Battle Network Series Ranking
In the year 200X/20XX.
6 Games
Peak Battle Network.
Each entry in the original trilogy builds on the former mechanically to construct an even better game. And that effort hits near perfection in BN3.
The new chips and codes make folder-building the best it's been up to this point. The NaviCust lets the player further customize their play experience and allows for unique setups to differentiate your playstyle from other players'. While the openness of the style change system has been curbed a little bit here (no more holding onto more than one style at a time), BN3 makes up for it by taking advantage of the NaviCust system. Now, with each level-up you get in a specific style, the player is rewarded with a NaviCust part that gives MegaMan that style's specific ability. This means you can mix and match specific styles' abilities as you please (provided you have enough NaviCust memory).
Putting aside the mechanical upgrades in this entry, the vibes of BN3 just rock. Lan and Megaman's growth hits its climax in this one. There's a nationally-televised netbattle tournament (that works much better than the ones in BN4), a race to become the strongest fighter in the undernet, and lots of narrative threads that come together about the Hikaris and the world they live in. Characters from previous games make fun cameos, the characters in the main cast get even more fully fleshed out, and some of the best lore the series has ever seen is found here. My personal favorite? Serenade's operator is never officially revealed, but the game leaves just enough breadcrumbs for you to infer who it is.
Like I said, peak Battle Network. It's a shame later games never brought Tora back for a cameo. Love that dude.
Each entry in the original trilogy builds on the former mechanically to construct an even better game. And that effort hits near perfection in BN3.
The new chips and codes make folder-building the best it's been up to this point. The NaviCust lets the player further customize their play experience and allows for unique setups to differentiate your playstyle from other players'. While the openness of the style change system has been curbed a little bit here (no more holding onto more than one style at a time), BN3 makes up for it by taking advantage of the NaviCust system. Now, with each level-up you get in a specific style, the player is rewarded with a NaviCust part that gives MegaMan that style's specific ability. This means you can mix and match specific styles' abilities as you please (provided you have enough NaviCust memory).
Putting aside the mechanical upgrades in this entry, the vibes of BN3 just rock. Lan and Megaman's growth hits its climax in this one. There's a nationally-televised netbattle tournament (that works much better than the ones in BN4), a race to become the strongest fighter in the undernet, and lots of narrative threads that come together about the Hikaris and the world they live in. Characters from previous games make fun cameos, the characters in the main cast get even more fully fleshed out, and some of the best lore the series has ever seen is found here. My personal favorite? Serenade's operator is never officially revealed, but the game leaves just enough breadcrumbs for you to infer who it is.
Like I said, peak Battle Network. It's a shame later games never brought Tora back for a cameo. Love that dude.
1
Battle Network 2 is great. Everything in this game feels like a refinement of something introduced in BN1. And I don't mean that to say BN2 is derivative (it's a Mega Man game, that's unavoidable). The open folder system makes battles so much more fun. The * code makes folders flow so much more smoothly. And those two mechanics together make the gameplay loop of BN2 so much more engaging than it was in BN1. Get chips -> Build a compatible folder -> Bust viruses and enemy navis with precision and speed -> Get more and better chips. BN2 is where this gameplay loop fully comes into its own.
And Style change? Best transformation this series has ever seen. Linking MegaMan's cool transformation to the player's playstyle makes each run of this game feel personalized and like MegaMan is a program that learns and develops based on Lan's (the player's) input.
The tone of BN2 is also incredible. Lan and his friends are troublemakers and heroes at the same time, like normal kids. The whole Netopia arc feels like a fever dream. And the fact that characters curse in this children's game makes it so funny. 10/10. Would play again (and I have).
And Style change? Best transformation this series has ever seen. Linking MegaMan's cool transformation to the player's playstyle makes each run of this game feel personalized and like MegaMan is a program that learns and develops based on Lan's (the player's) input.
The tone of BN2 is also incredible. Lan and his friends are troublemakers and heroes at the same time, like normal kids. The whole Netopia arc feels like a fever dream. And the fact that characters curse in this children's game makes it so funny. 10/10. Would play again (and I have).
2
I love BN6. It's a fantastic send-off for the Hikari brothers. While I don't think 6 quite reaches the heights of tone and world-building the first trilogy achieved, I do think the game's mechanics are the thing that edges it over BN1 in this list for me, no matter how much I love BN1's world. The cross-system not using battle chips and being selectable at will makes it so much more fun than Double-Soul. Beast-Out and Beast-Over provide a fun risk-reward system in battles. And the return of recurring characters like Mr. Match, HeatMan, and ElecMan is welcome.
My only major complaint about BN6 is the Hikari family's relocation to Central Town and how that further sidelines the cast players had gotten to know over 6 years of games. But that's a problem that the second trilogy has in general, so I can't be too picky.
My only major complaint about BN6 is the Hikari family's relocation to Central Town and how that further sidelines the cast players had gotten to know over 6 years of games. But that's a problem that the second trilogy has in general, so I can't be too picky.
