Mega Man Battle Network 2

"The reason I've this nickname... and it's just saying things."

I think 10 is a low score. I love Megaman games, even if I find that the NES ones are too difficult. Now hardcore fans will start yelling at me saying I'm not skilled at playing. It's true, I admit it: for my level, those games are hard. But this game, which I tried before the first and the third (I still haven't tried the fourth), really made the difference between thinking at Megaman as a puny videogame character and a true hero. It combined many RpG elements along with adventure ones, like finding items and such. And, the most important thing, it wasn't boring. It was very fun, like should be all the games out there now. The EXE series really made a revolution in the videogame industry and also let grow a new legend in all the Blue Bomber's fans' hearts. Hopes to see the mighty Zero (which I don't consider to be so mighty, oh well...), or even Bass (why are you looking at me?), or just our favourite hero Megaman. This game, along with the first one and the third, and probably the fourth, has put an undeletable sign in my heart and, if you're a BB's fan, I'm sure it did the same to you. This is not a game: this is a fantastic experience which will challenge you at the right point, entertaining you with a bunch of new characters as well as well-known ones. It seems like I'm talking about the new Final Fantasy, or a new, upcoming film, but I'm not. It may seem strange to someone, but I'm just talking about a GBA game which has been able to enter in my dreams. A little GBA game, with a great soul. And in this game we are all happy to see our beloved, greatest friend: he's obviously our favourite Blue Bomber, Megaman.

I know, I admit I may have enhanced things a bit, but I swear I've been sincere by writing all these things. Nonetheless, some of you may not take me on words and may still be a little suspicious about the technical details and such. If you still don't trust me, well, I suggest you keep on reading, as you'll be finding out one of the greatest games ever made, and I'm not saying it just for Megaman, but also because it has a great gameplay, great side-characters, and great isometric graphics (and I've to repeat another time: not at Golden Sun level, but for the game type they're still great, I don't think even Golden Sun happened to have such an harmoniously combination of colours on the screen...). And most of all, I say that I hate techno music, but this game really has some techno/similar tunes which I, personally, love with all my heart. Not to mention the title tune, which, at least for me, is something wonderful. But off we go with the indepth review.

"Netto-kun!" If you've the Japanese version, or if you've watched the Anime, you've probably found this quote, said by Megaman (Rockman). The first thing I've to make a note about are characters: they're GREAT, and get much development, and DEEP development, not to mention that, with the game rockin' 'n' rollin' around two worlds (the real world and the Internet), some names are really tricky, like the main character's one: Lan (computers' programmers will probably recognize something) which originally was Netto (pronunciation of Net in Japan, at least as far as I'm aware)... and the female one: Mayl (so close to Mail)... in this game, we also find some well-known characters, just to make some examples: we get the almighty Megaman, the sweethearted Roll, the coldhearted Protoman, the fat 'n' arrogant Gutsman... and such. One thing we must say: in this 2 worlds, we get real characters, which are Lan, Mayl and others, and Navi, which are Megaman, Roll and such. Every Navi lives in the Internet and has an operator in the real world: for example, Lan is Megaman operator, Mayl is Roll operator and so on... obviously we've good Navis and evil Navis, and like the real Internet we have viruses, which we've, obviously, to fight! I'm trying to pick your interest, and I'm sure I'm succeeding... you control both Lan and Megaman in the game. In the real world, you can go to other cities and towns with the underground, and can switch to the Internet wherever there is a plug-in space, in which you can send your Megaman, attaching your PET (personal terminal) plug, or just by pressing the R button. This process is called "Jack in" while the opposite one (when you control Megaman you can come back to the real world whenever you want, except during special events and, of course, battles. Yes, battles) is called "Jack out"... in the real world, we haven't fights, since Lan isn't properly a warrior, while we get in the Internet. But we'll discuss it later!

