MegaMan.EXE

"Did you do your homework yet, Lan?"

- MegaMan

MegaMan.EXE, known as Rockman.EXE (ロックマンエグゼ) in Japan, is the NetNavi (short for Internet Navigator) operated by Lan Hikari. He was created by the scientist Yuichiro Hikari, Lan's father. MegaMan.EXE is very powerful, and along with his operator Lan, is a very skilled virus buster. He is also Lan's twin brother, Hub Hikari, known as Saito Hikari (光 彩斗) in Japan, who died at birth, because of a rare heart condition known as HBD. Dr. Hikari then used his data to revive him as a NetNavi, MegaMan.EXE.

Personality
MegaMan is very loyal to Lan and is willing to sacrifice himself to save him in Mega Man Battle Network 3. Their friendship also allows for powerful abilities like Full Synchro and Cross Fusion. MegaMan is also more responsible than Lan, reminding him to do his homework and waking him up in the morning for school. They do argue sometimes, like in Mega Man Battle Network 2, but they always manage to reconcile. In the anime, he also displays a fear of ghosts, which doesn't appear in the games.

Description
MegaMan is small (for a NetNavi), but his abilities are many. He has indigo biceps, with cyan stripes down his sides, ending at his blue boots which are tipped with black soles. He has two yellow shoulder guards and his blue helmet has two ridges running along the top. These ridges come to a stop at the helmet's base and allows his dark hair to stick out in four spikes. He has green eyes and, unlike most other NetNavis, an overall human appearance. As a customized NetNavi, MegaMan sports the symbol of the Hikari family on his chest and both sides of his helmet. This symbol is a red circle with a black line running diagonally through the center which ends in two triangles, all of which are surrounded by a gold ring. MegaMan stands at 148 virtual centimeters (roughly 4'9").

In the games, MegaMan is shown with some kind of protection covering his mouth and nose when in battle and in most of the Battle Chips with images of him. In the anime, this kind of protection closes when MegaMan equips a sword or shotgun. It is revealed that MegaMan has blond hair under his helmet.

Game History
MegaMan.EXE is a unique NetNavi in the fact that he is the ultimate result of the Navi Project, an experiment undertaken by all of SciLab and led by Yuichiro Hikari. The Navi Project was designed to successfully graft a human's DNA and soul into a NetNavi. The process took a NetNavi's data and made it able to adapt to almost any situation. Yuichiro was only able to create about 95% of the actual project but no further when he and his wife had two children: twins Lan and Hub. Hub was quickly diagnosed with HBD and died shortly after birth. To keep Hub's soul alive, Mr. Hikari decided to use Hub's DNA to create MegaMan.EXE and gave the Navi to Lan. As Lan and Hub were identical twins, Lan and MegaMan developed a brotherly bond perfecting Yuichiro's Navi project. However, it was presumed that if Hub's exact DNA were to be used, the 'Twin Link' effect would take place, and any sort of reception of senses that Lan or Hub would experience would affect the other by brainwave synchronization, much like Full Synchro. As such, Dr. Hikari had modified Hub's DNA by .001% (this is presumed to be eye color, as despite being identical, they have different eyes). This remaining .001% was programmed into the Hub.BAT (Saito.batch) if ever the need to reset Hub's DNA to the original was necessary.

By channeling enough power, MegaMan can transform into a holographic version of Hub. Although never shown fighting, Mega Man Battle Network 5 and Hub Style in Mega Man Battle Network 2 infer that this form is immensely powerful, able to defeat bosses like Nebula Grey with just a wave of his hand, cannot be corrupted by Dark Chips, and gains every single Navi Customizer Program without trouble. His only downside is that he loses all possible transformations and the Mega Buster, which probably isn't needed. This form is possibly even more powerful than some of the strongest NetNavis like Bass, Slur, Duo, or even the Super Cybeast. Unlike most characters that need full power to access their powers, if he has enough power, he can temporarily tap into his powers to do outrageous things, like sealing the Cybeast, controlling the Dark Chips influence on him when used, and becoming Bass Cross MegaMan when Bass failed to maintain the fusion and used Double Soul instead of self-destructing.

