################################ I: Introduction/Revision History II: Controls III: The Story So Far IV: Walkthrough --> Brush With Darkness --> City Battle Tournament --> Kiss her, you blockhead! --> Hawk Tournament --> Oh, I Hate Getting Mugged! --> Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament --> The Final Countdown --> Asteroid --> Forte and the Black Earth V: Chip Library VI: Frequently Asked Questions VII: Codes VIII: Credits ################################ ======================================== Section I: Introduction/Revision History ======================================== Yeah, I have no goofy ASCII art at the top of my FAQ. Frankly, I can't stand the stuff. Anyway, this is the first time I've done one of these things. As such, I doubt it'll look like much as a whole. I'm certainly not good at this, so bear with me while I flounder about, ne? Now then, this thing has been an annoying piece of work put together ever since the game's release. On the boards, I've covered just about all the stuff on the different scenarios that I could. Many people said I should just go ahead and make a walkthrough. So here it is. c.c Also, bear with me as I try formatting this thing so it doesn't look like ass as a big text file. Currently, I'm using Wordpad to combine all my assorted text files - I assure you, there are a LOT - reformatting the lot of them, and then planning to save the file back to .txt... in either case, if things don't look quite right for you, just load the dumb thing into Wordpad or Notepad. x.x; Also, I use an 800x600 screen resolution - bad eyesight - so anyone still using 640x480 will probably get some nasty horizontal scrolling. o.O v1.0: 12/17/03: FAQ/Walkthrough started, all info formatted and redone. v1.1: 12/18/03: Reformatted so it would look proper AS a .txt file ==================== Section II: Controls ==================== Well, I think this should be self-explanatory, now shouldn't it? Anyway, in case you decided to jump into the EXE craze at the fourth game for whatever inane reason, here's the way the buttons are laid out. Control Pad: Moves Rock/Netto around. Occasionally used to perform annoying things like avoiding Searchman's potshots at you. A: Confirms selections/Advances dialogue/Used to search things and talk to people/ Press to use battle chips while engaged in combat. B: Cancels selections/Speeds through dialogue/Hold to run/Press to use Rockbuster in battle/Hold to charge Rockbuster in battle. L: Brings up chip selection menu in battle/Gives hints while walking about/Used to run from battle (use once chip selection screen is up) R: Used to Plug-in/Plug-out/Brings up chip selection menu in battle Start: Pauses while in combat/Brings up the Menu Select: Press to skip through cutscenes ================================ Section III: The Story So Far... ================================ In Rockman.EXE, Netto was given Rockman as a gift from his old man. Together, the two of them had to stop Dr. Wily and his gang of hooligans, the WWW, (World Three) and protect the planet. At the end, it's revealed that Rock is basically what's left of Netto's brother, Saito, who died of a medical condition at a very early age. In Rockman.EXE, Netto and Rock were presented with another group of bad guys by the name of Gospel. They nearly succeeded in merging the real and digital worlds together. In the end, it turns out that the guy in charge was a young boy who was led astray. In Rockman.EXE 3, the WWW returned for a second round. But Dr. Wily's new henchgoons weren't nearly as interesting as his first batch was. Netto and Rock stopped him again, only this time, it had a steep price - Rock's life. In Rockman.EXE 4, neither Gospel nor the WWW are back to make your life hell. This time around, a simple bunch of goofballs want to pull an asteroid into the earth. Most likely to use the debris kicked up to shroud the world in darkness. Rockman's soul and its constant struggle between darkness and the light plays a crucial role in all of this. You can choose you play normally and beat things with pure skill, or you can give in to the darkness and use the powerful new Dark Chips - incredibly strong battle chips that blacken your soul. These Dark Chips come into play numerous times. For one thing, it's the only way to defeat Shademan.EXE later in the game. Rock is forced to give in to the darkness at that point, though he suffers no ill consequences because of it. However, using Dark Chips any other time comes at a heavy price. When you use a Dark Chip, you lose 1 HP forever. If you had 100HP as your total and used a Dark Chip, it would be 99HP. There is no getting this loss of life back - ever. Also, each time you use a Dark Chip, it corrupts Rock's soul a little more. As Rock's soul blackens, so too does his outward appearance. Darker and darker he'll grow until he's solid black. If his HP should be reduced to 0 in this state, he's very likely to go berserk. When this happens, he falls out of your control and moves wildly around your side of the playing field, using battle chips at random. To counteract this darkening, stick to pure battling. The more battles you get through without getting hit and resorting to darkness, the brighter your soul becomes. Additionally, another feature added was Full Synchro. While having been in the manga for quite some time, Full Synchro has only just made its appearance. The basic setup is this: When you hit an enemy at a certain time in their attack, you'll score a Counter Hit. When you do this, Rock will light up and be surrounded by a pinkish-purple ring of sorts. While in this mode, all battle chips have their power doubled. This carries from one battle to the next, so it's often recommended to fight regular enemies before running off to fight a custom navi so you can deal damage faster. In Full Synchro, Netto and Rock work as one. Any pain one feels, the other feels. EXE 4 is centered primarily around three different tournaments. A local tourney, the Hawk Tournament, and then either the Red Sun or Blue Moon Tournament, depending on your version. On note of the versions - different things happen in them, and several chips are specific to only one version. In addition, each version has 6 unique souls. In EXE 4, Rock gains the ability to fuse with certain custom navis he's defeated. Doing this will give him powerful new abilities. The downside is that you can only go into the chip selection window three times in battle before your soul unison is cancelled. The list of souls exclusive to each version is as follows: Red Sun users can soul unison with: Roll, Gutsman, Windman, Searchman, Fireman, and Thunderman. Blue Moon users can soul unison with: Numberman, Aquaman, Junkman, Metalman, Woodman, and Blues. Also, take note: You will only get THREE of these souls on your first playthrough. Due to Capcom being insane, you will have to play through multiple times, each on a different difficulty setting, to get all six. You get three souls in 'Normal' Mode, or what you start out in. Then, after you beat the game, you can go to 'continue' and select the second option (it has a '2' in it) to begin 'Hard' Mode. Your souls, chips, NaviCustomizer, and all other stuff aside from Key Items, carries over. In Hard Mode, you get 2 new souls. After you beat THAT and select 'continue,' you start a 'Super Hard' Mode. This will most likely drive you crazy. You can the last of the six souls you need here. Also, you will be able to face Forte, who has grown even stronger since EXE, and enter Black Earth, a strange location accessable only after gaining 5 chips of absolute darkness. Keep in mind that to randomize things a bit, the games choose which paths you take on the tournament brackets at random. One time through, you may be up against Topman in round 1, while you may not fight him until round 3 in another go. It's random which souls you get for each playthrough, as well. When I first began this guide, I did so from the start of a Normal Mode Blue Moon game. I later went into Red Sun and wrote up walkthroughs for the scenarios specific to that version. Also, all information on Forte and the Black Earth is written from a Red Sun perspective. Which I've listed all of the changes between the versions I know of, be aware that an item pickup here or there may be different than listed. Also, until I get some better totals on the HP of navis throughout the game, the HP listed will be the HP the navi had during the playthrough in which I faced it. Now then, let's get started, shall we? ======================= Section IV: Walkthrough ======================= The previous EXE games used 'days' to get by. You could sort each game into daily events and easily write out where to go and what to do. Capcom decided to be wholly annoying and take out this scheme for EXE 4. Anyway, start your game. After a brief explanation of the world of EXE, you're chucked into Hikari Netto's bedroom. Netto, as per usual, is asleep. His PET rattles wildly on his desk as Rock tries to wake him up. When he gets up, walk over to the PET and press A to take it. Note that any time the icon in the upper-left of the screen vibrates, you have email. Rock will warn you of these as they come. Oh, and for the record, the start-button menu screen is as follows: Chip Folder Subchips Chip Library Rockman Email Key Items Link Play Save Don't mind Link Play. The Rockman area is where you'll gain access to the NaviCust, making its dreaded return from EXE 3. More on that later, however. Netto is awake and it's time to get into the only truly set 'day' of EXE 4. ########################### DAY 1 - Brush With Darkness ########################### Right! Once Netto has his PET and Rockman's finished pestering him, head downstairs. Yuuichirou, Netto's father, is watching TV. Talk to him if you want to hear that Haruka, his mother, has a job for him. It seems that viruses have infected the oven again - this time, however, Hinoken isn't involved. Plug-into the stove using the R button and you'll begin the typical tutorial opening. After you've been taught the basics and the viruses have been dispatched, plug-in again and grab the Blue Mystery Data (BMD) for 500 zeni. After this, talk to Yuuichirou and he'll ask that you get a Recovery Batch from someone in the Akihara region of the internet. Head back to Netto's room and plug-in. Follow the blue pathways until you reach Akihara Area 3. Here you'll find a purple-ish navi that'll sell you the Batch for 500 zeni. Thankfully you won't have to spend your own money to get it, since Yuuichirou gave you enough for it. To easily find the navi, take the left route up once you get to Akihara 3. Head back downstairs and talk to Yuuichirou again to start the next event. Netto and Yuuichirou finish eating and prepare to head downtown. But right as you're about to enter, Yuuichirou starts talking about email and toddles off home. To continue, head around Akihara and talk to all of the people - two kids in the 'park,' the two people just outside of Yaito's mansion, and Dekao, who's standing just outside of his house. When you're done, head back for the metroline's entrance. Welcome to downtown Densan! Head down a screen to trigger another cutscene. When you get in control of Netto again, head left and you'll see Meiru and Yaito staring at a big stereo. Talk to both of them, then plug-into it. Inside, talk to the strange, floating navi and then to Roll and Glyde, the navis of Meiru and Yaito. Grab the BMD at the top of the area and then plug-out. Talk to the girls again to trigger yet another cutscene. Yuuichirou comes by, talks to everyone for a bit, and heads off. Meiru and Yaito head out shortly after, as well. Yuuichirou, you pimp, leave those girls alone! Anyway, head left and into area 3 of the city. Walk toward the group of people to see yet ANOTHER cutscene. This guy is an annoying, energetic prat by the name of Joumon. He's all excited to tell folks about the City Battle Tournament. Everyone will head out after that. We've got some stuff yet to do, so head back down a screen. Talk to the people in front of the stereo and plug-in again. Navis are sprawled out all over the place and that strange, floating one from earlier is hovering ominously over them! Rock and the strange navi talk briefly before he turns into a flurry of bats and disappears, saying that since he has nothing left to snack on here, he's going to the Akihara area to feast! Well we're the good guys, we can't let THAT happen! Plug-out and head for the metroline to get home. Go upstairs and plug-in. Before I begin with the instructions, lemme touch on something here. You may have noticed large, green crystals while in battles. These are Green Mystery Data (GMD) and work the same way the normal GMDs do. If you get through the battle without anyone destroying it (It has all of 1HP) then you get a bonus. Sometimes it's money, sometimes bugfrags, sometimes chips. No matter what the bonus, always try and get it. As you make your way through Akihara 1, you'll notice a few navis on the ground, just like the ones in the stereo were. It seems our culprit's been here, alright. More navis litter the ground in area 2. Head through to area 3 and follow the blue pathway to see a cutscene. The strange navi has downed Glyde and Gutsman, leaving only Roll left standing! Rock approaches as the navi moves toward the pink navi. But before he can rescue her, the navi swoops on her, carrying her off to parts unknown! Well, isn't that special? We just hauled our butts outta bed and already we have to play hero! Glyde and Gutsman log out. We, on the other hand, have to move forward and figure out where in the world is Carmen Sand--uh...I mean...the strange, floating navi! Keep to the blue path and head forward and into Town Area 1. Follow the yellow path in these acres. Hey lookit, a 'waffle' path! You may notice a floating platform of sorts with a Purple Mystery Data (PMD) on it. To get out to it, you have to walk along an invisible pathway leading from one of the points sticking out on the waffle path. But since we don't have an Open Lock subchip right now, forget about it and continue on to Town Area 2. Head up the ramp in Town Area 2 and make your way around the path. There are two warp points here. One leads to the lower portion of the area, the other - the top one - is the one we want to take. Grab the BMD once you go through and head through to Town Area 1. Go down the ramp and through the purple warp point. Now where the hell is this?! Walk forward a bit to see the strange navi on the other side of the gap. Rock tries to figure out where on earth they are, knowing that they're in the Town Area. Turns out, this is the internet area for that bigass sound system we saw Joumon speaking through earlier. Plug-out and head downtown. As you try to enter the screen with the sound system, however, you'll be stopped. Talk to this guy to find out what's up. Well if this idiot won't let us through, we'll hafta find another way! Go back a screen and walk up to the chain-link fence. There's a gate here, and you'll be able to open it now. Head up the stairs and through Town 2 Upper to reach the third screen's upper section. Netto starts heading forward when the sound system lets out an awful noise! Much too painful for human ears to take! Netto will run off. We need to figure out a way to turn it off or something! But since our path is being blocked by the scientist dude...we'll have to find another way. Then go to the stereo and plug-in. Walk up to the green navi inside, select the first option to his questions, and you'll get into a battle. He's got 230HP and could be considered as a mini-boss of sorts. He's certainly tougher than the Metools in Akihara! Once you win, you'll get the key item "Earphones." With these, Netto can tolerate the screeching that the sound system's putting out, so head back to Area 3 Upper and plug-into the computer system there. What you're going to be doing here is getting Startup Data from the green program near the gate, using it to start the Sonar System in the center up, and collecting Bats. Yes, bats. They're used as keys to unlock the gates. You have 10 seconds to grab as many as you can. They're located seemingly at random around the area. When you get three, talk to the program and he'll unlock the gate for you. Anybody else feeling like Pacman? Area 2 is more of the same in a larger area. Find 4 key-bats this time. There's an HP Memory in a BMD near the Sonar System here. After you open the gate, maneuver around the bodies and head up to the floating navi. He has Roll cornered. Rock runs up and the floating navi introduces himself as Shademan. He will then turn on the large speakers nearby. The noise interferes with the PET. Once back in control of Netto, leave back to the lower area of the sound system - you can enter now - and walk up to it, hitting the A button around that big, button-looking thingy. The noise dies and Shademan attacks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shademan.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 500 Attacks ------- Sonar: Attacks with a Sonar Wave. Affects the spot directly in front of the spot he's on plus a complete column after. Familiar: Shademan can summon a pair of heat-seeking bats. These act like the mini-rats that Ratton viruses summoned in past EXE games. Strategy: You cannot win. You cannot hurt him. Just stay alive and fight. After a certain amount of hits (5 for me) the battle will come to an end. Enzan and Blues arrive and try stopping Shademan, who drops a Dark Chip and logs out. Blues follows. After the rescue and collecting the Dark Chip, you'll be outside of the metroline. Head into the Higure-ya. Talk to Yamitarou Higure himself and he'll explain a little about the Dark Chips. After this event is over with, head home and go to bed. You'll be asked if you want to save beforehand. So ends day 1 of EXE 4. ##################################### City Battle Tournament - How to Enter ##################################### There'll be a cutscene at ANSA. Dr. Regal, a smug sorta guy who just doesn't seem like a 'good guy,' will be introduced. After this cutscene is over and you have control of Netto again, head downtown to area 3 and talk to Joumon. This guy is a real pain and, to enter his tournament, he wants you to first enter into it. He'll give you the P-Code for his PC. Head to the previous screen. You know the stereo? On the opposite side of the building, you'll see some monitors. Plug in here to access Joumon's Homepage (HP). Once inside, head through and head through to Town 2. Open the security cube using Joumon's P-Code. Now make your way through here to Town Area 3. Follows the yellow path and you'll come to an orange/greyish navi standing in the center of a platform. Talk to him to enter the tournament. He'll ask you to enter your initials. Do so. Now plug-out and go talk to Joumon again. Hey, look-it. ANSA-looking people! Joumon wants you to complete three tasks to properly qualify for the tourney. Well, that's just prime. Let's do these guys in order, shall we? The blonde wants to find a Metool Village. This is because he's doing DRUGS. Drugs are bad. Mmkay? But what can we do? Head to Akihara 2. Near the exit to Akihara 3, you'll see a white path at the top of the large platform. It leads around to Dekao's security cube. There's a purple-ish navi here. Talk to him. Now head to Town Area 2. Remember how I said there were two warp points? Take the one we didn't take earlier to reach the lower area. There's a green navi down here half-hidden by an upper walkway. Talk to him. Now plug-out and head to the upper section of downtown. In section 2 - the path above the spot where the stereo and Joumon's PC access is, there's a billboard on the left side. Plug-into it and talk to the evil-looking navi inside. He'll give you the keyitem Lab Data and you'll be thrown into a fight. After you finish him off, plug-out and go talk to the blonde to end his task. The scientist has the easiest of the jobs. He wants a couple bugs! Head to Akihara and search the first tree beside the pink squirrel in the park to find one. Search the teddy bear inside Yaito's house for the other. Once you have them both, head back to the scientist. The woman wants a question answered and then a battle. Talk to her enough and she'll give you a math problem. The answer is 0. After you answer a question correctly, you'll get into a series of 3 easy battles. After you finish their tasks, talk to Joumon again. Now you have access to the Densan Dome. Take the metroline here and enter the building through the back door inside. In the next room, there's another blonde guy standing by the door. Talk to him to learn of who you'll be facing. There are several different paths these tourneys can break up into. I'm going to listen them all in no particular order. Since things are random, just seek out the chunk of walkthrough you need. ====================== CITY BATTLE TOURNAMENT ====================== Possible Scenarios: --> Virusbusters --> Short Circuit 3 --> Round and Round --> Motley