MegaMan Battle Network 4 Red Sun review:1 stars (An experienced Operator saying, "What have you done with my favorite GBA title?") - Let me start off by saying that I loved this series ever since the third one. I can't comment prior to three because I've only tried the first and dabbled in the second. (On a side note, this review contains minor spoilers for both three and four. Nothing major, but you have been warned.)

Three (White) was just amazing. Its only flaws were a slight abundance of boring missions and quest-specific chips and programs. The campy, childish story didn't appeal to me, but I'm 17. I didn't play the games for their storyline. I played three to its conclusion, got four stars, and built several folders. I'm no stranger to the series. I reviewed the game based on my experience with three, so I had high expectations. Needless to say, Capcom shot down my dreams and jumped on them until they were just a distant memory. You big meanies.

Flaw #1 - Folder construction:
I liked three because of the folders you could build. You, as an operator, had endless freedom to build whatever type you wanted. Four shot that down. First off, it is damn near impossible to find good chips. Not only are most of the chips udderly useless, but they only come in three codes. Not only does this screw over variety, but it makes it impossible to put together like-coded folders! but wait, there's more. Now, you can only have one of a P.A. in a single folder. Let me explain. In three, I had a brilliantly designed LifeSword folder, in E code. I tried re-creating that folder, so I put 4 LifeSword Y's in there. I did it once, and I was happy. So far, so good. I tried LifeSword again, but got only the separate chips (Sword Y, WideSword Y, LongSword Y) in that order. Needless to say, I was very put out. Don't even get me started on DarkChips, which I'll cover in the Navi Customization flaw section.

Flaw #2 - Repetitiveness:
I liked three because the game was nice and long, for my playing habits, and there was plenty of stuff to do at the end, after you beat Bass and Alpha. In four, after you beat Duo, you get to go through the game again - FROM THE ABSOLUTE BEGINNING! TRAINING AND ALL! You get your chips and programs from the end of the last game, but the only change is that now the enemy navis and viruses are a touch tougher. I thought things would get better, so I beat difficulty level 2, hoping to God that I wouldn't get the same thing. I didn't get the same thing. What I did get was the same thing, only a little harder. I stamped my foot, nearly breaking it in the process, and sat down to play it AGAIN. Once more, Capcom breaks my heart. The manual said nothing about playing it a FOURTH time. This time, there was no change in difficulty, only that I had collected all the souls and junk. At this point, I played through about fifteen minutesof it and handed it to my little brother in frustration. I went back to three.

Flaw #3 - Degree of polishing:
I realize that the game was translated from Japanese to English, and things aren't always perfect, but my God! Not only are there blatant grammatical errors, but people's portraits in the dialog windows are switched around! I didn't get through ten minutes of the game before I found errors. I'm going to college for English, for crying out loud!

Flaw#4 - Navi Customization:
I loved three for its ability to let the operator configure MegaMan for whatever playing style or folder he/she wanted. It would even attempt to do it for you! If a player relied on the MegaBuster for the first part of the game, up until the BubbleMan part, their style would change from normal to GutsStyle, which would give substantial boosts to the MegaBuster and defensive abilities. For no extra charge, you get a random element! Regretably, you can't choose the element, but that's life.
In four, not only are styles and elements removed, but you get an absolutely absurd excuse for a substitution: souls. With souls, you sacrifice a chip (which I don't really care too much about anyway, because of horrible folder construction), and get a special powerup that lasts for three battle turns. I found this very disappointing, because I am a firm believer in making a choice and sticking to it until you find something better. So, we still lack more than we get. Personally, it's a matter of preference, but I hate it. They also killed the Navi Customizer. While I do like the loss of the Press program for some kind of hovercraft that gets used automatically whenever compression is needed. That's about all the good it does, however. All the programs I like were taken out, which killed the point of making MegaMan your own. I mean, they introduced it in three, dangled it in front of our noses, let us touch it, and pulled it away and gave us this. This THING.
One more addition was the DarkChips. These extremely powerful chips would appear whenever MegaMan loses confidence in himself (more on that later - this I actually liked). That empty space where regular chips should be is taken up with these Evil chips. These chips are powerful, but they come at a price; two, in fact. Once you use a DarkChip, you will notice three things happen. The chip will either damage, obliterate, or miss the enemy, you will recieve a bug in your programming (e.g. confusion, health drain, buster jamming, etc.), and you will permanently lose 1 HP. Yes, you heard me. You will lose 1 HP permanently. You will never, never get it back without using an E-Reader, which is unconfirmed. This means that if you have 1000 HP, and you use DarkSword, for example, you will go down to 999 HP. Forever. What the hell, Capcom? Way to kill all our hopes and dreams.

