In a break from the usual routine, Lan actually gets up on time the next morning, though Megaman still has to do some prodding. Being late on your first day at a new school is no way to make a good first impression. Cyber Academy is pretty much a straight shot from Lan's house: the area of Central Town that we can visit is actually smaller than ACDC ever was.
Speaking of first impressions, as soon as Lan steps into Cyber Academy's spacious entrance hall he sets of an intruder alarm, causing a bunch of security robots to come out of nowhere and swarm him. It seems Cyber Academy is very hardcore and high-tech when it comes to their security, Jesus. Lan tries to explain that he's a student, but since he doesn't have a student ID yet the robots continue to label him an intruder. Just when it looks like Lan's about to try to force his way past them, a voice starts speaking from one of the robots, telling them to back off. The voice complements Lan on standing up to the robots and introduces himself as his new homeroom teacher. He tells Lan to come to the Teacher's Room so that he can get his ID from him in person and ends the conversation with a healthy bout of laughter. Lan comments on what a strange school this seems to be, and as he starts to leave he stops to take notice of a mannequin that's on display on the entrance hall's upper level. Megaman suggests asking a teacher later what that is.
There are two exits leading deeper into the school: one on the right for the classrooms, one on the left for the Teacher's Room. The Teacher's Room seems just as high-tech as the rest of the school, if the abundance of computer monitors and the giant console on the wall means anything. Lan's teacher is easily recognizable by his red track suit. He introduces himself as Joe Mach, gives Lan his student ID allowing to access the classroom area, and tells him that his room is 6-1. The layout of the classroom section is the same as how ACDC Elementary was set up with two first-grade classrooms on a lower floor and two sixth-grade classrooms on the upper. Megaman won't let Lan visit the ones that aren't his homeroom yet.
Lan, being the new transfer student, is put in front of the class to introduce himself. After Lan's made his somewhat stumbling introduction, Mr. Mach puts him at a desk at the back of the class (way to ostracize the new kid) seated behind a rough-looking kid named Mick. Soon enough a recess starts up, so it's one of those “talk to everyone to advance” bits. Most of the students are rather curious about Lan and Megaman, but Mick pretty much just acts as abrasive as possible. The classrooms in Cyber Academy are laid out in exactly the same manner as ACDC Elementary's were, and we can even jack in to the electronic blackboard for 700z and a Thunder *. That's another thing about this game: it hands out *-coded chips like candy. Finally, there's a Regular UP 1 hidden behind a smaller monitor that's next to the blackboard. After talking to everyone, Lan comments to Megaman that he still doesn't really fit in. Mick walks up to him them and tells him to show him what he's got in the next class, Virus Busting. Virus busting is Lan's specialty after all, so that'll be no problem at all.
Mr. Mach starts the class by having everyone jack in to their desks. In the Cyberworld he has a device set up that should generate viruses suitable to the classes average level. Mick's Navi speaks up and says that Megaman should go first since he's the new kid. How gracious of him... Mick's Navi has a semi-unique design in that he's an orange-and-yellow-colored Normal Navi with slanted “angry” eyes as opposed to the usual round ones. He never gets a name though, he's forever just “Mick's Navi.” Anyway, heh, watch Megaman's level skew the class average so that the device generates a Bladia or something. Instead of the Mettaur that was supposed to come out of the device, it generates a new virus, Old Stove instead. It's still easy to dispatch, greatly impressing the class. Expect for Mick's Navi, who just huffs. Mr. Mach complements Lan and, being no fool, offhandedly tells Mick to see him in the Teacher's Room after class.
After class is dismissed the scene cuts to Mick in the hallway, complaining about his ringing ears. Mick's apparently a mediocre operator, and both he and his Navi trade barbs over whose fault it was that the plan to show up the new kid failed. Mick's Navi eventually has enough and up and leaves his PET. Mick goes back to muttering that everything's Lan's fault when a new voice offers to help him crush Lan. Mick takes out his PET again to see that a new Navi, Blastman, has taken up residence in it. He tells Mick not to worry about where he came from, just whether he wants power or not. Mick agrees.