Crud --> Number Cruncher ==> Blue Moon Only --> Deep Blue, See? ==> Blue Moon Only --> Reschu Chisao! ==> Red Sun Only --> In the Fire, They Came Down ==> Red Sun Only ====================== ==================== ==> GHOSTBUSTERS <== ==================== Try leaving the building and you'll be stopped by a little girl by the name of Yuuko. She seems to want to play. After she runs outside, follow her and speak with her. She'll run off again and Netto chases her around for awhile. Feel free to hum the Pac-man music here. After awhile, you'll get an email. Answer it and head home - we have a strange visitor. It's Yuuko's Papa! What on earth is HE doing at the Hikari residence? Asking you to go and dispatch some navi ghosts on the internet, that's what! It seems a bit weird, but there you go. He'll give you a special device to help locate the ghosts. Head upstairs and plug-in. Right, so here's the deal, Navi Ghosts are scattered across the net and they're invisible. As you close in on a ghost, the crystal ball will turn yellow, then red. When it's red, start tapping A. You'll eventually find the scattered specter. Here are the totals for each area: Akihara 1: Near the Purple Skull Door - Docile Akihara 2: Behind the Netmerchant - Hostile Akihara 3: In the Purple Skull Door area - Hostile Town 1: Top of the 'waffle' - Docile & Under the Higure-ya Gate - Hostile Town 2: Upper level, path sticking out, between the two warp points - Hostile Town 3: Upper left of the platform you went to to enter the tourney - Docile Once you dispatch these guys, head downstairs and talk to Yuuko's Papa. He'll thank you for your help when you're done. After this, head back to the Densan Dome. Head back through the preperation room and into the battle arena. It seems that your opponent is going to be Yuuko herself! She's toting a Normal Navi - nothing special. It has 300HP, so it isn't much tougher than the one we got the earphones from. When you win, a sad bit of story takes place. Yuuko starts to glow and tells Netto that she had a lot of fun. She also thanks him for taking care of the navi ghosts. Her father walks in after this and she rises up into the air. Netto promises to keep battling and winning. Yuuko once again thanks you for your help and then vanishes in a bright flash of light. It seems that our Yuuko was nothing but a memory, brought back for one final battle... ======================= ==> DEEP BLUE, SEE? <== ======================= Try leaving the building and you'll see a girl using the vending machine. Seems she isn't altogether there, really. Her name, according to her navi - Aquaman - is Shuuko. She seems a bit weak or shy for some reason, but recovers quickly enough. She nearly runs into Netto when she turns around. She apologizes and Netto steps aside, calling her strange as she leaves. Outside, there's a cutscene featuring Shuuko and her twin brothers, Atsuho and Taichi. A long sequence follows, and shenanigans are spoken of. Talk to the twin who remained outside and you'll receive an air tank from him. Head home and plug-in. Oh, now what is going on?! Who left the bathtub running while we were gone?! The internet's been completely submerged in water! We have to find that bubblehead Aquaman! Rockman, for some reason, has an air supply (I can’t stop the rain from falling, do what you must do...o/~) so keep that in mind. Aquaman's floating somewhere around Town Area 2. He'll swim away when he sees you, though. Head back into Akihara 2. There'll be a cutscene where the little spud swims in and lands... only he's behind a gate you can't open yet. *wags fist* Well, that was a waste of time. Plug-out and head to the Densan Dome to ask the remaining twin where his sister is. He'll tell you she's in town - go there. She's window-shopping with the other half of the twins. Talk to her to get Shuuko's Key. This'll unlock the gate that Aquaman ran off behind. So haul your little blue ass back there. Once through the gate, enter the warp point and wind yourself around the path until you get to the bubbleheaded blunderer (I'm starting to feel like Dr. Smith from Lost in Space)...the two talk and Aquaman agrees to to drain the pool. He activates his Aqua Vacuum and the water level receeds. He then apologizes for being so much trouble. Proceed back to the Dome. It's time for round two. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Aquaman.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 500 Attacks ------- Aquabuster: Like a slightly modified of the Aqua-Style busters from the past few EXE games, only a lot faster. Move up or down to avoid. Minibomb: If you tear up the ground so he can't get up in your face, he might lob one at you. Avoid as per usual. Nothing special. Twin Faucets: He'll summon a pair of really flowery water-spouts. These reach back two rows, so keep to the back column to avoid 'em. Strategy: Ahh, the time-honored EXE tradition of tiny-ass Navis that are really annoying. Thankfully, he's a lot easier than, say, Toadman was. Keep moving and he should pose no real danger. If you've got Area Steals, USE THEM. This severely limits him. As neither his busters nor his water faucets will be able to reach you if you stand in the back and fire away. After the battle, you'll gain your very first soul - Aqua Soul! You'll get a little tutorial from Yuuichirou along with an email detailing what it does. To use the Aqua Soul, you have to select a Water-type chip and select "Unison" - it's under the "OK" button. The chip will be sacrificed and replaced by the Soul Unison chip. You can do this for any slot of your five-chip selection. However, after selecting OK, you'll auto-fuse to the Navi you've chosen to perform the unison with. With Aqua Soul, your charged buster is like a faster version of the Aquabusters of old. Right, your fight is over - leave the arena. ===================== ==> SHORT CIRCUIT <== ===================== You'll get an email on PET Maintenance shortly after seeing the results. Start to leave the b--huh? ... Oh, hey, look at that! We CAN leave the building without a cutscene getting in the way! There's a guy in a blue cap out front, though. Guess what we need to do? Hey, check it out, it's Jane Lane's brother in disguise! No, wait, it's Joumon Teruo, come to swipe our stuff! Netto, being a complete idiot, hands over his PET to this guy, as it was apparently him mentioning the PET maintenance. The sawed-off hippie runs off after fiddling with Netto's goodies, leaving a scrap of paper in his wake. He also swiped our main folder if you have more than one. That pompous ass. Alright, head to Town and talk to the woman on the left side of the 2nd area, then talk to an old guy window shopping there. A cutscene'll take place. Some talking will be done. In short, this is what we have to do: Hunt down seven places from the hints given in the hippie's letter, then come back with the password for the old guy. Sound like fun? No? Right-on. Enter one of these: 7374262 9681345 1863546 As far as I know, these were the only three Sparkman passwords given out. RE-EQUIP YOUR REGULAR FOLDER IF YOU LOST IT. You've got it back now. Head back to the Densan Dome. Yup, it's already time to fight Sparkman. I guarantee my way was easier than hunting down answers to the seven questions on the piece of paper that damned dirty hippie dropped. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sparkman.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 600 Attacks ------- Electric Mine: He'll look really constipated, turn orange, and jump from row to row. If you're in the one he appears in, he'll throw out one of these. Easy to avoid - just move up or down. If it explodes, it'll cover some serious territory, so don't blow it the hell up, either. Ground Spark: Sparkman puts both arms to the ground and sends an electrical current rushing through them. It's pretty quick, but it has a very simple pattern, moving down a column, over, up a column, over, repeat. Shadow Spark: Sparky raises his arms to the digital heavens, there's a bright flash of light, and a shadow Rockman will be standing around you. Move away before it gets a chance to attack. Strategy: Them's some mighty big whoopass sticks ya got there, hoss. Despite looking vicious, he's just a big puppy dog. His attacks are painfully easy to avoid here. Bring some Boomerang chips along to really put the pain to him. ======================= ==> ROUND AND ROUND <== ======================= Well, we're up against Topman! Head outside the dome. As you head for the metroline, you'll see a cutscene with an old man showing what seems to be his grandson, Kousuke, some top shenanigans. But Kousuke doesn't like it and runs off. After he does, the top starts malfunctioning and going all weird. Somehow, viruses have infected the top, so we've got to exterminate 'em. You'll automatically plug-in. Head to the Met to get into a fight. After you win, plug-out. The old man gets ticked at you for some odd reason. Hmph. Stupid old people. Why, back in MY day, people respected their...hey, wait.... There's a long chat sequence here, and the old guy - Topman's operator, as it turns out - walks off. But he forgot his malfunctioning top! And being good guys, we've gotta return it to him. Head downtown. He'll be in the second area, window shopping. Netto hands over the top to him. The old fart promptly walks off. Head to Akihara and you'll see a group of elderly people loitering in the park. Head up and talk to them to start another event. As it turns out, they want you to do something for them. Go home and plug-in. Head to Town Area 2. Between the two warp points in the area, you'll see a brown-ish Navi. Talk to him and you'll get asked a question. If you answer wrong you have to scrub the damn navi's back in a strange mini-game where you have to alternate hitting L and R. There are four of these Navis around the two internet areas you have access to. Find each and deal with them for a chunk of Hidden Data. There's another down on the lower level in this area, so go deal with him. While you're down here, there's a hidden pink Navi on the left side of the area, hidden completely beneath a walkway. Buy the Board Parts from her for 2000 zeni. This'll be important for later. Another of the brown navis is near the netmerchant in Town 3. The final is in Town 1. Head left from the entrance to area 2 and go down. When you beat the fourth, you'll get an additional item. This opens the gate nearest to Netto's Homepage. So plug-out and plug-in again to get there quicker. A fifth and final brown navi lies here. But instead of a quiz, you'll be thrown into a series of battles. After you win, plug-out and go downtown, to the lower area of the sound system screen. Hey, it's Topman's operator...and... another Topman's operator! Either we've got a case of clones or twins. Either way, it's creepy. Netto runs up to try and get the geezers to stop fighting with each other. He gives the old farts the hidden data he nabbed from the four brown navis. They start having a fit, jumping and running circles around our hero. Finally, Topman's operator walks off. Netto's PET will beep, alerting you to the tournament that's about to begin without you. Head back to the dome and enter the battle arena. ~~~~~~~~~~ Topman.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 900 (Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Ricochet Top: Topman shoots out a pair of tops that ricochet around the playing field. This is pretty tough to avoid, but try as best you can. Top Charge: Topman revs up, turns into a giant top himself, and charges in a ricocheting pattern or straight forward. Top Crush: Topman revs up, leaps offscreen, and moments later crashes down on a tile in your area. Move out of the way. This cracks the panel it hits. Strategy: Topman's a pretty tough opponent for those not used to the series. But he's nothing special, really. You'll probably need some Recover chips to deal with the inevitable hits from the tops he shoots out. After the fight, the brothers rejoin and Kousuke sees just how cool his grandfather is. Yay for happy endings. =================== ==> MOTLEY CRUD <== =================== Hey look, it's a member of Motley Crue! Oh wait... After he leaves, head outside and you'll run into a couple of thugs. Literally. They threaten Netto and almost get away with it. If our rocker friend hadn't jumped off the roof of the dome (the hell?!) and saved us... Gantetsu seems to have a problem, though. Head downtown to the sound system's lower level. The thugs Gantetsu was talking to walk off. Now plug-in via Jormon's PC and head to Town Area 3. We've got some savin' to do! Head up to around the netmerchant's area to see a small army of evil navis. After a brief event, they scatter themselves all along the twisting path ahead. Our job is to plow the road! There are five Navis and then the two 'leaders' in black escape to the platform where you registered for the tournament. Three stacks of three navis block your way. Mow 'em down. Right as you get to the leaders, Gantetsu's navi enters and takes them out on his own. Now dammit if there's one thing I hate, it's being someone's patsy. We were hoodwinked into clearing the way so he could come and get his revenge. Shenanigans, I say! Now then, let's return to the Dome and fight Gantetsu. Just take the navis you've just fought about 2 dozen of and give them more HP and attacks and you have Gantetsu's special navi. ======================= ==> NUMBER CRUNCHER <== ======================= Blondie walks in after we see who's up on tap. Seems he has a message to us from Higure. All is not well! Head back to Akihara and talk to Higure inside of his shop. Some gaijin monkey named NAM barges in on the conversation... apparently he wants to buy the Higure-ya and turn it into something completely inane. Neither Higure or his new hired help Nanako are very happy over the ordeal. No idiots coming into the chip shop, spouting engrish, and laughing insanely! After a brief conversation, Higure leaves. The Higure-ya needs some publicity and we're just the ones to do it. Hoo lordy, reduced to handing out fliers. We've gotta give 20 of the things out to people. Head home and plug-in. We've got 20 of these dumb things to pass out to the internet community: Akihara 1: 2 Akihara 2: 3 Akihara 3: 1 Town 1: 1 Town 2: 2 Town 3: 2 Stove, Hikari Residence: 1 Takoyaki Cart, Densan Dome: 1 Stereo, Downtown: 2 Billboard, Downtown - Upper Level: 1 Sound System, Downtown: 4 Yatta demasu! Now head back to the Higure-ya and talk to Nanako. You'll get a Hougun chip for your troubles. But then the tottering dumbass NAM returns. He comes in, gloats, laughs like an AOLer, then leaves. There's more trouble, and we're needed in town. Head downtown and take the shortcut through Jormon's PC. Head back to Area 1. Go left at the fork in the road and head down to that gate. Suddenly, you hear a cry from help from beyond it! Rock says it sounded like Numberman's voice, too! Sure enough, Numberman's been locked behind the gate by that shmo NAM. Well, we need the key to the gate, we know that. Head back to the Higure-ya and talk to Nanako. You'll get the key that unlocks the gate. Now go back to Town 1 and head through. Ah! A second gate! It requires a 3-character password to open. Huzzah. The first one is 000. Then 111. Then you'll get a third problem. It's 3.31. Note that this was just what they were in my playthrough. It seems that everyone has different answers for this. As far as I know, which one you get is random, though there must be a single pool of passwords and problems to sort out. When I find more of these, I'll update. Go over to that big load Numberman. He says NAM did this to him. Well, now I know who to throw to the shark for a snack! >< Plug-out and head to the Higure-ya. Higure and NAM are fighting and NAM's gloating about how he's gonna get the shop soon when some neighborhood kids come running in. They tell the gaijin monkey that they love the shop and its owner. NAM leaves in a huff. And then Netto and Higure leave for the tourney. Head to the dome. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NUMBERMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 900 (Hard Mode) Ability ------- Number Crunch: Remember those timerballs from the first game? Speed 'em way up and throw 'em in rapid succession. Hi, painful attack. Triangle: A triangle...math...thingy. Yes, I know the name, my brain just doesn't wanna remember right now. *makes a face* It flies out, picks a direction, and flies off. Dice Bomb: Same as before, only he throws them into random spots on your side of the field. Only seems to do it at lower life. Strategy: Well well well, Higure's been giving Numberman ninja training! He's dash hard in Hard Mode, rapidly throwing out the numbered spheres and then flinging a triangle before they finish coming. You pretty much HAVE to have strong chips equipped to bust through since you WON'T be able to shoot them down in time. And he does this twice at least in the time it takes your bar to fill up ONCE. You're going to need some good skills to beat him. Don't be afraid to use Dark Chips if you need to. There's no REAL harm in losing handful of HP. Especially this early on. Just don't OVERUSE the things. After the fight is over, you get the Number Soul. Sac chips with +/- on them, like Attack+10, to use it. Higure and Netto talk, then he walks off to get back to his shop. Cheers! ======================= ==> RESCHU CHISAO! <== ======================= Arr, it's Dekao. Dorsalfin Lad waddles up and talks to you, followed shortly by his little brother. Unfortunately, Dekao's a big load and upsets Chisao. After talking to Netto briefly, Dekao runs off after his sibling. As you leave the room, Dekao runs up again, saying Chisao was kidnapped! Soon thereafter, you get email from the kidnapper. Anyway, after you get control again, head downtown and go to the sound system. Off in the corner is an old guy. Talk to him. You'll get the key item "Memo." Now then, head to Joumon's PC and plug-in. Head for the Netmerchant in Town Area 3. At the end of the path behind him is a Green Navi. Talk to him to get the key item "Hint Data." From here, head back to Densan Dome. Take the front entrance and inspect the boquet of flowers with the bow on it. You'll get an email from Chisao. There's not much he says, other than 'save me' and a brief clue on where to look. Head to Akihara and peer at the pink squirrel, then head downtown and plug-into the sound system. Once inside, go to the platform you first faced Shademan on and talk to the programs. One of 'em will throw you into a battle. After you win, you'll get an email from the kidnapper, telling you of 5 navis on the internet. You'll have to track them down and get 5 Data files from them. 1: Akihara Area 1, near the purple skull gate. Data is free. 2: Akihara Area 3, on the alternate blue path. Data costs 1000z. 3: Town Area 1, past the exit. Quiz: -->Answer1: Third Choice - Personal Terminal -->Answer2: Third Choice - Kirin -->Answer3: First Choice - Joumon (Kanji) -->Answer4: Second Choice - Nanako -->Answer5: Takoyaki (Kanji) 4: Town Area 2, lower area. Data costs a Bubbler R. (Buy in Akihara 2) 5: Town Area 3, where you registered for tourney 1. Data for a battle. Now that THAT mess is over with, plug-out and head to the lower level of the sound system. Walk up to it as if you were going to turn it off (like on Day 1) and a cutscene takes place. You get an email, then get thrown into battle. Afterwards, the kidnapper emails you with a parting message and Chisao comes running in from the side of the area. Netto goes to check for who did it, but no one's there. You'll reappear at the Densan Dome. Head inside to the battle arena. ~~~~~~~~~~~ GUTSMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~ Note: Urg. I seem to have an annoying habit of not catching the HP of these guys. x.x; HP: ??? Abilities --------- Guts Hammer: Gutsman slams his fists into the ground to form a large hammer. Certain tiles crack and a trio of rocks drop from above. Guts Machinegun: Gutsman's machinegun animation seems to be better this year, don'tcha think? Guts Punch: Stay out of the front row or else Gutsman might come up and slug you in the face! In later versions, he'll throw his fist out AT you, so be aware of it. Strategy: It's Gutsman, c'mon. If you can't beat him, you may as well pack it in and go home. Bring some Panel Repair chips if you don't want to have to deal with Gutsman constantly cracking the panels on you. After the battle is over, Dekao apologizes for upsetting Chisao, and Chisao apologizes for getting kidnapped. Things end on a high note and you get Guts Soul. Sacrifice ground cracking chips to use the Guts Soul. It can power up chips without any element to them and your charged buster is replaced by a charged machinegun burst. ==================================== ==> IN THE FIRE, THEY CAME DOWN <== ==================================== Ahh, our first and oldest rival is back! With his original navi, no less! Ah Netto looks at the brackets, Hinoken comes in, saying