Part 2: Asterix Chips, Obelix Not Included.

Fun fact, I almost misposted this in the Starforce thread, but thankfully I'm not that stupid and noticed my mistake.



First order of business: Jack into the only other thing we really can at this point. Worth noting that MMBN3's Jack-In sequence was inexplicably trimmed from the international release, so it's just 2 seconds of white screen.



It's an alarm that takes the approach of making bark noises, inside the doghouse.



Oh man, sometimes it's hard to deal with how awesome Mr Progs are. They do very important work around here!



Most of the time though, it's just a tweety noisemaker.

Mr Progs, always trying their hardest to do their best.




You'd expect that the Mr. Progs would know better than to bark at postmen, but nope.



They're just doing their job, man.



The doghouse only has a Barrier L inside, and that's not a very notable drop compared to other stuff we'll be getting. Those who have seen what I get up to in other MMBN games should not be surprised one iota by what I do to the folder in this update. Anyway, Lan's mom Haruka is happy to hear that Lan enjoyed himself. Happy family!

Lan's mum's probably just happy that Lan is telling her things for a change. Oh that delinquent! Always running off, fighting the NetMafia, defeating the WWW, going into highly irradiated areas without telling his mum! Tut tut.



The Virus Lab will actually be relevant in particular much later in the game when a new mechanic comes up, but for most of the game it'll just be a handy shortcut occasionally.

...oh! I'd forgotten about that gimmick! Now I'm excited for that!



The minute you walk into Lan's room, though, Dex notes that the others have started already!

FRIENDS DON'T START GAMES WITHOUT FRIENDS, DEX. Although... I guess bros do, so that's OK



Lan's computer, as usual, serves as the primary Jack-In location for the game. MMBN3's internet design is my personal favorite out of the series. It just feels like how the internet should look. All blocky and pixel-y, though that's subjective and not even relevant anymore these days.

Personally, I prefer MMBN2's internet design, but I do like this one too. It's very different, and pretty easy to keep track of where you are.



Skull doors, of course, return for MMBN3. Every game in the series has these things in some form or another!

Skull doors are cool as heck. Every internet should have skull doors!



A useful feature of the MMBN3 cyberworld is the introduction of the main streets. They dictate the way between the Squares, so if you just want to get from point A to point B, follow the yellow pixel road. It's a far cry from the horrible clusterfuck of MMBN1's internet, wouldn't you say?

Very nice, even MMB2's internet wasn't that kind! They just had cool signboards to let you know where to go.





"It" here referring to your virus Busting Level. In this game, your double kills and even triple kills will be announced on screen with a "Double Delete!" or "Triple Delete!" and it's quite satisfying. Practically speaking, they get you a higher score in battles, and a higher score means better drops, high levels often yielding chips.

Getting the "Double Delete" message makes you feel like a pro. Even on tiny baby viruses. Despite it being a small thing, it actually does make going around early areas fun even when you've visited them a zillion times!



"Oh, I can ignore the shops in the first area of the game, no way they'd have anything useful!" Slap yourself for me if you say that, because ACDC2's NetDealer has a particular goody that will literally be in my folder through the entire rest of this LP.



Delicious AreaGrab *. You can only buy 1, but we'll have more later. More *-coded chips is always a boon, because a blisteringly-fast folder flow is the key to any top-notch folder. In particular, AreaGrabs are always some of the most useful chips in the game, providing an extra column of movement. Due to the theft nature of the chip, you're essentially having a net advantage of 6 panels more to move on compared to the opponent, or 9 if you've used a second one. Your field will literally be twice the size of the enemy's when you use the humble AreaGrab, and given the nature of MMBN's battle system, this is always an intense advantage. I'm not kidding, this very chip here is going to be along for the ride for the entire rest of the LP.

It's MegaMan Battle Network though, you should be checking every shop because most of them have HP upgrades and PowerUps!

You can also set up hilarious cheapness using AreaGrabs. Constant cheapness.



Okay, I finally get to explain a new mechanic. You may recall BugFrags as scattered Mystery Data goodies throughout MMBN2 you could trade for all kinds of crazy stuff. Well, in MMBN3, you can get them by killing things with a Counter Hits. A Counter is pretty much what it sounds like: Whack something at the right time during its attack animation, and you score a Counter Hit. If you trigger 1 in the battle, you get 1 BugFrag after the normal battle rewards. 2 nets you 3, 3 nets you a whopping 5. Triggering Counter Hit defeats against Navis gives you an astronomical 10 BugFrags! MMBN3 has the distinction of being the easiest game in the series to obtain BugFrags in, and this makes obtaining several things, including the series' ultimate game breaker, very easy.

Yeah, it's much easier to farm BugFrags here, which is a great relief. For a bunch of reasons that we'll see! And they give them out in addition to regular battle awards, in every area, which means battles can always be profitable!



This guy is the security guard for the ACDC Elementary school's area of the net. It's...empty space, so I fail to see what the point is! We'll see him again next update, naturally.



In ACDC 3, a quick detail to the left nets the LongSword E chip. Don't get rid of this thing. You'll need one of these later. You can get LongSword Es by S-ranking Swordy viruses, but at the point in the game you need the chip at, that's difficult. This is the game throwing you a bone early on, don't waste it! No stuffing this thing in a ChipTrader once Higsby's opens!

