March 21st, 2001 -- Battle Network: Rockman EXE launched in Japan, better known here in the States as Mega Man Battle Network. Ten years later, the series has gone on to be one of, if not the most successful ventures in the franchise's history, spawning numerous games, merchandise, and multiple television series. Battle Network was, undeniably, a money making machine.
Whether you love it or hate it, we can all agree MMBN was an immensely successful IP for Capcom; one could even say that without it, we wouldn't even have Mega Man today. By Battle Network 4, the series was in its prime, financially. Both games would go on to sell well over a million units, Takara was rolling in the merchandising dough, and television ratings of Rockman.EXE Axess had never been higher.
A similar trend was happening in the U.S as well. NT Warrior quickly became one of the highest rated Saturday morning cartoons on Kids WB!, and Mattel's NTW toy line was quite popular at the time, with PET units often selling out during its first few months of shelf life.
Unfortunately, BN's winning streak would eventually wain, and come 2009 with the release of Operate Shooting Star, the bubble had finally burst. With lackluster sales and largely negative criticism, the "remake" of the original classic is seemingly the last hurrah from the series. Seemingly being the key word here; you never know what Capcom might have up their sleeves.
Battle Network forever holds a special place in my fanboy's heart, for it was this very series that led me to become a leading member of the now defunct PET World and its offspring, Rockman Synergy. When both ended, I went off to my own little corner of the web -- here.
So here's to you, MMBN. Capcom never could keep you down; I'm sure you'll be back again before we know it!
Sweet Adverts. Wish they could do that over here in the states. Maybe it would have reached a wider audience, too. BN is actually my favorite series.
ReplyDeleteGood old MMBN. I was familiar with Megaman and had X1 on the old SNES, but this series was the one that made me a huge fan. I wish we could get one last game. OSS was a letdown.
ReplyDelete(I had no idea you were part of Pet World. I miss that place!)
Wait... So you ARE from the states.
ReplyDeleteWell are you British or not? @_@
Oh, yeh. <3 BN.
No matter what people tend to say here, I love Battle Network. It's one of my favorite MegaMan series. The whole technology/Internet aspect of it really appeals to me. MegaMan.EXE is also one of my favorite "MegaMen" -- I really like his design and his personality.
ReplyDeleteHappy BIRTHDAY ROCKMANEXE!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite serie with the classic!
I want a new exe and i hope! =D
With 5 years, EXE serie did a lot of things !!! So much goodies, animes and games!
Oops, I accidentally submitted my comment before I was done. ("No matter what...his personality.") I was going to say while I liked Star Force, I don't think it was really a worthy sequel. Aliens and radio waves? Cool but out there. Internet "worlds" (the Internet represented as worlds) and networked society aren't impossible, and neither is having portable devices to control them. With all the things cell phones can do nowadays, we already seem to be moving in that direction.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm from the U.S, first anon; smack dab in the middle. What led you to believe otherwise, out of curiosity?
ReplyDeleteSo, Capcom... When you're done with Legends 3, can we have an EXE collection?
ReplyDeleteBattle Network has been one of the most addicting series that I've ever played, but I must admit I didn't get the attraction when it first came out. Neither did I get the appeal for Pokemon. Believe it or not, it was through watching season 1 of the anime that I "got it" and I started playing BN1 when number 2 just came out. In fact, I remember gamespot gave BN2 an award for "Most Overlooked & Underrated Game of the Month" for the improvements made over the first one.
ReplyDeleteBattle Network was amazing because it tried something different instead of the side scrolling we were used to. There were a lot of fans who said the series was to kiddy... um... hello? The classic MM series was made for kids. The X series was made for teenagers. Many of the .EXE redesigns looked better than their classic counterparts as well (like Bass for example), and the story was much better than anything the classic series could do. (Don't get me wrong I still love both the classic and the X series a bit more the battle network series ha ha)
ReplyDeleteMy personal recollection of all the games...
The first was amazing nuff said, the second was pretty good but not as good as the first or... the third which was the best in the series. It had the best story, best villians, best music, ect. Everything just came together in an amazing way in the 3rd IMO.
The fourth is where things started to go down hill, horrible music, I personally disliked the new art style, the story was decent (at least the whole space part) but it felt like Capcom decided to force the 3 random tournaments in simply because they didn't know how to handle the whole Duo story properly. Worst game in the series, and the only one I gave away.
The 5th one was amazing IMO. Not as good as the 1st or 3rd but better than the second outing, the story was pretty good, the whole teamwork angle was well implemented allowing the playability of others yet it still felt like a Battle Network game unlike 4. It took the series in a new direction without alienating the old fans. Though I missed the classic .EXE theme, the music wasn't bad at all.
The sixth one was only... decent. Gregar and Falzar were somewhat disappointing if you ask me. The ending was the biggest tease in the series, and once again the story felt rushed. As if Capcom wanted to end the series and just made up a lackluster ending to conclude the game quickly.
SORRY for the wall-o-text. LOL.
Pet World... QQ
ReplyDeleteWeirdly I just got MMBN Completed Works yesterday
ReplyDeletegeez. it's been that long?
