Also Known AsRyusei no Rockman 3
Story
The year is 22
blahblah and a meteor is falling toward the Earth. Where have we
heard this one before? A new organization named “Dealer” is making use of the “Noise” ostensibly produced by EM machines for their own nefarious ends. But they’re not the only ones afoot. Some old familiar faces make return appearances as well
...
This game has only two versions this time:
Black Ace and
Red Joker. The names become more relevant as you get further into the story. Once again, Capcom has taken the
previous game as a starting point and then made a lot of name changes, as well as other types of changes:
- You can now pulse in at any time, standing anywhere. Just hit and Geo transforms. You can pulse back out the same way. Don’t worry about people seeing you doing this. Nobody ever notices. Besides, Geo’s identity as Mega Man is an open secret by now.
- The Custom Screen looks a lot more chaotic now, which can also have an impact on which cards you are allowed to choose. (If one card is overlapped by another, you cannot chose it normally, but must either use it by itself or transform it into a “support” card.)
- The Star Carrier is now a “Hunter-VG” (sometimes referred to as just “the Hunter”).
- EM Wave Spaces are now known as “Cyber Cores” (or “CC”).
- EM Navis are called “Wizards.” Most are man-made, but there are still some AM-ians and FM-ians wandering around.
- Mega Weapons are now known as “W.E. Data.”
- When using the Visualizer (or when Wave Changed) you can’t see people anymore, just EM bodies. For people, you can only see their shadows, and you can’t interact with them.
- They put a space in “Mega Man” in this game.
- You can have a lot more in-game Brother Bands now. Don’t be surprised to find yourself forming Brother Bands with people in the game that you just met.
- You can get “Noise Forms” in this game, which are effectively Style Changes from the Battle Network days (with a little bit of Soul Unison mixed in).
- If you see “WARNING” on the screen, the next battle will be against “G” viruses (or occasionally a boss ghost). You can sometimes bypass this battle by, for example, stepping onto a warp panel while the warning is still flashing, but it tends to come back the next time you get attacked. Also, you can’t open your menu or search things while the warning is showing.
- This game has an actual “Default Card” setting which is one card you can select in your Folder to always come up first in battle. This is different than the “Favorite” cards from previous Star Force games, and resembles Battle Network more. You can only make Standard cards your default cards, not Mega or Giga cards.
- And of course, the whole “Noise” mechanic comes into play as you progress further in the plot. I go into details on that below.
Noise
When you have a certain program installed, you’ll see a Noise indicator on your screen during battles. Although it wouldn’t seem like it according to the plot, raising the Noise level has lots of benefits and is generally what you want to strive to do.
To increase Noise, delete a virus with a non-elemental, non-dimming card. The Noise level is increased by the difference between the virus’s HP and the damage done (basically, by how much you overkilled it). During boss battles, any such attack will raise your Noise by half the damage dealt, even if you don’t delete the boss with the blow.
- The easiest way to raise Noise is to peck away at the viruses with your Buster until their HP is low, then delete them with a high-damage non-elemental card. If you ever get your hands on a RdrMissile, this is another good deal.
- When you have Noise over 100% at the end of the battle, you may get a different reward than normal, including Noise Frags and random Battle Cards—some of which don’t even exist in your Library.
- If you win a battle at 200% with an “S” Busting Level, you earn two items instead of just one. At 300%+ with an “S” rank you win three items.
- If you end a battle with 100% or higher Noise, you will begin the next battle at 50% Noise. Otherwise, you start all battles at 0%.
- When you have a Noise Form equipped, it upgrades to a “Vibrant Noise Form” at 50%+ Noise. Therefore, once you have a Noise Form it can be advantageous to strive to start each boss battle at 50% Noise by finishing the battle right before the boss with 100%+ Noise. (Keep running around fighting random viruses as necessary.)
- Being hit with the element of your Noise Form’s weakness instantly drops your Noise level to 0%, consequently downgrading your form as well.
- If your Noise is over 50%, it gradually decreases during battle. At or under 50% and it stays static.
- At Noise of 100%+, you can sometimes damage enemies that are flashing after being hit and are normally immune (mostly applicable to bosses).
- Winning battles with high Noise is one of the best ways to earn lots of nifty high-level Battle Cards early on.
Miscellaneous Notes
- If you search an object and see that your “Hunter-VG is reacting” then you’ve discovered a Noise Wave entrance. Transform into Mega Man and press to enter the Noise Wave. To leave, you have to find the exit; you can’t just pulse out (except as dictated by the plot).
- If you pulse in while standing on a Wave Station pad, you skip the whole yelling thing and just end up on the Wave Road.
- When you go to pulse out, Omega tells you where you’ll end up, so that you can verify first if it’ll be where you intended.
- You can use the Big Wave to buy from any other merchant in the game, but there’s an additional 20% surcharge added. This is a good way to refresh your memory on what other shops still have in stock, though, without having to run to them all on foot.
- To earn rewards for saving Mr. Hertzes in battle, head to the Mr. Hertz Square CC in WAZA. The giant Mr. Hertz there which acts like a shop. The game keeps count of the number of Mr. Hertzes you have saved. You can “spend” these points to buy Abilities.
- Play Control:
- Nothing much has changed here from the previous games.
- Graphics:
- Not a lot has changed here either. They do some nifty Noise effects on both screens.
- Animation:
- The same sprites are back, along with new additions for a number of different animations. The sprite of Geo hugging Omega is particularly cute.
- Music:
- I like the stereo effects, and of course the main Star Force theme song comes back in a couple of different forms.
- Sound Effects:
- As with the previous games, it’s not just the music—even the sound effects are in stereo, which gives them a nice fullness to them.
- Plot:
- The plot isn’t bad, but some parts are incongruous, and a few are downright irritating. Some characters behave out of character, other characters seem to have been added to the plot haphazardly, and in particular, there is no plot acknowledgement of your Finalize form. You can wipe out Joker with his own Finalize and no one in the game even notices. This just seems a little bizarre to me. Maybe I’m simply getting too old, but overall, the plot here seemed to be a little less cohesive than the first two games.
- Difficulty: (normal)
- I didn’t have any particular troubles with this one, although Wizard “ghosts” have a bad habit of popping up on you unexpectedly, and some of them you cannot run from. Kind of a nasty surprise to be suddenly facing off against a boss when all you were doing was running through the Wave Road for something or another. Although you shouldn’t have too much difficulty, saving frequently is recommended.
- Replay Value:
- You don’t generally replay Star Force games. Usually, you get a Title Menu Star and then drive yourself crazy beating your head against the bonus areas. But at least you have two save files, if you ever do want to play through again (though there’s less direct benefit here to doing so than the previous game).
- Polish:
- Considering the original Japanese version of this game was called “Shooting Star Rockman” I’m amused by all the “shooting star” references that are kind of lost in the English version. They do pull together lots of references to the previous games, though who knows, considering how it ends, this might be the last one...
- Overall: 82%
- This is really hard to rate. I enjoyed some parts of the game, and found myself a little aggravated by other parts. I must have fought 200 battles in Meteor Server2, for example, before finally finding my way around the place. And the cluttered Custom Screen, while interesting, can get a little annoying when 4 out of the 6 cards are covered up and unusable. But the Noise mechanic adds an interesting element, not to mention all the cool and unexpected Battle Cards you can earn by utilizing it.
- + Plus:
- It is now possible to cancel quests, so you can’t get yourself stuck even though you can still only have one quest active at a time.
- - Minus:
- I like the Noise Forms, but I wish it was possible to store one while experimenting with another as could be done in Battle Network 2. (And no, having to trek to a Noism to do it does not count, for a number of logistical reasons. Though it is nice they at least provided something of an “undo” button.)
I’m writing this based on the
Black Ace version of the game. Therefore, if something that I write here doesn’t match what you’re experiencing and you’re playing
Red Joker, that’s probably the reason. I will try to play through
Red Joker when I can and consolidate the differences, but for now, this is what I have.
This walkthrough covers only the main plot of the game. For information on the Title Menu Star area, side quests, and other hidden goodies, see the secrets section.
(I know that technically Omega’s nickname is “Mega.” At this point I’m too used to calling him Omega to change now.)
Introductions
- You start off in school, where Geo gets his upgraded Hunter-VG. You’re introduced to a few new features here, such as the pop-up system. Also, it becomes evident that Omega is visible to humans now, and in fact so are all EM “Wizards.”
- Go to the elevator and then to the roof for the next bit of explanations.
