Roll.EXE

"We came to save you, Mega!"

- Roll.EXE

Roll.EXE is the NetNavi (short for Internet Navigator) operated by Mayl Sakurai. She is a prominent character appearing throughout the Mega Man Battle Network series' games, manga, and anime.

Appearance
Among all the characters in the Battle Network series, Roll has some of the strongest deviations from her classic counterpart. Like MegaMan.EXE and ProtoMan.EXE, Roll's armor is a lightweight bodysuit-type, with a mixture of the colors pink, red, and black highlighting different parts of her body. Attached to her helmet is a pair of transparent, ribbon-like antennae that curve behind her; when considered together with the button attached to her backside, they give her a vaguely bunny-like appearance.

Like her original, Roll has a blonde ponytail tied with a green ribbon, but, in keeping with the aesthetic of the Battle Network universe, this hairstyle is sharp and geometric. She is the same height as MegaMan, standing at 148 virtual centimeters (roughly 4'9").

Biography
Roll is a kind-hearted Navi with healing powers. She is hip and cool, with the heart of a champion NetBattler. In the anime, Roll resists GutsMan's affections much like Mayl resists Dex's, and instead has her eyes on MegaMan.EXE. The two are very close, and the two of them are not quite as shy (or, in Lan's case, oblivious) about their relationship as their operators are. While she openly has a crush on him in adaptations, in official profiles of the game, Roll is identified directly as MegaMan's girlfriend.

Relationships

 * Mayl Sakurai - Roll's operator and friend. They have a close friendship and each is always there when the other needs her.


 * MegaMan.EXE - In the games, MegaMan and Roll are just about as close as Lan and Mayl are themselves, constantly striving to protect and care for one another. While the game doesn't give their relationship a lot of focus, Roll and Mega are close enough that sometimes Roll will even refer to him simply as "Mega" ("Rock-kun" in Japanese). Because she is a non-combatant, she mainly supports him through the use of her healing abilities and her Navi Chip (usually when Mayl gives a copy to Lan). In the anime, since Mega spends a significant amount of time defending his friends and loved ones, he comes to care about Roll, but also comes to view her as someone to be protected; this causes her to take offense at one point when it seemed to her that he thought little of her abilities (this is reflected in her Scenario in MegaMan Battle Network 4 Red Sun). When this clears up, Mega and Roll grow even closer, and their relationship is strong enough to forge a Double Soul in Axess. As a final note, Roll has a large crush on MegaMan, taking every opportunity to engage in physical affection with him (like holding onto his arm, for example); he reciprocates, but later seasons of the anime make her affections even more expressive while at the same time presenting him as clueless over them. In official media for the games, she is identified explicitly as his girlfriend.


 * GutsMan.EXE - In the MegaMan NT Warrior anime, GutsMan has a large well of affection for Roll, which imitates Dex's crush on Maylu and which, similarly, is unrequited. However, while Mayl is usually more subtle in warding off Dex's unwanted advances, Roll usually must confront a hulk of a Navi whose large muscles and little brain sometimes don't mix well; Roll has been known to respond with violence to keep GutsMan at bay. Despite her frustration with GutsMan's limited intelligence, Roll considers GutsMan a good friend and ally and appreciates that GutsMan will always be there for her. This characterization is not present in the games, where GutsMan and Roll are clearly friends, but have little depicted interaction; however, in Battle Chip Challenge (which is informed by the anime), GutsMan wishes to impress Roll with his power.

Game History
Roll is a supporting character in the Battle Network series. She rarely fights, but often talks to MegaMan, offering many pointers and helpful suggestions. Roll assists MegaMan whenever she can and is always there to support him, no matter what the consequences.

She is the only Navi whose Navi chips appeared in all six games; usually Lan receives them from Mayl at different parts of the story, but in Battle Network 4 Roll's Navi chips must be earned in combat. In any game, Roll has a maximum of three Navi chips, even in Battle Network 3, where every other Navi had a V4 and V5 chip. In the fourth game, Roll is a boss character that is randomly encountered in the second tournament. After her defeat, she gives MegaMan a new Soul Unison. There are two games where her chips aren't listed with "V2" and "V3": Battle Network 4 and Battle Network 5, where she has "SP" and "DS" chips. She regained the V2 and 3 chips in the sixth game, where EX and SP chips were used.

Mega Man Battle Network
Roll primarily plays the role of MegaMan's friend. However, during the bus hijacking incident, MegaMan must rescue Roll from ColorMan, who was on the runaway bus Mayl was trapped in. Roll also assists MegaMan with the infiltration of the WWW (World Three) hideout.

