Virus Breeder is a machine in Mega Man Battle Network 3, created with the intent of studying various virus species. During the game, Lan Hikari and MegaMan.EXE are asked to round up viruses and send them to the Virus Breeder as a side quest. While some viruses are gotten by different means, most are found when MegaMan walks onto a certain place on the net, resulting in a battle with all versions of that particular virus. When defeated, they will stand idle in front of MegaMan, where he sends them to the Virus Breeder. By returning to the breeder, Lan can receive a chip that summons that species of virus, cycling through the different versions before being summoned with the A button.
Once the game is beaten and certain requirements are met, the Ω version of each species and the Scuttle viruses can be obtained.
Obtainable species[]
Mettaur[]
Locations[]

Mettaur: ACDC 1 (behind the WWW door).

MettaurΩ: Class 5A Blackboard (South corner).
Virus Stats[]
Each Mettaur attacks by sending out a shockwave travelling down the row. The Omega version's shockwave cracks panels.
Bunny[]
Locations[]

Bunny: Reward for Job 19.

BunnyΩ: Hospital Bed Computer (North corner).
Virus Stats[]
Once summoned, the Bunny attacks like it does in the wild, by shooting out a Zap Ring which can stun the enemy for 2–4 seconds, depending on the version summoned.
Spikey[]
Locations[]

Spikey: Gargoyle Comp at Hades (Upper corner).

SpikeyΩ: ZooComp 2 (Southwest corner).
Virus Stats[]
Each Spikey attacks just like it does in the wild, by breathing a fire shot that travels forward down the row until it makes contact with a target. Each species has its own explosion pattern, just like in regular battles. Upon making contact, Spikey's attack is a ShotGun explosion pattern, Spikey2's is a V-Gun pattern, Spikey3's is a SideGun pattern, and SpikeyΩ's is a Spreader type pattern.
Swordy[]
Locations[]

Swordy: Undernet 1 (upper level, right side).

SwordyΩ: Zoo Broken Alarm Comp (West corner).
Virus Stats[]
Each member of the Swordy species has its own element and attack. Swordy, bearing no element, attacks with a Long Sword attack. Swordy2, a Heat element, attacks with a Fire Sword. Swordy3, an Aqua element, attacks with an Aqua Sword. SwordyΩ, having no element, and unlike its wild counterpart, attacks with a Life Sword (range 2 rows by 3 columns). Since the virus levitates, it can be summoned over a hole.
Jelly[]
Locations[]

Jelly: Beach 2 (lowermost corner).

JellyΩ: Bath Lion Comp (center, left of hole).
Virus Stats[]
All Jelly variants attack with a three row wave attack, just like in the wild. However, each variant has a different element of their wave attack. Jelly inflicts Aqua damage, HeatJelly inflicts Heat damge, EarthJelly inflicts Wood damage, and JellyΩ inflicts Aqua damage. Although Jellys appear to hover, they cannot be summoned over a hole.
Mushy[]
Locations[]

Mushy: SciLab 2 (left corner behind desk).

MushyΩ: Hospital Comp 1 (south of the entrance).
Virus Stats[]
Once summonded, each Mushy variant attacks by emitting spores around it, which hit all the panels surrounding the virus. However, unlike the wild variants, summoned Mushys do not require grass panels to be summoned. Upon hitting an enemy, Mushy's attack inflicts a confusion status on the enemy, lasting for a 8 seconds for Mushy, 12 seconds for Mashy, and 16 seconds for Moshy and MushyΩ.
Momogra[]
Locations[]

Momogra: Zoo Comp 4 (where BeastMan was).

MomograΩ: Yoka 1 (where BubbleMan was).
Virus Stats[]
All Momogra variants attack by hitting the target on the panel in front of it with a shovel.
KillerEye[]
Locations[]

KillerEye: Principal's Comp 1 (below blackboard).