- Luna calls. She wants Geo to go to the snack shop on the first floor. Head back to the elevator.
- Some students come out and the sprinkler system on the roof goes haywire because of some viruses. You know what this means.
- When Geo tries to pulse in the first time, nothing happens. (Geo: “I-It didn’t work. I even yelled and everything. Man, this is embarrassing!” Omega: “That’s really strange. Yelling makes everything work.”)
- At this point Geo’s wave form is registered with the Satella Police. This is actually very very bad as we will see later. Oh well, there’s not much we can do about it, so press and then step onto the panel in front of the Wave Station to get up onto the Wave Road.
- (Personally, I think Mega Man should have ended up with Transcode 001, because that’s his serial number in the original series. Well, anyway.)
- There’s a battle tutorial inside the CC.
- When that’s done, hit again to turn back into Geo and talk to Woodrow.
- Head down the elevator, past the cut scene, and go talk to Luna to get your first Team and Purpose. You also reform your Brother Bands at this point. You get Luna, Bud, and Zack. They are worth 60 Link Power each.
- Up on the roof, talk to the two kids by the Wave Matter tree.
- Go to the second floor and around the end of the hall to the teacher standing there. He notes there’s something wrong with the moth specimen display in the science room.
- Head into the room that’s right next to him and talk to the kids. You can learn from the Hertz nearby that in order to get to the Wave Road, you have to travel there from the first floor. (Alternately you can go down from the roof.)
- Go to the first floor, pulse in near Luna, and then use the Wave Station to get to the Wave Road. If you follow the ramp that goes upward on the right side, you will find the warp point that leads to the second floor. You end up right in the Science Club Room, conveniently.
- Enter the Moth Display CC and talk to the sleeping Mr. Hertz to fix the display, then pulse out and talk to the teacher again.
- Return to the roof and talk to the two boys again.
- After this, you get a mail from Bud saying he found a kid at the school cafeteria who needs help. Head down the elevator and talk to the lone girl there.
- Exit the school and go to the park in Echo Ridge. Talk to the girl there and Omega will suggest there’s a problem on the Wave Road that’s preventing emails from being delivered.
- Go to Geo’s house and find the Wave Station where the wave hole used to be. Pulse in and go up to the Wave Road.
- When you get near the doghouse on the Wave Road, you should get a cut scene showing a Mr. Hertz being attacked by viruses. You have to fight them off, of course.
- Pulse out and go talk to the girl in the school (not in the park, the other one).
- After this, Zack calls to tell them that there’s a situation in the Sci. Club Room. Then he emails the same information for good measure.
- Inside the Science Club Room is a cut scene. Woody explains that they need a “Giga Energy Card,” which isn’t available for sale to civilians.
- With perfect timing, Mr. Shepar emails Geo to say that there’s a “guest” waiting for Geo at the front entrance.
- Go down to the school lobby to formally meet A.C. Eos. He sort of vaguely reveals that he knows that Geo is Mega Man, which really shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering Geo and Omega just broadcasted their identities when they tried to Wave Change that first time...
- Ace offers to give them a Giga Energy Card if Geo will come to Spica Mall tomorrow and enter the Wave Battle Tournament taking place there.
- Return to Geo’s home and talk to his mom and search everything.
- Sleep in Geo’s bed when ready.
Tests and Tournaments
- You need to go to the Echo Ridge Wicket. It’s not hard to find. It’s near Bud’s house. Step on the arrow tile and you’ll get a cut scene. Bud manages to be late despite the fact that the train station is all of 3 steps from his house.
- They take the train and end up at the mall, which is quite snazzy and has a Sonic the Hedgehog-type mascot on a poster. The mall was constructed with funds from the “King Foundation” headed by Mr. King. Geo’s three friends walk off toward the tournament area and the creepy brother dude from before walks by. You can talk to him now if you want. His name is Jack.
- Walk down the hallway for a cut scene. The security system goes off and traps the four friends in a portion of the hallway.
- Pulse in at the Wave Station and then not far from there is the security system CC. Warp across the blue panels and find the large Mr. Hertz. He explains he detected high-level Noise, and goes on to explain that Noise is a disturbance in the Force—I mean, EM. Omega interrupts him impatiently before he can fully explain, though.
- As soon as you leave the CC, you see that the shutters are open. (Omega actually manages to pop out of Geo and talk to him in person while Geo is still morphed into Mega Man! How does this work?)
- Pulse out and talk to Luna and the others if you want, then walk past them down the hall, around the corner, and onto the little outcropping to go to the next screen. (The graphics here could have been more obvious.)
- Surprisingly, you arrive to discover that the tournament is already over. But now the special event is a battle between the tournament’s winners—Ace and Acid—and the planet’s hero—Mega Man!
- Again surprisingly, before the battle can start, the security system goes off again. The loudspeaker announces that there’s a Wizard in Spica Mall that has gone out of control.
- You end up back in the first area of Spica Mall, still morphed. You probably already noticed the Wizard that was going to go berserk. Head toward where it was standing to trigger the encounter. First Boss Battle! Ride On!! *ahem*
- Mini-Boss: NoiseWzrdB1
- Ace arrives, pulls out Acid, and finishes off the Wizard. The defeated Wizard drops a playing card. Curious. We didn’t see a picture of someone holding a playing card in the manual, right?
- Ace gives you your Giga Energy Card and leaves. Go back the way you went before to return to Luna and the others. Talk to them to advance the plot.
- Travel back to Echo Ridge and go to the school and talk to Woody. You get a Brother Band here with Woody, and your Link Power increases by 40.
- They decide to launch the rocket from the roof of the school tomorrow. For now, head for home.
Rocketing Off
- Go to the roof of the school for the rocket launch. It should come as no surprise when things go wrong.
- Go pulse in. Use the Wave Station to travel on the Wave Road to the rocket. When you enter the rocket’s CC, Luna calls and tells you Woody is sending his Wizard to help.
- Move forward to the first magnetic force for a cut scene explaining the gimmick of this area. Touch the Coil panel to change your aura. This controls which direction you move when you step on the white dot paths. You can tell from the direction that the dots are moving which way you will move when you touch it. Note that you can move sideways off a path before it pulls you the entire way.
- The second area adds a new twist: Some of the magnet blocks rotate.
- Boss: Spade Magnes
- After the fight, Magnes turns back to normal and the card flutters to the floor. Geo reports feeling strange but he brushes it off. Geo leaves the card sitting there and pulses out.
- Outside, the rocket launches this time and no spectators are there to watch. They all ran away.
- Meanwhile, King instructs Tia and Jack to target Mega Man, and he sends them data on Geo. See, told you it was a bad idea to register his identity!
Making Friends
- Geo turns on the TV to watch a special on Wizards and Noise, complete with a cameo appearance of Legendary Master Shin.
- As you head out the door for school, Woody calls and says he’s gotten in touch with Magnes. Geo gets an Ability out of this: HP+50/120.
- Go to the school gate to find that it’s locked. The teacher that is in charge of the gate lives in the same apartment building that Luna is in. You have to remember the room number you want. Even Omega won’t remember it for you.
- Go to the apartment building and enter 202 on the keypad and Geo will ring the apartment. The teacher will give you a key. Run back to the gate, stand in front of it until it says “ACCESS DENIED” and then tap the pop-up.
- Inside, you know the way to Geo’s classroom, right? Talk to the kids to learn about the new student and the new student teacher.
- After class, Luna gets to drive someone else crazy for a change. She pesters Jack to just this side of sanity, though in all fairness, Jack is a jerk in return—which really isn’t the greatest of moves; he really should have acted all lost and despondent and then he could have gotten on Geo’s sappy side. Of course, somehow this happens anyway, despite Jack’s rudeness.
- Anyway, Geo wants to find Jack. You can talk to a girl on the second floor for a clue. Head down to the first floor.
- Talk to Shepar to learn that Jack went outside. Follow him to the park for a cut scene, and a battle.
- Mini-Boss: NoiseWzrdR1
- Sonia arrives at this point, and a kid sees her and triggers a mob of fans. Of course, if this was a normal game, she could just Wave Change and turn invisible. That won’t work now...although ironically, Geo has a similar idea. He takes her to the Wave Station and they go up onto the Wave Road.
- Geo suggests taking the Wave Road to the roof of the school. You can get there from here. Follow Sonia into the school, then go up to the Science Club Room. From there, head up the ramps to the upper left to the roof. Use the Wave Station up there to return to the ground, then revert back to Geo and walk forward for a cut scene.
