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Mega Man Battle Network 5, known as Rockman EXE5[8] (ロックマンエグゼ５,Rokkuman Eguze Faibu) or Rockman EXE 5[2][3][9][10] in Japan, is the fifth mainline game in the Mega Man Battle Network series released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It follows Lan Hikari and MegaMan as they continue their fight against Nebula, who has begun their campaign to conquer the cyberworld.
Mega Man Battle Network 5 came in two versions: Team ProtoMan and Team Colonel, known as Team of Blues[9] (チーム オブ ブルース,Chīmu Obu Burūsu) and Team of Colonel[9] (チーム オブ カーネル,Chīmu Obu Kāneru) in Japan and as Team Blues and Team Colonel in the Chinese version of Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection. Like Mega Man Battle Network 3, in Japan, Team ProtoMan was released by itself first with Team Colonel coming out months later. Despite that, Team Colonel contains the same bugs Team ProtoMan had.
It's been a month since the battle with Nebula, the Dark Chip Syndicate - a battle for the fate of the earth itself. Today Lan Hikari and his friends are visiting Yuichiro Hikari in SciLab, the Department of Science. Lan's father has exciting news.
Just before Dr. Hikari shares his big news, a mysterious group of Navis appears out of nowhere and takes over the Internet!! Even the lab's own computers are hacked, and all systems shut down! Amid the chaos, suddenly sleeping gas is hurled into the lab. One person after another drops to the ground, including Lan's father.
Luckily Lan happens to remain out of sight when the sleeping gas goes off, and manages to hold on to consciousness for a while longer. Lying there in a groggy state, Lan sees Dr. Regal, leader of Nebula, towering over the unconscious bodies. So Regal is alive after all!
"...Well, well, Dr. Hikari...."
"Master Regal, what about his friends?"
"Confiscate their PETs. Without them, they'll be helpless anyway."
After stealing everyone's PETs, Regal rushes out of the Department of Science. And this is the last thing Lan sees before finally succumbing to the sleeping gas.
Mayl Sakurai is Roll's operator and she's hip, smart as a whip, and full of life. Just like her Navi, Roll, she is all fun and games until it comes to NetBattling. Unfortunately, Roll is kidnapped during the start of the story.
Yai Ayanokoji is Glide's operator and is a pint sized prodigy, with one heck of an attitude. Like Roll, Glide is also kidnapped.
Dex Oyama is GutsMan's operator, and kind of a bully in the gang. GutsMan was also kidnapped at the start of the story.
Nebula[]
Dr. Regal: The mastermind of the whole operation, Regal is in charge of creating Dark Chips, which corrupt a Navi's soul into evil.
Lackey: Lackeys only have ordinary Heel Navis, which can only attack with viruses. Their traditional garb is a single-tube gas mask uniform which needs a key to take off.
Bosses[]
The game has 7 chapters[11] with bosses at the end. For this game, certain bosses are only fightable in a specific version. They are denoted by a split of this manner: “Team ProtoMan-exclusive”/“Team Colonel-exclusive”. In order of appearance:
The largest change in Battle Network 5 would be the Liberation Missions, which blends the traditional battle system of the series with turn-based strategy elements. Players have a set number of turns where they must attempt to complete the Liberation Mission if they wish to get one of its better rewards. This is also the opportunity where players can control different Navis other than MegaMan, and do battle using these Navis.
Dark Chips now have a library of their own - and can be inserted into the folder, complete with their own element and code. They are restricted to three per folder, and can be used to activate the new transformation - Chaos Unisons. They allow for characters to use the sacrificed Dark Chip as their charged shot without its side effects, at the risk of having to time it properly, lest they face bringing out Dark MegaMan if it backfires.
Boss Navis can now yield Dark Soul versions of their normal chips, and can be obtained if the player S-ranks the bosses Beta version, or score a rank of 8-10 for its Omega version.
Double Souls also have undergone some changes. They can now be unlocked after finishing a Liberation Mission that focuses on that Navi. Their charged attacks are now Buster-dependent, and Navi Customizer parts have been introduced to allow their duration to be extended.
Small plot changes between versions[]
After MegaMan is captured by Nebula, Chaud/Baryl will call Lan to SciLab's harbor where Lan is asked to take a new Navi to continue on the next mission. Lan refuses and cannot believe that his leader is suggesting replacing MegaMan.
In Team ProtoMan, Lan's rage at Chaud causes him to slap/punch Chaud across the face. Chaud calmly takes it without any remark but asks Lan what MegaMan would say in this situation. Lan ponders on it and realizes saving MegaMan means taking the new Navi from Chaud.
In Team Colonel, Baryl slaps Lan telling him to get to his senses to realize that taking this Navi is the only way to save MegaMan. Lan then asks himself on his own of what MegaMan would say in this situation.
