Up to 10 battlechips must be equipped on a triangular deck pattern. During battles, chip sequences are chosen at random and played automatically. The player must learn how offensive and defensive skills play off each other to maximize their winning chances.
This game features the following tropes:
- Anti-Frustration Features: Before every netbattle your navi can tell you the odds of winning with the chips you have equipped. Also, you can retry battles as much as you need and even fast-foward them!
- Armored But Frail: There are a number of Fragile Speedster Navis with below average to very low numbers of hit points who rely on their superior dodge rate to save themselves from harm, including Roll, Ring, IceMan, ColorMan, SharkMan, MagicMan, ShadowMan, ToadMan, SnakeMan, and BeastMan.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: Pierce-type damage will hurt a shielded Navi and do damage to the shielding chip as well. Break-type damage will hurt a shielded Navi and destroy the shielding chip outright.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: Normal Navi ZERO is waiting for you at the end of the Hacker's Open Battle. Bass GS dispatches him and fights you instead.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Among the main player characters, MegaMan and ProtoMan are the Balance, each being a Jack of All Stats. GutsMan is the Power, being Strong, but Unskilled and the hardest-hitting of the player characters. Roll is the Skill who offsets her very low HP with her unique healing ability. TurboMan and Ring are the Gimmick, who use weak attacks with special effects that can be strengthened by other chips.
- Breakable Weapons: Every chip has HP and various attacks can damage one or more of the opponent's current chip sequence.
- Can't Catch Up:
- Each member of the Normal Navi series is outclassed in HP and battle-chip capacity by the next.
- MetalMan.EXE is superior to GutsMan in every capacity—he doesn't even have the limitation of being a Close-Range Combatant.
- Character-Driven Strategy: Most NPCs have distinct strategies or at least staple tactics that will reoccur in each repeat appearance they make in the game.
- Character Focus: At the start of every character's game and upon unlocking each new level of tournament, the player character makes some progress through their own personal character arc, giving several cast members Character Development they were sorely lacking in the main series.
- Climax Boss: Double Subverted. Waiting for the Player Character at the end of the Hacker's Open Battle is yet another variant of a Normal Navi, the tenth so far, and one that doesn't even get its own Palette Swap. Surprise, it's a Bait-and-Switch Boss, and your real opponent is Bass GS.
- Close-Range Combatant: GutsMan and KnightMan have Navi attacks that must be launched at close range, which means a field with holes in it will cripple them.
- Confusion Fu: The amount of MB that a Navi has directly influences their Program Deck capacity, which determines the amount and variety of battle-chips a contestant can use. Navis with high MB have more versatility than those without.
- Continuity Nod: When Lan and Mary meet, they talk about Lan visiting Netopia in the past.
- Crisis Crossover: It's a big Tournament Arc featuring almost everyone who's anyone in the original Battle Network trilogy—and a new generation of the WWW wants to blow it the frick up.
- Critical Hit: Random-type and Delete-type attacks target a random slot in the opponent's queue and damage or delete the occupying battle-chip. This may result in a dud if that slot is empty, or it may remove a cornerstone of the opponent's strategy and leave them helpless.
- Critical Hit Class: ProtoMan is the only Navi who can do Random type damage, and MagicMan the only one who can do Delete type damage.
- Crossover: This game features an ensemble cast of nearly every character from the original Mega Man Battle Network trilogy, and nearly every battle-chip likewise. Kai and Mary are Original Generation characters, though.
- Crutch Character: In most playthroughs, Roll and GutsMan are available after winning the Class E Heal and Guts tournaments, offering some handy early defensive and offensive options, but their battle-chip capacity is so low that their lack of versatility will inevitably catch up to them in the later game. The game tellingly gives the ColorMan or MetalMan Navi chips, normally available much later in the game, to Mayl and Dex in the Class E tournament of their respective stories.
- Damage Over Time:
- The Poison Panel stage does damage to both combatants and every single one of their loaded battle-chips every turn.
- The Magma stage does set damage to every non-Heat element Navi on the field every turn.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: You can not only continue after any loss, but you can also restart fights any time things start going sour. If, however, your chances are too poor, leaving the tournament will require you to start from the beginning on re-entry.