- Note: The Big Wave opens after this cut scene. You might want to stop in before going to bed.
- Sleep in Geo’s bed when ready.
On Camera
- Go to the train station. Luna arrives and shows them her new Wizard.
- The kids arrive at the TV studios and Jack shows up and joins them.
- The studio doors require a key, and Sonia neglected to provide them one. Geo gets an idea to look for her using the Wave Road.
- Work your way inside the studio on the Wave Road and to the left you’ll find Sonia’s dressing room. Okay, so a boy is about to pop out of nowhere into a girl’s dressing room...
- Use the convenient Wave Station to return to the ground level. When you pulse out, you’ll see Sonia is there. Talk to her to get the Studio Pass.
- Return along the Wave Road to the Wave Station outside the studio. (Don’t pulse out; you’ll end up next to Sonia again.) Talk to the doorkeeper and then try to enter the door. “ACCESS DENIED” is displayed, but you can tap the Studio Key now to get access.
- After the cut scene, you gain control of Geo and are allowed to wander around. If you pulse in at the Wave Station in Sonia’s room, you can now go past where the Mr. Hertz was blocking the path before.
- Walk into the center of the Event Stage area for another cut scene.
- Head back to the tree road at the entrance to the studios. Talk to the director Wizard and learn that the lighting Wizard is missing. You need to hunt him down.
- Talk to the makeup Wizard in Sonia’s dressing room. She directs you to the Regulator. That’s near the editing studios, on the Wave Road. Pulse in at the Wave Station in the dressing room. It’s not very far from there.
- Go straight up-left to find the Wizard.
- When you’re done, pulse out and then go to the room a little ways down the main hallway and to the right, where the rest of Geo’s friends are waiting.
- Go outside the building for the filming cut scene. Jack is bored so he throws a Noise Card at Bud, causing him to transform. On camera.
- (If you try to approach Taurus Fire as Geo, he’ll transform automatically. Also on camera.)
- Boss: Taurus Fire
- (Taurus is a lot nicer—not to mention more civilized—in this game than in those past. I guess getting deleted and then turned into a memory and then absorbed into a human host or whatever the heck happened to him does that to you.)
- Afterward, Sonia goes to change for her concert, and you gain control again. If you enter the studio, you see a cut scene where Ice is throwing a temper tantrum. Naturally, Jack is there to provide her with more incentive.
- Head to the Event Stage area for the next cut scene.
- Lee asks Geo to go into the studio and look for anything strange. Inside the studio, he sends a message asking you to check the props room. That’s the one that Bud is in. The cabinet is having troubles.
- Pulse in at Sonia’s Wave Station and head over to the Prop Cabinet CC. Taurus arrives to help out.
- Pulse out and Lee sends mail asking you to come to the stage projector. At the Event Stage, you see the projector is covered in ice. Stand facing the projector and tap on Taurus.
- When you leave that screen you should get another mail from Lee, saying there’s been a bomb threat. Go talk to the security dog at the front door. He directs you to the stunt car. You can reach that with the Wave Station terminal down in the lower left.
- You’ll find the frozen Wizard to the lower right of the area. Tap Taurus again to take care of the matter.
- Having learned that the bomb was a hoax, pulse out. This time Lee’s message directs you to Sonia’s dressing room. Touch Taurus to get through the door into the dressing room.
- Return to the Event Stage. You become Brothers with Lee at this point. Gain 50 Link Power.
- When you get control, walk forward for another cut scene.
- Geo asks for the access key to the stage’s Cyber Core. Then he jumps off the stage and EM Wave Changes in midair...
- Step onto the “ACCESS” panel right in front of you and use the Stage Pass to get inside.
- Move forward and Omega will explain about the ice panels. You don’t slide on ice, but your temperature drops as long as you are on it. If you get frozen, you have to press the A button for 10 seconds in order to recover your full temperature bar.
- (Be careful of getting attacked while on ice. When you return from the battle, your health will be dropping while you reorient yourself. Also, it’s a good idea to move in straight lines and try to find a resting point from time to time even if it’s not your ultimate destination.)
- In CC2, the darker blue ice tiles drop your temperature even faster.
- In CC3, you frequently have a choice of paths, with light and dark ice, and you can minimize your temperature loss by choosing carefully.
- The boss is to the upper left of CC3. It’s a long path and you’ll probably get frozen, but Taurus will pop up and help you out.
- Boss: Diamond Ice
- After all the post-battle cut scenes, step onto the elevator to return to the concert. Sonia’s final song is called “Shooting Star.” The title screen music plays here. There are lyrics and everything.
- You gain a Brother Band with Sonia here. Link Power goes up by 60.
All To Pieces
- Three days later, Shepar takes the class on a field trip to Alohaha. It’s the southernmost island in Electopia.
- Meanwhile, Ace had asked Geo to stay behind so that he could talk to him about the incident at the studios. You gain your Noise program here. It’s an Ability that enables the Noise level indicator during battle. For the time being you can’t take it off, but it uses 0p so at least it comes “free.” You also gain the SP Key1 here.
- Since taking the Wave Liner would be too slow or something, you need to take the Astro Wave to Alohaha. Use the Wave Station at Echo Ridge, head up the ramp, and use the SP Key1.
- Travel from Natl Astro Wave1 to Wave2 near the locked door to WAZA. The space Hertzes will guide you to your destination, although this place is pretty straightforward: the blue boost panels lead forward, and the yellow branching paths lead to treasure.
- Reach the panel that leads to the Wave Station on the ground, and Geo will pulse out automatically and a cut scene starts.
- (Note you can walk around behind the castle by going around the left side.)
- Talk to the Wizard near the environmental control station inside the castle to advance the plot.
- Talk to Bud after talking to the Wizard in the weather station.
- Pulse into the Food Stand CC. Talk to the Mr. Hertz in the back.
- Talk to Bud again; you’ll receive mail saying the beach is now open. Since you have nothing better to do, why don’t you head over to check it out?
- Shortly into the beach area is a cut scene.
- Talk to Sonia for the next cut scene. You need to fix the Real Wave stone wall. The Wave Station is over on the left, in the shallow water.
- Immediately inside the Stone wall CC you encounter Strong. He lets you fight the next set of viruses. This is a three-round running battle.
- Talk to everyone to continue. Jack is actually helping Geo teach Zack to swim. Go figure.
- After that, the kids discover some of their items are missing. Go see Strong about it.
- Find the first bandit in the main Alohaha area near the lower right. He’s the purple guy just standing there. Fight him and some viruses.
- Mini-Boss: MalWizard
- The next bandit is on the Beach Wave Road in the large empty square space. You must do this one after getting Zack’s pants. (Note: You may want to save before this battle.)
- Mini-Boss: MalWizard
- After the fight, Geo tries to take the things back and they blow away in the wind. He jumps after them, but can only grab one in time. You actually get to choose which item to grab here. This determines what cut scene you get during the barbecue sequence. If you want to see all three scenes, load your save from before the mini-boss fight.
- Back with Geo. He managed to get out of the water somehow, and now he’s on the pier. You have control but there’s not much you can do but walk off the pier and trigger the next cut scene.
- The scene after that is a bonfire on the beach. Bud mysteriously has his shirt again, even if you didn’t snatch it. If you chose Sonia’s bag, Luna is in a temper and is pigging out at the barbeque. If you chose Luna’s handkerchief, then it’s Sonia who is overeating. If you picked Bud’s shirt, then both of the girls are chowing down.
- Meanwhile, whoever you chose is standing with Geo on the pier. They have a talk where the person thanks Geo and they reminisce about the past.
- The next day, go inside the castle and head up to where the others are. Club Strong shows himself in front of them and announces that he’s the new king of Alohaha. His first act as king is to cause earthquakes that will sink his entire kingdom into the ocean. Brilliant, dude.
- (Lan could have just walked up to the computer and jacked in. Geo has to run all the way outside, down the boardwalk, to a Wave Station, then run all the way back on the Wave Road.)
- Inside the Environ Sys CC, take wide blue path to continue forward. Take little green paths for items.
- When you hit the brown/tan path, you learn of this CC’s mini-game. The Wave Road starts falling apart behind Geo. Run, and you have to press with the right timing to jump over cracks. As long as you keep moving and don’t hit any cracks, you’ll make it to the end okay. If you fall, you’ll end up in an “Abyss” area and have to walk your way back out. An easier thing might be to just save before every brown road run and reset if you fall.
- In CC2, beware dead-end routes on the brown paths. Generally speaking, you want to take the paths that have cracks on them.
