Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe’s guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo’s download service. Written by Sam C Gittins

While it's always nice to see Capcom at a time where they were branching out more with their franchises, I can't say that I'm sad to see the end of a certain spin-off RPG series mainly available on the GBA; the titles in question will have their fans but the very thought of there ever being any more of them to review is not a prospect I would wish to be true. But still, yay for completion. Anyway enough from me and on with the game!
 
Available for download this week we have...   

If you don't know what to expect from the Mega Man Battle Network series by this point when it is in its sixth final incarnation then I don't know what to say, there isn't really that much which has really changed, not ultimately but at least Capcom stuck to their Mega Busters with it at the very least. In at least one strange twist, this finale doesn't play out in the familiar setting of ACDC Town as instead it seems like our familiar hero Lan has moved to the drastically different locale called Cyber City; let's just say that shortly after moving to this new place there are some undesirable neighbours who are starting trouble, they are sadly familiar to you so with Lan plus MegaMan.exe you'll be wanting to restore some harmony by beating the gormless goons into submission!

With the familiar formula intact you'll find yourself exploring the real - but virtual to the player - world as you do some investigation into the shadowy happenings, which leaves your "NetNavi" MegaMan.exe to tackle the virtual - a world within a world to us players - areas where you'll be eliminating enemies. Things have been changed up a bit but not all for the best, liberation missions aren't available anymore which is a blow because they helped to break things up a bit, thanks to the inclusion of Link Navis you can play as other characters in the digital realm at certain points; they will be playable for a short amount of time as they will assist MegaMan.exe in various ways, it's nice to have a bit of change sometimes.

It certainly does, doesn't it Mega Man? Afterall, Life's A Game!

It seems the battle system sees the most changes, while the action still takes place on two alternately coloured three-by-three grids, the chips - which control how MegaMan.exe behaves - have been rebalanced plus there is something entirely new called the "Beast Out" which is activated partway through the adventure, when you use it your character will turn into the imaginatively titled Beast MegaMan which gives you new attacks. Of course this form is overpowered so it is only temporary plus if you let the time run down then our hero goes back to normal but will also become weaker than usual so clearly it's a trade-off, especially if you use the ability again in this state as you'll get a "Beast Over" which makes MegaMan invincible and double the strength for a single turn although his actions cannot be controlled, if this then doesn't end the battle by way of victory then you'll get your stats slashed as a penalty; so this feature can really take away more than it adds at times.

Obviously being that this would have been one of the last GBA titles ever released you can expect the visuals to be the best that they have ever been in the series, in this department Capcom have always pulled out the stops so couple this with the new locations, extra animations plus some of those small details scattered through the overworld; you'll know to expect something rather decent which sets a new standard for the series. Of course the music is well produced, though if you've played the other games you'll know what to expect, it all fits in well with the theme at any rate but again we aren't talking real classic original Mega Man NES quality music here, I've always thought it a shame that they didn't just leverage the better music tracks and rework them, even if it is nice to have something more original.

And then we have the shadowy world of Virtual Reality, chilling stuff!

Most people reading this will already know if this game is for them purely by their reaction or indifference towards the previous titles in the series, if you love it as a whole plus you've played the previous titles then it goes without saying that you'll want this. If however you feel that Mega Man was best put to use in his original platforming games, then obviously this title and indeed the series will likely do nothing for you unless you want to play for the humour which in fairness is decent in addition to having many sly references in there. Ultimately though you really can't go wrong with this title either way, it's just up to you to decide how much you want to play an RPG with the Blue Bomber in the starring role.    

That's it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!