- Deckbuilding Game: Players must arrange a set of battle-chips in their program deck, a flowchart of possible battle-chip Combos that a random path will travel each turn. Players can change their program decks before each battle, but only using battle chips they've loaded into their folder before the start of the tournament.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Defeating the last opponent in each tournament will result in the player obtaining their Navi-chip; other Navi-chips are gained from every fifth opponent in the Free Battle Marathon Levels.
- Degraded Boss: Navis encountered as the final opponent of lower-ranked tournaments will reappear as intermediary opponents in higher-ranked tournaments.
- Downloadable Content:
- Multiplayer can't be done directly by linking games; instead players must input lengthy passwords that encode an enemy Navi and their program deck and download them into the waiting roster for free battle.
- Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun and Blue Moon hide special codes that provide Superboss versions of the Player Characters, including the only way to get Hub Style.
- Easter Egg: NPCs occasionally have unique dialog for specific player characters.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors:
- Most fields with an elemental affinity can be altered by a superior element.
- If a competitor's current battle-chip has a superior element to the opponent's, it gets automatic priority.
- Final Boss: There's a Climax Boss waiting for each Player Character at the end of the S-Rank tournament that will end the player's main Character Arc and trigger the Closing Credits when defeated.
- Game Plays Itself: The battles themselves are almost entirely automatic, with the player only having control over the contents of their program deck, some customization ability before each battle, and the ability to slot-in up to two special chips in case of emergency during the battle itself.
- Gender Flip: Ring.EXE is the female counterpart to the robot master RingMan from the Mega Man (Classic) series.
- Glass Cannon: ColorMan has superb accuracy and dodge rates and does formidable Navi chip damage, but has a low quantity of hit points.
- Jack of All Stats: MegaMan.EXE and ProtoMan.EXE are the most balanced of the starting characters, though Mega has slightly more battle-chip capacity and Proto has a slightly stronger Navi chip attack.
- Lazy Artist: Normal Navi ZERO gets so little screentime that it didn't even get a different palette from Normal Navi X.
- Lightning Bruiser: SkullMan and GateMan have lots of hit points, astonishing Navi chip attack power, and above-average dodge and accuracy rates, but have low battle-chip capacity.
- Limit Break: Slot-In, where the player can interrupt the flow of combat to use one of up to two specially-reserved chips; the success rate of this action depends on how much time has passed without using it. In Rockman.EXE N1 Battle, however, this isn't possible.
- Luck-Based Mission:
- The game is heavily driven by randomness. It is very telling that it allows you to retry battles over and over until something works.
- Most battlechips in the game must be obtained at random via booster packs at Higsby's shop.
- The Slot-In mechanic depends on the length of the custom gauge, which makes Slot-In attempts more successful with each passing turn—until that gauge reaches 100%, however, success lies in the hands of the Random Number God.
- Mage Killer: Some attack types and the Navis that specialize in them focus on crippling enemies by attacking their battle chips.
- Navis that deal straightforward Add type damage include MegaMan, Ring, QuickMan, SharkMan, Navi-Aqua, Normal Navi X, Bass, Hub Style, and Aqua Custom.
- Navis that deal Damage Over Time with All Add type attacks include TurboMan, Navi-Wood, ElecMan, NumberMan, AirMan, FreezeMan, PlantMan, FlameMan, KingMan, and Bass GS all specialize in this type of attack.
- Only ProtoMan does Random type damage.
- MagicMan is the only competitor with a Delete type attack.
- Magically Inept Fighter: GutsMan, WoodMan, SkullMan, MagnetMan, GateMan, KnightMan, HeatMan, and MetalMan all have lots of hit points and Navi chip damage, but low battle-chip capacity.
- Mana:
- Outside of battle, a Navi's MB determines the capacity—and thus the versatility—of their program-deck. Some Navis have low MB but powerful stats or Navi-attacks, while others have inferior personal abilities but lots of MB for battle-chips.
- In battle, each battle-chip has its own amount of Hit Points that determines how much punishment it can take; a battle-chip taking damage is in effect Mana Burn.
- Mana Burn: While some attack types are primarily about targeting an opponent, other attack types damage or even destroy an enemy's loaded battle-chips instead; destroyed battle-chips can't be used for the rest of the fight, so Navis that rely too heavily on battle-chips and not their own abilities may be left helpless.
