Okay, so after a lot of grinding I have all one-hundred-eighty Standard chips, meaning that the still-unfortunately-abbreviated Standard Complete icon is added to the title screen. Additionally I now have twenty-nine out of thirty Program Advances completed. Now I can finally uninstall Collect and free up some room in the Navi Customizer for Air Shoes or Custom + 2 or something.
Nebula Area 4 is where the majority of the postgame area goodies are, all guarded behind various security doors. The doors all have various requirements, like one guarding a Grab Revenge N wants us to defeat five black Heel Navis that have appeared around the Net, while one that guards another copy of the Z-Saber chip can only be opened if Megaman's base HP is at at least nine-hundred. The other two prizes that I can get right now are an HP Memory behind a door that requires at least three Giga chips, and the Django DS D chip by having all twelve Dark Chips. Two final doors requiring all thirty Program Advances to have been recorded, and all Mega chips to have been collected guard Double Point * and the fourth Giga chip, Omega Rocket R. Notably it's the exact same thing as the Alpha Arm Omega chip from Battle Network 3 Blue (Alpha's even shown on the chip's art in silhouette) in that it launches a giant missile down the center row and explodes the back two columns if it doesn't hit anything. Team Protoman players get Holy Dream H instead, which absorbs holy panels to fire super-powered energy blasts.
At the very end of the area is another door that only opens if we have all Standard chips which as mentioned above I do. Once again we're prompted if we “really” want to continue, which means that it's time yet again for another liberation mission. The final one, in fact.
For the Nebula Area 5
◊ mission we've got Colonel, Knightman, Shadowman, and Toadman on board with us. Colonel reports that he's been investigating an entity called the Chaos Lord, the physical manifestation of all the hate in this area. Interesting, but we still have a mission to accomplish.
Now at first glance this looks like a very challenging map with all the barrier panels, and it is...if I happened to be playing Team Protoman. In Team Colonel, Toadman's Life Melody skill is a huge Game-Breaker on this map. It is very easy to utilize it to snipe through the “3” barrier and snag the key on the right side of the map by the second phase. By releasing the “3” barrier panels, pretty much all of the Dark Holes are exposed, and it's entirely possible to clear them all out before you've even hit the halfway mark, phase 8.
The unique thing about this map is that there are two bosses, Blizzardman and Cosmoman. Cosmoman is the “main” boss, but both of them have to be taken out. Blizzardman is immobile, but he'll still attack with his field skill. His and Cosmoman's ranges actually overlap, so if you approach him from above you need to have Knightman there to guard your guys.
Blizzardman Beta
HP: 1600
Element: Aqua
Attacks:
- Snow Rolling – Blizzardman kicks two snowballs down adjacent rows for 160 Aqua damage.
- Blizzard Breath – Blizzardman breathes a blast of icy air down two panels and freezes them for 160 Aqua damage.
- Rolling Slider – Blizzardman tumbles down one row twice for 240 Aqua damage. Additionally two globs of snow will fall from the sky and briefly block off two panels.
He's got a lot of HP, and his attacks are strong. He doesn't get the boss battle theme, though. It's best to devote a full phase to taking this guy out, just in case something goes wrong.
When challenging Cosmoman he reveals that Nebula Area is the Chaos Lord's throne and that it takes the form of anything that feels hate. So one of those “you cannot comprehend my true form” types.
Cosmoman Beta
HP: 1500
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 200 damage.
- Cosmo Ring – Cosmoman throws his ring, which spins in a 2 x 2 space for 200 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 200 damage.
- Cosmo Prison – Cosmoman disappears into a tear in space-time and dozens of mini- artificial planets randomly fly down the field for 200 damage per hit.
Cosmoman turned out to be a giant anticlimax because I discovered that using Shadowman's Sneak Attack ability before engaging him will knock off a full third of his maximum HP. So, 1000 HP in three turns with the folder I have now? Not a problem.
And with Cosmoman's destruction, we are done with liberation missions. I'm glad the final one went so smoothly compared to the embarrassment that was Nebula Area 3.
- Under 15: Anubis A
- 15-16: Cosmoman DS C
- Over 16: 5000z
With Anubis A I can complete the final Program Advance, Poison Pharaoh, by combining it with Bug Bomb and Geddon 3. This earns me the PA Complete icon. That's four now. Colonel dismisses the team and tells Megaman to continue pressing on, since we're the protagonists and thus the only ones who can accomplish anything on our own. There's one last area in this place to explore, and that's where we'll be seeing quite a bit of action...
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