Throughout the games, MegaMan is used by Lan to Netbattle and communicate with his friends' NetNavis. MegaMan is able to transform into a new form in most of the games and in Mega Man Battle Network 5 and 6 have an uncontrollable form, Dark MegaMan and Beast Out MegaMan.

Anime History
In the MegaMan NT Warrior anime, MegaMan is not related to Lan in any way, shape or form. Being a main character, he appears in almost every episode. MegaMan was created by Dr. Hikari and was given to Lan as a present. He appears in the first episode when Lan uses a disk his dad gave him to customize his NormalNavi. In the following morning, MegaMan wakes Lan up like he usually does in the games. Lan is initially disappointed that MegaMan is small, but when viruses attack, MegaMan displays amazing skill. He quickly made friends with Roll (eventually leading to her loving him) and had a minor rivalry with GutsMan. Throughout the first season, MegaMan and Lan fight against the WWW and make new friends. MegaMan and Lan also have a heavy rivalry with Chaud and ProtoMan.

They later enter the N1 Grand Prix, during which Lan and MegaMan try to master the Program Advance. In the final round, MegaMan and ProtoMan fight each other, with ProtoMan as the victor. However, their battle awakens PharaohMan.EXE who deletes MegaMan. He is later rebuilt and defeats PharaohMan with the help of ProtoMan using a double Program Advance. In the second season, MegaMan and Lan face of against the criminal organization Grave using various style changes.

Abilities
MegaMan is the only NetNavi who can use various transformation systems like Double Soul, Style Change, Cross System and Beast Out. These draw powers from another NetNavi/Cybeast in order to associate with MegaMan to create a new form. MegaMan can also be customized in many ways, like charge shot (Trans Arm), fighting style (Style Change), special abilites (Navi Customizer), so MegaMan is considered as a "Custom Navi".

Offensive Abilities
 * Mega Buster: This is MegaMan.EXE's standard weapon, like all MegaMen before him. MegaMan can either shoot the buster rapidly, or charge the buster to do more damage. Typically a charged shot deals out 10 times as much damage as an uncharged shot. In Network Transmission, the Buster will attack through a unique formula that takes away a certain amount of health based on an enemy's Max HP, the kind of buster shot being used, and overall upgrades made to the MegaBuster over time. The MegaBuster's power changes depending on the upgrades or NaviCust programs equipped to him, and charged shot changes depending on the Style Change, Double Soul, or Cross System. It is a powerful and effective weapon for MegaMan to utilize.
 * Giga Buster: In the final extra chapter of the Manga, MegaMan uses the new version of his Mega Buster while enter the giga mode (by remove his limiters). It appearance changes greatly, now looking like the barrel of a tank, and its power greatly increases to the same level of power as the Giga Cannon Program Advance.


 * Dark Power: MegaMan is the only Navi who can use Dark Chips without becoming evil, and can even merge them with Double Soul. Usually they permanently reduce his maximum HP by one per battle used. The only way he can't be hurt by one or suffer side effects is by using Double Soul or sacrificing bug frags. Like Beast Out, the player can trigger a berserk state.

Custom Abilities
 * Navi Customizer: Exclusive to the games. Debuting in Battle Network 3, this system allows MegaMan to equip different programs in the form of colored blocks, each of them having a different effect on him. These effects range from upgrading his Buster strength or his battle chip folder capacities, to giving him special abilities, such as generating defensive Reflective Shields or surviving fatal blows with 1hp of auxiliary energy. However, the Customizer has its own rules, and breaking these will result in bugs on MegaMan.


 * Style Change: Debuting in Battle Network 2, this allows MegaMan to change his elemental alignment and get upgraded power depending on the change. There are twenty-eight different customized styles (four elements and seven Styles).


 * Trans Arm: Introduced in Rockman.EXE Legend of Network, the Trans Arm is similar to the Double Soul, but only changes MegaMan's charge shot and color.

