MEGAGRAMS

    1) I held a couple a long, long time ago. I haven’t done any since. So that’s probably the source of the confusion.
    2) The image you saw was most likely either the 1-Up graphic (which has always been some variation of Mega Man’s head), or the “Game Over” screen (which shows Mega Man and Bass’s helmets just sitting there by themselves, as if implying your poor character was vaporized out from under his own helmet). Bass is never actually shown without his helmet in any game. This means we cannot infer that he even has hair (much less what color it would be if he did). I know that sounds weird, but it’s true.
    3) Nope! Heh. Seriously, I have gotten help with it—for example, gathering damage data and such. Credit where credit’s due!
    4) I don’t really have a favorite X series character. It might have been X, if X hadn’t turned out to be such a whiner. It might have been Zero, if Zero hadn’t turned out to be such a cold-hearted cynic. Really, there is no one in the X series who is terribly appealing. Although speaking of Command Mission, X’s personality isn’t irritating in that game—but he’s completely out of character if you go by the regular X series games. Ah well, I like the new X better anyway. If I had to choose from the new Command Mission characters, I’d probably have to say my favorite character is Spider. It’s just a shame his Action Trigger stinks.
    5) Got me. In the games, Sean (the kid) used some sort of holographic projector to make himself look like an android—or at least like a Navi in the real world. Not that merging the cyberworld with the real world wasn’t already off the deep end to begin with. Maybe an android makes more sense...

I love your site.I just have a few questions for you.
    1)In Megaman X7,Why didn’t Zero ever stop X from retiring?They are best friends you know,so Zero could of convinced X not to retire.
    2)In Megaman Battle Network 3,you know you have to fight Alpha.Well,they captured alpha like a long time ago right?So why didn’t Lan’s Grandfather delete Alpha after they captured him and put him into that container?
    - Jacob

    1) Well, he might have tried, but it may have been like talking to a brick wall, given X’s personality in that game. Since Zero doesn’t seem to care anyway, he probably couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.
    2) Because, you know, it’s not possible to delete data by just entering a delete command or dragging the icon to the Trash. You have to shoot at it with a cyber-buster and whittle away all its HP.

Hi. I just wanted to know your opinion on this (since your obviously a very good programmer):
    Isn’t the whole internet thing in battle network rather likely to happen in the very near future (1-5 years)? I mean, the internet is spreading fast enough as it is, with TVs and toasters and things connected to the internet(I’m not kidding), It would be just as hard to avoid the internet as it is to avoid electricity. Therefore, the more complicated aspects required for someone to keep their oven from being hacked by some strange guy by the name of Mr. Match would have to come in a form EVERYONE could understand. And there’s nothing people understand better than the real world. So it’s reasonable to assume that we be the form the internet would take. The only thing that would never make it into reality would be Battlechips, as they are merely a game mechanic.
    Also, who would want to get up and go to their computer every time they wanted to turn a light on.
    PDAs are already widespread enough, and I’m sure their here to stay. An AI net navi would also make the internet less intimidating.
    Thanks for taking time to read this, and your site is AWESOME. I wonder what it would look like as a BN homepage....
    - Tylinol

I don’t doubt that we’ll soon have networked computers running everything, and that we’ll have AIs as soon as someone can write a convincing one (which might take significantly longer). And I don’t doubt that, once we get them, we’ll have those AIs installed in—among other things—personal computers and portable devices to help people out with their everyday tasks (like checking their e-mail), and to respond to verbal commands (like in Star Trek).
    However, there is one difference, and that is that we will never have a network like the one that you see in the EXE series. This is because “cyberspace” doesn’t actually exist in real life. Because of this, you won’t be able to use your Navi to run around in the Internet busting viruses. (Except in online games.) You won’t be able to crack a password by having your Navi shoot at the login screen, and you won’t be able to exterminate viruses by blasting them with a cyber-buster. That’s not how computers work in real life.
    But having AIs operate your computer for you—yeah, that will most likely happen in some way someday. Personally, I give it more than 5 years, but someday, yes.

