So I’m actually going to make a bold prediction. I think
everyone is overblowing Sakurai’s statement about there not being a lot of
newcomers in smash ultimate. 5-6 characters is waaay to low of an estimation
when you take into account this game has been worked on since 2015 and when a
lot of its content has been imported from the prior entries of the series. Not
to mention so far there doesn’t seem to be any huge time sinks like Brawl and
smash 4(duel versions or a story mode) . Not to mention most modern smash games
have added SOOOO many new characters in a single go, that higher numbers could
very easily be considered not a lot. For example melee had 8 full new characters
and 6 semi clones. Brawl had 16 full new characters and 2 semi clones. 4 had 15
totally new characters and 3 echoes at launch.
Personally I’m going to guess about 8-12 full new characters
and then 3-4 echoes. Particularly given the echoes seem to require even less
work than semi-clones did, and aren’t even counted towards the roster number. So
essentially I think we’ll get a handful less newcomers, but not a ridiculously lower
number.
Newcomers
King K.Rool
Series:
Donkey Kong
It’s happening and there’s no way you can convince me it’s not going to happen.
K.Rool is pretty much the defacto “Nintendo fan” desired character at this
point and typically destroys the competition in most fan polls and ballots.
Given smash ballot is clearly going to influence the roster of smash ultimate and
the fact Sakurai conceded to adding Ridley of all people due to fan outcry, the
chances of K.Rool not also being added due to similar fan outcry seems
unlikely to me.
Ashley
Series:
Wario Ware
Ashley
is another character I’m fairly sure is going to make it in this time around.
She’s pretty obviously the most popular character in the Warioware series,
which hasn’t really gotten any representation outside of Wario himself. She was
popular enough to get acknowledged with a mii fighter costume in 4, and her
assist trophy has been suspiciously absent so far in ultimate. She’s also been
getting an increased pushed in marketing material from Nintendo, particularly
in their badge arcade game.
Issac
Series:
Golden Sun
Issac is in a similar boat to K.Rool. He’s lacking significantly in relevance
given his series has been dormant for the better part of a decade , but he’s
become such an ensemble darkhorse in the smash community that his rating in
smash ballot might just be enough to propel him to playable status. Additionally
I have a theory myself he was already considered at one point, given his assist
trophy from brawl was removed for some reason.
Bandana dee
Series:
Kirby
I
don’t actuallythink I want Bandana dee
in smash bros that much, but I can’t deny he’s pretty much become a main
character in the Kirby series at this point. Given his increased prominence,
and the facthe seems to have a decent
amount of fans, I can definitely see him being added to smash bros this time
around. Likewise there has been rumors that he has amiibo data hidden in other
Nintendo games, that point to him potentially getting a smash amiibo at some
point, which would support him becoming a character.
Elma
Series: Xenoblade
I know most people expect a rep from Xenoblade chronicles 2, but
honestly I think that’s pretty unlikely. From what I can understand the actual
designs for the characters from that game weren’t even completed by the time
smash ultimate’s project plan was finalized, so it’s actually near impossible
for Sakurai to include a lot of content from that game. Xenoblade chronicles X
conversely was released at a time when characters for Smash ultimate where
being chosen, so Elma simply has better timing if we need to have a Xeno rep.
Additionally it’s been speculated a post Sakurai made referencing action
figures used for posing references a few months back may have been referring to
Elma, due to it having similarities to the Skell weapons used in that game.
Geno
Series:Mario
I honestly never thought we’d see Geno in smash, but if he’s ever going
to have a chance this is probably going to be the game. They already have Cloud,
so getting another character from Enix shouldn’t be that difficult. He’s also a
character Sakurai himself has wanted to add to the roster to the point where he’s
specifically acknowledged it was the reason why he got a costume in 4. Geno’s
also maintained at least a decent amount of fans support for decades, and the
anniversary of Mario RPG is this year as well.
Andy, Sami and Max
Series:
Wars
OK
this is really more of a personal desire and I don’t think it’s going to
happen, but I would love to see some advance wars characters like Andy and Sami
in smash. The wars series has been around since the 1980s and the fact it has
been all but forgotten in favor of Fire emblem these days is really sad. In
terms of character design I think this tank riding concept I found on deviant
art would be cool, with the addition of having Sami and Max in the tank with
him to perform additional attacks. https://www.deviantart.com/evilwaluigi/art/Newcomer-Andy-206410727
I also
think he could reasonably count as a “retro rep” for people who like that sorta
thing.
Simon Belmont
Series: Castlavania
Simon Belmont is probably my most desired Konami rep outside of Snake. I think
he makes a lot sense given he’s one of the more famous characters in video game
history and his home series is fairly well known for having loads of exclusive
games on Nintendo hardware. Simon himself is also notable for having somewhat
of an intense rivalry with Link, in a similar vain to Mario and Sonic, giving
him that angle to work from as well. He was also on the Vergenben leak, which
so far seems pretty accurate.
Lloyd Irving
Series:Tales of
Ok I’ll admit to some personal bias again here, but I do expect Namco
to get at least one more rep and a character from a more popular series like tales
makes sense to me. Not to mention tales
of symphonia specifically is the best selling game in the series and was
originally Nintendo exclusive when it first came out. Considering that I think Lloyd has a fairly
decent chance and the fact Sakurai decided to acknowledge him with a Mii
costume in 4 supports that. Now tbf I think Lloyd could possibly be beaten out
by another Namco character, like Heihachi from Tekken, but if he’s not
on the main roster, I would be willing to bet he would show up as DLC.
Rayman
Series: Rayman
I know a lot of people have said they’re not sure whether or not a
western character is ever going to show up in smash bros, but I think Rayman
has paid his dues at this point. Ubisoft might not be synonymous with Nintendo,
but Rayman has a large enough presence on their systems for his inclusion to
make sense. Likewise given Ubisoft had a major crossover game with Nintendo
with Mario + rabids, and I think that reflects a relationship strong enough for
a deal like this to work out.
Shantae (or
shovel knight)
Series: Shantae
I’m going to be honest. I’m not sure how possible an “Indie rep”
really is. A lot of the 3rd party characters have the benefit of
coming from series with significantly larger pull in the industry or have more
direct connections to Nintendo (having projects funded by them or crossing over
with Nintendo IPs).The idea that a character that’s comparatively much smaller
in mainstream appeal and in some cases may not even have a significant presence
in japan, seems unlikely to me. Particularly due to the fact that licensing
would affect the ease of adding them into the game.
That being said if it does happen it’s pretty clear to me that the
indie rep would either be Shantae or Shovel knight. Both have a decent amount
of support from the people who want indie reps, and both have at least some connotations
with Nintendo given their games have released primarily for their system.
When choosing between the two I’m kind of split though. It’s
pretty clear to me that Shovel knight is the more immediately popular of the
two and his connection to Nintendo is arguably slightly stronger given at the
very least he got an amiibo and Nintendo published shovel knight in japan. He’s
also arguably a better rep for the ideas of indies as a whole, given he crosses
over with other projects pretty frequently.
BUUUUUUUUUUT…………..In my own personal opinion Shantae really
deserves to be in smash more from a historical perspective. Her franchise has
been around much longer, her games have been more exclusive to Nintendo in
comparison(it wasn’t until half genie hero that a game was released multi-plat),
and her appeal to be honest goes farther beyond the “flavor of the month”
status a lot of other indies tend to be in.
Echoes
So some minor thoughts on echoes. It seems to me that the main
point of them is to include characters that wouldn’t normally be important or
popular enough to spend the development time needed to make a fully unique
character. I point this out because a lot of the time I see arguments that “x”
shouldn’t be an echo because they have unique moveset potential or something
along those lines. I’m not disagreeing with that sentiment exactly, but going
along with my point that echoes characters typically aren’t important enough
for a full dev treatment, it seems to me that prospective echo characters would
either make it in as an echo or not at all. Because of that I think making
compromises on moveset potential makes more sense than excluding characters due
to not wanting them to be straight clones of another character.
Dark Samus
Series: Metroid
Dark
Samus seems like a pretty reasonable echo fighter. She was pretty much the main
villain of the entire Metroid prime franchise and said prime series is due to
make a reappearance sometime in the next year or so. Likewise Samus’s dark Samus
variant is conspicuously absent for whatever reason.
Dixie Kong
Series: Donkey Kong
Another pretty likely echo fighter. Dixie was already
considered to be added back in the brawl days, but didn’t make the cut. She’s
fairly relevant again given she showed up in the last DK country game, which
got a port to the switch this year. Also she’s similar enough to Diddy that
copying his moveset should be fine.
Shadow
Series: Sonic The Hedghog
Shadow’s
polarizing to sonic fans, but I can’t deny he’s probably the most popular
character besides Sonic himself, and the easiest to make an echo given his
similar body type. He also does in fact play similarly to sonic in most of his appearances
and has all the same abilities, despite also having the chaos powers. The only
thing holding him back is that I wouldn’t normally expect two reps from the
same 3rd party series, but I think Sonic deserves it after sticking
with smash for 3 installments, and I can’t imagine they removed his assist
trophy for no reason.
