Mega Man Battle Network 4-6 Part #82

Part 82: PIKIRAPIKIRA!

So take a wild guess what that means.

Surprise.

No new viruses, but is my memory failing me or has the patch added many more SP Virus encounters? I don't recall them being quite so prolific in the original game. Basically every set virus encounter lately has included SP viruses.

Alright! Now we can board the just-fixed elevator and ride it up 30,000 feet into the sky, where weather is going berserk and...why was this a good idea again?

Just behind that antenna, in fact.

Well, that was quick, there's our culprit already.

A generic NPC?

The weather representation machines proceed to go berserk, shooting their respective elements out onto the path the leads forwards.

It's an inside job!

Thankfully, we can reach the back of all the machines easily. Making this more of a delay tactic than anything else.

And so on. 4 virus battles later...

Not from this camera angle anyway.

Off she goes, just to the left! And hey, a CopyBot. Bet we won't have to use that in a bit.

We'd go after her, but all things considered, the clanging noise is of more immediate concern.

We investigate, and this poor guy flops out upside-down. No, really, it was animated completely, he tumbles out very smoothly. It's the little things that really make this game shine.

Lan notes that this is the same guy who we just saw outside.

Well, no. As it turns out, our enemy is a master of disguise. Considering that it's kind of difficult to lock yourself upside-down inside of a locker, I'd say that his story is plausible.

And now for the MacGuffin.

GYEEAARGH! First the environmental control system nonsense from MMBN2, then Chillski's insane "The blizzard will take a while to dissipate because the signal takes time to travel" weather control system, and now this.

This is so ridiculous I actually previewed it in the thread before writing this update. There were some questions about how it worked, before the thread started talking about Captain Planet and Hitler (

GOONS!) and I'll address them.

The NPC goes on to specify that the Force Program "amplifies the power of nature" in that weather patterns and events become stronger. So lightning strikes more often, wind blows harder, more rain falls, it's basically "MORE POWER!" applied to weather. Related systems then use that power to generate energy and control the weather.

By the way, Sky Town also uses that energy to stay in the air. Remember all those rocket boosters that were holding the place up in the screenshots?

Sky Town is just...who designed this nightmarish violation of common sense!? It's like someone took the concept of "failsafe" and turned it completely backwards so that absolutely everything about this place would go wrong in the worst possible way. At the drop of a hat, more or less. At least Sky Town wasn't built above another city or something!

Continuing on, the game addresses that whole "violent winds" issue.

Those like myself who are terrified of heights are advised not to think too much about this upcoming segment.

Also, Sky Town begins shaking, presumably due to the Force Program being under attack, so Lan falls to all fours.

The only bridge down, only about twice as wide as Lan himself is, is also swaying really hard.

It proceeds to explode off its mountings and plummet 30,000 feet into the sea. What can I say, I have to admire the sheer lengths the writers went to say "No, you are NOT walking across that bridge!"

Oh, no, no no nonononono, please don't say you're going to jump.

NO! God! Christ! This is an unspeakable melting pot of everything terrifying!

I mean, imagine falling 30,000 feet to your death. This isn't an entirely irrational fear. You'd be completely helpless to do anything, just watching the surface of the ocean getting closer and closer. All you can do is hope that you die instantly on impact and don't suffer for even a millisecond, because hitting water at terminal velocity is going to rip your limbs right off your body. Your corpse chunks will get eaten by fish and you'll never be found.

Don't do it, Lan! You have so much to live for!

Thank god for basic self-preservation instincts.

Now there's a solution!

It still involves a jump.

Good thing for that, at least.

At least MegaMan paid enough attention in geometry class to know that jumping from a higher place yields greater distance. CopyBots even weigh about the same as a human adult, I vaguely remember that being said when they were introduced.

Snagging the CopyBot and backtracking to behind the weather representation machines, MegaMan prepares his jump.

Tally-ho!

Just picture looking down at the surface of the water 30,000 feet below you, wind roaring all around, and being told to jump.

Yeah, if onl-Hey wait a sec...

Resuming gonkage!

Ooh, ceasing gonkage.

RESUMING GONKAGE!

_{_{_*Splash*}}

Well, that's all for this LP. I guess it's onto Mario & Luigi: Superst-

Fantastic, now let's all agree to never do this again.

Or speak of it again, for that matter.

Show yourself, imposter!

You know, nobody said you had to do what Lan asks.

Our criminal has a bit of a self-indulgently fabulous side, it seems.

It's Vic! Er, didn't Baryl say something about...well, nevermind that for now.

Once again, Vic and his Navi (who's an especially weird one) were designed as part of the great big MMBN6 Design-A-Navi contest. And speaking of Design-A-Navi contests, since PlasmaMan's gone missing, I'll round up the submissions and judge them during the next update.

Vic is so smug his sneer is actually included on his sprite.

You honestly can't guess, Lan?

ElementMan is going to be my excuse to finally get around to explaining the element system for this game.

For some freakish reason, ElementMan's dialogue is translated from how he speaks. Which is in the format of PIRAKIRAIPIKRARKIP IRARIKPIARKPI ARKPIIIRKARKARIK PIPARKARIKAKPAIRK. Which is really fun to type because it gives me an excuse to noodle on my keyboard. I'm totally going to sockpuppet ElementMan for the sake of explaining the elements.