it's been awhile. Hey, lookit. He finally looks cool! In his absense, he's gotten better fashion sense AND a better mugshot. The two talk for a bit and he walks out. Head out and talk to the girl at the takoyaki shop. Netto needs f00d. He orders 8 and she goes inside to fetch 'em. While he's watching the octopus sizzle, Hinoken comes back in, pushing him to the side. It seems he knows the girl that works at the shop! Netto asks how she knows him and she relates a story, mentioning how nice he is. Netto can't seem to wrap his brain around this, however. The girl asks if Hinoken and Netto are friends. Netto replies "No way!" causing the girl to chuckle. Just then, some goons walk in. Must be some o' those Net Mafia thugs. They harass the shopowner and Hinoken defends her honor. He does a pretty good job of it, quickly forcing the goons to run off. After a brief conversation, Kenichi walks off again. Just then, the smell of something burning fills the air. When you regain control of Netto, plug-in and talk out the fire virus inside. Now then, we've got a slight problem - fire is Hinoken's specialty, right? But why would he implant a virus into the shop of someone he likes? I smell a setup. Head back into the Densan Dome, talk to the blonde in the room before the battle arena, and you'll get the Fire ID. Head home and plug-in. Head to the left side of Akihara 3 and open the blue gate. Head forward and through the warp gate. Walk along the path and you'll see a pair of purple navis confronting Fireman. As they leave and a small argument happens, Rock runs in. Some talking takes place and Hinoken plugs-out Fireman. Head back to the takoyaki shop and talk to Hinoken. Looks like he fixed her grill up. "The right place at the right time" and all that rot. He walks off shortly. After, the girl asks if the two are in the Densan Tourney. Netto confirms. After Netto walks off, the girl heads back inside. Head into the dome. Netto tells Hinoken that he still thinks he's a bad guy. Hinoken explains his plans, seeming to state that after the dismantling of the WWW, he got together a group of his own... or something. c.c; After the girl from the shop calls out to Hinoken, one of his goons calls him up. There seems to be a revolt, as the group didn't care for how Kenichi was running things. The battle between Fireman and Rockman is halted before it can start when some goons get in. Netto offers his help in getting rid of them and Hinoken says that he's indebted to him for it. There are viruses in the dome and it's up to us to get rid of 'em! When you regain control, head out of the battle arena. In the next room, search the item on the lower part of the table to get into a fight. After that, head out into the next room and inspect the vending machine for another fight. Next, inspect the desk beside the purple- haired woman. Then head to the other side of the dome and check the group of flowers with the bow on the front. After this, head over to the screen seperating the two sides of the dome. After you've done this, head back into the battle arena. Seems there's one more in the battle machine. Plug-in and get ready for a mini-game. You've got to keep the pop-up bombs from reaching 0. Run around and hit A to disarm them. There will always be one that's got a short timer. Find this one first and get to it at once! If it blows, Rock takes damage. After an annoyingly long time, the game comes to an end. Now walk up and engage the machine itself. After you beat the viruses within, it blows up. Now we can finally get this battle underway! ~~~~~~~~~~~ FIREMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 1000 (Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Fire Arm: Same as in EXE 1 - He'll aim both arms forward and shoot out twin jets of flame. Flame Line: Same as always. Panels ignite as the fire heads for you. Works the same as the Flame Line 1 virus series. Napalm Bomb: Fireman lobs a pair of bombs out of his head. When they hit, they set the panel they land on on fire. Strategy: Fireman's not gone under ninja training like the other returning navis seem to have. If you want a really easy time with it, use Area Steal twice and smoke him with Wide Swords when he uses his Fire Arm attack. Afterwards, the two humans talk about what a fierce battle it was and Rock says his soul is on fire. Fire Soul is yours. Try not to turn into a Sailor Senshi before using it, please. ============ Heyyy, we won the tournament - good for us! Netto is presented with a trophy that could do with a little Viagra. He also gives a nervous sort of interview with blondie over there. Anyway, after this, the 'day' ends and we're on to bigger and better things: like dating Meiru-chan! o_o ######################## KISS HER, YOU BLOCKHEAD! ######################## The day starts off with Netto and Rockman in the park, the topic of Dark Chips having been brought up. The discussion is broke up when Meiru walks up, promptly chewing him out for never greeting her properly. She speaks with Netto a bit, then zips off. Girls. An email from the NNB comes in, speaking of the upcoming Hawk Tournament. Since Netto won the City Tourney, he goes to the next level. Now then, let's go see what that wacky redhead wanted, shall we? Head to Meiru's house and enter. She'll greet you in an overly dramatic way, then gives you her P-Code. Plug into her computer, go through the warp point, unlock her security cube, and head for Town Area 3. You'll meet up with Roll standing with a small group of other Navis. Talk to her. It seems that Densan is opening up a Theme Park soon! In walks an orange and grey Navi. And due to the event, they're offering a special. If any Navi can beat three groups of viruses in a row, he or she will get free passes to it. Well gee, Meiru, thanks a load. I declare that she cannot smack Netto any since she's using him to get into the park for free. Well, guys, you know what we gots to do. Talk to the official Navi and select the first option to jump into the triple battle. The first is a trio of MetoolEXes. The second is a pair of BurumeroEXes (The yellow versions of the hopping musical notes). The third is a MetEX, a BuruEX, and one of them stupid stone things with the mallets. When you when, you get the Free Pass. And then, back in the real world, a sickeningly cute scene happens between Netto and Meiru. Look, folks, they're getting ready for their first official date! But an alarm from home sets off! Quick, to the Nettocave! You'll find Haruka bound and gagged up in Netto's room. She heads off to make sure she's okay, and you've got a note to take care of. Head to the PC and hit the A button to read what the hooligan wrote. Whoever wrote it wants you to bring the Dark Chip to Park Area 2! We have our mission, folks. Head to Meiru's to let her know what happened. We can't go to the Park yet - it isn't open! Alright, new gameplan - head to Town Area 3 and move to that honkin' big gate at the end. We're gonna break our way in! Man, that's one bigass blockage. Well, nothing can be done. Open fire! ...It was really pretty STUPID. It drew the attention of a guard or something! And now he's coming round to smite us for trying to break in. Well yippie, now we have breaking and entering AND assault on an official to the list of stuff we've done that's been bad. Oh well, a fight's a fight. Beat him! He's toting Wind and Fan chips, so be ready to get blown around a bit. Just concentrate on him and leave the wind machines. Hey, let's search his corpse...er... unconscious body! Thar be some letters and numbers on it! AJEKDUR 2437561 This is simple - rearrange the letters in the order the numbers tell you to: RAEJDUK. Presto! No more gate! Cotton Candy Pink Paths. *shudder* So very pink. And orange. Right, make your way around the paths, following the orange to get to area 2. In area 2, head north and take the first of the two forks. There's a Heel Navi and a pair o' MetEXes waiting to fight you. He takes off shortly after you trounce him. You'll auto plug-out and a short scene with Shademan will take place. Mom's back. She seems to be back to normal, too. You'll get an email and remember the theme park trip with Meiru. Haruka'll ask if it's a date, which causes Netto to stumble over his own words. About this time, you'll get taken to Netto's room where the bane of our existance, the Navi Customizer, returns to play. Yuuichirou instructs you on how to use it and you can't skip the blasted tutorial. Once that hell's over with, head outside and to the metroline. The park is now open. Cielo Castillo, a hell of a name for a craptacular park. Go talk to your non-date. Get ready for some gaming hell. This area's a royal pain to do when you can't understand what's going on. RIGHT! It seems as if the attractions aren't up and running. Well, we can't have that, now can we? Go to the caravan on the higher level of the park and plug-in. It's the primary area for the park and has a NaviCust parts seller in it. Get the P-Code from the program near the warp point and head out. We're going to Park Area 3. Note: You may or may not need to talk to the park official everyone's crowded around beforehand. I haven't tested this yet. c.c; Give him a quick talking to as you run up - it won't take but a second or two anyway. Anyway, along the path, you might notice, as you may have back in the Town Areas, that there are tiny rails. Guess what that means - no, the evil Press Program won't be making a return. There's a MUCH easier way to travel across 'em. But that's for the future. Right, get to Park Area 3 and you'll notice a Navi on the ground. Now why does THAT seem familiar? Keep going and you'll hit a strange-looking curvy thing at the end of a platform. This is the control system for the park. You know what to do. Unfortunately, it's also been bugged. Fight time. Our business done, it's pleasure time. Or something. Plug-out and talk with Meiru. She wants some Ice Cream first. And, being the great guy we are, we're gonna be buying. Hit up the caravan on the lower level this time and press A. She'll wander off after eating to squeal over some doodads in the giftshop. Then, finally, they'll get in line for a ride. Then another. They notice a battling arena on top of the castle and Meiru goes off to the lower level of the park. Head down there and into the haunted house attraction. Meiru, looking scared, asks you to go through ahead of her. You may notice as you go that a few things seem eerily similar... a little ways in, a cutscene happens where Meiru, screaming her head off, is chasing by the ever-cool Dracula-Robo. And who's that up again? Why, that's Django! From Konami's Bokura no Taiyou! What's he doing in here? Well, it's just a statue, anyway. Go up and press A to get a Gun Del Sol chip. Head on through the rest of the attraction and head on out - things are about to pick up! ===================================== Itchy and Scratchy Land? What's that? ===================================== Malfunctioning robots ahoy! Welcome to one of the most boring, painful points in the game. It won't be that tough for YOU guys if you're reading this, though. I gotta do all the manual labor. *grumbles* The things I do for you people. *ahem* Right! Meiru and a couple of kids are about to get axed by a malfunctioning princess robot! (I betcha THAT gets axed in the US version...) Well, we won't have that! You'll auto plug-in and enter a world of poetic buffoonery. Your Boatman on this tour will be THAT shmo. In this, and the THREE robots ahead of it, you'll travel along the waterway, occasionally stopping at a tablet. YOUR job is to pick up one or two tablets at the end of a curvy pathway and bring the right one(s) back. This will make the tablets go away. Alright, kids. Time to get the most annoying part of the game dealt with! You have a total of three stops in the first bot. On the first, make your way to the tablets and select "Kagami" - the bottom one. Take this back to the slate blocking the waterway and hit A. The story part on it will be read again and then it'll fade, allowing you to continue. At the second stop, select "Taiboku" - the top one. And at the final stop, select the tablet that begins with "Konshin" - it's the left one of the three. Now, head back to your ferryman and he'll take you to the switch. Hit it and fight off the viruses sent after you. Then get the heck outta there, we got three to go! Head to the upper level and north to the castle. The lion-witch is nearly bursting its wardrobe. Right, Plug-in and head to the first stop. This story deals with wizards. At stop 1, get to the tablets and select "Wizard Monkey," the bottom one. At the next, choose "Mahou Fuuji," the middle tablet. The final stop is a little different. You need two tablets, and you have to put them into the puzzle in the right way. Just grab the tablets in the order I tell you. That way, they'll fit into the slate properly and you won't have to go back. There are four tablets to chose from: %%%B%%%D% %A%%%C%%% Grab "Hana no Yosa" - "C" on the diagram, first. Then choose "Hikkaki" - "B" on our diagram. When you get back to the ferry, they'll be in order. If the longer choice is on top, you grabbed the tablets properly. As you're travelling along, the ferry will suddenly come to a halt. The driver looks around, confused, but the ferry resumes moving seconds later. Hit the red button when you reach the last platform, fight off the viruses, and exit. Two left! This time the...Robot Robot is messing up! Plug-in before its head flies off! Almost immediately, your ferry grinds to a halt again and starts up seconds later, just as it did in the previous robot. Strange, that. Anyway, the first two slates will be 2-choice answers. Just a heads-up. When you reach the first set of tablets, there'll be three on 'top' and a single one on 'bottom' - this'll be a reference so you don't have to see another awful diagram. You want "Sensou" - that's the top-right one. And then you want "Kanjou" - the top-left one. For the next one, there's going to be a left, upper-left, upper-right, and right set of tablets. The two you want here are "Kotori" - the right one, and "Dansu" or 'Dance' - that's the upper-right one. Oh, and I know I haven't mentioned it, but there are BMDs all over the place in these robots. On your way to the final slate, your ferry once again stops for a few moments. But this time, you get attacked! Nothing too serious, and certainly nothing you can't handle. Dispatch and continue. There are four long paths down which the tablets lie. Left, middle-left, middle-right, and right. We want "Omocha no Buhin" - so take the middle-right path. Hit the button, Frank, and fight off the viruses. Three down, only one to go... Go to the spookhouse. Inside, the lights are out - I hope you remember the way. Head through until you reach Dracula-Robo standing, eyes flashing, in front of his own portrait. Plug-in and get ready. It's just about time for some vengeance. This final robot's story deals with Bokura no Taiyou, aka Boktai. The tablets all seem to have something to do with Django and his quest. Also, that ain't water you're sailing on, it's lava! Once again, your ferry will be halted shortly after starting. Don't worry, you won't have to fight. Alright, bear with me, the layout of these tablets is funky. %%%B%% %%%%%% A%%%%% %%%%%% %%C%%D Right, we want "Gun Del Sol" - that'd be "A," and "Shinkuu de Mafuraa," which would be "D." Now we get another break. The next two are single tablet slates. Right! For slates 2 and 3, you'll be choosing from a single group of four tablets. Another icky diagram: A%% %%% B%% %%% C%% %%% D%% For slate 2, you want "Otenkosama" - that's "A." When you go back, grab "Taiyou no Hikari," which is "C." Now, on your way to the final puzzle, you'll stop briefly hear a strange noise, then your ferry will go around in a rectangular bit of track. You'll get asked a question. The answers are: "Ringo" and "Budou" ("Apple" and "Grapes") Select Apple. Finally, the last of these infernal puzzles! Unfortunately, it means another evil diagram. A%%% %%%% B%%% %%%% %%%%%%%C %X%%%%%% %%%%%%%D The X is a Blue Mystery Data on a sidepath. We want "Tenmado" first, so take "C." Then, we need "Taiyouu!!" which is "B." Grab the BMD on the way out, it's a Recover 80. When you put them in the slate, it'll vanish and we're on our way to the final platform. But on the way, you get thrown into another battle on the lavaway. Beat the viruses and you'll finally reach the final platform...but...there's no button. Your ferryman steps onto the platform...and turns into an old friend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ SHADEMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 500 (Normal) - 800 (Hard Mode) - ??? (Super Hard) Attacks ------- Shademan's attacks aren't any different here. Strategy: Same as before. You can't physically harm him. Just shoot him when he appears so he can't attack. After a certain number of attacks, Dark Chips open - two swords. Take them both. They're a necessary evil. Make your shots count, people. Dark Chips permanently steal 1HP from your total for each one used. They also turn Rock's soul darker and darker until he's solid black. If this happens, you won't be able to Soul Unison. Two well-placed slashes later and you'll say goodbye to this vampiric nightmare. He'll short-circuit, turn to stone, and crumble. Oh, and don't worry - since this is a story event you have to win by using Dark Chips, your HP won't drop from it. Hey, we saved the park! Hey, Enzan showed up, fashionably late! Is it just me or does skunk-head over there look shorter than Netto? Must be the angle. The screen turns to black after a conversation. When it fades in, Netto will be home, watching TV, when the doorbell rings. When Netto answers it, an official walks in and gives you 1 point. Get ready for some...um...'fun'... Your objective is to collect 50 or more points. Why? So you can enter the Hawk Tournament being held at Cielo Castillo Castle. To minimize the time you spend wandering aimlessly, I've made up a list of where you can get ahold of the points you need: Akihara ------- 1 - Meiru's Teddybear 1 - Higure-ya Chip Shelf 2 - Dekao's Gamecube 1 - Yaito's Giraffe (Left) 1 - Yaito's Mirror Town ---- 1 - PET store door notice 1 - Junk Box behind fence 1 - Guy hiding near leftmost exit 1 - Upper Area 3, sound system computer Densan Dome ----------- 1 - Bicycles 1 - Poster 1 - Guy partially hidden by Takoyaki shop 1 - Inside building, right side, boy hidden behind screen 1 - Inside building, right side, blue doors Cielo Castillo ------------- 1 - Fountain 2 - Girl partially hidden by castle 2 - Steel door, lower area 3 - Old guy, hidden by caravan, lower level 1 - Ship display, lower level 2 - Boy inside ghost house 10 - Inside Dracula Robot. 