Issabelle
Series: Animal Crossing
I’m actually surprised how much support Isabella has, but I guess
it makes sense. Her popularity in the animal crossing community has pretty much
exploded since new leaf, and she’s more or less become the mascot of the series
now. She also got a guest appearance in Mario kart, something only other big
name characters like Link, Inkling and Pacman have done. Tbh I don’t see her as
much of a fighter, but neither was villager, so making her an echo of him seems
like it would work well.
DLC
So
I’m going to make another bold prediction. We’re going to get a lot more
character DLC in this game in comparison to the last game. It seemed like in
smash bros 4 they were still very hesitant to go all in on the concept, so they
kind of tested the waters a bit by announcing Mewtwo and didn’t really add too
much else until the idea of DLC became more receptive. Likewise obviously the
length the DLC was being developed for was probably limited by the fact that
Ultimate was being planned and worked on during the same timespan.
Taking those factors into account I would
actually think we could get another 10-12 characters via DLC, including echoes.
This being because smash 4 had about 7 DLC characters before ending its run and I
think Sakurai could see DLC as a good
way to expand the roster if it has a smaller newcomer jump in the base game compared
to the last few entries.
Octoling(agent 8)
Series:Splatoon
I
think agent 8 is a pretty obvious choice for an echo. Mechanically speaking octolings
already act like inklings in gameplay, and frankly octolings as a species are
super popular right now due to octo expansion Splatoon DLC. In fact I would
even be willing to bet agent 8 could be a last minute echo character in the
base game due to her sudden surge in popularity, though I think DLC is a safer
bet since ultimate got finalized way before her inception was even thought of.
Ninten
Series: Earthbound
So Ninten doesn’t have a lot of relevancy, but he seems like he
would be an easy character to add as an echo of Ness and it would be nice to
have all 3 mother protagonist playable in the same game. Not much else to say
besides that.
Impa
Series: Zelda
I think Impa is one of the few Zelda characters left that’s
actually pretty viable for smash. Impa makes notable appearances in multiple Zelda
games, either as Zelda’s protector or as a sage. She a member of the sheikien
tribe, and has proven she can fight in multiple appearances. Likewise the
nature of her backstory in most games means she can probably be an echo of
Sheik with little issue.
Rex and
Pyra
Series: Xenoblade
I think Rex and Pyra are basically a forgone conclusion at this
point. Not only are they fairly popular, but xenoblade 2 sold fairly well when
it came out last year. The only reason why I assume they would be DLC, instead
of being on the base roster, is because the development for Xenoblade 2 started
after ultimate’s project plan was finalized.
Spring man
Series:Arms
Spring
man is in the same situation as Rex and Pyra. Arms sold well and he’s a
reasonably popular choice (if albeit bland compared to the rest of his cast). Unfortunately
his game probably wasn’t far along enough in development when ultimate’s
project plan was finalized to be considered. Considering that DLC seems like it
would make a fair amount of sense.
Though
secretly honestly I kind of hope a different arms character like Twintail or
Minin would be chosen over him.
Wonder Red
Series: Wonderful 101
A slightly less requested choice, but one I still like. People forget
but the wonderful 101 is 100% Nintendo
owned, and given it was one of the more recent additions to the IP stable, it
makes sense that its main character might appear in smash. Likewise given there
was at least some interest in a sequel, extra exposure in smash probably can’t
hurt (along with a switch port for that matter).
Phoenix Wright
Series: Ace Attorney
If
Capcom gets another rep, I think Phoenix is probably the safest bet. Ace attorney
started on the Gameboy advanced and has pretty much been synonymous with their
handhelds for decades. The series also is still widely popular and has a second
anime season coming soon. I also can’t imagine Phoenix’s non-combat roles in
his games being much of an issue when he was already a character in the
fighting game marvel vs Capcom 3.
Professor Layton
Series: Professor Layton
Layton
would be a good addition for similar reasons to Phoenix Wright. His series has
mainly been on Nintendo handhelds, and is mostly associated with the Nintendo brand.
He also has some connections to Nintendo already, given Nintendo publishes most
of his games outside Japan. He himself also does have some combat abilities in
his games despite their VN nature, which could work well for smash.
Banjo Kazooie
Series:
Banjo Kazooie
Another character I would have called a long shot, but I’m actually starting to
think is possible now. The biggest obstacle with these characters isn’t how
much of a connection they have with Nintendo, but how easy it would be to
license them since they’re now owned by a competing console manufacturer. However
in recent years it seems like Microsoft and Nintendo have actually been getting
along with each rather well and are actually fairly willing to collaborate. Not
only have they embraced cross play with each other, but Microsoft has actually
let Nintendo sell minecraft on their own system. Heck its rumored minecraft
might have some presence in smash already.
Considering
that and the fact the current president of Microsoft has said multiple times
that he’d be fine with Banjo being a smash character, I think there’s a solid
chance for their appearance. My only concern is given the Phil fishers comments
about banjo were made in 2015 and 2018 respectively, I feel like Banjo has a
higher chance of being DLC, given Phil probably wouldn’t have made a comment if
he had been in the base game.
Heihachi
Heihachi is my least desired smash character that I think is going
to make it in. Not because of namco’s involvement with smash or his mii costume
in 4, but because Sakurai himself has pretty much said outright that he considered
as an actual character in 4. He simply just couldn’t get his moveset to work
the way he wanted to at the time.
Sora
I consider Sora to be the holy grail of 3rd party reps.
Even more than Banjo. You see despite the fact he stars in a game enix makes,
the rights to his character and all KH original content actually belongs to
Disney. Which means Nintendo would actually have to go through a non-video game
company to get him for smash. Personally I don’t think it’s impossible, and
while KH is more aligned with Sony, it still has enough presence on Nintendo consoles
that I think adding him would be worth the trouble.Bonus points if Mickey, Donald and goofy show
up in his final smash or something, since that would be a huge mindfuck.
What
I don’t want
Anymore FE
reps
I think FE is good on newcomers for the moment. It got a lot of
reps in the last game and honestly everyone and their mother is so pissed off
about it, that I would rather not have to deal with anymore salt regarding the
series in smash. At best I would be fine with Chrom becoming an echo, but even
then I’m not sure how much I’d want that, since it could be seen as over
representing the awakening characters.
Anymore
Mario reps
I don’t think Mario has been totally depleted of good characters,
but I honestly think we’ve reached the point where everyone should be pretty
content with what we already have. Mario has 8 characters now, and I’ll be
honest I just don’t find characters like Toad or Waluigi interesting enough or
important enough to spend dev time on over newcomers from other series. The
only rep I think really has any potential from Mario at this point is probably
Paper Mario, given he stars in an entire sub series of Mario games and probably
has the best moveset potential. Even then I’m really not pushing that hard for
him given I’d still rather have any other character from a different games
series.
I would also point out that while Enix does own Geno, he is in
fact a Mario character, so he would be considered a Mario series new rep if he
got in.
Anymore Pokemon reps
So this is probably another hard sell, but honestly I think I’m
pretty content on Pokemon as well. It also has 8 characters at this point, and
there’s not a lot I super want from the franchise if it means taking away a lot
from another series. I could see one of the starter Pokemon or mimickyu making
it in, but I’m not asking hard for it.
Crash, spyro,
Doomguy and Solair
I think many of them could fit in smash and I also get their icon
status. I just feel like other 3rd party characters have stronger
ties to Nintendo and are more deserving of entering the series first.
.well cept maybe Solair. He’s pretty gosh darn neat.
For the sake of simplicity I’ve grouped together chips and program advances that have similar effects or are clearly the same attacks at different levels of power. I felt it was the only way to prevent EXE’s overwhelming number of weapons from getting too convoluted to follow.
I am compositing EXE in the profile. For the most part conflictions between canons are minor, so I don't think it should be a big deal. Though I will make it a point explaining or elaborating on any differences I think are important.
There aren't really any good scans of the battle story manga, so I don’t have much info from it. I am going to mention stuff that’s mentioned about the series secondhand from the wiki, but I can’t entirely trust its accuracy. I will probably import the books at some point if I can though.
Likewise I managed to find footage of about 90% of EXE’s battle chips, but a few of them still elude me. I’ve tried to give as accurate descriptions as possible based on guides and Faqs, but it’s totally possible I could have made a mistake on some of the more minor chips or attacks.
Backstory
Alias:King of the undernet
Occupation: Official net battler, Net saver
Age:12
A “net Navi” from an alternate version of the classic Megaman universe where networking technology took off instead of robotics technology. His primary function is to give aid to his “netop” Lan, via acting as a conduit from which he can control networked devices and surf the cyberworld, a sort of high tech internet that’s essentially become its own dimension. However unlike normal Net navi’s EXE has some extra ordinary programming and origins behind him.
You see Megaman.EXE is for all intents and purposes the reincarnation of Hub Hikari, the twin brother of Lan, who died as a baby due to a heart disease. Their father DR. Hikari couldn’t stand to let Hub simply die, so he digitized Hubs DNA and implanted it into an experimental navi he had been creating as part of a series of projects at his work place scilab. He then gave EXE to Lan with the hopes that EXE’s human like mentality and soul would allow the two to form a bond stronger and more revolutionary than those found in a normal netop and navi Dou.