GRAH! Once again, I just get the circle, not the actual symbol!

And now for an earnestly fun dungeon with great music. What's not to love?

Why hello there, whirling black cyclone. In stark contrast to the usual "Series of interconnecting, circuitry-like pathways" the series goes with design-wise, the Mr. Weather area is wide open.

They're up in the sky too high for MegaMan to reach from the ground though.

ROYAAAAL RAINBOW!

And whoa hey, I didn't notice that text error before while actually playing. "Colllect", eh? Well, considering that there aren't exactly hundreds upon hundreds of errors like that in this game, unlike MMBN4, I think we can all let it pass.

So you collect Rainbow Data to use Rainbow Power and...Augh, horrible realization. That horrid My Little Pony stuff is going to start infecting this thread as well now.

Fortunately, there's a plot twist coming up that'll hopefully distract you goons.

Anyway! You trace a rainbow circle around the typhoons and they'll disappear. Get rid of them all, and you can move to the next area.

By the way, we get to have fun flying around on a cloud. You don't even run into virus encounters while on the cloud! This dungeon just gets more and more fun.

The only drawback to the cloud is that the typhoons move around. And you can only take 3 whacks before the cloud vanishes.

See now, this is how to have FUN with clouds. No CloudMan garbage here!

WEEEEEE!

There are cloud platforms you can reach as well. Some of them have mystery data goodies, others have Rainbow Data chunks, although most Rainbow Data is just floating around in the open.

It's so fabulous, yet so fun.

Now, this is, like the Evil Spirits, fun to play, but punishing to actually screenshot.

Taking a screenshot involves pressing Ctrl+` in my setup. I also have to move MegaMan around quickly with the arrow keys while holding down Z. Try this yourself while focusing on your screen.

I wound up disabling that same background layer again thanks to a slip of the fingers.

Welp, since I don't know what keys I actually pressed, time to reset the emulator!

I swear, I'm a fantastic NetBattler, but I can't manage a basic keyboard for the life of me. It's like a zero sum game of competence, for every great act of skill I show in these games, I have to mess something up equally as badly. At least it's funny for you guys.

That fixed, onto Area 2!

Area 2 has a pair of typhoons this time.

So taking a whack is easier.

By that same token, getting smacked a second time is also quite easy. Okay, yeah, it was my fault for trying to be fancy and circling them both with Rainbow Power at the same time.

Circling them individually works out a whole lot better for me. Onto Area 3!

Wahahaha. So this is when you're supposed to have an ample supply of TankCannon chips. Catacks return from the last game, but they move a whole lot slower now, mitigating their threat.

Area 3 is the last area of the dungeon. That was short, huh? Time flies when you don't have to deal with random encounters.

Ooh, lucky me! I'd forgotten all about these.

PulseBulbs are pretty tough. Maybe next update I'll get around to...nah, I'll save the Virus Battle stuff for a postgame update, much like the Job BBS.

C'MERE, YOU!

That wasn't what I meant!

The penalty for being hit a third time?

You just have to walk over and get yourself a new cloud. You don't even lose any Rainbow Data.

Taking care of the last two typhoons, that's it for this short but sweet dungeon!

Time to take on ElementMan!

Nice ring you've got there.

Okay, so ElementMan's big gimmick is that he periodically changes his element. He starts neutral, but then cycles through the basic elements for the rest of the fight. Yes, that means that he'll have the appropriate elemental weaknesses. It's actually impressive from a technical standpoint, up until this fight, nothing in the series has actively changed element mid-fight.

Windless Tornado: Oddly enough, this attack doesn't count as Wind element. This attack is used all throughout the fight, no matter what element he is. It's just two Boomer-style tornadoes that follow the perimeter of the field in one direction then the other. Worth noting that ElementMan is entirely capable of mixing this attack up with his elemental attacks.

Wood Tower: It's just your basic Wood Tower attack from the rest of the series that tries to spike into MegaMan as it travels down the field. The only difference is that it leaves behind Grass panels. Oh, and it's kind of tricky to dodge it as well as the tornadoes.

Meteor: Just like the Wood Tower attack, ElementMan's fire attack is just a couple of meteors that target your panel as they fall. Thankfully, they don't leave lava panels behind, but be aware that you'll take double damage from them if you're on a grass panel created by ElementMan's Wood Tower.

Lightning: Noticing the theme? All of ElementMan's attacks are ones that veterans of the series will be entirely familiar with. The trick is how they come in combination with the tornadoes. Anyway, the Lightning attack is just Scutzer/ThunderMan-style lightning bolts that track your position as they strike panels.

Cold Snap: And now that the pattern's been established, let's break it. This new attack is simply ElementMan teleporting in front of MegaMan and blowing cold air on the column, freezing MegaMan if it connects. This also creates ice panels, which you'll then have to deal with and slip around on.

Pardon me while I indulge myself.

PIPKARIKPIARKAPIRK KARIKARPIK ARKAK RIKARPIKA RARIKARPI APKRIRKPARPIIAKRPAIKR APIRIKAIRKPIARIKAIKR AIRKAIRKIKIARIKARKAIRKARIRIKIKIRA PIRIKARAKIRI AKIRIPAPI!