My first question about Mega Man Battle Network 3 was how different it would be from Mega Man Battle Network 2. I didn't get a solid answer, both from the game, or the Capcom people. There are the typical differences you would find in a sequel, more enemies, more chips, more styles, and more areas. That's not usually enough to buy yet another version of the same game.

I did find out quite a bit about the differences in the game. Unlike Capcom's last experiment with a dual game release (Zelda: Oracles), these games are independent of each other. Listening to the Capcom guy, it sounded like Blue was the much better deal, leaving White to be the collector's edition, used mostly to obtain the last few chips to make the ultimate Mega Man.

The graphics have improved in some key areas as well. The transition from map to battle has a cool distortion effect, and the interface has a polished metallic look that really fits the game. The Net is a lot more colorful, and I also noticed improvement with the backgrounds both in and out of battle.

While I still haven't decided whether the series is ready for such a split release, I do know that those who loved the first two will not be disappointed as long as they aren't looking for something they haven't had before.