ROCKMAN EXE WS for Wonderswan Color/SwanCrystal FAQ by liquidcross [cross(at)liquidcross(dot)com] This FAQ should ONLY be found on www.GameFAQs.com. If you see it anywhere else, please let me know, so I can take the appropriate action. Reproducing/copying/posting sections of this FAQ is strictly prohibited. Rockman.EXE, Netto, and all associated materials are the property of Capcom. v2.2 - September 22, 2003 Version History: v2.2 - Updated the Battle Chips section with info on which viruses drop certain chips, and updated the Styles section a bit. v2.1 - More updates to the Battle Chips and Program Advances sections. v2.0 - Tons of updates and translations across the board, including Battle Chips, Styles, and more! Thanks to Strider, Zantetsu, and Enker, we've also confirmed the existence of Program Advances, for which I've added a new section! v1.6 - Just some minor updates here and there. v1.5 - Updated a TON of material, including battle chips, level design, Style info, translations, bosses...you name it, I probably updated it. v1.0 - Alright! The FAQ's ready to go!!! As with many FAQs, this document contains SPOILERS! Do NOT read further if you don't want to ruin the plot of the game! What's in this FAQ? 1. Game Info 2. Characters 3. Controls 4. General Gameplay Info 5. Levels/Paths 6. Boss Information 7. Battle Chips 8. Program Advances 9. Styles 10. Secrets/Unlockables 11. Notes 12. Credits 13. Contact Info 1. GAME INFO Viruses are fomenting chaos throughout the 'Net, so it's up to Netto and his Navi, Rockman.EXE, to hunt the viruses down and eliminate them! Unlike the other Rockman EXE (Mega Man Battle Network outside of Japan) games, this game is NOT an RPG, but rather a sidescrolling action game, much like the classic Mega Man games! 2. CHARACTERS Some of the operators in the game have aliases. I've enclosed them in parentheses () after their names. For you Mega Man Battle Network fans, the English version of each character's name (if it's different) is included after the Japanese name in brackets []. So the whole thing looks like this: JAPANESE NAME (alias) [English name] - description See? Not complicated at all! Now, on to the characters... ROCKMAN.EXE [MegaMan.EXE] - The hero of our story is a digital entity called a "Navi." Most people have these little AIs in their PETs (PErsonal Terminals). Rockman.EXE's specialty is virus-busting. NETTO HIKARI [Lan Hikari] - Rockman.EXE's operator, and best friend. Netto and Rockman.EXE share a deep emotional connection. (Complete MMBN1 on Game Boy Advance for details.) BLUES.EXE [ProtoMan.EXE] - Rockman.EXE's rival, and occasional ally. ENZAN IJUUIN ['Lord' Chaud] - Blues.EXE's operator. He thinks he's better than Netto, but helps out when needs be. ROLL.EXE - A fellow Navi who often helps out Rockman.EXE, and may have a crush on him. MEIRU SAKURAI [Mayl Sakura] - Roll.EXE's operator, and a good friend of Netto. She's got a crush on him, and he's not quite sure how to handle it. KENICHI HINO (HINOKEN) [Mr. Match] - Operator of FireMan.EXE. JACK ELEC (COUNT ELEC) [Count Zap] - Operator of ElecMan.EXE. MADOI IROAYA [Ms. Madd] - Operator of ColoredMan.EXE. MAHA JARAMA [Yahoot] - Operator of MagicMan.EXE. MILLIONAIRE-SAMA [Ms. Millions] - Operator of SnakeMan.EXE. LORD WILY (Dr. Wily) - The bad guy. What did you expect? With a name like "Wily"? Anyway, he leads the World Three (WWW), an organization of cyberterrorists. SHUN OBIHIRO (SHURYOU GOSPEL) [Sean] - A crazy kid in a Cyber Suit, who is the creator and operator of the Gospel virus. Other characters appear during the credits, like Dekao [Dex], GutsMan.EXE, Yai, and Glyde.EXE, but they're not all that important, and don't actually do anything in the game itself. 3. CONTROLS Lower D-pad (X): Movement; press Up (X1) to talk to Netto when he pages you Upper D-pad (Y): Use/activate battle chips B: Fire Rock Buster (hold to charge) A: Jump Down (X3) + A: Slide Start: Pause/Status screen 4. GENERAL GAMEPLAY INFO - Unlike other side-scrolling Rockman games, you don't get to pick and choose levels. You progress through the game in a predefined order, except where the levels split (see "Levels/Paths" below). - Netto will "page" you at times. His icon in the upper right corner will blink; just press Up (X1) to let him run his mouth, then continue through the level. - You have 9 continues per level. Even if you use all of them, after you save and proceed, you'll have 9 again. - You can only save after you beat a boss at the very end of a level. There's three save slots; each one shows your progress through the game in percent. - After you complete a stage, you'll get a screen that'll show you what percentage of the stage you've seen, and how long it took you to complete the level. - Before you start a stage, you'll have the opportunity to assign battle chips to your "Y" pad, and activate a style, if you have any. You can do this within the level itself, too, but occasionally, your status menu will be disabled within certain sections of levels. I'm assuming Netto's transmission is cut off in these sections, perhaps? - Some battle chips require a suicide run to get. No big deal, though; when you continue, you'll still have the chip in your inventory! 