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While the Battle Network games made waves in the Game Boy Advance, the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection finally brings the series to modern devices. However, just which Battle Network games are must-plays for players?

6 Battle Network

Similar to other games, the first isn’t necessarily always an iconic entry in the franchise. Much is the same with the Battle Network franchise, courtesy of the first Mega Man Battle Network game. Set in the near future where advances in artificial intelligence allowed the creation of NetNavis that act as sentient programs, Lan Hikari and his Navi MegaMan.EXE need to stop terrorist organization World Three (WWW) from ruling the world.

While it introduces a Mega Man title with turn-based RPG mechanics, the gameplay of the first game is rather sloppy in comparison to its sequels. For instance, players can only escape combat with a special Battle Chip, and its virtual world isn’t as visually captivating as future entries. Regardless, it’s a decent game for newcomers and worth checking out, if only for understanding the improvements the sequels had to create.

5 Battle Network 4: Red Sun, Blue Moon

Widely considered as the dividing “black sheep” of the series, the reception of the entire fanbase with regards to Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun, Blue Moon is split due to its various elements on top of a switch to the game’s visuals. This time around, an asteroid is on a collision course toward Earth, and a tournament is held to decide which Operator-Navi pair should try entering cyberspace to change its course. In the midst of it all is Nebula, an evil organization trying to wreak havoc.

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In this Battle Network entry, MegaMan now has an Emotion Meter that offers various advantages and disadvantages to the game, particularly a risk/reward Dark Chip system that offers perks at the cost of debuffs. Likewise, the game now replaces its Style Change system with Soul Unison, a similar element-change mechanic that only lasts for three turns. On top of this is a replayability option, where players need a total of three playthroughs to acquire all existing Style Changes in the game. With a rather bland story and minimized gameplay, Red Sun and Blue Moon are a tough sell for newcomers to the franchise.

4 Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan, Team Colonel

There are always going to be games in a series that try to spice up the gameplay formula, and the Battle Network game to do so would probably be Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan and Team Colonel. Taking on a more tactical spin, Lan and MegaMan need to team up with either ProtoMan or Colonel in order to save Lan’s father, who was kidnapped by the Nebula, the Dark Chip Syndicate.

Completely new to both Battle Network 5 versions are Liberation Missions, where players can control other Navis they’ve teamed up with and experience battling with them to earn various rewards and free a net sector from evil programs. Dark Chips now get a dedicated library and only a few of them can be inserted into a folder, allowing players to access powerful Chaos Unisons. Likewise, Double Souls are only unlockable after Liberation Missions with certain Navis, and the Navi Customizer now has parts that can extend the duration of these chips.

3 Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar, Cybeast Falzar

Serving as the final entry to the Battle Network series, Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar and Cybeast Falzar goes all out for lovers of the franchise. This time around, Lan and MegaMan move to a new city to start anew, only for their lives to be rocked one last time by the return of WWW and their plan to resurrect giant digital monsters known as Cybeasts for world domination.

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This series culminates with some of the best features across this game in the Battle Network franchise with additional tweaks to existing features to make them more balanced. For instance, the Cross System allows MegaMan to tap into the abilities of his friends, with a new form that lasts throughout the entire battle (like in Style Change), but he gets blasted out of it for the rest of combat if hit with an elemental weakness. Likewise, there’s a Beast Out mechanic that lets MegaMan tap into a super-powerful beast form for three turns (like Double Soul).

2 Battle Network 2

All it needs is a properly-made sequel in order to improve leaps and bounds from a starting entry, and this is exactly what Mega Man Battle Network 2 did for the series. Set the following summer after defeating World Three (WWW), Lan and MegaMan’s life of peace is once again interrupted by a terrorist group called Gospel. Set to create the ultimate NetNavi, MegaMan needs to tap into the new Style Change system to gain an elemental advantage against foes.

Unlike other games that added a lot of features that became the framework of features of other Battle Network games, its minute changes to Mega Man Battle Network 2 made it an iconic entry in the franchise. On top of a simple story with a sympathetic antagonist, Battle Network 2 improves on the visuals of the net to make it visually distinct and easier to navigate. Not only that, Net Squares make an entry as a neutral shopping space, and players can extensively customize MegaMan’s chip folders further.

1 Battle Network 3: Blue, White

Sometimes, simple remains the best, and the lack of complications in a game like Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue, White allows it to become a standout in the franchise. Taking place months after defeating the Netmafia Gospel, Lan Hikari and MegaMan join the N1 Grand Prix to prove their worth as Netbattlers when a mysterious organization started to wreak havoc once more.

Despite this rather straightforward plot, this Battle Network entry offers players quite a lot of things to play with that add a lot of flexibility to their experience, especially with its impact on future entries like Battle Network 5. Aside from the Style Change system, the Navi Customizer allows players to “install” programs to MegaMan in a grid-based mini-game, forcing players to think outside the box to maximize upgrades to the Blue Bomber. At its core, Battle Network 3: Blue, White has enough upgrades to distinguish itself as a mainline entry, and at the same time keeps enough classic features to make it fit in with the rest of the series.

The upcoming Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection arrives on the PC, Switch, and PS4 in 2023.

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