3 round battle follows. Akihara Area 1 -------------- 1 - Green Program, near purple skull gate Akihara Area 2 -------------- None Akihara Area 3 -------------- 4 - Green Navi, upper-right, for 3000 Zeni Town Area 1 ----------- 2 - Hidden Navi under a walkway near the exit to Town Area 2 Town Area 2 ----------- 5 - Orange Navi past purple warp for a Cannon C (Get @ Town 3 Merchant) Town Area 3 ----------- 3 - Green Program near merchant Park Area 1 ----------- Nothing Park Area 2 ----------- 3 - Pink Navi past warp point near exit to Park Area 3 Park Area 3 ----------- None This will give you a total of 52 points. After you get these, go speak to the official outside of the castle at Cielo Castillo to gain entry to the Hawk Tournament. Hurray! We've just finished THE most tedious group of events in the game! Do a little daaaance Now enter the castle for a cutscene. ############### HAWK TOURNAMENT ############### Right, we've been through this before - there are random paths and scenarios only accessable in specific versions of the game. These have been noted below. --> Fire Wars --> Allez Cuisine! --> Candid Camera --> Riki-Tiki-Navi (God, that's obscure...) --> Any Way the Wind Blows ==> Red Sun only --> Roll With the Punches ==> Red Sun only --> Bakusai Tenketsu! ==> Blue Moon only --> Wood You, Could You? ==> Blue Moon only There you are, ladies and gentlemen - your opponents. Some old friends and enemies return, and some new ones arrive on the scene! Your skills here will be tested at a much higher level than they were before. But nothing too hard will come of it - not yet. ================= ==> FIRE WARS <== ================= Look, it's Hinoken! What's he doing here? He can't operate TWO navis! ....Oh, here we go. A second, younger man enters. This is Homura Atsuki. (At least I believe it's Homura. Couldn't find any compound kanji that resembled his name, so...S'either Homura, Komura, or some weird compounded form. x.x;) He operates Burnerman. And it seems that he and Hinoken have a, and you'll pardon the term, heated rivalry. Both claim to have the strongest fire navi! Anyway, after Ken and Atsuki show up and take jabs at each other, head back outside. Leave the park and you'll receive an email - something's wrong with Netto's PC! Head home and talk to Haruka. She'll give you a water gun... which as we all know is GREAT for electrical fires... head up to Netto's room and plug-in. Great, more internet-wide problems. Aquaman tried flooding the place, so Burnerman and Fireman, in their ongoing battle to determine who's stronger, decided to ignite it! As soon as you enter Akihara 1, you'll see fires blocking your path. Rock will mention that Fireman and Burnerman are responsible. Gee, ya THINK? Bright boy, Rock. They try using the water gun, but Rock looks like he's shooting blanks. It isn't strong enough! We need MORE POWER! ARR ARR ARR! Head to the Higure-ya and talk to Numberman's operator, who's out in front of the register for a change. He tells you it's good timing because he's got just the thing to help - a Firefighting Buster. He explains how to use it, telling you to watch the gauge. Head back home and press A near the computer. You'll go back into the internet. Walk up to the fire as Rock and hit A again. The gauge will fill. You have to press A at the right time to get it to work. Right, fire's out. Continue on through Akihara, dousing the flames as you come across them. The bigger the area of flames, the higher to the top you'll need to get the gauge before pressing the button to stop it. If you fail to provide enough power to douse them all at once - and the really large fires WILL need a perfectly full gauge to douse in one shot - then Rock gets set ablaze and you lose some HP. How much, exactly, is determined on the difficulty level you're playing through and the amount of flames left. Once all the fires along the blue path are out, the internet will return to normal. Head back to the Cielo Castillo Castle and try entering. The caravan near it will start to smoke. Guess where the two fire navis are fighting NOW. Plug-in and get to work! Head into Park Area 1 and start firefighting, soldier. Head on through to Park Area 2, dousing as you go. In Park Area 3, it's more of the same. At the end, you'll see Fireman and Burnerman staring each other down next to a giant fire. You'll have to put it out in one shot by getting a full gauge or suffer a few burns. As they verbally spar, more fires will sprout around you. Rock tries getting them to stop, but their operators just do more of the same, causing even more fires to erupt. More is said and eventually, Burnerman logs out, prompting Hinoken to insult you for interrupting his battle. Fireman logs out shortly thereafter and the fires fade. Head on into the castle. We gots us a Burnerman to take out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Burnerman.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 700 (Normal) - ??? (Hard) - ??? (Super Hard) Attacks ------- Flamethrower: Burnerman aims and shoots a bright blue flame at you. Simple to avoid. Fire Charge: Burnerman puts one arm, lit up, to the ground and rushes forward. Another easy to avoid attack. Strategy: They must have done Burnerman's ingame sprite before anything else, since it looks a bit different in the facial region than his mugshot indicates. Anyway, he looks like a damned cupcake, so let's melt him. He's got a pair of rolling torches on the ground in front of him, too. Great, more gimmick-y fire Navis. Through the battle, they'll roll back and forth at random in attempts to burn you. If they move to your Column/Row, MOVE. You'll probably take more damage from the torches than from Burnerman himself, who's fairly easy to deal with. If you got Aquaman's Soul from the first path, by all means - USE IT. Just watch out for those torches. Once deleted, Hinoken will cackle on from the crowd. Atsuki then tries to nuke the battle platform and... winds up toasting his own niblets in the process. Good job, chief. Head downstairs to find out who you'll be facing next. ====================== ==> ALLEZ CUISINE! <== ====================== After looking at the brackets, a chef walks in. This tubby brat must be our first opponent. After some words, he leaves. Head out of the castle and down to the lower level of the park. He's showing off a cooking machine. Ultra delicious curry? If you say so, Iron Chef Nerd. An old man volunteers to try the machine out. It's apparently so good, it knocks his spirit right out of his body. Suddenly, everyone's eager to try this stuff out. After the crowd dissipates, Iron Chef Load here gets insulted by Netto. Head back to the upper level. You'll get an email from the brat, telling you to meet him in Park Area 2. You'll also get the Chef's Key. Head to the upper caravan and plug-in. Head through as normal until you reach a blue gate. Unlock it with the Chef's Key and proceed. Talk to the Navi and he'll speak of a Cooking Dojo. This guy's the Cooking Master's navi. After he steps aside, walk to the yellow warp point-looking thing and hit A. It's time to go through your cooking training! Cut the veggies with the B button... except for the red, round ones. Just let those fall. If a Met pops up, press A to knock it away. Once you do things good enough, you'll be let go. Head to Park Area 3, where we restarted the attractions. Speak to the black navi there. You'll be thrust into a series of three battles. Afterwards, go back to the Cooking Dojo and talk to the Cooking Master's navi. Plug-out and head back to the lower level. It seems like there's a second cooking machine set up around the group of people. Netto walks in and takes his spot at the other machine. You'll auto plug-in. Same thing as before. Cut the veggies, let the red things (what are those? Radishes?) fall in, and punch away the Mets. If you do well enough, you'll know by what happens next. If you get thrown back into the game after the old man does some taste-testing, you'll have to do better. If you do well-enough, the old man'll be shown testing the Cooking Master's curry first...he'll explode. The Cooking Master gloats too soon. Netto moves back to let the old man try HIS food. If his own spirit lifting out of his body wasn't enough, if exloding wasn't enough, now he's seeing his dead wife! ("My honey!") The old man excitedly declares Netto's curry is the best. Iron Chef Crybaby runs away. Netto follows. Head into the castle. It's time for the showdown. Cooking Master has a generic navi, so it won't prove to be very difficult. After the battle, there's some talking, and the two will part on good terms. ===================== ==> CANDID CAMERA <== ===================== Videoman. While his name and his appearance certainly won't strike fear into your heart, his battle skill and scenario will. This is one of the top 5 most annoying Navis ever. While his scenario isn't hard, per se, it IS annoying. The mission starts out with his butt-ugly operator dropping in from out of nowhere. Her name is Narushi Hide, and she wants a meeting of the navis. Head out of the castle and plug into the caravan. At the end of Park Area 1, you'll run into Videoman. He pauses you, then returns your movement, saying it was just a brief glimpse of his power. He then uses a playback technique, causing Rock to move in reverse. Three videotapes appear in front of him. One goes to Park Area 3. One to Town Area 2. And the final to Akihara Area 2. Videoman logs out, then, and we're left to get the videos back... but wait, it isn't that easy! Videoman never took the playback technique off of us! Therefore, Rock's controls are reversed! Pressing up makes him move down, pressing left makes him move right, and so on. It's annoying, to be sure, but doesn't take very long to get used to. Right, we have three tapes to grab. Head to Park Area 3 - we'll start there. When you arrive there, you'll notice some odd markings on the ground. These are Rewind Squares. Hit one and you'll get thrown back to the beginning of the area. When you move around one of these, WALK, do not run. You'll only frustrate yourself. The tape is laying around near the platform with the attraction reactivation switch. There's a series of three very close-together Rewind Squares guarding it, so walk very, very carefully through them. After you grab it, touch a rewind spot so you won't have to walk back through the area. Don't worry - you'll keep hold of the tape you grabbed. Now, head back to Town Area 2. In case you were wondering, no, your controls in battle aren't reversed as well, though that would have been an evil addition. In that area, more Rewind Squares meet you. The tape's on the lower level. Now run into a Rewind Square and head back into Town Area 1. Head for Akihara Area 2. Ahh, more of those infernal spaces. The tape is in the twisting area that the link to Dekao's PC is on. When you grab it, there'll be a scene and Rockman's control returns to normal. Meanwhile, at the battle arena, Hide seems to think that she'll win via forfeit, having tied up her opponent on the net. Unfortunately, we're the good guys. Also, unfortunately, we have to fight her navi. Back with Rock after the cutscene, Plug-out and head back to the castle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ VIDEOMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 800 (Normal) - 1100 (Hard Mode) - ???? (Super Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Tape Barrier: A pair of VHS tape cables block the forward columns of both sides. Easy enough to break through, and it doesn't hurt you if you're standing in the front when it tries returning. Tape Drop: Videoman targets a 2x2 area of your playing field and drops a massive, whirling bunch of videotape. It can hit multiple times if you get caught. So be careful! Playback: Videoman zips to the front row and produces a copy of Rockman, who uses a random chip. Strategy: Hoo lordy, what a mess. Videoman's one of the most annoying Navis you'll face, so good luck. Throughout the fight, Videoman will change colors periodically. When he's green, he's at his safest. If he turns red, he's running in doubletime. Fast-forwarding, if you will. When he's blue, his HP will regenerate at a quick clip. You'll have to attack the tape blocking the first two columsn to get any clear shots in, and they have a high regeneration rate. They won't destroy things like Count Bombs, though...so if you've been lucky enough to get a Count Bomb J, K, and L out of in-battle GMDs, then Giga Count Bomb the sorry punk a couple times. That'll put the hurtin' on him! After the battle, Hide and Videoman argue a bit and she leaves in a huff. ====================== ==> RIKI-TIKI-NAVI <== ====================== Note: Ah, screw you guys, that's a clever reference! o.- *ahem* ...Oh, what a gyp. Another generic navi, huh? Crusher's the Navi's name. Its operator is named Riki and he's a big, ugly, bald guy. After trying to intimidate Rockman, Riki wanders out. Follow. He'll be talking to an old lady he calls Boss. There'll be a brief event where the two fight and she walks off. Netto walks up and asks if Riki's okay. Well obviously not, you little putz. He mentions the Mafia. Hooboy, why is it always US that deals with this? Why can't Enzan do HIS fair share? Seems like the Net Mafia has kidnapped Crusher. Well, since we're the ruddy good guys and all, we hafta go save him. Can't get an easy win by letting the big baldy's Navi get plotzed. In any case, head to the lower level of the park. The old woman is talking to some crumbum. Go back to the upper area and plug-into the caravan. Net Mafia goons are swarming the Park Area! It's time to play Metal Gear Rockman and sneak by the guards. Huzzah, pseudo-stealth! Right, the only thing you need to know is that as long as the navi isn't facing directly at you, you can sneak by. If he's looking to the side, run behind him! If you get caught, you'll get thrown back to the start of the area, so watch out. Knowing this, make your way to the end of Park Area 3, where we reactivated the rides. Crusher is being held in an electrical cage and, as we have no better ideas, we'll shoot the bejesus outta it to open it. Unfortunately, blasting the hell out of things tends to make noise. Yeah, we get caught again. A bagworm thing and two evil Navis? Sounds easy enough. Dispatch 'em. Afterwards, Rock logs out. Now go talk to Riki. A pair of goon twins shows up. Then the boss shows up to stop 'em...by knocking 'em out cold. Netto and Riki walk off to have their match. Right, Crusher is an above-average normal Navi. More tricks up his sleeve and a bit faster. But he's not a custom, so he doesn't get boss specs. Go smite him. Be aware that he can and will summon viruses to help him. Take these out as quickly as possible and resume your focus on Crusher. Yup, that was it. Pretty short, wasn't it? o.O ============================== ==> ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS <== ============================== So your opponent is Windman, huh? Hey, look, it's someone in red! I wonder if it's a Cossack. ...Well, the person's name IS Ran. c.c Igarashi Ran, to be precise. Anyway, Ran's gender is kinda hard to guess, but let's call him a 'him' for now, shall we? Anyway, Ran is Windman's operator and he's a bit weird in the head. After a talk, Netto heads off. After he's gone, Ran seems to get possessed by some kinda weird evil side. Windman isn't quite sure of what the hell's going on either, from the look of things. Outside, Netto starts to head home when a scream interrupts him. Head down to the lower level. Ran seems to be having a staring contest with Dracula-Robo. Netto walks over to meet the possessed Ran. Plug-into the robot as soon as you can. Take the ferry clear to the end, where you fought Shademan, and take out the virus there. Plug-out afterwards. Since Netto is too stupid to realize that a red-faced, tongue-waggling, swirly-eyed look isn't Ran's NORMAL face, he wanders off. Head out of the park. As you leave, a cutscene occurs. As Netto's fiddling with his PET, Bizarro Ran runs by, bumps our easily-bamboozled hero, which makes his PET fly into the fountain. Could someone cue the Benny Hill Theme, please? Rock's okay, thankfully, so Netto heads on out. Bizarro Ran watches on. Head home and talk to Haruka. After Netto finishes his meal, the doorbell rings. It's Ran! Back to normal this time. After a lengthy discussion on what the heck Windman's been doing to the internet, Ran hands over a Grass Flute. Head back to the park and plug-into the upper level's caravan. The weather started getting rough, some programs, they got tossed... Windman's wreaking havoc on the park's internet area! Gale-force winds are blowing things around wildly. Whenever you get into battles, you'll be thrown around by it as well. Tiny tornados are moving in set patterns around the parknet as well. Our objective is simple: Get to the attraction switch in Park Area 3 while avoiding the tornados. We have to stop Windman! Every so often, you may see a whirling program whizz by. If you get hit by a twister, you get tossed back to the beginning of the area, so be careful. Windman's gone loco, and he stays that way until Rock plays the Grass Flute, which calms him down. Our job here is done. Head into the Castle once Rock plugs-out. Talk to Ran. He gives the Grass Flute back to its rightful owner. Ran lets Netto go into the elevator first, then his dark side emerges again. Finally, Netto seems to figure out that Ran ain't altogether THERE. ~~~~~~~~~~~ WINDMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 800 (Normal Mode) - ??? (Hard Mode) - ??? (Super Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Birdstrike: At random, a series of birds flies at you. Dodge up and down to avoid. Whirlygigs: I dunno what the hell they are. But Windman chucks out a pair of 'em that go after you like ratton chips. Tornados: At random, Windman will throw out a handful of medium-sized twisters. They have a set pattern and don't seem to move too far away from him, though. Keep out of the front column. Strategy: Wind is either blowing forward or back through the whole battle, making it a bit more annoying. He's not that hard, but the flying birds and the wind combine to be an annoying duo. If you want, use a Color Point or a Triple Crack to lose one of your own columns... this will help keep you farther away from Windman and his spooty tornados! Ran returns to normal after the fight. He doesn't seem to know how he got to the stadium. The two make their goodbyes and Ran heads off... ============================= ==> ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES <== ============================= Our opponent is... Roll?! Yup, Meiru and Roll have gotten their way into the Hawk Tournament and they want to smite you to prove their power. Our on the lower level of the park, Meiru and Yaito talk. Head oud of the castle when you get control back. Yaito will call out to you. Seems something's happened to Roll! Plug-into the nearby caravan. In Park Area 1, head down the ramp and talk to Glyde. Now then, head for Park Area 3. When you enter, you'll see a cutscene of Roll, surrounded by Metools, with a green navi standing in front of her. Seems he's some kind of deranged fan of hers. She calls him a pervert! Shortly after, he logs out, leaving Roll to wish Rock was around. Unfortunately, the platform she was on is unaccessable to us... But before he left, the stalker mentioned Internet Shopping. Head home and plug-in. Make your way to Akihara 2. Head to the Netmerchant there to find our stalker friend purchasing some wares. After a verbal fight, Rock gets into a physical one. After you win, you get the Room Key. Plug-out and head back to the Park. Plug-into the caravan again and make your way to the lower level of Park Area 3. You can now open the blue gate. Rock saves the day, even if he didn't really need to. Roll eventually charms the Mets into loving her. Head to the castle. As soon as you enter, you get an email from Roll, asking you to come to Meiru's room. Go there and plug-into her teddy bear. Basically you'll be chucked into a mini-game where you have to catch Roll as she teleports around the area. It's pretty easy, if a tad annoying. After you catch her three times, she'll head for the arena. Sounds like a plan. ~~~~~~~~ ROLL.EXE ~~~~~~~~ HP: ??? (Normal) - ??? - (Hard Mode) - 1300 (Super Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Roll Arrow: Roll shoots a heart-tipped arrow straight ahead. .......: Well, hell, I dunno what to call it when she teleports over to you and whaps you with her head noodles! You guys think of a name for this blasted attack. Mainly because I can't remember if it ever had a name to begin with. c.c;;; Love Love Virus: Roll does a magical girl teleport and summons a random enemy into battle. Strategy: Roll teleports all over the place. She's not really dangerous on her own. It's the viruses she summons that tend to trip you up. Get rid of those things first, then concentrate your attacks on Roll herself. If you want, Area Steal twice to keep her the hell in the back row, then attack with things like Wide Shot, that hit every row if used from the center one. In fact, you could probably get away with a Wide Shot Program Advance if you wanted. She isn't hard enough to warrant it. Even in Super Hard Mode, which is where I faced her, she was easy. X.x; When the battle's over and parting words are said, you'll be left with Roll's Soul as a reminder of just how annoying the mission really was. ========================= ==> BAKUSAI TENKETSU! <== ========================= Tamako shows up and talks to you for a bit, then leads you outside. Head to the lower level to find her standing next to a dirty great boulder. Apparently she's been watching too much Ranma 1/2 and thinks she knows the Bakusai Tenketsu technique. She isn't strong enough to break it up. She gives you the data to open a gate, then wanders off. Head to a PC and plug-in. We need to get to Town 4. Yes, 4. To get there, head to Town 2's lower level. You'll now be able to open the one on the left. Go on through. Welcome to Town 4! Head forward until you...meet a drunken Navi. He wants you to snag something from the Park Area for him. Stupid lush. Anyway, Plug-out and head for the Park again. In Park Area 2, there's one o' those ugly purple Navis who mentions random stuff before wanting a Spreadgun L. He'll give you the Virus Koroshi for it. Now, head to the upper area of Park Area 1. There's a green navi pacing quickly. He wants to sell you a Dennou Surume ("Electic Brain Scuttlefish"? Wha?) for 500 zeni. With both of these items in check, head back to the drunk and fork 'em over. He'll then ask you to destroy a giant boulder, like the one Tamako was standing by. You have 20 seconds to destroy three boulders. Bakusai Tenketsu training! Run up to the boulder and hit A. Then hit B when the cursor is in the center to shatter the boulder. Destroy all three and talk to the Navi again before time runs out. Rockman logs out on his own. Now head back to Cielo Castillo. Plug-in to the Icecream cart and talk to Metalman. You have 60 seconds. You've got to shatter more boulders than Metalman does. Then you'll have to do it again with silver boulders being thrown into the mix. And then black boulders will be thrown into the mix. The darker two don't give you more points, so don't go after them unless you have to. When you smite him three times, it's time for battle. Go into the Castle Arena. