An incredible fast paced action rpg. The story , gameplay, ost , characters all come together to make one of the most unique rpgs out there . The style system , battle chip combinations, ost that takes you back to simpler times . It is one of the most immersive rpgs out there
Beloved. Chips are great. Encounter rate too high
Without a doubt the best one of these I've played so far let me tell you now. The story is un-fucking-matched, I don't think it gets as ridiculous as 2's but it's so focused and pretty well-written for what it is. Lan throws MegaMan at a guy's head and also jumps out of the second story window of a hospital, literally how can this not be a 10/10.
The music? Wonderful, best ost of the first trilogy. The dungeons, while definitely not amazing (at this point that might just be a trend with this series), are the best yet. I especially love the hospital scenario, it's a legitimately good chapter with high stakes. Same for the final act, that finale is so damn good.
If this were the final game in the series, I think this would be the ideal sendoff for this cast and world. But alas, there are 3 more.
The music? Wonderful, best ost of the first trilogy. The dungeons, while definitely not amazing (at this point that might just be a trend with this series), are the best yet. I especially love the hospital scenario, it's a legitimately good chapter with high stakes. Same for the final act, that finale is so damn good.
If this were the final game in the series, I think this would be the ideal sendoff for this cast and world. But alas, there are 3 more.
this is the one where Lan throws mega man at someone's head to knock him out that rules
Too much running around back and forth, too many random battles
Every game slightly improves on the one before it. Style changes and chip additions are very welcome things. My friend had the white version and we traded the chips needed. What a good ending.
Some parts feel like pulling teeth, but overall not a bad game, and to some is the final Battle Network title in terms of story.
The best game in the first trilogy. It introduced things like Navi Customizer and it’s the last game to use Style Change.
The game has so many mandatory programs that you constantly need to remap everything which gets grating really quickly (UnderNet moment).
Style Change requires so many battles that it’s probably just better to stick with the one you start with!
The game has so many mandatory programs that you constantly need to remap everything which gets grating really quickly (UnderNet moment).
Style Change requires so many battles that it’s probably just better to stick with the one you start with!
Style Change perfected, gameplay refined very well. Story also was great. Postgame was stellar.
This review contains spoilers
There are seldom sequels that can take everything great from previous entries and give you the transformative experience that MegaMan Battle Network 3 gives. Our lovable cast of characters return to ACDC Elementary as fifth year students. We get to meet new characters and Net Navis, we get to explore new dungeons, bust new viruses, and see new locales. All of this combined to give a well rounded and spectacular experience.
The story kicks off with an invitation to the N1 Grand Prix. From there Lan and our titular hero MegaMan encounter a new eclectic cast of WWW bad guys. That’s right, Dr. Wily is back and badder than ever. He has a new plan to destroy all of net society and it falls to us to stop him. The stories of previous entries have been interesting and entertaining but this is the first one that has really resonated with me. The writing team does a great job making you connect with Lan and his friends, including a brand new character named Momoru who has the same condition that Lan’s brother, Hub, had. With a short amount of time the writers were able to establish an emotional connection with this character, only to dangle their mortality in front of you when the hospital is in danger. It makes the game more compelling as you are now emotionally invested in the well being of this character.
Our explorable spaces have also improved and maintain the level of interest that we’ve come to expect from this series. We have four locales: ACDC Town, SciLab, Yoka, and Beach. Within these locales we can explore the school in ACDC Town, the hot springs and zoo in Yoka, The TV Broadcasting station, Hades Isle, and the Hospital accessed at Beach. Each of these areas has an accurately themed net space. The net spaces in this game are equally as interesting. The paths have lots of twists and turns while giving you a painted path that always leads you to the area’s netsquare. It’s a nice balance between linear pathing and still giving you that labyrinthian experience that the series has previously offered. The backdrops and the color scheme to the areas are also much more representative of the locales they represent. There’s no question about where you are. Giving the character’s home net spaces shortcuts to the various net squares helps with navigating as well and adds to the sense of connectivity.
