Part 58: Happiness!

Welcome to the final game in the series! It's been a long run. I started MMBN2 in June last year and it's March now. Those who have played MegaMan Battle Network 6 before will notice that the title screen looks a bit different. It also has one of the better title themes in the series, have a listen!

This is because I will be playing a patch made for the game by the fine folks at here. Funnily enough, the program used to apply the patch was Lunar IPS, which is normally used to legally transfer Super Mario World ROMhacks. So yes, the same software likely used in ye olden Kaizo Mario World Let's Plays was used to apply this patch.

What's the patch do? Mostly it replaces content that was removed from the game, as well as various graphical touchups and a few other surprises I'll keep under wraps for now.

Also making this playthrough a bit special is that Broken Loose, the author of the previous MMBN LP for Something Awful, will be joining me and playing through the (unpatched) Gregar version.



For a change of pace, Lan starts the game off by introducing himself. Make no mistakes, MMBN6 is easily right there as the best game in the series. Unless you're like me and prefer MMBN3. It's pretty much a tie between those two whenever someone asks which game is best.

It's fun, it's well-written, the gameplay is amazingly polished, and I'm very happy to be playing it.



We've met great friends and allies. No, seriously. Team Colonel is not forgotten. We've conquered the internet several times, and defeated everybody from AirMan to BassXX. Life is good.



Surprise! Everybody gets a new mugshot for MMBN6, this is not something created by the patch.



Lan is still Lan, but to be fair, he's still only in 6th grade. And apparently he's got a presentation or something. "Things I've Defeated: A Long List of Accomplishment".



Cut to: ACDC Elementary. We haven't been here since MMBN3! It's the end of the day and there's bad news afoot.



The new mugshots aren't given emotions like there were in DTDS, but they're still a step up. Look at the contempt on Yai's face. It's like looking in a mirror.



Ooh! Ooh! Well, it can't be a generic NPC because who cares about them? And it can't be Yai because she didn't know.



It's not Dex either, and besides, he already pulled the "moving away" thing way back when. Which is a shame, really, just look at that hideous visage. Dex is, as always, annoying and stupid and useless. Speaking of which, Mysterious Fat Guy has become a generic Fat NPC sprite. This does not detract from the mystery.



No way.



Yes way. The game opens up by ditching Mayl, Dex, and Yai.

Oh, if only the forums had increased font sizes, so I could properly express my delight! No Mayl! No Glide! No GutsMan!



You can't keep me! I'm free now, you hear?



Oh fine, we'll let this be a dramatic scene. I'll save my celebrations for later. Much like when Dex left in MMBN3 temporarily, Lan didn't tell anybody because he just didn't know how to say it. Lan not knowing things is nothing new.

It's kind of hard to comment with a positive view on things. I feel so unused to this strange, brightly-lit world of happiness.



What's kind of creepy about this is that Mayl's blink animation is off. She just stares. Lan not being part of her life has just broken her into an empty husk. A soulless thing. Wait...



I've made fun of names before, but Cyber City is just so direct it can't be anything but intentional simplicity. Just to avoid confusion, ACDC Town is a part of DenCity, Cyber City is likewise a large set of areas, not just one location.



For all the harassment, annoyance, blinding idiocy, and episodic flashes of deus ex machina.



Awww. Okay, okay. Ms. Mari always tended to be an out-of-the-way NPC, and she wasn't even in MMBN4 or 5. There's a bit of nostalgia, I admit.



Let's face it, when someone saves the world and you by extension several times over, you probably get a bit attached. Plus there's another reason why Ms. Mari is saddened here.



I'll admit, it's kind of a cute scene. Everybody's just so sad to see Lan go.



Yes, we leave immediately. There's no gameplay for several cutscenes, but that's fine.



I neglected to grab a proper screenshot, but here's the gist of what's going on. Cyber City is going to be hosting an exposition on the blending of technology and environmental science, and conservation. Sal wood be proud, but she's not in this game.



Due to the influx of visitors and the construction of a suitable network for the expo, Cyber City's internet will be under a lot of strain. So Yuuichiro, being the go-to Cyberworld fix-it guy, is needed.



And maintaining that system once it's created will require that Yuuichiro still be present. It's probably too complicated for somebody else to handle. And besides, it gets us away from the idiot brigade, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!



Blast.



And considering Electopia is Japan, that probably means that it isn't even much of a trip, being a small country with an extensive railway system.



Thankfully, this won't happen anytime soon.



It might just be me, but does Haruka's face look a bit derpy to anyone else?



And now Lan gets to handle the mob himself.



An articulate public speaker he's not.



"You can never escape, you hear me!? Never escape..."



"Never esssscaaaape..."



Ms. Mari is probably the only one I do feel sorry for, since she was never annoying or pushy.



Plus, this. Ms. Mari's an elementary school teacher who cares, so...







Right, no time for that. Let's get the game going already.



It's kind of surprising she doesn't try to reach out and grab him, really.



Someday, yeah, but until then, let's enjoy the vacation.



Onwards.



Like I said before, Cyber City has multiple areas much like how DenCity does. Central Town is in, of course, the center of it.



Home sweet new home, Gow calendar and all.