In the remake, Roll, along with Harp Note, is kidnapped by ClockMan, a NetNavi from the future who likes to collect beautiful women from different time periods.

Mega Man Battle Network 2
Roll is rarely involved in the story until the world environmental system crisis, when Roll is trapped due to FreezeMan's ice and needs to be rescued by MegaMan. There is also a copy of herself created by Gospel, but the real Roll defeats this copy.

Mega Man Battle Network 3
Mayl enters Roll into the N1 Grand Prix, but Roll loses during the preliminary battles. Roll doesn't do much else in this game, although a band of thug Navis try to trick Lan and MegaMan by sending a fake distress mail from Roll.

Mega Man Battle Network 4
Roll finds herself once again in distress, this time being kidnapped by ShadeMan. MegaMan tracks them down to the radio tower and saves her. Later on, Roll turned up as a competitor against MegaMan in the Eagle Tournament. Before they battle, however, Roll is kidnapped by a stalker Navi who is in love with her. After being rescued by MegaMan, she makes MegaMan try to capture her in a game of tag to prove she's not entirely helpless. Afterwards, the two battle, but Roll loses to MegaMan.

Mega Man Battle Network 5 and 6
Roll hardly has any involvement in either installment; in the former game Mayl loses her when her PET is stolen by Nebula, and in the latter Lan moves away. However, she still has a strong role in battle chips and sidequests. When she and Mega reunite in the Battle Network 6, she will act as though Mega is her date while he reconnects with Glyde and GutsMan as well. In the ending of Mega Man Battle Network 6, it is revealed Roll's NetOp, Mayl, marries Lan. And in turn she has her data mixed with MegaMan taking her best qualities and MegaMan's as well to create MegaMan Jr.

Other appearances
Roll also has a number of appearances in other side-games, and is playable in both Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge and Rockman EXE 4.5 Real Operation. In Mega Man Network Transmission, Roll only appears a couple of times to offer MegaMan advice.

MegaMan NT Warrior
In the anime series, Roll is a fellow NetNavi working with MegaMan to help stop the WWW (World Three) from their disastrous plans. Roll's operator is Maylu Sakurai, a friend of Lan Hikari, the operator of MegaMan. Roll has many attacks such as her Roll Blaster, that she used against TorchMan in the episode, "Hot Tempers", and her Roll Control which she used against WackoMan in the episode, "Wacky Maddness & Blazing Battles!".

In "Evil Empress Roll", Roll was hacked by the Devil Chip, which had appeared innocuous and had been called the "Super Great White Angel Chip" when Maylu had first received it from Higsby (actually Yahoot in disguise). She was forcibly transformed into a more malicious version of herself with dominatrix overtones and took on the name "Empress" ("Roll-sama" in Japan). This effect was relieved when Maylu manually overrode the Devil Chip with another.

Following the events of the N1 Grand Prix, Dr. Hikari gives Roll a modified virus named Rush as a pet. Rush is happily welcomed and proves to be a great asset while navigating PharaohMan's desert and pyramid.

MegaMan NT Warrior Axess
In episode four of Axess, "Soul Unison!", Roll was up against FlashMan, who was causing blackouts all over ACDC. MegaMan attacks him, but Roll accidentally hits MegaMan with her Aqua Tower, almost deleting him. Lan takes MegaMan to Scilab where Yuichiro begins the repair process. Angry at herself, Roll goes back to fight FlashMan. Roll holds him off as much as possible while MegaMan is repaired. FlashMan admits to being amused by her, but easily defeats her. Just as she is about to be deleted, MegaMan arrives and a Soul Unison is activated. Using Roll Soul, FlashMan is defeated.

Rockman.EXE Stream
When Meddy appears, it becomes apparent to Roll that she has also taken an interest in Mega, forming a love triangle and inciting Roll's jealousy. The two start as rivals for Mega's affections, but eventually their rivalry expands to other fields as well.

Notably, Roll and Maylu gain the ability to Cross Fuse. However, it appears as though their compatibility isn't as strong as the other members, which leads Mr. Famous to suggest that they use the Rush Synchro Chip to bypass this limitation.

Rockman.EXE Beast and Beast+
In Beast, she is shown taking care of Trill with MegaMan and is one of the few Navis to travel to Beyondard, though she and Mayl do not Cross Fuse. She continues to make appearances in Beast+. It could be possible that after the series ends she lives out the rest of her life with Mayl, Lan, and MegaMan.

Abilities
Roll has quite a few abilities at her disposal that make her a formidable foe (and a useful ally).


 * Auto Heal: Roll's iconic natural ability is to heal herself and others, a halmark effect of her Navi Chip. How and under what circumstances she can produce this ability tend to very from game to game; in Battle Chip Challenge Roll will automatically heal herself every time she attacks, while in Battle Network 4, she won't heal herself in battle at all.