And for the most part this worked. Ethical issues and drama from EXE essential being a digital human aside, the two got along swimmingly. In fact it ended up making them a perfect team for virus busting, a form of combat against bugs and viruses in the net, which for the most part are essentially just digital monsters due to the cyberworlds dimensional makeup. Over the years the two have put their skills to good use, taking down several net based crime syndicates, alien invaders and rouge Navi Ai’s. Their adventures eventually culminated with both settling down in a peaceful world and Lan becoming a scientist who set the stage for the technology seen in Battle network’s successor series, “Megaman Starforce.
A “Personal terminal”. It essentially acts like a super powerful handheld computer, complete with most modern functions you would see in a Iphone(Impressive for a device thought up in the early 2000s). This includes email functions, data storage/ analyzation abilities, a GPS, a TV, a phone, wireless or wired internet connection abilities and even atmospheric measuring devices for radiation and toxic Gases. It also acts as the main housing unit for EXE, along with being the device that organizes all of his customizable programs, battle chips, and forms
Lan starts the series with a PET model called the “Original”, but over time he gets various upgrades and alterations to the device, culminating in a model called the “Link PET EX”. Some attributes of these modifications collectively being a holographic screen projection function, the ability to project navis in the real world as holograms, the ability to internally store “battle chips”, as well as various different methods of enhancing “synchronization” or “cross fusion” abilities. One of the earlier models of the PET is also mentioned in the anime to have a Route-Mate Molecular 450 Ghz processor, which is most likely matched or exceeded by later models.
Lan’s PETs are often built custom by his father, or gifted to him through various government agencies. Because of this they tend to be more advanced or work to higher specification than off the shelf models.
Lan using the PET to connect to the internet (Jacking in)
What essentially amounts to a jetpack. The Mega booster is generally stored on a chip and allows EXE to fly freely through the air while fighting. It’s seen mainly in the manga adaptation, though later seasons of the anime also give him a booster pack of sorts called the Jet verner.
A unique mechanic that appeared in the first Battle Network game and Network Transmission. Essentially they’re sets of body armor that give EXE added protection against certain elemental attacks. EXE has 4 sets of armor called the Heat Armor, Aqua Armor, Elec Armor and Wood Armor. Each halve damage against fire, water, electricity and wood attacks respectively, though conversely they also take double damage from water, elec, wood, and heat respectively.
EXE’s primary weapon. It’s an energy cannon that transcribes itself over his right arm when fired. It typically has a modest firepower and range, but it can also be charged for a few seconds to increase its power. In most games it’s rapid firing capabilities,overall power and charging ability can also be upgraded.The buster itself can also be further modified depending on the transformations EXE is currently using and has a lock on feature in the anime.
Battle chips are storage devices that can hold weapons, defensive armaments or supportive data that can be sent to a Navi to power them up during a fight. They come with designations for class(standard, mega, and giga) and are typically slotted or stored in the PET itself. In the games themselves there are normally tons of restrictions regarding how many chips Lan can carry, how many of each class he can use in a single fight, and what chips can be sent to EXE to use at a single given moment. These restrictions are clearly game mechanics however,given most adaptive media depicts that lan can in fact use whatever chips he wants, in whatever quantities he wants, assuming he has them on hand in any given situation. At the end of battles data collected from enemies can also be stored on “blank chips”, to create new attacks to expand EXE’s arsenal. It should also be noted that not all chips require a navi, and some can be pulled off solo by the netop, albeit with less accuracy.
All battlechips(and in fact a lot of forms and abilities) in battle network also have elements. For the most part these are standard ones for rpgs like fire/heat, water/aqua, electricity, wood, ect. I don’t think it’s worth explaining but you can see a full list of elements here
Shotgun,Crossgun,Spreader 1/2/3, V-gun,Side gun: Cannon weapons that spread their shots into multiple smaller energy blasts. They typically hit over a wide area, often hitting objects to the side or behind the direct target.
Bubbler,Bub-V, Bubcross, Bubspread, Bubble side: Various canon weapons that have an Aqua elemental quality. Tend to erupt in masses of bubbles on a hit, with higher tier versions hitting over a wider area than the direct target.
Heater, Heat-V, Heatcross, Heatspread, Heat side:Various canon weapons that have a heat elemental quality. Tend to erupt in masses of fire on a hit, with higher tier versions hitting over a wider area than just the direct target.
Tri arrow,Tri spear,Tri lance, Double needle, Triple needle, Quadrple needle,Trident, Trn Arrow 1/2/3: A giant arrow buster configuration that shoots large harpoons or Tridents at an opponent. The higher level versions of the chip shoot 3-4 projectiles consecutively.
Yo-Yo 1/2/3:A buster that shoots a giant Yo yo like buzzsaw straight forward that returns to EXE a few seconds after being shot. In the anime the Yo-Yo is explicitly connected to his arm with a retracting string.
Typhoon, Hurricane,Cyclone: Various chips that create tornadoes from the buster. Can also be used to create a giant tornado creating fan machine in the anime.
Airstorm 1/2/3:Summons a giant fuzzy monster on the end of EXE’s buster that sucks in opponents with a powerful vacuum before performing a tornado projectile attack. Simply creates a huge tornado in the anime.
Vulcan 1/2/3, Super vulcan: A chip that essentially turns EXE’s arm into a vulcan gatling gun. Shoots a powerful spray of bullets for a few seconds at an enemy.
Gunsol 1/2/3, Gunsol EX: Modeled after the weapon used in the Boktai series. They’re gun weapons that fire wide beams of intense sunlight that damages opponents. It can’t be blocked by energy shields and do increased damaged on darkness/evil attributed enemies like darkloids, to the point of causing their Hp to lower after the attack like poison(this happens if used gainst the navi shademan in BN4).
Corn shot: Shoots an energy shot of wood energy that explodes in a wide area upon hitting an opponent, and creates a grass area around it’s impact area.
Various weapons like swords and hammers. EXE’s arm normally transforms into the weapon in question, though in some cases he may just hold a summon weapon bt hand. He can also typically dual wield two weapons of this type at once(for example having a sword on each arm). In most peripheral media they don’t disappear after a single use.
Sword, Wide sword, Long sword, Wide blade, Long blade: Different energy swords of varying length and thickness.
Fighter sword,Knight sword,Hero sword: More powerful variations of the standard cybersword battle chips. They each have longer ranges and in the anime some of them also allow the use of sword beams.
Fire sword,Aqua sword, Elec sword, Bamboo sword,Fire blade, Aqua blade, Elec blade: Various elemental energy swords of fire, water ,electric and wood varieties. The elec sword can extend forward to pierce enemies in the anime, as well as absorb electricity based attacks.The flame sword and aqua sword can create bursts of fire and water in the anime respectively as well..
Varia sword, NeoVaria sword: A sword that can change shape to suit EXE’s needs during a fight. It can form the normal, wide, and long sword cyber sword forms, as well as the larger “life sword” program advance variation. It can also create sword beams of Fire,Aqua, Wood and elec properties.
Z-saver: What it says on the tin. It’s literally the beam sword the the Megaman character Zero (specifically the one featured in the MEgaman Zero series). It’s more powerful than most of the standard beam weapons.
Dash, Condor: A forward dashing ram attack using a bird like virus as propulsion.In the anime the virus takes on the form of a paraglider or a flying bird EXE can ride on.
Body burn,Burner,Burning: Forward dashing attacks that propel EXE forward with a virus. It has a heat attribute and sets flammable objects on fire. In the animal creates a flying burning bird projectile.
Foot stomp: A jumping stomp attack. Similar to Mario from the Super Mario Bros series..
Bomb/thrown weapons
Bombs, grenades, kunai, and other objects that are physically thrown at enemies by hand and not with the Megabuster.
Minibomb,Lil bomb,Cross bomb,Big bomb, Single bomb, Double bomb, Triple bomb, Energy bomb, Mega energy bomb, Crack bomb,Parabomb,Resetbomb: Various Grenade bombs that can be thrown at opponents from a distance. Different levels and subtypes of the chip cover larger surfaces of area or provide more bombs at once.
Quake 1/2/3:An energy sphere that can be thrown into the air and enlarged into a giant metal weight shaped Virus that crushes enemies. Higher levels of the chips cause explosions around the impact site. The attacks also tend to break the arena in games.
Howlitzer,Cannon ball,Wrecker, Ice ball, Lava ball: Essentially various cannonballs that can be thrown as a projectile.The ice ball and Lava ball variants have icy aqua and fiery heat elementality behind the attacks as well. These chips break battlefield panels in games.
Lava seed, Seas seed, Ice seed, Grass seed, Poison seed: Various bombs that explode and change the terrain they hit into lava, water, ice,grass or poison swamps respectively.
Abilities that are mainly propagated mainly in the form of traveling shockwaves, or attacks that gradually travel across the ground.
Shock wave,Sonic wave,Dynawave,Bigwave: Powerful shock waves that travel straight forward, typically caused by a strike from a pickaxe on the ground. The waves normally go through ground laden obstacles.
