he’ll get eight is he manages to counter all of them. Countering a boss results in ten.
Also, we can now use the Charge Shot function of the Mega Buster from the very beginning since the old Power UP system has been scrapped.
After the tutorial concludes Lan and his friends Dex, Mayl, and Yai plan to meet up with each other after school, only to get yelled at by their teacher, Ms. Mari
◊, for talking amongst themselves. Yai’s mugshot has finally been fixed to depict the dress she’s supposed to be wearing instead of that turtleneck thing it showed before.
The scene changes to Lan’s classroom at ACDC Elementary, where Ms. Mari assigns the class a report on their trip to SciLab before dismissing everyone for the day. We’re free to poke around the classroom and school building now, and we can jack in to the blackboard to find a Regular UP 1 inside the Blue Mystery Data within. The school itself has been shrunk down a bit since the first game. The first floor classrooms can no longer be accessed, and there’s a pile of desks and boxes blocking the way to the library that was just down the hall from Lan’s classroom. The students in the classroom next door to Lan’s happen to be jealous that he got to go visit SciLab, since they just went to an umbrella factory for their fieldtrip. Yeah, that does sound like a bore.
The plan at the moment is to meet up with the others at ACDC Park. Higsby’s chip shop is still closed sadly. At the far end of town is a scientist selling Sub Chips:
- Mini Energy – 100z
- Sneak Run – 200z
- Locate Enemy – 10000z
Hm, the price of Mini Energies seem to have gone up. As usual we can jack in to the doghouse in front of Lan’s house. Inside is a Barrier L.
At the park the group decides to meet up later in the evening at Yai’s homepage to have a chat, but before they decide on the specific time they’re approached by a man wearing a cowboy hat. He introduces himself as a producer for the DNN television network, and he’s recruiting people to take part in an upcoming Net Battle tournament, the N1 Grand Prix (anime reference #3). The first round of preliminaries are about to be held on the Net at ACDC Square, and the finals will be broadcast all over Electopia. The producer, Sunayama, tells them that they should hurry if they want to be registered before hurrying off with a “ciao.” Dex and Gutsman are the first ones to announce their intention to enter, and the others decide to compete as well (though Yai is more concerned with appearing on TV). So it’s time to head home and jack in to the Net. The Hikari household is much the same as ever, with Lan’s mother Haruka
◊ holding down the fort while her husband’s away at work. Lan has a couple Megaman action figures in his room, and his poster now depicts a soccer player. You know, despite the fact that the stuff around his room and the motif of his homepage has always suggested that Lan’s big into soccer, it’s never once referenced in story or…anywhere concrete really. I think the only time he’s actually be shown playing soccer was during an episode of the anime, and that was more of a one-time thing than anything else. Anyway, it’s time to jack in to his computer, which has finally been upgraded to a new model that doesn’t look thirty years old.
As always Lan’s homepage allows access to the first area of the Net, in this case ACDC 1. The area’s pretty simple and easy to navigate, and by following the main pathway, outlined in yellow, we’re led right to ACDC Square. Along the way are the homepages of Mayl and Yai, but they’re currently blocked off by security cubes. As with Battle Network 1, there are also the occasional skull door that can’t be unlocked without a specific item. In ACDC 2 is a merchant with the following for sale:
- HP Memory – 1000z
- HP Memory – 3000z
- Bubbler E – 600z
- Recovery 30 F – 800z
- Area Grab * - 1200z
- Dash Attack C – 1400z
The shop contents seem to be different depending on what version is being played. Also, holy cow, Area Grab * available this early?!
The teleporter to ACDC Square is located down a ramp in ACDC 3. Just like in Battle Network 2, squares serve as an area’s hub, with BBS boards to read, Navis to talk to, and merchants to buy from (hello there, Program Advance components):
- HP Memory – 2000z
- HP Memory – 5000z
- Invisible * - 600z
- Metal Stage D – 3000z
- Elec Sword N – 3800z
- Custom Sword B – 5000z
- Mini Energy – 100z
- Full Energy – 1000z
- Sneak Run – 200z
The Navi that we need to speak to is a Normal Navi standing in one of the corners. Similar to Battle Network 2’s license exams, the preliminaries for the N1 involve carrying out fetch quests and completely survival battles. For now we have to answer a true or false quiz. We’ll be asked a question, and then have to go out and find the data item on the Net that represents the answer. Our first question is “Red means ‘Stop’! True ‘O’ or False ‘X’?” We have to go to ACDC 3 and find the correct data item on the overworld and bring it back to the Navi. I really shouldn’t have to tell what the answer is, right? I think if you get the answer wrong you have to do a virus battle in order to proceed.
The second question is “A ton of lead is heavier than a ton of feathers.” Ah, a trick question! This one calls for the X Data in ACDC 2. The third and final question is “Adding every number from 1 to 10 gives 54.” A little arithmetic reveals that the answer is actually 55, so that question is false. After retrieving the X Data from ACDC 1, we pass the first preliminary. Afterwards, Yai tells everyone to meet at her homepage at eight o’clock, and Glyde gives everyone the Yai Code item so that they can open the security cube. Once Lan jacks out we have to talk to Haruka so that Lan can have dinner, and then we’re supposed to go back online for the talk. Yai’s homepage is in ACDC 2 and can be recognized by the orange platform that the teleporter is on. Everyone else is already present, but before we initial conversation I looked around to snag the Regular UP 2 and Side Gun S hidden in BM Ds.
We then cut to the end of everyone’s conversation, one hour later. Mayl asks if Lan’s done his assignment yet, only for both him and Megaman to realize that they’ve forgotten about it. Lan isn’t too concerned though, since he thinks that the assignment’s a piece of cake. Dex, however, isn’t so optimistic, as he realizes that he left the CD he’s supposed to turn his report in on at school, and now it’s night out. So of course the solution everyone arrives at is to break into the school at night and retrieve the disk! Yeah, that doesn’t sound like something that can go horribly wrong, now does it?
Guess they better break out the Scooby Snacks…or Mega Snacks I guess, but those’re six games and two-hundred years away.
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.
- Cannodumb
- These viruses are immobile cannon turrets. They send a pink cursor down one row and should they lock onto Megaman they fire a blast that hits the first obstruction, Navi or no, in the way so they're easily dodged by moving to an adjacent row.
- Bunny
- These rabbit viruses hop quickly from panel to panel. Their method of attack is to shoot a fast-moving electric ring down one row that damages and paralyzes the target.
Soundtrack
- Theme of Megaman Battle Network 3
- This game's rendition of the main theme, and sadly the last time it will be used in this capacity.
- Scientific Forefront
- SciLab's theme, much less sleepy-sounding that what it had in the first game.
- Shooting Enemy
- Not one of the catchier battle themes in the series, but it works.
- Hometown (Battle Network 3 ver.)
- Perhaps the busiest version of the ACDC theme yet.
- Network is Spreading
- Argh, more Engrish! This is the general Net theme, and I believe the title is referring to an event that won't happen until very late in the game...
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