Mr. Match

Mr. Match
Information
NetNavi:	FireMan.EXE (BN1, NT, BCC, N1B, BN4, EXEPoN) HeatMan.EXE (BN2, BCC, BN6) FlameMan.EXE (BN3, BCC)
Misc. Information
Japanese Name:	Kenichi Hino
Script:	火野ケンイチ
Romaji:	Hino Ken'ichi
Alt. Name(s):	Hinoken
Series Information
In-game Appearances:	Mega Man Battle Network Mega Man Battle Network 2 Mega Man Battle Network 3 Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge Mega Man Battle Network 4 Rockman.EXE Phantom of Network Mega Man Battle Network 6
Other Appearances:	MegaMan NT Warrior anime and manga
Sprites

For his anime counterpart, see. Mr. Match (anime).

"Hahahah! You made it this far but now it's war! ...Like FireMan sez, we're strong kiddo! FireMan! Let's burn!"

―Mr. Match, Mega Man Battle Network

Mr. Match, known in Japan as Kenichi Hino (火野ケンイチ, Hino Ken’ichi) or Hinoken (ヒノケン, Hinoken) for short, is a recurring character in the Mega Man Battle Network series. He uses three NetNavis in the games: FireMan.EXE, HeatMan.EXE, and FlameMan.EXE. His age is in the 30s.

Match was part of the criminal organization WWW in an attempt to shock society, he returns to crime time to time again. Although later in his life (in Battle Network 6), he found a way to burn hot in his research rather than crimes .

Appearance

Mr. Match has red hair and a goatee. On almost every games, Mr. Match constantly change attires.

In his debut on the first Mega Man Battle Network game, he is shown wearing a green shirt with white sleeves, white pants, a green cap and brown shoes.

In Mega Man Battle Network 2, Match is shown wearing a purple shirt, tan pants (although his pants is shown to be green in an artwork) and brown shoes.

In Mega Man Battle Network 3, Match is shown dressed up as an SciLab employee. He wears a light blue shirt with purple linings, dark purple pants and brown shoes. In an artwork, Match is shown wearing an orange with a brown collar, although he is shown wearing the jacket in the game.

In Mega Man Battle Network 4, Mr. Match is shown wearing a red jacket, black pants with fire printed on the bottom and black shoes.

In Mega Man Battle Network 6, Mr. Match wears a dark magenta suit and black shoes. His suit is shown to be dark purple in an artwork.

Personality

Mr. Match is a rather complex character as his personality traits differ between the games. However the only consistent traits are his fiery personality, his love for battle and use of fire-related puns.

When not committing crime he can be a friendly and even helpful individual to both Lan Hikari and others. However when he does engage in criminal activity, he is to be feared as he has dangerous homicidal pyromaniac tendencies that have endangered many lives.

Not only that, but he has shown to be manipulative as he posed as a system repairer (in the first game and implied so in the anime) only to fill households with viruses and set them on fire, and feigning reform on the third game to win Lan's trust and tricking him into installing a program that set SciLab on fire.

On this game his cruelty is at its peak as he not only provoked Lan into playing a "game" with his father and SciLab's workers lives at stake, but he subsequently tortured the young boy psychologically over the prospect that he helped Match achieve his mission and thus making him as much of a criminal as Match is and even further so as he is the cause of his father's endangering, all the while Match avoided any responsibility for his actions, feeling absolutely no guilt whatsoever and passing all the blame on Lan, which left deep emotional wounds.

Although in the fourth game he plotted to set the Den Dome on fire with WWW remnants, after learning that a person he had helped on the past was there, he came for the first time openly on screen came to regret his actions and genuinely repented by helping Lan overcome the situation and was willing to surrender to the Officials, although he was forgiven. He can also engage in petty fights against other Fire Navi users he may disapprove of, ending with incendiary results.

It is likely at this point onwards that Mr. Match did truly have a change of heart as he became a teacher on the sixth game, turning on a completely new leaf and even helping Lan on his quest, and being well respected on the school.

In the anime, Mr. Match's traits remain consistent although he nowhere reaches the same levels of vileness as on the third game, he remains a dangerous villain. In this setting he makes a target of Lan and MegaMan (for ruining his plans), FreezeMan (for deleting TorchMan) and VineMan (for provoking them) and has shown to pursue them relentlessly and with fervor intensity. As the series progresses his villainous persona also diminishes.

History

Mega Man Battle Network

He is a member of the WWW that uses his NetNavi FireMan to commit arson to search for a super program for Lord Wily. He disguises himself as a NetSafety repair man and hacks into the control panels of houses to spread viruses in the ovens, making them explode. Mr. Match then goes to Lan's house and fills his control panel and stove full of viruses. However, by this time MegaMan confronts FireMan and deletes him. But, Mr. Match reveals that he already got his hands on the program that he needed, meaning that the operation wasn't a total bust.

Mega Man Battle Network 2

Mr. Match, now seems to be living an honest life, appears at the airport with HeatMan as his Navi, and challenges the player to an optional NetBattle.

Mega Man Battle Network 3

After the Gospel incident, Match found himself spending his days depressed. Being unable to find anything exciting in his everyday life, he returns to working for the WWW.

The next time Match meets Lan, he pretends to have quit the WWW and claims to be a good person. He has started working at SciLab and uses his Navi FlameMan to help Lan against weak WWW Navis (which were actually sent by him). Lan was lured into installing three malicious programs into the SciLab computers that caused the facility to reach high temperatures. Match reveals himself to Lan as a WWW member and challenges him to extinguish the flames that he had spread throughout the web. After extinguishing the fire, Mr. Match calls Lan to the Undernet 3 and fights against him with FlameMan. He had the advantage, but Bass appears and deletes FlameMan, forcing Mr. Match to retreat. The security of SciLab is weakened after this, and several scientists, including Lan's father, were sent to the hospital.

