Noise Change

Noise Change (ノイズチェンジ) is a new transformation system introduced in Mega Man Star Force 3. These are similar to Style Changes, where Mega Man is only able to keep one at a time, but enters battle in his equipped Noise Change. Each noise has its own special attributes, along with a special Noise Force Big Bang (NFB) that is gained through countering enemies, just like its predecessors the Link Force Big Bang and Star Force Big Bang from the previous two games.

Ace/Joker Program & Noise Gauge
Ace Program (received in the Black Ace version) or Joker Program (received in the Red Joker version) is a program that allows an EM being harmonize with noise, allowing the player to use the power of noise without harmful effects. Finalization, a transformation by using the power of Meteor G, is the ultimate noise transformation. A.C. Eos gives Geo Stelar this program at a certain point in the game.

While the Ace/Joker Program is equipped (no Link Power is required for this), a Noise Gauge shows the amount of noise under Mega Man's control. Mega Man will also enter battle in his current chosen Noise Change. The Gauge rises under different conditions in battle.

For example, most of the time damage that exceeds the targets hp (when hit by a None Attributed Card) is added to the Noise Gauge.

Noise Change
Noise Changes largely depend on the Noise Gauge, and undergo some changes as the Noise Gauge reaches different levels. The player gains their first Noise Change after a certain point in the plot. After which, when they finish a battle with Giant viruses, they stand a chance to get a different Noise Change. If it is a new Noise Change that they have not used before, they will be able to see some of the new Noise's abilities before confirming if they wish to switch to the new Noise Change. Afterwards, a mail is sent to the player detailing the Noise Change's abilities.

Black Ace and Red Joker each have their exclusive Noise Changes, but in a rare occurrence the player may get a Noise Change from the opposing version, i.e if there is a noise form that has a 15% chance of occurring in Red Joker, it will only have a 3% chance of occurring in Black Ace. However, Rogue has a 10% chance of occurring in both versions. Usually, the Red Joker NFB's have additional special effects. Additionally, in National Astro Wave 1 there is a Noism that can revert the player to their previously equipped Noise Change. This does not apply to Rogue Noise, however.

Noise Form, Vibrant Noise, Multi-Noise
While the Ace/Joker Program is equipped (no Link Power is required for this), Noise Gauge shows the amount of noise under Mega Man's control. Mega Man will also enter battle in his current chosen Noise Change. The Gauge rises under different conditions in battle.

In virus battles, the noise level increases by 1% for each excess point of damage dealt when Mega Man deletes a virus with a non-dimming, non-elemental battle card. (for example, deleting a virus with 20 HP left using a card that deals 100 damage per hit will increase the gauge by 80%) In boss battles, the level increases by half of the damage done by a non-dimming, non-elemental card. In PvP battles, any locked-on non-dimming battle cards will increase the gauge by half the damage dealt. Mega and Giga-class cards will also increase the gauge by 20% and 30% respectively.

Between 0% to 50% noise, the Noise Change starts at its Noise Form stage, where the player has access only to some of its innate abilities.

Once the gauge exceeds 50%, the equipped Noise Change will enter Vibrant Noise Form, where the player has access to all of its abilities, including its element, Charge Shot, and NFB. Each Noise has a weakness to a certain type of attack, and when hit by its weakness, it will revert to the Form Out stage at 0% noise. The gauge will also decrease steadily down to 50%

Brother Cards and Opponent Noise can be used to initiate Merge Noise - also known as Multi-Noise Form - which will merge both transformations through a Merge Out, combining the abilities of the Noise Changes, and changing the player's element, Charge Shot and NFB to match the latter Noise Change. Using Merge Noise will also change the Noise to its Vibrant Noise form, forcing the Noise meter to 50%. Getting hit by the Multi-Noise's new weakness will revert the player to his base Noise Form stage of his initial Noise, at 0%.

In single player, exceeding 100% noise will generate several effects. All attacks will pierce invisible, and some panels may seem to disappear or "glitch". In PvP, this only happens upon exceeding 200% noise, along with the player's HP count turning red to signal this to the opponent.

Finishing the battle with over 100% noise will also yield Illegal Card data, which is randomly chosen, often not related to the enemies fought and somewhat based on difficulty of the fought enemies. These cards include otherwise-unobtainable battle cards, or even cards available only in previous games. Additionally, MegaMan will also enter his next battle in Vibrant Noise form, at 50% noise level. S-ranking a battle at over 200% or 300% noise will also yield more than one Illegal Card data at the same time. The Zenny Finder and Collector Wizard Equips will override this, however.

