Mega Man Battle Network, known in Japan as Rockman.EXE (ロックマンエグゼ Rokkuman Eguze), is one of Capcom’s Mega Man series and debuted in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance. It is a real-time tactical-RPG spin-off series based on the original Mega Man series, taking place in a separate continuity where computer and networking technology advanced instead of robotics. There are six main Mega Man Battle Network games as well as several side-story games.
The series is set in the year 200X (20XX in the sixth game), in an alternate version of the original Mega Man universe in which networks, rather than robots, were the subject of the most research. Like the original, there were two main projects and only one was funded, but unlike the original, the work of Dr. Tadashi Hikari (the series’ version of Dr. Light) in the field of networking and AI programs had been funded over Dr. Wily’s research in robotics. The result of Dr. Hikari’s research was the PET (PErsonal Terminal), a small computer which is used similarly to a cellular phone or PDA and which contains a customizable artificial intelligence complete with emotions, known as a NetNavi