Fire tower,Aqua tower, Wood tower: Various attacks that create giant Fire, Aqua and wood elemental pillars that propagate forward towards an opponent. They have a minimal ability to change direction and home in on said opponents after being used.
Spice 1/2/3: Creates a wave of wood element spores that fly forward across a battlefield damaging opponents. In the anime the sportes come from summoned virus and can put enemies to sleep.
Snake egg 1/2/3,Snake: Summons a small snake like monster that moves across the battlefield while attempting to hit opponents. In the anime it’s much larger and attempts to bite an opponent.
Magnum 1/2/3: Create a scrolling cursor that will slide across an area before stopped by EXE. An explosion then occurs at the target places. In the anime it creates a 3 cannon turret.
Various chips that create drones, viruses or objects that stay on the field for longer periods of time while attempting to hit an opponent(has some overlap with other chip types).
Air spinBN6 ver 1/2/3: Sends out a large metal pad, that creates a large cutting gust of wind around itself on all sides.
Satellite 1/2/3,Spshake 1/2/3:An elec element attack that sends a satellite flying forward towards opponents.If it hits a solid object, it will fly around set object until it hits something. In the anime it can be used to block attacks.
Chips that summon or utilizes viruses primarily as a form of attack. They typically don’t stay on the field for more than a few seconds and operate somewhat separately from EXE.
Colonel Army: Summons various infantry like soldier drones form the ground that shoot at an opponent, before disappearing.
Attacks that generall hit an entire battlefield at once or primary hit over wide areas.
Ring zap 1/2/3:A move that creates a bolt of electricity energy that encircles EXE until it hits something. Forms a powerful electric explosion emanating from EXe in the manga.
Time bomb 1/2/3: A large bomb that runs down on a 3 second timer. It causes a large explosion that covers most of a battlefield once it goes off. If the bomb is destroyed with an attack before it goes off, no explosion will occur.
Meteor 9/15/15/18,Meteors,Red meteor,Hole meteor,shot meteor,Shotstar, Asteroid 1/2/3: A attack that summons meteors from the sky to strike the battlefield. With more advanced versions calling down more meteors, which the max being around 30.
Blizzard,Heatbreath,Elecshock,Wood powder: Creates a burst of ice, fire, electric or wood energy in a T shape, that turns the terrain into Ice, into magma, makes it cracked, or into grass respectively.
Blue moon: Creates a giant satellite in the sky, which then proceeds to shoot a massive laser at an opponent, that covers most of the surrounding area.
Panel shot 1/2/3,Crack sot, Double shot, Triple shot: TK lifts and throws the paneling nearby EXE at an opponent as an attack. Some variations of the chip allow him to do this to multiple panels at once.
Chips that have healing abilities, grant protection, or various have other supportive abilities.
Heal 10,30,50,80,120,150,200,300: Various chips that restore stamina and physical damage. Can allow EXE to rapidly recover injuries as severe as missing legs and body parts.
Candle 1/2/3: Summons a magic candle that progressively heals EXE as long as it is active on the field. If it gets destroyed it’s healing abilities are stopped.
Invis 1/2/3: Grants temporary intangibility and invisibility. It has a time limit, and in the anime characters have gotten around it by keeping up pressure until it wears off.
Iron body,stone body, metal body: A chip that puts EXE in a near invincible state, where anny attack that hits him will only do minimal damage(1 hp in game).
Steal,Panel grab, Area grab: Takes territory away from an opponent in gameplay. In most most media adaptations it functions as a rapid movement or teleporting ability(the anime can’t seem to decide).
Life sync: Essentially the chip targets one opponent on the field and lowers the HP of every other opponent on the field to match it. Useful in 1 vs 2 or more fights
White capsule:Adds a paralyzing effect to any attack chip it gets paired with.
Uninstall: Adds an effect to an attack chip that disables all customized programs in opponent when it hits.
Counter/Reprisal
Chips centered specifically around countering attacks from an opponent or punishing them for using a certain attack type.
Anti damage: Basically the substitution jutsu from Naruto. If EXE gets hit by an attack, he’ll swap in a body double and counter attack with some shuriken projectiles.
Anti-fire, Anti-elec, Anti-water, Anti-sword, Anti-navi, Anti-recovery: Various chips that cause an opponent to take immediate damage if they use a more or weapon associated with each element, Summoning or recovery.
Elem trap: Causes an opponent to take damage if they use any elemental based attack(fire, water, wood, ect).
Counter 1/2/3: A chip that when activated right before a opponent lands a hit or uses an attack, causes the attack to cancel and for them to take damage.
Interrupt: Destroys the chip data currently on board for an opponent. In other words it prevents the opponent from using an ability or attack.
Signal Red: Creates a large standing traffic light, that switches between red and blue lights. Anytime the light is red, chips or special attacks from the opponent can’t be used.
Chips that create physically held shields or create solid obstacles, based around blocking attacks or limiting enemy movement.
Metgaurd, Guard 1/2/3, Reflect 1/2/3, Hi guard, Shield guard: Creates a giant shield that can block attacks. Some variations send back shockwaves that can damage opponents on the block.
Ice/Rock cube: Large several feet high blocks made out of stone or ice. Can be used to block attacks, and limit the movement of opponents. They can be as large as small buildings in the anime.
Prism: A large multi surface crystal rock. If it gets hit by any buster shots or attack, those shots reflect to hit in multiple directions across a battlefield.
Energy barriers and Auas that protect EXE from damage and external attacks.
Barrier, Barrier 100, Barrier 200:Basic energy barriers. It nullifies the damage of a single attack, with the amount of protection provided relative to the power of an attack increasing with each version.
Aura, Aqua aura,Fire aura ,Wood Aura, Elc aura: Energy barriers of normal, aqua, fire, wood and Electric elementality. Unlike normal barriers they block any attacks under a certain threshold indefinitely. If they get hit by their elemental weakness they go down right away though.
Life Aura 1/2/3: A recreation of the Barrier used by the life virus. It blocks all attacks under a certain threshold indefinitely. It’s strong enough to take casual blasts from Hubstyle EXE.
Black barrier: A dark barrier, that regenerates after being knocked down. Typically requires EXE to be in a “dark” state(dark hole would also probably work).
Dark aura:The strongest barrier in EXE’s arsenal. From a lore standpoint it’s based on dark Barrier Dr.Cossack claims is capable of surviving the end of the cyberverse. In the manga Navi’s specifically designed to combat dark power can get through them though.
Chips that modify or alter the battlefield itself.
X-panel 1/3,Panel out 1/3,Crack out,Double crack,Triple crack: Chips that creates holes and crevices in the battlefield. In the anime this line of chips can create portals in space EXE can use to get around or pitfall traps
Magnet line, Lava line,Ice line,Grass line,Lava stage, Ice stage, Grass stage, Sand stage, Metal stage: Various terraforming chips that laden the battlefield with opponent attracting Magnet panels, heat damage causing Lava, slippery Ice, near indestructible metal, movement slowing sand or Grass. Heat attacks deal double damage on grass and electricity deals double damage on ice.
Holypanel, Sanctuary: Protective panels that lessen damage by those standing on them to 1/2. EXE can summon enough of them to cover a significant portion of a battlefield.
Essentially chips that grant the ability to summon other navis or entities to perform attacks on EXEs behalf. It’s actually unclear whether the Navi’s summoned are in fact the real ones, or recreations based on data collected during fights. Though given you can use Navi chips associated with a certain character against said characters in fights, it’s possibly the latter. In game typically these summons only perform a single attack or support move, before disappearing. However team style Megaman in the manga simply displayed these attacks as him summoning projections of these navis, and them being able to perform any ability that Navi had in real life before disappearing. This is probably the closest to how Navi chips work from a canonical standpoint.
Malu actually gets her PET confiscated and Roll is imprisoned, but is still able to give Lan a roll chip https://youtu.be/d1qPCrUkVdk?t=83
Anyway given we’ve had billions of Chips, I’m just gonna link to the profiles of most of the fodder Navi’s Mega can summon while only highlighting the more powerful ones in detail.
Minor net navis
For minor navi’s, we have pretty much every character EXE has ever fought in the series. It’s not worth detailing all the abilities, but they tend to range from healing, to elemental attacks, explosives and energy blasts. They include
Alpha arm Sigma,Alpha arm omega, Omega rocket: The final boss of BN3, and the prototype of the internet. The summons brings creates the hands of Alpha to swipe at an opponent, or creates a giant rocket used by Alpha during his boss fight.
Dou, Justice one , Big hook, Meteor knuckle: The AI program for the earth destroying meteor in BN4. Most of his summons bring in a barrage of flying fist the pummel opponents.
Protoman 1/2/3/4/5, Delta ray: EXE’s main rival and the Navi of one of the most renowned Netops on the planet. Most of his summons involve rapid sword slashes.
Colonel, Cross divide, Colonel force: The leader of team colonel in BN5. His summons generally involve sword slashes and his signature sword attack cross divide. Some also summon smaller soldiers associated with him.
Bass 1/2/3, Bass GS, Bass +,BassAnly, Chaos L: One of EXE’s main antagonist and probably the strongest character in the series. His summons vary with differing variations involving energy blasts, darkness laced projectiles and even calling upon power from the BN5 final boss nebula grey.
