For the MegaMan NT Warrior Axess episode of the same name, see DoubleSoul!. |
Double Soul, known as Soul Unison (ソウルユニゾン Souru Yunizon) in Japan, shortened as "DublSoul" in-game, is a term used in the Mega Man Battle Network series of video games and MegaMan NT Warrior anime and manga. It is an system employed by a NetNavi to gain new abilities and battle techniques using an allied NetNavi's powers.
Double Soul was first introduced in the two incarnations of Mega Man Battle Network 4. Out of twelve souls, six were exclusive to either game. It appears once more in both versions of Mega Man Battle Network 5. It replaced MegaMan's Style Change capability of previous iterations, and is itself replaced by the Cross System in Mega Man Battle Network 6.
Double Soul may also have been the basis for the Trans Arm system from Rockman.EXE Legend of Network.
Description[]
Unlike Style Change, which can be performed by a single NetNavi, Double Soul occurs when a Navi's soul communes with MegaMan. Since MegaMan has an honest heart, he can use the synchronized soul, accept their power, and turning them into his own [1]. The sync usually occurs after battling against certain Navis in Battle Network 4 whom MegaMan connects with their story, or a teammate that MegaMan fought alongside (or against) in a "Liberation Mission" in Battle Network 5.

Unison Custom Screen Image
Once the player has gone through the Double Soul tutorial, a "Unite" button (Unison in Japan and European MMBN5DS) appears under the "OK" button in the Custom Screen, and lights up whenever the player has previously selected a Battle Chip that is eligible for initiating the Soul. Initiating the Soul will sacrifice the Battle Chip and render it unusable for the rest of the battle, while also taking up a slot for selection for that turn (thus limiting the player to 4 chips for selection if he chooses to initiate a Soul at the same time). Souls last for 3 turns (including the one where they were initiated) by default, though Battle Network 5 introduced NaviCust programs that can prolong the Soul's duration.
Chaos Unison[]
Introduced in Mega Man Battle Network 5, after MegaMan managed to overcome the DarkPower when Dark MegaMan took over his body, he gained access to Chaos Unison (カオスユニゾン Kaosu Yunizon) [2]. This DarkPower ability can be activated by sacrificing a Dark Chip for Double Soul. It is an immensely powerful transformation, having the attributes of both the power of the Dark Chip and Double Soul. MegaMan gains the Soul's attributes, with an unusual Double Soul different color (usually turns purple or blackish). The charge attack now becomes the same as the sacrificed Dark Chip, and doing so does not affect Karma, self-inflict a bug, or have the effect of removing 1 HP permanently like using the chip normally would.
The catch is that Chaos Unison can only be used for absolutely one turn (cannot be boosted with the Navi Customizer), and when charging, the charge will rapidly transition between Teal-Green to Purple. If the player releases the Charge Shot while it is purple, the attack will execute flawlessly; if they release while it is teal-green, the attack fails and the Soul expires. A Dark Soul of MegaMan is also spawned in the enemy area, and will proceed to assault the player with Buster shots and random chip attacks for 13 seconds or until the battle ends. For each consecutive time a Chaos Unison's Charge Shot is used successfully during the battle, its charge time will increase slightly, in an attempt to throw off the player's timing and raise the risk of failing it.
At the end of Mega Man Battle Network 5, the destruction of the Dark Chip factory following Nebula Grey's defeat renders Chaos Unison impossible, due to there being no Dark Chips to sacrifice anymore.
Dark Double Soul[]
If MegaMan is in Evil emotion, he’ll lose access to his Double Soul but will be able to unite with his Dark Soul. Once per battle, if MegaMan would be deleted, he remains at 1 HP. Then he performs Dark Double Soul, known as Dark Soul Unison (ダークソウルユニゾン) in Japan, uniting with his Dark Soul. MegaMan turns completely black and berserk, becoming invincible but uncontrollable for several seconds. He then moves and attacks randomly with Buster shots, loaded chips, or any chips and Program Advances which the player has used the most throughout the game.
List of Double Souls[]
Below is the list of all Double Souls appearing in the games and anime.
Mega Man Battle Network 4[]
Mega Man Battle Network 4 | |
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Red Sun Souls | |
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Reason for communing: Impressed with Dex's chivalry and GutsMan's gutsy soul. |
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Reason for communing: Synced with FireMan's burning heart. |
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Reason for communing: Communed with Roll's heartwarming soul. | |
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Reason for communing: Related with WindMan's power to blow everything away and communed with his spirit. |
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Reason for communing: ThunderMan's noble thunderbolts resonated in MegaMan's soul. |
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Reason for communing: Recognizes Lan and Raika's meeting of minds through battle and really likes SearchMan's cool personality. |
Blue Moon Souls | |
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Reason for communing: Touched by AquaMan's spirit, which flows like water. | |
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Reason for communing: Impressed with NumberMan's calculating style. | |
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Reason for communing: Realizes MetalMan is a Navi who talks with his fists, hurts but better than mere words, and moved by his soul of steel. | |
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Reason for communing: Felt Sal and WoodMan's love of nature. |
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Reason for communing: Recognizes JunkMan's soul touching the hearts of the audience, including MegaMan's. | |
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Reason for communing: Felt Chaud's true feelings of ProtoMan's importance when they were helping, and ProtoMan's cool and poignant soul. |
Mega Man Battle Network 5[]
Mega Man Battle Network 5 | |
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Team ProtoMan Souls | |
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Reason for communing: Impressed by MagnetMan's staunch defensive power. |
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Reason for communing: Impressed by GyroMan's spirit of flight. |
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Reason for communing: NapalmMan being impressed by MegaMan's toughness for beating the Dark Power. |
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Reason for communing: Impressed by SearchMan's ice-cool way of keeping calm. |
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Reason for communing: Recognizes Meddy as a kind person and impressed by how nice she is. |
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Reason for communing: Believed in ProtoMan's return from being controlled by the Dark Power. |
Team Colonel Souls | |
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Reason for communing: Impressed by KnightMan's nerves of steel. |
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Reason for communing: Impressed by ShadowMan's shadowy spirit of illusion. |
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Reason for communing: TomahawkMan being really impressed by MegaMan's faith in his friends. |
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Reason for communing: Really impressed by NumberMan's clear mind and calculated battles. | |
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Reason for communing: Impressed by ToadMan's constant positivity. |
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Reason for communing: Believed in Colonel's return from being controlled by the Dark Power. |
Other Appearances[]
Anime[]

