Mega Man, the venerable Blue Bomber, is most certainly not a static character. With the advent of new technologies, the series has managed to appear in three forms - the classic side scroller, the updated and futuristic Mega Man X, and the 3D version, which can be best said to have brought us Tron Bonne and the Servebots. But now Mega Man makes his second foray into the world of action-RPGs, and I'm honestly still adjusting.

This is not to say that I'm disliking the adjustment. Unlike some other companies' 4.1 versions, this new Blue Bomber is a compliment to his fellow artificial intelligences.

To begin, Mega Man is no longer a robot, he's a sentient online avatar, or a Navi, that belongs to a boy named Lan. Lan once used Mega Man.EXE to fight a net gang, but now is enjoying his summer vacation, or as much as someone who barely passed school can. However, some new group, calling themselves "Gospel," is making plans to run lawless over cyberspace. It's inevitable, since you did buy the game for action, that Lan and MM.EXE are going to take on "Gospel" for the fate of all cyberspace. At least it's not a princess.

While it is true that the plot is a bit worn, and the characters all have puns in their names (Mayl, in particular, made me groan), it flows rather well. Despite the fact that Mega Man, as well as the other Navis, are basically subordinates of their owners, they work well together, and the Navis seem more like friends than personal slaves.

The game's action, though, is where it is most impressive. Mega Man actually fights with an assortment of 'chips,' which are powers gained from fallen foes and bought at certain locations. A number randomly pop up after a time meter fills, and these are used for the battle. Since the selection in battle is random from a list of thirty set before battles (which are easily changed), which strategies you pick will depend on which item from the roulette appears. Thus, even with a good set of chips, the battles can be tricky.

However, more fun is that the game awards "style" points by giving greater rewards at the end of battle. Defeating all the enemies with a single chip will garner much greater rewards, like more zenny (the official coinage of ancient Japan and modern Capcom) or better chips. However, you'll get smaller rewards if the enemies last long and pelt you harshly. The only problem with this system is that, since the game lacks experience, there is a serious imbalance if you are clumsy or have poor luck with the draw of the chips.

Although they aren't the return of Van Gogh (actually, given that he was an Impressionist, a good thing), the graphics are rather nice. The characters are sharp and do not have any bleed with the background, and yet they are rather detailed. While the detail isn't perfect except in the close-ups of the characters, the graphics are nice. Moreover, the bright, anime-style graphics are easy to see, which is incredibly important given the Game Boy Advance's issues with proper lighting.

Similar to the graphics, the sound is also very good, but not perfect. The music is certain easy to listen to, and I personally keep the sound on constantly for this game. Given my distaste for portable game music, no small feat. For the most part, the sound effects are similarly decent, which is a vast improvement over earlier games Mega Man has starred in. However, a couple of the more powerful abilities have annoying sounds associated with them, and thus can be a chore to use. While not the classic sounds of the first game's Cutman stage (the first Mega Man stage I ever played, and it hooked me), overall rather strong.

Of course, the most fun for people will be finding the classic Mega Man characters. In addition to the Blue Bomber himself, Mega Man encounters Roll and Gutsman (the Navis of two of Lan's friends) immediately, and it won't be long before you see the likes of old foes like Airman and Quickman. Moreover, after winning certain major battles, you can gain chips to summon major characters. More interesting is when you bring these out against more powerful versions... Watching Quickman pop in to beat on Quickman v. 3 is a bit humorous, as well as vital if you actually wish to win.

One side effect, though, is that people will invariably want the return versions to act like the old versions. Why doesn't Toad Man use the Rain Flush? Why doesn't Gutsman throw rocks? Since when did Roll do anything useful? Anybody who is a stickler about what Mega Man was will probably not enjoy this package, as things have indeed changed.

However, overall, I think the game is a giant step in the right direction. While there are a couple of minor tweaks that could have made the game perfect, it is nothing worth really complaining about. Capcom could have let Mega Man grow stale, and see it relinquished to the trash heap of old video game ideas. However, by being willing to turn their own creations on their heads, so to speak, Mega Man Battle Network 2 managed to be a winner. Even if Dr. Wily isn't constantly hovering overhead.

Recommended: Yes