''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge'', known in Japan as , is a
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed by
Inti Creates
is a Japanese video game development company. Formed by ex-Capcom staff in May 1996, they are best known for developing games in the ''Mega Man'' series, namely the ''Mega Man Zero'' and ''Mega Man ZX'' series, and their flagship ''Azure Striker ...
and published by
Capcom for the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
(GBA)
handheld game console
A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...
. It is a spin-off title in the ''
Mega Man Battle Network
is a tactical role-playing video game series created by Masahiro Yasuma and developed and published by Capcom as a spin-off of the ''Mega Man'' series; it premiered in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance and takes place in an alternate continuity wh ...
'' series. The game saw a simultaneous August 8, 2003 release in Japan on the
WonderSwan Color
The (ワンダースワン) is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. It was developed by Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory and Bandai, and was the last piece of hardware Yokoi developed before his death in 1997. Released ...
and
Swan Crystal titled . The GBA version was localized in North America and Europe the following March. The European version featured a completely different logo, which was also used on
Mega Man X7
''Mega Man X7'', known as in Japan, is a video game developed by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 console. It is the seventh main game in the ''Mega Man X'' series and the first in the series to appear on the sixth generation of gaming consoles. '' ...
,
Mega Man X8
''Mega Man X8'', known as in Japan, is an action platform game developed and published by Capcom originally for the PlayStation 2 on December 7, 2004. It is the eight and most recent installment of the ''Mega Man X'' subseries of the ''Mega Man'' ...
,
Mega Man X: Command Mission,
Mega Man Zero 2
''Mega Man Zero 2'' is a video game developed by Inti Creates and published by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld game console. It is the second video game in the ''Mega Man Zero'' subseries of ''Mega Man'' video games.
The game is set ...
,
Mega Man Zero 3
''Mega Man Zero 3'' is a video game developed by Inti Creates and published by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld game console. It is the third video game in the '' Mega Man Zero'' series of ''Mega Man'' video games. The European versio ...
,
Mega Man Zero 4
''Mega Man Zero 4'' is a video game developed by Inti Creates and Natsume and published in 2005 by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld. It is the fourth and final installment of the '' Mega Man Zero'' subseries of the ''Mega Man'' fra ...
,
Mega Man Network Transmission
is a 2003 action-platform video game developed by Arika and published by Capcom for the GameCube video game console. The game was first released in Japan on March 6, 2003, and in North America and PAL regions the following June. ''Network Transmi ...
,
Mega Man Battle Network 3
''Mega Man Battle Network 3'' is a video game developed by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld game console. It is the third game in the ''Mega Man Battle Network'' series, released in 2002 in Japan and 2003 in North America. While i ...
,
Mega Man Battle Network 4
''Mega Man Battle Network 4'' is a video game developed by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld game console. It is the fourth game in the ''Mega Man Battle Network'' series. The European version featured a completely different logo, whi ...
, and
Mega Man Battle Network 5
and are 2004 role-playing video games developed and published by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld game console. Combined, they make up the fifth mainline installment in the ''Mega Man Battle Network'' series, and follows Lan Hika ...
. It was released on the
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
's Virtual Console on July 30, 2014 in Japan, with both the North American and
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory that covers most of Europe and Africa, alongside parts of Asia, South America and Oceania. It is named PAL because of the PAL (Phase Alternating Line) television standard traditionally used i ...
release occurring in August 2014.
Taking place within the timeline of the ''Battle Network'' series, ''Battle Chip Challenge'' involves a battling tournament called the "Battle Chip GP" among various pairs of online avatars called "NetNavis" and their human operators. Rather than directly control the player character through the traditional
real-time
Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...
tactical role-playing
Tactical role-playing games (abbreviated TRPGs), also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as (both abbreviated SRPGs), are a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical (turn-b ...
battles of the other ''Battle Network'' games, ''Battle Chip Challenge'' tasks the player with creating a "Program Deck" made up of abilities called "Battle Chips". The game randomly selects chips for the player and executes them in a duel with a computer-controlled opponent. ''Battle Chip Challenge'' suffered a relatively negative critical reception.
Plot
The plot of ''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge'' involves the opening of a new netbattling tournament known as the "Battle Chip GP".
Yai is sponsoring the event while the others enter it. Even
Chaud
Since the debut of the first ''Mega Man'' video game in 1987, numerous characters have been introduced into the series.
