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Gameplay

Basic Gameplay:

In Megaman Battle Network, you can walk, run, talk to people, trade chips, buy stuff, and NetBattle. In the real world you control Lan, and in the Cyber-World you control Mega Man. To switch from the real world to the Cyber-World, get near an electronic item and "jack-in" to it by pressing R. To "jack-out" of the Cyber-World, press R again or enter a transporter. To talk to Lan/Mega Man, press L. Press Start to make the menu subscreen appear.

Powering Up and raising your Level:

In Megaman Battle Network, you don't increase your Level by winning a set number of NetBattles, but intead you increase your Level by finding HPMemorys, PowerUps, and Armor. You start the game at Level 1 with 100 HP, no Armor, and a very weak buster. HPMemorys increase your total HP by 20 and increase your Level by 1. There are 45 HPMemorys in Megaman Battle Network, allowing you to increase your HP to 1000 and your Level by 45. PowerUps increase the power of your buster in of three categories: Attack (HP taken from target with each hit), Rapid (Rapid-Fire abilities of the Buster) and Charge (ability to Charge-Up, as well as Charge-Up time; can only Charge-Up at Charge level 2 or higher). You can select which Buster feature to increase by selecting it on the MegaMan subcreen, located in the menu. Each PowerUp increases your Level by 3. There are 12 PowerUps in Megaman Battle Network, allowing you to increase each Buster feature to 5 and increase your Level by 36. Armors cut damage to Mega Man by 50% and can be equipped and replaced by another Armor at any point in the game, but are ineffective to certain elemental attacks. There are three Armors in Megaman Battle Network, Wood, Aqua, and Fire. Here's a little diagram that shows what each Armor and Elemental attack is weak and strong to, allowing you to equip the best Armor for a certain area, as well as arrange your Chip Folder to deal the most damage to certain enemies:

Armor/Attack Element	Strong Vs.	Weak Vs.
Fire	Wood	Aqua
Aqua	Fire	Electric
Electric	Aqua	Wood
Wood	Electric	Fire

Each Armor increases your Level by 6, allowing you to increase your Level by 18.

The Battle System:

Unlike other RPGs, Megaman Battle Network dosen't use a turn-based system. Instead, Megaman Battle Network uses a 6x3 grid where Mega Man and the enemies (called "Viruses") fight. Mega Man occupies the red half on the left, while the Viruses occupy the blue half on the right. To move Mega Man around his side of the grid, use the Directrional Pad. To fire your Buster, press B. To use a Battle Chip, press A. At the start of a battle, a subscreen will appear where you can select up to 5 chips. The chips that appear in this subscreen are randomly selected by the computer. After you're doe selecting the chips, hit the "OK" button at the right of the subscreen. At the top of the screen is a meter called the "Custom Meter", which slowly fills itself during the battle. When this meter is full, press L or R to select more chips to use. If you don't want to use any chips, hit the small "ADD" button, just below the OK button, which will make 5 more chips available to select when the Custom Meter is full. You can only have up to 15 chips selectable at a time, and you'll only have 5 chips selectable when you use a chip. Normally you can only select one chip, but you can select up to 5 chips if they're the same type or Chip Code, such as a Cannon A and a Cannon B, or a Cannon A, or a Steal S and a Sword S. A chip's code is the letter just below the bottom-left corner of its picture. To read the chip's description, press R. Sometimes selecting certain chips in a special order will make them temporarily combine into a more powerful chip when you press A. To select a chip in the subscreen, press A, or press B to unselect the last chip you selected. Sometimes if you hit a Virus boss (called a "Navi") with a strong enough attack, the Navi boss will "reel", interrupting the Navi boss's attack. However, the Navi will be temporarily invincible after reeling, so don't waste your chips. An enemy's HP is always displayed above its head, while Mega Man's HP is displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen. Whenever you lose a battle, it's instant Game Over, so be sure to save a lot. However, losing to some bosses (such as SharkMan and NumberMan after Higsby opens the Chip Shop) will just take you back to the field screen.

At the end of each battle, you will be judged with a score called the Busting Level. If you manage to do better than a 10, you'll get an S and maybe even a Battle Chip. Some enemies require you to get a certain level after battle if you want their chips. Here are some ways to get good levels:

Be Quick - Like the manual says, your time does matter, and the less time you take, the higher your level will be.
Don't get hit - The more damage you take, the lower your level plunges. I don't know if Armor or RecovXXX chips reverse this effect, though.
Use chips - Even if you blast an enemy quickly with your buster and manage to avoid damage, you'll still get a lower level, so use chips and use them wisely.
Stand still - Even if you avoid all damage, jumping around from panel to panel all the time will be bad for your Busting Level. Use chips if you want to keep your level up.
Delete multiple enemies - Destroying one enemy at a time will get you a number from 1 to 10. Destroying two or more enemies at a time by using Battle Chips will get you an S. However, if you do a good job, you can get an S in a Navi boss battle.

Arranging your Folder and getting the most out of your Chips:

In Megaman Battle Network, you have a small collection of chips reserved for battles. This collection is called the "Folder", and must always have 30 chips in it. Obviously you start out with 30 chips to meet this requirement. You also have a "Sack" where you store unused chips. To switch between the Folder and the Sack in the Folder screen, press Left or Right on the Directional Pad. You can take chips from your Sack and put them into your Folder. To do this, select a chip in the Sack by pressing A, then select another chip in the Folder by pressing A again. To cancel a switch or go back to the menu, press B.