

Battle Network 6 isn’t the strongest story, but it’s the most refined and customisable the combat has ever been in the franchise, which makes it a PvP enthusiasts favourite entry. Battle Network 5 introduces a darker story, multiple characters, and expansive side-content.
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Battle Network 5 and 6 are neck-and-neck for being the strongest entries in Volume 2, and even the series as a whole. With base combat refined, each of these entries expands post-game activities, bosses, secrets, and secondary gameplay mechanics like Double Soul transformations, Dark chips, turn-based Liberation Missions, and a slew of updates and changes to battle mechanics.īattle Network 4 is a fun game to go through casually, but the repetitive tournament-structure of the story and the absurd requirements to 100% it can be a pain. From Battle Network 4 onwards, the series gets an impressive facelift that makes the sprite art and character portraits even more beautiful. Volume 2 of the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection is arguably the more robust set of games. This entry adds the NaviCust system that lets you really customize Mega Mans stats, and it also introduces the alternate versions of White and Blue on top of expanding the Style Change system to really reward your play-style with unique abilities and appearance changes for Mega Man. This is where a lot of people started with the series, and revisiting it makes it clear why. It’s rough, slow, and pretty unpolished, and it’s frustrating to see this be based on the GBA original instead of using or including the Nintendo DS remake somehow. Battle Network 2 is a big improvement and a fun story, but if you want to dig right into the earliest high-point of the franchise, just jump into Battle Network 3. While Battle Network 1 is the first entry, it’s more of a historic novelty than anything. The stories of each Battle Network game are pretty standalone, so you can jump around and play the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection in any order you want. The latter is a huge game and it’s a bit of a bummer to not see it represented. There are a few missing side-entries, though, including the stripped down, tournament focused spinoff Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge, and the GameCube exclusive action-platformer spinoff Mega Man Network Transmission. From Battle Network 3 onward the series would make two slightly different versions of the same game similar to Pokémon releases, so you get both versions of every numbered entry for a total of ten titles.

The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection gives you access to every main GBA entry in the series, split across two volumes – volume one has Battle Network 1 through 3, while volume two has Battle Network 4 through 6. Diving back in with the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection has made it clear that even without my nostalgia goggles on, Battle Network is fun, gorgeous, and unlike anything else. I have vivid memories of hooking up GBA link cables to trade chips and battle friends, and reading theories online about all the secret Bass battles. Sure I played some of the original NES games, some Mega Man X and even a little bit of Mega Man Zero – but Mega Man Battle Network 3 is what made me a fan of the franchise to begin with.


When I think about the Mega Man games of my childhood, it’s Battle Network that pops into my mind instantly.
