If we didn’t accept WWW, we’re not accepting Gospel either.
Lan Hikari and his NetNavi/Brother MegaMan.EXE once saved the world from WWW and their dangerous Life Virus. Technically they saved it twice from those guys, but that’s dubiously canon. Either way, our heroes have gone back to their daily lives since then. However, they have reached one of the most important times in an elementary school kid’s life: summer vacation. Barring some lackluster grades, Lan is ready to take his vacation in stride! Unfortunately, there’s only one problem: there’s a new criminal organization on the internet: Gospel. Viruses once again fester on the net as this new netmafia grows in power. And you better believe that if one criminal organization was stopped by an eleven year old, he’ll have to stop the next one as well.
Welcome to Mega Man Battle Network 2! This is the sequel to Mega Man Battle NetworkandMega Man Network Transmission. Though the latter isn’t exactly important nor was it even the same genre as the rest of the series (and I streamed that one instead of Lping it if that matters to you,) I’m going to issue a spoiler warning for both of those games regardless. We’re going into this one assuming you know the 1.5 plot points that are important in those games, and they’ll be casually discussed throughout this playthrough. That being said, anything that happens in later games will be discussed as vaguely as possible, so please try not to spoil anything from three onward, or at least use spoiler tags. While I’m familiar with the series, Loaka is not so I try not to give away much that happens down the line.
As for the game itself, it’s not exactly leaps and bounds ahead of BN1. Visually and mechanically, a lot of this should seem familiar if you played the first game. That’s not to say it’s the same experience with a new story stapled on, though. Lessons were learned from the first game, some of which make this one a bit more interesting and provides some variables for playthroughs. Bosses are also more elaborate than they were in the first game, which might sound good but personally I find it to be a bit annoying. There’s also the fact that the letter G might be the most powerful force in the series in this one, but we’ll get into that later. The fact of the matter is, if you liked the deck building and optimistic vision of the internet the first game provided, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll like this one too.
It’s summer vacation! Lan and MegaMan prepare for a relaxing rest from school… or at least Lan is. MegaMan is concerned by the homework they’ll be receiving. Either way, though, it’s the last day of school, and the only thing that could damper Lan’s mood is his terrible academic performance. But really, the only thing that could truly interrupt Lan’s good time would be that new netmafia everyone’s talking about…
(Also, fun fact! It’s been two years since I finished Transmission and six days off of five years since I finished BN1! Apparently I’m bucking the trend by starting one of these in January instead of finishing it.)
MegaMan has checked out the Square, but there’s no time for anything fun in the agenda now. Yai’s in trouble, and at first whiff of her house it’s clear what’s going on. The entire mansion is flooded with gas, and there’s no doubt Yai is passed out somewhere inside. Thankfully, there’s a handy app that makes gas visible, so maybe Lan has a chance of clearing the house and saving his friend.
Lan has very suddenly decided to go camping. It’s such short notice that none of his friends, or his rival, are prepared to go today. But hey, if nobody else is available, we might as well go sort out our license! A CLicense isn’t going to get us very far, but a BLicense? That… probably isn’t worth that much either. But it’s a start!
Okay, so we couldn’t go camping yesterday. But today Lan’s friends are available to head out to Okuden Valley for a pleasant trip. Even Chaud is here, despite the fact that nobody asked him to come and he made it clear he thinks we’re stupid and he didn’t want to come! But now that we’re here, getting to the campgrounds won’t be easy. But after overcoming nature’s strongest threats, surely everyone will get to relax, right? Right???
Hot off the heels of his victory at Okuden, Lan Hikari is: very bored right now. He’s gotta start considering his research project before summer’s over, but just what is someone as dumbinattentive bored as Lan going to focus on? Why, perhaps this random balloon entering the scene has the answer! Indeed, someone’s looking for a pen pal, and what perfect timing they have! Lan is on a mission to meet new food people from another country, but first he’s gotta have a license before he can visit another country’s internet.
Lan continues the License process, which means it’s time for many fights. But once that exam is over and done with, he can finally access Yumland’s internet! What an exciting chance to experience another culture! Or it would be, except it seems somebody’s gone to Yumland illegally, and they’re about to take out a digital monarchy…
Gospel isn’t satisfied with the assassination of Yumland’s king. The mysterious mercenary has his sights on Electopia, and there’s only so much time to bolster our defenses! But on the other hand, there are a few job requests to do, and I don’t want to leave them for later. Let’s do those first.
Okay, we’re back on track. We need to track down a special program so Lan’s Dad can upgrade MegaMan. We managed to find a lead last time, now we just have to figure out where it takes us. Wherever it is, though, we will not question the moral repercussions for taking it out of the blue. Considering the impact of your actions is for wimps.