When class picks up again Mr. Mach now has another mannequin just like the one in the foyer displayed in class. These are called Copybots, and it's explained that if you jack a Navi in to one, the Copybot's appearance will change to that of the Navi. In short, it's a technology unique to Cyber City that enables Navis to be in the real world. Hey. We've already had humans entering Cyberworld with the Pulse Transmission System, so we've come to its opposite. Mr. Mach also explains that Copybots have locks on them to prevent Navis from using any of their weaponry, so you can imagine that this will be soundly ignored if any of them are used to cause mischief later on in the story, which they certainly will be. Copybots are the product of Central Town's research into next-generation Net society. Lan is naturally amazed by the possibilities of this, and Mr. Mach lets him try out the Copybot they have here. With great apprehension, Lan jacks Megaman in, and sure enough, Megaman appears in the real world.
Lan's first reaction is to have Megaman pinch his cheek to make sure he's not dreaming, and the fact that Megaman almost yanks his skin off by accident is ample proof that he isn't. We're given the chance to have Megaman walk around the classroom and talk to everyone again. Lan goes on about this being like a dream again, which I wonder if it's supposed to be a call-back to the end of Battle Network 3 when he said the same thing after using the Pulse Transmission System. After talking to everyone, Megaman says that he wish he could stay in the real world forever, which has extra meaning given that he used to be human, after a fashion. Mr. Mach says that unfortunately Copybots' batteries don't last too long at the moment, but the school does have some spare bots if he ever wants to use one. Still, for now both Megaman and Lan are satisfied to finally be able to physically meet each other face-to-face.
Megaman returns to his PET, and that's the moment that Mick says that it's time to get started. There's the sound of a small explosion and a few of the security bots charge in to the classroom. Mr. Mach realizes right away that they're malfunctioning and tries to stop them, only to be comicly beaten down off screen. What's more, the bots start spewing fire and Mick reveals to the rest of the class that he's in charge of them. He walks away, laughing at how Lan can't do anything.
So before we deal with Mick we have to deal with the robots. Sadly we can't get out of the room thanks to the fire, so we have to put it out somehow. Dousing them with the water from the fish tanks at the back of the room is sadly not an option, so we have to look elsewhere. Lan gets the idea of sending Megaman into the Copybot again since he won't be bothered by the heat and thus can go look for help.
Now in control of Megaman, we can get outside and search the rest of the school. All the robots are running amok, so no one else really bats an eye at a Navi running around the corridors. In yet another example of the series's “examine everything” method of puzzle-solving, we have to talk to a little boy on the floor below who's balancing a bucket of water on his head (a send-up of a disciplinary punishment seen in Japanese schools), retrieve the bucket, and then go back to 6-1 where Megaman slings the water over the robots, putting out their flames. And we actually get to see Megaman do this too, unlike how past games would just fade to black and play a sound effect to depict actions that the developers didn't feel like spriting. With that done, Lan returns Megaman to his PET and sets off to find Mick.
Now that we can enter other classrooms, we can jack in to the blackboard in class 6-2 for a Regular UP 2. There's also a PMD containing a Snake H. The blackboard in room 1-1 has an Energy Bomb K and a Full Energy.
Mick's in the Teacher's Room, where more of the flame-spewing robots have trapped a handful of teachers, and he's in a bit of a pickle. See, Mick apparently just wanted to scare people and go on a power trip by taking over the school's security, but Blastman has different plans. He just wants to cause as much havoc as possible, regardless of who gets hurt, and now that Mick's served his purpose in helping him get through the security he has no more need of him. Lan runs over to Mick and demands that he shut the robots down, but all the wannabe-punk can do is protest that Blastman isn't listening to him anymore. He does at least admit that Blastman's inside the big security console, which means...dungeon time!
I like the bookend effect of both the first-first dungeon and boss in the series and the last-first dungeon and boss in the series being fire-themed.