Overview
Key:
= Does Not Appear
List indicator(s)
* A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the prope ...
enters the tournament, but only for official business. It turns out that there is some type of new organization behind the scenes of the tournament who will delete the winning Navi and take its data for themselves.
Gameplay
''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge'' utilizes a different battle system from other ''Battle Network'' titles. In those games, the player may battle one or more enemies in
real-time
Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...
by utilizing special abilities called "Battle Chips" with the objective being to delete each enemy's
hit points
Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the f ...
(HP). In this game, the player duels a single opponent simply by setting up 12 Battle Chips on a grid called a "Program Deck". The Program Deck has three columns of chips, with the first column having two chips, the second having three chips, and the last having four chips.
The game selects three chips at random on one of the grid's rows, and the player's Navi uses them consecutively, ending the turn with that character's signature attack.
Battle Chips have a variety of effects such as attacking, healing, and elemental status changes.
"Navi Chips" will even summon other characters into the battle for a short time. After setting the deck, the player has little control over the match. Battles progress almost completely autonomously for upwards of ten rounds while the player watches for results. At certain points during the fight, the player may "Slot In" two chips to change the outcome of the battle.
One possible outcome of a turn is the destruction of an opponent's Battle Chips. Certain types of attacks not only do damage to an opponent's HP, but to their Program Deck as well, as each chip also has a set amount of HP.
The player can win fights not only by utilizing power, but by deleting an opponents entire deck, making them unable to fight. If ten turns pass and neither competitor has lost all of their HP, the game determines the winner based on how many chips are left in their decks.
The game also has an "Open Battle" feature in the game that allows the player to select a certain area with a set amount of consecutive battles to fight. Winning every fifth battle in one of these earns the player a new Navi Chip to use as well as a variable amount of "Zenny", the game's currency. Zenny can be used to purchase more chips from the character Higsby in the game's multiple shops.
The game contains six different
playable pairs of operators and their NetNavis including
Lan and
MegaMan,
Dex and GutsMan,
Mayl and Roll, and
Chaud
Since the debut of the first ''Mega Man'' video game in 1987, numerous characters have been introduced into the series.
Overview
Key:
= Does Not Appear
List indicator(s)
* A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the prope ...
and ProtoMan. There are also two new duos: Kai and Turboman, and Mary and Ring. A multiplayer feature allows up to two players connect their GBAs for battles.
Development
''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge'' was co-developed by
Capcom Production Studio 2
is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', '' Mega Man'', ''D ...
and
Inti Creates
is a Japanese video game development company. Formed by ex-Capcom staff in May 1996, they are best known for developing games in the ''Mega Man'' series, namely the ''Mega Man Zero'' and ''Mega Man ZX'' series, and their flagship ''Azure Striker ...
, the latter of which also developed Capcom's ''
Mega Man Zero
is a series in Capcom's '' Mega Man'' video game franchise. It was developed by Inti Creates, with Co-Producer Keiji Inafune and Director Yoshinori Kawano. The series consists of four games that were first released on the Game Boy Advance and ...
'' and ''
Mega Man ZX
''Mega Man ZX'' is an action platform game developed by Inti Creates and published by Capcom for Nintendo DS. It was released on July 6, 2006 in Japan, September 12, 2006 in North America, June 20, 2007 in Australia, and June 22, 2007 in Europe. ...
'' series.
The game was first announced by Capcom on April 19, 2003. It was subsequently shown at the World Hobby Fair in Japan on June 21, 2003. An English localization of the game was announced by Capcom on October 21, 2003.
Reception
''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge'' was not well received by most reviewers, currently holding an average score of 49,90% on
GameRankings and a 54 out of 100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
Most reviewers such as
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
and
GameSpy (among others) criticized the game for a lack of both player participation, and overall presentation. IGN even went as far as calling it "quite possibly the worst game to bear the ''Mega Man'' name". Both reviews only praised the game's audio.
The GBA version of ''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge'' was the 22nd best-selling game in Japan during its release week at 7,403 copies sold. A total of 44,844 copies of the game were sold in the region by the end of 2003 according to ''
Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...
''.
References
External links
''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge''at
Nintendo ''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge''at the WonderSwan Channel
{{megamanbattlenetwork
2003 video games
Digital collectible card games
Game Boy Advance games
Inti Creates games
Battle Chip Challenge
WonderSwan Color games
Video games developed in Japan
Virtual Console games
Virtual Console games for Wii U
Multiplayer and single-player video games