Megaman using Proto Soul.
In MegaMan NT Warrior Axess, MegaMan is able to perform Double Soul initially through a special bond between fellow Navis; he usually obtained new souls in dire situations, during which either he or the other Navi in question were subject to great peril. After initiating a given Double Soul once, Lan received a corresponding chip, allowing MegaMan to freely access it when needed.
While it is Double Soul that overrides MegaMan's Style Change option in the games, it is a side effect of Cross Fusion that serves this purpose in the anime.[3]
All twelve Souls from Mega Man Battle Network 4 appear in Axess. Only one Soul from Mega Man Battle Network 5 (Gyro Soul) appears in the Stream season.
Manga[]
Mega Man NT Warrior (manga)[]

Proto Soul in Mega Man NT Warrior manga.
MegaMan acquired the Double Soul program from Serenade and first used it during his third battle with Bass. Like in the anime, MegaMan is able to perform Double Soul through a special bond between fellow Navis. Unlike in the anime though, Lan doesn't receive a corresponding chip, requiring MegaMan's fellow Navis to be there for MegaMan to use Double Soul. Also, the Navis who perform Double Soul with MegaMan gives 99% of their data to MegaMan, leaving them at a state of near deletion. If the Navi who performs Double Soul with MegaMan is deleted, the respective Double Soul will disappear as well.
Only Proto Soul, Guts Soul, Search Soul, Tomahawk Soul, and Tomahawk Chaos appear in the manga.
MegaMan DS performs a NetNavi fusion as well, but instead of combining souls, he consumes the Navi instead. He uses this technique on Bass and LaserMan.
Battle Story MegaMan NT Warrior[]

Unison Chip in Battle Story Mega Man NT Warrior manga.
Yuichiro Hikari has created the Unison Program, an evolution of Style Change. When MegaMan activates it and fights another Navi, it'll collect emotion energy during the battle, resulting in a Unison Chip. The Unison Chip materializes in the cyberworld and Lan needs to speak the keyword, "Soul Unison", to activate it. In the manga's final chapter (Chapter 71), MegaMan goes into Proto Soul and works with ProtoMan to take down ShadeMan. While not in the manga itself, the manga's artist has drawn other Souls as extras.
Development Notes[]