Wow, the Battle-network games are VERY poorly translated. Remember “SerchMan” “FlamMan” and more typos. What gives? Capcom is lazy.
    - Kiryu

It’s not due to bad translation. The games’ menu screens are designed such that there is only enough space for eight letters for item names (some Battle Chips had room for nine, if I recall, not counting the chip code). So all of the Navis’ names had to be stuffed into eight letters (or less). Most all items and Battle Chips suffer from this too. In some cases, the folks at Capcom used full names in dialogue boxes (where there is no such limit) and the shortened names only in item screens and such. (For example, you might get dialogue about “ThunderMan” but get a chip named “ThunMan.”) But in others (most notably the “SerchMan” example), they simply used the shortened names everywhere.

Alright, first off this site totally rules. But I do have some questions:
    First, I was playing Megaman Legends 2 once, and I just canNOT beat that big frog thing!!! Why is this game so hard?!?!
    Second, I noticed when I was looking around at a Gamestop that one of the first MM games was about $20 USED!!! Why is this?
    Thanks!
    - Ben

    1) I’d say play on Easy mode, but you have to beat the game first to get it, which kind of defeats the purpose. Maybe someday I’ll post a save game like I did for Legends 1 for people to get Easy mode right away. Anyway, try circling around until the frog lands on a platform, then turning to lock on and fire at him, jumping to avoid his tongue. It also helps if you have the Hover Shoes so you’re not taking damage on the floor (though I’d stay on the platforms in any case).
    2) It’s called supply and demand. NES games are no longer being printed, so the more people want a particular game, the less the supply is able to keep up, and the price goes up. You can use this to your advantage, though, if you own some old games that you don’t want anymore.

What do you think was the effect of the fact that Megaman 4-6 appeared the NES after the SNES had already came out? I, personally, was disuaded from purchasing them at that point in time as they were obligatorily pushed down my “must buy” list by the slew of SNES titles at the time. That has to be one of the stranger decisions Capcom has made.
    - Roy

It didn’t affect me at all, because I didn’t even buy a SNES until the NES was well dead and gone. But then, I was never one to jump on bandwagons. Besides, game systems are way cheaper if you wait a good four years before buying one.

In most of the Original Series, I found that all stages that MegaMan is in the water floats! Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t metal sink? I need help explaining this to my little brother.
    - Tim

Mega Man doesn’t float in any of the games, except for the old PC ones that weren’t made by Capcom. And SuperAdventure, which doesn’t really count. In Mega Man 8 he can paddle around, but he still sinks. Now, in Mega Man 1, he doesn’t have any buoyancy, so being in water is like being on land, but he still sinks. On the other hand, he does float in the Mega Shows, if those were what you were thinking of.

First off, Great Site. Now to my main Point. How come everyone is saying that the power Battles is making there U.S. debut when I’ve been to two different places that had the cabinet and a magazine was giving away one for a contest? can you please answer this
    - Nick

Yeah, that is a bit inaccurate, since the arcades were reportedly found in various places in the U.S. (not to mention in Canada). I guess they figured they could get away with saying that because the arcades were so darn rare here that most people never got a chance to play them.

I’ve read your Mega Man 3 book and I think its superb! The series looks very interesting (although I can’t really stand cross-overs), but I’m mostly interested in the ones based directly on the games. Any paticular reason Mega Man 3 is the only one?
    - SuperComputer

Yep. Novelizations of games tend to be boring, since most of the game is action, and action is much more fun to play through than to read. Since the actual plot development is limited to small points compressed between action levels, the rest of the book is consumed with, “Mega Man jumped on the ledge. Mega Man fired at the Blader. Mega Man fell down the ladder.” Not really all that exciting. And I know when I bore myself writing it, I’ll be boring the people reading it. So it’s sort of a shame, because the games do have some interesting plot points, but all of the filler in between overshadows them.