Entering the Custom Screen once the gauge has exceeded 200% will also present the player the option to Finalize. Doing so will change Mega Man into his Finalized Noise (based on version), while also accessing a "Meteor Server" folder which defies many folder-building rules and card selection rules, allowing the player to use several powerful cards in one turn. The strength of the folder depends on the noise level when the player chooses to Finalize, and Finalizing will reset the gauge to 0%.

Finalized Noise
At noise levels of 200% or higher, the player can initiate Finalized Noise through the Custom Screen. This is when the screen prompts the player whether they want to initiate Finalized Noise by accessing the Meteor Server by showing a button saying "Meteor Server Access".

Initiating Finalized Noise will transform Mega Man to either Black Ace or Red Joker, depending on the version that is being played. Doing so will also cause his noise level to drop to 0%. Additionally, when the Meteor Server is accessed, the player switches to a Meteor Server folder which contains several powerful Battle Cards, inclusive of the NFBs from the other Noises and their exclusive NFB. Finalized Noises have no element or weakness, but expire after three turns, causing the player to revert to the Noise Form stage of his equipped Noise Change at 0% noise.

The Meteor Server folder has different levels, going higher as the player reaches higher noise levels above 200%. Higher levels contain more powerful Battle Cards, starting from LV1 at 200% noise and ending at LV11 at 999.9% noise. They also tend to be unrestricted by the usual folder building and support, and can contain multiple Giga Cards (inclusive of NFBs which are considered so) inside, with no worry about cards being dimmed out. As a result, a player in finalized Noise may use many Giga Cards to create some devastating combinations.

Finalized Noises can further be customized through use of Rezon Card codes. These give abilities to the Finalized Noises, and can change their Charge Shot (as they do not have one of their own). The abilities from Rezon Card codes are shared throughout the Battle Team, and any card boosts will stack. However, these are exclusive to the Japanese version.

Special Ability Waves
Whilst equipped with a certain Noise Change, after fighting through several battles, the player will receive a special Ability Wave. These Ability Waves require less Link Power to equip compared to other Ability Waves obtained through other means, and the player can only obtain one copy of each special Ability Wave. About 100 battles are required for the first Ability Wave, and 250 for the second one. Noise Changes that award only one Ability Wave award it at around 200 battles or so.

Black Ace Noise Changes
{|border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" width="100%"
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Libra Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Fire +10
 * Aqua +10
 * No element.
 * Weak to Breaking attacks.
 * Non-dimming, non-elemental cards heal 5% of Mega Man's maximum HP.
 * Charge Shot: Side Spread
 * Spreads to the left and right of the target, hitting 3 times for (5 x Buster Attack) damage each. Does not flinch.
 * NFB: Meteor Light Barrage
 * Charge Spread/100
 * HP+500/350
 * align="center"|SF3LibraNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
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Corvus Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Non-dimming Fire cards +30 attack.
 * Fire element.
 * Weak to Aqua attacks.
 * Immune to HP Bugs, Poison Panels, and Gravity effects.
 * Charge Shot: Shocking Flare
 * Covers the column MegaMan is standing on, inflicting (5 x Buster Attack + 50) Fire damage and inducing Gravity effect.
 * NFB: Atomic Blazer
 * Gravity Body/300
 * Air Shoes/200
 * align="center"|SF3CorvusNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
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Cancer Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Non-dimming Aqua cards +30 attack.
 * Aqua element.
 * Weak to Elec attacks.
 * Non-dimming Aqua cards gain Bubble effect.
 * Charge Shot: Bubble Shot
 * Inflicts (10 x Buster Attack) Aqua damage and induces a short-lasting Bubble effect to the target.
 * NFB: Dyna Wave
 * Charge Cross/45
 * Bubble Body/600
 * align="center"|SF3CancerNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
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Gemini Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Tag System (if the player selects two Battle Cards in their folder by pressing Y twice - they will show up in the Custom Menu with each other when drawn).
 * Non-dimming Elec cards +30 attack.
 * Elec element.
 * Weak to Wood attacks.
 * All Sword cards gain Paralyze effect.
 * Charge Shot: Rocket Knuckle
 * Fires a knuckle down the column, inflicting (10 x Buster Attack) paralyzing Elec damage.
 * NFB: Thunder Bolt Blade
 * Charge Paralyze/70
 * Paralyze Body/600
 * align="center"|SF3GeminiNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
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Ophiuchus Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Wood cards +20 attack.
 * Wood element.
 * Weak to Fire attacks.
 * Non-dimming, non-elemental cards gain Confuse effect.
 * Immune to Blind and Confuse effects.
 * Charge Shot: Wood Shot
 * Spreads to the 8 panels surrounding the target, inflicting (10 x Buster Attack) Wood damage and creating Grass Panels on all affected panels. Does not flinch.
 * NFB: Elemental Cyclone
 * Charge Wood/50
 * Flash Body/200
 * align="center"|SF3OphiucaNoise.png
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Black Ace
Features:
 * Buster MAX
 * No Charge Shot.
 * No element or weakness.
 * Locked-On cards have double damage (inclusive of Auto Lock-On).
 * Airshoes and Floatshoes
 * Auto Lock-On
 * Quick Gauge
 * NFB: Black End Galaxy
 * align="center" style="vertical-align:top;"|Starforcenoise1megaman_blackace.jpg
 * }