5. LEVELS/PATHS Rockman EXE WS is a very linear game, but halfway through most levels, the path splits, and you enter a sub-level, with an enemy Navi at the end. The path split will either be via ladders, or something very obvious, like two paths leading directly off the right side of the screen. NOTE: To get to Level 7, see "Secrets/Unlockables" below. Level 1 - FireMan.EXE (no path split) Level 2 - Upper path: ElecMan.EXE Lower path: ColoredMan.EXE Level 3 - Upper path: MagicMan.EXE Lower path: PharaohMan.EXE Level 4 - Upper path: BombMan.EXE Lower path: SnakeMan.EXE Level 5 - Upper path: FireMan.EXE Lower path: ElecMan.EXE Level 6 - Blues.EXE, then Dream Virus (no path split) Level 7 - Gospel (no path split) 6. BOSS INFORMATION Blues.EXE - As annoying as this guy could be in the GBA games, he's not too tough here. He'll dash at you and slash, or jump over you and slash. He'll also charge up his sword and fire a crescent shot at you. Jump over him, then slap him around with a charged shot. BombMan.EXE - Lots and lots of explosions. He'll toss 3 bombs at you simultaneously, and after you dodge them, he'll whip another one right at you for good measure. Blast the hell out of him as best you can, and you should be able to delete him. If you've got the Ice Punch, you'll get rid of him in no time. Be forewarned: he can recover part of his energy, and occasionally he'll rush at you! ColoredMan.EXE - You'll have no problem defeating this clown. He'll fire either an aqua tower or a flame tower at you, then throw his lower half (the ball) bouncing around the room. He'll then switch sides, and repeat. His attacks are easy enough to avoid, so put him out of his misery with charged shots. Dream Virus - Prepare for a nasty battle. First order of business: obliterate the shield that the Dream Virus creates in front of itself. If you have a Punch chip, you can smash it before it can attack you! If not, be mindful; this shield will either fire a quick laser beam, or send out a tiny orb that'll slash at you. Once the shield is down, pummel the Dream Virus with firepower (again, a Punch chip is a good choice for this task). You'll noticed that it starts to charge up...wait a few seconds, then jump! Otherwise, you'll get smacked with its giant laser beam, which will burn off almost all of your life energy! It'll then create a shield again, so repeat the process until you delete the Dream Virus. The ElecCustom Style is handy to use here, mainly for the speed boost it gives you. I'd also suggest the Air Shoes chip, as it'll make it a bit easier to dodge the Dream Virus' attacks. ElecMan.EXE - He'll first send out 3 sparks, which will hover, then head straight at you. Dodge them as best you can, and keep firing on the guy. The second time you fight him, he'll also summon lightning to fry you wherever you're standing, so keep moving! If you've got the Wood Style, use it to your advantage. FireMan.EXE - He'll shoot fireballs at you, which you can either jump over or slide underneath, then he'll jump and try to roast you with dual flamethrowers. He's a pushover; keep smacking him with charged shots. The second time around, avoid his flame towers, and use the AquaTeam Style or Ice Punch if you have it. This'll make very short work of him. Gospel - This is it...the final battle! Gospel only has three attacks, but they all inflict considerable amounts of damage. Gospel itself will stay on the left side of the screen. Its first attack is a shockwave along the ground, which is easy enough to jump over. Right after the shockwave, keep sliding to your right; Gospel will try to suck you in, then breathe a giant fire blast. If you're all the way over to the right side of the screen, the fire blast won't reach you. In between Gospel's attacks, hit it with charged shots. After you've depleted half of its life, Gospel will add its third attack into the mix: it'll raise little seeker