Battle Chips By The Generation

FlashMan here.



I've been collecting Rockman merchandise for a long time, probably close to about five years now.

When I first started, I intended to pick up a few Battle Chips here and there and have just an assortment of them to be displayed with the PET system. I never intended to have a full collection-- when I got started Advanced hadn't even finished releasing yet.

Obviously that plan was shot down quickly. Upon meeting BreakMan, whose goal was "one of everything and then some", I decided that it would be a lot of fun to race him to a complete collection of Advanced Chips. Well, we both finished that goal-- myself about two years ago (my last chip was Guardian), and BreakMan as well early last year (his last chip was Lightning 3).

Afterwards, I completed Progress, then Link, and finally Plug-in, and BreakMan isn't far from all of those goals himself. Over the years of collecting these Chips though, we've also invested in the various pieces of merchandise that go with them. That's what this article is going to discuss.

The Plug-in "generation" was produced by Bandai as part of a promotional tie-in with the Rockman EXE anime and Rockman EXE 3. There were two PETs made originally; red and blue to match the styles carried by Enzan and Netto (rumors of a black one abound, and the Crystal blue Plug-in PET that Kun Hitori is proud to own was released much later as part of the Plug-in merchandise re-releases).

This generation had absolutely no functionality with the games (in fact, all of the Battle Chips are something generic anyway-- "Blade", "Buster", "Cool", "Heart", etc.), no Battle Chip Gate or anything even remotely similar. In short, Plug-in was sort of a beta run that ended up appealing to collectors and cosplayers. Plug-in PETs STILL fetch a huge price to this day, even AFTER being re-released, because they're ultimately the most instantly-recognized PET from the series, and they're an icon of Rockman fandom in general-- no different than a Mettaur or a Kobun.

Advanced came out some time after the Plug-in series and was released by Takara. Advanced introduced the basic concepts that would be re-used later on the following generations afterwards-- a PET with basic NetBattle capability and a Chip Gate that would connect to the GBA for use on the Rockman games.

As a whole, Advanced is probably the most popular of all of the Battle Chip series; it's associated with one of the best-selling Rockman EXE games (never mind my opinion of EXE4) as well as what I personally believe is the best season of the entire EXE anime, AND it happens to have been produced in multiple countries, further increasing its exposure. Advanced also has what I would argue is one of the best Battle Chip libraries to draw from. While the Advanced PET and Advanced PET II were riddled with flaws that limited them, the Battle Chip Gate more than made up for that by being the most practical of the three gates-- working on both EXE4 and EXE4.5 and also being overall the sturdiest one (without the swivel clip it's arguably more stable when mounted on the PET; though it is kind of a pain to use on the GBA SP. Takara corrected this in future releases, but honestly I wouldn't say for the better).

Progress picked up Advanced's baton with the release of EXE5. Right off the bat, the PET got more attention than the gate. A customizable PET with various grips and attachments, plus the ability to use all of your old Advanced Battle Chips along with a new library of Progress Chips? Sweet deal if you're a PET fan.

On the other end of the spectrum, though, the Progress Chip Gate got shorted. The larger design and frustrating swivel point to compensate for GBA SP users made it bulky and cumbersome, and the fact that there was no EXE 5.5 to back it up seemed to be an oversight (there were even "5.5" styled chips printed that didn't make it into the game's library of chips you could actually put into your virtual 30-chip folder). The "real operation" mode has your Navi controlling itself-- borrowed from 4.5's engine as well as the "real operation" mode from EXE4-- and while that's a unique touch, it makes battling the higher-level bosses admittedly quite a challenge without really powerful chips to use (the same could be said for EXE4, but this feels harder somehow-- I don't know why). Of course, it does have the courtesy to provide you with a custom virtual folder to accompany your host of tangible Chips, which IS a great improvement.

Nevertheless, Progress remains my favorite of the Battle Chip series. It's often the most overlooked of the generations because Advanced is "classic" and Link is the newest, and that's why it's found a niche in my collection as being the one I like the most. (Doesn't hurt that three of my favorite characters are in the Chip library as well...)

Link was the direct sequel to Progress, and Takara wasted no time in getting it into our hands. The Link PET EX dropped the Progress gimmick of attachable parts and instead went directly via the iPod route of paper faceplates and interchangeable plastic emblems for the customization-savvy Battler. The Battle Chips from the previous two generations were rendered incompatible with the Link PET, much to the chagrin of many. The Link PET EX was part of the Link Navi system which was sort of Takara's attempt at a Triforce-- the new Navi Data chips had internal batteries that stored level data, and the only way to "level up" was by using the Link PET EX. However, once they were leveled, they would become very powerful if used on the Beast Link Gate's EXE6 or the new Battle Chip Stadium, an arcade machine that would vend Battle Chips to skilled players. (It should come as no surprise that the vast majority of Link's Battle Chip library also comes from BCS...)

The Beast Link Gate is a vast improvement over the Progress Chip Gate and a compromise in structure between its two forerunners. It still has the swivel clip the Progress Chip Gate was infamous for, but the overall construction was wider and thicker than the Progress Chip Gate, making it sturdier-- similar to the Advanced Chip Gate. (I actually knew someone who broke their Progress Chip Gate trying to swivel it.) In terms of usefulness on the games, however, this one has both Gates beaten by far. The Beast Link Gate allows you to finally send Battle Chips through to your Navi even in the story mode of the game, rather than just being an optional attachment for casual battles between friends and a minigame where you can fight the various Navi bosses. Admittedly, EXE4.5 allowed this as well, but that was practically the purpose of the entire game. They WANTED you to use the Battle Chip Gate with it-- in fact, most of the copies of the game came with one!

One of what I consider to be the improvements but some disliked this feature was the fact that you can control your Navi even with the Beast Link Gate attached-- the prior gate systems forced you to let the computer control its movement (and the AI is none too generous either; many was a battle where ElecMan would walk smack into an attack that I never would have allowed to hit me). A few players of EXE6 argue that they'd rather have the computer control the Navi so they can focus on timing Battle Chips, but I personally find that I can do both with ease. Another benefit is you can actually still use your own virtual in-game folder as well as your host of physical Battle Chips, so you can actually construct a solid strategy and work with it, effectively having access to tons of combos you wouldn't be able to pull off before.

Another neat feature of the game was being able to overwrite your Navi once you beat the final boss once. This was cool, because if you got tired of using Rockman you could go exchange him for one of your Link Navis and play around with them for a while (I'd almost immediately trade him out for ElecMan or HeatMan as soon as I could in Greiga; when playing Falzer it was DustMan for me every time). Then, of course, I'll also mention that when the Beast Link Gate is attached, Rockman is permanently in Beast Out mode. There's no need to activate or deactivate it-- it's always Beast Out Rockman, which can arguably turn the tide of battles WELL into your favor.

Link sadly ended up being the last of the Battle Chip families; for the EXE series would be replaced with Ryuusei shortly afterwards. While I could talk about Ryuusei's merchandise, truthfully, I just don't feel it has the same staying power that EXE had in its prime. Besides, I still haven't even opened my Star Carrier either. That's a rant for another day. ;)