Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team DS (2005). Play online

Summary

When I first popped the DS into the slot, Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team DS immediately felt like a clever remix of its two GBA siblings. It fuses Team Protoman and Team Colonel on a single cartridge, and the dual‑screen layout gives a live Cyber Map on the bottom while you command MegaMan on top. The mic isn’t just for show—you can actually yell into it to boost MegaMan’s attack power during battles. Slip a GBA game into the slot and you can transfer old battle chips, or even stick in a Boktai 2 cartridge to unlock the flashy SolCross transformation. I love swapping Navis on the fly, a feature the original handhelds missed. The updated sound, an opening movie, and a refined map system earned praise, though some critics wished the DS’s hardware had been pushed even further. It launched stateside in November 2005, hit Europe in spring 2006, and finally reached Australia in early 2007.

Storyline

The main protagonists Lan Hikari, MegaMan.EXE and friends are summoned to SciLab by Lan’s father Yuichiro. At SciLab mysterious agents release sleeping gas, kidnap Yuichiro and steal the PETs and NetNavis. The attackers work for Dr. Regal and his Nebula crime syndicate, which survived the defeat in Battle Network 4. Nebula then floods the Net with viruses and Darkloids that wield DarkChips.

While investigating another disturbance, Lan meets Chaud (Team ProtoMan) or newcomer Baryl (Team Colonel), who recruit him to build an elite NetNavi team. Together they free captured Navis, battle Nebula’s forces and gradually liberate the Net. The invasion is a diversion to locate “The Hikari Report,” an unfinished SoulNet project created by Lan’s grandfather Tadashi Hikari and Dr. Wily.

The report is recovered, SoulNet is completed and Regal plans to unleash Nebula Grey, a program of pure hatred. Lan and MegaMan storm Nebula’s base, defeat Nebula Grey and destroy the Dark Power. In the final showdown Regal’s memories are erased by Dr. Wily, leaving him a peaceful scientist. With their NetNavis restored, Lan and MegaMan return to their friends, ending the crisis in Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team DS.