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 build folders designed to fire off the same PA over and over again. In the anime MegaMan NT Warrior, PA's are triggered the same way, but because they also require synchronization between the operator and the Navi, they are harder to use, may fail or self-destruct, and can be used in Cross Fusions.

In Mega Man Star Force 3, Galaxy Advance 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 three, four, or five chips, while GAs only need three 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 Mega Man Battle Network 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. All of these are Null elemental.

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.

*: If all hits on the attack work on enemy

**: If enemy is in middle panel

***: If enemy is in top or bottom lane, and at the closest column

****: If the Pharaoh statue isn't destroyed and they have 1000 or more HP.

*****: 400 If it's one driver that hits. 800 If they both hit.

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.

Rockman.EXE Battle Chip Stadium
Program Advances from Rockman.EXE Battle Chip Stadium. The order the chips are selected doesn't matter in this game.

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 (although in Axess, C.F. ProtoMan called it Life Sword during a battle with ShadeMan), 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 (Life Sword) creates a long energy blade. Other PAs used by MegaMan are Hyper Burst and Mega Death Burst, used against PlanetMan in episode 45 and the Life Virus in episode 56. In MegaMan NT Warrior Axess onward other PAs are used as well.

In the MegaMan NT Warrior manga, the Battle Chip Stadium Program Advance Boscone Panic Express is used to defeat Bugriser. The Program Advance summons ChargeMan.EXE using his final attack, Crazy Locomotive. This is a reference to ChargeMan, who had not appeared in the manga except for the extra chapter.