With a new entry, we get to enjoy brand new game mechanics. The biggest change is the NaviCust which allows you to install programs that can modify and power MegaMan up. Using the various programs you’re able to increase MegaMan’s buster speed, attack power, charge speed, and other effects that impact combat. NaviCust actually plays an important role in the progression of the game too. There are several parts throughout the game that require you to use the Press program and later on, the EngyChng program. These programs are required to be installed to MegaMan in order to interact with certain obstacles presented to you. It’s a good way to challenge the player to change their customization in a way that allows you to clear the obstacle while keeping MegaMan powered up. The unique challenge makes for a fun and engaging experience.
Environmental hazards take a more prevalent place in this game. As you get further along you start to see tiles that are either missing, frozen, covered in sand, or filled in with lava. MegaMan is able to unlock various style changes that are very much like the styles that we were introduced to in Battle Network 2. These styles allow MegaMan to interact with these environmental hazards depending on the style you obtain. As interesting as these styles are, there were style elements that were clearly more beneficial than others. The aqua element proved to be the most useful element as you seldom encountered an electric element after obtaining your first style. Even during the off chance that you did encounter one it was usually a fairly manageable virus. The style types are what makes the real difference. I personally experienced AquaGuts style which gave MegaMan a rapid fire effect on his mega buster and a bubbler effect with his charge attack. Other styles do things like giving you more chips without having to use the returning add function. There are a couple unique styles that are exclusive to each version of the game and a couple of styles that get introduced to both games but I didn’t get to experience them when I played. The elements and styles are fun because they generally are obtained based on how you choose to play the game. You’re more likely to get guts style if you use your mega buster more in battles. You get different elements based on the type of chips you use. It’s a good way for the game to reinforce your play style without compromising on difficulty since each element has a weakness. What’s good about it is that you can either embrace the style change given to you or you can pursue a new style change. You can also choose to remain in normal style, completely ignoring the mechanic altogether. I personally found it to be most enjoyable using the style given to me and leveling it up to unlock more NaviCust programs.
Something different this game does is that the various scenarios that play out don’t always have a dungeon to accompany. This is true for previous titles but not to the same effect. By the end of previous titles you would have a segment that would take you through all of the net spaces. The first handful of scenarios in this game have dungeons but once you get about halfway through the game, scenarios start taking you throughout various parts of the net and to combinations of the locales available. The undernet has been previously reserved for endgame or post game content but this time we see it take a large presence as we approach the endgame. Something the game does well, are the parts of the story that are less straightforward. Historically towards the end of the game we’re given a puzzle that has been frustratingly difficult to approach. Not because it challenges your skill as a player, but because they give you little to no information to go off of. This game has two scenarios that require you to use your knowledge of the game to progress. One is a hunt for a mysterious chip that people have been talking about. The other is a sort of scavenger hunt that requires you to follow a series of hints to find characters and items. Neither of these challenges are as obfuscated as the previous game’s challenges were. Each puzzle has a clear answer that is obtainable if you use critical thinking, or the resources the game has shown you up until this point.
As we fought our way through the challenges presented to us we found it all culminating in a big standoff between Lan and his closest friends, and Dr. Wily and his goons. The conclusion that follows your battles against the final bosses is bittersweet. Although you defeat Dr. Wily and WWW again, your victory comes at the cost of MegaMan being deleted. Lan is crushed and so was I. I was left completely shocked that they actually killed him off. Lan has to learn how to function in this world without his best friend and brother. The impact this leaves is only slightly undermined when you find out that your Dad found a way to bring back MegaMan. The game ends with this reveal so you don’t get to understand how he managed to do this. It leaves you with plenty of questions that hopefully get answered in Battle Network 4.
The new Net Navis that we get to battle with are fun and interesting. Each character has their own attack patterns and behaviors. I believe this has been the most fun batch of characters to battle with. My favorites being DesertMan and FlamMan. The only navi that I found to be truly frustrating was BubbleMan. I struggled with this fight immensely but I also feel like it was due to a lack of skill when approaching this fight. The methods you must employ to defeat him are contrary to how I play and I’m fully willing to accept that I am the source of my own misery here. The final battles in this game are truly challenging. The most challenging thus far. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that you can’t save in between battles so if you lose to Alpha then you have to refight Bass all over again. Alpha took the most tries between the two. Bass is tough because of his constantly restoring aura that takes 100 damage to destroy. Alpha just unleashes a neverending onslaught of attacks that will melt you down before you can defeat him if you aren’t careful. He only has one weak point and it’s well protected by the steady assault that is thrown at you. Once you understand how Alpha’s attacks work, you can mitigate the damage directed towards you. From there it’s a matter of out damaging it before you are deleted. It’s an incredible feeling when you finally achieve victory. Your foe is as mighty as the threat it presents to the world.