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Metalman.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 800 Attacks ------- Gear Change: Once in awhile, he'll change where the gears on the floor are. No big deal. Metal Blade: He can do the throw from EXE3 or he can get in the middle row and throw one straight across. Strategy: He's a pushover! Definitely powered down from EXE3. His being able to switch the gears' position actually makes him a LOT easier to beat. As with all gimmick navis, keep an eye on the foreign objects on the playing field. You don't want to avoid an attack that could kill you only to die by having a gear plow into Rock's ass, do you? Congrats. Say hello to a brand new soul! ============================ ==> WOOD YOU, COULD YOU? <== ============================ NOTE: If you're using an emulator, you're going to run into a lot of glitches here. Find some Shinobi Dash subchips and keep them the hell on, lest you risk having things lock up on you. Savestate/Save often as well. ...Or you could always try BUYING the ruddy games! o.- Anyway, head out of the castle and you'll get email from Saloma. Head to Akihara to find her in the park. Netto's stomach growls, so the two have a picnic while catching up. Afterwards, a pair of guys walk in, say something, and wander off. Saloma gets some email after that. Seems she's needed elsewhere. She grabs the picnic basket and excuses herself. She went downtown, so follow her there. She'll be on the sound system screen. She'll be talking to a man and a woman. After they're gone, Netto runs up to see what the problem is. After she's done angsting, head to the Densan Dome. Head back into the battle arena. An old man, most likely the one from earlier at the park, is on the upper level. He pushes past the old guy and plugs-into the battle machine. Once in, talk to the green navi in the upper righthand corner to get into a battle. It's easy on any difficulty. After a brief talk, Saloma sends you more email. It seems Woodman's gone a bit loco in the Park Area. Plug-out and head for the park. Talk to Saloma, who's up near the castle. A cutscene will show Woodman on the attraction operation switch platform with an official navi. The two talk for a moment before the official navi walks off. Right. Plug-into the caravan. Head over and down the ramp, making your way to Park 2. As you get to the bottom and round the corner, a strange yellow hole opens up in the path ahead of you. Suddenly, a Wood Tower flies up out of it barely missing Rock! The paths ahead are booby trapped with Wood Towers that shoot up like spikes. Be careful. Basically, you have to run a gauntlet. Woodman's Wood Towers are pushing up all over the place, and they're in all three park areas. If you touch one, you'll get knocked back a bit and lose a chunk of your HP. When you reach Woodman, Rock talks to him for awhile. Then the official navi comes back in. Apparently, the problem was that Woodman didn't think his operator cared about him anymore. At least, that's what I got out of the dialogue from a glance. The navi starts to blather on, ending when Woodman summons a Wood Tower to destroy him. Both custom navis plug-out. Apparently, the two want to make Saloma the leader of their little group. With this out of the way, Saloma and Netto head into the castle. ~~~~~~~~~~~ WOODMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 1000 (Normal) - 1500 (Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Log Roll: Logs seem to constantly roll toward you during this battle. They take up two-thirds of a column and alternate from top to bottom. Can easily be halted with a Rockcube. Seed Machinegun: Woodman fires three seeds horizontally. Wood Tower: Woodman leaps high into the air and when he lands, three or four spaces on your side will light up. Get out of the way to avoid being hit. He can do this a single time or up it to three. Strategy: Woodman's ninja training isn't as good as Numberman's. His kung-fu isn't the best, but he's still annoying. Set a Rockcube as your pre-selected chip to make this a lot easier. Even in hard mode, you should be able to whittle his HP down over a TON before the Cube breaks out. And if you have more than one, by all means, load up. Stick them in the middle of the front column on your side. It'll block both logs and you'll still have good access to shooting Woodman in the face with a bazooka! ============ Heyyy, we won ANOTHER tournament! And got a brand new soul in the process! Netto is embarassed in front of a crowd again and gets a...slightly-less-than-completely-dinky trophy! Rah! Right - there's only one tournament left. The Red Sun Tournament/Blue Moon Tournament - No difference other than the names and the souls you can acquire. But wait, we aren't through with the Hawk Tournament just yet! As Netto heads up the stairs to leave, screams from below cause him to turn. Head back down and plug-into the battle machine. Laserman is waiting for you. Aquaman or Gutsman, depending on which version you're playing, shows up after a brief battle of words between Rock and Laserman. Laserman proceeds to show Rock just how dark his soul can become, ripping out the navi's dark soul and forcing it into the other navi, turning him dark. Time to fight our very first Dark Soul navi! . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AQUAMAN DS/GUTSMAN DS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: ??? (Normal) - 800 (Hard Mode) - ??? (Super Hard) Attacks ------- Same as before + various battle chips. Strategy: There's not much difference here. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Like Woodman, they aren't tough, even in the harder difficulty settings.. After the battle's over, Aquaman/Gutsman assures Rock that he's okay. Rock yells at Laserman and Laserman sticks Rock's dark soul back into his own body. Laserman then fades out. Aquaman/Gutsman logs out shortly. Rock and Netto talk for awhile on what just happened, then the screen fades to white. This ends another 'Day' in EXE 4.... ########################## OH, I HATE GETTING MUGGED! ########################## A cutscene of ANSA starts this chapter. They're using a bigass laser to shoot at the asteroid in space. Meanwhile, Roll embarasses Meiru by telling Rock, Glyde, and Gutsman about what happened at the theme park with Dracula-Robo. An orange/grey Navi walks up asking for Rock. He'll ask you to take part in a worldwide tournament called the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament. He'll give you an airline ticket. After the event is over and Netto has talked to Rock, talk to Haruka and head to the metroline. The airport is now an available option, and from here you can choose one of six places to visit! ... Or you will eventually. Right now, only Amerouppe is open. So head on over there. You'll get an email from a Netbattler group. Head southwest, then north a bit and talk to the black dude near the headless statue. He's from the WNB and is there to help you get settled in. He gives you your Net Passport - which will let you pass by that annoying pink Navi in the Akihara region. Head north of the metroline entrance and go into what looks like an alley. It leads to the Colosseum. There's a 10-Chip Trader here. Head around and see the sights. Northwest of the hotel there's a waitress and an old man. If you talk to the waitress, you can get a delicious meal for only 1000 zeni. ...But if you say no, you can get it down to at least 250. The old man'll throw a trio of viruses at you, so beat them. After you're done sightseeing, head back to our tourguide. They'll head off toward the Colosseum. Netto stops and waits. A guy in a car promptly shanghais our hero and chucks him into a hotel room. Why does this always happen when we go to other countries?! When Netto comes to, he's in a hotel room - locked in. Search around the room and you'll find that you can plug-into the statue at the bottom of the place. You'll find that you're in the Hotel's homepage. Talk to the Program near the message board to get the P-Code. Now head on out. You're in Amerouppe Area. Be careful of GMDs. They tend to be bugged here. Untrap them to get at the goodies freely. You'll notice some strange boxes around. These are Key Datas. You'll need them to unlock the door of the hotel room. Key Data A is at the top of the area, near the exit. They're all booby-trapped, too. Key Data D is just south of the path that leads to it. Key Data C is near the southern exit of the area. And Key Data B is near the easternmost exit. Once you have all four, log out. Netto will go to the door and unlock it. The blonde who kidnapped you enters...followed by your tourguide. The hell's going on here?! Ahh, it was just another test. Boy, I hate tests, don't you guys? Well, Bones, the tourguide, is on the level, and we're free to leave now. After a brief scene, leave the room and head to the Colosseum. Head on inside and talk to the Mouth of Truth. After a brief sequence where the talking statue will scare the crap out of our easily-bamboozled hero, we'll see the brackets for the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament. ############################ RED SUN/BLUE MOON TOURNAMENT ############################ The final tourney in the game. You're basically free to roam from Amerouppe Area into the other three countries' homepages. Shaaro is the upper-level, northern exit. Afrikku is the easternmost exit, and Ajiina is the southernmost exit. You can get all of the Parts and assemble the C-Slider to access the Ura Internet at any time from here on - we'll cover that later, though, alright? Searchman and Blues require the Slider for their scenarios, so I'll cover where to buy the Parts there. Here are the possible scenarios for the final tournament of EXE 4! --> The Water God's Wrath --> Kendo'h! --> Footbomb?! Oh HELL no! --> Frostbite --> Junkin' Pawn (Oh shut up) ==> Blue Moon only --> Rhythm and Blues ==> Blue Moon only --> And the Thunder Rolls... ==> Red Sun only --> Trigger Happy ==> Red Sun only And there you have it! Enzan is here, and so is Meijin - looking along like the poor man's Jedi! Some shmo with an entirely-too-annoying game of chance, the return of old friends, and the sad story of a navi who didn't want to go out with the rest of the trash. ============================= ==> THE WATER GOD'S WRATH <== ============================= A kid, apparently named Porepore, comes up to you. He wants you to follow him to Afrikku. Well, this is different, isn't it? Right, head to the higher level of the area and talk to Porepore. Plug-into the funky totem thing. Go to the end and talk to the orange/grey navi. Choose the right answers to get into a series of 3 battles. Win and get the Afrikku Code. Welcome to the Afrikku Area! Work your way to the center of the area, where a Navi is speaking to a group while standing next to a really ugly mask-thing. One of the Navis approaches you. Jua, Porepore's Navi, is the one. Jua will announce your presence to the group. The orange Navi then walks up to the mask-thing, which takes off like a rocket. Our job is to track it down. Mizugami-sama, here we come! Head back through Amerouppe and into Shaaro. It's the northern exit and leads to an area with a ton of conveyor belt pathways. Our voodoo idol is sitting along the eastern wall. Once you get it, take it back to the center of Afrikku. The group gathers again as Rock is announced as the winner. Something strange is going on, though, and Rockman is plugged-out. The river has dried up completely! On the other side is a lifesize statue of Lord Mizugami. He must be ticked off that an outsider found him before one of the natives. Or something. After a short event, you're given the Lion's Key. Plug-into the funky statue again. In the Afrikku Area there are a pair of double-gates. You'll see them off of the central platform. Head down there. Speak to it again, then select the option with a 4, then a 2, then 60, then Midori (center choice), then 22. You'll get into a series of 3 battles. Go through and collect the Fukkatsu no Shizuku (Restoration of Water) and log out. Now then, exit and head over to the lifesize Mizugami and plug-in. Take the right portal and you'll come across two Navis lying sprawled out on the ground. Things go dark and their spirits rise up. They're mad at you for some reason and attack. After a short series of battles, head out the right portal to reach FOUR sprawled-out Navis. Yup, this is another series fight, too. Head through the right portal to reach an empty room. Leave right through that one as well to reach a room with THREE dead Navis. More of the same here. Now then, the portals are kinda wonky here. Plug-out, then run around until you hit a spot with a single Navi on the ground. There's also a Full Energy and a number of 100 Zeni BMDs lying around. You're gonna need to just run around like an idiot to find the group of FIVE sprawled-out Navis, because try as I did to make a map of this funky dungeon, I couldn't do it. X.x; But there IS a group of 5. Leave THAT room through the right portal and way up to the robot-looking thing. More battling! Let me go on record to say that I was able to wander around until I found the weirdass robot thing and immediately did the event there. I dunno why on earth those dead navis are hanging around. After beating them all, you'll install the Restoration of Water program into the robot. Wow, the water's back, but it's MIGHTY brown. Everything is back to normal here, so mount your ostrich and fly back to Amerouppe. Head to the colosseum to battle another bland, generic navi! Porepore's navi has 700HP...but other than that, he's standard evil navi fare. Virus summoning, bombs, swords, the works. Nothing you haven't faced before. After you win, there's a typical post-battle talking to. Head out of the arena to hear who's moved on to the next round. ================ ==> KENDO'H! <== ================ "'San' wa iranai..." As you look at the brackets for this tourney, Meijin steps out from the double doors of the arena and talks for awhile about some goings-on in Afrikku. A blonde guy watches on from the 'hallway' during this. Right, now we head to the in-game version of Africa. Since I'm tired of called it Afrikku, bear with me when I call it Africa. Much less annoying that way. Head to the subway entrance to access the world map again. The bigass pink country is Africa. When you arrive, talk to the two guys that're there for some general info, then plug-into the ugly-as-hell statue thing. Head up to the warp point and talk to the orange/grey navi, select the first option, and you'll get lobbed into a fight. After a series of 3 fights, you'll get the P-Code for Africa. Head around the area until you run across Kendouman. Rock asks if he's Kendouman and Kendouman will get miffed, ordering Rock to call him Kendouman-sensei. You'll get a bamboo stick from him. We've become a student under him, it seems! We must train! Now then, head back to Amerouppe Area, which you can access from this one. All the foreign countries are connected together through Amerouppe's Area. Ajiina is the southern exit out of Amerouppe. On entering, you'll see a navi down on the ground. Don't worry, Shademan isn't the reason this time. You'll run into a Kendou Dummy soon. Go up to it and hit A to start a mini-game. Hit Left+A to block. You'll see a large blob of Japanese words. Hit Up+A to do a high attack. Do this when his kendou stick is down. Hit Down+A to do a low attack. Do this when his kendou stick is up. Hit Right+A to do a side attack. Do this when his kendou stick is sideways. If you do well enough, which will probably take a practice or three, you'll deplete his energy (the green bar at the side of the screen) enough to make it by. Win and you'll get a diploma of sorts as proof. Now we go back to Amerouppe and find the Kendou Dummy there. You'll find it just at the top of the ramp that leads to the higher level. Same as before. When you beat him, you get the second diploma. There's one more left - in Shaaro...the entrance is just up ahead on the higher level here. He's right inside the entrance, too. You can't miss him! This one's a bit different. He has more HP and has a 60-second timer. After getting the third diploma, return to the Africa network and go back to Kendouman -- excuse me, Kendouman-sensei. After a brief talk, Rock auto plugs-out. Head back to the Colosseum! Netto is introduced...but when Meijin is, he doesn't appear. Something must have happened to him - it isn't like him to be late. A scientist walks in moments later to say just this. Netto says that he and Rock will help find him. Alright, head back to Africa! Once there, head for the ramp to the upper section and a cutscene will occur. A growl will come from somewhere nearby. Across the river, a pack of lions has the villagers trapped! Meijin makes a long-winded speech and the blonde guy tells him to shut his gob. The two get in a fight, which Meijin, even with his lightsab-- uh... kendou stick, loses. The blonde is obviously hepped up on the goofballs. Head up and across the bridge. Plug-into the ugly lion's head statue. Inside are a handful of strange antenna things. Head up to one and press A to get into a fight. The antenna is destroyed when you win. So, we have our new mission - destroy the antennas. Once you get all four, the lions will be gone. Netto walks in and Meijin comes to his senses. Blondie knows he's in deep dookie now! The screen goes back and Meijin whomps him. After, he thanks Netto for saving him. NOW we can go back and fight in the Colosseum. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ KENDOUMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Urg, why didn't I get his HP? x.x; Sorry, guys. He isn't hard, though... HP: ??? (Normal) - ??? (Hard) - ??? (Super Hard) Attacks ------- Kendou Strike: Kendouman rushes forward at you. Dodge up or down to avoid. Shadow Strike: Kendouman splits into three clones and then they move up and down the column in front of you, taking shots in. Watch the ground lighting up and move up and down in a steady pattern. Easy to avoid. Kendou Swipe: If you linger in the front column, Kendouman will smack you in a way more fitting to a sword than a kendou stick. Strategy: Nice special effects, Shadowman. ._. Kendouman is fast. Not fast enough to totally wail on you, but fast enough to make getting in hits difficult. Basically, never stay on the row he's on. His Shadow Strike looks far more impressive than it really is. Keep your cool and don't sweat it when he comes at you. Stay in the back column at all times and pick him off from afar. Vulcan chips work quite nicely on him...so you might want to pick up a Super Vulcan (21000 zeni, Higure's shop) before fighting him. Now then, let's move on. I'm sick and damn tired of typing 'kendou' out. Meijin leaves, as always, on good terms with Netto. Kendouman seemed pleased with his "student's" progress as a warrior. Head back to the previous room to hear who moved on. ================================ ==> FOOTBOMB?! OH _HELL_ NO! <== ================================ A goon in pink with sunglasses shows up. He tries intimidating Netto it seems...and mentions some oddity that seems to be called Footbomb. After a VERY long discussion, he leaves. We need us some Bomb Shoes... Go back to the hotel and plug-in. Head toward the Africa entrance to find an orange and grey navi. If you've got a Metguard A, he'll fork over the Bomb Shoes. Rock informs Netto that new email has arrived. Our goon friend's name is Jack Bomar (Enough bad name jokes, Capcom! We get the point! Ivan likes cold things, Jack's a bomb nut...) and he's calling to tell us to plug-into the goddess statue. So plug-out and head outside. There's a statue down below. Plug-in there. Walk up and talk to the green navi inside. Here you can get started in a game of football, say you aren't ready, or hear the rules. Basically it's just choosing whether to shoot left or right...and then you'll switch and be guarding the net. Same difference. Press a direction+A to aim or block. It's all random, so you really need to get lucky. So save state often, emulator users. By the way, not holding a button and pressing A aims forward. The navi then logs out after mentioning a hiroi area. A wide area, in other words. He wanted a bigger playing field. Head to Afrikku and plug into the hideously-ugly statue (not the lion one) and walk around to the platform just under yours (ie - don't take the conveyor belt) to find the green navi. Both navis plug-out after a short discussion. Now we have to find somewhere Eiyuu no Naka - inside a hero. Head to the Colosseum and plug- into the statue out front. Walk up to our annoying navi friend and talk to him again. It's Footbomb Mk II time! A bigger bomb this time. Each one seems to do 600 damage to the other person's life. So if you've got 600HP or less, one miss will end the game for you. He has 1200, so you need two good shots in. After this, he'll plug-out. Then Rockman will. Time to fight. Get into the colosseum and head to the arena. His navi is typical fare for a normal navi. You should know how to dispatch these things by now. After the fight, a man runs up to Jack and apparently has big things in store for the Footbomb fan. Jack tells Netto to do his best and the two exit. ================= ==> FROSTBITE <== ================= Coldman's owner, looking a lot like Olaf from Advance Wars, wanders in. He leaves and a scientist walks in shortly thereafter, looking for Netto. Coldman's wreaking havoc - that didn't take long. Head to your hotel room and plug-in. We've gotta find Coldman and see what he's upto. He's on the upper level of Amerouppe, along with a trio of Snowmen. Hyuuuuuuuuu. Something seems to be wrong in the real world, as Netto's stuttering. Coldman's snowmen melt and he logs out. Do the same and head outside. 