Gregar,Falzar: The virus monsters from BN6. The giant wolf gregard spews fire breath, while the bird like Flazer calls down a torrent of piercing feathers respectively.
Battle chips tainted with the power of darkness. The chips influence their users to become more violent and psychopathic, and causes them to manifestat a dark personality or counterpart called a dark souls. These dark souls can either be separated from or posses the Navi’s main body if allowed to grow out of control(along with possessing others). Typically having their own myriad of abilities when separated from the host body, and granting the use of certain “evil chips” or a berserker invincibility state in times of need if they posses the host body. A substantial taint by a dark soul can prevent the usage of certain abilities, like full synchro and double soul.
Most dark chips do not have any wholly original subtypes, and are mostly just uber powerful versions of standard battle chips like swords, bombs, recovery, ect. They’re also addictive in universe and they’re usage tends to permanently reduce a characters HP. Additionally while they can be physically inserted into the PET like any other chip in most continuities, in some games they simply manifest for EXE to use at his discretion(Being stated to be formed via desire, and appearing in intense situations after his first encounter with one).
The curative properties of a dark soul are not limited to simple use. Simply being around a dark chip can also cause the creation of a dark soul or personality changes. In some cases their attributes can forcibly be inserted into a navi by fusing a chips data inside a host body.It should be noted that while some battle chips tend to be associated with darkness(such as dark aura), these chips are distinct from Dark chips in both story and gameplay. They either don’t carry the negative penalties, or aren't made in the same manner, which is described as transcribing the power of the final boss Nebula grey onto chips in BN5.
Notable dark chips include dark bomb, dark sword, dark stage(makes dark holes and turns an opponents territory into poisonous swampland), dark cannon, dark recover, dark lance, dark vulcan, dark spread, dark tornado, dark circle, dark meteor, dark thunder, dark sound(paralyzes opponents), dark invisibility, dark plus, dark drill and dark wide. It should be noted that each chip also tends to cause various bugs in EXE, such as messed up movement, random teleportation, his buster jamming, ect
A program advance is for a lack of better words an ultra powerful attack the combines the power of multiple battle or navi chips into a new one. Only those who are in sync with their navi on a mental and physical level can normally use them in some media.
Zeta canon 1/2/3, Omega cannon 1/2/3: An Extra powerful cannon attacks typically used via combining the power of 3-5 separate canon chips. Grants invincibility and the highest levels allow repeated use of the cannon attack for 10 seconds.
Zeta spread, Omega spread: Made by combining 3-5 spreader chips. Allows for repeated use of a powered up spreader attack over the span of 10 seconds and invincibility.
Zeta arrow, Zeta spear,Zetta lance,Omega arrow, Omega spear, Omega lance, Arrows: Made by combining 3-5 arrow type chips.Allows for repeated use of arrow/spear shooting weapons. Last 10 seconds or shoots 10 arrows.
Beta sword,Sigma sword,Life sword 1/2/3: An ultra powerful sword attack used by combining wide, long and normal cyberswords. The sword generally tends to have a much longer reach, can be used longer and is more powerful than normal cyberswordsl in most of the games it appears. In the anime EXE can use the ability to create a giant sword beam.
Double hero: Combines protoman's summon with more powerful sword chips like knight, hero, and fighter sword. Generally a barrage of sword and buster shots from both characters. In many media adaptions EXE and proto have performed this attack to finish of major threats.
Double rockman: Combined SSMegamans summon with barrier and stronger sword chips like buster sword and fighter sword. Involves a barrage of attacks involving both characters busters and claw swipes from omega.
Double hero 2: Combines the SSmegaman sumon chip and the rouge Summon chip, along with more powerful sword type chips fighter, knight and paladin sword. Involves SSMegaman and rouge performing a series of slashing and buster attacks.
Master style: Combines Salamander ,fountain ,thunderbolt, and gaia blade chips. Splits EXE into multiple copies of himself, all who attack the opponent simultaneously while taking on alternate “style forms”. The attack ends with EXE re-merging and causing a massive explosion.
Giga cannon: Similar to the Z cannon and comprised of 3 cannon type chips. The difference being that giga cannon makes a notably larger dbz-ish beam of energy.
Magshock 1/2/3: Combines 3 magbolt chips. Creates a giant magnet on EXE’s arm that draws opponents to his position before shocking them with electricity.
Infinite vulcan 1/2/3, Super vulcan: Combines 3 or more vulcan chips. Creates a more powerful vulcan minigun cannon, that has more shots than a normal one.
Darkness Bn6 ver:Combines 2 voodo doll chips and a Bass chip. A combination attack where EXE’s darksoul will perform a buster attack shooting out fire from a head resembling the bug beast gospel, before Bass will come in and attack opponents with a sword attack.
Master cross: Combines Fire hit , Aqua needle, Elec pules and RiskyHoney chips. The move Splits EXE into multiple copies of himself, each taking on a “cross form”. He then barrages an opponent with attacks before re-merging.
Sun and moon: Combines meteor, attack plus 30 and uninstall chips. Summons a large sun like drone that shoots meteors at an opponent, which then turns blue firing a laser, and then crashes into the field doing environmental damage. The ray pierces invincibility and disables the equivalent of “navi customizer skills” in the opponent.
A form of spontaneous evolution that occurs in netnavis, that amplifies and modifies their abilities and weapons to be a better match to that of the Netop. It’s normally associated with installed custom data designated as change.batch in the games, though characters have been able to use the system without explicitly having said program installed in them in other media. Each “style” has a permanent effect on Megaman’s form, and can be modified further via different elemental subtypes. These subtypes being normal, heat, aqua,Elec, and wood. Each subtype has specific supportive attributes or special attacks associated with it, as well as elemental weaknesses. Each style allows grants the usage of certain navi customizer programs, added data installations that give EXE added abilities.
Overall there’s 7 normal styles to choose from, which EXE being able to change them along with their elements at will in most media. There’s also an 8th called hub style, which I’ll cover in a later section. In the anime the ability to perform style change was lost when EXE learned cross fusion, but this is NOT the case in the manga, and was never explicitly stated to happen in the games despite lack of usage after BN3.
Heat: The mega buster can charge a flamethrower attack. Gives immunity to extreme heat, such as lava in the anime. Increases defense and offense against wood based attacks/enemies, and grants usage of Big red wave and stand out/salamander chips. Weak to Aqua attacks
Aqua:The mega buster can charge a bubbler attack, which hits both at and in back of an opponent. Gives increased traction of ice like surfaces. Increases defense and offense against heat/fire based attacks/enemies, and grants usage of freeze bomb and waterline/fountain chips. Weak to elec attacks
Elec: The mega buster can charge a electric zap ring projectile that stuns enemies. Gives immunity to magnetism. Increases defense and offense against aqua based attacks/enemies, and grants usage of sparker and lightning/bolt chips. Weak to wood attacks.
Wood:The mega buster can charge a tornado projectile. The form Gradually heals Megaman if he stands on a grassy playing field. Increases defense and offense against elec based attacks/enemies, and grants usage of Gia sword/blade and Gaia chips. Weak to heat attacks
Guts style:A style changed with an enlarged arm modeled after the character Gutsman. It grants double power for the buster, as well as a faster firing machine gun variant for the mega buster as well. The form comes with a boost of physical strength and durability. It also grants usage of navi crust programs that give “super armor” which prevents flinching to strong attacks, along with a as well as guard piercing program called break buster. The form can also be used to amp up the power of normal battle chips in the anime.
Costum style: A style based around extra usage of chips in game, and usage of program advances in most adapted media. Typically the form either greatly enhances singular chips to allow use of program advances associated with them in the anime without chip combination. In the manga it was also shown to allow characters to use any program advanced they wanted at will. In battle story it supposedly has analyzation and weak point spotting systems.
Bug style:One of EXE’s more powerful and unpredictable forms. The form is for a lack of better words, buggy, causing tons of unusual glitches(some positive and some negative). This includes spontaneous creation of barriers, invincibility, a buster with maxed stats or problems with movement and continuously lowering health. It also grants the usage of navicrust programs associated with stopping bugs(ironically) or using certain dark chips without prerequisites via a program called dark license. In the anime the form has the ability to manipulate and absorb data, being able to absorb and rebuild the entire cyberworld in extreme cases. In the manga it can also teleport.
A transformation system that was created in BN4 as a replacement for style change. It’s origins vary but it was branded as an offshoot of the “ultimate programs” abilities in the anime and was gifted to him by the lord of the undernet Serenade in the manga, while in the games its origins where never delved into much. Essential this transformation system allows EXE to draw upon the power of his closest friends, and lets him use some of their powers and abilities in battle. It typically activates by either sacrificing chips of a certain element in the games, or by using specifically aligned “soul chips” in the anime. Though in the manga EXE more or less has to physically fuse with another netnavi anytime he wished to use the ability, consuming all the data from the target navi’s body and leaving them in a vulnerable state. Double soul typically has a time limit, and most forms have some form of elemental weakness that will make them take double damage when exploited.