MegaMan Battle Network 3 has two versions. There is a Blue version, and a White Version. The differences are subtle. The shops have a few different chips available. Blue Version has an extra Net Navi that you can fight named PunkMan. White Version does not offer a counterpart. The biggest difference though is a boss Navi that you face just before going into the endgame. In Blue Version you get to face off against BowlMan. He’s a bowling themed Net Navi with interesting battle mechanics. In White Version you get to face off against MistMan. He’s a Genie inspired Net Navi with his own mechanics that involve protecting his mystical lamp that is the only part of him that can take damage. Each version gets its own version exclusive chip. Blue Version gets a folder back chip that completely refills your chip folder with all of the used chips (including the folder back chip itself). White Version gets a navi recycle chip that lets you reuse a previously used navi chip. While the idea of version exclusive content is interesting, it feels shallow when the differences are so miniscule. This is likely symptomatic of the game originally being a single release which was then given an enhanced version for the international release. That being said, it would have been more appreciable if one version didn’t feel so distinctly greater than the other. Both games are fun and engaging but it would have soured my experience had I bought this game when it originally came out and learned that the version I bought was arguably inferior to its counterpart.
By the end of both versions of the game I was left feeling amazed and satisfied with MegaMan Battle Network 3. This is the game that really solidifies the Battle Network experience. When the inevitable time comes that I revisit this series, I will likely start with this one. Capcom has done a great job continuing to make these games progressively better. Each game is jam packed with new features and mechanics leaving you excited to see what they have in store for you in the next entry. This is also the first title in which every puzzle or problem comes with a logical solution which is huge when considering the main shortcomings of the previous titles. The fine example this game sets makes me even more excited to see what’s in store in the entries to come.
The story kicks off with an invitation to the N1 Grand Prix. From there Lan and our titular hero MegaMan encounter a new eclectic cast of WWW bad guys. That’s right, Dr. Wily is back and badder than ever. He has a new plan to destroy all of net society and it falls to us to stop him. The stories of previous entries have been interesting and entertaining but this is the first one that has really resonated with me. The writing team does a great job making you connect with Lan and his friends, including a brand new character named Momoru who has the same condition that Lan’s brother, Hub, had. With a short amount of time the writers were able to establish an emotional connection with this character, only to dangle their mortality in front of you when the hospital is in danger. It makes the game more compelling as you are now emotionally invested in the well being of this character.
Our explorable spaces have also improved and maintain the level of interest that we’ve come to expect from this series. We have four locales: ACDC Town, SciLab, Yoka, and Beach. Within these locales we can explore the school in ACDC Town, the hot springs and zoo in Yoka, The TV Broadcasting station, Hades Isle, and the Hospital accessed at Beach. Each of these areas has an accurately themed net space. The net spaces in this game are equally as interesting. The paths have lots of twists and turns while giving you a painted path that always leads you to the area’s netsquare. It’s a nice balance between linear pathing and still giving you that labyrinthian experience that the series has previously offered. The backdrops and the color scheme to the areas are also much more representative of the locales they represent. There’s no question about where you are. Giving the character’s home net spaces shortcuts to the various net squares helps with navigating as well and adds to the sense of connectivity.
With a new entry, we get to enjoy brand new game mechanics. The biggest change is the NaviCust which allows you to install programs that can modify and power MegaMan up. Using the various programs you’re able to increase MegaMan’s buster speed, attack power, charge speed, and other effects that impact combat. NaviCust actually plays an important role in the progression of the game too. There are several parts throughout the game that require you to use the Press program and later on, the EngyChng program. These programs are required to be installed to MegaMan in order to interact with certain obstacles presented to you. It’s a good way to challenge the player to change their customization in a way that allows you to clear the obstacle while keeping MegaMan powered up. The unique challenge makes for a fun and engaging experience.