drones from the bottom of the screen. They'll stay still for a moment, then they'll all converge on your position. Once you see the first one move, blast it with a charged shot, and you should most (if not all) of the others at the same time. Keep dodging and blasting, and you shouldn't have too much difficulty deleting Gospel once and for all. MagicMan.EXE - Dodge the spell blasts that fly in a wave pattern towards you. This Orko wannabe will also open a small portal that'll summon two Metools, then he'll fly to the opposite side of the room and start casting spells again. Your best bet here is one of the Sword battle chips; you can dispatch the Metools quickly, then run up to MagicMan.EXE and jump-slash him. PharaohMan.EXE - This guy can be a real bitch. First, he'll make a coffin in front of him that'll shoot out laser beams. Destroy the coffin quickly, but once you do, PharaohMan.EXE will shoot 3 arrows at you. Then, he'll rise into the air, and drop 6 stone blocks on you; these will track you across the screen, so keep sliding out of the way. Finally, he'll teleport to the other side of the screen and repeat the process. The best weapon to use against him is the Rush In battle chip. You can smash through the coffin and deal some hefty damage to him rather quickly. SnakeMan.EXE - Equip a Sword battle chip to get rid of this pest. He'll often drop back into his jar, then send little snakes after you through a hole in the ground. Your Sword will remove them with one swipe. When he pops back up, slash him again. He may dash out and bite you, but you shouldn't have a problem deleting him. 7. BATTLE CHIPS NOTE: Chips marked with an asterisk (*) have an effect you can switch on and off. For example, you can switch a Sword on, and keep slashing with it until you switch it off again, and use it again later. Chips marked with two asterisks (**) are automatically activated when equipped, and cannot be deactivated unless you de-equip them. You never lose these types of chips, unless you forget to save. The virus types that drop each particular chip are listed after each entry in parentheses (). AirShoes** - Allows Rockman.EXE to jump slightly higher. AquaSword* - Like the Wide Sword, but with a water aspect. Use this on fire-based enemies. Armor** - Rockman.EXE takes less damage. Attack+20 - Add extra damage to a battle chip. Use this chip, then activate the attack chip. (Needle Fish, Red Bird, Spikey, Soundwave Mage) Attack+40 - Add even more damage to a battle chip. Use this chip, then activate the attack chip. (Aqua Balloon Fish, Fire Balloon Fish, Needle Fish) BigBomb - A grenade with a wide blast radius. (Bomb) Burner* - Same as Dash, with a powerful flaming barrier. (Red Bird) Cannon - A quick energy blast. (Cannon) CrossBomb - A grenade explodes in a cross pattern. (Bomb, Grenade) Dash* - Rockman.EXE dashes forward with an energy barrier in front of him. DynaWave - A very powerful ground-based shockwave. ElecSword* - Like the Wide Sword, but with an electrical aspect. Use this on water-based enemies. FireSword* - Like the Wide Sword, but with a fire aspect. Use this on wood-based enemies. GutsPunch* - Smash your enemies with a giant fist! Cannot be used while jumping. Hi-Cannon - A stronger version of the Cannon. (Squid, Cannon) IcePunch* - Like the Guts Punch, but deals more damage, and has a water aspect. Great against fire-based enemies. Invis1 - Makes Rockman.EXE impervious to damage for a short while. (Red Ghost) Invis2 - Same effect as Invis1, but it lasts longer. LongSword* - Similar to the regular Sword chip, but with more range. M-Cannon - The most powerful Cannon you can get. (Satellite, Cannon) MiniBomb - Throw a small grenade at an enemy. (Bomb) Quake1 - Drop a weight onto the ground, damaging all ground-based enemies. (Quake) Quake2 - Same as Quake1, but deals more damage. (Quake) Quake3 - Same as Quake2, but deals more damage. (Quake) Recover20 - Recover a small portion of your life. (Snake, Fire Tower, Purple Ghost, Red Ghost, Gray Knight, Yellow Elec, Elec Program) Recover40 - Recover a bit more of your life. Recover60 - Recover a large portion of your life. (Aqua Balloon Fish, Fire Balloon Fish, Spikey) Shockwave - Sends a shockwave along the ground. (Yellow Metool) SideBomb - A grenade that sends explosions to the sides of the point of impact. (Bomb) Sonicwave - Sends a more powerful shockwave along the ground. (Red Metool) AreaSteal** - Rockman.EXE can move faster. Sword* - Slash away at anything close by. WideSword* - Same as Sword, but deals more damage. 