So after a shitton of grinding I’ve gotten Bug Style. I’ve never used it before so I thought I’d give it a whirl as an experiment. So far the two beneficial bugs that I’ve noticed are invincibility and a barrier at the start of battle, sometimes even stacked. The only negative bug I’ve gotten so far is that Megaman’s HP slowly drains when the Custom Screen is open, but that’s not too bad as long as I’m quick in picking my chips. On the down side, I’m stuck with the Elec element, but on the plus side, I now have over nine-hundred Bug Frags (the samurai display in the Ura Inn has nothing but Mettaurs, making Bug Frag grinding trivial) which will be put to good use later on.
So, it’s finally the day of the tournament that the game’s been building up to, the N1 Grand Prix. There are thirty-two contestants in all, divided up into four blocks of eight. So it’s time to hurry to the DNN TV studios located on Beach Street, which can be gotten to via the Metroline. If there’s any last-minute grinding or chip collecting one has to do, this is the time to do it, for once the N1 starts Lan will not be free to travel around until it ends.
Like Marine Harbor from Battle Network 2 Beach Street is on the sea and it’s a somewhat happening place. Right outside Beach Station is a foreign man (using the Netopian Official sprite from Battle Network 2) who’ll sell us something called Mod Tools for 5600z. Mod Tools are for the Navi Customizer and they do is allow Megaman to equip programs of colors that he normally can’t due to his equipped Style. Normally when you try installing such a program and error comes up and Megaman won’t be able to install them. With the Mod Tools, by entering a password we can overwrite the error. There’s a different password for each error, and some of them are provided on the in-game BBS boards. The others are on Game FA Qs. The TV station is at the east end of the area, and has a broadcasting van parked out front. Jacking in to it yields an HP + 100 program.
There are tons of people hanging out in the TV station’s lobby. In order to progress the plot we have to talk to the somewhat grungy-looking boy hanging out by a giant TV monitor at the back of the lobby. He introduces himself as Tora from the city of Swapopolis, and since he’s 13 years old he decides to act patronizing and condescending towards the younger Lan. The two decide to Net Battle to settle their differences.
Kingman
HP: 800
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Pawn – Two pawn chess pieces occupy Kingman’s front row. They attack with Long Swords for 30 damage.
- Knight – A knight chess piece jumps around Megaman’s area similar to a Quaker virus, unleashing a shockwave upon landing that travels down one row for 50 damage.
- Rook – An indestructible rook chess piece is summoned to block attacks.
- Plan B – Should Megaman persist in dodging the pieces’ attacks, Kingman will change their formation or steal is rightmost column.
- Checkmate – The chess pieces flank Megaman before Kingman himself jumps on top of him, causing geysers to hit the panels directly adjacent to the point of impact and instantly deleting Megaman unless he has Undershirt equipped.
Kingman is a rather annoying example of a Flunky Boss. His pieces are indestructible (and even if you employ breaking attacks they’ll simply regenerate after a bit) and the pawns just love getting in the way of Megaman’s attacks. Plan B and really be a pain depending on what your strategy is, but if he has two knights active on the field at once, watch out is all I can say. And of course Kingman himself just stays in the back row. The only attack he himself has, Checkmate, actually isn’t an instant kill attack. He’ll only use it once Megaman’s HP is low enough for it to finish him off anyway, giving it the illusion of it being a one-hit KO. The series pulls the same trick again for a boss in the last game.
By the way, Kingman was the winner of Battle Network 3’s create-a-Navi contest.
Winning gives us 1000z.
Like the fight with Gutsman in Chisao’s introduction, you don’t have to win this fight. If Lan wins Tora will insist that he was just holding back, and if Lan loses Tora laughs in his face, basically. Either way this encounter only serves to fire Lan up even more, and Sunayama will come by to let everyone in the lobby know that it’s time for them to get up on stage. So to get to the stage we have to pass through a hallway where we can find a Regular UP 1 by examining some props lying against the wall.
In front of a live studio audience Sunayama welcomes everyone on behalf of the N1’s sponsor, IPC Inc. again, and says that its president is watching the proceedings from the editing room above. He then goes on to introduce the eight competitors of D-Block: Lan, Tora, Bonzu, who’s a generic black man sprite, Jennifer, the generic black woman from the conference in Battle Network 2, Johnson, another generic from that same conference, Koetsu, a generic young man sprite, Yosh, a generic Official sprite, and finally a mysterious cloaked man named only Q
◊. Sunayama goes on to explain that the first round of the tournament proper will not be taking place here at the studio, but rather at a special venue that DNN has already prepared – Hades Isle. Only the top four will make it back to the studio.
So after that display of pomp and showmanship we’re supposed to go to a ferry that’s docked right outside of the TV station. We get an email from Yuuichiro wishing us luck, and he also gives us the Expand Memory item, increasing the size of the Navi Customizer’s Memory Map. Once everyone’s onboard the ferry and it sets sail, the contestants are suddenly blasted with sleeping gas, something that the contestants are understandably pissed about. That sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen, but the N1 is basically a Japanese reality game show, which are renowned for their sadism. Sunayama wakes everyone up when the ferry arrives at Hades Isle, which is essentially a giant ziggurat built on top of a sandy beach. If one examines the ramp that the ferry’s docked at before heading inside the ziggurat an HP Memory is uncovered.
