Getting S Ranks with BusterMAX enabled

[CrowRising]

You can think of this as a sort of small PSA. Despite the word that's been getting around about it being impossible to get S ranks with BusterMAX enabled, it is actually possible (and sometimes easy). You just need to be a little bit smarter about doing it than simply gunning everything down.

Against bosses, all you have to do is finish them off quickly while trying to avoid damage. For regular viruses, you need to try to go for double and triple deletes in as small an amount of time as possible. That means you're going to have to use some chips to assist you. Navi chips are the easiest way to go about it. If you can finish off at least one enemy with a Navi chip and then another enemy with your buster shot in quick enough succession, it will count as a double delete. Stronger Navi chips that can take out two or three enemies at once will do the job even easier.

Alternatively, you could use chips such as WideSwrd or LongSwrd or even DashAtk which have large attack range to finish off multiple enemies at once. If you encounter viruses that have too much HP to one shot with these, it might be a good idea to have multiples of these types of chips with the same code or a * code in your folder so that you can inflict enough damage quickly. Just be careful not to miss.

Basically, enabling BusterMAX doesn't do anything to disable S ranks from happening. The issue isn't BusterMAX, but the fact that the buster alone isn't capable of scoring you an S rank whether MAX is enabled or not, unless of course you're up against a boss in which case damage you take and how long it takes you to win are the only factors that matter. You can often take a hit and still S rank bosses with BusterMAX enabled, but if you take too long the damage will count against you enough to reduce your rank.

Keep in mind that while the text signifying a double and triple delete wasn't added until Battle Network 3, they did already exist as a mechanic in 1 and 2.

[Khelder]

Actually, if your Buster Speed is high enough, and you are close enough to the enemies, you can get a Double Delete by spamming a BusterMax buster — meaning that an S-Rank is possible. e.g. the 2 mettaur battle in ACDC1 & ACDC2 in MMBN3: move up, move right, and then spam the B-button as soon as the lower mettaur moves into the top row.

[CrowRising]

Originally posted by Khelder:

Actually, if your Buster Speed is high enough, and you are close enough to the enemies, you can get a Double Delete by spamming a BusterMax buster — meaning that an S-Rank is possible. e.g. the 2 mettaur battle in ACDC1 & ACDC2 in MMBN3: move up, move right, and then spam the B-button as soon as the lower mettaur moves into the top row.

If you can, it's quite the precise timing. It might also require some speed upgrades, but I'm not sure.

[HeraldOfOpera]

Originally posted by Khelder:

Actually, if your Buster Speed is high enough, and you are close enough to the enemies, you can get a Double Delete by spamming a BusterMax buster — meaning that an S-Rank is possible. e.g. the 2 mettaur battle in ACDC1 & ACDC2 in MMBN3: move up, move right, and then spam the B-button as soon as the lower mettaur moves into the top row.

You can also get them in BN5 with Bass Cross' Triple Buster.