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All about the hidden morality variable in MegaMan Battle Networks 4 and 5!
Karma Guide for Mega Man Battle Network 2
At some point in the story, you will learn about Dark Chips. This guide is about their consequences.
MegaMan has a hidden variable commonly known as Karma that starts at 500 and can go as low as 0 and as high as 1000. If you are a good boy and don’t use Dark Chips, it will go up with each encounter. If you touch the darkness in a battle, then it will go down instead.
Karma Values
1000 Karma – Good MegaMan
At maximum Karma, MegaMan will be lighter blue than normal, and can gain Full Synchro more easily.
500-999 Karma – Neutral MegaMan
This is where MegaMan starts. At this Karma, he is normal-colored and doesn’t have any benefits or drawbacks. Using the darkness will bring your Karma down to 480 no matter how high it was.
470-499 Karma – Slightly Evil MegaMan
At this Karma, MegaMan is only slightly evil – he is slightly darker than normal, and dispels holy panels, but is otherwise the same as Neutral. In this state, after a battle where you use a Dark Chip, MegaMan will lose 4 Karma. If MegaMan would die but instead triggers Dark Soul, he instead loses 10 Karma.
300-469 Karma – Evil MegaMan
Below 470 Karma, MegaMan turns dark and becomes truly evil. There are myriad changes detailed later in this guide, but the effect on Karma is that it only goes down by 1 every time you use a Dark Chip or Dark Soul.
0-299 Karma – Permanent Evil MegaMan
Below 300 Karma, there is no change in MegaMan except that Karma will not naturally increase. You must equip SoulClean in order to increase Karma.
The Downsides of Darkness
Less Maximum HP
After every battle in which you use a Dark Chip or Dark Soul, MegaMan will permanently lose 1 Maximum HP (capped at negative 499). This will persist through New Game+ in Battle Network 4 and cannot be reversed in any way. (Anything that happens in PVP stays in PVP, i.e. has no consequences.)
No Emotions
Evil MegaMan has no emotions other than Evil, so he cannot gain the double damage that Full Synchro and Angry states provide.
No Friends
Evil MegaMan cannot use the power of his friends to gain new forms, and in Battle Network 4, cannot gain SP Navi Chips or HubBatch.
No Good Battle Chips
Evil MegaMan cannot use the following categories of chips:
- Chips that use light
- Chips from his friends
- Chips that are holy
Bugs
Using Dark Chips themselves will give MegaMan bugs.
The Benefits of Villainy
Dark Chips
They do a lot of damage.
Evil Chips
Evil MegaMan gains the power to use powerful evil chips, including bug-related chips, DS Navi Chips, some Giga Chips, and even a powerful Program Advance in Battle Network 4.
Dark Soul
Once per battle, if MegaMan were to die, he instead enters Dark Soul for a short time. Dark Soul is completely black, is invulnerable, and moves and attacks randomly, using chips you’ve used before.
Closing Thoughts
In my opinion, joining the Dark side isn’t worth it in Battle Network 5, and you can safely employ some of its powers with Chaos Unison. In 4, you’ll probably want to get 100% completion before pulling the trigger, and make sure you have a plan first.