Welcome to the first rewrite of the Custom Battle Guide for Mega Man Battle Network (the first game)
We know eager fans love the extra challenge and making your own custom battles fulfills that desire.
To follow this guide, you need VisualBoyAdvance (VBA) and a backup of the game. I do not condone piracy, but if you somehow already have a copy, follow along.
To create a battle, the easiest way is to overwrite a freefight from the game. I will choose the ProtoMan battle since its the most accessible, repeatable freefight. You can download a save and state save for use with the US version of the game which is already at this part.
Download Battle Network 1 saves
You should be at this dialog. Before you accept the offer, the battle must be customized first.
Using VBA’s Memory Viewer window, the following steps will allow you to make temporary changes. Any changes you made will be lost when the emulator is closed. The changes can be made permanent if the same steps are followed using a hex editor such as HxD (recommended).
Go to the following offset depending on your version.
AREE US 080856D8 AREP EU 08085824 AREJ JP 08085434
That offset controls the settings and will be called Battle Settings. Settings because they control variables about the battle, but not the opponents or player.
The default values are:
3C B3 00 08 00 00 00 00 07 07 00
The settings format is documented below. Use this to interpret what each byte means in the format and how to reconstruct it.
0x00 Object Setup Pointer (4 bytes) 0x04 Optional Folder Pointer (4 bytes) 0x08 Background 0x09 Battle Mode 0x0A Folder Order
0x00 Object Setup Pointer
This is the pointer to the Object Setup data which contains data on where the enemies appear and which kind. With this, you can create a battle in free space, and load it through here.
Default varies by version.
0x04 Optional Folder Pointer
By default, this is all zeroes. You can enter a pointer to premade folder data in the game. This is used by the tutorial battles which require you to use a certain folder for the battle. Since this is optional, leaving at all zeroes will have it use your current folder.
Default is: 00 00 00 00
0x08 Background
In this game, the background you choose is also directly tied with the type of stage that is used. Purely decorative purpose. The full list is below.
Default is: 07
00 = NumberMan Stage BG 01 = FireMan Stage BG 02 = IceMan Stage BG 03 = ColorMan Stage BG 04 = ElecMan Stage BG 05 = WWW Stage BG 06 = Internet Area BG 07 = Generic Area BG 08 = Lan's HP BG 09 = Mayl's HP BG 0A = Yai's HP BG 0B = Dex's HP BG 0C = Dr. Hikari's HP BG 0D = Sal's HP BG 0E = Miyu's HP BG 0F = Masa's HP BG 10 = Life Virus BG
0x09 Battle Mode
Finally, the Battle Mode. This lets you pick what kind of battle it is such as a tutorial. In this game, music is tied with the battle mode. Full value list below.
Default is: 07
00 = Normal Battle 01 = Tutorial 1 02 = Tutorial 2 03 = Normal Battle (no results) 04 = Tutorial 3 05 = Invincible ElecMan Battle 06 = Life Virus Battle 07 = Normal Boss Battle 08 = Save Game
Note about the Invincible ElecMan battle. If you have this value and fight the Invincible ElecMan from the enemy list, the battle will end after a while as it is a story event.
To load any track from the game, leave the value on its default and go to the following offset depending on your version.
AREE US 080059FDAREP EU 08005A09AREJ JP 080059ED
The 0F value means it plays the Boss Battle Theme. All the music values are listed below.
00 = Title Screen 01 = ACDC Theme 02 = Indoors Theme 03 = Mysterious Theme 04 = Event Occurrence 05 = Transmission 06 = FireMan Stage 07 = NumberMan Stage 08 = Internet Theme 09 = Sad Theme 0A = IceMan Stage 0B = ColorMan Stage 0C = ElecMan Stage 0D = Dr. Wily Area 0E = Virus Battle Theme 0F = Boss Battle Theme 10 = Life Virus Theme 11 = Winner Theme 12 = Game Over 13 = Credits Theme 14 = School Theme 15 = Loser Theme 16 = Waterworks Room 17 = No Music
0x0A Folder Order
The Folder Order byte changes how your folder appears in battle. This byte only works if you are using an optional folder. As 00, your folder appears in order. If the value is 01, the folder appears randomized.
Default is: 00
0x18 Allow Running
The Escape chip allows you to run away from battles. If this value is 00, you can run away, otherwise you can’t.
Default is: 01
That covers settings moving on to the actual enemies, refer to the pointer at 0x00. This will be called Object Setup data can be found at 0800B33C. Enter that into the Memory Viewer and move on.
Default values are: 65 05 02 00 FF
Setting up enemy data, you must follow the format, which is documented below.
0x00 Enemy Value 0x01 X-Position 0x02 Y-Position 0x03 Unknown
The format is repeated for every enemy you want to add. The game stops reading more enemies at FF so adding FF after an entry ends the battle at that many enemies. You can have a maximum of 7 enemies at once, which is the most allowed in any Battle Network game. There are some restrictions: after 4 enemies, HPs for the 5th, 6th, and 7th won’t show up and Navi chips won’t work at 7 enemies. Also, you cannot change where MegaMan starts in this game.
0x00 Enemy Value
This value determines which enemy you encounter. The full list is below.
