Games, Life, and Stuff: Mega Man meets RPGs

If you haven't played the Mega Man Battle Network series on your GBA, then you're missing out on a lot of fun.

The games take place in the near future where everyone has advanced PDAs called PETs with AI Navis (like Mega Man) inside. In the real world, you control Mega Man's owner "Lan", a normal school-kid who finds himself caught up in international conspiracies and terrorist plots. When it comes time to enter cyberspace, control switches to Mega Man who runs around in a futuristic isometric landscape. (In the early games, the cyberworld was somewhat maze-like, so you might find the maps on GameFAQs to be helpful.)

When it's time to do battle, the game shifts into a timer-influenced turn-based mode with real-time movement. So... You can move around the board at will but can't do your special attacks willy-nilly. The great part is that defeating enemies can potentially earn you a battle chip containing their attacks, which you then use against others, etc. (If you've ever played a Mega Man game of any kind, you know how that works.)

The battle system allows for some interesting strategies. You have only so many slots for battle chips and only so much RAM to hold powerful attacks. Later games even expand on customization, enabling the reprogramming of Mega Man with Tetris piece-shaped blocks that one must squeeze into the available space.

Just like the original Mega Man series, the sequels offer more of the same with a few upgrades here and there. Some people give Capcom a hard time over this behaviour (especially when it comes to Street Fighter versions), but I have no problem with playing incrementally better versions of something I like. If I wanted a totally new gameplay experience I would play a different series.

Personally, my fave is the second game. But, there is an incentive to complete the games in order: starting with MMBN 2, one can link with the previous game and transfer over a powerful favourite battle chip.

There are currently 4 Mega Man Battle Network games, along with one side game "Battle Chip Challenge". MMBN 5 is expected this December in Japan.