i'm glad to see so much BN support. i think it's my favourite game series ever!!! i distinctly remember seeing japanese footage of bn3 and being beside myself with glee and anticipation. those 6 months of waiting for a localization were just awful. when it finally arrived, i'll never forget the hours and hours i put into grinding chips for the chip trader, trying desperately to get some prism j's. it's a shame the series never got more mainstream love, as the battle system in most versions had a lot of competitive merit.
brief reviews
bn1: awful game. it's just... it isn't a good game, by any stretch. clearly a ton of good ideas but it's just so crude and rudimentary and there's so little variation. some boss battles were downright frustrating. maybe it's just that i was 11 or something, but s-ranking sharkman's final form was not reasonable. also elecman's stage with those terrifying little green creatures that were more husk than program??? no thanks. anticlimactic last boss though.
bn2: might be my favourite game. the sheer volume of improvement from the first game is honestly astounding. so many brilliant things introduced, the music was better, the general internet was better, the overworld was better (except i really wanted to go to yumland...), there was some awesome post-game shit, bass started showing his true colours as one bad motherfucker. the (rather rickety) framework was set for an interesting competitive game. unfortunately, gater was bullshit (900 damage... k...........................) and so was *-coded lifesword 3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA9SWSwbYaA this showcases the outstanding standard internet music AND the baleful undernet music. ignore the fact that this video was made by a ten year old.
bn3: the other contender for my favourite in the series. imo a better game than 2, but the level of improvement wasn't nearly as striking as it was from 1-2. but really, the addition of the navicust added some amazing customization. this game had oodles and oodles of post-game stuff, and the general feel of the undernet/secret area was nonpareil. the feeling of beating the last boss, getting a star for it, then realizing there were another six stars to get, then an upgraded final boss after getting all 7? i had no choice but to prostrate myself before inafune. i did some netbattling with my friend in this one too, and combat was a lot of fun. super fast-paced with lots of viable folders.
bn4: really underrated as a game. got a ton of heat for being kind of shitty compared to 3, but most people were too superficial to delve beneath the chibi exterior and find the sumptuous meat within. the game was much too repetitive, but souls were an interesting addition, as were dark chips (despite the fact that you basically couldn't use dark chips without permanently damaging mega man). remember the spooky noises the game made when you highlighted a dark chip? something evil beckons............. also this game introduced full synchro, which was an amazing addition. added an extra layer of timing to the game!!!
bn5: liberation missions were kind of weird?? i liked them i think. the ds version of this game letting you have two different versions of bass soul was a fucking amazing addition. 300 damage hell's rolling as charge shots??? yes please. i kind of forget if this game had any competitive potential, but i think this is when they started being very restrictive on folder composition, which definitely helped in maintaining some form of balance.
bn6: this game could have been a lot more engaging. it wasn't that bad a game, pretty much par for the course with bn games; fetch quests, muck-diving, running back and forth. merging with the cybeasts made you feel powerful though. i've heard some of the pros say this game had the most competitive worth, and i've always wanted to replay it with that in mind. the folder building was very limiting iirc, you could only have so many of a certain chip depending on its mb? crosses were well-handled albeit inchoate. certainly a step up from souls, though. i miss ac/dc town though.........