As I said before, graphics are at a good level. Good to great, let's say. Probably the best thing we could say about them is "colour": maybe they're not so much detailed (well, they're squared, but nonetheless I don't think Capcom could have detailed them better), but the colours are great: you'll always think to have the best colour combination on the screen, always , and that's not a thing that happens often in videogames. And not to mention, this is a GBA game, in case you forgot! Maybe just battle effects aren't that good, but, hey, there isn't a perfect game (with that, I don't mean a "liked-by-all-the-people game") and probably never will be. As I was saying, Megaman and all the other characters are drawn with an unique anime style which gives you the feeling you're not playing a game but you're actually watching an anime, and I'm sure that if Capcom would have succeeded into making the sprites a bit more expressive, that feeling would have been total. Monsters (viruses, in the game) are something great too, especially the final ones (since it's like in RpGs, there are various shapes for one monster, and the shapes' differences are mainly the colours). And Megaman get various fighting shapes too, but the biggest differences here are colours as well (HeatStyle, just to make an example 'cuz I don't want to spoil the entire game, has red as colour, and so on...). Graphics are great, and I'm sure Capcom knew well that a game doesn't need graphics to be a great game (I learned this lesson as well). Nonetheless, the score is a whopping 10.

Now we get into gameplay (I skip audio rating, since it doesn't need many words: music tunes, as I said, are something great and just some don't really capture you and aren't so attractive, but most are. Sound effects, on the other side, are something near perfection, slashes, dashes, everything is as the right place at the right time. In this case, I think the GBA couldn't offer more): as I said, MMBN(2, in this case, but this counts for the 70% for the previous game as well) is a card-style RPG: if you've played Dragon Ball: the Legend of the Super Saiajin for the SNES, you'll find yoursel kinda familiar with the game system, but it's different, trust me. Basically you've an isometric view, for what concerns the real world. And you can interact with objects and talk with people using the A button, and you cancel with B button. If you open the Menu, since you always (except on special events) have your PET (remember? Personal terminal or whatever it's called) with you, you can check your E-mail (which is something near reality, trust me), but obviously, not your real E-mail, and check Megaman stats. Basically, Megaman has a life, which starts at 100 (if I'm not mistaken: it could be 80) and could end to 999 (or was it 9999? I can't clearly remember) if powered-up correctly with special items you can buy. Every hit you take from monsters (viruses) will wipe some of your life out. But don't worry since everytime you jack out your life will be completely replenished (but you'll have to restart everything and do another time everything you previously did on the net. But don't worry, it's nothing to worry about, since the game never gets annoying, for the possible exception for the part where you've to find a battle chip, which is pretty difficult to obtain). Megaman has other stats as well, like Attack (power), and this concerns how much damage you deal with your Mega Buster. I'm getting to it, just a moment. In the real world (but also on the net) you can check your Battle Chips: Battle Chips are the strategic key to win battles, other than a way to deal bunches of damage. Even if it can be powered later in the game, your Mega Buster is pretty weak, even if it doesn't consume chips. Are you confused? Let me explain: when you enter a random battle (or not a random one, it's the same), you've first to choose what Battle Chips you wanna use. All chips have a letter (which may change even if the chip, maybe found another time in another place, is the same). If you have 3 chips with the same letter, you'll be able to use them in a row. This also happens, if I'm not in mistaken, if you choose 3 chips which have the letters, for example, A, B, then C. Chips can be used in order to attack but also in order to regain life and such. When you're done with selecting chips, you're in for the battle. You'll see the battlefield: it's composed by 18 squares: in the simplest way, the left 9 are yours, while the other 9 are the enemies'. You can only move to your squares, but don't worry since there are chips that... oh well, you'll find out. With B you can use your Mega Buster, while with A button you can use the chips you've chosen before. You'll also see a bar at the top of the screen: when it's full you'll hear a sound and you'll be able to choose some other chips. Hope you understood, but the game has a great tutorial, which will make everything clearer.

Difficulty in this game can be pretty hard sometimes, especially because some bosses, which like you and viruses, have life too (and luckily is displayed, so you'll always know it) and when it's low, they'll begin using special attacks and sometimes they can be very quick 'n' powerful. Apart from that, the difficulty is well balanced: at the beginning you'll keep on finding weak viruses, and you'll be able to train. Oh, after every battle, you get either Zenny (money) or battle chips, or your life will be healed, it's up to ... the game. With money you can buy Life power-ups and other things, but I think we're getting too deep into the game. The 2 words interact with each other, so you're warned... you're up for, maybe, the ultimate challenge in the videogame industry. Well, maybe I'm still enhancing things, but I tell you: this game mustn't be missed. You'll be playing it for countless hours as I did, but at that time, I wasn't a Megaman fan! And after all... that's why I've this nickname, and I'm very proud of it.

Thanks, Megaman!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/10/04