Environmental hazards take a more prevalent place in this game. As you get further along you start to see tiles that are either missing, frozen, covered in sand, or filled in with lava. MegaMan is able to unlock various style changes that are very much like the styles that we were introduced to in Battle Network 2. These styles allow MegaMan to interact with these environmental hazards depending on the style you obtain. As interesting as these styles are, there were style elements that were clearly more beneficial than others. The aqua element proved to be the most useful element as you seldom encountered an electric element after obtaining your first style. Even during the off chance that you did encounter one it was usually a fairly manageable virus. The style types are what makes the real difference. I personally experienced AquaGuts style which gave MegaMan a rapid fire effect on his mega buster and a bubbler effect with his charge attack. Other styles do things like giving you more chips without having to use the returning add function. There are a couple unique styles that are exclusive to each version of the game and a couple of styles that get introduced to both games but I didn’t get to experience them when I played. The elements and styles are fun because they generally are obtained based on how you choose to play the game. You’re more likely to get guts style if you use your mega buster more in battles. You get different elements based on the type of chips you use. It’s a good way for the game to reinforce your play style without compromising on difficulty since each element has a weakness. What’s good about it is that you can either embrace the style change given to you or you can pursue a new style change. You can also choose to remain in normal style, completely ignoring the mechanic altogether. I personally found it to be most enjoyable using the style given to me and leveling it up to unlock more NaviCust programs.
Something different this game does is that the various scenarios that play out don’t always have a dungeon to accompany. This is true for previous titles but not to the same effect. By the end of previous titles you would have a segment that would take you through all of the net spaces. The first handful of scenarios in this game have dungeons but once you get about halfway through the game, scenarios start taking you throughout various parts of the net and to combinations of the locales available. The undernet has been previously reserved for endgame or post game content but this time we see it take a large presence as we approach the endgame. Something the game does well, are the parts of the story that are less straightforward. Historically towards the end of the game we’re given a puzzle that has been frustratingly difficult to approach. Not because it challenges your skill as a player, but because they give you little to no information to go off of. This game has two scenarios that require you to use your knowledge of the game to progress. One is a hunt for a mysterious chip that people have been talking about. The other is a sort of scavenger hunt that requires you to follow a series of hints to find characters and items. Neither of these challenges are as obfuscated as the previous game’s challenges were. Each puzzle has a clear answer that is obtainable if you use critical thinking, or the resources the game has shown you up until this point.
As we fought our way through the challenges presented to us we found it all culminating in a big standoff between Lan and his closest friends, and Dr. Wily and his goons. The conclusion that follows your battles against the final bosses is bittersweet. Although you defeat Dr. Wily and WWW again, your victory comes at the cost of MegaMan being deleted. Lan is crushed and so was I. I was left completely shocked that they actually killed him off. Lan has to learn how to function in this world without his best friend and brother. The impact this leaves is only slightly undermined when you find out that your Dad found a way to bring back MegaMan. The game ends with this reveal so you don’t get to understand how he managed to do this. It leaves you with plenty of questions that hopefully get answered in Battle Network 4.
The new Net Navis that we get to battle with are fun and interesting. Each character has their own attack patterns and behaviors. I believe this has been the most fun batch of characters to battle with. My favorites being DesertMan and FlamMan. The only navi that I found to be truly frustrating was BubbleMan. I struggled with this fight immensely but I also feel like it was due to a lack of skill when approaching this fight. The methods you must employ to defeat him are contrary to how I play and I’m fully willing to accept that I am the source of my own misery here. The final battles in this game are truly challenging. The most challenging thus far. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that you can’t save in between battles so if you lose to Alpha then you have to refight Bass all over again. Alpha took the most tries between the two. Bass is tough because of his constantly restoring aura that takes 100 damage to destroy. Alpha just unleashes a neverending onslaught of attacks that will melt you down before you can defeat him if you aren’t careful. He only has one weak point and it’s well protected by the steady assault that is thrown at you. Once you understand how Alpha’s attacks work, you can mitigate the damage directed towards you. From there it’s a matter of out damaging it before you are deleted. It’s an incredible feeling when you finally achieve victory. Your foe is as mighty as the threat it presents to the world.