The Robot Control Computer is less linear than past dungeons in the series. The way it works is that the entrance to the next area is blocked off by a wall of flames, and to put it out we have to find several Programs that're scattered about the area and put them out with the help of a water gun that a Program at the start gives us. No pressure gauge gimmick necessary. Also, while this is going on occasionally embers will drift across the screen. When this happens we have to hide Megaman behind one of many steel cubes that are lying around the area, for soon a volley of fireballs will sweep the field in whichever direction the embers were coming from. They can't harm Megaman if he's shielded, but if he's caught out in the open he'll be set on fire and take damage.
As soon as Megaman steps into the second area the temperature of the console suddenly flares up, resulting in Megaman getting trapped in a ring of flame and causing the fire in the real world to worsen. We've gotten get things under the control by turning on the sprinkler system, but for some reason Lan can't just turn it on manually – we need a Navi to operate it. After pestering Mick a bit he'll tell Lan that although his Navi left him he's probably hanging around nearby since he's a worrier. On of the monitors in the room is flashing orange, and examining it reveals that Mick's Navi is in there sulking. It takes some work, but Lan eventually convinces him to help out. Apparently there are viruses in the system, explaining why the sprinklers didn't go on automatically, but Mick's Navi is able to bring them online, dousing the room and putting out the fires (and the seat of Mick's pants, incidentally). Megaman's also freed in the Cyberworld, so we can proceed and douse the Programs in the new area.
Blastman's at a large control panel at the center of the area. For some reason this game feels the need to denote where the bosses are in the network with a skull panel. I guess it's to say “save here”, but since we can usually already see the boss themselves and it's obvious after six games anyway I don't see the point. Anyway, Blastman. Let's get him.
Blastman
◊
HP: 400
Element: Fire
Attacks:
- Air Bomber – Blastman throws an explosion down one row for 10 Fire damage.
- Blast Hurricane – Blastman bursts into flames and shoots a tornado of fire down one row for 10 Fire damage.
- Blast Fire – Embers drift across the field either horizontally or vertically before a wave of fire sweeps it for 20 Fire damage.
Blastman's probably the easiest intro boss in the series (other than Gutsman in the first game) because all of his attacks are hugely telegraphed. Blast Fire can be avoiding by hiding behind one of the two metal cubes on the field, just the same as on the overworld. There's no reason to have any issues with him.
Winning gives us 1000z.
Blastman curses his defeat, realizing that he's going to get an earful for letting himself get defeated. He tells Megaman that he's only won the first round, and next time he'll be burnt to a crisp. Not very intimidating given how weak he was. He manages to escape, but at the least the robots are stopped and the fire's out.
Lan's narration says that the blame for the incident was officially put on the shoulders of Blastman, an outside intruder, but Mick still got in big trouble with the teachers. Cut back to the classroom, where Lan asks Megaman if he thinks this'll change his ways. Mick himself walks up to him and says to forget that, but he does admit that he was wrong to pick on him. Lan being Lan, he asks Mick if he'd like to be friends since he doesn't have any at the moment, and Mick insists that he just wants to Net Battle him someday and win. Lan mentally compares him to Dex.
At that moment the only other uniquely-designed student in the class comes over and introduces himself to Lan as Tab. He says that his family runs the chip shop in Central Town, Aster Land, and that he'd like to be friends too. See, he has a bit of a case of hero worship for Lan, and he and Mick will be tagging along with Lan throughout various parts of the game. For now, Mick gives Lan a piece of paper with some scribbles on it to make up for what he did. Apparently he was the one who hid the key to Central Area 3, and that paper shows where he stashed it. With that, he says that Lan will be able to visit the Cybeast statues that're in Central Area 3, whatever a Cybeast is. He and Tab depart, leaving us free to go home.
When we access Lan's homepage he'll have an email from ACDC waiting for him. It's from Mayl, and it naturally contains Roll R. Just like in every other game in the series, Roll will attack the nearest enemy and then heal some of Megaman's HP.
Mega chips are sorted differently in this game than in the past. Here, only Navi chips are counted as Megas. The other chips formerly on the roster, like Super Vulcan and Double Point, have been demoted to Standard class, albeit with very high regular memory. The number of chips copies that can be put into the folder now is determined by their regular memory, so these former Mega chips are still Mega chips in the sense that you can only put three or four in the folder.
