When Ryusei no Rockman 2 released in Japan in 2007, as was series tradition, a line of toys based on the game’s new terminal device was launched alongside it. In this case, it was the Star Carrier, released by Takara Tomy in four different editions: Rockman, Green Shinobi, Fire Dinosaur and a deluxe Berserk Edition.
However, recently, an as-of-yet unknown fifth edition has been uncovered: Tribe King Version. Shared by collector Rock Blue and published on Rockman Toy Station, this appears to be a Limited Edition that was never released at all.
Being based on Tribe King, this Star Carrier features the symbols from all three Tribes and has a unique color scheme with all Tribes’ colors being represented. The unit appears to be a product sample, with the label indicating that it was meant to be a not-for-sale CoroCoro Limited Edition, produced in November 2007 and limited to only 78 units. The packaging is the same as the standard Rockman edition.
The Bass.EXE love in Mega Man X DiVE continues as Capcom Taiwan has just unveiled the latest character to enter the Deep Log: Bass Cross MegaMan! This fusion of MegaMan and Bass was first seen in Mega Man Battle Network 5 and starred in the anime movie Rockman EXE: Program of Light and Darkness.
In terms of skills, Bass Cross is simple but effective. He brings his classic Charge Shot (Unison Buster in Japanese), a large projectile blast that can go through terrain. Charge it up completely and it will fire 3 shots in rapid succession.
If you need something with a little more firepower, there’s also Vanishing World Kai (Neo World in Japanese). This improved version of Bass GS’s Vanishing World fires a huge energy beam that can go through terrain. It also hits every enemy on the screen; not just those caught in the beam. The move seems to be influenced the blast attack used in the anime and manga.
Bass Cross MegaMan is another S rank character that will be available for a limited time. You’ll be able to draw for him in the Taiwanese and Japanese mobile version as well as the Steam release. Players on the international Android/iOS version operated by NebulaJoy will probably have to wait a while longer, though.
Even though it’s been 16 years since the release of Mega Man Battle Network 6, the PvP scene for the games is stronger than ever, with frequent unofficial tournaments hosted by the N1 Grand Prix community.
Traditionally, online MMBN PvP has been played using programs like Hamachi that connect two VBALink emulators over the Internet, using ROMs dumped from a GBA cart. However, VBALink has seen no updates since 2004 and has some major drawbacks, including severe stutters and slowdown if players are not in the same geographical region.
But the winds of change are blowing and fans have been busy implementing new systems for Battle Network PvP. Created by developer Weenie and cohorts, Tango is a brand new emulator frontend (born out of initial experiments by ssbMars) for mGBA, that aims to make online PvP for the BN games as smooth as possible. This is achieved with rollback netcode, which greatly reduces stutter and lag even when playing with faraway opponents. In addition, Tango features a replay system to record and play back matches.
In simple terms, with VBALink’s lockstep netcode, both players’ games constantly need to be kept in sync 60 times per second. In case a player’s inputs don’t arrive quickly enough, gameplay has to be paused. This leads to all sorts of input delay, lag spikes and slowdown. With rollback, on the other hand, the game is able to predict what will happen next and can retroactively correct (roll back) the game state when a player’s action does arrive late. This type of netcode has already seen huge success in fighting games.
Tango currently supports MMBN6, with plans to add support for other MMBN games as well, plus a built-in folder editor. Even though Tango is still in alpha, it’s already stable and user-friendly enough that the N1GP community was able to hold a successful first tournament playing on Tango. You can see the results in the tournament highlights stream above!
If you’d like to watch or join MMBN6 PvP tournaments in the future, be sure to give the N1GP a visit.
Following last year’s digital release of the main Rockman EXE manga, Battle Story Rockman EXE is now available in digital form! The manga can be purchased on various Japanese online bookstores including Amazon Japan for a cool ¥1540 per volume. All you need is a Japanese Amazon account and a credit card, and you can read these on your PC with the Kindle app.