Bass Soul
- A Bass Soul and Duo Soul was planned to be added to Mega Man Battle Network 4, but there wasn’t enough space on the cartridge [4]. Bass Cross MegaMan would be a spiritual successor to the idea. Within the game’s data, the framework for the souls still exist [5].
- Chaos Unison came to be due to Director Masahiro Yasuma wanting to create a "chaos hero" aspect, that being a good MegaMan being able to use Dark Chips[8].
- For Mega Man Battle Network 5, Director Masahiro Yasuma tried to keep a balance between the different version Double Souls. Treating Team ProtoMan as geared more towards battles that take some careful setup, and Team Colonel as containing a bit more destructive power but has its own quirks [8].
- When the Battle Network development staff was polled, the majority considers Double Soul as the best among the transformation systems[9].
- While the Soul designs are by the concept artist, the Chaos Unison colors are done by the Design Studio (the Official Illustrators)[10].
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The time period that Dark MegaMan appears following the fail of Chaos Unison charge shot is 13 seconds, a rather unusual nod to an unlucky number.
- In Battle Network 4, during the ShadeMan fight in ToyRoboComp, the strange properties of the fight makes it possible for Soul to use Dark Sword. As well as uniting with Dark Sword for Proto Soul.
- The following Soul abilities are not mentioned in the game's E-Mail:
- Fire Soul's ability to absorb Lava Panels to heal is not mentioned.
- Junk Soul's ability to remove invisibility in addition to causing confusion is not mentioned.
- BN4 Proto Soul's ability to remove flashing from sword attacks is not mentioned. Furthermore, this ability is removed entirely in BN5, as well as the Charge Shot’s ability to counter hit.
- Napalm Soul's ability to absorb Lava Panels to strengthen chips is not mentioned.
- BN5 Search Soul's ability to see the number of chips the enemy is holding.
- Thanks to Junk Soul recycling Dark Chips, Junk Soul and base form MegaMan can use Dark Chips without going Evil emotion and losing HP. However, the bugs from the chips will still be inflicted.
- For some reason, in the English version of BN5, Search Soul's Scope Gun was renamed Snipe Gun. The name was the same in Japanese.
- Due to Shadow Soul flipping MegaMan's sprite, there are some strange interactions from dimming chips if they are used in that period. However doing so is impossible, except with a dimming chip "cut in" during a multiplayer match.
- For the German language option in the European version of Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team DS, Napalm Soul and Napalm Chaos is named "Moltanic Soul" and "Moltanic Chaos". The voice clips where Lan says "Napalm" have also been replaced with "Moltanic".
- Due to the manipulated use of Dark Soul's registered chips through Dark Double Soul and Chaos Unison's failed charge shot, many restrictions were put into the Capcom Official Rules for tournaments. Abusing the mechanic such as spamming the same powerful chips over 3 times, or stalling the match with dimming chips that requires pressing the A button, puts a risk disqualification from the tournament[11].
References[]
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20071024051541/http://www.capcom-fc.com/staffroom/archives/2006/01/_6_4.php#more
- ↑ MMBN5 E-Mail: "MegaMan faced down the DarkPower within himself. Now,under certain conditions,he can use this DarkPower: ChaosUnison.”
- ↑ MegaMan NT Warrior / Rockman EXE Axess Episode #2, 2003
- ↑ https://www.therockmanexezone.com/interviews/2018/03/21/exe-15th-ann-special-staff-discussion-part-6/
- ↑ The Mechanical Maniacs - Mega Man Battle Network Mysteries
- ↑ Rockman EXE no Himitsu pg.21
- ↑ Mega Man Battle Network Official Complete Works pg. 158
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Rockman EXE5 Ultimate Navigation CHAOS
- ↑ Rockman EXE 6 Ultimate Navigation COMP interview (English translation)
- ↑ Mega Man Battle Network Official Complete Works pg.56
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060112071339/http://www.capcom.co.jp/rockmanexe/event/netbattle05_1/nbt2005_rule/index2.html
See also[]
Mega Man Battle Network Transformations | |
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Transformations | |
Style Change • Double Soul/Chaos Unison • Cross MegaMan • Cross System • Beast Out • Trans Arm | |
Related items | |
Cross Fusion • Dark Chip • Elements • Hub.bat • Synchro Chips • Synchronization |
Dark | |
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Dark Abilities | |
Chaos Unison • Dark Chip • Dark Power • Dark Soul • Evil Chip • Evil State • Dark Synchro Chip | |
Related Characters | |
Nebula • Darkloid • Dark MegaMan • Dark ProtoMan |