Part 66: I Guess You Could Say That Fight Was...BS.

All right, I need to ask Serenade what's up with that damn door. Also yes, I put on some actual NaviCust setups. 3000 HP is too gimmicky.

Too gimmicky for the guy that fought all of the survival battles using the starting folder? Bullshit.



Bass and Serenade!? BubbleMan, I owe you an apology.

No, Serenade! Run! You can't win!


"I got my ass whooped and I hate you for that."

Well, this is gonna suck.





Run away from the EarthBreak! PLS





Dude. Be smug about your moral choices later. Get the fuck away from Bass now. We have questions for you.



Serenade being the "holier than thou" guy to the end.





Yeti! Do something! Don't let him die!

...The fuck you want me to do? "Bad Bass! No killing Navis!"? Sorry, but I like having my all of me in one piece, thanks.



[insert "no" in slow motion]



I CAN'T WATCH

Oh, the HUMANITY!

Er. Oh, the NETNAVITY!





I need a hug right now. It's MegaMan's death all over again.

Damn it Serenade, you were a cool dude.



OH NOW YOU COME!





Dammit Bass! You suck! Just admit it!

I suppose murdering everyone else is one way of being the strongest. Just not a good way.







For Serenade! For the Internet! For BattleChips!

Good to see you have your priorities straight.



BassBS? Sooo, Bass Bass Style?

Oh damn, he's got a stacked field! But still, only a 200 strength Aura. I think we'll be okay. I'll have to be very careful.

Plus, we've got a strong folder. It's not like it's going to be impossible to win.



Huh? Blue glow?

That's new.

Bass is also MUCH faster now. The Sand Panels on my side really slow down my movement.



Well, I shot him while he's blue, only to see that I deal absolutely NO damage. There was a "PING!" sound effect...and now that red shockwave came out. Damage reflection!

He's using our tricks against us! That bastard!



STAYING ALIVE



STAYING ALIVE



Ah, ah, ah

For your listening pleasure.


Holy shit, just END already. This goes on FOREVER.



Fuck me. The range on that upgraded too? DAMN. But wait, it's a different color. Huh...



Yeah, suck it. I still got this.



Fortunately, dealing 200 damage in BN3 isn't very hard. Just gotta keep the Aura down. Easy!

A pain, but like Giver said 200 damage in a single attack is



...

Wait what





...He just used a GigaChip we can't get yet. So now I have to keep dealing 300 damage (600 on Holy Panels). OK, maybe this won't be so easy.

WAIT WHAT



First, let's make sure we knock out those Holy Panels. We need to make sure he doesn't step on them and reduce our damage output.



See ya!



WHAT



SUCK MY DICK

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha FUCK THIS GAME



DarkAura and HolyPanels. JESUS.

There's like...only a few ways to pull off 600 damage. Using GaiaSword and stacking a bunch of Mine chips is one way.

Well at least I got NorthWind and Mine. That lets me do at least 150 damage. Odds are, I'll run out of chips before I get to kill him at this rate.



At least I'm doing a good job of not getting hit. Still, that'll only last but so long. But I've got Prism!

Now, most of Bass' attacks do 300 damage, which is halved to 150 on the HolyPanels. So, in order to break Bass' Aura with this, I'll need to hit the Prism with my own move that does 300 damage at the same exact frame his buster does. The combined damage will equal 300 and let me break the Aura.



And I took a hit in order to throw down that Prism. But it's worth it. Now I just have to-



...

I have no words. My mouth is literally agape.

That's new.

Bass has a brain, and he's using it. Wow. This is what I've always wanted.

I am going to enjoy this. Minstrels will write songs of our battle!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxlI_3xkSK4

Seriously, watch this. If you haven't watched any other videos of this update or LP, WATCH THIS. It's nuts.

Here it is again, just in case.

There once was a great man named Giver
Who always loved the stage
He faced a fearsome Navi
While Yeti just wanted to rage

HRGLBRGLH

I'll admit that I messed around a bit, especially at the end, but man that was a good fight! Lots of new attacks, AI shifts, and he finally brings out all the moves he uses in the narrative.

This rendition of BassBS was made as a response to BassGS being so weak. And I say 'this rendition' because he first existed in EPM's old BN3 LP. Although, I do believe the two Bass' are similar in name only. I must thank Prof. 9 from The Rockman EXE Zone for a job well-done in making this come alive. At first, I really just wanted a stronger BassGS, because BassBS was supposed to replace that fight. But then, we got crazy with adding stuff. Time for a breakdown!

If you want to fight this boss, download the patch here!

This boss will only work with Blue Version, and you have to talk to Tamako. Your MetalMan fight MUST be Beta-level. Also, the default battle field was replaced, so if you go into a normal virus fight, it will most likely be changed.

I have my own issues with this boss, but I'll talk about that later.