- Add type attacks deal damage to the last loaded battle chip in a Navi's queue. This is the most straightforward type.
- All Add type attacks do less average damage than regular Add-type attacks but hit every loaded chip, so they whittle down the whole queue with Damage Over Time. Usually the hallmark of a Stone Wall Navi, but there are certain Situational Sword All Add battle-chips that do lots of damage but can only be used on the right Field.
- Random type attacks target random slots in the enemy's program deck queue, which may or may not have a chip in it.
- Delete type attacks also strike random slots in the program deck, and while they do almost no damage, they may destroy a whole battle chip outright.
- Marathon Level:
- The Class S tournament provides a sequence of no less than fifteen battles ending in a Climax Boss, nearly double the eight opponents of each Class A tournament. The class X and Y tournaments also feature fifteen battles, while the Class Z tournament provides a whopping 20.
- The Open Battle sequences challenge players with even more than that. The Yumland Open Battle features twenty opponents, the Netopia Open Battle thirty, and the Hackers Net Open Battle has still more, weighing in at a formidable one hundred opponents.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Battle Chip Challenge draws almost every unique navi from the original trilogy into a single cast pool, and they're all playable, provided you install their navi-chip.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
- Roll alone has the Recover ability, which offsets her very low HP by healing her every time she gets off her Navi chip attack successfully.
- NumberMan's Dice Bomb attack does a randomly determined number of hits depending on how it lands.
- MagicMan's Navi Chip has a unique Delete effect, allowing giving him a solid chance of deleting opponent battle-chips outright, adding an extra element of Luck-Based Mission whenever he's in battle.
- Mighty Glacier: GutsMan.EXE's merely average accuracy and dodge rates are the worst of the six main Navis, but he also has the most hit points and the strongest Navi chip attack.
- Min-Maxing: Among the Magically Inept Fighter Navis:
- GateMan and SkullMan boast the highest and second-highest Navi chip damage in the game, but their attacks have no special effects and can only rely on sheer power to get around shields.
- KnightMan has the most hit points but does the least Navi chip damage.
- Moveset Clone: MetalMan is essentially GutsMan, but superior in every stat, down to having a Break-type punch attack without the limitation of being a Close-Range Combatant.
- Mythology Gag:
- The two most powerful Normal Navi variants are Normal Navi X and Normal Navi ZERO.
- Normal Navi ZERO is dispatched by the more powerful Bass GS, which mirrors the fact that in the world of Mega Man (Classic), Zero was a superior replacement for the original Bass.
- Oddball in the Series: Features completely different mechanics than the rest of the Battle Network series.
- Old Save Bonus: In the Japanese GBA version, Normal Navi V5 is unlocked by obtaining it in Rockman EXE N1 Battle, then entering the N1 Battle Navi Code into the GBA; in an attempt to ensure that the player bought both games, the save names also have to match. Since the rest of the world didn't see the WonderSwan, much less N1 Battle, one of the Open Battle tournaments swaps out KnightMan for Normal Navi V5.
- Optional Boss: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun and Blue Moon contain seven hidden codes that can be entered into the Open Tournament to unlock special Purposefully Overpowered versions of the six Player Characters, plus an extra fight with Mega Man Hub Style.
- Original Generation: Kai and Mary, two new Player Characters created for this Crisis Crossover Spin-Off.
- Player Character: 6 characters including newcomers Ring and TurboMan are available in the beginning, but you can actually obtain navi chips that swap them for anyone else in the cast. In Rockman.EXE N1 Battle, however, only Lan and MegaMan's story is available.
- Powerful, but Inaccurate: Chips with high damage are often inaccurate, especially those that can destroy the opponent's deck.
- Pun: Mary leaves for home at the end of her story on Flight #69 (in Japan, sixty-nine can be pronounced "rokku", as in "Rock", as in "RockMan").
- Rank Inflation: The first tournament block players can enter is E, followed by D and then on all the way to A. The A tournament is then followed by the S tournament, after which the credits roll. The postgame then introduces another three tournaments, X, Y, and Z.
- The Rashomon: Each Player Character story has a unique take on what happens during the tournament.