Written by Jun Keijima and illustrated by Miho Asada, this Battle Story Rockman EXE was originally released in 4 volumes from 2002 to 2004. Official translations were later released in France and Indonesia.
In 2017, in celebration of Battle Network’s 15th anniversary, “New Editions” were released, which condensed the series into into 3 volumes as well as added new content, and these are the editions now released in digital form.
Well, this isn’t something you see every day. After a whopping 18 years since the games’ original release, a new Lotto Number has been discovered in Mega Man Battle Network 4! What’s the reward for this Lotto Number, you ask? Why, it’s none other than the Z Saver Z BattleChip. This chip could previously only be obtained by linking with Mega Man Zero 3, and was a one-time-only deal – each copy of Zero 3 only had one Z Saver chip to give out.
The Lotto Number was randomly discovered by TREZ contributor GreigaMaster, who came across it while digging through the game’s code. To get your shiny Z Saver chip, all you need to do is head over to the Number Trader in Higsby’s chip shop and enter the code: 72794137.
Turns out there was never a reason to buy MegaMan Zero 3, Z-Saver was a lotto code BN4 all along pic.twitter.com/zS05x9nVgj
What makes this code special is that it was never even released in the official strategy guides! Some background info: after the release of each Battle Network and Star Force game, several strategy guides were published in Japan. Then a few months later, a smaller, “add-on” guide would be released, which would include all of the game’s “secret” info, which was left out of the initial guides. This includes things like parts of the post-game, secret bosses, event chips – and yes, a full listing of every Lotto Number and secret code in the game.
However, when Rockman EXE4 Ultimate Navigation DS was released in Japan, two Lotto Numbers were omitted from the list: GunSolEX G and Z Saver Z. To get the Lotto Number for GunSolEX, you had to piece it together yourself using hints in the game (“how many petals does Master Otenko have?”). It was later also published in the North American strategy guide by BradyGames. However, the existence of a Z Saver Lotto Number would remain a secret – until today.
When the Battle Network games were brought over to the Wii U Virtual Console, a function was added to each that lets you receive trade-only chips without having to trade for them (as this was impossible on Virtual Console). For Battle Network 4, one of the chips you receive is – you guessed it – Z Saver Z. So even in the Virtual Console releases, Z Saver was still treated as a trade-only chip.
With this new Lotto Number, you no longer need to dig up your copy of Zero 3 for GBA in order to complete your chip library. But you should probably hang on to it anyway, as it’s the only version of the game where you can encounter the Battle Network viruses in Cyberspace!
Mega Man Battle Network Overclocked, a 3D fan remake of the first two scenarios from MMBN1 developed by Nick West, has just received its final content update. This new update adds the second scenario featuring NumberMan as the boss. Nick notes that though this is the final content update, there may be some patches in the future, as he plans to use his skills towards creating an original game.
For those new to Overclocked, the game reimagines the first chapters from MMBN1 in full 3D. That includes the overworld, as well as battles. This isn’t just a 1-to-1 remake, however; Overclocked also includes some features from later games, such as SubChips, Regular chips and being able to escape from battles.
Have you tried this fangame yet? You can grab it for free from Nick West’s itch.io page and play it on Windows PC right now!
The deluge of Battle Network characters in Rockman X DiVE continues! Following last week’s Bass XX, this week will see the addition of not one, but two new MMBN characters to Rockman X DiVE: MegaMan.EXE Hub Style and Roll.EXE.
As always, these characters come with several abilities from the BN games. Hub Style has his Charge Shot, which as the name implies, can be charged up for extra damage. He also has access to four different kinds of Program Advances: Hyper Burst is a burst shot that explodes in a wide area. Body Guard summons ninja stars that auto-target enemies. Poison Pharaoh creates a statue that lingers on the field for a bit and drains nearby enemies’ HP. Finally, Life Sword is another big AoE sword attack. You can switch between these PAs by swapping Hyper Burst’s chip, so you can bring whichever is most suitable for each stage.