3
I think a lot of people are unfair to BN1. Yes, there isn't a way to run from virus battles without drawing the Escape chip. Yes, drawing chips in battle is tedious compared to later games, and the absence of the * code makes folder-building less interesting. Program advances, while here, haven't yet reached the level of sophistication they would reach in 2 and 3. And the internet is harder to navigate here than in later entries.
But I love everything else about this game, especially the tone and world it establishes. I think BN1 does an incredible job introducing the world and characters we as players would hang out with for 6 years. The opening few minutes establish ACDC Town as this long-existing, lived-in community. The Hikaris have been in that house for years. There's even an old doghouse in the backyard that isn't used anymore. Lan's known his next-door neighbor Mayl forever, and they walk to school together every day, even if Lan pretends he hates it. The player's first conversation with Dex highlights his role as a competitive schoolyard rival and netbattling friend while introducing navi-battling mechanics. And Yai's (sometimes) role as explainer of how the world works provides natural exposition to the player while tying neatly into her nature as a precocious know-it-all. Lan already knows these characters. We, as players, are meeting them for the first time, but we're seeing them through their established dynamics with Lan and each other. That's why I think the second scenario in this game is an all-time great. It's the scenario that brings the 4 human characters together as the group of best friends they'll be for the rest of the series.
The villains, WWW, play as appropriately mercenary and threatening in a way later BN game villains often don't. And Chaud (not Lan's friend in this entry) shines in this game as an Official prodigy who thinks of Lan as little more than an annoyance for a majority of the game.
I also think the music in BN1 outshines the music in most of the other BN games. The title theme, ACDC Town, Running Through the Cyber World, Red or Blue, the WWW comp theme, and Hour of Fate are all bangers.
In short, while I think BN6 edges out BN1 on this list for purely mechanics-based reasons, there's a lot I prefer about BN1.
But I love everything else about this game, especially the tone and world it establishes. I think BN1 does an incredible job introducing the world and characters we as players would hang out with for 6 years. The opening few minutes establish ACDC Town as this long-existing, lived-in community. The Hikaris have been in that house for years. There's even an old doghouse in the backyard that isn't used anymore. Lan's known his next-door neighbor Mayl forever, and they walk to school together every day, even if Lan pretends he hates it. The player's first conversation with Dex highlights his role as a competitive schoolyard rival and netbattling friend while introducing navi-battling mechanics. And Yai's (sometimes) role as explainer of how the world works provides natural exposition to the player while tying neatly into her nature as a precocious know-it-all. Lan already knows these characters. We, as players, are meeting them for the first time, but we're seeing them through their established dynamics with Lan and each other. That's why I think the second scenario in this game is an all-time great. It's the scenario that brings the 4 human characters together as the group of best friends they'll be for the rest of the series.
The villains, WWW, play as appropriately mercenary and threatening in a way later BN game villains often don't. And Chaud (not Lan's friend in this entry) shines in this game as an Official prodigy who thinks of Lan as little more than an annoyance for a majority of the game.
I also think the music in BN1 outshines the music in most of the other BN games. The title theme, ACDC Town, Running Through the Cyber World, Red or Blue, the WWW comp theme, and Hour of Fate are all bangers.
In short, while I think BN6 edges out BN1 on this list for purely mechanics-based reasons, there's a lot I prefer about BN1.
4
I'm sure some would say I'm criminally underrating BN5. But bear with me. I like BN 5. A lot. I just like the four games I've placed above it more.
The return to the standard scenario structure feels like a breath of fresh air following on the heels of 4. The Double-Soul system works better here than I think it does in 4. And the liberation missions are a fresh mix-up to the BN formula. I never particularly enjoyed them, as I always felt they would grind my gameplay progress to a halt. But I acknowledge that's subjective.
In all, good game. Not my favorite, but I find value in returning to it.
The return to the standard scenario structure feels like a breath of fresh air following on the heels of 4. The Double-Soul system works better here than I think it does in 4. And the liberation missions are a fresh mix-up to the BN formula. I never particularly enjoyed them, as I always felt they would grind my gameplay progress to a halt. But I acknowledge that's subjective.
In all, good game. Not my favorite, but I find value in returning to it.
5
Look. It's easy to say 4 is the worst Battle Network game. But something being easy doesn't make it false. I started replaying 4 again recently in my journey through the Legacy Collection, and its problems jump out from the beginning of the game. A lack of accessible chips for folder-building, sparse enemy variety, and an overreliance on fetch quests all make BN4 difficult to play through. And even though I remember getting used to the artstyle shift by the time 5 and 6 rolled around, it is particularly jarring in 4 when that shift accompanies a goofier shift in tone from what feels like the more grounded tone of the first trilogy.
I do enjoy the world and some of the music of BN4, but everything else drags this one down to the bottom of the series for me.
I do enjoy the world and some of the music of BN4, but everything else drags this one down to the bottom of the series for me.
6