Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel

October 11,2005 - Capcom’s Mega Man has been around the block loads of times, and the Blue Bomber is just as milked as Mario. However, like Nintendo, Capcom knows how to make good games with Mega Man’s named stamped on it. Examples include the flagship Mega Man games, the Mega Man X games, and there’s even been a Mega Man soccer game. Shortly after the GBA’s launch in 2000, Capcom introduced a new spinoff to the series—a Mega Man RPG game by the name of Mega Man Battle Network. Critics and certain fans liked what they played, and because of this, Capcom has made its 5th entry into the Battle Network series with Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Protoman and Team Colonel.

For those who haven’t played any of the Battle Network games, they take place during the year 20XX where almost everything is wirelessly digital. Almost everyone in town has a Personal Electronic Terminal (PET) to help interact with everything around them. The games follow a boy named Lan and his PET—Mega Man EXE. When there’s trouble in AC/DC, Lan jacks into the troubled terminal and fights all kinds of viruses that threaten peace in the world. Since everything in the world is electronic, having the main hard drive fried definitely won’t help things out.

In this fifth entry in the series, Lan’s father is kidnapped by Nebula—the same organization that causes all sorts of havoc around AC/DC city. Depending on the game you have, Team Protoman or Team Colonel, you’ll team up with one of those teams to save Lan’s father. Also, some of the battle chips you come across will differ, but those are the only main differences between the two MMBN5 games.

Mega Man Battle Network 5 features the same type of gameplay as the last few games. As you’d probably expect, the beef of this game is within its battle system. You run into random battles whenever Mega Man is anywhere on the NET, and they change from an isometric perspective to a 2D battlefield consisting of 18 squares. The ones marked in blue are Mega Man’s, and the ones marked in red are the enemy’s. With that, Mega Man can move anywhere within his region to dodge attacks or stalk his enemies to be in range with his blaster. The method of attacking relies on cards called battle chips.

When a match begins, you draw 5 chips, and you can choose as many of them as you can for your offensive arsenal as long each chip is of the same class (marked by a letter) or the exact same chip. For example, if you draw more than one cannon, you can use them both. Or if you draw a cannon and a healing chip that are both marked by the same letter, you can also use them both. After the chip phase, you can use any of the chips you used by tapping the A button. After you run out, you can use Mega Man’s default blaster to cause damage slowly—but while the blaster is week, it’s the fastest weapon at your disposal. At the top of the screen is a custom meter that takes time to fill up. Ones the meter is filled, you can hit the L or R button to go into the chip-choosing phase again. The battle ends once you defeat your enemy, or you’re defeated. Unlike most RPG’s, you can tell when your opponent will die because its HP is right below it.

New to the series is the ability to use dark powers with the use of a dark chip. As you delve deeper into the game, you’ll get a dark chip from one of the bosses. It’ll give Mega Man intense power, making battles much easier. Of course, nothing is too good to be true. You’ll have to pay the price with something, but for the case of spoilers, we won’t reveal what exactly goes on. Veterans of the main Mega Man games will also find that the original formula is back. When you go through certain areas and defeat their bosses, you’ll earn a new battle chip, which is essential to beating the next area’s boss. It’s definitely a great touch, and it actually makes this Battle Network game somewhat different from the others.

The game makes use of the same semi cel-shaded look introduced in Mega Man Battle Network 4. While it still looks good, the entire atmosphere, as Lan, of the city is unchanged. The new places to explore in their isometric states, look well made, but it’s nothing that would make your eyes pop. The NET, however, looks a lot better than it has in any of the Battle Network games. The backgrounds are much lively, and the robots in them are pretty lively as well. Fans of Mega Man NT Warrior television series that airs on KidsWB should be proud of what the game looks like on the NET because it’s pretty close to the way it looks on TV.

The sound is the only thing relatively new with the game, but even at that, it really isn’t noticeable unless you’re someone who has played the previous games religiously. Tunes have different chimes, and the new battle chips obviously have some different sounds. Other than that, everything is just adjusted rather than noticeably improved. The techno background music is pleasing to the ear though.

Like the last two editions in the series, if you have a Game Link Cable, you can link up with someone who has a different version of MMBN5 to battle or trade for chips that are exclusive to his or her version of the game. While it’s not required, it’s a good incentive for Capcom to get players to buy both copies, and that’s your decision.

To say Mega Man Battle Network 5 is good would be an accurate verdict, but to say it’s worth your $30 is ludicrous. If you’re the casual RPG fan, this game isn’t for you, as the story doesn’t do any justice. If you’re an old school gamer who loves hard shoot-em-ups, the challenge in the battle system is probably enough to warrant purchase. Other than that, the new additions in this should’ve been added a long time ago. Right now, the Battle Network series is slowly becoming as annoying as Mario Party. When you lay each Battle Network game side by side, you’d notice that there really isn’t much variety to the stories, and everything ends up the same way with no twists or turns anywhere. The addition of the dark chips is interesting though, and unlike the last two editions—this game is actually worth playing. If you decide to get this game, the version doesn’t matter. Just know that there are a whole lot of other titles worth getting on the GBA that have been released recently.

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