Search soul:A double soul based on the navi Searchman. It has enhanced targeting abilities and grants the use of a large rifle like gun. It nullifies invisibility and intangibility on opponents upon activation. It also has a charge shot called scope gun, which locks onto opponents for a 5 round hit that similarly can damage intangible opponents. The scope can see through solid objects and enemies that are invisible in various media. It can also create portals in space to shoot through in the anime.
Proto soul:A soul based on the navi Protoman. It grants the use of a giant red energy sword, along with a shield that can project a barrier and reflect attacks. It can deal double damage with sword chips, and teleport to opponents while using them. It can also create giant sword beams.
Roll soul:Based on the navi Roll. The form grants him access to a powerful arrow gun called roll arrow. It also heals him by 10% anytime he uses a chip, and in the anime recovers naturally overtime. In the anime it can also absorb and drain the energy from other opponents attacks and add it to his own.
Junk soul:Based on the navi Junkman. Upon activation it confuses all enemies, and allows the re-use of two already used chips. The charge shot for the soul is the telekinetic poltergeist attack, allowing EXE to lift and throw objects(though this is said to be magnetism in the anime).
Tomahawk soul:Based on the navi Tomahawkman. Grants immunity to status effects and converts the battlefield to grass. All wood elemental chips can do double damage and finally the charge shot becomes a giant throwing tomahawk. The form takes 2x damage from heat based attacks.
Number soul:Based on the navi Numberman. Powers up all non elemental chips, and allows the use of dice shaped bombs that do higher damage based on the number they come up as. In the anime the form has strategic analytical abilities and can determine weak spots, as well as enemy attributes.
Magnet soul:Based on the navi magnetman. Can freeze opponents in place via magnetism, and can drag opponents to his position and shock them using a magnet arm based charge shot. The form itself is also unaffected by magnet panels in game.
Meddy soul:Based on the navi Meddy. It allows EXE to combine various medical attributes with all of his chips, including the ability to blind, paralysis, or confuse foes on hit or heal himself upon use. The charge shot also becomes a capsule like bomb.
Chaos unison
A more potent form of double soul, used by combining the power of a double soul with the power of a dark chip. In this state all the negative effects of using dark chips are nullified, but the time limit for the double soul is greatly reduced. Most double souls capable of using this ability can use various dark chips as their charge move. If EXE doesn’t flawlessly perform a dark chip attack, his dark soul becomes unleashed and attackes him.
A transformation system similar to double soul, but with different quirks. Cross system forms are gained via Lan adapting to and learning how to wield the power of different Net navis, and then applying that power to EXE directly to change his form. They do not have any time limits, though they cancel out if hit by their “weaknesses”.
Heat Cross: A fire based transformation based on Heatman. Increases the power of fire based attacks, strengthens the buster and grants the usage of a flamethrower called firearm. Has a weakness towards water based attacks.
Elec cross: An elec based transformation based on Elecman. Increases the power of elec based chips and allows for non elemental chips to be charged with a paralyzing effect. Allows for thunder bolts to be called down from the sky as an attack. Has a weakness to wood based attacks.
Slash Cross: A sword based transformation based on Slashman. Increases the power of all sword chips, and allows them to be charge to release a sword beam. Has a powerful claw slashing attack called Wide slash. Is weak against break based attacks.
Erase Cross:A cursor based transformation based on Eraseman.It increases the power of all cursor type chips(those that lock on mainly), and allows for instant kills against minor enemies or the transfer of bugs into an enemy(in game based on if they have a 4 in thier HP meter). It has a special attack called killer death beam, a giant laser that can harm invisible/intangible opponents. The form has a weakness to wind.
Charge Cross: A fire based transformation based on the navi Chargemen. Allows fire chips to be charged for greater damage. Has a powerful move called charge tackle, where EXE his dash through opponents.
Aqua Cross: A naqua based transformation based on the navi aquaman. Allows water based chips to be charged for double damage, Heals 5% of hp every time a Aqua chip is used and gives increased traction on icy surfaces. Can also perform the bubble shot attack, a aqua based buster attack that causes a large explosion of bubbles. It has a weakness towards elec attacks.
Tomahawk Cross: A wood based transformation based on the navi Tomahawkman. Allows him to charge wood based chips for double damage and protects him against status effects.It also allows him to heal on grassy surfaces and has a special tomahawk throwing attack called tomahawk swing. It has a weakness towards fire based attacks.
Tengu Cross: A wind based transformation based on the navi Tenguman. Increases the power of wind based chips, and allows EXE to pull in enemies with powerful suctions of wind while removing Barriers or Auras. Also has the airshoes ability for hovering over empty spaces. Has a special wind based balde like attack called tengu racket, which does damage, removes auras/barriers, and pushes opponents back with a gust of wind.It has a weakness towards sword based attacks.
Ground cross; A break based transformation based on the navi Groundman. Increases the power of breaking chips, causes rocks to fall on the area upon their usage and grants super armor. Has a special attack called drill arm where EXE will burrow underground and reaper in front of an enemy to attack them with a large drill arm. The form has a weakness towards cursor based attacks(those with lock on).
Dust Cross: A break based transformation based on the navi Dustman. Allows for instant removal of obstacles by suckinh them into a chest cavity. It can also shoot them out again as a projectile. The form has a special attack called scrab reborn, that will create a robot that will move down to a nearby enemy and punch them. Has a weakness towards cursor based attacks(those with lock on).
The final transformation ability EXE gained in his games. It was an ability gained when EXE stored the incomplete versions of the virus monsters cybeast gregar or cybeast falzar into his body in BN6, gaining usage over some of their power during the fusion, and in some continuities retaining them after. The forms tend to have a feral rage to them that makes them hard to control, though in most continuities EXE gains mastery over them at some point. They’re initiated by will in the games and manga, though in the anime EXE initially merged with a character named trill before getting chips associated with each form.Both the “gregar” and “falzar” forms have a time limit, and pushing past this limit can put EXE in an invincible, but uncontrollable state. If he exits beast out after pushing himself to much he’ll also be left vulnerable.
Both beast forms can also be combined with EXE’s cross forms to create “cross beast” forms that combine elements of the two. These cross forms are initiated at will in the games, though in the anime Lan seemed to require access to the PET of the navi any cross was based on.
Gregar beast out
The gregar form is akin to that of a wolf. It increases buster speed, and strength for non-elemental chips. EXE can also charge a powerful claw swiping attack ,gains super armor, and auto locks onto opponents. The form can breath fire in the anime
Elec beast:Via elec cross.Gives the ability to change non-elemental chips in to electric breath attack called big thunder. Stuns opponents and cracks the environment when used.
Erase beast: Via erase cross: Allows for non-element chip charging for a projectile Tail impalation attack called tail arrow. Can also give opponents the HP bug, that causes their health to lower overtime.
Charge beast: Via charge cross.Allows form non-element chip charging for a projectile attack shaped in the form of a disembodied head of gregar. Stuns opponents and deals fire damage.
The flazar form is akin to a bird. It grants increased buster speed and range, and allows it to shoot feather like projectiles.It also grants the hovering float shoe and air shoe abilities, as well as general flight via a pair of wings. The damage of non-elemental chips is increased and EXE can perform a charging talon slash attack.In the anime ihe can also perform a fire aura like ash.
Dust beast: Via dust cross. Allows for non-element chip charge into a powerful attack called dustshoot, where EXE will catapult debris from his chest randomly at opponents for a few seconds.
EXE’s final most powerful transformation system. Cross megaman forms are essentially alternate base forms with more powerful attacks and custom abilities. They all have no weaknesses, no time limits, and transformations like double soul can still be used during them, while retaining the attributes of the cross. It should be noted that from a cannon standpoint it’s not entirely clear how these transformations work, due to the fact they were generally very difficult to unlock without cheating and where never story relevant in the games. Only Bass cross has ever really been adapted in any media, and it’s typically been portrayed as an outright fusion between EXE and Bass, rather than just a transformation EXE can perform on his own.
A form based on the combination of EXE and Bass.EXE’s power. It grants a gigantic power boost in a similar fashion to Vegito from DBZ, but is to powerful to maintain the form long without sustaining heavy internal damage in most adaptations. The form is also a lot more prideful due to the influence of Bass, and will refuse help or chips from Lan. Bass cross has two variations called Silver and Gold. The gold version is centered around power and speed and the silver version focuses on speed, durability and special attacks. Both versions generally have added programs that increase buster strength, HP, grant super armor, and the hovering float shoes ability. Both forms can also use most of Bass’s signature moves, like his powerful gatling gun buster rake attack, dark circle flinging hells rolling attack and kamehameha-ish darkness overlord attack.
A form of fusion between EXE and Lan they can perform to fight in the real world. It can normally only be used under specific circumstances, most commonly inside of a “dimensional area”, where cyberspace and the real world are fused. There are no limitations to the kinds of attacks or abilities EXE/Lan can use while cross fused. They can still use any battlechips, transformations and programs EXE would normally be able to use on the net, with the exception of style change, which was lost upon his first use of cross fusion in the anime(though with composite you could probably hand wave that). In a cross fused state both characters are actually stronger than they normally are when as singular entities.
