Bass (known as "Forte" in Japan) is a fictional video game character, designed to be a rival to the character Mega Man. Bass is a fiercely independent and rebellious robot, who is obsessed with the thought of defeating Mega Man in battle so that he can prove that he is - as he claims to be - the strongest robot on Earth. The only friend he seems to have, is his loyal wolfbot, Treble (known as "Gospel" in Japan). Treble is Rush's dark equivalent, and is able to 'merge' with his master, allowing Bass to take flight and shoot more powerful projectiles from his buster (arm cannon) for a limited amount of time.
Bass' name originates from Bass (most of the main robots in the series are named after musical terms), and Treble's name originates from Treble. His Japanese name, Forte, also has musical origins, as does his wolfbot's Japanese name, Gospel. He wears black armor, which has gold accents and markings, along with a large, rounded-triangular blue "gem" on the chest part. Under the armor, Bass wears a jumpsuit which is grey in color. He also wears a distinctive helmet (which, as is to be expected, matches his armour in general color-scheme and design), which has two large "fins" on it, and a star-shaped blue "jewel" on the part which covers his forehead. Last of all, he has a pair of purple marks on his face - one stripe on each cheek. His pupils are a distinctive red color, although due to the color limits on the sprites in his debut title, Mega Man 7, they appeared to be black there (this contradicted that title's promotional artwork, and all promotional artwork since). This went against the creators' intentions for his eye color, and in all of his subsequent in-game appearances, allowances have been made so that his eyes appear red, as they should.
Mega Man
Bass was first introduced in Mega Man VII (SNES, 1995) as a "potential" ally (he attempted, and somewhat succeeded in tricking Mega Man into believing that he was on his side). Later in the same game, he pretends to be injured, and fools Mega Man into sending him to Dr. Light's lab for repairs. When Mega Man returns to the lab, and finds it in ruins, Dr. Light explains that Bass went berserk, destroyed the lab, and stole the plans for the Rush adapter. He is fought later as a mini-boss. He was playable in a hidden mini-game in Mega Man 7. Bass has also appeared in Mega Man 8 (Sony PlayStation/Sega Saturn 1997) and resumed his role as a playable character in Mega Man & Bass (Nintendo Game Boy Advance 2003; originally released as Rockman & Forte for the Super Famicom in 1998). He has also appeared in multiple side-games, such as Mega Man Battle & Chase (Sony PlayStation, 1998 - Europe and Japan, and included in Mega Man X Collection), and a follow up to this game, Rockman GP, which was released exclusively for Japanese cellphones in 2004. In Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Dr. Wily reveals that Bass' power comes from an energy source - Bassnium (known as Fortenium, in Japan) - that he discovered by accident when trying to create a robot to rival Mega Man. He also reveals that he feels that creating Bass was a mistake, presumably leaving Bass with a great deal of resentment toward his 'father'. Bass' fate, like many characters in the original series, is unknown in the Megaman X series.
Bass is notably based upon Mega Man. He possesses a similar weapons plan that allows him to absorb the powers of his fallen foes, just like Mega Man. He can also fuse with his dog Treble in a form callled the Treble Boost, a form which resembles Mega Man in the Rush Adaptor. Oddly enough, after Mega Man 7, the Rush Adaptor is no longer seen, although Bass still merges with Treble on occassion. In both forms, he can fly. In Mega Man 7, he can fire a homing missile in addition to his normal attacks. In Mega Man and Bass, he fires a triple shot that is twice as strong as his normal buster.
MegaMan Battle Network
Bass is a mysterious AI navi who roamed the deepest recesses of the internet, seeking to do battle with the strongest opponents. His past is intertwined with that of Tadashi Hikari. It is soon learned that Bass was created by a scientist named Dr. Cossack, whom he saw as a father. Bass was created by Cossack as part of the SoloNavi project: a project to create a NetNavi that was not reliant on a NetOp or a PET to exist. But due to Alpha, Bass was blamed for the malfunctioning of several devices and was believed to have been deleted by SciLab Elite Corps. Since that day, though, he vowed to destroy humanity as he has the scar inflicted upon his chest as his navi symbol. His identity as a SoloNavi allowed him to escape detection with no way of tracking him. As seen in MegaMan Battle Network 3, Bass' presence also creates communication interference, which only helped his escape.