Transformation Abilities
 * Cross Fusion: Exclusive to the anime, by the use of a special Battle Chip inside a Dimensional Area, MegaMan can synchronize with Lan and fight in the real world. However, if not in full sync, the Cross Fusion can deteriorate.


 * Double Soul: Also known as Soul Unison, by resonating with another Navi's soul, MegaMan can gain the abilities of the Navi along with additional powers. In both Mega Man Battle Network 4 and 5, MegaMan gains six Souls, each of them varying depending on the game version. In the anime, the side effects of Cross Fusion removed the use of the Style Change and Double Soul was acquired as a replacement. A dark form of it is known as Chaos Unison.


 * Cross MegaMan: This is the prototype/alternate/advanced version of Cross System exclusive to Mega Man Battle Network 5. It provided an alternate base form for MegaMan with several Navi Customizer programs already installed, as well as an altered charged shot. However, it is much more potent than the Double Soul and Cross Systems due to no elemental weakness, permanent transformation and a lot of special abilities.


 * Cross System: This is similar to Double Soul, but with certain differences. Exclusive to Mega Man Battle Network 6, this becomes his new means of transformation, combining the abilities of Double Souls with the long duration of Styles. MegaMan gains 5 Crosses per game in Battle Network 6, each of them varying depending on the game version.


 * Beast Out: There are two different Beast Outs, Falzar and Gregar, and the one you get is dependent on your version. It can be activated at any time between turns. It expires after three turns, and if Beast Out is used again immediately afterwards, MegaMan enters Beast Over, and goes berserk. Beast Out can combine with Crosses to form Cross Beasts, each with their own chip charge attack.

Special Abilities
 * Bug: Though not an actual ability, bugs are glitches in MegaMan, but only he can utilize and use its power. These glitches may cause a variety of side-effects during a battle.


 * Hub.BAT/Hub Batch: The Hub.BAT is a program that when equipped into MegaMan's system completes Hub's DNA within him. It gives MegaMan all powers from style changes in Battle Network 2, and all NaviCust programs installed with a halved-HP bug in Battle Network 3. In Battle Network 6, it appears as a Giga Chip and with the same effects as in Battle Network 3, but with the exclusion of the HP Bug.


 * e-Reader Cards: (Japanese only): Players can insert e-Reader Cards to customize Rockman in special ways. These cards caused various effects as, such as Base HP, Abilities, Buster Changes, Charge Shot Modifications, B+ Back Abilities. There are even Item Cards which can give out sets of Battle Chips, Sub Chips, BugFrags, Zenny, and even Navi Customizer Programs (only introduced in Rockman.EXE 6 Modification Card Part 1 & Rockman.EXE 6 Modification Card Part 2). They could also cause negative effects ("Bugs") to occur, such as causing Rockman to lose health and move the wrong way, or causing the player to be unable to control him.

As a boss
In the game series, there are several times where MegaMan goes berserk, and Lan must fight against him using another Navi. Additionally, many villains have tried to create mirror images of MegaMan, but fail because they copied him using a certain power (namely Dark Power and Beast Out).

Dark MegaMan/MegaMan DS
The boss pattern of MegaMan DS (MegaMan Dark Soul) is an almost complete mirror of that of the player's. He has the exact same Max HP at the start of the battle and uses Battle Chips, preferring those in the player's folder. A good way to counter this is by putting several chips together that would be need for a Program Advance or special combo (e.g. Sanctuary and Holy Dream), as MegaMan DS has a tendency to use chips at random and can't use PA's, but on some rare occasion, Dark MegaMan can use LifeSword. In Mega Man Battle Network 5, when MegaMan uses the Dark Chip DarkInvis, MegaMan will enter a state just like MegaMan DS. Also in Mega Man Battle Network 5, if MegaMan uses a Chaos Soul and fails to use the charge attack correctly, MegaMan DS will form and try to kill MegaMan until the viruses are deleted. This MegaMan DS has no HP, but will dissipate after a long period.