- On the brown path in CC3, head around to the right on the outside. The inner paths are dead ends.
- Boss: Club Strong
- After the fight, Strong effectively reveals the identity of his two attackers. Joker appears and blows Strong to bits.
- Pulse out if you don’t want to be interrupted by viruses and run to the beach to catch Tia in the act of sucking up the Crimson. Geo confronts them, so Tia and Jack Wave Change. (They don’t get interrupted by the Satella Police!)
- Boss: Jack Corvus (This is a plot battle. I’m not sure if you can lose, but you don’t have to win. After you wear him down a little, the screen will fade out.)
- Then, in a display of total stupidity, Luna runs up. (Um, girl, hide and watch from a distance. Don’t just march straight up to Mega Man while he’s fighting bad guys!) Somehow Luna recognizes Jack and Tia despite their Wave Change forms...yet she couldn’t recognize Geo in Mega Man form back when they first met. Right.
- Somewhat predictably, Joker blasts Luna with a laser and she poofs with the same classic death spiral that Strong used.
Treasure Hunt
- Rather surprisingly, Geo is actually with his friends. He didn’t run away to hide in a hole somewhere. Geo says he wants to ask Ace about Luna, but he doesn’t know how to get a hold of him. Omega suggests talk to someone else who would know. Geo suggests asking Mr. Boreal.
- Go ask Geo’s mom and she’ll suggest that Boreal is in Alohaha.
- You can get to Alohaha via the train now. There’s a cut scene when you arrive, after which you are free to head to the castle.
- During the ensuing cut scenes, you receive WAZAPasscode. It’s off to Natl WAZA HQ!
- Walk up to the gate and use the code written on your passcode item to get in (3745, unless they randomize this).
- Ace comes at this point and explains that there’s a fingerprint confirmation system on the door. Just press your finger in the space indicated and hold it there until the scan is complete (the progress meter fills).
- You get to walk around and look at things, though Ace tells you that you’ll receive a pop-up when you are allowed to go into the Satella Police HQ.
- Optional Boss: Cygnus Wing
- Go to the elevator on the right and the only option is 57F. Talk to all the scientists in the next room and an unnamed one will give you the WAZAFldr.
- After you talk to all the scientists in that room, you’ll receive a mail from Ace. He invites you to the Satella Police Department.
- (Note: Most of the Wizards you see when talking to people here—that is, you see their panel on the lower screen and tap it—give you game play hints.)
- Walk down the stairs into the police HQ for the next cut scene. Goodall is introduced, and they get started on the task of restoring Luna.
- When you have control again, talk to Ace. He asks you to give him a hand while you’re waiting. They’re having a little trouble in the WAZA Command Center.
- Go up to the Command Center and talk to the guy in the upper right-hand corner. He sends you to the information board.
- If you haven’t already gotten it, first you need the WAZA Key. Pulse in at the Wave Station in the Command Center (or the one down on the first floor and take the warp point up) and open a blue Mystery Wave up there to get the key.
- Enter the Info Board CC. This place is a maze. Find the virus in the far upper right-hand corner of the area. Fight a couple of “G” viruses and a normal virus.
- After the fight, you get mail from Ace sending you back to Goodall. As soon as you walk through the security gate you get the cut scene.
- Down below, Goodall has reconstructed Luna’s Wizard Vogue. You learn that Luna has become an EM being (a plot point that is totally dropped later) and is scattered all over Alohaha. As you might expect, you have to hunt down the pieces. Acid is instructed to join you.
- You get Luna Display here. It looks like a blank black rectangle right now. You can touch the pop-up to reference it.
- Goodall offers to become Brothers with Geo at this point. Gain 40 Link Power.
- You get control of Geo finally. When you are ready, head outside to where you came in and talk to the guy in front of the door.
- In Alohaha, tap Acid to do a “Luna Frag Search.” Use this to narrow down where to search. If you get close enough (within about half a screen), you should see a sphere show up on the screen of the exact location. You must do the ping and see this sphere before you are allowed to pick up the frag. (Otherwise whatever you search or whomever you talk to will not respond accordingly.) You will need to find the following pieces:
- Luna FragA: Search the mango juice stand (main Alohaha area).
- Luna FragB: On the Alohaha Wave Road, near the exit to the beach, search the glowing spot.
- Luna FragC: Beach area, in the shallow water a little down-right from the Wave Station.
- Luna FragD: Talk to the Wizard at the end of the beach pier.
- Luna FragE: Talk to the Mr. Hertz in Enviro Sys CC1. (Fight viruses.)
- Luna FragF: Talk to one of the Heel Wizards in IslandDisplay CC. (Fight battle: MalWizard2)
- When you get all of the pieces, you’ll immediately get a cut scene. A cute grayscale Omega appears before Geo’s friends. Then the screen scrolls to reveal a small army of Copy-Omegas...
- During one of the cut scenes, Acid gives you SP Key2. This lets you get to WAZA via the Astro Wave. Because taking the Wave Liner would be too easy.
- Go pulse in at the Wave Station in Alohaha and head for the Astro Wave. You should know where it is. You’ll get a cut scene when you enter, but despite the plot suggesting that you should leave, forge onward.
- Travel from Astro Wave2 to Astro Wave1. Geo collapses again. (See, taking the train would have been smarter.) This time a voice comes to taunt him. It’s Hyde, of all people. Of Dark Phantom fame. Yeah, that guy. You have to fight some “G” viruses here.
- After the battle, you access the Meteor Server and gain your first Noise Form. Also, from this point on you can remove the Ability that Ace gave you to effectively disable your Noise Form, if you choose.
- Anyway, step forward and use the key on the gate in front of you.
- When you get to the warp point from the Astro Wave down to WAZA, you get a cut scene where Ace and the officers are still fighting Copy-Omegas. You know, while he’s busy writing you emails about your Noise Change.
- More fake Omegas appear, so Acid assigns Mega Man to protect the Real Wave shield while he and Ace go inside to protect the inside. This is a mini-game. Omega floats around behind Geo, and you press to make him slash. A single swipe from Omega is enough to destroy a Copy-Omega (or even several of them if you hit a group of them), but if one of them touches you, a battle opens and you have to duke it out normally.
- Protect the shield as your first priority; help your Wizard allies as a second.
- Once you get enough of them (it doesn’t have to be all of them) you get a cut scene and move on to the next stage of the battle. You end up inside. Head up the stairs and left.
- (Note: Before each mini-game, if you say you’re not ready, you can adjust your Folder, but you can’t save.)
- This is another mini-game just like before, only in a smaller area. Halfway through, you’ll be asked to protect the computer at the top of the stairs. Except she lies. She says the enemies switched targets, but they didn’t. They’ll attack both computers, at the same time. You’ll have to keep running up and down the stairs to get them. Watch the red energy meter to see if the other computer, the one that you can’t see on your screen, is being hit.
- Next, the elevator to the WAZA HQ is being attacked. You can save at this point.
- Run over there and Omega will help. Another wave appears, so it’s mini-game time again. With such a small target to defend this time, it’s actually a lot easier, though some of the Copy-Omegas come in fast. Just stand in front of the door slashing in all directions. It might be easier to ignore your Wizard ally and let him die than to leave your post at the door to help him. He’s sometimes regenerated by the officers if he goes down.
- Defeat enough of them for the next cut scene. There’s a sound of an explosion. Ace says the outer wall has been destroyed. He sends you to the WAZA Command Center. That’s through the elevator. Geo goes up there automatically and you end up on floor 57. Save the game.
- Mini-game take number...uh, I’ve lost count. Go!
- For this one, it’s easiest to ignore the furthest Wizards and to stay by the computer. You can help the Wizard closest to you without going too far out of your way but prioritize the Copy-Omegas that are moving.
- With that, the Noise Canceller is ready, and it destroys all of the remaining copies. Queen Tia is there, so Ace faces off with her and reveals that he’s Transcode 001, Acid Ace. (Question: If WAZA or the Satella Police can control who Wave Changes and who doesn’t, and if they can detect anyone trying to Wave Change, why do they permit or issue Transcodes to the likes of Tia and Jack?)
- Meanwhile, Dark Phantom is back and causing trouble at the main computer. Ace tells Geo to go handle it, that he’ll take care of Tia himself.
- Inside, run up to the main computer room. It’s up the elevator and to the left, through the gate that was supposed to be locked. Go up the stairs to face off with Dark Phantom. He wants Geo and Omega’s Noise control program, so he’s taken Geo’s friends hostage. (Seriously, it’s six against one if you count Omega separately, five if you don’t count the granny, and we could totally jump him without him having a chance to hurt the hostages, but anyway...)