00 = Megaman 01 = Mettaur 1 02 = Mettaur 2 03 = Mettaur 3 04 = Cannondumb 1 05 = Cannondumb 2 06 = Cannondumb 3 07 = Vulgear 08 = Vatgear 09 = Vulgear (unused) 0A = Spooky 1 0B = Spooky 2 0C = Spooky 3 0D = Beetank 1 0E = Beetank 2 0F = Beetank 3 10 = Handy 1 11 = Handy 2 12 = Handy 3 13 = Flappy 1 14 = Flappy 2 15 = Flappy 3 16 = Floshell 1 17 = Floshell 2 18 = Floshell 3 19 = HardHead 1 1A = HardHead 2 1B = HardHead 3 1C = Swordy 1 1D = Swordy 2 1E = Swordy 3 1F = Fishy 1 20 = Fishy 2 21 = Fishy 1 22 = Piranha 1 23 = Piranha 2 24 = Piranha 3 25 = Aqua Puffy 26 = Heat Puffy 27 = White Dot 28 = ColdBear 29 = ColdBear 2 2A = ColdBear 3 2B = Cloudy 1 2C = Cloudy 2 2D = Cloudy 3 2E = Ratty 1 2F = Ratty 2 30 = Ratty 3 31 = Miney 1 32 = Miney 2 33 = Miney 3 34 = Ammonicule 1 35 = Ammonicule 2 36 = Ammonicule 3 37 = Jelly 38 = HeatJelly 39 = EarthJelly 3A = Gaia 1 3B = Gaia 2 3C = Gaia 3 3D = Popper 1 3E = Popper 2 3F = Popper 3 40 = Satella 1 41 = Satella 2 42 = Satalla 3 43 = Fanner 1 44 = Fanner 2 45 = Fanner 3 46 = Remobit 1 47 = Remobit 2 48 = Remobit 3 49 = Billy 4A = Silly 4B = Killy 4C = Prog 1 4D = Prog 2 4E = Prog 3 4F = Megalian A 50 = Megalian H 51 = Megalian W 52 = CanDevil 1 53 = CanDevil 2 54 = CanDevil 3 55 = BigSnake 1 56 = BigSnake 2 57 = BigSnake 3 58 = Mosqurito 1 59 = Mosqurito 2 5A = Mosqurito 3 5B = Poitton 1 5C = Poitton 2 5D = Poitton 3 5E = Mole 5F = White Dot 60 = GutsMan V1 61 = GutsMan V2 62 = GutsMan V3 63 = ProtoMan V1 64 = ProtoMan V2 65 = ProtoMan V3 66 = WoodMan V1 67 = WoodMan V2 68 = WoodMan V3 69 = FireMan V1 6A = FireMan V2 6B = FireMan V3 6C = NumberMan V1 6D = NumberMan V2 6E = NumberMan V3 6F = StoneMan V1 70 = StoneMan V2 71 = StoneMan V3 72 = IceMan V1 73 = IceMan V2 74 = IceMan V3 75 = SkullMan V1 76 = SkullMan V2 77 = SkullMan V3 78 = ColorMan V1 79 = ColorMan V2 7A = ColorMan V3 7B = BombMan V1 7C = BombMan V2 7D = BombMan V3 7E = SharkMan V1 7F = SharkMan V2 80 = SharkMan V3 81 = ElecMan V1 82 = ElecMan V2 83 = ElecMan V3 84 = PharaohMan V1 85 = PharaohMan V2 86 = PharaohMan V3 87 = ShadowMan V1 88 = ShadowMan V2 89 = ShadowMan V3 8A = White Dot 8B = White Dot 8C = White Dot 8D = MagicMan V1 8E = MagicMan V2 8F = MagicMan V3 90 = Bass 91 = White Dot 92 = White Dot 93 = Life Virus 94 = Blue Color Dummy V1 95 = Red Color Dummy V1 96 = Blue Color Dummy V2 97 = Red Color Dummy V2 98 = Blue Color Dummy V3 99 = Red Color Dummy V3 9A = Invincible ElecMan 9B = SharkMan Fin V1 9C = SharkMan Fin V2 9D = SharkMan Fin V3 9E = SharkMan Fin V3 9F = SharkMan Fin V3 A0 = SharkMan Fin V3
A few things to note (starting from the top):
You can’t fight another MegaMan. The game assumes multiplayer battles and since there is no other player, the other MegaMan has 0 HP and is instantly deleted.
There are Volgear and Fishy clones. These are leftover or filler third versions.
For the Candevil virus, its candle will always appear on the farthest panel behind the virus. If the virus overlaps the candle, it can’t go over it again assuming you placed it on the back column.
For ColorMan to function, you must place the 2 color dummies somewhere on the battlefield.
The invincible ElecMan should be used with the appropriate battle mode which will make the battle quit as it is unwinnable.
0x01 X-Position
This second byte specifies the X-position of the enemy. Values represent whole panels on rows. Use the table below.
[01][02][03][04][05][06]
0x02 Y-Position
Combine this byte with the previous byte to place the enemy on any panel on the field. Values represent whole panels on columns. Use the table below.
[01] [02] [03]
0x03 Unknown
It is unknown what this values does. It is still part of the format, so it must remain.
And that concludes the MegaMan Battle Network Custom Battle Guide. This covers the basics in terms of possibilities.
Here is a sample video demonstrating the possibilities.