Over the years, in all his various forms, MegaMan has been known for his ability to draw power from those around him to create new forms and abilities. The Battle Network series was no different, with the fact that MegaMan is a computer program this time around being the perfect way to introduce all kinds of ways to augment and upgrade his data.

From Battle Network 2 onwards, those powers came in the form of Style Changes, Soul Unisons, and Crosses. But not all forms of MegaMan are created equal. Some are sick as hell, while others are not.

With that in mind, I present to you a completely objective list of the best forms MegaMan has taken throughout the Battle Network series.

Introduced in Battle Network 2, Style Changes give MegaMan elemental strengths and weaknesses and a number of unique abilities. Here's a list of my faves:

Heat Guts

Pros:

• Big fist
• Flamethrower
• Big boost to Buster damage
• No knockback animation, can take better advantage of i-frames

Cons:

• Weak to Aqua

Wood Shield

Pros:

• Starts battle with a barrier
• Can also deploy a big shield that makes cool sounds at will
• Being immune to Elec attack knockback rules
• Tornado charge attack hits so many times

Cons:

• Weak to Fire

Aqua Custom

Pros:

• Overall air of coolness (is it the backpack?)
• More chips on Custom screen

Cons:

• Gets absolutely wrecked by Elec

Hub Style

Pros:

• Lighter blue sprite looks nicer
• Combines abilities of several styles
• Lan and MegaMan are brothers 😭

Cons:

• Halved HP

Introduced in Battle Network 4, Soul Unisons take MegaMan back to his roots and allow him to take on the form and abilities of other NetNavis. These are the sickest:

Guts

Pros:

• Looks like a Tonka dump truck
• Built like a brick shithouse
• Him punch big

Cons:

• Lack of interesting attacks/abilities

Roll

Pros:

• Pink
• All chips recover 10% HP
• Let the girl one do something cool for once
• MegaMan.EXE canonically gay and trans once activated

Cons:

• Roll Arrow kinda sucks shit

Search

Pros:

• Buster Charge locks on to enemies and pierces Invisibility
• Shuffle chips on the custom screen
• MegaMan gets a little HUD visor and mic

Cons:

• The military industrial complex is decidedly not cool

Colonel

Pros:

• Cool sword
• Cool sword attack
• Change charge attack into any normal chip
• Just an extremely sick look

Cons:

• Doesn't get Colonel's cool cape

Proto

Pros:

• Cool sword
• ProtoMan is cool, I will admit

Cons:

• Helmet looks kind of doofy, imo

Number

Pros:

• Helmet turns into an electronic disco ball
• Charge shot throws a Dice Bomb
• 10 chips on custom screen

Cons:

• Dice Bomb looks cooler than it is powerful

Shadow

Pros:

• We love a ninja
• Poof out of harm's way and throw a shuriken
• Charge sword chips to teleport behind an enemy and slash
• Auto Float Shoes
• Move faster
• Long Sword charge attack

Cons:

• Oh shit none??

These aren't quite Souls or Crosses, and can only be obtained in special, secret ways. They're both extremely cool!

Bass Cross

Pros:

• Look at him
• It's Bass
• Can be your little bottom screen buddy in Double Team DS
• Just look up a video of his Hell's Rolling attack, that shit owns
• Both Gold and Silver variants look cool

Cons:

• Too cool? Nah jk

Sol Cross

Pros:

• Fuck yeah Boktai
• Solar Gun charge shot
• Can be your little bottom screen buddy in Double Team DS
• Interpretation of Django's aesthetic melded onto MegaMan looks incredibly sick
• Another reason to bug your friends to play Boktai

Cons:

• NONE. TAIIIIYOOOOOHHHHH!

Crosses were introduced in Battle Network 6 as a replacement for Soul Unisons. The major upshot to Crosses was that, unlike Souls, you didn't need to sacrifice a chip of a certain element to activate them.

I was never as hot on these as I was the design and function of Styles or Souls, but there are still a few with an undeniable cool factor.

Heat

Pros:

• HeatMan is cool, he looks like a Zippo lighter
• Cool character design, and effective translation from character to Cross
• I like the fuel tubes, that's a nice touch

Cons:

• Weak to Aqua

Elec

Pros:

• Cool look, love the electrical thingies on his back even if I don't know what they are
• Charge Elec chips to paralyze

Cons:

• Weak to Wood

Tengu

Pros:

• Very cool look
• Saw him first in MegaMan & Bass, thought it was cool they finally included him in BN.

Cons:

• Wind isn't a terribly cool element imo

Charge

Pros:

• Honorable mention for being a train
• More chips on the Custom screen
• Charge Shot: Here He Comes

Cons:

• Who the fuck is ChargeMan?

That's my list! Do you agree, do you disagree? Tough luck, this is my website!