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Mega Man Battle Network 2 may be the greatest RPG I have ever played.

Everything about was done so well. From the improved battle system, to the dialogue, to the story, to the sheer size of the game, it was just a joy to play through and through. It was easily the best in a series with six installments, and only the grand finale could even compare. I'll go through it point by point, if you don't mind.

Gameplay
The gameplay of MMBN2 was fairly standard. You walked from place to place and got into random battles. However, the way it was executed and the battle system were both anything but. In MMBN2, there were two worlds: The real world, and the internet. You played as Lan in the real world, but all over the real world there were "jack in points", where you could transfer Mega Man to the in-game internet (which took the form of a large, sprawling network of maps and locations) to explore a whole new world often littered with items and NPcs to talk to. You had two worlds in one and it made for some great gameplay, especially when the real and internet worlds worked together.

The battle system is the best in any game I have ever played. It is an active battle system, where you control Mega Man around a 3x3 grid blasting away at the enemies who are on the other side, on their own 3x3 grid. This battle takes place in real time, so it takes a lot of strategy and reflexes to dodge the enemies' attacks and fire off your own so that you eventually defeat them. It is challenging, full of action and strategy, and is beyond exciting.

You see, to attack in this game, you have two options - your MegaBuster (which is your standard weapon and can be fired by pressing B, or charged for a stronger shot), and BattleChips. Battle Chips are collectable, and every turn (the battles are divided into turns timed via the use of a bar that fills up at the top of the screen) you choose a selection of attacks to use in the battle. However, you can't just go around picking chips willy-nilly. here are rules involved! Each BattleChip has a letter code, and you can only select chips which are the same type or use the same code. Throughout the game you have the opportunity to purchase or find many different BattleChips with all sorts of uses and with all different codes. There are tons of strategies you can devise with the chips you collect, and how you use them.

On top of that, depending on the enemies you fight, Mega Man can change "Style", which is like changing his element. The elemental styles change MegaMan by granting him powers like extra defense or attack, along with a changed charged Mega Buster that takes the form of different elemental attacks (a flamethrower for Fire style, a water cannon for Aqua, etc.). These styles influence your strategy even more, since certain enemies are weak against certain elements, and different styles have different plus-sides that you can use to your advantage.

For a quick example of how chips and styles can work together, when Wood-type Mega Man is on grass panels, he slowly recovers health. With the use of a Chip called WoodStage, he can change his side of the field to be full of grass panels, thus letting him recover throughout the fight. It could mean the difference between life and death.

There is so much to consider with this battle system, but it never feels overly complicated. It is remarkably easy to pick up, and incredibly deep when it comes to devising what you're going to do in a battle.

Story/Dialogue
The story of Mega Man Battle Network 2 is one that is fairly standard when it comes to RPGS. There is an evil syndicate called Gospel trying to take over the world and it's up to Lan and Mega Man to stop them. However, it's the scenarios that the story thrusts you in that are uniquely engaging and interesting.

In MMBN2, you will have to, among many other things, travel to a distant country, get your wallet stolen, fight a copy of yourself in the darkest reaches of something known as The Undernet (Think of it as the game's /b/ ), stop a plane hijacking, defeat a robotic bear gone wild, prevent a terrorist from blowing up a dam, and engage in a rap battle so you can get a bottle of whiskey to bait and catch a poisonous spider. These scenarios come complete with dialogue and characters that are well-written, at times humorous, at times serious, but always entertaining. The localization in MMBN2 is lightyears better than any other MMBN game, with personality bursting through every line in the game. The translators knew exactly what to say to make sure this story packed as much punch as possible. Even the descriptions of various objects in the environment you can examine are fun to read.

To top it all off, the story has many twists and turns as you try and get close to this Gospel syndicate in order to stop them once and for all. There are double-crosses, enemies from nowhere, and some really quite grim scenes for such a colorful game, and it all serves to make the story that much better. However, it never feels too heavy, as the pacing in this game is near-immaculate in how it sprinkles lighthearted bits to calm you down and give you a rest between scenes.

Music
And of course, what would these scenes be without some music? The music in MMBN2 is some of the best on the GBA. It is catchy and fits the series perfectly. I still can recall every note of the brilliant title screen theme, and it only gets better from there. The music in this game will be stuck in your head for a very long time. I first played it when it was first released in 2002 and it still hasn't left my head since.

Conclusion
In this game, everything clicks. The systems used to improve Mega Man's abilities, the battle system, the story, the layout of the 'net, the puzzles, and the atmosphere are all polished and combine to make my favorite handheld experience of all time. No, scratch that - My favorite RPG experience of all time. Everything about it works to a point where I simply cannot say that I would have changed anything about the game if given the chance. It is so tightly done and simply so much fun that I can't vote against it. In a series with some high highs and some low lows, this game is the absolute pinnacle of perfection.

Vote for Mega Man Battle Network 2.

 

We're missing a poll here.

I'm edging towards KotOR here just for providing the Star Wars world that people waited so long for. I like my Megaman shooty, RPG'ing it didn't work for me.