MegaMan Battle Network 3 has two versions. There is a Blue version, and a White Version. The differences are subtle. The shops have a few different chips available. Blue Version has an extra Net Navi that you can fight named PunkMan. White Version does not offer a counterpart. The biggest difference though is a boss Navi that you face just before going into the endgame. In Blue Version you get to face off against BowlMan. He’s a bowling themed Net Navi with interesting battle mechanics. In White Version you get to face off against MistMan. He’s a Genie inspired Net Navi with his own mechanics that involve protecting his mystical lamp that is the only part of him that can take damage. Each version gets its own version exclusive chip. Blue Version gets a folder back chip that completely refills your chip folder with all of the used chips (including the folder back chip itself). White Version gets a navi recycle chip that lets you reuse a previously used navi chip. While the idea of version exclusive content is interesting, it feels shallow when the differences are so miniscule. This is likely symptomatic of the game originally being a single release which was then given an enhanced version for the international release. That being said, it would have been more appreciable if one version didn’t feel so distinctly greater than the other. Both games are fun and engaging but it would have soured my experience had I bought this game when it originally came out and learned that the version I bought was arguably inferior to its counterpart.
By the end of both versions of the game I was left feeling amazed and satisfied with MegaMan Battle Network 3. This is the game that really solidifies the Battle Network experience. When the inevitable time comes that I revisit this series, I will likely start with this one. Capcom has done a great job continuing to make these games progressively better. Each game is jam packed with new features and mechanics leaving you excited to see what they have in store for you in the next entry. This is also the first title in which every puzzle or problem comes with a logical solution which is huge when considering the main shortcomings of the previous titles. The fine example this game sets makes me even more excited to see what’s in store in the entries to come.
If i would compare the gameplay of MMBN3 Blue to any other sensation, it would be playing as Zero on MMX6 or SvC Chaos, as Vergil on UMvC3 or DMC V, Akuma on SFII Super Turbo or Tekken 7, Summoner class on Terraria 1.4 version, as Marth or Fox on SSB Meele, Marisa B on Touhou 10 - Mountain of Faith or as Noob Saibot on Mortal Kombat 3... Basically, your own skills are the only limit the game has between a hard fight and killing the bosses as if they're a random enemy of the early game.
The story here is the peak, OST is good as always, the peak graphic before bn4 downgrade onwards, good rivals and characters, some annoying puzzles mostly to having to equip and unequip "Press NCP" every single minute on the NaviCust Program, the peak post-game of all 6 BNs and while MMBN6 has the most creative gameplay, MMBN3 Blue takes the throne as the most fun Mega Man Battle Network game since BN3 White is just a literal inferior version and like i said at the start with those examples, the more you learn to play this game the more broken YOU ARE against everything this game has to offer:
- Geddon + Snake with Atk+30 and Wood+20 chips to delete the enemy before he can even move
- Spamming of VarSword "Elemental Boom" combo to shred everything in your part from the start of the game until the end and even after it in the post-game
- Folderback 11th slot bug to do any wicked strategy your folder has at any time again and again
- Shake chip bug to deal 9999 damage in a single hit
- Flashman and Plantman chip uses to ignore the enemy invulnerability frames like it's Starforce 3 noise gimmick, but way before it
- Program Advanced folders like 2xHero spam, HeatSpread combo with Grass Painel and Prism, LifeSword folder with Yamatoman or the old and nerfed but still good GutsShot spam
- Any multi-hit chip folder with Plantman or Flashman since again, they ignore invulnerability frames like it doesn't even exist
- Tornado folder with a all or nothing attack (more viable on BN5, but still works fine here)
- And of course, the good and old toxic stall combo with Annubis and Rockcube combo but it's funnier doing anything said before than this
And the better thing, in the end those are just a few examples of how you can be the true boss of this game and dominate it with broken yet fun combos you learn as you play more the peak of Mega Man Battle Network series.
