Part 65: Cross Confusion.

Before I begin, as HasteBro pointed out, today is the 10th anniversary of the MMBN series. So happy birthday, you fountain of childhood memories. It really is a shame about what people tend to think about it, but I'll get to that monologue at the end of the game.

I left off with a massive tease about Nksor's name being Iris. I expected speculation as usual.

What I got:



Never change, goons, never change...



Iris remembers Lan's name and thanks him for the help with the dog at the beginning of the game.



Unfortunately, our time with Iris/Nksor/Adorable is up, Shuko is calling for us on the phone.



Well, it's pretty important what we're getting now, so fine. Iris will inevitably show up again.



These doors open one by one as we progress through the game, so everything has a nice way of becoming a centralized hub here.



I swear, Lan has the most deranged schedule ever.

8:00 am: Wake up late.
8:10 am: English.
9:00 am: Virus Busting.
12:00 pm: Save the day.
2:00 pm: Power of water.
4:00 pm: Plot.
6:00 pm: Bed.

Or give or take.



The CrossSystem: Better than the stupid DoubleSoul system in every single way possible.



"Right about the time before the game started", in other words. What is it with Cyber City having such a massive amount of exclusive technology not found anywhere else!? Doesn't Japan have anti-monopoly laws? Or if I were to take a trip from one city to the next, would one of them still be using steam power and the other would have a MagLev train?



The Cross system has the same purpose as the DoubleSoul system did, i.e., letting MegaMan use other Navis' abilities.

And hey! This patch was supposed to replace all the instances of "SpoutMan" with "AquaMan"! You see, DC decided they wanted to enforce their rights to the AquaMan name for some reason.

Give me a break, I understand wanting to enforce copyright, but the only thing the characters have in common is the name. They weren't even made in the same country.



On the other hand, gosh, they sure do look alike.



Oh fine. Long story short, AquaMan's name got changed to SpoutMan.

The patch was supposed to change all instances of SpoutMan back to AquaMan, but apparently it didn't take.



So here's how all the Cross scenarios work. We meet the NPC, we get to operate their Navi for a while, and there's always a minigame involved. Then, once that's taken care of, we fight the Navi, and beating it earns us the Cross. A lot simpler, isn't it? No tournament garbage, no pointless conflicts.



AquaMan recognizes Lan from MMBN4. Like Shuko, he's changed a bit.



What we have to do for now is head over to the Aquarium home page from SeasideArea.



The reason why? Shuko has a part-time job there.

It's not different at all, is it Steve!? Back to errand boy duty!



Even Lan is incredulous about this one. Bending over backwards, risking life and limb, navigating WaterGod mazes, all that was fine. Doing somebody else's job? Lan draws the line.



Okay, fine, tuition costs...that's justified. Fine, but only because it's a common plight we can sympathize with.

_{No, of course we don't actually get a choice in the matter.}



Well, off we g-WHAT.

Patches work in mysterious ways. Let me guess, MegaRock and Prof. 9 only could change the "SpoutMan" line that gets sourced for random things like this pickup, but couldn't change the dialogue.

I have to say, I appreciate the effort, but the inconsistency is just weird.



Operating non-MegaMan Navis works the same way as it did in MMBN5, complete with extra chip that the other Navis get.

Look who returns from MMBN3, by the way!



Our first priority is to spread MegaMan's budding CyberCaffeine addiction.



While I'm at it...ehehehehe. Might as well bully BlastManSP.



SpoutMan, AquaMan, SpoutMan...the switching is really bizarre, like I said.



I don't think AquaSpoutMan's boss really cares, but hey. More power to you.



This is going far too well, so the screen begins shaking to herald disaster.



Cue flood. Before anyone asks, no, AquaMan can't suck it all back up like last time.



What is that even for?!



And the aquarium's fish data got washed out in the ensuing CybFlood. Whatever it is, it's important, so Shuko's really screwed this one up at her job.



Lan, as we all should be able to predict by now, rises to the occasion.



That is, above the normal area you can walk. It looks kind of weird given the isometric graphics of the series, but in motion the fish look better.



Each of the three Seaside areas contains a whirlpool that will raise AquaMan up so he can swim around to try and catch the fish. Some of them are slow, others are so quick that catching them is a question of anticipating where they'll dart next.



While swimming, the green gauge is depleted to represent how tired AquaMan is.

I confess, when I first saw it, my reaction was along the lines of "Oh god no, they are not going to give AQUAMAN a breath meter, are they?"

Thankfully, this game is about as different from MMBN4 as possible.



Speaking of, this thankfully won't be a return to CyberBat purgatory, there's no slippery A button mashing to catch the fish. Just running into them will do.



Let's begin! All the fish look the same as that one in the bottom right corner of the screen, but considering the sheer range you have to swim, finding them can be tough. Expect to need to return to the whirlpool to let AquaMan down for a break a few times per area.