ReplyDeletesweet. I didn't think I'd be into it at first, but MMBN ended up being my 2nd favorite Mega Man franchise.
ReplyDeleteI must say, when I first saw MMBN it was not appealing to me (it looked like Capcom's version of Pokemon to me, and the game-play was nothing like the other MM games so that kept me away for a while). I didn't play the series until part 3 came out (But I played the 1st game at the time).
ReplyDeleteI eventually played it enough to really like it and got the rest of the games (it was an acquired taste to me). I also really like what they did with Network Transmission and wish they made more like it.
OSS was a slap in the face I felt, they didn't really try much there. I also felt that way at first about the Rockman Complete Works for the psx, but at least those added more to an already old game(s). If OSS was a remake made to take advantage of the system I would have bought it. They could have at least used the HUD from one of the later games in the series. I still like MMBN 1, but for me OSS makes it look much older than it actually is.
@Kirak
And yeah, Japan usually gets better games commercials that the states. Not a surprised really. :(
@Protodude
It's probably because you use the name Rockman instead of MegaMan that people think you're not from the states.
@Protodude: It was a couple things, though I've forgotten most of it now. One of them was minor uses of British English, like using plural verbs with company names. E.g., Capcom were instead of Capcom was.
ReplyDeleteNot sure!
Fellow smackdabian USer here. XD
I agree that the redesigns were great. Simple but new.
ReplyDeleteAnd that gameplay. Pure genius.
I miss the games a whole lot.
Can't wait for OCW to get here from Amazon!
Hey, Pet-World is/was my page.
ReplyDeleteI still remember I created it back then and had Ori help me until he kinda took over :D
I still have all those PETs and massive amount of Battle Chips ...aswell as the BattleChip Gates *-*
Damn, fun times. Pet-World was amazing =)
-BlaXun
btw. I cant post with my Google-Account....getting some kind of error -,-
Got a taste of BN, and I gotta say...
ReplyDeleteIt's as good and creative as they say, but it somehow gets stale for me after a while. It's probably because I never went past the mid-game :/.
But there is ONE thing I can't get enough of BN, and that's the music. Using the GBA's Game Boy Sound instruments for the mayority of the songs gives them a more Classic-esque sound, but the composition style is far more stylish and...different :o. It is, in essence, a reboot of the Classic series, with a far more tech and bleepy feel. A true breeze of fresh air for the series's music department.
That would explain why Blade Man's theme sounds so different, almost like a BN theme: Akira Kaida helped in making that theme.
So, cheers to you, EXE. For giving us something different, and helping the MM series survive for the next decade.
...what? ._.
I'm just a MegaMan fan through and through. I have alot of criticism about Battle Network and Starforce, but I like all the series.
ReplyDeleteOver the years, I've literally spent more than 500hrs across almost all of the BN and SF games (99:99 timer max-out and 100% completion in most of them, some of them played through more than once, etc). I doubt there are alot of people out there who have played them as much as myself : )
Hopefully the series will make some form of dignified return, someday.
Hey, uh, Saito? You around?
ReplyDeleteWhat's going on with the Japanese side? I see a bunch of people celebrating on Twitter... And something about a tool-assisted run of EXE 6? Is that right?
Fan Made Medley with Anime and Ad songs : http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13911827 (Bomubomu made the song, while Masaki made the video)
ReplyDeleteWorth a listen.
Rest in peace, Battle Network. What an awesome series (well, except for that misstep with BN 4, but we won’t talk about that). Every summer this series was active was always an exciting one, as I knew I always had a new BN game to look forward to come June.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really expect Capcom to return to this series or continue it since OSS was such a mess, and I think it’s better that way; the BN series is one of the few Mega Man series with a conclusive ending, and it was a good ending at that (even if the Gregar/Falzar conflict didn’t necessarily feel like the totally ultimate finale I feel the BN series deserved). I like it that way. Wouldn’t want Capcom to ruin by bringing the series back despite that.
Sadly, I can’t really say I want to see Star Force 4 either. I loved Star Force 3, but it also had a conclusive (and mostly happy!) ending and the series feels finished, and a sequel would ruin that.
Guess we need another sequel series on the 3DS! I would be so down for that. :)
Rest in peace, Battle Network. What an awesome series (well, except for that misstep with BN 4, but we won’t talk about that). Every summer this series was active was always an exciting one, as I knew I always had a new BN game to look forward to come June.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really expect Capcom to return to this series or continue it since OSS was such a mess, and I think it’s better that way; the BN series is one of the few Mega Man series with a conclusive ending, and it was a good ending at that (even if the Gregar/Falzar conflict didn’t necessarily feel like the totally ultimate finale I feel the BN series deserved). I like it that way. Wouldn’t want Capcom to ruin by bringing the series back despite that.
Sadly, I can’t really say I want to see Star Force 4 either. I loved Star Force 3, but it also had a conclusive (and mostly happy!) ending and the series feels finished, and a sequel would ruin that.
Guess we need another sequel series on the 3DS! I would be so down for that. :)