The story here is the peak, OST is good as always, the peak graphic before bn4 downgrade onwards, good rivals and characters, some annoying puzzles mostly to having to equip and unequip "Press NCP" every single minute on the NaviCust Program, the peak post-game of all 6 BNs and while MMBN6 has the most creative gameplay, MMBN3 Blue takes the throne as the most fun Mega Man Battle Network game since BN3 White is just a literal inferior version and like i said at the start with those examples, the more you learn to play this game the more broken YOU ARE against everything this game has to offer:
- Geddon + Snake with Atk+30 and Wood+20 chips to delete the enemy before he can even move
- Spamming of VarSword "Elemental Boom" combo to shred everything in your part from the start of the game until the end and even after it in the post-game
- Folderback 11th slot bug to do any wicked strategy your folder has at any time again and again
- Shake chip bug to deal 9999 damage in a single hit
- Flashman and Plantman chip uses to ignore the enemy invulnerability frames like it's Starforce 3 noise gimmick, but way before it
- Program Advanced folders like 2xHero spam, HeatSpread combo with Grass Painel and Prism, LifeSword folder with Yamatoman or the old and nerfed but still good GutsShot spam
- Any multi-hit chip folder with Plantman or Flashman since again, they ignore invulnerability frames like it doesn't even exist
- Tornado folder with a all or nothing attack (more viable on BN5, but still works fine here)
- And of course, the good and old toxic stall combo with Annubis and Rockcube combo but it's funnier doing anything said before than this
And the better thing, in the end those are just a few examples of how you can be the true boss of this game and dominate it with broken yet fun combos you learn as you play more the peak of Mega Man Battle Network series.
really good game, improves even more on the series, has banger music, and good story for series standards. i dont like the post-game tho, too grindy bleh.
anyways alexa play final transmission
anyways alexa play final transmission
It's a video game.
This game improves upon the 2nd game and tones down a lot of the tedium. The story is ok but the character writing is good and makes you care for thr main character and his friends. The combat is excellent with some new style change forms, a customized in which you can equip Megaman with added upgrades than can change combat a bunch of new and challenging bosses were added and a an epic let boss fight that is decently challenging. This game also has an epic end game challenge at the end of it. This game was the first in the series that i played and I loved it! It’s my favorite in the series and having recently replayed its an all time favorite for me.
I find it really hard to talk about why I love this game and why it's great, so I'll just say that when Resident Evil does it, it's amazing, but here it's a war crime...
Good, but drags on for too long.
I don't really wish to talk about my experience with getting the Iceball M chip.
Like the last game, every improvement is counterbalanced with baffling design decisions. New parts system on top of style changes taking less battles and rewarding you upon leveling. Yet it takes so long to max a style that you can go the whole game w/o a style switch. Story hits an emotional peak but dungeon count has shrunk. If you aren't in a bad dungeon, you're dealing with Freezman level padding. Despite QoL changes, post-game still has me running around for hours, cross referencing guides.
I have a strong bias towards the Battle Network franchise, and I'd argue this is one of the best games ever made. It does just about everything I love in these RPG's, with extreme amounts of customization, a rich and colorful world that progresses with you and the plot, a ton of fights and unique bosses that will test every aspect of your deck building prowess, and just an abhorrent amount of content. Compared BN titles before and after this one, there is just so much to keep you distracted, from boss time trials to grinding out different forms and battle chips to side quests and NPC offerings littered in the overworld and net world.
There is a whole lot I want to say about this game, but genuinely I believe it would edge into rambling territory, so I'll cliffnote the important bits and disclaimers to try and make this as good as a sales pitch as I can.
They've vastly improved on every aspect of this game from its predecessors, from even more unique chip interactions, better navi customization that allows you to fine tune both parts of Megaman, for the most part net worlds and the overworld are made so concise that it never grows tiresome to explore either of them, while at the same time never stepping into repetition territory with endless amounts of needless backtracking, a pitfall nearly every other game in the franchise falls into. Style changes, which are basically different forms Megaman can change into, have a lot more power and influence in most combat encounters, are very easy to grind out of if you don't like a particular form, and if you're green to the series, always comes as a nice surprise to what you get and makes the early and mid game so much more enjoyable for it.