Apparently, the fish have a pure-white frame where they flash while moving. I didn't even know that, and I still managed to screenshot the timing just wrongly enough to get it. Typical.

A consolation to the fish chasing is that viruses won't attack while AquaMan is swimming above the area.



When I said you get a huge range to look for fish in, I wasn't kidding. We're well off the map. Thankfully, no fish actually spawn off the map, that would be excruciating. The only reason one was over here at all was because it wound up fleeing straight ahead several times in a row.



Area1 goes as smoothly as Area2 did, so time for a brief detour. I mentioned elemental gates before, and what do you know, AquaMan is the Navi to ask to get rid of these. The mystery data beyond holds a SubMemory (hold more subchips) upgrade, so nothing too shabby for the effort.



I'm going to just call it completely random whether or not a given instance of SpoutAquaMan's name will be one way or the other at this point. I suppose that's an interesting insight into the game's coding, that means there are multiple instances of just the "SpoutMan" string stored in the game that get called up as appropriate instead of just one for some reason.



This is also a perfect time to demonstrate and explain one of the new status conditions to MMBN6: Frozen status. If an enemy is standing on an ice panel and is hit with an Aqua elemental attack, they'll be frozen over and unable to move for a short while. Breaking type damage will do double during this time, or quadruple to a sword-type Navi.



*Jaws Theme*



What these even do is anyone's guess, but they're vital to the Aquarium functioning.



As with MMBN4, I'm still disturbed with Shuko likely being some form of intended fanservice. "Oh, look at her, she's so klutzy and ditzy, but sweet, how cute!"

Oh Japan.


Then again...



Shuko gets to keep her job!



Or, because this is MMBN6, sanity prevails.



Hi, Mr. Director, thanks for that TagChip system! Man, this is a completely reasonable response to Shuko's screwup. I am liking the Director more and more.



At least she can be positive about it now. Considering that when we met her, she was practically bursting into tears over a vending machine, Shuko's had some really intensive therapy since MMBN4. Lord knows she isn't the only one who needed that after that game.



Do NOT get started on souls, woman!



Shuko justifies that Lan's learned about using water in NetBattles via operating AquaMan all the same despite her screwup, so we're on to the "final exam" of the course. Which is, of course, a fight against AquaMan.



So, um, I kind of just mauled AquaMan and forgot to take screenshots of his attacks until he was almost in single-digit HP. It's a force of habit, I'm sorry! I'll remember to do a "screenshot run" of the bosses and THEN record the boss fight eventually!

Spin Cycle: I'm so proud of this joke. AquaMan warps into the center of your side of the field and whirls around like a lawn sprinkler, spraying water on two panels at a time in a circle. Just circle around in the CORRECT direction, unlike me, and you'll avoid the attack easily.



Bubbler: The same attack he had in MMBN4, which also serves as his charge shot while in control of him. AquaMan shoots a bubble onto a panel ahead of him, which cracks the panel and creates more bubbles on the panel behind it.

Not pictured or seen in the video:

TurboWash 4000 Hose Extension: AquaMan pulls a giant hose out and blasts it down the center row. The water sprayed by the hose will fan out into a T shape, covering a column at a time. It behaves a lot like Duo's Ring Laser of Doom attack, but much slower, actually.



Yeah, AquaMan is not difficult by any extension of the term. I got an S-rank despite getting whacked a few times carelessly and holding off at the end to grab those two screenshots.

Doesn't that chip image just scream "HUG MEEEEEE" though? And hey, they fixed the chip name, at least!







Oh right. Enthusiasm must be curbed for the sake of having a reason to be enthusiastic!



There you go. A LinkNavi just means that we can play as AquaMan anytime we want so long as it isn't a dungeon or important part of the story. Kind of like DTDS' Party Battle System, in that sense.




So we get AquaCross! Or SpoutCross! Or for crying out loud, WhateverIt'sGoingToBeCalledThisTimeCross!



Shuko launches into the Cross tutorial for us. Here's the first thing that separates Crosses from Souls: They last the whole battle. No doofy 3-turn limit anymore.



Second of all, you don't need to sacrifice chips for crosses at all, you just tap up on the control pad to access your list of available crosses, pick one, and you're done.

It's so wonderfully simple that you have to wonder why they ever bothered with the Souls in the first place. Oh right, because they debuted in one of the worst games in the entire MegaMan franchise.



Another nice touch? They don't recycle the old AquaSoul graphics. So here's what AquaCross does:

-Charge Shot becomes a Bubbler. This charges FAST, I should note.

-Aqua chips can be charged to double their attack power. Yes, DOUBLE. Goons in the thread have reported coasting on the sheer power of this combined with multi-hit Aqua chips well into the game.

-No slipping on ice panels.



The only drawback that Crosses have is that an attack the Cross is weak to, in AquaSpoutCross' case Elec, will not only do double damage, but also end the cCoss immediately for the rest of the fight. No more using it.



Once we leave the academy, after spending two updates there, there's already a new ruckus.



Oh, oh no...