Epee Em speaks from experience, haha



One of the other things I like about MMBN3's internet is that it has a lot of landmarks and representatives of real-world items. This is the slide from the ACDC Park, for example! It helps to navigate, and it also breaks up the visual monotony. It's not like MMBN4 where everything looks the damn same. Anyway, More * chips is more good, so into the folder this thing goes. This will actually help me out because I have a tendency to hold down the space bar during random virus battles, thus speeding them up 900%. It gets things done quickly, but I inevitably get a whack or two. Never enough to threaten me, but it soothes my pride in keeping my HP up so I need not bear the shame of sub-maximum HP this early in the game's screenshots.

Healing chips are pretty handy! I don't usually use them myself, but I usually regret that SO YEAH



Just down that slope is the entrance to the Square. Squares are virus-free, so there's no harm in chatting everyone up. No, seriously, I'm going to re-emphasize something to readers: talk to the NPCs! They can actually be quite informative and are useful in redirecting your attention when you need it. Last LP I did of this game? I read complaint after complaint of goons who whined that they could never find anything and the game always felt like an incomprehensible hunt.

That's why you talk to people in an RPG, god dammit!

That and because MMBN NPCs are so often absolutely charming.



I feel a profound sense of existential shame. Suddenly, all seems as dust to the ages. The world is dark, cold, and jelly-like...

That's probably just pride that your good friend Glide was able to do so well. Good job, Glide!





It's okay, EPM, just channel the infinite rage within and rekindle your fiery passion with Invis * chips! Much like AreaGrab * from earlier, these suckers ain't leaving the folder. Ever. MMBN3 provides quite a few utility chips early on that are just so universally helpful that they're pretty much guaranteed to be mainstays throughout the game.

Wow they give out some good chips early. I can't think of a folder that wouldn't be improved with some Invis chips! Much easier than bothering with healing chips, just drop some Invis and never get hit!

Now, those familiar with this game and the previous will already be catching onto why I'm placing especial emphasis on using lots of chips every turn.



The BBS boards return, and each Square in the game gets at least one of them, but ACDC's BBS boards have nothing of note on them yet. So, let's get on with this N1 preliminary already!

Yeah!! Let's be cool like Glide!!



The Navi in charge is a perky chap.

I see a lot of myself in that cool Navi



Anyway, the preliminaries are very simple. He'll ask a True or False question, then you're told to go find the X or O data to answer it with. Round 1 is in ACDC3, Round 2 in 2, 3 in 1. It's a good way to get the player acquainted with the ACDC area, as most will have just taken the main street direct path to the Square.



But before we begin, theatrics! This whole thing is being televised, and this fact will be relevant later on!



I do. I truly do. To NetBattle the greatest of all foes, to experience the blood rush glory of combat! To stagger away from the battlefield, reminded of why I live to another day! To taste the thrill of a tough challenge, then the surge of victory!

I wanna be the very best! Like no one ever was!



The first question is simple, so is the second, the third requires a smidge of math. Very, very easy.

The real trick is remembering what you're doing! ...Though, I can't remember, but I think you get a reminder if you hit the 'L' button.



Off to ACDC3 I go for the answer, and you can see already what an impact my folder tweaks have made. Yeah, I'm selecting 5 chips in one turn about 6 minutes into the game proper.

Always love that *-coding...



MORE ASTERISK CHIPS, MORE. I HUNGER FOR FOLDER EFFICIENCY.



Tucked in the right-hand corner of the area, isometric perspective and all, is the answer data. Back to the DNN Navi!





Off to ACDC2. For this and the next question, I recommend jacking MegaMan out rather than backtracking. Not only does this save time, you reset all the green mystery data, thus reaping more random goodies.

Everybody in this game always forgets they can jack out. Buck the trend!

Also it's adorable to imagine this guy asking Dex and GutsMan this question. Oh you guys!



While searching, I picked up a little goodie I missed before: CopyDamage *. This chip is situational, so despite it being the luscious *-code, it's not going into the folder. What it does is "mark" a single enemy. When you damage any other target on the field, that enemy will receive the same damage. This chip, believe it or not, will be a godsend in the postgame. So, about 20 updates or so from now, based on how long the last LP of this game went, expect to see the humble CopyDmg * chip pop into the spotlight it has patiently awaited.

A running theme I've noticed in my LPs is that I plan for the future to a slightly crippling extent. I'll almost always put off immediate benefits if I can get something better later, even if there's no reason why I can't just get both as needed.

Why are they giving you these chips so early? I didn't even notice before. But it's cool, it's all cool



The X data is right across from the CopyDamage *, at any rate.



Final question! It's false, as revealed by a minute or so of my wheezing brain's capacity for mental math revealed to me. Jacking out to ACDC1 we go.

Maths is hard! Good thing navis don't have calculators in 'em or anything, that would sure make this trivial. Or... trivialer.



It's right by Lan's homepage, tough to miss!



And that's all there is to it. I actually don't see how this could serve to filter people out any better than just a "do you want to clear round 1?" questionnaire, given that you can retry failed questions if you somehow mess up.

Seems reasonable, considering the level of intelligence MMBN characters have dsplayed in previous games.



That takes care of the N1 for this bit of the story, we'll be getting back to it a few chapters from now. It's not a protracted all-in-one-slog kind of thing, the game spreads it out, which I appreciate.

You wouldn't prefer the game to be nothing but this?? But I thought you loved MMBN4! Let's all go to the back of ParkArea again!!!



6 pm has already come, and Yai sets the chat for her homepage at 8, so they can all have dinner first. Glide forks over the YaiCode items needed to open Yai's SecurityCube gate, and we're pretty much off!

Aw, thanks Glide! What a cool guy.



Nothing makes Lan happier than food, so dinner time beckons! We'll get to the chat, namely the event that interrupts it and really gets things going, next time!