Inside the cavern is a Net Battle machine on a platform suspended above a giant pit with a spiked floor at the bottom. Though he knows that it’s just a set, Lan expresses a bit of unease with the surroundings before joining the others. The rules for round 1, everyone is told, is that within Hades Isle’s network are Victory Data items that the competitors must find. There are only four, meaning that half of D-Block will be cut after this round. What’s more, for this round we have to use a new Extra Folder, the Hades Folder. The Hades Folder is more or less an alphabet soup folder but it’s got a lot of power, packing chips such as Burner, Cannonball, and the elemental swords.
So the network for Hades Isle consists of a single, somewhat small area that compensates for its small size with a plethora of Press pathways. By the time Lan jacks in there’s only a single Victory Data left, but since there’s no time limit or anything the player can just fart around and collect chips from the viruses or whatever to their heart’s content. Despite this, we can’t just walk up and take the Victory Data, we need to find a key first so that we can open a door that’s blocking the data off. Also, a couple of the Navis scattered around the area note that something’s up with Q. Apparently it’s like he already knew where the Victory Datas were placed…
Once Megaman gets the last Victory Data the round automatically comes to an end and the unlucky loser, Bonzu, Johnson, Yosh, and Koetsu, are dropped through trapdoors. Hey, I did say that this was basically a Japanese game show, didn’t I? The remaining four, Lan, Tora, Jennifer, and Q, are then told to proceed to a series of four doors with a demonic-looking design that kinda reminds me of that old show, Legends of the Hidden Temple. Beyond each door is a member of C-Block, and Lan decides to go first. The opponent is the same no matter which door the player chooses to go through, what changes is the type of terrain Megaman will be fighting on. From left to right the choices are lava, sand, ice, and grass so the player should choose whichever field gives their current Style an advantage, though of course they shouldn't know which is which their first time through. Since I’m stuck with Elec, I’m choosing the grass field. On the other side of the door awaits a battle with Tamako and Metalman.
Metalman Alpha
HP: 800
Element: None
Attacks:
- Metal Gear – Two metal gears move back and forth on the middle row of each area, dealing 40 damage if they hit Megaman. They can be destroyed by breaking attacks.
- Metal Missile – Metalman launches missiles into the air which will come down and hit random panels on Megaman’s field for 40 damage per hit.
- Metal Boomerang – Metalman hurls a circular saw blade around the perimeter of the field for 40 damage.
- Metal Fist – Metalman moves in front of Megaman and punches the panel in front of him, breaking it and dealing 80 damage.
Metalman’s been beefed up, made faster, and has a brand new attack. He’s not really that difficult except that the gears do more damage and Metal Fist is surprisingly fast. Most of the trouble I had in this fight was because the negative bug Bug Style decided to hit me with was forced movement up. Bad luck of the draw on that one.
I wonder if I would’ve had to fight vanilla Metalman instead of his Alpha form had I never fought him back at Yoka before now? Hm.
Tamako gets dropped through the floor and it’s time to move on to round 3. Before the battles get underway, we’re allowed to get new Extra Folders from NP Cs scattered around the island. There are four N1 Folders in A, B, C, and D varieties in addition to the Hades Folder. Thing is, we’re on a three-minute time limit, and these people will talk our ears off before handing them over. Plus some of the NP Cs don’t have any folders at all, simply wasting time. So it’s good idea to just skip through the dialogue on this one. None of the folders are particularly amazing in my opinion, so I generally decide to stick with the Hades Folder. After the time’s up we can go through the next set of doors to the top of the cavern, where the top eight battlers have assembled. The matchups are Yai vs. Q, Chaud vs. Raoul
◊ from Battle Network 2, Tora vs. Masa
◊ from Battle Network 1, and Lan vs. Dex.
Gutsman Alpha
HP: 700
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Shockwave – Gutsman smashes the ground, unleashing a shockwave that travels down one row for 40 damage.
- Guts Hammer – Gutsman smashes the ground, cracking the entirety of Megaman’s area.
- Guts Punch – Gutsman moves up to his front column and punches the panel in front of him, knocking the target back a panel for 60 damage.
Unlike Metalman Gutsman hasn’t changed at all since we last fought him. Megaman has though. With four-hundred more HP and much more powerful chips at his disposal, Gutsman goes down much more easily than before.
Dex is a good sport about his loss, but something seems up with Yai and Q’s battle. Yai suddenly starts exclaiming that she can’t see and Q takes advantage of this to wipe out Glyde. That was apparently the last of the battles to conclude for Dex, Yai, Raoul, and Masa are all dropped through the floor. That signifies the end of Round 3 on Hades Isle and the beginning of the semi-finals. Our folders are unlocked, and we leave the arena via an elevator at the back and board the ferry again for the journey back to the TV station.
Virus Listing
- Momogra
- These mole viruses typically hide in burrows out of Megaman's reach. They're only vulnerable to conventional attacks when they surface behind him and try to whack him with a shovel. While they're in their holes they can be damaged by attacks that damage panels, so chips like the Gutsman series work well on the buggers.
Soundtrack
- Beach Street
- The theme for the eponymous area.
- TV Station
- The titles for most of the locations in this game aren't very creative.
- The N1 Grand Prix!
- This only plays whenever the N1 contestants are either up on stage or squaring off against each other before battle.
- Hades Isle
- As some might have figured, Hades Isle was called Hell Island in the Japanese version.
- Dangerous Black
- This is actually the theme for the Undernet in this game, but it makes an early cameo as the theme for Hades Isle's network.
- Great Battlers
- The special boss theme that plays during the N1 and a couple of fights later on in the story. A very nice, thrilling track.
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