- Lan, Chaud, and Kai cover mostly the same sequence of events—a tournament is going on but is threatened by an evil plot by the WWW. Lan focuses mostly on the tournament itself and only discovers the evil plot later; Chaud is alerted to the evil plot from the start and spends his story investigating; Kai deludes himself into thinking there's a villainous plot afoot from the start and accidentally blunders into the real operative, who's just as goofy as he is.
- When Lan and Kai meet, Lan jokingly plays along with Kai's misconception that a villainous plot is afoot. In Lan's story, he responsibly shuts down the joke before it gets out of hand, but in Kai's story he does no such thing.
- In Mayl's story, Lan sits the main tournament out completely due to being sick, and Mayl enters primarily to make it up to him (since Lan got sick from the rain after giving Mayl his umbrella).
- Recurring Boss: Most if not all opponents appear in multiple tournaments and the Open Battle levels with more challenging program-decks, even if you've already obtained their navi chip.
- Save-Game Limits: The game features six playable characters with unique stories, but you only get two save slots, presumably so the player can have both a main file and a secondary file to play the remaining character stories in.
- Secret Final Campaign: After the Master Tournament of Class S, Mr. Famous approaches the Player Character with three new tournaments.
- Signature Move: Each Navi has both a personal attack and a "Strong Chip" unique to them when fought as an opponent.
- Skill Gate Characters:
- Normal Navis, who have loads of hit points and battle-chip capacity—this gives players lots of room for error and potential for pure battle-chip strategies without having to work with more specialized Navis. However, because of their abysmal Navi chip attacks, accuracy, and dodge rates, they effectively have only three real attacks per turn and are vulnerable to Mage Killer Navis who will take their battle-chips away.
- Magically Inept Fighter Navis have low battle-chip capacity and rely on the power of their Navi chip attacks, but these can be shut down by stunning them in advance.
- Spam Attack: Numerous Navi and battle-chip attacks do small quantities of damage but hit multiple times at once, which means they benefit exponentially from Quad Damage. Ring, QuickMan, the Navi-Wood, ShadowMan, BeastMan, and Bass all deal damage this way.
- Squishy Wizard: MagicMan.EXE, naturally enough, who has the absolute lowest health of all the Navis in the game, but the highest battle-chip capacity of any non-Normal Navi, and his personal attack has a 50% chance of deleting one of the opponent's loaded chips on contact.
- Stone Wall: The Normal Navi series, whose members have high HP totals but low accuracy and damage potential.
- Took a Level in Badass: A number of Non-Action Guy NPCs from the core series of games get to fight with the Player Characters, like Lan's mom Haruka and Class 5-A's teacher Ms. Mari.
- Tournament Arc: The entire game is made up of those.
- True Final Boss:
- As the Secret Final Campaign goes on, Mr. Famous slowly admits that the new tournaments are meant to draw out and capture an especially dangerous target, who is faced at the end of the Chaos Tournament of Class Z: Bass.EXE.
- Subverted with Normal Navi ZERO waiting for you at the end of the 100-Navi challenge run. He is promptly dispatched by Bass GS, who is the true final fight.
- Umbrella of Togetherness: Mayl's story starts when Lan offers Mayl his umbrella but rejects the notion of walking home together under it. This results in Lan getting sick and losing his ability to compete, so Mayl takes it upon herself to compete on his behalf.
- The Unfought: Normal Navi ZERO, who exhibits The Worf Effect when Bass GS arrives to take his place.
- Unintentionally Unwinnable: You must keep a balanced chip folder that can deal with pretty much anything when you tackle the latter tournaments, or else...
- Visual Initiative Queue: The program deck requires the player to arrange Battle Chips in a flowchart-like array with divergent paths. At the start of every round, a selection of up to three chips will be made as the program randomly determines a path through the deck, and they will be used in that order. Each Navi uses a Program Deck, so combat is the Navis using their first, second, and third Battle Chips, and then following up with their Signature Attack until one or the other is defeated.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The Class C tournaments are when the game really begins to push the player strategically. SkullMan.EXE in particular, with his large quantity of hit points and devastating Navi chip damage, will slaughter any players trying to just plow through with straightforward force.
- What If?: While Lan and Mayl both compete in the tournament in every story, Mayl's story Rewrites the premise such that Mayl is competing on Lan's behalf after he gets sick, putting her in his shoes.
