Mega Man Battle Network 5 is the fifth game in the Battle Network series. As in the previous three Battle Network games, it comes in two versions-Team Colonel and Team ProtoMan, named after the leaders of each liberation team. The games differ slightly in story, and in weapons (called battlechips in the game).
You control both main characters, Lan Hikari and MegaMan.EXE throughout the main story, as well as other NetNavis as the story progresses.
The story begins with Lan's father getting kidnapped by Dr. Regal, and Lan's friends' Navis, specifically Roll, Guts Man and Glyde. The story continues with Lan and MegaMan having their "strength tested" via a staged incident at the SciLab, the area where Lan's father works. after passing the test, Lan and MegaMan are introduced to the team leader, Colonel/ Proto Man, depending on the version. As the story progresses, the team builds, and opportunities arise to play as the different team members.
One new feature of Battle Network 5 are the Liberation Teams, which fight to reclaim the internet from Nebula.Gameplay is similar to the other Battle Network installments, with the emphasis on the mechanics of the previous installment, focusing on the new "Soul Unison" power (explained below). A feature unique to Battle Network 5 are the Liberation Missions. In these, you control MegaMan along with the other members of your liberation team, whose party are different in each version.The Liberation Mission system is a series of turn-based, chess-like battles where you you attempt to 'liberate' a section of cyberspace, offering a difference from the traditional style of battle to a more strategic style, while under a time limit, and other special features.
Mega Man Battle Network 5:Double Team DS
Mega Man Battle Network 5:Double Team DS is a special version of Battle Network 5 made for the DS. it featured both versions of the game on one cartridge, as well as migration support for the original version of the game, allowing players to migrate their old chip deck to the game, and also unlock many hidden features. it also had extra features for attaching older versions of the Battle Network to the game, such as alternate music and extra missions. it also allowed the ability to switch team members from the two different versions, allowing newer battling and liberation mission tactics (e.g. switching to play as MagnetMan in Team Colonel).
System
Battle Network 5, like its predecessors, does not make radical changes to the tried-and-true Battle Network battle style; it instead offers marginal upgrades from the previous game, Battle Network 4.
Playable Navis
Other Navis besides MegaMan are playable for the first time in a traditional Battle Network game (see bottom of page for list).
Liberation Mission
This game's distinguishing feature, the Liberation Mission often puts the player in rather peculiar situations. The type of battle is determined by the panels around the current character; if no panels around the chosen panel is Dark, the player gets a one column advantage. If there are Dark panels beside the chosen panels, the battle is normal. If the character is beside a Dark panel, the enemy gets a one column advantage. If the character is surrounded by both sides with Dark panels, the player is attacked from both sides; in these battles, the L and R buttons are used to switch the character's direction.
In these battles, the Custom Gauge immediately opens when it is full. The player is given three turns (approximately 26 seconds) to defeat all of the viruses, or the Liberation will be considered a failure. if the player is able to defeat all viruses in one turn, they can clear all panels directly around him/her. (Note turn time can be increased by using the SlowGuage Chip.)
Double Soul
An example of Double Soul, Search Soul, native to Team Protoman.Double soul returns from the previous game with the same formula; after aquiring a link to the soul of your teammate, you can fuse with it by sacrificing a like element chip in the chip select screen. the fusion lasts for 3 turns, giving you access to the navi's powers and other secondary effects. you can only fuse with a particular navi once a match. this feature is reminiscent of the "Weapon Get" ability from the classic series.
A new feature of this introduced in Battle Network 5 is that the attack power of the fused buster is dependent on your buster level, allowing you to increase your attack power of your charged shots (the attack power was a fixed value in the previous game, regardless of your buster level).
MegaMan can also fuse with dark chips via Chaos Unison, giving him access to the darkchip's power, without being corrupted (explained below).
DarkChip
DarkChips are now regular chips that must be collected and placed into the folder. This means that they are no longer are solely summoned when MegaMan is in a anxious/desparation state, but must be selected and added into the folder beforehand in order to be used. also, DarkChips cannot be traded.
The same mechanics from the previous game apply; use it, and Megaman becomes evil, and loses 1HP permanently from his total health if in battle, he uses a darkchip and his health drops to zero, he enters berserker mode for a few seconds, where he is invincible and uncontrollable, summoning chips by himself until he cools down to 1HP, where he is at risk for deletion. the more often he uses, it the darker he becomes until he starts summoning darkchips by himself, even without entering berserker mode. when MegaMan is evil, he can no longer achieve FullSynchro with Lan, get enraged, or fuse with other navis.
Dark MegaMan can be purified, however, under certain conditions.
Chaos Soul Unison
MegaMan can now perform Unite with DarkChips, this creates a Chaos Unison, in which MegaMan can use a DarkChip as his charged buster, and does not suffer from having his soul corrupted and turned evil. However, this type of Double Soul only lasts for a single turn, and if the charged buster is timed incorrectly, a dark version of MegaMan will appear on the enemy side and begin to attack the player.
BattleChips
The Z-Saber Mega Chip, featuring Zero.- There are 180 standard chips, with some chip types changed.
- There are 60 Mega chips and 2 secret chips, including the Navichips of the various Navis.
- There are 12 Giga Chips, 6 per game.
- There are 12 Dark chips; 6 can be fused with per game.
- The Panel-Break element is replaced with the Targeting element; SearchSoul's element is appropriately changed from Invisible-type (in Battle Network 4) to Targeting-type.
Program Advance
Different program advances can be used in a battle, but only one of each type (eg. you can't use 2 ZetaCannons in a single match). there are 30 in total.
Soul Cross
A Prototype version of the mechanic introduced in the sequel was available in the game, but not available in normal gameplay (see bottom of article for more details)
Liberation Teams
Team Protoman Liberation Team
Team Colonel Liberation team
Liberation Mission Bosses
Trivia
- This is actually the third, not the first, Battle Network game that allows the player to use Navis other than MegaMan, the previous 2 being Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge and Mega Man Battle Network 4.5/Rockman.EXE 4.5.
- This is the second game to feature a crossover between the Boktai series, with the first one being the previous Battle Network game.
- This is actually the first game to introduce the soul cross mechanic, albeit very different from it's Battle Network 6 counterpart, and was only available as an out-of-game addition, that allowed MegaMan to have access to Bass.EXE's powers (Gold and Silver). a special cross was available in the DS expansion with Django.
- If a game altering device is used, the game gan be played with the engine from RockMan.EXE 4.5, with a translated tutorial screen. This suggests that maybe the gameplay mechanic was meant to be added as a special unlock, or even be the main style of gameplay.
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