 * Air Shoes: Roll walks around on her feet in the Cyberworld, but in battle, she floats. Her stance was originally leaning forward, but later games (Mega Man Battle Network 4 and on) showed her in a more upright position, leaning forward only to use her next attack.


 * First Barrier: In Battle Network 4.5, Roll has the First Barrier program equipped.


 * Roll Flash (ロールフラッシュ Rooru Furasshu): Roll's signature attack, applied to her chips as well. She will zoom in front of the targeted enemy and attack the foe with her head-attachments. In first and second Mega Man Battle Network, she 'stabbed' the enemy, while in later games, she swings her antenna like blades. Roll's Chip also lets the user regain some HP. Starting from Battle Network 4 and in later seasons of the anime, this attack was renamed Roll Whip (ロールウィップ).


 * Roll Arrow: Roll's long range attack, used in Mega Man Battle Network 4, and copied by MegaMan in Roll Soul. She will create a bow, and fire an arrow with a heart motif. This arrow, while slow (compared to other attacks) and not very powerful, has the ability to also destroy enemy battle chips.


 * Roll Dance: Roll will perform a spin, turning her body into shining dust, then teleporting to different locations. She becomes immune to attacks while performing her dance, allowing her to block enemy attacks with this skill.


 * Virus Charm: An advanced form of the Roll Dance. This dance allows her to summon viruses, casting a spell on the viruses that tricks them into feeling affection for Roll so that they will protect her and fight for her. She can perform this dance more than once, allowing her to summon multiple viruses to overwhelm the opponent. Defeating Roll will also delete any remaining viruses in the battle.


 * Heart Slash/Roll Blast (anime only): Roll blows a kiss, which becomes a huge shockwave. This is especially useful against a group of enemies.


 * Program Deck: Battle Chip Challenge indicates that Mayl and Roll do in fact have a supply of Battle Chips, which they use to fill their deck for the tournament.


 * Rare Battle Chips (anime only): During the N1 Grand Prix arc, Yai gives Mayl a handful of rare battle chips in anticipation of her fight with Ms. Madd, including powerful weapons like Triple Lance, Typhoon, and Cyclone. This creates an interesting dynamic with the boys, as Mayl and Roll actually have stronger chips than Lan and MegaMan, whose strategies usually rely on basic chips like Shotgun or simple combos like Area Steal and Sword.


 * Aqua Tower (anime only): During the first season of the anime, Roll seem to favor the use of this chip, using it in many of her battles.


 * Rush Hole (Cross Fusion): This ability is normally used by Rush to go in and out of the real world and Cyberworld. As a result of using the Rush Synchro Chip, Mayl gains this ability as well as Roll's. This ability allows her to send viruses back into the Cyberworld and even delete Asteroid DesertMan for good in the 40th episode of Stream.

Mega Man Battle Network


Mega Man Battle Network 2


Mega Man Battle Network 3


Mega Man Battle Network 4


Rockman.EXE 4.5 Real Operation


Mega Man Battle Network 5


Mega Man Battle Network 6


Trivia

 * Roll's name is a play on the "Rock and Roll" genre of music.


 * Roll is the only female Navi to change outfits in the anime.


 * During her fight against WackoMan.EXE in the N1 Grand Prix, Roll uses a unique attack called "Roll Control" (in the original Japanese, this is a variant on her signature "Heart Slash"), which temporarily causes WackoMan's clones to turn against WackoMan himself. This attack is never again used in the series.


 * Roll's appearance as Empress in the anime features her commanding viruses to attack Mega; in Battle Network 4 she gained the ability to summon and manipulate viruses in battle once again.


 * In Mega Man Battle Network 6, Roll's chip can be charged in Beast Out to perform Beast Out's special attack, despite the fact it's a Mega Chip and it dims the screen.


 * Mega Man Star Force 2 revealed in Lan's diaries (obtained through side quests) that Roll and MegaMan have their own child, MegaMan Junior, who is the Navi of Lan's son, Patch.


 * Roll is voiced by Lenore Zann in NT Warrior, who is mostly known for voicing Rogue in the 1992 X-Men animated series.
 * She is voiced by Sharon Alexander in Axess, who also voices Ribitta.


 * Despite her chip having recovery properties, Roll herself does not have the ability to heal herself during her boss battle. She can heal herself, however, in the Battle Chip Grand Prix; she restores 50 HP (of 400 total) at the end of every turn in which she attacks.


 * Roll is the only NetNavi that was related to somebody in the Classic series, but be in love with the same character in the Battle Network series.