Roll, of course, comes with her signature Roll Whip and Roll Arrow. The first is a close-range attack, the other can hit enemies from afar. Hitting an enemy with Roll Whip also activates Heart Flash, and a heart will drop down on Roll to recover some HP. Next, Roll Arrow has a passive skill which can be unlocks, which causes defocused enemies to have a 100% miss rate. Roll’s skills can also increase her defenses, which combined with her healing will likely make her a resilient character.
Using either of these character in the upcoming Network Domination Project event will yield a 40% point acquisition bonus. The boss of this event is none other than Life Virus R, the final boss from Mega Man Network Transmission.
MegaMan.EXE Hub Style and Roll.EXE will be available to draw in the Asian versions of the game, starting from November 24th, 4 PM until December 8th, 4 PM (UTC+8). The international version of the game, Mega Man X DiVE, will likely not see these new characters for quite some time.
Good news for all you manga aficionados: the complete Rockman EXE manga just dropped on Amazon’s digital Kindle store!
Known as MegaMan NT Warrior in the west, the Rockman EXE manga was penned by Ryo Takamisaki and originally ran in CoroCoro Comic from 2002 to 2006. The story is loosely based on all six main games’ stories.
The versions being sold by Amazon are the 8-volume reprint versions released for Mega Man Battle Network’s 15th anniversary, featuring extra content. Of course, you’ll need to know Japanese if you want to be able to actually read these manga – but in terms of image quality, it’s hard to beat digital.
If you’d like to buy the digital edition of the Rockman EXE manga, all you need is a Japanese Amazon account and a credit card. Each volume is sold for ¥1,650 a pop (approximately $15 USD). Though denoted as “Kindle editions”, you can also view them on a PC using the free Kindle app.
You thought Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge‘s gameplay couldn’t be any more random? Well, you might want to think again! Developer Sam Donow has just released Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge Randomizer, adding on to the ever-growing list of MMBN randomizers.
The MMBCC Randomizer does exactly what you’d expect: given a English ROM for Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge, it will randomize various aspects of the game:
BattleChip and NaviChip stats (such as HP, MB, Attack Power)
Which operators and Navis appear in tournaments
BattleChip decks for enemy Navis
The MMBCC Randomizer can be used through a web interface at mmbccr.com (or this alternative link). Simply dump the ROM from your US or EU copy of Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge, and select it in the web interface. This will produce a randomized ROM, which you can then run on any GBA emulator or flash cart. You can also tweak the randomizer’s settings for a personalized experience.
For the technically inclined, Sam has also released the randomizer on GitHub, which can be used with Python 3. This version also has some additional features such as randomizing the names of the chips themselves.
Of course, as with many randomizers, the result could be pure chaos… but that’s the fun of randomizers! Either way, it’s sure to be a fresh experience. Will you be giving the MMBCC Randomizer a try? Let us know in the comments!
If you’re in the market for a new MMBN-inspired indie game, here’s a game that might pique your interest: Hero.EXE, which has been in the works for a little while now and has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund development. The team at Mystery Egg Games aims to bring the game to just about every console under the sun: PC DRM-free, Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One.
As the name suggests, Hero.EXE wears its MMBN inspiration on its sleeve. Combat works just like in MMBN: during the compile phase (Custom Screen), you’ll draw and select codes (BattleChips) from a deck of 30 for the next turn. The action itself is real-time and grid-based, taking place on a familiar red-and-blue battlefield.
The game’s setting is also quite similar to MMBN: you find yourself suddenly beamed into the Grid, a digital world plagued by glitches and governed by powerful bosses known as Monarchs. To survive, you’ll have to pair up with an A.V.A. (Navi), who will be your partner for the entire game. There are a number of A.V.A.s to choose from, each having their own unique abilities and personalities, adding plenty of replay value.