8. PROGRAM ADVANCES A Program Advance is activated when certain chips are selected together from the Pause/Status screen. Choosing the correct chips will cause them to glow. To use the Program Advance, tap Down twice in the game itself. These tend to inflict massive damage on enemies, so use them wisely! LifeSword - Sword + WideSword + LongSword LifeSword2 - ElecSword + AquaSword + FireSword MegaBomb - SideBomb + CrossBomb + BigBomb MegaPunch - Dash + GutsPunch + IcePunch MegaQuake - Quake1 + Quake2 + Quake3 ZetaCannon - Cannon + Hi-Cannon + M-Cannon 9. STYLES Just like in Mega Man Battle Network 2 for GBA, you can earn Styles. These are equipped on your status screen. Styles also change how your Rock Buster fires when it's charged up. HeatGuts - Earned after defeating FireMan.EXE in Level 5. Attack power is doubled. Double damage to wood-based foes. Half defense against water-based foes. Charged Rock Buster is a flamethrower. WoodShield - Earned after defeating SnakeMan.EXE. Defense is doubled. Double damage to elec-based foes. Half defense against heat-based foes. Charged Rock Buster is a tornado. ElecTeam - Earned after defeating ElecMan.EXE in Level 5. Speed increased. Double damage to water-based foes. Half defense against wood-based foes. Charged Rock Buster is a spark gun. AquaCustom - Earned after defeating BombMan.EXE. Never lose connection with Netto. Double damage to heat-based foes. Half defense against elec-based foes. Charged Rock Buster is a water cannon. Hub - Earned after defeating the Dream Virus the second time. This style gives you extra speed and armor. Charged Rock Buster is your standard shot, but more powerful. HP is also cut in half. 10. SECRETS/UNLOCKABLES - Every now and then, you'll see walls blocking paths in certain levels. To break them, you'll need certain types of Sword or Punch chips. - After you complete all the levels and defeat the Dream Virus, you'll have to go through all of the levels again in order to get to Level 7 and fight Gospel. You'll keep all your chips and styles, though, so the second time through shouldn't be as tough. - After defeating Gospel and saving your game, you'll unlock an "Extra Modes" menu option (all the way at the bottom on the title screen). There's three different modes here; "Practice," "Extra," and "Hard." Each one has you fighting all the bosses in sequence, without going through their respective levels. I'm not sure what "Extra" mode is yet. - After beating the Dream Virus once, a gold star appears next to the "Continue" menu option on the title screen (second one down). After beating Gospel, you'll see a green star there as well. 11. NOTES - This game may be in Japanese, but since it's an action game, it's not too tough to figure it out. Any Wonderswan fan MUST add this to their library! - Speaking of Japanese, I've often substituted their US name (or closest equivalent) for clarity's sake. - The biggest flaw in this game is the "Y" pad assignment for using battle chips. The problem is...you won't be able to move and jump when you use a chip! You have to take your thumb off the "X" pad, which moves your character, to hit the "Y" pad! (The obvious exception is for chips you can activate and reuse, like swords, punches, etc.) I can see that since the Wonderswan doesn't have "L" and "R" buttons, there was really no other way to activate the chips quickly, but I would've rather had to select one on the menu screen, use it with the B button, then switch back, for no other reason than using certain chips in boss fights. - There's a few cheap pitfalls in this game; i.e., you'll jump down a long shaft...not realizing there's spikes along the bottom edge. This is annoying, but you'll get around them with practice. 12. CREDITS - Thanks to Capcom and Bandai for producing another cool Rockman game on the underestimated Wonderswan! - Thanks to NCSX for providing the cartridge for me, with excellent service to boot. - Thanks to Mike Hayes for tons of extra information. - Thanks to Meijin_Eguchi, Strider, Zantetsu, and Enker for translation assistance. - Thanks to Webster Swenson for info on the 3 unlockable modes. 13. CONTACT INFO This FAQ is a constant work-in-progress. In fact, I'm well aware that I'm often missing pieces. Know something I don't? Found a secret you're dying to share? Let me know! I'll credit you in future versions of this FAQ. Just email me: cross(at)liquidcross(dot)com. Be sure to place "Rockman EXE WS" in the subject line. DO NOT ASK ME FOR A ROM OF THIS GAME, OR WHERE TO FIND ONE! If you want the game, go out and buy it like I did! Thanks!