- Phantom escapes into the CC of the computer behind him. Naturally, he can just blip himself straight in, but we have to run all the way back to the Wave Station and then run all the way back here.
- Enter the Main Computer CC. Head up and to the right a little, looking for the path that leads you to the upper left portion of the map. You’re going the right way when you find the second Mr. Hertz.
- Boss: Dark Phantom
- After the fight, Phantom backs up...right off the edge of the Wave Road, and falls off the bottom of the screen.
- Pulse out and head downstairs and out the front. Queen and Ace are still at it. Yes, we managed to walk all the way through the Wave World to the Dark Phantom and finish him off...and Queen and Ace are still fighting.
- Ace collapses; apparently he can only stay Wave Changed for a limited amount of time. I guess it’s just not the same morphing with a manmade being instead of an FM-ian or AM-ian. This, naturally, means Geo has to finish Ace’s battle for him.
- Boss: Queen Virgo
- You gain control of Geo after some discussion. Head inside and go to the main computer room, where they resume work on restoring Luna.
- Goodall turns to look at the “top secret something” and electricity flashes and Luna walks out. The others run to surround her. And your Purpose is fulfilled, heh. (No word on whether Luna is still human or if she got turned into an EM being by all of this.)
- When the screen fades out and back in, Geo is standing next to Ace. Talk to him, and Geo asks if he can fight by Ace’s side. Ace says “OK” before Geo is even done giving his arguments.
Teaming Up
- A few days later, we learn that WAZA is in a state of ruin, despite the fact that we saved them. Zack gets to do a bit of a Phoenix Wright impression with the finger-pointing.
- Luna wants your help again, so go hunt down the teachers in the school. One’s in the science room. The principal is in the cafeteria. Return to the second floor and Mr. Shepar should now be standing outside Geo’s classroom. He asks Geo to check on the gardener up on the roof.
- Go to the roof. The gardener is Damian Wolfe. Of Wolf Woods fame. Yeah, that guy.
- Pulse in at the Wave Station and go to the Sprinkler CC. There’s a flickering red thing there. Fight a battle against viruses.
- After the flashback, return to Wolfe and tell him the result.
- Return to Luna and tell her how things went. During the conversation with Luna, a message from Ace arrives. He asks Geo to come to the Main Computer Cyber Core.
- Since the Wave Liner doesn’t go to WAZA, pulse in at the Wave Station and head for the Astro Wave. Go up and then to the right before the exit to Astro Wave2.
- At WAZA, go up the elevator, enter the Wave Station, head to the Main Computer CC, and then head to the computer core inside the CC. A familiar form will come up behind Geo and suddenly attack him without warning.
- Boss: Acid Ace
- You get a Team here, and naturally this means you need to get a Brother Band with Ace. Ace is so cool that you get 100 Link Power from him. (I liked “Crush Dealer” personally... It’s not as awkward wording as “Foil Dealer Plan.”)
- An alarm goes off: viruses are appearing in Echo Ridge.
- (You get a message from Ace at this point with a tutorial on Multi-Noise Forms.)
- You can’t take the Wave Liner, so get back on the Wave Road to the Astro Wave. You encounter more of those flickering red Noise clusters along the way. Fight viruses each time. One of them is a Wizard.
- Mini-Boss: NoiseWzrdB2
- Once in Echo Ridge, go to the park. (Don’t bother pulsing out. If you do, Geo will just pulse back in again.) Fight a running battle of viruses.
- While Geo’s friends are talking, they receive a phone call from HQ saying more viruses have been spotted at the TV station. Because the Noise has knocked out the Wave Liners, you need to take the Astro Wave to Alohaha then take the Wave Liner to the studios.
- Just into the Astro Wave, a giant “X” Noise door will block Geo off from Bud and Sonia. Then Luna calls and says the viruses are back in Echo Ridge. You can just pulse out at this point if you want and end up instantly back in Echo Ridge.
- There’s a cut scene where Luna points out a Noise Wave hole in the corner near her pool. Geo contacts Ace to find out what the rift is, which I find a little odd, because if you’re like me, you’ve probably been discovering and entering such rifts for a while now.
- Pulse into the Noise. You end up in Noise Wave1. There’s actually a merchant in here. The music is slightly different here; it starts out the same, but then at the spot where normally it stops for a good 15 seconds or so, here, it plays other stuff. It is possible to fight NoiseWzrds here in normal virus encounters.
- When you exit the Noise Wave at WBG Studios, you find Sonia and Bud fighting viruses. Geo suggests looking near where the viruses are appearing.
- (Note: Most of the time when you are able to talk to Bud, you are given the option of dueling Taurus Fire. I don’t list all of these occasions.)
- Search the tennis court in the upper left center, right next to the viruses, to open a Noise Wave. Inside, find the Noise Cluster and finish it off.
- Go to where Sonia is, walk out on the little pier over the pond, and search the end to open another Noise Wave. Once again, find and destroy the Noise Cluster.
- When you get them both, you receive a message from Harp Note that the viruses have died down but now there’s a Noise Wave at the Event Stage.
- Head to the Event Stage area and over to the upper right where Bud and Sonia are. They are facing the trees. Go over and search the trees and you’ll open the Noise Wave.
- When you head toward the blue Mystery Wave in this area, you’ll trigger a cut scene. When the cut scene ends, the blue Mystery Wave is right where Rogue was standing.
- Find the exit when that’s done and talk to Sonia and Bud. Now you need to return to Ace. (You’re free to use the Wave Liner and you can do quests and stuff now if you want.)
- When you’re ready, go to the Satella Police area of the HQ and you’ll trigger a cut scene at the bottom of the stairs.
- After that, go outside for another scene with Solo. (I still say Solo shouldn’t have a Wizard. It just doesn’t suit him.)
- After Solo walks off, you get control again. You immediately receive an email saying you can get an ID to allow you to use the WAZA Wave Liner. This is optional as far as I know, but a good idea.
- If you want to do it, go back inside and up the elevator and talk to the woman by the end of the row of computer banks, Sugar Suet. Do her quest to get the ID.
- Go to Geo’s house and talk to his mom.
- Sleep in Geo’s bed when ready.
Enemies and Allies
- The next day, head to school for the election and talk to Luna. She asks you to get Bud and Zack from the classroom and head to the roof.
- Go to the classroom to find Bud, Zack, and—surprisingly—Sonia. They have their backs to the door, because they’re all staring at Solo standing across the room. For a guy who keeps urging Geo to stay out of his way, he sure keeps showing up around where Geo is...
- The screen fades to show the roof, where Jack decides to cause a ruckus that’ll draw Geo to him. Damian steps in to fight Jack and buy some time until Mega Man arrives.
- Back with Geo and his friends (and not-so-friends). They’ve apparently managed to get themselves locked into the classroom. Solo summons Laplace and proceeds to take out the entire teacher’s desk. He drops through the hole, and the others (except Zack) transform and follow. They end up in the faculty room. Solo eschewed the door and made himself an exit through the wall.
- Go to the Wave Station and up onto the Wave Road. Head past Rogue a few steps further and you get a cut scene where Geo notes that the Noise Wave is blocking the Wave Road. Solo complains that Geo is in his way. Well, then, why did you stand there waiting on him, you dolt?
- The next scene shows them both standing in the Noise Wave, where unbelievably, Rogue actually asks Geo for his help. This is a mini-game. Move the aiming cursor around and press to fire. When you destroy all the Noise balls, Rogue will jump forward and deal damage to the boss. This repeats until the boss is dead. If a cluster flashes red, it’s about to explode. An explosion will stagger Mega Man and Rogue briefly, and cause the attack wave to reset (meaning Rogue misses out on being able to attack that round) but I don’t know if you can actually lose.
- After that, head up to the next area, and to the next Noise Wave. Just walk up to it and press to get inside. This is another mini-game, with the same game plan.
- Outside, head up a short distance to the next Noise Wave. Same deal here.
- Up the ramp a short ways is another Noise Wave.
- Once all of the Noise Waves are taken care of, head toward the warp point. You’ll be interrupted by Rogue, who has decided you’re no longer useful, or something.
- Boss: Rogue
- After the fight, Rogue changes his mind and leaves. You have a chance to save. Do so, then step on the warp panel.
- Boss: Jack Corvus (Got to beat him this time.)