The character who gets called out in the SciLab Past Vision differs. In Team ProtoMan, Dr. Hikari gets called out and Wily stays behind, stating his worry of SoulNet misuse and to have a contingency plan (alludes to his son in the future). In Team Colonel, Dr. Wily gets called out and Hikari stays behind, who repeats his hope on their sons to finish SoulNet.
When Lan took off the MagnoMetal amulet to try and reach out his voice to MegaMan who was being taken over by black flames after defeating Nebula Gray, he heard a voice encouraging him that he and MegaMan are always connected. In Team ProtoMan, it was specifically mentioned to be Dr. Tadashi Hikari, with Lan and Regal addresses him as Gramps and Hikari's Dad. In Team Colonel, the dialogue was shorter, with Lan immediately accepts the statement said by the voice while a confused Regal questions who helped Lan.
In Team Colonel, Wily appear and reset Regal's memory with the SoulNet, while in Team ProtoMan, he reset offscreen.
Release Notes[]
In Japan, the game has a few special edition releases:
A special version of Team of Colonel, named Rockman EXE5: Team of Colonel: Theater Release Edition (ロックマン エグゼ５ チーム オブ カーネル 劇場公開エディション,Rokkuman Eguze Faibu Chīmu Obu Kāneru Gekijō Kōkai Edishon), was released as a tie-in with the anime movie, Rockman EXE: Hikari to Yami no Program. Besides the game, it included an special anime style cover sleeve, Bass XX e-Reader card[12], and a calendar. An advanced ticket with benefit can be bought starting on December 18th, 2004 until January 31, 2005, and advertised as purchase-able before the general release version. Delivery of this special version began on February 4, 2005[13]. This set is said to be limited to 69,000 copies.
The games have a bundled version called Rockman EXE5 Team of Blues "With Modification Card!" Guide Book Value Set (ロックマンエグゼ5 チームオブブルース “改造カード付き！”ガイドブックバリューセット,Rockman EXE5 Team of Blues "With Modification Card!" Guide Book Value Set) and Rockman EXE5 Team of Colonel "With Modification Card!" Guide Book Value Set (ロックマンエグゼ5 チームオブカーネル “改造カード付き!”ガイドブックバリューセット,Rockman EXE5 Team of Colonel "With Modification Card!" Guide Book Value Set), they come packed with a Rockman EXE5 Special Compilation Guide Book and an e-Reader Card. Team of Blues contained a Saito Hikari Mod Card and Team of Colonel contained a Proto Mod Card.
In Japan, Team of Colonel has a light blue colored cartridge. Team of Blues has the standard GBA gray.
In North America, the release of the game came with an Advanced Battle Chip (Battle Network 4 chips). Lightning 3 for Team ProtoMan and Meteors 3 for Team Colonel.
Development Notes[]
The development period of Battle Network 5 was barely half a year[14], with Director Masahiro Yasuma saying it was a miracle they pulled it off.
Development team members consider Battle Network 5 as part of the toughest development period[15]. The team started planning on Battle Network 5 while Rockman EXE4.5 was still in development, and also while they were working on the international versions of Battle Network 4[16][17].
For Liberation Missions, Director Masahiro Yasuma wonders if there's things they could've done differently but ultimately ran out of time. Still, he felt he brought out the special characteristics of each Navi pretty well[18]. Even after the instruction manuals have been printed, they continued to tinker with the Liberation Mission rules[14].
The Navi team selection was made by determining which role they would serve, rather than the story or designs. ProtoMan was easy, being a popular Navi, but his counterpart was made a new, unknown Navi. In terms of characters, the ProtoMan version feels like a squad of soldiers, but the Colonel version is more like a ragtag crew of mercenaries. Despite this, the roster ended up having many Navis from Mega Man Battle Network 2 and Gospel.[18]
Turning MegaMan frame in TGS2004 trailer
The Tokyo Game Show 2004 trailer of the game showed very different battle visuals with a different battlefield, as well as MegaMan and his forms having more unique animation frames (carried from BN4), even a turning frame for surrounded battles. In the final game, many of these animation frames were cut and there is no turning frame when changing sides.
An incomplete Chaos Unison tutorial exists in the game's data but it is unused. The tutorial for the mechanic was relegated to an E-Mail and the manual.[19]
Officially acknowledged issues[]
In the Japanese Game Boy Advance version, there is a game-breaking bug. If MegaMan’s maximum HP is one of the specific amounts when he exits a Liberation Mission, the player will be warped to the real world with Lan, MegaMan missing on the top-left PET, and being unable to jack in. Due to this, it will be impossible for the player to progress further in the game as jacking in is necessary. Capcom acknowledges this glitch and invites those got caught to send in their game cartridges[20]. The specific HP values are: 1, 257, 513, 769, 1025, 1281, 1537, 1793, 2049, 2305, 2561, 2817, 3073. The page erroneously lists more HP values, as those other HPs will trigger a different glitch which will warp MegaMan from the Liberation Mission to the last spot he jacked out from. This bug is fixed in the Virtual Console release.
