Part 53: Not Like This. Not Like This...

For some reason, Lan and MegaMan split up? Not a very good tactical decision, considering you don't know what could happen.

Well to be fair, we did just kill Alpha. There's not much more for them to do.



I suppose technically, yes?



This right here will serve to be inspiration for a huge plot point in the fifth game in the series. Remember this when you get there.





This is all automated. Lan and MegaMan walk ahead to scope out their surroundings.



I forget who brought it up, but there was a link in the thread to unused materials found on the cartridge; things in this room really do have information when examined, even though we can only watch the cutscene.



DUN DUN DUNNNNN







That explains why there are chairs. You see, in the year 20XX, there are no such thing as swivel chairs in modern SciLab.

They've all been replaced by SCIENCE!



Well, even a program needs a chair to sit in.



Good job.





When something like this happens in RPGs...

...it means we're about to be ambushed?



...that something is usually the voice of a creator/God of some kind. But what a nice treat for our ending party!

Eh, I suppose that in this scenario, this guy really is more or less a God.





Holy fuck it's Santa Claus!



I know when I think of Santa Claus, I think of a programmer. That totally works.



I want BattleChips for Christmas!

I for one would like good GigaChips.





Wait how does he know about that???

Lan mentions the Pulse Transmission System in his dialogue. Although, his biggest clue is Lan standing next to MegaMan as presumably, Tadashi was around when it was being made.



Much like his Classic counterpart, Wily had other ideas for the advancement of Battle Network's society. And since everyone followed this Tadashi Hikari's Network idealogy, then Wily got shafted again.

If I recall correctly, this world diverged when the powers that be decided to fund Hikari's network research, rather than Wily's robotics.





Dude got nommed.



In both series, Wily is just a man who was unwilling to go with the flow of society. Hey, it sucks to have your robotic research get ignored, especially when it probably had benefits.



That's... a good question, actually. How did he manage to survive?





Right. This isn't the real Tadashi Hikari, just a piece of his digitized brain. This probably wouldn't have been necessary if you guys hadn't built everything on top of Alpha







Hooray, no random AlphaBug getting hold of the nuclear launch codes!

Because that would be a cool sequel hook but NOPE tournaments! All the tournaments!



Oh, don't ask THAT.

Porn everywhere. As far as the eye can see.

Why did you mention the p-word!? Don't you know what you've done!?







I BEG to differ!











Uh-huh, sure.

Wow this place is a shithole. Kinda deserves to get blown up by whatever horrible bad thing is going to happen.





Sweet. New Key Item!

Does this have any in-game text? I forget.





Great, by killing Alpha, what was left of Tadashi is now gone.





The place starts shaking. What's left of Alpha is collapsing on itself.

Without the main core, all of the slaved nodes are starting to just dissolve their connections.





This ending scenario does a fine job of addressing the continuous problem of not being able to jack out, at least.

It also explains why Beardman couldn't just get the hell out of Dodge when Bass showed up.







Incidentally, this right here is probably what served as the biggest basis for Battle Network 6's post-credits scene.

Man that scene is so sad... The end of an era. Oh wait shit we're supposed to talk about this game. Uh... Something something blink animation.





The two fuse and run out of the room...



The player now has to run back to the jack-in point manually.



Here is the KeyItem we just got.



And for one fucking reason or another, MegaMan just stops to say this line. Just run!

Giver, no, what's happening! Why aren't you running!



No shit! So why did you STOP!?



STOP TALKING AND JUST RUN ALREADY!





Here lies Lan Hikari, done in by his own goddamn stupidity.



What did I tell you about your IQ dropping below 5!? WHAT DID I TELL YOU!?



You still haven't learned anything, Lan.

This is all your fault.

Now go make a pact with the Queen of the Winter Fae.



I was so mad when I first saw this. Really now, what good reason was there to STOP?





Sounds like me 3 nights ago!

This is known as sleep paralysis It happens when weird shit happens in the brain when you're dreaming and you wake up but are still paralyzed. The brain still thinks you're dreaming, so you basically hallucinate weird shit. This could be where the myth of the succubus comes from.





First tentacle rape, and now slime. This hentai shit is gonna gross me out.

Dude you're the one making it go there you creep.

No, you said the p-word!



To the recycle bin with you!



Please don't make me give up MegaMan, game.





Oh, no, don't tell me.





But...but...but...!





Well, we all saw this coming, but it still doesn't make it any less sad.

Is sad music playing here? I feel like sad music should be playing here.

Yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg-DY6-87iU








Ouch.

It's true, though. If Lan gives up and dies, it makes MegaMan's sacrifice meaningless.



Don't do this!

He's playing the 'Dead twin brother turned into a NetNavi and sacrificing himself' card! That's a really specific card to play!



I'll be nicer to the thread, I promise!

No you won't.



I'll actually try to help more instead of finding roundabout ways to insult them!



I'll stop tricking them! Please, just don't go!



God dammit.

You wouldn't be able to keep your promise anyway... MegaMan, no! Don't leave me with Giver!







Yeti, if you have the power to stop the madness, then do it! EPM left me, MissEchelon left me, now fucking MegaMan is leaving me!

I don't like this situation any better than you! I'm gonna be stuck with you without MegaMan, think about how that makes ME feel!









Grab your nearest pillow and hug it, everyone.

This shit was actually really depressing when I was a kid. I mean, MegaMan was so cool and now he's DYING?!







I knew the series was always better when it focused on character drama.

There's usually a disconnect between the power level of the player, and the power level the game expects, especially the stronger the player is. It makes things harder to sync up, but when it does, it hurts. We feel exactly as powerless as Lan is right now, and that hits hard.







This right here is proof.

He's going to do his homework, this is bad.



Yes, these lines are probably the same things you've heard a million times before, but most kids probably haven't, so this works well for them.

Because most kids haven't watched any given Lifetime movie if they're playing this, this is probably their first introduction to someone begging for their loved one to stay with them.









...He's gone, isn't he.