Mega Man Battle Network 4 Red Sun

"Enjoy the light of the Red Sun."

I'm a Mega/Rock Man fan from way, way back. From the first game on the NES to my much-beloved X and Zero series, I've been with the Blue Bomber throughout the years. Cue the Mega Man Battle Network series, and 'intrigued' is the adjective of the hour. With its unusual battle system and RPG-like gameplay, I knew there was fun to be had in this quirky little spin-off of Capcom's. Three games and many, many hours later, I'm a satisfied customer. Then along came MMBN4, and I start to question Capcom's ability to maintain a game series. Oh, sure, they've managed to keep Mega Man, Street Fighter and all the rest going for what seems like forever, but this new iteration in the Battle Network series left me with a feeling of disappointment. It's not necessarily that the game is bad, but going by past titles in the series, they could have done so much better.

I suppose I should start at the beginning. Once again you're Hikari Netto (or Lan if you happen to be playing the US version) grade schooler, expert net battler, and a kid with what seems like way too much free time on his hands. Seriously, how can this kid get the grades he does when he saves the world every few months?

Right away you'll be shown cutscenes explaining the game's hackneyed plot (An asteroid is falling to earth! Call Bruce Willis!) and of course, given a refresher of the game's battle system through a tutorial you can't skip. While it's great for new players, who jumps into a four-game series like that? A way to skip past the tutorial for veterans would have been great, but c'est la vie...

The game itself is similar to previous titles. It plays like an RPG, where you must go to point A, fight battle B, acquire item C and return it to person D for a reward. Well, that's mostly a generalization. The fact of the matter is, the game itself is less than impressive, especially when compared to the others of the series. There seem to be many more fetch quests that are required to complete the game, and the addition of the three tournaments breaks up the actual plot (what there is of it). See, rather than just having adventures during the school year or summer vacation, Netto (Lan) moves from one city-sponsored tournament to the next, beating up other Navis and winning prizes. The thing is, there's not much to the game in between the tournaments except for the odd cutscene showing how much closer the asteroid is to wiping out the world. While some might argue the plot took a back seat to the gameplay in the early games, in this the story's being dragged along the road while hanging onto the bumper by an already-fraying rope. In other words, don't expect too much of a story.

I suppose I might as well go into the battle system for the sake of completeness. As with previous games, battles are done in real-time. You play on a grid of six by three squares. A set of nine blue squares acts as your playing field, while nine red squares goes to the enemy. You can either use your trusty (and often weak) Mega/Rock Buster, or send a maximum of five battle chips to MegaMan.EXE for general virus-busting purposes. If you run out of chips, wait till the next round begins and select new ones.

The chips are usually the best way of ridding yourself of enemies. The familiar cannons, spread shots, HP recovery chips and more make a return, along with many new chips, including my personal favorite, the Super Vulcan. Program Advances are back again, though many have been changed in terms of the effect. Timed weapons such as the Giga Cannon and DreamSword are one-shot attacks rather than "Blast all you can in the allotted time!" The elemental system makes a return as well. Hit a fire-based enemy with a water-based chip and you'll deliver extra damage. Not only that, but the Navi Customizer returns, allowing you to equip Mega Man with power upgrades or various programs that will give him special abilities. Groovy.

A new addition to the battle system is the counter attack. Hit an enemy with a battle chip just as they're about to attack, and you'll trigger a "COUNTER!" message. Mega Man will be surrounded by some odd rings, and the next battle chip he uses will have its attack power doubled. However, once he uses that battle chip or is hit by an enemy attack, he goes back to normal. You can stay in Counter mode by continually performing Counter Attacks on enemies, and the Counter effect even carries over to the next battle, making it the ideal preparation for boss battles.

Now, if you've played the previous three games the battle system will be nothing new, but if you're just entering into the series (I can't imagine why, but there you are...) it works very well, especially when you throw Dark Chips into the mix. Dark Chips are evil. You probably guessed that from the name. Well, they're very evil, because they're insidious and insanely powerful. How do they work? Simple. Insidious. Insanely powerful. Oh yeah, details...

Okay, so say Mega Man suffers several enemy hits in any given round. The face icon (new for BN4) in the upper left corner of the screen will show he's getting flustered. Upon the next round, you can select Dark Chips, uber-powerful versions of regular chips. Regular cannons and swords that do over 500 damage each. A chip that changes your opponent's field to poison swamps, thus depleting their HP as you laugh. With such powerful tools, you might think, "Why not give in to the dark side?" I'll tell you why, young Padawan.

Each Dark Chip, when used, causes a permanent loss of 1 hit point. Permanent, as in cannot be recovered, ever. Not so bad, just one HP, right? Not when you add up all the Dark Chips used over time. That isn't all. The more Dark Chips you use, the better the chance of a program bug happening, such as Mega Man taking damage, his field changing to bad things, and all manner of disaster. Even worse, if you use the Dark Chips too much, Mega Man's soul will turn black and you will lose control of him during battle. Is all this a worthy trade for the insane power of the Dark Chips? You must decide that for yourself...

Okay, enough evil mumbo-jumbo. In past games Mega Man had the ability to style change into different forms, increasing his power and giving him various abilities. In this iteration, he can Soul Unison. What this means is that when you gain a Soul Unison with a particular Navi, you gain that Navi's abilities. Such Navis as Windman give you power over wind and make you immune to harmful field changes like poison or ice, while others like Protoman are the obvious sword-wielding slashing maniacs.

As you may have noticed, MMBN4 is split up into two versions. Each version has six unique souls that can only be acquired in that game, as well as similarly unique Giga chips (uber-powerful battle chips) that cannot be traded between games. While the true fanatics will ignore this review and buy both versions, for the average gamer you'd do best to look through the game's FAQs for the differences between versions, then choose the one that sounds better. Other than the Souls and Giga chips you acquire, the only true difference between the versions are the scenarios that take place during the tournaments. There are six scenarios exclusive to each version, but the main plot remains the same.

That's all well and good, but what about the technicals? The game's graphics have received a complete makeover, but quite honestly, I think Capcom just shrunk the sprites a little and changed the Internet yet again. Oh yes, the jack-in sequence looks very spiffy with the purple light threads and such, but other than that you won't find anything that pushes the GBA farther than a few decent sprite effects. Likewise, the music is enjoyable in the same vein of the Mega Man series, with decent beats that sound even better with a set of headphones (or stereo sound on the GBA Player).

As I come to a close, I will have to end on a down note. There are six souls to acquire, but only three will be awarded on your first play-through. Yes, only three. Once you beat the game, you'll have the option to replay it (in true New Game+ format) to get the other three souls. You'll have to play through three full times to get all the souls, but if you just want to go from start to finish on Normal difficulty, you'll be done in 15-20 hours. However, the MMBN series has always had things to do beyond just beating the game. Collecting the 150 regular chips, 60 mega chips and Giga chips, not to mention the Soul Unisons, Program Advances and the bonus dungeon will have you working your tail off for quite a bit. Even after the single player game has been conquered, you can hook up to a friend's GBA and battle him/her with your own custom folder.

While I would have been happier had Capcom made the tournaments optional and focused on the myriad of adventures LAN seems to get himself into, MMBN4 is a decent sequel, though one that doesn't live up to its predecessors. Like I said, it's not that it's a bad game. It has its flaws, but the well-polished battle system and light, hearty gameplay make it well worth you time. If you enjoy all things Mega Man and love the Battle Network series as I do, you'll certainly uncover the fun to be had in this title.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/04