Very Much Insane
- Go outside and talk to Geo’s friends. After that, you’re supposed to go to school. But if you want, you can pulse into the Astro Wave and take care of Moon Destroyer, that “strange EM being” that Zack referred to. Doesn’t matter if you do it now or later, though.
- Either way, head to school. (They’ve managed to patch both of the holes that Rogue made. And they restored the desk, complete with its Noise Wave entrance. Now that’s efficient.)
- Go to Geo’s classroom and talk to all of the kids to get a cut scene where class starts.
- When the alert occurs, head downstairs to the front hall to see two out-of-control Wizards duking it out with each other. Rather than just let them fight and taking out the winner, Geo transforms and gets the attention of both Wizards at once.
- Mini-Boss: NoiseWzrdB2 and NoiseWzrdR2
- Geo gets a phone call from one of the Satella Police officers, who reports that Wizards are going out of control all over Electopia. Geo cuts class to go help the police.
- Your assignment is Spica Mall. There are three areas you need to go to. One is on the ledge in plain sight near the candy store. One is in the gumball machine in the candy store (you have to get there through the Dentist CC). One is in the Spimo the Cat CC in the Event Area.
- After you get all three, you’re contacted by an officer who asks you to come to Satella Police HQ.
- At WAZA, go to the left and find Ace and talk to him, and that ports you into the Command Center for a number of cut scenes.
- After all that, go to the Event Stage at WBG Studios to find Wizards fighting each other. Somewhat surprisingly, you don’t have to fight them. They are handled as part of the cut scene.
- After Joker assaults Ace and Acid and turns them insane, Mega Man finally arrives on the scene (he needs to learn how to blip like all the other characters can do). What was he doing all this time? Anyway, Geo’s plan, amusingly enough, is to just stall for time until Ace reaches his limit and unmorphs involuntarily.
- Boss: Acid Ace B (You cannot damage him. Play defensively. After about three rounds, the screen will fade out.)
- After a lot of cut scenes, you regain control of Geo at the WAZA HQ.
- (Note: I know that by this point in the plot, you can start Finalizing by following the instructions in the manual. I don’t know if you can do so earlier in the plot as well. It’s possible you can start Finalizing as soon as you get your first Noise Form, but I personally never saw it until now.)
- (You can duel Damian Wolfe somewhere around this point if you want.)
- Optional Boss: Wolf Woods
- Go home and talk to Geo’s mom and she asks where Geo has been. In most stories like this, the kid with the secret identity is saving the world on his own. In this case, he’s actually part of an official, adult organization...yet he still doesn’t want to tell his mom about it.
- Sleep in Geo’s bed when ready.
Dealer’s Base
- Goodall asks Geo to investigate three areas. She warns you to do WBG last. You need to find the following:
- Noise Code1: Search the statue in the school lobby to open up a new Noise Wave. The exit is nearby, but search around first. Find the berserk Wizard there and fight a battle against NoiseWzrdR2. Talk to him afterward to get the code.
- Noise Code2: In Spica Mall, search the Hunter-VG poster that is on the wall near the entrance, on the ramp where you get the pop-up advertisement. Find the MalWizard within the Noise Wave. He wants to trade a Cannon card for the code.
- Noise Code3: Search the stage lights in the Event Area of the mall. Talk to one of the Noisms within for the code.
- Noise Code4: In the Candy Store in Spica Mall, search the game where it says the Sonia poster isn’t related. Inside the Noise Wave, talk to a Noism and say “Yes.” He quizzes you. First answer: “Yellow.” Second answer: “An empty bag.” Last answer: 7 (doesn’t count the time he says “sup” in asking the question).
- Armed with these codes, head to WBG Studios. In the Event Stage area, find the guard dog Wizard that is just facing a blank dead end path to the upper left of the screen. Search the end of the path to open the Noise Wave.
- To the far right side of this area is a green portal that leads to Noise Wave1. To the left and down (past both Noisms) is the exit to King’s base.
- You get a brief moment to explore the area. Take a look at the fire extinguishers...
- If you go near the larger set of stairs, you trigger a cut scene where Ace and the others arrive. Ace switches their Purpose back to “Crush Dealer,” heh heh...
- You have to unlock the door. Use the copy Wave Station to enter the Wave Road. Trans into King Wall CC. Go around to the right, then straight up the middle to find a MalWizard in front of the control panel. He triggers a fight, of course.
- Mini-Boss: MalWizard3
- Geo disengages the lock and then you get control. Pulse out and head back to the door for the next scene.
- After all that, you need to pulse in again. Once you are on the Wave Road, head through the area change back to the Secret Shelter area. It’s the only way you can go. Circle around and you’ll find another area change back to the Crimson Factory area. Head back toward the machine and you’ll find yourself at a broken Wave Road. Search it with and Geo and Omega will discuss what to do. Either way, you need to pulse into the Crimson Mchn CC1 nearby.
- Talk to the Noism, who explains this area’s mini-game. You have to walk over the card panels to flip them all face down. You can’t walk back onto a panel that you just flipped. You can use to scroll the camera around; don’t restrict this to just the puzzles. Use this to scope out where the Mystery Data are as well.
- For the first puzzle, you don’t even need to think. Just walk forward.
- The second set of panels is easy. Start on the second path, not the first one, avoiding the card that’s already turned over.
- For the next set, circle around to the right, walk over the first card (the one closet to the face gate), then circle around to the left and walk over the second card. You have to walk off the card onto another one in order to trigger its flip; however, it doesn’t really matter which way you walk off it because the puzzle will complete before you get fully onto the next card.
- The next one’s super easy: circle around and step on the diamond card and walk off in any direction.
- When you cross the threshold into the big area at the end with the control panel, you get a cut scene. Outside, you see that the path is restored. Go to Crimson Mchn CC2.
- For the first puzzle, circle around and step on the face-down card first. Then return to the starting point and run straight down the line.
- For the next puzzle, walk straight forward across the clubs, then turn down-right toward the face-down card. Walk to the diamond, then to the spades, then the heart, then across to the clubs. From there it should be pretty easy to figure out where to go.
- For the next one, take the pink warp panel to the left first. Circle around, step on the spades, then follow the two face-down cards over to the other spades. You should now have a row of turned-up cards, and two turned-down cards on either side. Take the warp panel back to your starting point and walk straight down the center.
- For the last puzzle, just follow the path. It’s not even a puzzle.
- After reaching the control panel, Geo transes out of the CC automatically and outside you can see the Wave Road is repaired. Head up the ramp and along the Wave Road to the next CC, Crimson Mchn CC3.
- For the first puzzle, walk across the panels straight up-left first. Take the warp panel down, then walk across the cards from right to left. You should now have three face-up cards along the center line, and two face-down cards on either side. You should now be able to return to your starting position and just walk straight down the line.
- For the next puzzle, walk onto the first tile, then turn right and follow the face-down panels, turning them all face-up. On the third face-down panel, walk off toward the center panel. Keep going in a straight line, then turn right again, toward the upper-left of the puzzle. From here, walk around the outside of the puzzle in a clockwise direction. Walk off the final face-up panel in any direction to complete the puzzle.
- For the next one, this might not be the most conventional way, but first, walk on the first panel at the lower-right entrance (nearest where you come in), turn right, and walk around the corner to the next path and get off the puzzle at that path. Now walk around the outside of the puzzle to reach the side opposite from where you walked off. Get back on the puzzle and walk around the upper left corner. Now you should have two corners turned face-up and everything else face down. Get back on the puzzle from any side (you can’t start at where you just got off) and then walk toward the face-down panels, turning more of them face-up. Get off at the next available intersection. Walk around the outside and get on again at the first location where there is a face-down card. Follow that path, turning them all face-up. At this point, you can simply circle the entire puzzle to turn them all face down again.
- The final puzzle, again, requires just walking straight down the center.
- Once again, after reaching the control panel, you end up outside. Next up is a Wave Station, which allows you to get back to the ground again. Near that is a door. Walk through and Mega Man walks through transformed, even if you’d turned back to Geo before going through.
- Head up the stairs for the next cut scene. Ace and Acid are just a little bit insane...
- Boss: Acid Ace B (Gotta beat him this time.)
- After the fight, Ace leaves Geo behind. Once Geo’s back on his feet, head up the stairs (save first if you want) for the next cut scene.
- Boss: Dread Joker (Gotta beat him too. Feel free to Finalize him away.)
King’s Meteor
- A few days later, Geo and his friends are gathered on the roof of the school talking about Ace being dead. This is a little weird. Luna dies and the first thought on everyone’s mind is, “She can’t possibly be dead.” Ace dies and everyone’s first thought is, “Oh yeah, he’s definitely dead.” Oh-kay...
