Mega Man Battle Network 3

MegaMan Battle Network 3 (Rockman.EXE 3) takes place not long after MegaMan Battle Network 2. There are two versions: White (no subtitle in Japan) and Blue (Black in Japan). A NetNavi tournament called the N1 Grand Prix took place. Half of the game involved qualifying for the tournament.

Release Date
Blue+White JP:3/28/03 US:6/24/03 EU:7/4/03

Story
Once Lan and MegaMan get into the N1 Grand Prix, the tournament was discovered as a set-up by WWW to intimidate the world about their return.

WWW had already been attacking in between qualification rounds. As with before, Lan and MegaMan had to defeat the WWW net navis. However, the net operators always managed to escape with special programs known as TetraCodes. The codes were required for WWW's plan to revive the net beast Alpha (Proto in Japan).

Alpha was the orignal prototype of the internet. However, he went beserk and devoured any navis and programs. The scientists were forced to seal Alpha to prevent further damage.

In addition to the TetraCodes, WWW had needed Bass in order to awaken Alpha. It was revealed that Dr. Wily, head of WWW, was moving behind-the-scenes in net mafia Gospel, and had put them to the task of creating a copy Bass specifically for the resurrection. This time, Wily didn't need a fake Bass because he tricked the true Bass into removing the final security measure. When Lan and MegaMan arrived, Alpha was awaken and after a battle with Bass, Alpha appears and devours Wily (who was in the net with a Pulse Transmision Program) and Bass, seeing that they started to fought and destroyed Alpha. In its last moments, Alpha absorbed MegaMan, and the navi was thought to have been deleted. However, a letter Lan's grand-father left them contained coding that let MegaMan be restored.

Changes from previous versions
Once again, the game introduces a few changs to the folder building system. First, the Library has been split into 4 portions - Standard chips, Mega chips, Giga chips, and Program Advances. This allows for a more balanced folder whilst allowing for amazingly powerful chips to be used.

Standard chips are now limited to 4 copies per folder, and all Navi chips from the previous game are treated as Mega chips, along with some incredibly powerful chips. As you can only hold one copy of a Mega chip in the folder, this prevents the abuse of incredibly powerful chips like Full Custom, which was horribly exploited in the previous game, where it was allowed in 5's like every other chip. Giga chips are a new addition, giving way to really powerful chips like Balance or Navi Recycle. Only one Giga chip is allowed per folder.

The Navi Customizer (Navicust for short) is introduced in this game, too. Instead of receiving PowerUps which are used to permanently upgrade the Buster, the player now receives Navicust pieces that grant him different abilities, in addition to upgrading the Buster, like the ever-useful Undershirt. Some parts of the plot also require the use of certain parts, like Press or Black Mind. This game is the only version that uses Extra Codes and Colour compatibilities, seeing that after MegaMan loses Styles in the following game, the codes and compatibilities are of no use afterwards and are hence scrapped.

Styles now serve a different function too. Levelling up your style no longer improves the damage of your charged Buster, but instead grants you special Navicust pieces that can be used with the style. Some existing Styles are also given new innate abilities, like the Custom Style's ability to yield special chips when S-ranking viruses. Three new Styles are also introduced, with two of them being exclusive to either version. MegaMan now can only hold one Style, though.

Finishing off opponents while they are about to execute an attack - also known as Countering - will give you Bug Frags. These are used in many areas - for trading, virus breeding, and for trading at the Bug Frag trader. This game also introduces the Number Lottery, where the player can input a certain number code to get an item. Often these items would range from subchips to rare items, unobtainable through any other means.