Bass became immensely powerful due to the ability hard-wired into him: The 'Get Ability' program. This allows Bass to absorb the power of any foe he defeats in battle. After the attack by SciLab, Bass was weakened, and crawled through the Net. He fed on the data remains of deleted viruses and Navis, growing stronger and stronger, until he was strong enough to find and delete viruses and Navis on his own. He presumably also deleted a version of the 'Life Virus' from MegaMan Battle Network 1, and from it absorbed the Life Aura. Other then a select few viruses in MegaMan Battle Network 2, Bass is the only opponent to bear an Aura, much less regenerate it at will. Bass and Dr. Cossack eventually cross paths again in MegaMan Battle Network 3. Cossack uses a 'Pulse Transmission System' to jack his mind into the Net, and there meets Bass. Bass is amused that a 'puny human' would dare to come into his world. Bass then reveals the glowing white scar on his chest, telling Cossack of the trials and perils he went through to gain his power. Cossack attempts to 'self-destruct' his own mind and destroy Bass, and Bass attacks Cossack. However, Cossack survives. This is the only event in which Bass shows some sort of mercy or compassion for humans. Despite the fact that Bass believes he was betrayed by his creator/father (which he was not. Cossack defended Bass when SciLab announced the plan to delete him), he apparently could still not bring himself to kill Cossack. Depite the fact that Cossack apparently survives, he has yet to appear in any other games in the Battle Network series.
As the secret boss in every game (and a story boss in BN3) he soon crossed paths with MegaMan several times, and soon Bass' origins would be known by Wily, who was in hiding after the first LifeVirus was destroyed. Wily learned of Bass' ability to absorb the power of anything he touches, and realized he could be the key to reawakening Alpha. Since finding him could be really hard, he decided to have someone make clones of Bass for him, so he found Sean across the Net and convinced him to form the netmafia Gospel and make an army of Bass clones. Sean attempted to do so, using unstable bits of data called BugFrags. The unstable Bass clone mutated into the boss Gospel (who notably resembled Treble). Lan and his friends had managed to stop Gospel and delete the data that allowed Sean to create Bass clones. Bass is seen after the ending credits, dispatching a clone in the Secret WWW area, and raging that he could not allow those wretched humans to make clones of him. Because the Bass created by Sean is not authentic, it lacks many attacks the true Bass has, and also has no aura.
Bass discovered who was behind the plan to clone him, and confronted Wily. Wily gave Bass an offer he could't refuse: if he helps Wily awaken Proto, Bass will fufill his vow of having all of humanity wiped out. Bass agreed to this, even more impressed by Wily's will to sacrifice himself when Proto awakens. Bass managed to get Proto before MegaMan could, and in Proto's core, the data form of Wily commanded Bass to absorb the Guardian Program and he did. MegaMan then fought Bass and won, and Proto consumed Bass along with Wily. However, Bass later appears in the Secret Areas once the Undernet King Serenade is defeated. Bass appears by merging with the BugFrags in the BugFrag trader located in Serenade's lair. He then fights MegaMan, but possesses a stronger aura, twice as much HP, and has various new attacks that are created when his arm transforms into a miniature version of Gospel. This version of Bass is called Bass GS.
After MegaMan Battle Network 3, Bass was back where he started: crawling through the Internet, near death, until he came across a remnant of Gospel. He merged with it and became something much, much different. He lost his memory, believing he exists only to fight and destroy, and he is only healed by glitch-causing bugs. As such, he faced MegaMan on various occasions. But even without his memory, Bass still remains active, ever seeking more and more power to exact his revenge.
Strangely enough, Bass has later appeared in new forms other then Bass GS. In MegaMan Battle Network 4, he appeared with barely any memory and he attacked with darkness attacks he gained from absorbing DarkPower. He no longer used his signature LifeAura, or any of his attacks from previous games. In MegaMan Battle Network 5, Bass himself only appeared in certain areas if MegaMan was BassCross MegaMan, which is a fusion of MegaMan and Bass. One of the forms of Lord of Chaos (A recolored Nebula Gray), a hidden boss in the deepest part of the net, is also Bass. After defeating the Lord of Chaos in his Bass form, the real Bass can be found randomly outside his lair.
Powers: Battle Network 3
Following is a description of Bass' powers, as seen in the Megaman Battle Network 3 game.
LifeAura: A glowing yellow aura, the LifeAura blocks any attacks with attack powers of less then 100. Thus, players must have many powerful Battle Chips with which to delete the Aura. While his Aura is active, Bass takes no damage except from effects like poison. He can regenerate the Aura at will, usually after his Earth Break or Air Burst attacks. It can easily be argued that this is what makes Bass so strong of an opponent: if a player does not have any Battle Chips strong enough to break the Aura, they have no hope of defeating Bass.
Gospel Cannon: An attack used by Bass GS, the Gospel Cannon creates a miniature version of Gospel on Bass' arm, which he then uses to fires flames.
Earth Break: Bass' trademark attack, Earth Break causes Bass to leap into the air and slam the enemy with his fist, breaking panels. It resembles the Battle Chip PanelOut3.
Bass Buster: Bass holds out his hands and fires a single yellow sphere along the ground.
