If Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge is not the most evilly addictive game I've played in years, I don't know what is. I just got up from a playing session almost five hours long and all I want to do is go back and play some more. You're lucky to be reading this at all. If I had one less ounce of discipline, I'd be playing instead of writing this review.
Capcom has had a great run with Mega Man since the Nintendo Entertainment System era. Folks who have not played a Mega Man game in a while (like me) are going to be surprised that our hero is now the companion of a young man named Lan and is not a being in the physical world but rather a living utility program called a "Net Navigation", or just "Net Navi" for short, that battles evil forces like viruses in cyberspace. As our story opens, Lan and Mega Man have apparently had some hard times with a bad-guy group called WWW and are in some post-victory downtime mode. A challenge to compete against other net battlers and their Net Navis comes over the e-mail and Lan jumps at the chance to join the Battle Chip Grand Prix. That's enough of the story. The gameplay is the star here.
To really simplify Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge's gameplay, it could probably be best summed up as a strategic card game. Chips take the place of the cards. At any one time the player has 12 chips, one Navi chip and 11 battle chips, in a Program Deck. The careful equipping and arranging of this deck is all that stands between the player and defeat. Once battle is joined, what the player can do to affect the outcome is limited.
Each chip has a unique Hit Point (defense), Attack Point (offense), Megabyte (memory/carrying capacity) and elemental affiliation rating. (More on elemental affiliations later.) Navi chips also have one signature weapon that is always available to them.
Net Navi chips are the heart of the program deck. In battle, once the Net Navi's hit points are exhausted the battle is over. The Navi's Megabyte rating limits the possible combinations of battle chips that may be carried into the fight.
Battle chips represent many different attributes such as attack, defense, health upgrades, attack upgrades, etc. Battle chips are attacked during play and sustain damage just as the carrying Navi does. One of the worst things to see is a fairly healthy Navi lose all his battle chips in a fight and then just stand there with only his individual signature weapon as he's pummeled to dust by another well-equipped Navi.
The Battle Chip Grand Prix is a series of battles between players and other humans and their Net Navis to determine who the best net battler is. These battles play out as one-on-one contests between Net Navis whose battle chips are arranged by their human operators in program decks. The chips are arranged in a sideways pyramid: the Net Navi, two battle chips, three battle chips, four battle chips, and then two reserve "Slot In" battle chips.
The player starts with one Net Navi and a limited number of battle chips. As the game progresses more Battle Chips will be won or bought with match winnings and additional substitution Net Navi chips will be obtained.
Once players are satisfied with the arrangement of their program decks, battle is joined. The battle system randomly starts at the Navi chip, and then chooses one of the two connecting chips, then one of the next two connecting chips, and finally one of the last two connecting chips. Once each step has been played out, a new turn begins and the process is played out again and again until one Navi loses all his hit points or ten turns are played. At this stage it is very hands-off gameplay and the only way the player can affect the battle is with the two Slot-In chips that may be deployed whenever the player feels they will do the most good. Think of these as a tactical reserve that can land an extra blow when your foe is teetering on the abyss or gives your own Navi a needed health boost when he is flagging.
