For those of you who've played the games, which hand-held series do you prefer?

I really think the Battle Network series was way better. I'd rather have the 3 by 3 square movement freedom than have that fake 3-D look and be stuck in that last row you can only move up and down from and have to use a lock-on feature for things like swords that rarely works because it delays too long and the enemy either moves away and out of the panel you are attacking or moves into you, damaging you and negating your attack. Seriously, the freedom of movement really helped the game have that much more in depth battle strategy, rather than relying totally on chips with the right range and locking on.

Other things I've missed-

Styles- I really miss the styles mechanism, the change it megaman that depended on how YOU played. Used a lot of megacards? You gained the team style and could use more of em! You good at dodging and using barriers and shields? Then you got the shield style which earned you the AWESOME reflect ability (which was toned down in later games). Not only that, it assigned you an element you could use to your advantage, and came with it its own elemental weaknesses. Heat shield for the win! I also loved how each style gave you customizing items that let you use some of the styles benefits while using another style.

Advances- I miss the card combinations that let you unleash a devastating attack, that was either a set of standard chips that combined to become more powerful, or those Navi-linked combos that were characteristic of the navi/friend you invoked.

Fusing- Well, not sure what to call it, but when you connected with another navi and then megaman transformed and gained characteristics of that navi. I've read and seen pictures that show that Star Force three is bringing it back in to the games, but it ain't here yet, so I'm complaining. I really wish that they hadn't taken out styles for this, as I love the styles better, since they're more customized to you and less based on an in-game character that you may or may not like.

Navi Battles- Being able to walk up to a friend or person somewhere and challenge 'em to a battle right there, where you could earn the various navi megachip forms. But no, now even if it is a character that's standing around waiting for a challenge, you gotta change and wander about the area till you get to their wave form. I never really did like wandering about the net looking for the 'ghost data' of bosses that waited in a certain spot invisible to you.


Things I Don't Miss-

Letter System- remember those letters the cards used to come with, that changed whether you could use chips together or not, and then those special asterisk cards? Good thing that's gone. Some letters were merely for the advance system, but others actually had a good set of cards you could chain together to make a folder. Mostly though, it took time and effort to get the letters you needed. But now you're limited to picking cards that are the same or the same column, which means only two cards, and not even a combination of both! That's pretty lame, and makes it that much harder to delete virues and bosses quickly, and you can only get that many new cards in the selection screen after the guage fills. >.> Could be better than it is, but still an improvement that's workable.

The Chip/Buster Charge Conflict- I hated how your buster would be charging or already be charged, but when you used a chip, it started over. I like how in SF2, you could use a chip and keep the charge, so you could actually combo it in and use it instead of sacrificing it for the sake of using a stronger attack and using up your chips in time to immediately get new ones when the guage was full. It's actually a usable atttack that's part of the strategy.




Another thing I really don't like about the new SF games and even the most recent BN games was that you were very limited in the forms you could use. There's little choice, and the choice you get of the few choices is based on the version of the game you got. All you could really use was some pegasus or dragon or lion form, or now the ninja or zerker or saurian form. You could sort of combine forms of the latter 3, but they usually did the same thing, just changed elements. And you have to wait for that brother chip to come up to change/combine forms.

One thing I did like from SF2 was the star card system, where each card of the same name as the star card you earned had it's attack increased. I really like how normal cards could become stronger based how the power and strategy you wielded against tougher viruses. So now, you can increase the power of more than just SP megacards. Loved how those became tougher based on best delete time. Gave you something to strive for besides beating 'em to get the cards/chips to trade. But that was another reason I hated wandering ghosts... A lot of it had to do with the luck of your card/chip selection at the beginning of the battle.

So that's how I feel about it all, just about. What do you guys think? Also, Brawl and make your own megaman character, next journal!!!