'Ey! Why didn't someone tell me a blizzard was planned?! This isn't good. If it keeps snowing, everyone'll freeze! This mess, as told by the email you get, is coming from Shaaro. Head to the metroline and fly over to the snowy region. The town is small and covered in snow, as would be expected. Head to the north end of town and enter the space center. There's a scientist out cold on the floor. Talk to him to learn that the antennas are the cause of this blizzard. We've got to take care of them to proceed! Seems there are snowmen infesting the antenna, placed by our frozen 'friend'...don't worry, I'm TRYING to avoid the Batman & Robin-calibur bad 'cold' puns. You'll notice a temperature gauge up at the top-right. If it gets too cold out, Netto'll freeze his butt off and you'll have to redo whatever you were in the middle of. So go back inside between antennas. Now then! We're gonna need a way to clear them thar snow drifts! Go outside and mind the temperature gauge. It'll constantly drop at a slow rate as long as Netto is outside. It only stops when you're in a battle. Go inspect a snow drift, then inspect the first house in town (if you were coming from the dogsled) to find a shovel. Go back to the drift and you'll play a button-mashing game - hit B as fast as possible to get the snow cleared. We'll start with the antenna at the far end of town. There'll be a snowman right in front of you as soon as you plug-in. Run up to it and hit A to start a battle. I repeat - the temperature won't drop while you battle. But as soon as it's over, run up to the northeastern snowman and engage that one as well, then run to the one in the remaining side of the triangle that the snowmen formed. Once this is done, go up to the torch with the control panel. You'll need a heat chip with the code of C that has Heat in the title. Heat Shot chips, for instance. Once the torches are lit, go to the antenna near the dogsled. If you need a chip for it, go buy a Heat Shot C from Higure. Buy TWO, as the game won't let you do this if you only have one for some reason. I was stuck here for awhile due to this. The same thing applies. Dispatch the snowmen and check the torch. This one needs a chip with the code of F. A Flame Line chip would work just fine here. You should have picked up at least one of these buy now. They sometimes appear in green mystery data in Town Area 2, though. Now go back inside the Space Center. If the temperature has dropped below 35.0c, Netto will warn you that it's getting pretty damn cold outside. So go warm him up. Alright, the antenna nearest the space center is next. Dispatch the snowmen. This one has five snowmen in it, for the record. The code here is Z. We need...a black bomb?! Well, there's one in the Shaaro Area...near the girl behind the gate you have to pay 500 zeni to open. You'll need an unlocker to open the purple mystery data containing it! The final antenna in the center of town - it has four snowmen. We need a chip with a code of K. If you need one, fly to Amerouppe, plug-in, and go to the netmerchant to buy a Heat Breath K chip. After fixing all four of these, the Scientist will email you, saying things are better. Then Coldman calls to give you a big fat >:o for ruining his plans. Hey, look, this place looks pretty cool when a blizzard isn't blasting it. Too bad we don't have time to deal with it, huh? Right, back to Amerouppe's Colosseum. We have one last snowman to melt. Iwan Koorisukii? That can NOT be his name...that's the worse name pun ever...they aren't even trying. This basically means we're gonna end up with some insane dub name like "Ivan Icelover" or "Ivan Likescoldsky" or something. X.x; X.x; Crazy operator names... ~~~~~~~~~~~ Coldman.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 800 (Normal) - ??? (Hard Mode) - ??? (Super Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Ice Cube: Coldman forms three Ice Cubes to protect himself. Blast 'em away. Watch out, because he'll shove them your way one at a time at random. If you've got the Junk Soul, you'll have the easiest time ever, as you can just charge your buster and fling his own obstacles back at him! Cold Mist: Coldman opens his chest, causing two cloudy sprays to float out. Avoid them or shoot them. Stomp: Coldman will jump at you! MOVE. It cracks the ground. Strategy: Tiny little thing, isn't he? He's alligned to the cold, he's tiny, therefore he must be annoying as hell. He doesn't let down. Where Aquaman dropped the bubble on the annoyance factor so Coldman's turning it on doubletime. Dodge dodge dodge! Avoid his insane attacks and fire back when you can. He seems to stay in the back row, moving in a constant pattern. You'll figure out his patterns soon enough. Basically, he creates some Ice Cubes, pushes them at you while you're in the same row as you. Then he'll typically use the Mist attack on you. Hide behind a Cube if you can. But then, Coldman will most likely try to Stomp you. The snow is stopped and we advance one more round. An official comes up and appears to arrest Ivan for his crime. It's about time one of these hooligans got sent to the gulag. Couldn't have happened to a colder bloke. Head on out. ===================== ==> JUNKIN' PAWN <== ===================== Hey, alright, Junkman! After seeing the standing, Rockman turns into Rockwell and starts talking about who is and isn't watching them. Netto doesn't see anyone. Eventually, the purple-haired woman comes in. It appears something is afoul in Ajiina. Gomi Day (Garbage Day) has been all messed up because of something. Anyway, head out and to the metroline to fly to Ajiina. And begin. o/~ Gomi gomi gomi gomi go~mi day... Sorry. Had to get that out of my system. Stupid Shounen Knife... My my my, doesn't THIS place look festive! Ugh. Head on up above the old man. There's an upper path to this area, but a woman is blocking it. So take the lower route. ...Hey, what in the... so help me, if Sagat comes out and starts yelling "TIGER! TIGER! TIGER!" I'm leaving the country! So Ajiina = Thailand, then? Righteo. There's a kid looking at a quartet of statues at the upper-left of the area. Plug-in. The upper path leads to a Navi that'll sell you the P-code for...6000 zeni?! Ripoff artist! Nothing to be done, pay the man and get the goods. x.x Head home to Akihara and plug-in to try getting some easy money. Green in-battle mystery datas will sometimes give you 2000 zeni. Now then, once you pay that little so-and-so...we need to figure out what's up with Gomi Day. Head around and down and you'll eventually find some trash clogging up the paths near a gate. A navi's standing around, too. Talk to 'im to get the Landfill Key. Use it to unlock the gate in front of you. As Rock investigates the area, a shadow appears over him. He zips out of the way just in time. Another pile of garbage drops down, blocking the way back! Rock runs forward, trash pile upon trash pile raining down until... Uh-oh. Dead end. Another trash pile falls right on Rock's head. The scene switches back to Netto. Rockman's alive, but sounds weak. That or the smell got to him. Anyway, plug-in again when you can. Note that Rock's going to start battles confused. This is annoying, but easily overcome. Just remember that up is down and right is left. Now then, you're gonna need to do something different. Hit the L button and talk to Rock a few times. Eventually some questions will be asked. If you answer right, Junkman will appear. It seems that he got switched with Rockman when the last pile fell. You are Junkman's current operator! *sweatdrop* Right, well after a really amusing scenewhere Junkman seems all eager to get back and Netto tells him to shut up, we need to get back to where Rock is - buried under trash! Go up to the first pile that's in the way - Junkman'll destroy it and you'll go into battle. Once you get to the end, you'll bust a strangely glowing Rockman free. He wants his body back! Junkman's spirit appears over Rockman's body. Junkman says something about where he was 'born' and where he feels safe. Or something. Junkman has a bizarre way of speaking. After a conversation, Rock's spirit rejoins his body. I think Junkman was scared of being taken out with the trash. O.o Anyway, Rockman logs out. Now go to the previous screen, go up a level, and talk to the woman blocking the path. She'll let you through afterward. Head up to the head and Plug-in there. You might need to talk to other people in Ajiina first, by the way. Talk to the Program inside. He speaks on the Buddhist statue and how it helps bring peace to those that view it. In the end, he'll give you Kindness Data. Grab the 2000 zeni in the blue mystery data while you're in here. Then plug-out. Now go back to the Colosseum. Junkman needs no operator to fight. Before it begins, Rockman gives him the Kindness Data. Rock tells him some words of wisdom, basically telling him that he should believe in himself instead of letting himself get taken out with the rest of the trash. But Junkman gets mad and throws the Kindness Data back to Rockman, telling him that all he said was hypocritical. "Hurry up and fight! I can't wait to turn you into junk!" ~~~~~~~~~~~ Junkman.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 800 (Normal) - ??? (Hard Mode) - ??? (Super Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Magnetic Junk: Random trash will appear and fly at you. CONSTANTLY. Shooting them slows them down. Loose Screws: Junkman sends screws flying out at random. Trash Compactor: Junkman rears back and then a large, crushing arm flies forth. Strategy: This guy is the very epitome of annoying. Trash constantly flies at you and when you shoot them to get a gap in which to move past, he'll hit you with screws. I can't really offer up a strategy here. My HP was pitifully low when I faced him the first time and I got all torn up. So bad that I had to embrace the power of darkness to rip this walking trash heap apart. x.x And even then, Rock was 'killed'...though he was entirely black when it happened and thus he went berserk, moving on his own and firing off chips by his own accord. Afterwards, Junkman asks Rock to hurry and finish him off. Rock says that he can't because Junkman doesn't have any backup data... But Junkman says he wants to die here. "...You wanted me to delete you from the start..." Junkman confirms this theory. Junkman calls Rock strange, but says he's glad that they met. "I'm glad my last fight was with you..." Junkman's body cannot hold out and breaks apart. Netto and Rockman win...and Junkman's Soul comes with them so that a part of him will continue to live on, even if his own body is now gone. The battle is over and we've come out on top, though. Junkman won't ever really be dead...we've still got to go kick his ghost all over the internet, after all! So don't feel too bad for our poor, discarded friend. He had fun in his last true battle. And as the victor, it's time for us to move on to our next one. ======================== ==> RHYTHM AND BLUES <== ======================== Welcome to possibly THE longest scenario in either of the games. As Netto and Rock talk about Blues, a couple of guys walk out from the arena, talking about Japan's ace netbattler...and his navi's Dark Soul. Blues has been affected by the darkness! Just then, Enzan calls Netto. Head to the hotel. Netto enters to find Enzan sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes closed. Netto asks if it's true that Blues' soul has been claimed by the darkness. Enzan confirms. It seems Blues was commandeered by the bad guys...and judging by the color of the navi pestering Blues, I'd say it's the Net Mafia. Blues calls them Nebula. Our Dark Chip-using friends have a name for their group, do they? After a long conversation, Enzan's PET goes off. He gets to his feet as Blues lets out a yell. The PET then flies through the air on its own and crashes to the ground halfway across the room. The power of the Dark Chips must be great for it to have that much of a hold on the navi. Enzan leaves hastily shortly thereafter and Netto plugs-in Rock to the statue. A cutscene takes place. In Ura 5, next to the frozen-in-stone form of Forte, Blues is held captive by a black navi. All Blues can do is scream incoherently as the power ravages him from the inside out. A purple navi walks up to his boss to inform him of Rockman's come into play. After a talk, the purple navi leaves. Now then, back in control. We're gonna need access to the C-Slider to reach the Uranet. Board Parts are in Town 2, on the lower left path, sold by a hidden pink navi for 2000z. The Jet Parts are in Town 3, on the lower level, sold by a partially hidden green navi for 3000z. And the Wing Parts are in Ajiina, under a sloped path, sold by a purple navi for 4000z. After this, head to Afrikku Area and take the northern exit into a different part of Shaaro's Area. Here, make your way past the long conveyor belts and down the ramp. Talk to the navi standing in front of the railway to be told of the C-Slider - a device that will allow navis to cross these tiny pathways. Once you have the Parts and have talked to him, go to the normal Shaaro Area, take the left side of the path, and you'll get to a blue gate that you can unlock for 500z. At the end is a female navi who'll make the Slider if you've got the parts. There's also a Black Bomb Z in the PMD near her. After you have the Slider, head back through Afrikku, making your way back to the slider rail. Oh, and if you didn't pick up one of the other Parts....since you can't leave the hotel room, just take the other Ajiina exit to get back to Akihara 2. But when you head to Shaaro for the first time, email from Enzan comes in. Generic info on the fact that Blues is in the Uranet and that we can get there via Shaaro. Thanks, Captain Obvious. Now go and hop on that rail! Welcome to the Ura Internet. Nice bone paths, huh? Thankfully, you won't be sniped at like you would be if Searchman's path were in Blue Moon. A few steps in, a cutscene occurs. Enzan emails Netto and tells him to turn control of Rockman over to him! Now then, on with the journey. With Enzan in command, take Rock through the twisting maze of the Ura Paths. When you reach the spot after the warp point, you'll see a dark gate blocking your way. Rock will inform Enzan on it. You need a red key to proceed. Warp back and return to the start of the area. Enzan tells you of four bones. Well, thanks a lot there, Vague Lad, the whole Uranet's made of bones! Anyway, look back up the path and you'll see a set of four fangs around the path. Search around these and some dialogue will take place. Once you get it, head back across the warp, unlock the door, and head to Ura 2. The gate at the end of this area requires a Blue Key and a Green Key. The Blue Key you can get by heading left until you get to a big platform with orange-padded corners and little ^^^^^ teeth. Head to the right corner, face inwards, and start tapping left, then A, left then A until you hit the right spot. It's pretty small. The green key is on our way back to the door. There'll be a spot on the orange pathway where two conveyor bits are adjacent to one another. RBBO RBBX OGXO Stay with me here. R = Ramp leading down. O = Orange Pathway X = Conveyor Spaces B = Thin Air G = Tile the Green Key's on. It's in the upper-right corner. Once you have these, head to the door and bust through. Ura 3. Well HUZZAH. This place is a colossal pain in the ass to properly try to steer someone around, but I'll try my best. There are two sets of initial warp points - upper and lower. Upper leads to Ura 6, lower leads to Ura 4. I'll be basing all my directions around these, so keep up. Take the upper route and follow the rather straightforward path, through another warp gate, and along a red path to the door. 1 key for area 1, 2 for area 2... yup, there are THREE keys in this bloody maze. Yellow, White, and Black. Alright, head back through the warps. Once you get out of the Upper Warp Point, head north. Walk around the path, which circles one of the floating platforms that link warp points, and you'll see a group of 9 fangs. Find the fifth, turn around, and search the center of that piece of pathway. White Key time. Head into the Lower Warp Point area. At the lower-left there are 6 fangs. Search the spot between the grey corner tile and the orange tile above it to find this key. Black Key's all that's left! This one's simple. Take the Upper Warp Point. Go down to the bottom of the platform and search the right edge of the orange cornerpiece. Now head through the top warp of the two to get back to the door. In the next area, take the left of the two paths and walk until you see some conveyors. Get to the far side and you'll have a choice: Go down a single-wide path, or take a conveyor and take a large path. Take the large path. When you reach the end, that purple goon of the black navi's is blocking the exit. He'll engage you in a battle. After you win, head into Ura-5 and along the only path open to you. The black navi continues torturting Blues - good thing we're here to put a stop to it. In the real world, Enzan asks Netto for his PET. It's HIS Navi they're saving, after all. Enzan becomes Rockman's temporary operator and the battle for Blues begins! A series of 5 battles ensues. After, the black navi releases Blues. Blues, a bit messed up from the torture, promptly deletes the navi. He then sets his sights on Rock. He flies at Rock...who catches his sword! Enzan tells Netto that he needs to go Full Synchro with his navi to help him out. Netto does this and the Full Synchro Rock knocks Blues out. When he comes to, he seems to have his senses about him again. Blues is hurting pretty bad and Rock says "You don't remember anything?" Blues confirms it. He has no recollection of what just happened. After a brief scene, it flashes back to Netto and Enzan in the hotel room. Enzan asks Blues if he can move. Blues is good to go. Both plug their navis out. Head to the colosseum. It's time to face Netto's greatest rival. Netto and Enzan enter the colosseum together. ~~~~~~~~~ BLUES.EXE ~~~~~~~~~ HP: ??? (Normal) - ??? (Hard Mode) - 1600 (Super Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Shield: Blues can raise a shield at any time - just to annoy you. Warp Slash: Blues warps in front of you and slashes with his sword arm. Long Sword: Reaches three spaces back. Strategy: Blues is as evil as ever. Better have good reflexes to get out of the way of his attacks. The Warp Slash is as annoying as it ever was. He never used a killer attack once his HP was low, but maybe it was just because I didn't waste a lot of time in finishing him off. I'm sure he has something like the triple wave slash from EXE 3 ...x.x; There's no proper strategy I can give here, really. It's all skill. By this point in the game, you should have what you need to beat him. After the battle, Netto is surprised, and quite happy, that he won. After this, Rock talks to Netto and uses the word 'sugoku' upwards of five thousand times. You then get Blues' Soul. Enzan says his goodbyes and turns to leave. Netto talks about how powerful Enzan is afterward. ================================ ==> AND THE THUNDER ROLLS... <== ================================ Hey, lookit! Raul and Thunderman! Back from EXE2, where they made several gamers' lives a living hell! As Netto talks to Rock, a blonde shmo walks up to you, speaking Jack King-levels of Engrish. After he leaves, Netto heads off, only to be waylayed by an old man. Getting into a battle already? Sure are. After you whomp his normal navi, he grumbles and walks off, mentioning the name Gillespie. Go back to the hotel and plug-in. Head over near the Netmerchant to see an orange, female navi. Select the first option after she speaks to get into yet another fight. Something seems wrong with Rock post-battle, however. He says he's in pain, in fact. Netto plugs him out. Meanwhile, someone, somewhere, seems very amused by Rock's predicament. Head to the colosseum. Out front is Raul. Raul seems to know who did it. Gillespie Nekrom, which I'm sure is spelled totally wrong. After some discussion, go plug-in at the hotel. Now then, we have a problem. Rock's got himself a parasite of sorts, and it's rapidly sucking his HP away. 10HP drops every second or two, so move your ass. You've got to collect some stuff in here. Proof of Courage and Proof of Strength. Courage is up where Coldman would be. Strength is near the exit to Afrikku. After you get these, head south into Ajiina. At the far end of of the area is the Proof of Wisdom. And the final one is a bit further north. The Proof of Kindness. If your HP is getting low and you don't want to plug-out, get into a battle, finish all but the easiest-to-avoid enemy, and then just sit around and wait for some Recovery chips to come up. After you get all four Proofs, head back to Amerouppe Area and talk to Thunderman. Now, you need to find the Voodoo Doll that's apparently causing all this trouble! Head back towards the Afrikku exit and go north to the blue gate. With all four Proofs, it opens. Grab the Voodoo Doll and head down to Thunderman. The lightning navi zaps the Doll and destroys it. Rock is fine again. He gives his thanks to Thunderman and Raul, who says to head for the Colosseum. Time for a some more oldschool EXE fighting! