Review Normalcy1 5/5 · May 8, 2023
Game #20/200 Mega Man Battle Network, which may be the most nostalgic of the hundreds of games I spent my childhood playing, far exceeded what I anticipated based on the negative feedback I've read leading up to me playing it. I will note right away that I did not play the "Legacy Collection" version, so who knows what new stuff …
Game #20/200 Mega Man Battle Network, which may be the most nostalgic of the hundreds of games I spent my childhood playing, far exceeded what I anticipated based on the negative feedback I've read leading up to me playing it. I will note right away that I did not play the "Legacy Collection" version, so who knows what new stuff I missed out on, but the original held up extremely well for a 22-year old Gameboy Advance game. It's clearly not a perfect game -- in fact it plays a lot like an experimental title that wanted to test the waters as opposed to invent a new a genre right out of the gate, but its brilliance really can't be stifled, even by its rushed pace and lackluster storyline. To start with the negatives, the game moves in "episodes" more or less, which isn't inherently a problem, but the 11-hour game is so choppy that you move from one episode to the next without a ton of exposition and basically no character development at all. I haven't replayed the sequel titles yet, but I can see MMBN1 functioning much more as a prologue to the follow-up games in the series as it's just much too bare bones in terms of narrative. The enemy organization is so casually introduced and you're so suddenly thrown into the narrative in a hero role after essentially stopping your oven from exploding. You're swept along without much engagement between your main character and the other characters. The gorgeous sprite work and fun chiptunes keep you interested in the charming in-game world, and Lan and friends are likeable enough despite their cliche personalities, but you're certainly left wanting more. The story is still somehow fun, maybe because of its ultra simplicity, and delivers a pretty cool yet unimpressive ending.
I won't spend much time on the art or music, but I encourage you to at least look at the game to see if it's for you. It captures the heart of the colorful GBA JRPG aesthetic (Golden Sun, Mario & Luigi, Fire Emblem, etc.) and the character designs are OUTSTANDING. The net navis particularly are very impressive -- among my favorite character designs in any game series. Two issues with gameplay (maybe 3): the first and most problematic is the Internet map. This is a really common complaint. It's very samey and labyrinthine, redundant and exhausting. Due to the high encounter rate and lots of backtracking it isn't too satisfying to traverse (not completely intolerable either though). The second issue is the poorly explained fetch quests that sometimes pop up. You will have to find a really obscure location or NPC based on limited clues, which will have you talking to like every NPC in the (admittedly small) game world. It's just kind of boring. The third thing I was going to mention was the inability to easily run and the high encounter rate, but it's really not as bad as people say. You can throw a few escape chips in your deck and get by OK. Not to mention the fights are really fun. I never got bored of the encounters personally. But one other complaint I have to acknowledge is Elecman's stage. I remember this from my childhood, so I simply used a map online for it now (and it was a lot of fun). Unbalanced puzzle design in the game stems from this level primarily.
The battle system is unprecedented and incredibly fun. You load a deck with chips that match in either name or "code" (essentially an identifying letter) and build a deck that synergizes so that you can use many of your chips in one round and dominate the enemy. You draw a hand of 5 chips randomly, so you want many chips with the same letter. But you also want to include powerful chips, which may use an obscure letter, so you have to decide. This is a neat infusion of the card genre into the JRPG, something we've seen before, but probably not to this great effect. The battles take place in real time and are essentially puzzle-like, strategy/action encounters. They take place on a 3x3 grid and your goal is to defeat enemies before your health is depleted. The boss encounters are abundant and especially fun and creative. It is rare that a battle system is so engaging and enjoyable (Grandia's comes to mind as a competitor, but not as good). Other than the fights, exploring the "real world" is a blast too. I enjoy talking to every NPC and reading their banal dialogue. I'm not sure why. I also love clicking everything in the environment. Sometimes you are rewarded by finding a chip or some money, but usually you just read a short blurb about whatever you looked at. It helps immerse you within the game world, even if the text is only occasionally interesting or funny. It's a joy to tap on objects, talk to NPCs, and stroll through the vibrant environments. There is a special charm in MMBN that makes it so worth playing. The start of the 6-game adventure is a really nice prologue to the action to come and a fun experience that contains the core of what makes the series so excellent despite its flaws.