Notice how Bass flashes blue everytime he uses the explosion move? It's called Guardian. What it does is protect Bass from all non-Breaking type moves. And that's why my NorthWind was blocked. In Battle Network 3, defense takes priority over utility effects.

When Bass has his Aura and Guardian up, there is a special little loop that happens. Any move that would break the Guardian, such as MetalMan, gets instantly blocked by the Aura. And if there was any move that specifically breaks the Aura, like ProtoMan V4, then Guardian takes precedence and blocks the hit! It's a very smart, very potent defense. You'll have to bring them down one at a time.



This is honestly a good pick to stop Guardian. Consider using DrillMan, Shake series, BlackBomb, or hell, even Cannonball. If you don't use the right set of chips to break it, Guardian will reflect damage back at you in the form of a red shockwave. It does 100 damage. Does this sound like a particular NaviCust program I've been abusing?

The saving grace here is that if you break Guardian once, you'll never have to worry about it again for the rest of the fight. So plan your chip usage accordingly.



Bass first showed off Guardian when he absorbed it in the final scenario. Of course, there was no in-battle counterpart, so this is essentially what Prof. 9 and I think Guardian would do.



Once you've gotten Bass down past 2,100 HP, he'll use DarkAura. As you saw in the fight, DarkAura replaces the LifeAura as his default regen. It's actually more annoying that it happens in the middle of the fight, forcing you to waste chips on a weak Aura. I hope you took out Guardian before this phase, otherwise you'll have to deal with that on top of this.



This just screams "USE ME! I DO 300 DAMAGE AND I COME IN *" Mine is probably the MVP for this fight.

I like to call the DarkAura segment: Phase 2. Phase 2 is where Bass starts pulling out EarthBreak. So you'll have an opportunity to score a free hit. But everything he does is much faster, you may not have enough time.



Why did you show it to Bass? NOW HE HAS IT!



It just got real. Yes, Bass will now switch Gospel Cannon's element to the one that trumps yours. If you recall, Gospel from Battle Network 2 did the exact same thing. His elemental breath always beat out yours, and if you went Null, then he did random element breaths. Are you the type of person that abuses the healing on grass trick? Yeah, you're dead. That'll be 1,200 damage please(300 Base, then doubled for Navi element, then doubled again for stage element).

This will start up Phase 3 and you'll have to deal with a potential weakness for the rest of the fight.



Bass' Get Ability is his bread and butter. I'm really surprised Bass doesn't use it in-battle in the actual games. Outside of gaining new powers, of course.




Bass gets a new move during this Phase, Gospel Storm. Your whole area is just dead. Period. See, what's really tricky about this is that Gospel Claw has several iterations.

Gospel Claw - two measly claws, one on top row, one on bottom. Same as BassGS
Gospel Burst - Two claws on either top or bottom. Then one claw on other row. Bass IMMEDIATELY follows up with an AirBurst.
Gospel Strike - Bass uses 3 Gospel Claws, one on middle, top and bottom
Gospel Storm - see GIF. Loves to follow it up with Gospel Cannon.

You have to be prepared for every iteration and use your reflexes. If you try and out predict him, you're gonna have a bad time.




Man, I could watch that gif all day. Let's get something straight. I don't care how well you're doing. I don't care how far ahead you are. Once this move comes out, you are instantly far behind. Just look at what happened. My entire setup is GONE. Bass clearly gives 0 fucks. This signals Phase 4.



If you recall, only "Chosen Ones" could use GigFreeze, which let the user freeze Alpha. Since MegaMan is also a "Chosen One", it wouldn't hurt him. However, that doesn't stop it from affecting everything else around him. GigFreeze turns all of your panels to Ice, removes all obstacles on the field and slows down your Custom Gauge.

If you don't deal with this in some capacity, you are dead. Simple as that. Don't just try and steamroll with a particular strategy. Some players try to use the cheesiest moves in the game and fail hard, only because they get Tunnel Vision and refuse to change up their tactics to deal with it.

Defensive options like Invis aren't that good of a workaround. Capcom designed these chips in the frame of a normal 8-second turn. When your gauge slows down, it slows to a whopping 16 seconds. I have doubts you'll last more than 2 turns under that kind of pressure.


Well, here you go.




And this starts to come out a LOT more in Phase 4. Much like Gospel Claw, EarthBreak has gone through some variants that Bass likes to cycle through. Bass can use EarthBreak from behind, in front of you, and can do multiple EarthBreaks in a row. Needless to say, even NorthWind isn't gonna help you with this. You'll have to be incredibly smart and pick your moments very carefully. Also seen in the GIF is BassBS' Triple Air Burst. Sometimes Bass will do a single Air Burst, sometimes a triple.