Air Burst: A barrage of glowing yellow spheres that cause heavy damage. A stronger from of the Bass Buster.
Get Ability: The program that made Bass so powerful, it allows him to absorb the powers of any foe he defeats.
Powers: Battle Network 5
In Battle Network 5, Bass appears as a form of the Lord of Chaos. He bears no Aura, and moves by leaving after images on the field. For some strange reason, Bass is never actually refered to by name, except when he becomes BassΩ (Bass Omega) after being defeated as the Lord of Chaos. BassΩ can then be found randomly outside of the Lord of Chaos' lair in Nebula Hole6. He possesses 3500 HP, making him the second strongest boss in the game after NebulaGreyΩ (4000 HP). While BassΩ has no aura, he can only be hit while attacking, as while moving from once panel to another, he is invincible.
Dark Air Burst: Bass holds out his hands and fires an barrage of bullets. The bullets cannot be seen, so the only indication of where they will hit in the flashing panel a second before hand. He fires dozen of bullets, making this attack very difficult to avoid.
Darkness Overload: Bass warps to the front panel of MegaMan's area and attacks and cracks the six panels in the back.
Dark Arm Blade: Bass will move in the player's area, and slash. His slash with either have the range of a Longsword or a Widesword, but the slash itself appears as a jagged purple line of Dark Power.
Hell's Rolling: Bass summmons two jagged purple wheels of energy that spin towards MegaMan. The wheels also criss-cross each other at some point, prompting a player to move quickly to avoid them,
Chaos Nightmare: Bass flies above his panels, rendering him immune to attacks, and summons a gigantic ball of purple Dark Power. He then throws the ball at MegaMan, cracking all 8 panels around the hit panel. It is an alternate form of Darkness Overload.
Bass.exe in the Anime
When Wily broke apart PharaohMan's data, and extracted its Ultimate Program to serve as the basis of Gospel, some pieces of data broke off from the remains of PharaohMan in the process. One of these formed itself into the being known as Bass. However, Bass had no recollection until he abducted MegaMan and learning of origins, has "awakened".
He tried to consume the data of the Gospel for the Ultimate Destruction Program to be whole, only to be consumed himself. But when MegaMan destroyed Gospel and restored all the NetNavis, Bass took residence in the Shuryou Gospel android. He left, vowing revenge against the world. He later resurfaced to revive ShadeMan and tried to absorb MegaMan and ProtoMan when Duo came to Earth, only to be easily defeated by Slur.
In the movie that took place right in the middle of Stream, Bass gets captured by Regal and is brain washed to fight MegaMan and Colonel. Bass, upon returning to normal, wanted to make Regal pay for 'disgusting act' of a human using him even if meant siding with MegaMan. The duo were no match against the Cyber Beast Nebula Grey so Megaman had Bass absorb his Ultimate Program. Oddly enough, the end result was expected and BassCross Megaman was born. Though BassCross was able to stop Regal, the villain attempted to destroy the fusion with a black hole. But Bass forced a separation and flung MegaMan out of harm's way as he himself got sucked in. Bass would later return during the final battle against Duo, where he won his rematch Slur and absorbed her program.
Trivia
Bass is the only NetNavi to bear some sort of clothing over his uniform: his tattered brown cloak. Bass resumably wears his cloak to hide the scar on his chest inflicted by the SciLab Elite Corps. Exactly how he came upon the cloak is unknown.
Although Bass apparently bears the LifeAura, in most of the games his Aura has a strength of 100. In the 3rd BN game, the Battlechip Aura had a power of 100, and LifeAura a power of 200. Bass' Aura is also yellow, the color of the Aura, leading some to believe he only possesses a normal Aura. In BN3, there is also a DarkAura which has a power of 300. Possibly to avoid confusion, since BN3 the only Aura has been LifeAura, which now has a power of 200 and is yellow, just like Bass' Aura. An explanation of Bass' Aura from BN3 could be that it was only the storyline Bass that had the 100 Aura: Bass GS had a yellow Aura of 200 power, the LifeAura.
Bass is the only boss that players can fight in all MegaMan Battle Network games. Until BN4 was introduced, both Bass and ProtoMan could claim this. But Protoman cannot be fought in both BN4 games, and thus, Bass remains the only boss that appears and can be fought in all the games.
With the introduction of Battle Network 5 Double Team for the Nintendo DS, it is possible, through linking with another game, to obtain a Soul Unison with Bass. This creates BassCross Megaman, and is a permanent unison, although other Soul Unisons can be performed. There are two forms of BassCross MegaMan: Gold (power) and Silver (speed).
In Megaman: Power Fighters, it is suggested that Bass was a prototype for Zero. Bass, along with many others, was believed to be just another Megaman-Killer robot like Punk, Ballade and Quint, except he became much more powerful then Wily Expected.