The one thing I liked - The status window:
You may notice when first entering a battle a window to the right of the custom screen that has a picture of Hub's, er, MegaMan's face. He starts out happy, blue (wha...?), and normal. That is, if you haven't done anything to him. If you bugged him with an irrelevent Navi Customizer, he will be flickering. If you manage to counter an enemy (hit him at the exact moment he attacks), you will go Full Synchro, which doubles the attack power of your next attack (excluding buster). You'll also see pink rings floating around MegaMan. Sometimes, if MegaMan gets hit a few times without hitting back, he might go Angry, which also doubles your next attack's power. If things get really bad, he'll become Worried, which unleashes the "Darkness" inside him. He'll unlock the DarkChips (two of them, in the Cust screen), with all of the advantages and disadvantages mentioned above, if you haven't stopped reading this. If you use them, the window will change to Evil, and MegaMan's body actually becomes darker and darker with each DarkChip use. Finally, if your health gets knocked down to zero while in Evil status, you will hand your pathetic cartridge over to the Dark Side and MegaMan will become a shadow, jumping around and around his area of the battlefield, randomly using chips from your library, whether in your folder or not. Some might say it would be a good idea to use just enough DarkChips to turn Evil at the start of each battle, just so if your health did go to zero you would have a small trampoline. The downside, my little control freaks, is that you lose all control over him. You may as well set your GBA or DS, as the case may be, on the table and come back in a few seconds. Believe me, it won't miss you.

I've read the other reviews, and I cannot in good conscience give this game a good review. Go buy three, if you haven't already. If you need this game, go buy three first and then come back here. I'm regretting that I bought this game, spending thirty dollars in the process.

Team Colonel and Team Protoman are available now. They are better than this game, although not up to three's caliber. Try one or both of them if you can't get three. Or, better yet, wait until Double Team is released on the DS, which has both versions of the fifth game on one card. Join me in a chant, "Why did you do this to us, Capcom." If you play this, this will become your mantra. It's already mine.


Amazon, please print my review.5 stars (A nice turn based RPG loaded with some action) - This game was way funner than 1-3 i had so much replay value and the gameplay was awesome and perfect! Im about to get #5 so i hope it will be good 2





























































































5 stars (A great megaman EXE game!!!!!!) - This is the best Megaman EXE game!!!!! The game is pretty long which is a good thing, and the gameplay is excellent. There are enough battle chips, souls, and items to aquire and you can link up with megaman battle network 4: blue moon to unlock more chips ext..., which helps the replay value. If your a Megaman EXE fan then you must buy this game!!!!!!!!!!
MegaMan Battle Network 4 Red Sun Features:
Video Games
Nintendo Game Boy Advance (Gameboy)
GBA
Action
Adventure
Role Playing Games (Game, RPG, RPGs, CRPG, CRPGs)
Join MegaMan and Lan in a fierce, new cyberspace battle
New Soul Unison system transforms Mega Man's abilities
Trade programs, battle chips, and have Network Battles with a Game Link cable
Play both the Red Sun and Blue Moon versions for different storyline, battle chips, and enemies
For 1 player, or up to 4 players using Game Boy Advance link cables

MegaMan Battle Network 4 Red Sun is the Video Game version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 26.95USD.