- Walk out of the school and get a cut scene where King makes his move.
- Talk to all of Geo’s friends for another cut scene. Boreal manages to call and asks you to come to WAZA. I’m not sure, but you might get the Wave Liner ID automatically here if you didn’t get it earlier.
- Get on the Wave Liner to WAZA. A cut scene picks up as soon as you arrive. Omega opens three Noise Wave entrances in the wall.
- I don’t know if they randomize this, but I found Goodall in the one on the left, Jamming Noise1, to the upper right of the area. A virus shows up. Fight a battle against “G” viruses.
- (After the fight, Mega Man walks up to Goodall and the two pulse out together. I’m not sure how, considering Mega Man himself can’t pulse out of Noise Waves, never mind taking a human with him...)
- Outside, talk to Goodall. She says she’s moved all WAZA evacuees to Alohaha Castle.
- Get on the Wave Liner and head to Alohaha. Inside the castle, you can talk to all the WAZA and Satella Police folks. Further in, you trigger a cut scene.
- Go outside the castle and you’ll find Solo standing at the bottom of the stairs. Talking to him doesn’t result in much, but you are given the option of fighting him.
- Optional Boss: Rogue
- (You can find Bob Copper on the beach for a totally cameo appearance. Even he knows now that Geo is Mega Man.)
- Go home and talk to Geo’s mother. Geo starts to go to bed and he receives a mail from Ace. You get a Giga Card here. For the Black Ace version, you get the WingBlade card that Ace used against Queen Virgo earlier.
- Sleep in Geo’s bed when ready.
Preparations
- Boreal mails to tell Geo to check out the TV. Exit Geo’s bedroom and he’ll turn on the TV automatically.
- After that cut scene is done, head to the studios. Omega does his thing, opening up more Noise Waves.
- Unless they randomize this, Lee should be not far into the Jamming Noise4 (the portal on the far left side).
- Belle should be to the right in Jamming Noise5 (the portal in the center).
- Find them both and get a cut scene where Mega Man somehow pulses out into the middle of the field near the pond. Some more Copy-Omegas appear.
- Mini-Boss: OmegaXCopyW
- Geo receives an email saying that King is at the Orbital Base in space and sends along the key to get there. Get: Dealer Key (another one). This opens a set of pink bar doors in the Astro Wave.
- Head to Natl Astro Wave2. If you haven’t already, you’ll have to go through Moon Destroyer.
- Boss: Moon Destroyer
- Head up-left from Moon Destroyer to the pink barred door. When you step close to it, you’ll see your Dealer Key pop up. Touch that to unlock the gate. Doing this triggers a cut scene.
- Step on the warp panel and end up in Orbital Base. Head down to the right and use the Wave Station to get to the ground. This launches another cut scene.
- The CC you need to enter right in front of you. Inside, navigate the twisting paths by following the purple-blue portions to the control panel. (Veer off if you want to get items.)
- Boss: Spade Magnes V2
- Pulse out and talk to Heartless. She drops a few bombshells here. She also gives you KlvnFldr.
- Pulse in and use the Wave Road to return back to Earth. In Natl Astro Wave1 you can go directly to WAZA.
- Talk to Boreal for the next cut scene. They form a Team called Star Force and explain their plans.
- When you travel to Echo Ridge, you get a cut scene which blips you directly to the roof at nighttime. Hope arrives and gives you a Kelvin Key item.
- After this, Geo automatically sleeps, and the game skips to the next day.
Blue Shooting Star
- Head to WAZA. You get a cut scene as soon as you step off the Wave Liner.
- Search the Dynamic Station to trans into it. You end up in the rocket’s Cyber Core. Magnes appears to help them. For no apparent reason, viruses appear while they talk and you have to fight them. (It’s so odd, this game skips battles that you expect to fight, and throws viruses at you out of nowhere...)
- After that, you end up in Noise Wave3. You can use the Hertz here to return to Earth if you wish.
- The exit to Meteor G is a tear to the lower right (circle around from above).
- In Meteor Server1, move forward and you encounter Crimson. This is a mini-game where you can use or to have Omega slash them. They move really fast but fly in straight lines, so you could also opt to dodge them. If one strikes you, a virus battle opens that you cannot run from. The most irritating part about this is when the Crimson is flying around, you cannot open your menu, search items, use the Kelvin Key, edit your Folder, or do anything but move around. You are not attacked by random viruses during this time, though.
- If you go around to the left, there’s a boss panel blocked by a wall of Noise. Touch the Kelvin Key and the game will highlight some spots in the middle of spirals. You need to gather “memory splinters.” In this case, there are three of them. Touch the Kelvin Key at any time to refresh your memory as to where they are.
- Go to a spot shown by the Kelvin Key. Stand on the spot in the center of the area shown by the key and press to pick up the splinter. (You have to wait until the Crimson is not flying at you because otherwise pressing just makes Omega slash.) Do this for all three spirals.
- (Note: The Kelvin Key doesn’t give you much context, but if you get close enough, you can see Geo himself standing in the image when the key shows you a location, so that can help you to narrow down the locations of splinters.)
- Once you have all the splinters, head back to the skull door. You see a memory of Kelvin after he escaped the space station. Once that’s done, walk forward to see another card, and fight...
- Boss: Diamond Ice V2
- Head to Meteor Server2 and use the Kelvin Key once there. There are four splinters here, mostly in dead-end paths. Check your Kelvin Key to find them. Notice the splinters are not always exactly on the panels at the ends of the paths, but are back a few steps, in the centers of the areas shown by the key. If you think you’re in the correct location but can’t find the splinter, use the key again and watch for the exact spot that the screen centers on.
- Splinter #4 seems to be just a little up-right from the entrance to the area, but you have to circle around to get to it. #1 is in the lower left, but again, you have to circle around quite a bit and head to the right and then back left to get there. It seems like the remaining two splinters are off the branch to the upper right from the entrance.
- Boss: Club Strong V2
- Head from there to Meteor Server3 and check your Kelvin Key. There are five of them, mostly at the tops of ramps, which at least makes them easier to narrow down. Unfortunately the place is littered with ramps. What I wouldn’t give to have a map on the lower screen...
- Once you get all of the splinters, the memory door is directly up-left from the entrance to this area. You see the memory fragment first, then you move onward to the boss panel.
- Boss: Jack Corvus V2
- After this fight, use items to restore your health and save the game before moving onward.
- Boss: Queen Virgo V2
- Once Rogue comes and leaves with Tia and Jack, you’re at the end. The exit to the next area is right next to you. You cannot save once you pass this point. In fact, you are not allowed to pass this point without saving. The game simply won’t let you.
- Restore your health again if necessary. When you’re ready, head straight along the path to the final showdowns.
- Final Boss: Crimson Dragon (2500 HP)
- Okay, so I lied about that being the final battle. You got rid of King, but the dragon is still there. Geo is knocked down temporarily, but he eventually gets back up, transforms into Black Ace / Red Joker, and attacks again.
- Final Boss: Crimson Dragon (8000 HP) (Note: There is a trick to this battle. Hold out until the Custom Screen draws for you your ultimate NFB card. You’ll know it’s the right one because it will have no damage rating. Take it, make sure the core is vulnerable (I’m not actually sure this is necessary, but doesn’t hurt to be careful) and use it. The dragon will die instantly regardless of its remaining HP.)
Most of the bosses in this game are covered in the
Data Base section.
- CrimsnDragn
- In the center is his core which is what you have to hit to deal damage to his HP. While his two heads are combined into one, the head will block the core. But the head will split into two (a red and a black one), usually after you damage it enough. Try blasting the head with your buster over and over to save your Battle Cards for the core. Note that the core rests basically what would be the center panel on the dragon’s side of the field. Optimize your folder to include cards that hit this panel. Also note that auto-aim cards will aim for his heads, even though damaging the heads does not hurt the dragon’s HP (although maybe they can be destroyed separately?). Your lock-on will also try to target the heads. You might have to be a little creative about how you use your cards to get them to strike the core instead.
- He has a number of different attacks. He can summon missiles that shoot straight down a column, or jab his head down a column, or slash repeatedly with his claws. You have to keep moving back and forth rapidly to dodge this last one. And sometimes his heads disappear entirely and rain down on you like meteors. His ultimate attack seems to be where he sends purple fire down all rows and all columns.
