Mega Man Battle Network 3 White

"Ready to execute the third Program Advance?"

Let me be the (probably) first person to say that Mega Man has been an icon of video gaming since his first game in 1988. All six games released on the NES were works of art, truly immersing a player into an action game about the futuristic kid in a mechanical suit - Mega Man! Each game has fanned Mega Man into just about every place you can think of - soccer games, underground areas, rainforests that rain acid... the works. Capcom's most recent Mega Man game, Battle Network, continues the trend of ground-breaking Mega games by throwing him into an RPG format - not unlike Mario when he was put into Super Mario RPG in late '96. So, if you've got any doubts, put them aside, because this game is... well, one hell of a game!

Jack in! MegaMan, Execute!

The Battle Network story has been pretty strong thus far - in the first game, you battled the net crime organization known as World 3, or WWW. After foiling them, the second game pitted you against a Net Mafia - Gospel. So, it has been one month since Lan Hikari's epic battle on the Net against the ruler of the Gospel Mafia, and Lan returns to school with his friends Dex, Yai, and Mayl (his main squeeze). Each person carries their own PET (Personal Terminal, basically does everything phones and computers can do; also uploads homework and other files) with their own Net Navi (Net Navigator - program that takes shape and can talk to you. Lan being the main character, his Net Navi is MegaMan) which they've been using to great effect so far. As school ends, Yai suggests a chat on the Net to work on homework. As they set up a time, however, a strange man in a cowboy hat comes up to them and tells them about the N1 Grand Prix - a massive competition where Netbattlers come together to test their skills against one another to see who is the greatest. Excited, the group decide to attempt the preliminaries in hopes of becoming a competitor in the Grand Prix. Little do they know, an old 'friend' of theirs is returning to take his revenge! You also meet up with Ms. Mari (hot elementary school teacher), your mom (duh), and Mr. Higsby (rare chip collector who went mad in first game, but now owns a chip store where he sells Battle Chips. Very enigmatic - likes to end sentences with 'huh').

The storyline maintains a constant flowing in this game, much unlike the other games, where it usually took a little while to jump-start the plot. The only thing I can find rather odd in this game is the sheer amount of spelling errors in the text - some of them are so obvious, you just HAVE to laugh. Plus, even though the story is kiddish and the game only rated 'E' with Mild Violence, there have been cases of cursing in previous games. (Elementary kids cussing - what's next?)

Do you have the GUTS??

The controls have been, and always will be, a simple matter. It's basic RPG-style - control pad moves your character, A button checks things, B button is to run. Additionally, you use the L button to talk to MegaMan and get a clue as to where you're supposed to go. The R button, last but not least, allows you to jack-in to the Internet and control MegaMan. You can use the button again at anytime - it will put you back in control of Lan AND will heal MegaMan's health. It takes very little mastery overall.

Of course, what's an RPG without battles? In the real world, you don't get attacked, but in Cyberspace, viruses may appear randomly as you doddle about. 'Course, he is MegaMan, after all! Battles take place on a 6x3 grid of squares - MegaMan gets a 3x3 area to move around in, and the enemies get the other 3x3 area. The battles are in real-time, but when you start the game, Mega's MegaBuster only deals one measly point of damage! That's where Battle Chips come in. Battle Chips are special program chips that you can upload to MegaMan at the beginning of your turn. Then, the battle begins. At the top of your screen is a Custom Bar. When it fills up, you can use the L or R buttons to return to the Chip Selection screen, where Lan can feed MegaMan more chips to use. This unique battle system makes the game really fun to play - heck, even leveling up is cool!

Major fun ahead, huh!

You don't really gain EXP in this game. Rather, at a certain point in the game, you are given a 'Navi Customizer'. This thing allows you to equip MegaMan with special items that can upgrade MegaMan's MegaBuster or give him a special ability in general. At first, your work space is small (only about 3x4 squares, and there's lots more geometry after that), but can gradually get bigger throughout the game. At other points in the game, you'll get a 'Style Change', where MegaMan goes through a transformation in armour. When this happens, your MegaBuster's charge attack becomes something specific to the element of which you transform AND you'll be strong against some types of viruses while weak to others (think of Pokèmon and you'll get it. It's not as complex as Pokèmon, either). As you get stronger, you'll gain several other Styles to use in battle.

This RPG system is probably one of the easiest and most fun systems ever created, assuming you don't count Final Fantasy... because Final Fantasy breaks everybody in the RPG genre.

Server Power at 600% and rising!

Difficulty? Well... take a gander at that section title. 600%... big number. Yeah, this game is pretty hard, especially compared to most other RPGs (yeah, including Final Fantasy). It's also very LONG and drawn-out, but the story's so interesting you'll hardly notice the length. What matters is that this game takes a lot of brainpower to figure out, especially with the Navi Customizer. Even though this game may seem like it's for kids, it actually requires lots of middle school-high school thinking in order to complete with relative ease ('relative' being taken lightly). However, the challenge is definitely worth Capcom's effort to keep the games as hard as possible without breaching the 'HOLY **** THIS IS TOO HARD' line. MegaMan professionals, on the other hand, may not have a bad time beating it. It just all depends on how smart you really are... =P

The Internet - nothing like you would've imagined!

Well, as if the Style Changes weren't enough, but in celebration of MegaMan's Sweet 15th, Capcom has released two versions of the game - Blue and White (all you need is Red, and you got the American spirit). The differences between the two include styles (Blue and White each have a unique style that can't be gotten in the other game), viruses (a few unique White viruses, a few unique Blue viruses), and Hidden Bosses with four unique chips (Blue has two different bosses, White has only one - and it's unique to the game as well). In order to get all the chips, you'll have to trade between Blue and White. Tedious, I know, but not necessary.

Despite the cheerful look of this game, it does require you to think big, think hard, and think fast - because in a split-second, the battle can be won or lost. May ye do well in the battle against the viruses!

That's all, folks!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/03