While beneficial cross fusion does have some downsides. The act of cross fusing can be tiring for the real world operator, especially when using more high tiered transformation abilities. Lan and EXE also need to maintain a high syncro rating(essentially mental cohesion) to maintain the form. The navi crest on the abdomen of the cross fusion also serves as a weak point and the form can be canceled if it’s destroyed. Finally early in the anime battlechips cards needed to be pre-installed into the PET before the transformation began, and more can’t be used during a fight without de-transforming. Though this was a problem thatlessened as characters created new tech to pre-install more chips into the PET or funnel more chips from outside sources during a fight. Cross fusion specifically also seemingly uses lan’s body as the base, so it lacks some attributes specific to EXE’s body.
It should be noted that creating a dimensional area to use cross fusion is actually pretty easy. Not only has scilab had trucks capable of being sent out and constructing them, but starting in Stream scilab has a network of statlights and generators capable of projecting a dimensional area anywhere in the world within seconds, even around moving targets. These areas can often easily cover large sections of cities, and typically keep people/programs or objects from both entering or leaving them. Though enough brute strength can still break them and performing cross fusion while smashing into them at high speeds can also get a person through from the outside.
Finally it is worth mentioning that cross fusion and dimensional areas areas are an ANIME ORIGINAL concept, along with all the specific rules associated with them. The concept of data or EXE manifesting in the real world and Lan being able to merge with him is present in other mediums under different rulesets as well. There’s an arch in manga where dark power creates a massive dome over dentech city where navi’s like EXE can manifest. In this story Lan can also fuse his body with EXE via “full syncro”, though interestingly EXE’s body is used as the base, he retains the style change ability and none of the downsides of cross fusion are apparent..Even in the in the anime itself “Dimensional core” machines could manifest EXE in the real world in the first season, after which Lan could operate and send him chips like normal. A similar concept also occured in the Beast season where Lan traveled to an alternate version of earth called beyondyard which had been fused with the cyber world, allowed navi’s to manifest, albeit needing to recharge in the Pet after periods of fighting. In many media shear power output by a powerful Navi or machine alone can also merge the cyber and real worlds together, causing beings like EXE to manifest. The cybeasts do this in the manga for example, as well as cache in the anime, and even EXE himself when he entered bugstyle.
Essentially a modification system that allows Lan to install separate programs into EXE yo give him additional combat abilities or boosts in stats.Some transformations have certain navi customizer abilities pre-installed, or locked to them. Some can also only be used via certain battle chips.
Legendary program: A program gifted to EXE by the character Iris in the manga. It enhanced his power there and boosted the power of his beast out form.
Ultimate program:A unique program installed in some Navi’s, specifically within the anime. For Megaman its the program that allows his code to be more flexible and dynamic than most, enabling him to perform most of his transformations and modifications with much less effort than any other navi.
Along with various misc programs that increase strength, durability, weapon power, ect.
Healing factor
Because EXE is a program and not an organic creature, the way he deals with physical damage is quite different than the norm. Not only do Navis normally have the ability to heal themselves somewhat even after taking what would be normally be considered heavy injuries, but ones as powerful as EXE can survive getting entire limbs blown off, being impaled multiple times and in some cases blown apart into bits before reforming. Naturally this endurance is also supplemented by healing chips and transformations that have regen.
A state of being where a netop and a netnavis consciousness will fuse into a single entity, eliminating the delay between order and reaction between both and increasing combat proficiency. Each medium has a slightly different take on certain attributes of the ability, but achieving this state typically comes with a power increase(designated as 2x in gameplay) and free access to all battlechips in the anime. It typically requires an extremely strong bond between the pairs performing it, and mutual dislike or infighting can breakdown the “synchronization leve”. This “synchronization” is generally measured by a percentage number, with the manga specifically indicating that levels around 90% are what’s needed for “full syncro” to be achieved.
It should be noted that while Megaman and Lan’s consciousness fuse during full syncro, Lan’s body is typically still active in the real world to a partial extent. If however data is manifesting itself in the real world, or he and EXE somehow manage to exist on the same “realm” for whatever reason, he can merge his physical body with EXE’s via full syncro(This happens a few times in the manga, and is the basis of the cross fusion ability).
In some specific cases Lan has been able to use full syncro, or phenomenon similar to it to perform amazing feats of healing on EXE, bringing him back from near death through sheer willpower. Once in BN2 he was even able to operate and send EXE chips while his physical body was entirely immobilized. Their mental bond is also so strong that he can even instinctively detect when EXE’s in mortal danger in the manga, even if he isn’t present or has no way to logically be knowledgeable about his situation. Lan and EXE can also stack full syncro with any transformation in EXE’s arsenal.
Finally it should be noted that in some canons full syncro comes at a cost. If Lan and EXE are deleted while in full syncro it will destroy Lan’s mind and leave him braindead. Likewise Lan is prone to gaining wounds in the same places EXE does during a fight (worth noting in the games this was an effect that only occured during the use of hub.batch, described below, and not full syncro though).
A program that restores EXE’s DNA coding to that of the original Hubs. In doing this his and Lan’s external and internal states sync nearly completely, to the point where they retain a near constant high full syncro rating, and all damage postulated onto one character automatically gets transfered to the other(similar to how Full syncro works in the NT warrior manga). In gameplay Megaman’s stats are typically maxed after using it, along with being granted access to various navicust programs,including super armor, the armor piercing break buster/break charge programs, shield,the fatal injury blocking under shirt, and the hovering air shoes/float shoes/shadow shoes.In some appearances it cuts EXE’s HP in half, though this can be mitigated with various chips or programs that prevent or stop bugs in his systems.
A form of synconition where the navi and netop mind are completely merged 100% or above. It comes with a significant boost of power, and in the case of the manga and games allows EXE access to the horrendously powerful hubstyle transformation, which has all the abilities associated with Hub.Bat, along with a handful of its own unique navi programs, such as energy barrier creating “first barrier” program. While in Hub style EXE can also focus the forms energy into powerful concentrated finger laser beams or chip attacks. It has the same half HP bug as Hub.Bat in the games, but can also be mitigated in the same way.
Perfect syncro does have one tremendous downside however. The transformation merges Lan’s mind so fully with EXE, that it actually leaves Lan’s physical body soulless and physically exerted in the real world(assuming both characters aren't in a position to physically merge). Likewise the whole taking the same damage your netnavi does thing from full syncro and Hub.Bat gets seriously amped up, making it easy for Lan to get torn apart if he’s not careful.In the manga specifically it also has a weakness to dark energy.
The fullest extent of EXE’s ability to tap into his human powers and connection to Lan. It was a form that emerged briefly in Battle network 5s ending, where after failing to reach EXE via soulnet, Lan managed to tap into his inherent connection with EXE to give him a boost of power. The form is by WOG EXE’s strongest form, and could effortlessly wipe out BN5s final boss with a wave of his hand.
The ability to transform himself into a flying blue orb of light that can clash into objects in NT ep 22 https://youtu.be/j22Lr9fwY2w?t=794
Some chips also "stop time" when used during gameplay. These are typically the summons and some higher tiered attack chips. It's not clear if this is a gameplay mechanic.
Feats
Strength
Games
Managed to gain control of the anti-planet missile controlled by Dou, and diverted its course after its own control system said it was impossible to avert collision in bN4 (it’s mentioned the meteor is a class 1 size in stream ep 1)https://youtu.be/IDtQ2-2P-ro?t=571
Defeated nebula gray and the “dark galaxy” universe he was emanating from with a wave of his hand in hub form in BN5 https://youtu.be/k-L74Q_f6_M?t=1103
Anime
Used multiple mini bombs to break out of a avalanche of dozens of giant metal weight like objects in NT ep 21. This is probably a few hundred or thousand tons in weight https://youtu.be/XpuM9gzzWPU?t=1043
His fight with protoman in the G1 grand prix broke apart the real world stadium the tournament was taking place at in NT ep 22 https://youtu.be/j22Lr9fwY2w?t=920
Lan has a radiation suit that protects him to upwards of 50k normal radiation levels in BN2 It eventually gets overtaxed by a machine that raises the environmental radiation to 100k normal. Likewise while it reaches 100k at 150% power the machine eventually rises to 600% normal power. Lan outright survives this https://youtu.be/mZ2rCnFBQcA?list=PLN9aWB4vculKhJ4fiVug7aaXrfePF3uig&t=1300
Able to use the giga freeze program, which has the power to permanently stall any program, with no physical repercussions. It’s even mentioned that it can destroy the entire net in an instant if misused, and was even isolated to prevent that possibility https://youtu.be/EkDUN8GGGAg?list=PLN9aWB4vculKi0WiwORUIPWBnG_nvma16&t=1524
As one of the major villains and EXE’s main rival, he of course scales to Bass.
Bass gets ready to perform an attack that will destroy a city at one point in the manga. People measuring the power output say it’s equal to a super nuke, and around 300 million joules. Clearly it can’t be normal joules, so I believe it’s probably meant to be measured in Mega joules That would then be 300,000,000 Megjoules or 71.7 kilotons of TNT http://www.mangahere.cc/manga/megaman_nt_warrior/v07/c001/14.html
The star of the Megaman starforce series. Geo stelar and EXE have fought before in the crossover, with EXE actually winning during their encounter. It is very important to note however that if the fan translation is correct, Geo did not fight EXE with the intent to kill him, due to being worried about causing a ripple in history. Though Geo still didn’t throw the fight, and acknowledged EXE is very strong. Given they also worked together and Lan can operate Geo and his copy with zero issues, it’s probably fair to say EXE was around the level of Geo’s power at the time.
