Mega Man Battle Network 3

Battle Network 3 is the third in a series of games for the GBA. Once again, Mega Man and Lan must face up against the WWW Organization, headed by Lord Wily.

Game Boy Advance

Wii U

Introduction

Megaman Battle Network 3 was released as two versions, Blue and White. Both versions has the same story, but minor differences in boss fights and battlechips. They were released in 2002 in Japan and the US in 2003, the Mega Man franchises 15th birthday. The game follows Lan Hikari and his NetNavi MegaMan. The terrorist organization WWW, defeated in the first game, has returned and are collecting "TetraCodes", four pieces of data hidden in various areas of cyberspace. Lan and Megaman travel to new areas to stop WWW. The gameplay is virtually identical to the previous two installments. The only differences are the inclusion of more "styles", forms that add different powers, elemental and non-elemental, to MegaMan. MegaMan Battle Network 3 was the first Battle Network game to feature two different versions.

Story

Lord Wily has reformed the terrorist organization WWW, and now seeks to release Alpha, an bugged prototype for the current Internet. To do so, Wily needs the four TetraCodes, pieces of data that unlock the firewalls that surround Alpha.

Lan Hikari and his NetNavi, Megaman, attempt to protect the TetraCodes from Dr. Wily, but fail to do so. Wily, with the help of Bass, releases Alpha, which consumes Wily and Bass, proceeding to infect the entire Internet with his bugs.

Megaman battles Alpha, and is able to defeat him. As Alpha begins to delete, the network around him begins to crash. Megaman is unable to escape, and is destroyed. Lan's father manages to recover Megaman during a salvage operation of the affected network location, and is able to revive him.

System

The gameplay in Battle Network 3 is similar to that of its predecessors, taking the basic design of Mega Man Battle Network and applying the gameplay improvements from Mega Man Battle Network 2.

Removed Features

The PowerUp system is gone, replaced with the Navi Customizer. In addition, apart from a few BattleChips (which are mainstays in the Battle Network franchise), the chip selection is mostly new; this philosophy of changing up the chip list instead of building on it would continue throughout the franchise.

Navi Customizer

This game's major contribution to the Battle Network franchise, the Navi Customizer allows players to augment MegaMan's powers by arranging Tetris-esqe puzzle pieces (referred to as "programs") onto a grid. However, if the player breaks certain programming rules, MegaMan will behave irregularly during battle.

Style Change

This game introduces three more Styles: BugStyle, which afflicts MegaMan with random glitches (both positive and negative), and the version-exclusive Ground and Shadow Styles (the former focuses on changing Battlefield conditions, while the latter focuses on evasion). HubStyle is removed in this game. Leveling up each style yields Navi Customizer programs, allowing the player to mix and match MegaMan's abilities (within certain restrictions).

Folder

This game establishes new chip classifications: Standard Chips (which you can now only have 3 duplicates of), MegaChips (stronger chips and most NaviChips; no duplicates allowed and only 5 per folder), and GigaChips (the strongest NaviChips and the 5 version-exclusive chips; only 1 per folder).

Countering

This game introduces the concept of "countering," or deleting an enemy right before they attack. Countering in this game yields "BugFrags" which are used in the Virus Breeder (see below) and at a special, end-game Chip Trader. This is the only game where the MegaBuster can be used to Counter.

Other Features

Battle Network 3 features the Virus Breeder, where viruses (that must be found first somewhere in the net) are kept and can be fed using bugFrag. When a virus is found and put in the breeder, a chip for that virus is obtained. Feeding each virus BugFrag levels up their chip accordingly. After a family of a certain type of virus has been fed to the max, they will release information to the player as to where their King can be found.

White vs. Blue

There are several differences between the White version and the Blue version. Since the Blue version is a special edition version (the western White is simply Rockman.EXE 3 in Japan, while western Blue is Rockman.EXE 3 Black) it features more content and is arguably the better game.

White Version

-Ground Style

-MistMan as a boss

-GigaChips NaviCycle, Balance, Bass, Serenade, Alpha Arm Sigma

Blue Version

-Shadow Style

-BowlMan as a boss

-Punk as a boss

-GigaChips FolderBack, Dark Aura, Bass Plus, Delta Ray, Alpha Arm Omega

Main Characters

Character	Picture	Chat Box Portrait	In Game Sprite
Lan Hikari
Mayl Sakurai
Dex Oyama
Yai Ayanokoji

Bosses

Boss Name	Picture	Chip Portrait	Battlefield Sprite
Alpha
Bass.EXE
BeastMan.EXE
BowlMan.EXE
BubbleMan.EXE	N/A
Darkman.EXE
DesertMan.EXE
DrillMan.EXE
FlameMan.EXE
FlashMan.EXE
GutsMan.EXE
JapanMan.EXE
MetalMan.EXE
MistMan.EXE

Alpha: Final Boss of the game

7 Stars

The following stars appear on the game's title screen once they are unlocked.

Star	How to Unlock
Yellow Star (1st Star)	Defeat the Original Alpha
Green Star (2nd Star)	Defeat Bass GS in Secret Area 3
Light Blue Star (3rd Star)	Beat all of Serenade's Time Trials in Secret Areas 1, 2, and 3
Blue Star (4th Star)	Complete Standard Chip Library (200 Chips)
Purple Star (5th Star)	Complete Mega Chip Library (85 Chips)
Red Star (6th Star)	Defeat all 15 Omega Navis
Orange Star (7th Star)	Complete Program Advance Library (32 Combos)