Red Joker Noise Changes
{|border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" width="100%"
 * colspan="1" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left;"|

Cygnus Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Airshoes and Floatshoes
 * Non-elemental cards gain +10 attack.
 * No element
 * Weak to Sword attacks.
 * Non-dimming Wind cards gain +30 attack.
 * Charge Shot: Feather Vulcan
 * Hits 3 times for (3 x Buster Attack) damage each. Does not flinch.
 * NFB: Meteor Light Barrage
 * Charge Sever/50
 * Float Shoes/150
 * align="center"|SF3CygnusNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
 * colspan="1" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left;"|
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Taurus Noise (Ox Noise)
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Super Armour
 * Non-dimming Fire cards gain +50 attack.
 * Fire element
 * Weak to Aqua attacks.
 * Charge Shot: Heat Cannon
 * Hits the target and a 1x3 area centred immediately behind it, inflicting (10 x Buster Attack + 20) Fire damage.
 * NFB: Atomic Blazer
 * Super Armour/700
 * align="center"|SF3TaurusNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
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Virgo Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Immune to Freeze and Bubble effects.
 * Non-dimming Aqua cards gain +30 attack.
 * Aqua element
 * Weak to Elec attacks.
 * Charge Shot: Aqua Wave
 * Fires a 3-panel wide wave that pierces through enemies, inflicting (10 x Buster Attack + 10) Aqua damage.
 * NFB: Dyna Wave
 * Charge Ice/50
 * Freeze Body/600
 * align="center"|SF3VirgoNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
 * colspan="1" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left;"|
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Crown Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Increased chance of drawing Mega or Giga-class cards.
 * Elec cards +20 attack.
 * Elec element
 * Weak to Wood attacks.
 * Non-dimming, non-elemental cards gain Blind effect.
 * Charge Shot: Plasma Shot
 * Hits the target for (10 x Buster Attack + 10) paralyzing Elec damage.
 * NFB: Thunder Bolt Blade
 * Mega Class +1/200
 * align="center"|SF3CrownNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
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Wolf Noise
Noise Form Vibrant Noise Ability Waves
 * Quick Gauge
 * Non-dimming Sword cards +30 attack.
 * Wood element
 * Weak to Fire attacks.
 * Wood cards gain +10 attack and Auto Lock On.
 * Charge Shot: Shock Claw
 * Performs a 3-panel wide slash that can travel up to 2 panels deep. Inflicts (10 x Buster Attack + 50) Wood and Sword damage. Does not flinch.
 * NFB: Elemental Cyclone
 * Quick Gauge/300
 * align="center"|SF3WolfNoise.png
 * colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;"|
 * colspan="1" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left;"|
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Red Joker
Features:
 * Buster MAX
 * No Charge Shot
 * No element or weakness.
 * Locked-On cards have double damage (inclusive of Auto Lock-On).
 * Super Armour
 * Status Guard
 * NFB: Red Gaia Eraser
 * align="center" style="vertical-align:top;"|MMSF3RedJokerNoise.png
 * }

Rogue Noise (Burai Noise)
The Rogue Noise Change is unique as it can be obtained in both games. However, the player must not have any other real-life Brothers to get this Noise, and so this Noise cannot perform Multi-Noise. Forcing the game to do so through methods such as the use of a cheat device can glitch Rogue Noise. Rogue Noise also cannot be held by the Noism as a reserve Noise Change.

Trivia

 * Counting all Noise Changes, including Multi Noise and Finalized noise, there are a total of 103 Noise Changes.
 * A Harp Noise was planned, but it was rejected.