He reappears with Anetta and PlantMan in Castle Wily, where they use Full Synchro and fight MegaMan at the same time. After Wily's defeat, Match and the other WWW members were taken into custody and sent to the hospital.

Mega Man Battle Network 4

In Red Sun, he participates in the Den Battle Tournament with FireMan; additionally, he appears in either version if the player fights BurnerMan in the Eagle/Hawk Tournament.

In Red Sun's Den Battle Tournament, Lan immediately suspects that Mr. Match is up to no good. Mr. Match approaches Lan at a hot dog stand, and the stand's owner informs Lan that Mr. Match saved her business. The vendor is then approached by two thugs, but Mr. Match runs them off after they attempt to coerce the woman into paying "protection money". As Lan and Mr. Match prepare for their tournament battle, Match reveals that he plans to blow up the Den Dome, but decides against it when he learns that the hot dog-selling woman is in the audience. However, the thugs that he hired attempt to do it anyway. After Lan disarms several igniters, FireMan and MegaMan NetBattle with MegaMan emerging as the victor. The hot dog vendor asks Mr. Match to run the hot dog stand with her, but he refuses.

During the Eagle/Hawk Tournament, Mr. Match appears during BurnerMan's scenario to see if his operator is any better than he is. Mr. Match is pretty much disappointed in Atsuki Homura, as he doesn't appear to have a "burning spirit". Atsuki in turn starts provoking Mr. Match by calling him, "Old Man" and they end up quarreling with each other. They decided to settle the dispute with a NetBattle in the ACDC and Park Areas, causing the Net to catch fire. Lan manages to resolve the battle by telling Atsuki and BurnerMan, that he and MegaMan, had beaten FireMan before. This really humiliates Mr. Match and he demands a win from Lan in the tournament. After BurnerMan loses, Mr. Match humiliates Atsuki one last time from the spectators stand. This causes Atsuki to go berserk and he orders BurnerMan to burn the arena, but ends up catching his own pants on fire instead.

Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar

In Cybeast Gregar, he becomes a student teacher at Cyber City Elementary School and gives Lan his first Link Navi and Cross after the defeat of DiveMan (at this time, he had actually quit the WWW and has truly become a good person). He sends some modified Kettle viruses throughout the net to test Lan's Virus Busting ability, and sends HeatMan along with Lan to help learn the powers of the Cross System. His outfit has changed drastically, turning from a shirt and loose pants or jumpsuit into a suit and tie, complete with glasses.

Anime

Mr. Match and TorchMan in the first season intro.

In the anime, Mr. Match's first appearance is similar to the games, committing arson for WWW, but his character is expanded upon and he becomes more of a friend and ally to Lan Hikari over the course of the series.

Manga

MegaMan NT Warrior

Mr. Match in the manga.

Match uses TorchMan to set fire to Lan's school, and Dex is trapped inside with the other students. MegaMan enters the school's server and finds several viruses and TorchMan, deleting them. After being defeated, Match uses a backup of TorchMan and sends a message to MegaMan to meet his operator. Mr. Match lures Lan to join the WWW and wants him to rob a bank with him as his first job, but it was actually a trap to delete MegaMan. However, MegaMan is too strong for him and TorchMan is deleted again.

In a later chapter, he reappears with his new NetNavi FlameMan. FlameMan is one of the first DarkNavis to appear and after defeating MegaMan he is defeated by KingMan.EXE.

Etymology

This section requires expansion.

Language	Name	References
English	Mr. Match	Play on the word "match", a tool used for starting fire.
Japanese	Kenichi Hino	His forename Kenichi (ケンイチ, Kenichi) is written in Katakana, so it doesn't carry any meaning. His surname Hino (火野, Hino) roughly means "Fire Field" in Japanese.
	Hinoken	Short name for Hino Kenichi.

Gallery

Artwork

Mr. Match in Mega Man Battle Network.

Mr. Match in Mega Man Battle Network 2.

Mr. Match in Mega Man Battle Network 3.

Mr. Match in Mega Man Battle Network 4.

Mr. Match in Mega Man Battle Network 6.

Concept art of Mr. Match.

Design sheet of Mr. Match's BN4 outfit in the anime.

Mugshots

Mr. Match's mugshot in Mega Man Battle Network.

Mr. Match's mugshot in Mega Man Battle Network 2.

Mr. Match's mugshot in Mega Man Battle Network 3.

Mr. Match's mugshot in Mega Man Battle Network 4.

Mr. Match's mugshot in Mega Man Battle Network 6.

Trivia

• Mr. Match makes a cameo appearance in the Mega Man Gigamix story "Asteroid Blues".
• In the Mega Man NT Warrior English dub, Match speaks with a Scottish accent and manner of speaking.
• In the first game, Mr. Match's clothes are different between his artwork and game sprites as in the game he only appears with the repair man disguise.
• It's revealed in a dev Q&A that Match found there was nothing fired up in his everyday life, so he joined WWW as a place to "burn hot".
• Mega Man Battle Network 5 is the only mainline game Mr. Match does not appear in, apparently due to him to studying to become a teacher. However, he lives spiritually through the e-Reader Patch Card, Mr. Match's Customizations.
• According to a Dev Q&A, as Match continuously looks for hotter and more powerful Navis; He stores them at his computer at home and continuously trains them to become more of what he wants. The Navi he picks for his PET is the one he feels radiates the greatest flame that day.
• In the Japanese version of Mega Man Battle Network 2, Hinoken’s full name was a quiz question and is the first time it’s revealed within a game. In the English version, this was replaced with a simple “Who is a former WWW operator?” question. In the prototype English translation, his full name was going to be "Kenichi Match", but his full name is never stated in the final game.