The paper that Mick gave us depicts a Navi standing under a pathway. So to find the key we have to go to Central Area 2 and examine the panels of the flooring that are underneath the upper pathway until we find the key for the door. While we're here, Blastman's ghost is found on one of the side paths. Battle Network 6's hierarchy of boss ghosts is a lot more simple than the one in 4 and 5. There are only two versions now, one stationary and one random encounter just like in the original three games. The suffixes here are EX and SP, likely standing for “Extra” and “Special.” Blastman's chip has him shoot fireballs down the entire field for a flat 120 Fire damage, so it's very useful and powerful and remains so throughout the entire game.
And to demonstrate how easy Blastman is, soon afterwards I beat his SP form, all fourteen-hundred HP points of him, with the mostly-crappy starting folder without taking a single hit of damage. Two-and-a-half minutes with a busting rank of 7. Woot. Not good enough to get his EX chip, sadly.
Back to the matter at hand. Central Area 3 is a giant plaza that lives up to its name as it connects to every other Internet area in the game but the Undernet and the postgame area. However, each of the entrances are blocked off by some arbitrary obstacle: a tree, a cloud, a guy behind a desk, and some leaky water pipes. At the center of the plaza is an absolutely enormous chasm...which is weird since the ground's depicted as a thin platform floating in space per the series's norm.
While I was here I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a piece of Gold Mystery Data (I'll abbreviate it as YMD for “yellow” as GMD is already taken). YM Ds are rare, but they'll often have great rewards. For example there's mundane stuff in them like ten Bug Frags or 10000z, and then there's also powerful chips and even SP Navi chips! I “just” found ten grand zenny in mine, but they're definitely something to keep an eye out for.
The Cybeast statues that Mick mentioned are located on a small raised platform. They depict two monsters, a wolf and a bird. According to a plaque these two beasts are called Gregar and Falzar respectively, and during the dawn of Cyberworld they found manner fierce and destructive battles with each other. Today, they are said to be sealed away in the area below the giant chasm, the Underground. Gotta love Lan's reaction to reading this: “The Net's just full of these mysteries!” The series definitely feels like Cyberworld has skewed more towards being treated as another dimension rather than a man-made electronic space as it's gone on. Now we have two giant kaiju. Also, Gregar bears a very noticeable resemblance to Gospel. Surprisingly enough there's actually a reason for that, but it won't be revealed until almost the endgame.
After examining the statues Haruka tells Lan that it's time for bed, so time to jack out.
After he goes to bed there's a scene of Yuuichiro meeting Cyber City's mayor, Cain
◊. Cain actually happens to both be the mayor and the principal of Cyber Academy, in fact, his rather lavish office is located on the second floor of the school's foyer. He shares his name with a character from the X series, but there aren't any similarities between them. Anyway, Yuuichiro's here to deliver part of a program for dramatically boosting the capacity of an online server, in order to handle the traffic expected once the Expo opens. Despite the fact that it's supposed to be top secret, Cain knows an awful lot about the program, especially the fact that Yuuichiro made it over a decade ago. A decade ago? Hmm....
It's been an eventful update. Time to bring it to a close.
Virus Listing
- Old Stove
- Old Stoves are demonic furnaces that breathe fire down a three-panel range. Stronger versions will crack the panels as well.
- Champy
- Champies are immobile boxers who will warp right in front of Megaman should they align and hit him with a fiery punch. Stronger versions will hit twice.
Soundtrack
- Cyber Academy
- The theme for Lan's new school. Rather peppy sounding.
- Incident Occurrence! (Battle Network 6 ver.)
- This game makes the same cardinal mistake with this theme that 4 did: continuing to play this nonstop on the overworld once the game's been beaten.
- Organization
- Why yes, there is another evil organization for Lan and Megaman to defeat.
- Blast Speed
- A good opening stage track, though it would be a little more appropriate if you were stopping a runaway reactor or train.
- Distortion!
- New confrontation theme, coming right up.
- Surge of Power!
- Up there with Battle Network 3's boss theme as one of the most violent ones in the series.
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