So I guess a few precautions for recommendation, as the issues I list aren't issues to me personally, but they can unfortunately work as deterrents. I've mentioned grinding a few times, and the game can be just that. You'll have to have 1 of every single standard chip to see 99% of the game's contents, and it takes 100 battles minimum to change forms. Again, not really an issue for me since that usually just surmounts a video on the second monitor, but it can be grueling if you're new and you're pushing for post-game content for the first time.
There's also the "Blue" in the title. This is the BN game that started the trend of multiple versions, and unfortunately Blue just has better things going for it. A ninja (shadow) style over White's ground style, which while the latter has some really cool applications, shadow style's ability to just avoid damage is just vastly better. Blue comes with a unique boss fight in the form of Punk who, while doesn't drop anything besides money, begs the question why he's only in Blue. And Blue having one of the best chips in the entire franchise with FoldrBak, a free chip you can put into any deck that you can use whenever to reshuffle your hand and deck and draw new hand. Anyone with a basic understanding of card games can understand how absurd this effect is, while White gets a chip that lets you... use the last navi chip you used. So in terms of version exclusives, you're either choosing a free mulligan + draw 7 at any point in a fight, or 50-100 extra damage maybe.
Lastly, if you want to see EVERYTHING this game has to offer, you have to either trade chips with other versions, chips that are exclusive to each game (you cannot trade FoldrBak btw) or modifyyour game file. While this is made easier with the Legacy Collection available on all modern platforms as of writing this review which comes with online connectivity, you're still forced to find another human being to trade with. You aren't missing out on much, just the T4 versions of bosses to fight, but it's still annoying to have this restriction nonetheless.
All that said, Battle Network 3 is still a gem people should absolutely experience. It's an amazing game that still holds up to this day, and it both wasn't and won't be my first and last times playing it. If you want to jump right in there's no harm starting out with this game, but just for plot sake I'd at least recommend playing through the first 2 Battle Network as there are some narrative beats that come out better with context from the first 2, including a fairly major spoiler between Megaman and Lan, the protagonists.
Please play Battle Network 3.
There is a whole lot I want to say about this game, but genuinely I believe it would edge into rambling territory, so I'll cliffnote the important bits and disclaimers to try and make this as good as a sales pitch as I can.
They've vastly improved on every aspect of this game from its predecessors, from even more unique chip interactions, better navi customization that allows you to fine tune both parts of Megaman, for the most part net worlds and the overworld are made so concise that it never grows tiresome to explore either of them, while at the same time never stepping into repetition territory with endless amounts of needless backtracking, a pitfall nearly every other game in the franchise falls into. Style changes, which are basically different forms Megaman can change into, have a lot more power and influence in most combat encounters, are very easy to grind out of if you don't like a particular form, and if you're green to the series, always comes as a nice surprise to what you get and makes the early and mid game so much more enjoyable for it.
So I guess a few precautions for recommendation, as the issues I list aren't issues to me personally, but they can unfortunately work as deterrents. I've mentioned grinding a few times, and the game can be just that. You'll have to have 1 of every single standard chip to see 99% of the game's contents, and it takes 100 battles minimum to change forms. Again, not really an issue for me since that usually just surmounts a video on the second monitor, but it can be grueling if you're new and you're pushing for post-game content for the first time.
There's also the "Blue" in the title. This is the BN game that started the trend of multiple versions, and unfortunately Blue just has better things going for it. A ninja (shadow) style over White's ground style, which while the latter has some really cool applications, shadow style's ability to just avoid damage is just vastly better. Blue comes with a unique boss fight in the form of Punk who, while doesn't drop anything besides money, begs the question why he's only in Blue. And Blue having one of the best chips in the entire franchise with FoldrBak, a free chip you can put into any deck that you can use whenever to reshuffle your hand and deck and draw new hand. Anyone with a basic understanding of card games can understand how absurd this effect is, while White gets a chip that lets you... use the last navi chip you used. So in terms of version exclusives, you're either choosing a free mulligan + draw 7 at any point in a fight, or 50-100 extra damage maybe.