It's worth noting that Dark MegaMan only appears in Mega Man Battle Network 5, and that there is a difference between him and MegaMan DS. Whereas Dark MegaMan is MegaMan overwhelmed and transformed by Dark Power, MegaMan DS is the embodiment of MegaMan's evil.

GBeast and FBeast
GBeast (Gビースト) and FBeast (Fビースト) are bosses from Mega Man Battle Network 6, each appearing in a different version. Contrary to Dark MegaMan, they have more of a fixed battle pattern. When MegaMan is consumed by the Cybeast Gregar or Falzar, Lan must use one of his Link Navi partners to fight against him. Later, a copy made of data bits appears in the Underground, and MegaMan has to fight against it and Bass.

GBeast
GBeast is a boss from Mega Man Battle Network 6 Cybeast Gregar. In this form, he uses a rapid fire blaster.

Attacks:
 * Thunder: Same as the Battle Chip.


 * Gregar Claw: GBeast homes in on the player and slashes twice, first in a LongSword fashion and second in a WideSword fashion.


 * Stun Claw/Gregar Buster Combo: GBeast uses a stunning LongSword slash, and then fires with his Gregar Buster.


 * Gregar Breath: GBeast uses a Gregar breath similar to the one used by Gregar.

FBeast
FBeast is a boss from Mega Man Battle Network 6 Cybeast Falzar. In this form, MegaMan can rapidly shoot metal feathers on his row and two ahead on the rows he is.

Attacks:
 * Aqua Needle: He launches needles at the playable character's field. Dodging is easy; simply move away from the glowing panels.


 * Boomer: He summons one boomerang to attack the top, bottom and the last panel of the center row like the battle chip.


 * Falzar Claw/Buster Combo: He jumps in front of the playable character and slashes twice. If stunned after the second slash, he will fire a total of 30 sharp feathers at the opponent. This can also be done if the stun takes effect after the first slash as well.


 * Falzar Storm: He blasts wind at the center row and the last panel of the top and bottom row.

Trivia

 * Normally, in both the games and the anime, MegaMan is often the character who breaks the fourth wall (sends a humorous message or joke straight to the audience) normally in the intro or during a lull in the plot.


 * This is the first Mega Man so far to have an actual logo. Mega Man from the Mega Man Star Force series later bears his own logo.


 * As default, MegaMan.EXE doesn't have a pre-installed shield like the Star Force Mega Man. That's why all attacks of all bosses from the Battle Network series don't affect all of MegaMan.EXE's panels. For an example, MegaMan EM can block Crimson Dragon's laser attack with his shield, but MegaMan.EXE (if he was there) can't do that. Another example, in Battle Network 5, Bass' Darkness Overload attack doesn't damage all of MegaMan's panels, but only a 2x3 area so that MegaMan.EXE can dodge it without a shield.


 * MegaMan's eyes are green, but in the first three Mega Man Battle Network games his mugshot shows him with blue eyes. It was fixed in later games.


 * In Mega Man Battle Network 6, the sprite used for walking in the cyberworld make his eyes look blue. However, his battle sprite has brown eyes, but his mugshot shows than his eyes are green which is their true color.


 * He has unused overworld sprites in Mega Man Star Force 2 and 3.
 * MegaMan.EXE, however, makes a cameo appearance in the first Mega Man Star Force game in one of the side quests. If the player completed the side quest and returned the "SciLab" data for MegaMan.EXE, he will make a short appearance from the portal and gives Geo the "BNBlaster", or "Battle Network Blaster".


 * Mega Man Star Force always keeps the weapon "BNBlaster" in the series, players can get the advanced version, "BNBlaster-EX" with a Cipher Code in Mega Man Star Force 3.


 * Geo Stelar, the main character in the Mega Man Star Force series shares many traits with MegaMan.EXE such as his fear of ghosts, and both being more level-headed than their respective partners.


 * In Mega Man Star Force 2, Lan's diary entries can be obtained through side quests. One entry reveals that Patch, Lan's son from the epilogue of Mega Man Battle Network 6, had his own NetNavi: MegaMan Junior, a program combining the best qualities of MegaMan and Roll, making Junior the son of both Navis.