Er, I'm not familiar with the Boktai games, is this a reference to the third game or something? I do know Django doesn't look like that normally.




No, we can't Jack-In yet, but to be fair, this is a new place and getting oriented can't hurt.



Behold the porcelain throne. A rarity for an RPG game, really. And I like the Powie mat on the floor. It also seems to have an Ionic Breeze thing installed into it. It's this series, even toilets get run by computers probably.

Dare I ask what would happen if one of those got a virus? "YUM YUM EAT 'EM UP"?



Aside from a few houses including Lan's, the first priority is of course the local chip shop. It's not open at the time, but hey, at least we don't have to worry about not having one around.



Self-explanatory screenshot, really.



New NPC sprites for MMBN6 as well. They finally replaced the old man sprite! Lan's new school he's being transferred to is right off the top of the screen as well.



Creative use of text spacing? Now this is a new one! Also, that's no generic NPC sprite! We've found a replacement girl character!



Er. Aw. Lookit how cute she is!



Let's get things stated and Jack-In already!



Duuuuuude. Probably the most psychedelic Jack-In of them all.



Tutorial time, oh joy. This obligatory thing yet again.



There's been yet another change to the elemental cycle, but I'll get to that later once it becomes relevant. The patch changed MegaMan's portrait for some reason, although the new in-battle sprite is part of MMBN6 normally.



The tutorial viruses causing the RoboDog to go haywire eliminated, Lan checks to see if the girl is okay.



She's quiet, so Lan introduces himself. Why not, after all?



As you can imagine, this new girl is going to be recurring often, so it'd be nice to actually have a name to refer to her with.



That's not particularly helpful. Nksor?



You're welco-



Nksor, away! No, that's not her name, but might as well give her a name to be referred to until we learn her real one.



Being attacked by a robot dog would be kind of embarrassing, I imagine.



We can Jack-In now. As a recurring point, Cyber City has a very strong security system in place. This means that to get email from ACDC town, a special program has been set up.



I should mention, the starting folder is not half bad at all. 4 chips in one turn with the starting folder? Yes, please!



It's difficult to catch in a screenshot, but Lan actually traces out MegaMan's insignia in the air during the Jack-In sequence. Multiple attempts to catch this failed.

Maple Leaf provided a gif of it.



Here's a better look at the new Cyberworld, it's back to the good old square format. In general, the pathways are a lot wider, so everything feels more open.



The skull doors return, of course. I think this might be one of the few graphics that's been unchanged throughout the entire series.



Gunner: The final variant on the old CanoDumb enemies. Gunners are viruses that man turrets and- for gods sake if you can't guess what happens when you step onto their row, I pity you. A cursor moves down the row as usual, of course. However, if it targets you, it blasts that specific panel multiple times rather than firing down the whole row once.



Security Cubes return as usual, albeit with a new graphic.



And finally, here's something that replaces the NetSquares from MMBN2 and MMBN3. NetCafes! Each set of areas has one of them, and they often act as info-gathering spots. Later in the game, they serve Java.

I'm only joking about the name. Number Trader codes are included every time you buy MegaMan a cup of cyber coffee, much like the chocolates from Yoka station in MMBN3.



I told you security was a recurring thing, didn't I? You can only pass into this door by demonstrating that you've gotten a hang of the battle mechanics in case this is your first game in the series.

Reflector chips replace the old Guard chips that used to be useless except for Chip Trader stuffing. In MMBN6, the Reflector chips are some of the most useful in the game, because rather than releasing a slow-moving shockwave from the shield it creates when hit, they produce an instant energy blast down the row you're on. And the Reflector3 chip does 200 damage. And it comes in * code.

Vindication, much?



In the normal game, this is the WhiteCapsule chip, based on one of MeddySoul from Team ProtoMan version's chip-enhancement pills. Patched, it becomes the more intuitive Paralyze+ chip, because what it does is add a paralysis effect to any chip it's attached to. Saying this chip will stay in the folder for the rest of the entire LP is an understatement, making any chip you want paralyze enemies is insanely useful. Supervulcan returns in this game, for example.



CentralArea2 has a chip shop literally right in front of the entrance. TankCannon? In R code? Sign me up! My intended folder construction for this game will be a bicoded R-V folder. Based on what Broken Loose said before, I'm guessing he intends on a monocoded folder. Just taking a guess, J code?



Unfortunately, someone hid the KeyData needed to access CentralArea3, so we can't progress there yet.



Have I mentioned the chips in this game kick ass yet? MachGun1 is even better than MarkCannon. It auto-targets the closest enemy and blasts machine gun fire up and down their column, firing 9 shots in all. If the enemy dies before all the shots have been fired, it automatically targets the next enemy.

And it comes in the R code, lucky me.



I can't resist a bit of grinding for more MachGun chips and the zenny to afford that TankCannon1 R. Battle Mystery Data returns, this one had a Tornado T chip, which is pretty powerful for this point in the game.



The next day, Lan almost oversleeps, but for once, does actually wake up on time!



Alright, time to begin the real gameplay! I'm cutting the update here due to length, that intro really ate up a lot of time. Don't forget that PlasmaMan's Navi design contest is still ongoing!