Lastly, if you want to see EVERYTHING this game has to offer, you have to either trade chips with other versions, chips that are exclusive to each game (you cannot trade FoldrBak btw) or modifyyour game file. While this is made easier with the Legacy Collection available on all modern platforms as of writing this review which comes with online connectivity, you're still forced to find another human being to trade with. You aren't missing out on much, just the T4 versions of bosses to fight, but it's still annoying to have this restriction nonetheless.
All that said, Battle Network 3 is still a gem people should absolutely experience. It's an amazing game that still holds up to this day, and it both wasn't and won't be my first and last times playing it. If you want to jump right in there's no harm starting out with this game, but just for plot sake I'd at least recommend playing through the first 2 Battle Network as there are some narrative beats that come out better with context from the first 2, including a fairly major spoiler between Megaman and Lan, the protagonists.
Please play Battle Network 3.
The battles are great! Everything (gameplay wise) BETWEEN the battles? Not so much.
The first two scenarios are whatever, nothing special
Then the game kinda just becomes arbitrarily padded for no real reason
The first two scenarios are whatever, nothing special
Then the game kinda just becomes arbitrarily padded for no real reason
Great ending to the first trilogy. Style change + Navi Customizer makes for great personalization. The story is great (for MMBN standards), backtracking and fetch quests are still here, but much less compared to MMBN1 and 2.
content content content content
people be 30 and their opps be 12
It took 3 games but the writers finally got over their fears and wrote an actual story! There's genuinely great character moments, development of the cast and even some conflict between Lan and co. I knew this game was beloved for many reasons but yeah, story is one of the biggest areas of improvement here.
There's also some great additions to the core gameplay formula that I'm excited to see come back in 4 and onward. The main one is obviously the Navi Customizer. It's like that abilities manager thing from Kid Icarus Uprising but with even more nuanced and complex stipulations. The system just has a lot of complexity in general and that makes it very fun to optimize.
My main frustrations are still the backtracking and filler that's been in place since the first game, and also the dungeon design really falls apart in the second half unfortunately. The bosses are also kind of hit or miss, why do so many of them camp in the rightmost lane for the entire fight?
Regardless this is easily the best game of the 1-3 trilogy and wraps things up very well narratively and mechanically. Banger final boss too btw
There's also some great additions to the core gameplay formula that I'm excited to see come back in 4 and onward. The main one is obviously the Navi Customizer. It's like that abilities manager thing from Kid Icarus Uprising but with even more nuanced and complex stipulations. The system just has a lot of complexity in general and that makes it very fun to optimize.
My main frustrations are still the backtracking and filler that's been in place since the first game, and also the dungeon design really falls apart in the second half unfortunately. The bosses are also kind of hit or miss, why do so many of them camp in the rightmost lane for the entire fight?
Regardless this is easily the best game of the 1-3 trilogy and wraps things up very well narratively and mechanically. Banger final boss too btw
Great games. My complaints are just:
1: Requiring trades to get 100%. This is fixed on the Wii U version, but not the Legacy Collection version.
2: Still uses the style system. The fact that you can't really control what style you get, and it takes 100 battles to get another, is too RNG dependent for such a huge aspect of combat. I'm so glad they got rid of this system after this.
Otherwise great combat, music, fun story, not as much backtracking as the prior games, etc. Not much else I could say is an actual flaw with the game.
1: Requiring trades to get 100%. This is fixed on the Wii U version, but not the Legacy Collection version.
2: Still uses the style system. The fact that you can't really control what style you get, and it takes 100 battles to get another, is too RNG dependent for such a huge aspect of combat. I'm so glad they got rid of this system after this.
Otherwise great combat, music, fun story, not as much backtracking as the prior games, etc. Not much else I could say is an actual flaw with the game.
Super fun all around
The best in the Battle Network series, 3 has the best story, an exciting tournament arc, a great ending, and meaty postgame. I wouldn't have been mad if the series stopped right here.
MOM! IM GOING UP STAIRS TO JACK
Coming back to a game nearly two decades later and seeing it's even better than you remembered with how rich the mechanics and content are, man is it a great feeling.
Jack in megaman grid battle tal nose se repide demasiao y no sabes donde ir a veses