The Game Boy Advance version of this game is notorious for the 5 second wait for PRESS START to appear to the point that Capcom had to address it in an FAQ[21]. This long wait is due to the game checking for the Wireless Adapter and the Progress Chip Gate. Having either on will make PRESS START appear faster[22]. This complaint was "fixed" in the next game by doing the checking at the CAPCOM screen. However, doing this made the soft reseting begin at the CAPCOM screen instead of the title screen.
In the manual for Rockman EXE 5 Team of Blues, there is a page claiming the main game can do multiplayer using the Wireless Adapter, however this is not possible. This was addressed as an error in a Capcom FAQ[23] (this page was also retained in the Wii U Virtual Console version's manual). In the final game, only the "Crossover Battle" mini-game with Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django would use the Wireless Adapter. However, the next game, Rockman EXE 6, would be able to use the Wireless Adapter for the main game's multiplayer. The menus are still existent in the game data, but is non-functional.[19]
Due to the manipulated use of Dark Soul's registered chips through Dark Soul Unison[24] and Chaos Unison's failed charge shot, many restrictions were put into the Capcom Official Rules for real life tournaments. Abusing the mechanic such as spamming the same powerful chips over 3 times, or stalling the match with dimming chips that requires pressing the A button, puts a risk disqualification from the tournament[25]. The development team noted this cultivating Dark Soul feature as unintended, originally planned only as a player's battle history[18].
The "100 Fighters" minigame in Gargoyle Castle is considered difficult to clear by many players, putting a stop in their progress or have them spend a long time on it. The problem has become so notorious, Capcom added a section in their FAQ for the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection with tips on how to get better at it.[26] In the DS version of the game, a pity system was implemented if you lose 3 times. All tiers of the fighters would go at the same speed for an easier experience.
Gallery[]
Box Art[]
Team ProtoMan US cover.
Team Colonel US cover.
Team of Blues Japanese cover.
Team of Colonel Japanese cover.
Rockman EXE5: Team of Colonel: Theater Release Edition cover
Team of Blues Japanese cover ("With Modification Card!" Guide Book Value Set)
Team of Colonel Japanese cover ("With Modification Card!" Guide Book Value Set)
Team ProtoMan European cover.
Team Colonel European cover.
Wii U Virtual Console icon. (Japan, Team of Blues)
Wii U Virtual Console icon. (Japan, Team of Colonel)
In Japan, both versions of Rockman EXE5 won a 8th CESA Game Awards Future for excellence, which are given to anticipated non-released works.[27]
The team members consists of many reformed Navis that belonged to an antagonist organization:
The first Navis to join in both versions were related to the Gospel organization from Mega Man Battle Network 2, except that MagnetMan was operated by Tesla, Gauss' daughter.
The teams have a combined amount of 4 Navis who had ties with WWW (one in Team ProtoMan - NapalmMan, and three in Team Colonel - Baryl and Colonel, Dusk and ShadowMan, and Higsby and NumberMan).
In total, three NetNavis that were related to Gospel join Lan's team (one in Team ProtoMan and two in Team Colonel).
This is the only game in the series to allow four viruses in a battle.
This is the only Battle Network game that does not have Mr. Match in it.
Like Battle Network 3, one version of this game came out first; the other version came out a few months later with exclusive extended content.
Team Colonel is often considered to be the more "canon" version leading into Mega Man Battle Network 6 by many fans, due to the extended ending and more appearances of Baryl. However, the events of Team ProtoMan can still lead up to BN6 and provides extra information in the story that Colonel does not.
Text Errors[]
Many textual errors exist in the games' dialogue.
On numerous occasions, a character says lines that were intended for someone else, which is also present in other installments in the series. These are likely translations errors.
When Lan meets Mr. Famous at Oran Island's mine, he says "What am I, Mr. Famous, doing around here?"
When Lan meets Mayl in front of the Metroline Station, Lan asks "What am I doing here?"
When Lan tries to enter the End City castle and is stopped by the guard, the guard says "Sorry, but you can't come in now". Lan replies "Why, you ask?" (which makes no sense).
When Lan is asked to join Team ProtoMan or Team Colonel as the only way to save his father, Chaud or Baryl says that joining is "the only way to save me". He should've said "him", to refer to Lan's father.
When Nebula attempts to recapture Oran Area 3, if Lan talks to Mayl she will say "If you go on the net, be "Areful Lan". "Areful" is Careful without the "C".
When cornering ShadowMan in SciLab Area 2, Lan will yell "MegaMan, is coming!" before engaging in battle. It should read "MegaMan, he's coming!".
When Team Colonel arrives at Nebula HQ, Lan will ask Well, Beryl?.
The common syntax error of putting the word "will" after "if" was done on many occasions.