You have two save files with this game, rather than just one, which is a nice touch. When the game asks if you want to save after you beat it, your save will still be in the same place in Meteor G, so you don’t lose any progress. This just allows you to get to the
Title Menu Star secret areas.
Quests:
The way quests work: Talk to a person to see if there is a “HELP” pop-up in the lower screen. Touch the pop-up to see what the quest is. Finish the conversation with the person and talk to him again and Geo will inquire about the person’s problem. Accept the quest. You’ll receive a mail message immediately with a summary of the quest. To cancel a quest, talk to the person again. (The mail message goes away when the quest is complete.)
I haven’t yet done all of the quests. This is just a start.
- Raida Briz: (Roof of school) He’s lost a paper airplane. Search Echo Ridge for it. It’s on the roof of Big Wave. You have to get up there via the Wave Road, of course. You have a choice to look at the test grade or not. I chose not to; I don’t know if it affects what reward you get. Get: HPMem10.
- Lowe Sweet: (WBG Studios) He wants to trade an AtkPanel for a WideWave1. You can buy one from an EM merchant in Spica Mall. Put the WideWave1 in your Card Box and talk to the man again. Get: AtkPanel.
- Hide Seek: (Echo Ridge) No surprise, he wants to play hide and seek. You have to find him within one minute. The game is nice and gives you lots of hints. Anyway, search the pool by Luna’s apartment to find him. Get: HPMem20.
- Fany Chase: (Echo Ridge Elementary) She’s a Belle fan and wants her autograph. Head to the studios and find where Belle happens to be standing at that point in the plot of the game. She offers to give you her autograph if you’ll get an autograph from Mega Man. So go pulse in and you should get a dialogue immediately about signing the autograph. This is actually pretty cute because the game brings up an image editing program and expects you to draw the autograph yourself. I have no idea if the game attempts to grade you on this in any way. Once you’re done, take it to Belle (remember to pulse out first) and she’ll trade you her autograph. Return to Fany Chase and give her the autograph. Get: Brother Band with Fany. Link Power goes up by 40.
- Trish Trig: (Echo Ridge Elementary) She’s a quizzer. #1=2. #2=5. #3=1. Get: Brother Band with Trish. Link Power goes up by 40.
- Jax Dubelz: (Echo Ridge) He’s looking for his little brother. The memo has 961 written on it. What if it’s upside down? Punch in 196 instead. (Note: You have to stop just in front of the doorway of the apartment building. If you walk too far, you’ll enter Luna’s apartment.) Return to the quest giver to finish the quest. Get: Brother Band with Jax. Link Power goes up by 40.
- Onda Sette: (WBG Studios) She wants you to take a picture of a pretty beach location and a building that would make a good setting. Go to Alohaha. For the building, talk to the old man who is standing on the platform over the water in the same area as the castle. From here, you can face the water and then press to snap a picture of the castle. Then go to the beach, swim out to the little island with the woman standing on it, and stand on the end and snap another shot. Return to the quest giver for your reward. Get: Brother Band with Onda. Link Power goes up by 40.
- Kard Kolek: (Spica Mall) He wants to a FlashStrk2 card. You can get these from Zappster viruses. Get HypnoEye.
- Vidy Otaku: (Satella Police) (Love the name.) He wants you to check out the surveillance camera at the beach. You need the WAZA Key for this one. Travel to Alohaha via the Astro Wave (trust me on this). From the Astro Wave exit, follow the path to the beach and enter the CC. Find the MalWizard on the upper left branch. Fight viruses and the MalWizardG. Pulse out (if you came here directly on the Wave Road, without pulsing out in between, you can simply pulse out straight back to the HQ) and report back to the quest giver. Get: HPMem20.
- Sugar Suet: (WAZA) She wants ice cream from the Candy Shop in Spica Mall. You can’t use the Wave Liner yet so you’re going to have to Wave Road it. You can’t get to the mall directly from the Astro Wave so pick another spot and then take the Wave Liner. Buy an ice cream for 50. You now have 3 minutes to return it to her. (Don’t worry, this is overly generous; you can easily do it in half that time.) Get: 1000 and the Wave LinerID.
- Don McCard: (Echo Ridge Elementary) He wants a “Little Devil Sonia” card. He gives you a “Sonia Wink” card and asks you to find someone to trade it with. Find Cash Money, a kid near the cafe, and trade him the card. Get “Tennis Outfit Sonia.” Find Amora McCard outside in the park, and get a “Sonia the Acrobat” card. Get on the Wave Liner and go to Spica Mall and talk to Overob Sesed to get the card you need. Return to Don McCard for your reward. Get: Brother Band with Don. Link Power goes up by 40.
- Aaron Boreal: (WAZA) He wants a BigDrop1. Get: HeatGrnde.
Cipher Codes:
Talk to Suther’s Wizard in the Big Wave shop to enter Cipher Codes. It’s an awful lot of dialogue text for sometimes minor rewards. And I have no idea how surfing on a Noise wave gets you guest access to whatever, but... (Note: Don’t forget to check out Capcom’s website for more!)
- Beta86425: Invisible
- Epsilon07292: HP+50/110
- Delta86531: AirSpread3
- Zeta78695: KiloBomb1
- Delta75148: DivideLine
- Eta28274: VirusClaw
Tips and Secrets:
- In Noise Waves, you can walk across where the corners of tiles meet, not just their solid sides.
- Program Advances in the Star Force series can be done by choosing multiple copies of the same card, or sequences of different cards. The example the game gives is 3 Cannons will merge into an ImpctCanon. (Or you can just earn the ImpctCanon flat-out as “Illegal Data” after battle...) This merge happens on the Custom Screen the instant you choose all three cards; you can cancel it if you want. You can also pick other cards once the three are merged, as if the three were just one card.
- Sometimes Metenna viruses are visible on the overworld with the Visualizer on (or when you are Mega Man). Talking to them as Mega Man lets you fight and defeat them. If you find them all, you can go back to the MalWizard near Alohaha castle who’s been talking about scattering viruses and get an acknowledgement of your accomplishment...of sorts.
- To get new Noise Forms, try entering any Noise Wave and running around until you encounter a “WARNING” battle against “G” viruses. You may earn a new form after that fight. This isn’t guaranteed (fighting lots of battles with high Noise might also contribute to this), but I’ve had this happen several times already at least, so it does seem to be, if not a factor, at least a nudge in the right direction.
- If you stand near a Noise Wave entrance in the real world, Omega in the lower screen will flicker like static...
- When you beat the game, it’ll ask if you want to save. If you load the game after saving, you can pulse out of the Meteor Server and enter the Noise Wave that has appeared in the cliff walls of WAZA, near the Wave Liner. This gets you to the Title Menu Star bonus plot...
Meteor G blows up, leaving Geo floating, unmorphed, in a blue sphere in space. On Earth, Geo’s friends lose contact with him. Kelvin sends a message to everyone’s Hunters and pleads with them to wish Geo home safely. The Chief gets WAZA and the Satella Police on the task of finding a way to get Geo home. Outside in Echo Ridge, the manager of Spica Mall redirects all of Spica Mall’s electricity to WAZA. A kid runs off to donate his telescope. At WBG Studios, they use their satellite to search space for Geo. At Alohaha Castle, Strong says he’ll use the environmental computer to hunt for Geo. And so on.
Tia, Jack, and Solo are standing near Bud’s house. Tia suggests that they go to the Dealer base and look for something that can help. Jack invites Solo to come with them. Solo says he supposes he could. He and Mega Man never got to finish their fight, after all. (Me, I think Solo should go out searching for Mega Man...well, solo. That’d fit his character. Besides, he got to Meteor G on his own somehow, so surely he knows how to navigate space.)
Out in space, Kelvin and Omega appear outside Geo’s sphere, say goodbye, and nudge him along in the right direction. Geo descends to Earth as a blue shooting star.
Credits roll, with sketches: one showing Geo and his friends having a party to celebrate his return (Jack is there too); one showing Solo with Laplace; and one showing Ace in a hospital bed with Tia and Goodall and Acid. Evidently Ace is in fact still alive, although how he survived is never explained.
After the credits, press a button for the epilogue. Two weeks later, Geo is on the school roof looking at the sky when a blue fireball shoots down and knocks him off his feet. Turns out it was Omega. A few minutes later, another blue star appears and impacts with Geo again. The scene shifts to show Geo and Omega arriving home with Kelvin. (As with Luna, no explanation is given here as to whether he’s still an EM being or not.) The game doesn’t go into many details, but there is a sketch of their reunion with Geo’s mother at the end.