Mega Man Battle Network 2
Lan and MegaMan battle the NetMafia Gospel in a tactical RPG.
Mega Man Battle Network 2 is a 2001 tactical role-playing game developed by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance. It is the second entry in the Mega Man Battle Network series and follows Lan Hikari and his NetNavi MegaMan.EXE as they confront the new NetCrime syndicate Gospel. The game received generally positive reviews for improving upon the gameplay of its predecessor and has been re-released multiple times, including as part of the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection in 2023.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Capcom Production Studio 2
- Publisher
- JP/NA
- Capcom
- EU
- Ubi Soft
- Producer
- Keiji Inafune
- Designer
- Masahiro Yasuma
- Programmer
- Koetsu Matsuda
- Hidekazu Shingaki
- Michinori Kataoka
- Mitsunori Sakano
- Writer
- Shin Kurosawa; Masakazu Eguchi
- Artist
- Yuji Ishihara; Hayato Kaji
- Composer
- Yoshino Aoki
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The core gameplay of Mega Man Battle Network 2 is largely identical to that of the original game, sharing much of the same graphics. Several new features augment the system. Mega Man no longer fully heals after each battle automatically. The SubChip is introduced, a device similar to a battle chip but usable only outside of battle. Players can now maintain up to three alternate active chip folders, allowing customization for different situations; chips used in one folder are unavailable for others, and only one folder is active at a time. Folders may contain up to five Navi chips and a maximum of five copies of any non-Navi chip, a reduction from the original's ten. The chip code system expands beyond the alphabet to include an asterisk (*) as a wild card code, usable with any other chip. This game, along with Battle Network 6, is the only one where * coded Navi chips are obtainable from a single chip trader. There are 250 chips in single-player mode, with chips 251 through 260 available only via NetBattling, and chip 261 (Sanctuary) earned by completing Hard Mode. Players can earn up to five stars on the title screen by completing major tasks. NetSquares serve as town squares for NetNavis and operators to relax and exchange information. The armor system is replaced by a style system affecting damage received, attack damage, and physical appearance. MegaMan can adopt one of five Styles (Guts, Team, Custom, Shield, and Hub), each aligned with one of four elements (Heat, Wood, Elec, and Aqua). He can store up to two styles and switch between them when not in battle.
Plot
Three months after the first game and two months after Network Transmission, peace follows the defeat of WWW. A new NetMafia called Gospel commits rising NetCrime. Lan Hikari and MegaMan.EXE become involved, working to stop Gospel's plot. Lan becomes a City NetBattler, a lesser form of Official NetBattler, allowing him to travel worldwide in cyberspace and real life. He repeatedly prevents Gospel from collecting four powerful computer programs called SuperPrograms, but Gospel eventually succeeds. Using these programs and computer bugs, Gospel constructs a SuperNavi that duplicates Bass.EXE, a hidden boss from the original game. After fighting MegaMan, the Bass copy destabilizes into a gigantic, wolf-shaped multibug organism. The energy required causes unusual radiation that blends the Net and real world, paralyzing Lan. MegaMan puts them into Full-Synchro, letting Lan control him by thought and emotion. The Gospel leader is revealed as Sean Obihiro, a child resentful after his parents died in a plane crash. After defeating the Multibug Organism, Lan promises to be Sean's friend after he pays for his crimes. In a post-credits scene, the real Bass destroys copies of himself and swears revenge on humans before disappearing.
Reception
Mega Man Battle Network 2 moved 124,349 copies in Japan during 2001, ranking 91st on Dengeki Online's yearly best-seller list. By the end of 2002, Famitsu recorded 344,230 units sold that year, pushing the lifetime total to 446,938. The title was a runner-up for GameSpot's Best Role-Playing Game on Game Boy Advance award, losing to Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis.
More in Ubisoft Games of the 2000s
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