What's even more difficult in Phase 4 is the complete AI shift that Bass undergoes. Before, the Aura typically regens near the end of any given "attack cycle". It's usually Attack a few times, then use a move that regens aura. In this phase, it changes to something like:

AttackThatRegensAura--AttackThatDoesn't--AttackThatRegensAura--AttackThatRegensAura---AttackThatDoesn't

So you might be tempted to use your big combos at this phase to end it quickly. I hope you didn't burn all of your high damage options early on in the fight! To put it into perspective: not even EPM has gotten past this phase yet.


Now, you might think that this is pretty hard. But oh no, it gets worse...






I call this one: Cerberus Vanishing World.

The thought process was literally: "Bass pulls a Double Vanishing World in the manga, and our Bass is better. How do we top that? OH, I KNOW! 3 VANISHING WORLDS"

Out of all the things that were changed, the damage values isn't one of them. Meaning, since there are 3 lasers, you can take up 1,500 damage from this one move. The lasers pierce Invisible, remember? This move will signal Phase 5, the final phase of the battle. Here's the kicker, though. The heads fire randomly. The only effective way to dodge it is to carefully look at the head that's about to fire, quickly do some mental calculations and dodge to the right panels.

Phase 5 takes the ideas of Phase 4 and runs with it. The Aura Regen is off the charts. You saw in the video how Bass interrupted one of his moves just to break my obstacle, then jump immediately into Explosion? Expect intelligence of that level. Bass will seemingly react to your moves and use his own in just such a way that ruins your plans every time. You're probably exhausted, probably at the edge of your limits by now, but you're really gonna have to step up to deal with this segment. If you didn't break Guardian, or any Holy Panels earlier on, then you're probably dead. Bass' singluar Vanishing World is now a move he can use whenever he wants. No more one-time usages. Be prepared to have the tide of the fight turning constantly into Bass' favor.


One final note: if you decide to be a wiseguy and try to use a big move like Muramasa, all you're gonna do is provoke Bass into using all of his giant moves at once. I really don't think you want to deal with a DarkAura, GetAbility, GigFreeze and Cerberus Vanishing World all at once. The harder you try to delete Bass, the harder he'll strike back. Be smart about when you use your attacks.



If you get a Rank 1-3, you'll score a Bass+ chip, which I'll talk about in the next update. If you score a bit higher into the Rank 4-8 range, you'll earn an event only GigaChip! It's pretty strong and there's no way to acquire it in the non-Wii U version outside of cheat codes, so there's some incentive right there.



But, if you're a legendary NetBattler, you should be going for an S-rank. A new chip was put into the game specifically for this level. Out of all the betatesters, only one person got it. Are you a cool enough dude to score an S-rank?


Word of advice: Don't go full monocode, just don't do it. Generally speaking, your folder needs to have backup plans, upon backup plans, upon backup plans to deal with this monstrosity. Have you been noticing a trend? Most BattleChips and chip strategies get countered, or lose effectiveness as the battle progresses. Some betatesters were having a lot of trouble, and once they worked in some other chip codes, they were doing noticeably better. Going for pure speed means your overall options diminish, and sometimes that can be a poor tradeoff.

In some ways, the folder building will be just as hard as the fight itself. Then, you have to make sure you're using your chips to their absolute fullest. Everything you know will get tested here.

In other words, this fight is 'Do you know MMBN3' the fight.



I'll bet money this is someone's reaction in the thread.

Yeah, yours.



REGEN!? Dr. Cossak, you really stepped up your game, haven't you.





OK, I think I'll stop talking now. Come on Yeti, ASSUME YOUR POSITION!

Okay, everyone, places! And lights...camera... ACTION!



























































































Say my name.

Francis?

The gifts don't stop there! Here's a text dump of all the droprates for every virus in the Battle Network series
And one for Mystery Datas. Battle Network's 4 to 6 should be up later, but that works for now. When you replay these games, always remember...I gave you THE POWER.

Bass deleting Serenade was also done in the manga. BassGS took out Serenade with one blow.
BassBS' healing in Scene 2 is a reference to HogButcher's rendition of BassBS. In that fight, Bass immediately healed back to full when he reached a certain HP threshold. It's believed the command code that MegaMan used would allow anyone to defeat that version of BassBS.
The command code MegaMan uses is a real one. No, it's not VarSwrd.

And no, we're not telling. There's a hint in the GIF, figure it out.



Not bad for a final reward. It lets us use an extra GigaChip in our folder. I'll explain its weaknesses in the next update. But now, it's time to fulfill my contractual obligation.

*ahem*

Go to The Rockman EXE Zone if you want a long lasting Battle Network community! It's full of smart (*cough, cough*) users, deliciously secret Battle Network information and it's currently the hub for all information regarding the BN series. Want to make your own bosses like BassBS? Go on the forums and check out the guides! And you, too, can be a hacking guru!

I'll cash that check now, Prof.

Sellout.