KillerEyeΩ: SciLab Door Panel Comp (NW side).
Virus Stats[]
The KillerEye variants attack very similar to how they do in the wild; they release a paralyzing electic beam in a certain orientation, which is capable of piercing Invisible and Shield statuses. KillerEye and KillerEyeΩ's attack orientation is straight forward, down the row. DemonEye's attack is diagonally upwards. JokerEye's attack is diagonally downwards. Since the virus levitates, it can be summoned over a hole.
Scuttle[]
Locations[]

Scuttle: Secret 1 (NW of the entrance).

Scuttle: Secret 3 (Norther platform).

ScuttleΩ: WWW Base Wall Comp (NE side).
Virus Stats[]
Each Scuttle variant is very different from the others. They generally attack similar to how they do in the wild.
- Scutz attacks by summoning a homing FireTower, which deals Fire damage.
- Scuttle attacks by summoning and pushing an Ice Cube forward down the row. This attack only hits the first target it makes contact with, dealing Aqua damage. If there is no target in the row, then the IceCube will travel past the field and disappear, unlike the wild Scuttles whose missed IceCube remains on the last available panel in the row.
- Scuttler attacks by summoning Lightning from the sky, hitting every enemy on screen dealing Electric damage.
- Scutzer attacks with Green Rope, by summing vines which entangle all the enemies and deal Wood damage, in addition to dealing an extra 30 points of non-elemental damage everyone second for up to 4 seconds, unless the enemy breaks free of the wrap.
- Scuttlest attacks by firing a non-elemental beam straight down the row.
- ScuttleΩ attacks just like Scuttlest, by firing a non-elemental beam straight down the row.
Raising[]
By jacking into the Virus Breeder, MegaMan can feed each species of virus a certain amount BugFrags, which increases their attack power. However, because there are multiple versions of the same species, the Bug Frags must be distributed amongst them, leaving the player to decide which version should get the most, and in turn, which one does the most damage.
The player feeds them 5 BugFrags at a time, for a total of 100 BugFrags for virus group, to be distributed as the player decides. To distribute them the player can talk to each virus and feed them directly via their pet bowl, or by talking to a program in each cell to do so (the player must feed the viruses first before using this program to redistribute.) Once 100 Bugfrags have been given to a group and the player has obtained the Yellow Star by defeating Alpha, the Mr. Prog for that group will give a hint where the Ω version of that group can be found.
Trivia[]
- Virus Breeder only made an appearance in Mega Man Battle Network 3, without being implemented or ever having been mentioned in any of the subsequent Mega Man Battle Network games.
- Taking into account all the possible chip codes for each virus chip that can be obtained through legit or hacking means, the chip letters can be arranged to spell out a word very close to the Japanese virus's name:
- Mettaur chip letters can spell out METOL, close to a possible Romanization of "メットール" (Mettōru).
- Bunny chip letters can spell out RABIL, close to a possible Romanization of "ラビリー" (Rabirī), taking account the interchangeability of "R" and "L" sounds in Japanese.
- Spikey chip letters can spell out GARUE, using an E to mimic the extended vowel ending to "ガルー" (Garū).
- Swordy chip letters can spell out SWODI, one letter short of a possible Romanization of "スウォーディン" (Suwōdin)
- Jelly chip letters can spell out JELRY, again using interchangeable "R" and "L".
- Mushy chip letters can spell out CHMSY, an abbreviation of "チャマッシュ" (Chamasshu).
- Momogra chip letters can spell out MOGUR. If allowed to repeat the MO at the start, it becomes fairly close to the starting letters of the Romanization of "モモグラン" (Momoguran).
- KillerEye chip letters can spell out KILER.
- Scuttlest chip letters can spell out DREAM, the first word of their Japanese name, "ドリームビット" (Dorīmu Bitto, Dream Bit)
- Director Masahiro Yasuma states that Virus Breeder's creation was influenced by Roll interacting with viruses in the anime.[1]
References[]
- Some data and images taken from The Mechanical Maniacs.