Geo can survive inside supermassive black holes, as well as travel to one despite what must be a large astronomical distance relative to its size on the screen in SF3 https://youtu.be/m-QrdJyGEC4?t=994
He can also move FTL due to being made up of EM waves and can travel to the center of the milky wave galaxy fairly quickly in SF3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA1xPvUWJzI
During the plot of BN1 Lan and EXE intervened in or foiled numerous terrorist attacks and schemes by the world threatening WWW crime syndicate. This included stopping a pandemic of stove fire incidents. Stopping a brainwashing scheme on a elementary school. Restoring control to a water filtration system. Preventing traffic accidents and a series of attempted murder at at scilab.EXE also defeated the world renown prodigy Eugen chuad and his Navi Protoman.The game is topped off with EXE beating several powerful WWW Navi’s,before taking on Wily’s ultimate creation the life virus. https://youtu.be/v8_K3gUBs6Q?list=PL7E526816AD4F6D01&t=891
BN2
Defeated and put a stop to multiple terrorist attacks orchestrated by the terror organization Gospel. Including a very impressive defeat of the navi Shadowman, who was able to annihilate an entire countries worth of net navis on his own https://youtu.be/HF7CwBC1vvc?list=PLN9aWB4vculKhJ4fiVug7aaXrfePF3uig&t=1205
Over the course of BN3 lan entered a country wide battle network tournament called the N1 grand prix, and nearly won before it was canceled last minute. They also a stop to several other terrorist attacks by the newly revived WWW syndicate, culminating with them defeating one of the most powerful navi’s on the planet named Bass, along with the monster that was the “prototype” for the internet Alpha alpha.https://youtu.be/qY62wou92Hc?list=PLN9aWB4vculKi0WiwORUIPWBnG_nvma16&t=1838
In BN3s post game even fully conquered the undernet, a forbidden and crime filled area of the net filled with the strongest Navi’s in the world, including the strongest Net navi in the series Serenade. This gave EXE the title of Underking.https://youtu.be/abO__QkyHuk?list=PLN9aWB4vculKi0WiwORUIPWBnG_nvma16&t=101
BN4
BN4 doesn’t really have plot per say, but it does again illustrate EXE’s skill. The entire plot centers around multiple Tournaments at a town, national and worldwide level. Lan came in first in each tournament, defeating tons of skilled operators, eventually finding out the purpose of the tournaments being to find a navi to send to an electronic meteor on a collision course with earth. Once there he defeated the meteors control system Dou.https://youtu.be/IDtQ2-2P-ro?t=165
BN5
Over the course of Battle network 5 EXE and Lan fought against the crime syndicate nebula. This time with lan specifically leading and operating an entire special ops team of navi’s to “liberate” various sectors of the net from their control. The game ends with EXE fighting a monster called nebula gray, an algorithm of the evil traits found in mankind https://youtu.be/k-L74Q_f6_M?t=352
BN6
Combated the forces of WWW a 3rd time. Preventing them from causing various accidents in schools, aquariums, law centers and weather control installations. Also took on and defeated the cybeasts, bug monsters of enormous power, which Dr.Wily planned to install in “copy bots” to call them to the real world to destroy it
He also fought Bass one final time, with him having accumulated power from the remains of almost all of the bosses in the series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q3QzPiyH8g
Network transmission
Traveled across the net defeating various beserk navis infected by the “zero Virus”. This eventual culminated in a fight with the viruses progenitor Zero, a self aware humanoid virus.
Defeating Bass after he had copied the ability of hubstyle ,as well as a second time after he absorbed the power of the underking Serenade.
Beat an evil clone of himself called dark megaman, who tore the cyberworld apart, had high regeneration abilities and the power of bass, serenade and laserman at the same time.http://www.mangahere.cc/manga/megaman_nt_warrior/v09/c003/15.html
The anime again follows similar story beats manga and games, but again has some unique events worth mentioning. For example EXE entered in came in second in the N1-grand prix, a country wide tournament and defeated the super navi pharoman, who in that continuity was created by Dr. Hikari and was powerful enough to wreak havoc on the entire worlds net himself. He also likewise fought many of the WWW and gospel operatives from the games,along with characters like bass and the gospel virus beast
In axcess he learned how to control the real world fighting ability cross fusion. Fought off various members of the nebula crime syndicate in the real world, including defeating the character REgal after he shrouded the entire world in a dimensional area and fused with a navi called laserman to become a giant kaiju sized monster.
He likewise continued to fight fight various nebula or darkloid navis in stream. Preventing Regal from transferring the entire world into dataspace using the power of nebula grey in the movie. He also got entangled with that universes version of Dou and his lack slur. Who could randomly give navi’s to people called asteroid navis, who where capable of being summoned in the real world, without dimensional areas.
He and traveled to an alternate dimension called beyondyard in the Beast season and liberated it from a post apocalyptic cyber world fused state, and defeated another cybeast fusion. The finally continued to deal with various terrorist attacks, often with the aid of Copy bots, before stopping the villain chace from absorbing the world's population into data in Beast plus.
Weaknesses
If there’s any undeniable weakness that EXE has, it’s that he has an overwhelming dependence on Lan. Lan gives him all his attack chips, manages his programs, and is the conduite through which many of his strongest forms activate. Without him EXE has very basic abilities to rely on, and in many cases struggles greatly to put up a good fight against strong opponents in most media.
There’s also the fact that he’s a computer program, which throws a big wrench into how alot of his fights including him should be handled. For the sake of fairness,(and similar to other digital characters like Kirito or Zits in vs), it would seem the most fair to just overlook him being a program and have him fight an opponent in the same universe regardless of if it makes sense. Mainly because there’s no point in having a fight with him otherwise. Of course the fact that he relies on Lan who already lives in the real world makes just doing that difficult. Granted there is cross fusion, but they way it exists in the anime comes with enough weaknesses that it’s still kind of unfair scenario for the character to be considered at their “peak” when using it. A fight would probably need some sorta contrivance of data appearing in the real world and EXE/Lan merging more like in the manga, to actually allow them to fight at full power.
Also EXE is afraid of ghosts for....some reason.
Summary
Advantages
Has a total of 44 distinct transformations. Not including elemental variants, chaos fusions, cross beasts, and different levels of synchronization
At total has around 230 different battle chips, not including similar variations of the same chips or program advances.
Has various elemental projectiles, cannons, grenades, drones and explosions are at his disposal
Can summon the power of virtually any character he’s ever met including all of his final bosses.
Has various energy barriers, including the broken dark aura.
Can dispel auras and barriers of an opponent with chips like north wind.
Has tons of healing options. Including healing chips, and abilities or transformations that regen health overtime.
Has energy absorption and manipulation abilities via roll soul and cross fusion.
Has advanced analytical and weakness detection abilities via number soul and costum style.
Can gain Invisibility and intangibility via invis chips
Has the ability to dispel, hit and detect invisible or intangible opponents via search soul, erase soul and misc chips.
Can transform battlefields into ice, lava, poison, ect.
Can deal back damage he’s taken with the muramasa blade,
Has telekinesis via poltergeist and crack shot chips.
Has magnetism powers via junk soul, magnet soul and various other attack chips
Can survey an area via astral projection
Has teleportation and portal creation abilities via area steal and panel out chips. As well as bug style and search soul.
Has various chips and programs that buff his stats
Near invincibility via iron body, fanfare and other misc chips
The ability to cause various status effects like poison, confusion, and blindness in opponnets
Can create voodo dolls that transcript damage onto opponents when hit
Can sync damage dealt or total damage taken on opponents with copy damage and life sync chips
Has various chips that can cause bugs in an opponent's systems(movement difficulties, hp drain,ect)
Can perform the replacement jutsu via anti damage chips/programs
Can auto damage opponents if they use swords or fire/aqua/elec/wood elemental attacks.
Can steal or destroy weapons/chip data via catcher or interrupt chip. Can also in general shut down powers of opponents. Uninstall chip can remove upgrade/navi cust programs. Single red prevents the usage of battle chips when active. Not clear how this would extend to non navi enemies however.
Giga freeze program can potentially freeze and stall an opponent permanently
Resistance to mind and emotional manipulation
Various data related abilities. Including data absorption, manipulation and reading in various forms.
Fairly dec track record in terms of experience. Defeating multiple cyber crime organizations. As well as both alien and other dimensional threats.
Can in a pinch call for a dimensional area anywhere in the world
Likewise has various chips and transformations that can erase bugs from his system, protect against status effects commonly seen in his series, and has resistance to data assimilation.
Debatable time stop with certain chips that "dim the screen" in gameplay
Disadvantages
Lan and EXE are co-dependent, and can't fight effectively without the other
Punch Lan in the face and switch his PET to off
Nobody will localize the fucking battle story manga(I’ll add more info on it if I import).
