Program Advance

A Program Advance (プログラムアドバンス), PA for short, is an incident in the Mega Man Battle Network series when certain Battle Chips are used in succession to form a very powerful to enormously powerful offense or defense. One of the most known examples would be the Life Sword PA, which uses the Battle Chips Sword, Wide Sword, and Long Sword, in that order with the same code.

In Mega Man Battle Network 5 onwards, Program Advances were limited to once per battle, so players couldn't reuse it. In the anime Mega Man NT Warrior, PA's are triggered the same way, but they are harder to use, may self-destruct, and can be used in Cross Fusions.

In Mega Man Star Force 3, Galaxy Advance (GA) cards work similar to PAs, but are much easier to form as the necessary Battle Cards need not all be selectable. All PA's require 3, 4, or 5 chips, while GAs only need 3 cards. Galaxy Advance cards may also be found in Finalize folders or as very rare Illegal data.

Mega Man Battle Network
Program Advances from Mega Man Battle Network. Numbering is not official.

Rockman.EXE Operate Shooting Star
Rockman.EXE Operate Shooting Star is a Japan-only re-release of the original game with some changes, including two exclusive Program Advances. Numbering is not official.

Mega Man Network Transmission
When a Program Advance is done in this game, only one of each involved chip is used. The Program Advance can be re-created at any time if there is at least one of all chips involved available.

thumb|300px|left|Showcase of the Program Advances

Mega Man Battle Network 2
Program Advances in Mega Man Battle Network 2.

Mega Man Battle Network 3
Program Advances in Mega Man Battle Network 3.

Mega Man Battle Network 4
Program Advances in Mega Man Battle Network 4.

Mega Man Battle Network 5
Program Advances in Mega Man Battle Network 5.

Mega Man Battle Network 6
Program Advances in Mega Man Battle Network 6.

Rockman.EXE Phantom of Network
Program Advances in Rockman.EXE Phantom of Network.

Rockman.EXE Legend of Network
Program Advances in Rockman.EXE Legend of Network.

Other media
Program Advances are also used in the MegaMan NT Warrior anime. The first Program Advance to appear is the Beta Sword in episode 14, which MegaMan learns during the N1 Grand Prix. MegaMan and ProtoMan use the PA in several episodes, and GutsMan used it once in episode 54. In the anime the Beta Sword creates a long energy blade.

Other PAs used by MegaMan are Hyper Burst and Mega Death Burst, used against PlanetMan.EXE in episode 45 and Life Virus in episode 56. In MegaMan NT Warrior Axess onward other PAs are used as well.