Mega Man Battle Network 4 - Reception

Reception

The two versions of Megaman Battle Network 4 entered Japanese sales charts as the second and fourth best-selling games of their release week and continued to appear on the top 10 best-sellers list for the following six weeks. The game sold 535,836 copies combined by the end of 2003 and an additional 393,014 copies by the end of 2004. Mega Man Battle Network 4 has sold 1.35 million copies worldwide as of December 31, 2008.

The game is considered the Black sheep of the Battle network series, as well as the reason for the drop in the series' popularity. Notable criticisms include the lack of any real story; Most of the game played is going through the three tournaments and solving some issue with your opponent before battling him or her. Further exacerbating this is the fact that the potentially world-ending asteroid is treated as a B plot until the player is involved almost at the very end of the game.

Another criticism is the addition of the Double Soul system. The inability to go into it whenever a player wanted, the need of a proper 'sacrificial' chip (one's preset chip could not be used either, even if it was the proper type), and the fact that it only lasts for 3 turns made it unpopular with the fanbase.

Another major criticism with the game was the fact that in order for a player to get everything in the game (Double souls, chips, etc.), one had to play through the game three times, the changes in the game being difficulty (replacing Viruses with stronger versions), and who Mega Man faces in tournaments (subsequently changing the story).

Minor criticism was met with the change in graphic styles which stuck with subsequent games, going from a more 'realistic' look to thicker lined, brighter colored and smaller sprited graphics.