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THUNDERMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: ??? (Normal) - 1200 (Hard Mode) - ??? (Super Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Jedi Lightning: Thunderman moves to the front column, holds out a hand, and zaps anything in front of him. Lightning Crash: Thunderman raises his arms over his head and brings down a trio of lightning. Move around to avoid being struck. Strategy: Thunderman only has one of those clouds, but it's a hell of a cloud! It roams the field, shooting out thunderballs whenever it lines up with Rock. Thunderman himself isn't hard, it's all about staying out of the way of that infernal cloud. Keep your eye on it at all times. Thunderman has no surprise attacks to throw at you. Bring things like Boomerang chips along, as Thunderman sticks to the back column unless he's using his Jedi skillz. After you whomp him and Raul congratulates Netto, the old man pops up again. Seems he and Raul know each other. Netto and Rock forgive him for what he lured them into. Shortly after talking with Raul again, the old fart totters off. Rock can feel an electricity in his soul... Thunder Soul attained. Mission complete. ====================== ==> TRIGGER HAPPY <== ====================== Lock and load. Head outside and make your way back to the street. On the way, a cutscene will take place and you'll meet Searchman's operator, Raika. Said operator promptly slugs Netto in the gut, tells him where to go, and walks off. Fly to Shaaro and go to the space center. Talk to the man in front of the computer. After some talking, he'll test your abilities with a fight. After, he gets on the line to Raika and then gives you a Copy Key. We've got to get deep into the internet. We're heading to Ura Internet 6. Go back to Amerouppe and plug-in. Go into Afrikku Area and get around to the entrance from the Space Center. Go left and take that way around to get to the blue half of Shaaro. You'll need the C-Slider. If you want instructions on how to get it, scroll up to the Blues walkthrough. Ride the rail at the end of the pathway and head into Ura Internet 1. Head through the creepy head tunnel. You're at a crossroads and suddenly, crosshairs appear on screen, taking aim at Rock. When prompted, push the direction on the controller to dodge a bullet - literally. You're gonna keep getting sniped for awhile, so be aware of that. Any time you take a hit, you take a few points of damage. I'm fairly certain the amount taken off depends on the difficulty level you're on. The enemies aren't too hard yet, so when in battle, if fighting an easy opponent, destroy all but one and wait until you get your Recover chips. This way you won't need to carry around Mini-Energies and Full Energies. Take the northern path from the crossroads and make your way left, then down to reach a warp portal. Take this and move up through the entryway to Ura 2. Yes, you're still being sniped. The biggest pain in Ura, aside from being sniped, are the spider viruses. They'll come over to your side and sorta chase you around. The whole thing seems to be maze-like, making you choose the right past lest you be sent back a ways. It's not hard. But the sniping makes it seem that way. . Ura 4 is filled with criss-crossing railways. Midway through, there's a message board of all things. The top post mentions a Big Dark Hole. One of the posts mentions Shademan. There's also a Navi Cust parts salesman here. He sells for BugFrags. He has: Airshoes - 22 BF Navi +20 * Chip - 28 BF Kawarimi Magic - 36 BF Deathmatch 3 - 50 BF Attack MAX - 72 BF Signal Red/Holy Dream H Chip - 100 BF Holy Dream is a Mega chip and apparently works in conjunction with Holy Panel chips. Also, Django's hanging around nearby with a coffin in the piledriver. Must be Shademan. Actually, it is, according to his dialogue. He wants you to seek out a Solar Sensor for him somewhere in the Undernet. But that's for a later time. Signal Red seems to stop the other guy from using chips... or something like that. I haven't actually attained it for myself as of yet. Signal Red is in one version of the game, Holy Dream in the other. Right now, head to Ura 3. There are a couple ways out of here, one going directly to Ura 6. It's a longer path, but take it. Take the left fork in the road and eventually you'll come to a blue gate. Use the Copy Key and enter. Talk to the black navi to enter a fight. After five fights, four goons join up with him. Then, a quartet of crosshairs target the purple navis and shoot them down. It then lands on the black navi itself. Direct hit. From above, Searchman watches on. Mission complete. Searchman logs out. Do the same and head to the Colosseum. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SEARCHMAN.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 900 (Normal) - ??? (Hard Mode) - ??? (Super Hard Mode) Attacks ------- Grande Toss: Searchman dives into a hole and lobs two grandes onto the field. They explode in a cross-shaped pattern. Sniper Shot: He'll take aim and fire at you with his gun. Tough to avoid since he tends to do it while you're dodging grenade explosions. Satellite Cannon: Every so often, a ground-tracking crosshair will appear, moving up and down the columns. If it locks on you, a satellite will appear overhead and shoot a beam down at you, affecting a cross-shaped area and cracking the center panel. Strategy: He's got a pair of stones in his battlefield. If you picked up any Mines from the in-battle GMDs in the Undernet, use 'em. He's pretty easy, really, so just smack him around. Shame you can't get Junkman's soul or any Poltergeist chips...those rocks would make good projectiles. Don't sit still - I can't stress this enough. The crosshairs of the Sniper Shot are tough to pick out when you're alternating looks between your side and his. Plus he'll be less likely to summon the Cannon on you if you move constantly. Raika and Netto leave on decent-enough terms. Raika knows that Netto has to be good to best him/her (It's hard to tell what GENDER Raika is! It's either a very fem bishounen or a very butch female...) and is okay with that. A call comes in for Raika. It seems that (s)he's needed elsewhere again. Welcome the Search Soul into your collection. ============ The final tourney is over and we've come out on top! But just as the celebrating is about to begin, the shadow of a helicopter falls on the arena. A rope ladder drops and Netto is told to get onboard. Netto complies and gets swept off to ANSA Headquarters! ################### THE FINAL COUNTDOWN ################### So, we arrive at ANSA. It seems the various tournaments were really just a pretense. They needed the greatest Netbattler in the world to help them stop the oncoming force of the asteroid heading for earth! We've got email from the APR Hotel, which is blathering about something or another. Anyway, head inside and cross the walkway. Head upstairs and talk to the purple-haired woman. Head on inside. Both Netto and Yuuichirou are surprised to see the other here. Yuuichirou introduces Netto to Dr. Regal. The problem is explained and Netto says he'll get the job done. There's an asteroid heading for earth, they can't stop it, and some bad voodoo's going down all across the planet. Suddenly, a red alert goes off. Talk to Yuuichirou to get either the Meteo Red Sun chip, if you're playing Red Sun...or the Blue Moon Ray chip if you're playing Blue Moon. They're both Giga Chips, and each is unique to the game it's found in. Talk to Regal to get an oscillator or something. Head out of the room now. Head out of the building and downstairs. You can go down the walkway and out to travel to other locations. Now then, make your preperations. It's just about time to finish this thing up The whole of the planet is open to you now, so you can go to the areas you never saw before. Nothing special, though. Anyway, when you're reading, let's start with Ajiina. Head there, walk around to the four Buddhist statues, and plug-in. Gain access to the P-Code and cross through. Now then, our new goal is to get rid of some funky, red laser gates that've been placed in every area except Amerouppe! Anyway, there are two of these gates here in Ajiina - one blocking access to Amerouppe, the other keeping the path back to Akihara blocked. When you reach one of these gates, walk up and press A to get into a battle. Afterward, the gate will blow up, allowing you safe passage through. Plug-out and go to Afrikku. Plug-into the funky voodoo idol thing and look around for more red gates. There's one down past the center area. Now go to Shaaro. You'll PROBABLY run into Coldman V2 as you head down to the bottom of the area. Fair warning. When you get the gate here destroyed, Yuuichirou messages you and tells you that something hokey is going on. We need to meet up with someone, so head through the exit you just unblocked and walk right into Amerouppe. Walk around and go down the slope. Talk to the orange/grey navi at the bottom. The source of the problem is apparently in a spot only accessable via the Uranet. You get the Town Key Data. Head to the Town Area 2. Go to the lower area. There's an orange/grey navi on the ground. Unlock the right gate and go through. Someone's been up to no-good! Hey, it's Town Area 4 again! The OTHER part. Get to the northern point in the room and walk off into space. There's an invisible walkway here. We need to get out to that evil navi sitting out on the floating platform. He'll give you the Gun Del Sol 2 chip! It's important - it'll do us some good on the final boss. Now head back to the start of this area and take a left course. Proceed past the green program into the Ura Internet. Looks good, don't it? In case you didn't get Blues' scenario or Searchman's, take a good look around! Wonder who redecorated the place. Anyway, head along the orange path, as it's the only one you CAN take at the moment. In Area 2, do the same. Only one way to go. You'll pop out in a different section of Park Area 1! This is where the broken pathway would lead us if it wasn't broken. Go talk to the evil navi. Seems like Laserman's behind all of this recent crap. Betcha forgot all about him, didn't ya? Well, pay it no mind cause it's time to battle! Before he blows up, he mentions a World of Dark. When he goes, he goes with a bang, illuminating the entire area in a blinding flash. We cut back to ANSA. Dr. Regal is getting ready to make his move. Back to Netto and Rockman in the white light! When it fades, we see that Glyde, Roll, and Gutsman got in the way of the exploding navi, protecting Rock from harm. We need to get back to ANSA! Once you get there, talk to the guy just standing around inside the building to get a letter from Netto's father. Now go up to the elevator and prepare for a cutscene again. Everyone but Yuuichirou leaves Dr. Regal on top of the building. It seems Yuuichirou's been on to Regal's plan all along. It fits in, does it not? Down below, Netto comes out of the elevator. Yuuichirou tells Regal he made a miscalculation - Rockman's alive. Yuuichirou tells Netto to get outta there. Netto, of course, walks halfway up a slope... which promptly gets blown away from the rest of the area. Netto gets back to the bottom, but now there's no way up to Regal and Yuuichirou! Papa yells for his dimwit son to get to safety. Like we'll listen to that. And then Regal clocks Yuuichirou. Regal is the Syndicate's Leader. I wonder if Vicious knows. He's the one pulling the strings of all of the black navis. He's the one who had a navi torture Blues with the darkness. He's the one who helped out Shademan. He's also Laserman's operator. They plan to bring the asteroid crashing into the earth to turn it into a world of darkness! He transmits Laserman into the Giant Freakin' "Laser" on top of the building. But just up ahead, the generator has been left unguarded. You know what to do. ######## ASTEROID ######## Don't worry, I won't break into any Aerosmith songs. c.c We're in the Asteroid now. Somehow. Be careful moving over certain platforms that look vaguely like dice. These areas are timed. You have to step on the crystal tiles in order. If a black hole opens up and tries to pull you in, mash A like mad and Rock will swim against its pull. Eventually, if you did it hard and fast enough, the black hole will close and drop Rock. If you fail, you'll be thrown back to the beginning of the area, which gets reset. After you step on all three crystal tiles in order, a white warp portal will open nearby. Go through. The next area has FOUR of the crystal tiles in area 2. Same deal. A black hole WILL open here. Mash the living crap outta the A button when it opens. Pause until your hand stops hurting, then move on. Walk through the white portal when done. Heyyy, look. More hell. x.x Thankfully, still only four planet tiles this time. But it's a more maze-like area, meaning more black hole escaping. Oww, my hand muscles. x.x; Last area of this, I promise. Alright, guys. Trouble is, there are five crystals here. Huzzah. You must have to do it quickly, as well, because the first time I went through and tried, the fifth crystal opened a small black hole and sent me back. So learn the layout and do it quick. When you get it all done, a final portal opens up. Head for it. Laserman stops you in your tracks. Time for an spontaneous boss fight! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Laserman.EXE ~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: 1000 (Normal) - ??? (Hard) - ??? (Super Hard) Attacks ------- Cross Laser: A +-shaped area of tiles will flash as Laserman shoots a giant beam at you. It cracks the central panel it hits. Optical Blast: Hey, Cyclops. Sup. The roof coming down? Well that ain't good. Laserman fires a giant pink energy blast up offscreen. Rubble rains down. Rubble from where, who knows. It's a ruddy asteroid. Ki Blast: Hey Goku. Sup. A giant blue beam of energy? Well that ain't good. Laserman fires a horizontal laserblast from his hand at you. Dark Hole: Apparently, he can open a portal to the damned if he so chooses. This regenerates his hit points. Bad stuff! Strategy: Got some panel-repairing stuff around? It'd be wise. Our pal Laserman likes to do a lot at once. Fire Cross Lasers, keep rubble raining down, then shoot you in the face when you're dodging it all. Laserman also does not recoil. If he's starting up an attack animation, you WON'T be able to halt it with a strong attack. So watch out for that. He's ridiculously cheap. I'm afraid abusing Dark Chips again was the only was I could beat him. I didn't turn Rock solid black like I had with Junkman, but I chucked his total HP down another notch. x.x The best bet, however, is to stand in the center tile of your side and let Laserman's Cross Laser strike. After this, stand DIRECTLY behind it. Because Laser's a big load and can only seem to Cross Laser the center tiles, his laser will pass harmlessly through the hole, leaving him open to attack. Laserman calls out to Regal before blowing up. Meanwhile, Regal is cackling upstairs. Regal reveals his true plans to Netto. If you've got some Full Energies in your subchip menu, smoke 'em and then head through the warp point. BEFORE YOU WALK THROUGH THIS WARP POINT, SAVE YOUR GAME! I hate typing like that, but it needs to be said! You MUST save here if you want to properly carry over your game later! After you save, head into the portal. Rock asks if you've saved. Choose the first option. In the Control Area, run along the zigzagging path until you reach the end. There's a big ol' gap between you and an oddly-shaped device made up of more oddly-shaped devices. And then, HE appears... The operation system of this here planet-destroying rocket. Duo. DUO?! Duo and Rock talk for awhile before the operation system rips out Rock's Dark Soul. Time to face your dark side, young padawan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rockman - Dark Soul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP: Your current total HP Attacks ------- Your current setup. Strategy: Well hell, son, you're fighting yourself. If you don't know your own fighting tactics good enough by now, you're up the creek without a paddle! If you've got the Undershirt equipped, then guess what? His HP'll get knocked to 1 and will require an addition smack. For this fight, the lower your total HP, the better. It's an easy fight. Certainly cake after Laserman's battle. Your soul reattaches to you. Duo then calls for his Battle Body. And brother, is it impressive. He's HUGE! Duo - Battle Form will be your final boss for this evening, thank you for living on earth. Your planet will be destroyed if you cannot stop this lumbering giant. No pressure. Last operation - Set! IN! "Evil will destroy everything." Not if we can prevent it. ~~~ DUO ~~~ HP: 2000 (Normal) - 2500 (Hard) - ???? (Super Hard) Attacks ------- Pink Mine: A pink mine will come wavering out of Duo's chest. Dodge. Missile: A...missile...will come out of Duo's chest. Flies straight. Missile Barrage: A trio of missiles will fly out. Ground Slam: A 2x2 space will flash and a split-second later, one of Duo's gigantic fists slams into your side of the arena. DOUBLE DEUUUUUUCE!: A 2x3 space will light up and Duo's fist will make a pass. Then it'll strike the two in front of you. Move all the way forward to avoid the first and all the way back to avoid the second. Ring Cannon: A small beam will fire from Duo's chest. Rings will flicker here and there. If one hits you, it does damage. The rings will appear, always, in the following pattern: Column 4 (his side) Column 2, Column 3, Column 1. Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken: What's with this game tagging on Ranma 1/2 attacks? First Rockman learns the Bakusai Tenketsu in Metalman's scenario, then the final boss uses this? In any case, the ground will light up as Duo starts making rapid, one-panel jabs. Good luck avoiding. Strategy: Well, here we are. The final fight already. Seemed to blaze by, didn't it? There's a reason for that. I should tell you that the Gun Del Sol chips work wonders on Duo. Duo, unlike previous bosses, moves! He'll move up and down where the fifth and sixth columns should be. There are only four for this - Duo takes up the last two. Sword chips aren't good to use, nothing that attaches to the ground will hit Duo since he isn't ON ground. Air Hockey chips, Timebombs, etc. He has 2000 HP,so good luck taking him down. His patterns are easy enough to learn. It's keeping your side of the board safe that's hard. Bring some chips to repair the field. Getting cornered by a guy who can take shots at chunks of your area at a time is a good way to die fast. ##################################################################### ENDING SPOILERS - DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED! ##################################################################### Duo's right arm blows. His left arm blows. His battle body blows. "My Battle Form was destroyed." He says. Well no DUH. Brilliant observation there, Sherlock. Duo's head goes byebye and a green bridge opens to the control panel, where Rock grabs ahold of the odd device that looks vaguely like a ship's steering wheel, and the screen goes black. Meanwhile, in town, everyone waits around to hear of news on the good guys' progress. Saloma walks in and gets everyone to start cheering Rockman on. In Amerouppe, the friends Netto and Rock made cheer him on as well. In Ajiina, the guys you saved from mountains of trash cheer him on. In Afrikku, the guys you returned water to, along with Meijin, who still looks like a Jedi, cheer Rock on. In Shaaro, Ivan and the people you saved from his blizzard cheer him on. Netto cheers Rock on, from his spot at the generator. One of the wires connecting power to the generator sizzles then breaks. The device immediately stops working. Regal walks over and, intent on restoring power at any cost, grabs the sides and starts frying. Suddenly, as Duo talks to Rock, the cheers and praise from those all over the world are picked up and broadcast to the blue guy. With one final push after a Full Synchro, Rock grabs the wheel and spins it with all of his might, collapsing to the ground afterward. When Netto comes to, he immediately checks on Rock, who made it through THIS game alive. Yuuichirou calls out to them...and the shadow of the helicopter comes into view. It's Enzan, fashionably late as usual, come to take the glory of getting us up to the higher platform! "Hikari! Grab on!" A rope ladder is dropped. Up top, Yuuichirou speaks to Dr. Regal as Enzan and Netto walk up. Regal knows he made a horrible mistake and is going to wind up paying the price for it. He talks to Netto and Yuuichirou, praising them for all they've accomplished. He holds his arms out, murmurs a farewell, and as Netto rushes toward him, he flings himself backwards off the top of the building. The event takes place in slow-motion as the screen fades to black. Take note of this incredibly dramatic moment, as I'm sure the US version will edit it out in some way. -.