abstract
| - The Undernet is home to an undefined number of criminal NetNavis and serves as the primary location of the Mega Man Battle Network universe’s black market and underground, with dealers in “wares” who will sell both power-ups and powerful battle chips for already exorbitant prices which only rise. The subject of the Undernet is a social taboo among Civilian Navis, who are referred to as “Topsiders” (and other less-complimentary terms) by its denizens. There has been at least one incident where this taboo was broken – in the lead up to Wily's Cybergedden (Mega Man Battle Network 3), a BBS poster boasts about receiving event tickets through the Undernet; despite the fact that such an acquisition is implied to be illegal, the content of the character's next post is totally empty – following posts on this and other boards heavily suggest that the character was dealt with by the members of the Undernet. However, the exuberant poster returns in the next game, seemingly unaffected by the incident, which raises further questions, although this may be an act of negligence or ignorance on the part of the developer/translator. The Undernet seems to, depending on the incarnation, exist on an entirely different plane of the Cyberworld that has access points to different areas on the Internet, located in the Global, Kotobuki, Netopia (Mega Man Battle Network 2), Beach, Town, Park, Sharo, End, and Sky Areas, undoubtedly in other areas, too. For example, in Battle Network 3, DrillMan.EXE forces his way into a deep sector of the Undernet by drilling into the underlying structure of the Cyberworld after stealing Alpha's capsule – Takamiski's manga, whose version of the Undernet is literally under the main Internet, may coincide with this. Curiously, the Space Center in Sharo has a hidden direct link to the inner Undernet, though to make proper use of the path, MegaMan has to take the long way around, traveling to a hidden sector of the Sharo Network through the NetFrica Network, of all places, and find the representative from Sharo in the Undernet. In Battle Network 5, the UnderNet is accessible through a Message Board in Nebula's hideout. Worthy of consideration is that the Undernet may be constant in its design throughout the series, as compared to the regular Cyberworld, which evolves between every Battle Network game; the Undernet seems to exist as a more or less massive space that has no regular maintenance or upkeep schedule – it may very well be that MegaMan and Lan never visit the same part of the Undernet twice between games (the one possible exception is in Mega Man Battle Network 4, in which the sixth area of the Undernet is highly reminiscent of an early area of the Undernet from Battle Network 2).
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