- A few moments later, Yuuichirou, Netto, and Enzan look off the side and Netto repeats a line that Dr. Regal said before he committed suicide: "Evil will never... vanish..." Roll the credits. After they're finished, Netto's at the Amerouppe Colosseum, getting that trophy he never snagged earlier! And this time, it's GIGANTIC! But while Netto's happy he won, he's also troubled by what Regal said before he died. And then he's asked to show everyone his fighting technique. His friends, parents, and... "Enzan too!?" ...everyone is there to watch him. We end on a Plug-in. When you go back to the title screen and select "Continue" you can choose to play from your last save... or start Hard Mode, carrying over all your data from the last time. You may have noticed that out of the six souls in your version, you only got THREE on your playthrough! There's a very good reason for this: Capcom is evil. You see, lads and lasses, what you have to do to attain all six souls is go through the game THREE TIMES. The first time through on Normal Mode, you get three souls. When you continue in Hard Mode, you'll get another two. And finally, on the ludicrously EVIL Super Hard Mode, you'll get the last one you need. Playing through multiple times also allows you to see all the other scenarios you missed the first time around! But I digress... the game isn't over yet. When you've gone through Super Hard Mode to the point where you gain your sixth soul, we have something very important to do. Awaken Forte. ######################### FORTE AND THE BLACK EARTH ######################### Before we begin, I feel I should explain something I mentioned earlier. Through your travels, you may have run across Django in Uranet Area 4. He's standing in the middle of a Piledriver, watching Shademan's coffin. He asks you to retrieve a Solar Sensor for him. Now then, all of this part can be dealt with in one go if you're prepared, so follow the following instructions very carefully: PLUG-IN FROM AN OUTDOOR LOCATION. Two immediate spots I can think of are Joumon's PC in downtown Densan and the voodoo statue in Afrikku. If you don't do this, you can't trigger the Piledriver event. Anyway, Django's Solar Sensor. Head back to Ura 2 and talk to the evil navi pacing around. He'll tell you that a black navi in Ura 6 has it! So go THERE. It'll cost you a whopping 10,000 zeni to buy, but it's well worth it. Once you have it, and you're sure Netto's plugged-in from an outdoor location, take the Sensor back to Django. The Gun Del Sol is raised and Otenko cries out "TAIYOUUUUU!!" The Piledriver is activated and Shademan's coffin starts inching away. Rock drags it back into the center and the sunlight generators strike it, bringing Shademan out and making him scream out in pain. He starts corrupting the light, but Rock shoots him and causes him to lose the fight. The light overpowers him and he's destroyed.... Rock and Django talk afterwards and, before the Bokura no Taiyou guys head back to their own game, they fork over the Gun Del Sol 3 chip. If you've gotten the first from the statue in the amusement park's haunted house and the second from the Town 4 area toward the end of the game, you can combine the three in order to perform the Piledriver Program Advance! After everyone is gone, search the empty coffin to get the Nebula Code. This little beauty opens those purple skull gates you've been seeing all over the place! Now then, on to the task at hand - awakening the Black Shadow. Head to Ura 4 and make your way to the blue gate. You'll need to have all 6 souls to make the gate go away. Run on through to Ura 5. Forte's gate lies at the back of the area, at the top of a slope. But the gate blocking him off requires a very hefty fee - you have to have all 150 Standard Battle Chips to make it drop! Access every PMD and then head to the 10-chip trader in downtown Densan. This trader tends to spit out the chips you need FAR more often than the norm. Once you have all 150 chips, you can cross the final barrier. When you inspect Forte, Rock starts glowing. Something wonky's going on with his soul. Eventually, Forte starts glowing as well. As the Black Shadow awakens, the Uranet begins to shake. Forte lifts up, the background goes black momentarily as a blinding flash fills the area. Forte's back and he's REALLY, -really- ticked off. Rock doesn't want to fight, but the darkness in his soul seems to call out to Forte. He won't let you escape. ~~~~~~~~~ FORTE.EXE ~~~~~~~~~ HP: 2000 Attacks ------- Omega Buster: Forte's random, dual-gunner technique returns. Dark Slash: Forte flies in front of you and makes a quick, forward attack. Terminus Crush: Forte signals the attack by holding a pair of dark energy spheres, which he flings high and low at you. They cross paths and he teleports forward to strike you once in the front, then the back. Sometimes he'll add a third, frontal strike as well. Shattered Soul: Forte signals an attack with the dark spheres again, only this time he moves up front and unleashes a massive ball of dark energy that cracks the back two rows. Needless to say, it HURTS. Strategy: Bring a mop. They'll need it to blot up what's left of you when you're done being trounced. Forte's slumber has apparently granted him a LOT of new tricks, and he's just dying to unleash a few on your poor, unsuspecting ass. He's not above flying right into your territory to crush your head, either. Nigh on invincible, you'd best come prepared for all-out war when you face Forte. There's no good, solid strategy that works for him, as his patterns are fairly easy to figure out. Avoiding them is another matter entirely, however, as Forte can and will silence you with the wave of his hand. You have to rely on all of the skill you've picked up from the past EXE games and getting this far in Super Hard Mode to help get you through his relentless onslaught here. If and when you manage to overcome his power, you'll win the Forte X chip in Red Sun and the Forte Another chip in Blue Moon. Forte chuckles at Rock and talks of his soul more, speaking of the darkness within. "Yori fukai yami he..." Forte vanishes with the sweep of his battle-torn cloak. The Uranet returns to its normal color. Rock and Netto talk briefly on what just happened. Now then, with that unpleasantness out of the way, we still have much to do. The Big Black Hole is still open. This is in Ura 6, however. You may have noticed in your previous wanderings of the Uranet that a dirty great black hole is taking up the whole of a platform, preventing you from crossing. To cross it, you need to find the darkest of the dark chips. In Red Sun, these chips are Bug Charge, Element Dark, Black Wing, Muramasa Blade, and Poison Anubis In Blue Moon, they're Curse of Bug, Element Dark, Black Wing, Muramasa Blade, and Poison Anubis Now then. Bug Charge/Curse of Bug can only be attained from fighting either Laserman SP or Shademan SP and getting the GMD from the battle. Element Dark can be won from the black lamp enemies in Ura 6. But the remaining three are a bit trickier. You see, after you defeat Forte, you have to plug-out, then plug-in again and go back to Ura 5. When you get there, you'll see three black navis scattered about.. One is at the bottom area, on the platform where a PMD was. He has the Poison Anubis chip. To get it from him, you have to take part in a grueling series of 10 battles. These will be stacked against your favor. Bring Panel Returns and preselect one. The battles have all sorts of evil poison/lava/etc panels that you just don't want to be caught on. After you win, he'll fork over one of the 5 darkness chips you need. Trust me, you may require more than one or two tries to win. There's another on a platform towards the back of the area. He's got the Black Wing chip. Same thing goes - 10 battles in a row. The difficulty is just about the same - Damn Hard. The final black navi is in the back-left of the area. He's holding the Muramasa Blade. You should know the drill by now. 10 battles of sheer agony...made a bit easier by a preselected Panel Return. When you win and get the final of the five chips of darkness, head for Ura 6. Head for the black hole and get sucked in... Welcome to Black Earth. As far as you're concerned, this is your own personal hell. Keep sword chips on you, as Navi Shadows appear here, which can only be hurt by swords. Those in Blue Moon have an advantage here with Blues' Soul being useful. You can find DS Chips of Navis just lying about in GMDs here. You'll note at the far end is a blue gate that you can't cross. An invisible path leads to a floating platform with an HP Memory. The other BMD has Dream Aura in it. To access Black Earth 2, you have to get all of the Navi Mega chips ._. It'll take awhile, I assure you. Thanks to Josuke for one hint and Magenta Galaxy for straightening it out. o.o Thankfully, the navis don't have as many versions as they did in 3. Each has a maximum of 3 - and you will be getting the majority of the third set in Black Earth 2. You need the normal version of each navi's chip, and then you need the SP version. When you get all of these, head through the blue gate and prepare for a gauntlet. In Black Earth 2, you'll find a bug frag trader. You can get Mega Chips out of it if you're really lucky! An HP Memory, 5 Bug Frags, and other goodies lie in BMDs here. You'll notice several dark mirror-looking objects as you walk around. Walk up to the first of these and hit A. GutsmanDS will appear. Beat him and the mirror will shatter. Proceed forward and hit A on the next one to fight another DS navi - Fireman this time. The next has Roll. Then Windman. And then Thunderman. And finally, Searchman. Of course, if you're playing Blue Moon, substitute these for the navis you get souls from in that version. I'm not exactly sure which order they would come in...though I'd suspect Aqua, Number, Wood, Metal, Junk, and Blues... After this, walk into the warp point and grab the 3000z in the BMD when you get spit out. Head through the creepy sculpture on the platform and hit the A button when you reach the bigass mirror of evil-looking doom. Rock's own Dark Soul will be cast out behind his body. Time to face one last Dark Souled navi - yourself. It works the same way as it does when Laserman rips him out of you at the end of the game. He can pull chips outta thin air and use them to beat you silly. When you win, you'll get a Navi Customizer part: The Soul Cleaner. I'm not 100% sure what the heck this thing DOES yet, but it seems to have to do with repenting for your bad deeds, judging by the description. After you beat Rockman DS, a Rockman of pure light standing next to the mirror. Talk to it to get the Saito Batch Navi Customizer part. "This is...me?" Shortly thereafter, what appears to have been the true Saito vanishes. Also, be aware that Forte SP can be encountered here in Black Earth 2. If you thought he was hard before, then you're going to be in sheer hell here. His speed has been almost TRIPLED. But if you DO manage to beat him, you'll get the Black Barrier chip if you're in Red Sun and the Delta Ray Edge chip if you're in Blue Moon. Black Barrier is a 150HP Aura that regenerates, apparently. Not sure what Delta Ray Edge does, though if it's anything like the attack of the same name in EXE3, it should definitely be fun stuff. Beating Forte SP could probably be considered truly beating the game. If you can dispatch him here, you have nothing to worry about anywhere else. Good job, soldier! ======================= Section V: Chip Library ======================= Unlike EXE3, where you had to trade with someone who had the other version to get all the chips, you can complete your chip library on your OWN in this one! I may add descriptions or detailed to the chips later, but for now, here's what we have: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ STANDARD CHIPS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 001: Cannon 002: Hi-Cannon 003: Mega Cannon 004: Air Shot 005: Vulcan 1 006: Vulcan 2 007: Vulcan 3 008: Spread Gun 009: Heat Shot 010: Heat V 011: Heat Side 012: Bubble Shot 013: Bubble V 014: Bubble Side 015: Thunderball 1 016: Thunderball 2 017: Thunderball 3 018: Wide Shot 1 019: Wide Shot 2 020: Wide Shot 3 021: Flame Line 1 022: Flame Line 2 023: Flame Line 3 024: Gun Del Sol 1 025: Gun Del Sol 2 026: Gun Del Sol 3 027: Blizzard 028: Heat Breath 029: Elec Shock 030: Woody Powder 031: Sand Ring 032: Twin Fang 1 033: Twin Fang 2 034: Twin Fang 3 035: Element Flare 036: Element Ice 037: Element Leaf 038: Element Sand 039: Magbolt 1 040: Magbolt 2 041: Magbolt 3 042: Tornado 043: Noise Storm 044: Mini Bomb 045: Energy Bomb 046: Mega Energy Bomb 047: Hougan 048: Black Bomb 049: Kanketsusen 050: Bug Bomb 051: Bound Note 1 052: Bound Note 2 053: Bound Note 3 054: Sword 055: Wide Sword 056: Long Sword 057: Wide Blade 058: Long Blade 059: Custom Sword 060: Variable Sword 061: Iai Form 062: Fuujin Racket 063: Air Hockey 1 064: Air Hockey 2 065: Air Hockey 3 066: Counter 1 067: Counter 2 068: Counter 3 069: Boomerang 1 070: Boomerang 2 071: Boomerang 3 072: Side Bamboo 1 073: Side Bamboo 2 074: Side Bamboo 3 075: Bamboo Lance 076: White Web 1 077: White Web 2 078: White Web 3 079: Moko Rush 1 080: Moko Rush 2 081: Moko Rush 3 082: Circle Gun 1 083: Circle Gun 2 084: Circle Gun 3 085: Common Snake 086: Magnum 087: Big Hammer 1 088: Big Hammer 2 089: Big Hammer 3 090: Boy's Bomb 1 091: Boy's Bomb 2 092: Boy's Bomb 3 093: Count Bomb 094: Stealth Mine 095: Stone Cube 096: Toppou 097: Suikomi 098: Ouenka 099: Discord 100: Tinpani 101: Silence 102: Wara Ningyou 103: Met Guard 1 104: Met Guard 2 105: Met Guard 3 106: Crack-out 107: Double Crack 108: Triple Crack 109: Recovery 10 110: Recovery 30 111: Recovery 50 112: Recovery 80 113: Recovery 120 114: Recovery 150 115: Recovery 200 116: Recovery 300 117: Repair 118: Panel Steal 119: Area Steal 120: Steal Jelly 121: Steal Punish 122: Steal Revenge 123: Panel Return 124: Deathmatch 1 125: Deathmatch 2 126: Deathmatch 3 127: Heavy Gauge 128: Quick Gauge 129: Blind 130: Super Kitakaze 131: Holy Panel 132: Dark Hole 133: Invisible 134: Yukshi~ta 135: Barrier 136: Barrier 100 137: Barrier 200 138: Kakigenkin 139: Daikouzui 140: Hiraishin 141: Mayoi no Mori 142: Kawarimi 143: Shirahadori 144: Navi Scout 145: Bad Medicine 146: Copy Damage 147: Life Synchro 148: Attack +10 149: Navi +20 150: Color Point ~~~~~~~~~~ MEGA CHIPS ~~~~~~~~~~ 01: Super Vulcan 02: Neo Variable Sword 03: Ryuuseigun 04: God Hammer 05: Ojizousan 06: Jealousy 07: Bug Chain 08: Bug Shuusei 09: Full Custom 10: Dream Aura 11: Sanctuary 12: Attack+30 13: Double Point 14: Muramasa Blade 15: Poison Anubis 16: Element Dark 17: Black Wing 18: Dark Line 19: Roll 20: Roll SP 21: Roll DS 22: Gutsman 23: Gutsman SP 24: Gutsman DS 25: Windman 26: Windman SP 27: Windman DS 28: Searchman 29: Searchman SP 30: Searchman DS 31: Fireman 32: Fireman SP 33: Fireman DS 34: Thunderman 35: Thunderman SP 36: Thunderman DS 37: Topman 38: Topman SP 39: Topman DS 40: Burnerman 41: Burnerman SP 42: Burnerman DS 43: Coldman 44: Coldman SP 45: Coldman DS 46: Sparkman 47: Sparkman SP 48: Sparkman DS 49: Shademan 50: Shademan SP 51: Shademan DS 52: Laserman 53: Laserman SP 54: Laserman DS 55: Kendouman 56: Kendouman SP 57: Kendouman DS 58: Videoman 59: Videoman SP 60: Videoman DS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GIGA CHIPS - RED SUN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 01: Meteo Red Sun 02: Holy Dream 03: Forte 04: Bug Charge 05: Black Barrier ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GIGA CHIPS - BLUE MOON ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 01: Blue Moon Ray 02: Signal Red 03: Forte Another 04: Curse of Bug 05: Delta Ray Edge ~~~~~~~~~~~~ SECRET CHIPS ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gun Del Sol EX: Get from the Numberman machine using the code 74293099 Z Saber: Get from the bugfrag trader in Black Earth 2 ====================================== Section VI: Frequently Asked Questions ====================================== Q: Where is the Press Program?! I want to walk on those small paths! A: There is no Press Program. To get across those, you need the C-Slider. To get this, you need to buy the parts. In Town Area 2's lower section, a hidden pink navi will sell you the Board Parts for 2000 zeni. In Town Area 3's lower section, a partially-hidden green navi will sell you the Jet Parts for 3000 zeni. And in Ajiina Area, an evil navi hidden under a slope will sell you the Wing Parts for 4000 zeni. After you get these three items, head into Amerouppe's area and take the eastern exit into Afrikku. Make your way around to the northern exit to enter a seperated section of Shaaro. Make your way past the conveyor belts and down the slope. Talk to the orange/grey navi there. Then head back to Amerouppe Area and take the northern exit. Make your way to the blue gate here and open it for 500 zeni. The orange navi behind it will give you the C-Slider for the Parts. Now you can cross the rails. Q: The Piledriver event isn't starting! A: Then you aren't outside. I've done several tests to confirm this and simply put, Netto MUST be in an outdoor location so that Django can have direct access to the sunlight. Plug in via Joumon's PC in Downtown Densan or through the ugly statue in Afrikku. Make your way back to Django from here. Q: What are the PAs? A: Program Advances may or may not be added to future versions of this guide. As of right now, I have no intention of doing so. This guide is primarily a walkthrough of the game itself. This is also why I don't list items, keyitems, and all that good stuff. ================== Section VII: Codes ================== I've scratched this list of Codebreaker codes together from various places. Most were found by the guys over at cmgsccc. Without their insanely quick work in finding these things, I would probably still be struggling through Super Hard Mode. X.x I honestly hope they have no problems with me reposting the codes here. If anyone does, my email's at the bottom of the credits section...but be warned that I rarely check my email accounts. X.x; If you have something to say to me, best to do it on the Red Sun/Blue Moon boards, as I'm there a lot more and thusly am more likely to see your post. Not that I've only posted the codes I personally have used and tested Enable Code (Red Sun) 00009142 000A 100003C0 0007 Enable Code (Blue Moon) 0000A23E 000A 100003C0 0007 Invincibility 32039A28 0058 Weak Enemies 4203B27C 0001 00000003 00D8 Walk Through Walls 8200AD34 0001 ===================== Section VIII: Credits ===================== Hell, there are a ton of people to credit... and I've got a horrible, horrible memory. Without the help of those on the various EXE 4 boards on Gamefaqs, there's no way I could have possibly put this guide together as quickly as I did. And there are more people than I can remember that deserve to get a ton of credit. Basically, all of the EXE4/Blue Moon/Red Sun regs get credit here for helping me at some point or another. Many people helped point out where I had a bit of information out of whack and many helped me get past certain events. (I'm still embarassed over not getting one of the Numberman passwords x.x) I do hope you'll all forgive me for not jotting up a list of names, though. My luck, I'd leave someone out by accident and then feel bad when someone brings it up. @@; This guide was for all of you guys and all of the people struggling to get through a game that can, at times, be incredibly confusing. I hope you all got SOME useful info out of it, and I hope I can actually sit back and give the games a nice, slow, leisurely playthrough now... I've been bustin' my butt since the games came out, after all. @.@ And, of course, the expected buttkissing to CJayC and Gamefaqs for hosting this thing. I hope it does okay as a guide. As I said in the opening - this is my first. Thanks for reading, everyone!