The manga series was written by Ryo Takamisaki and ran in Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic between 2001 and 2006, while the anime television series, produced by Xebec, Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo, ran for five seasons on TV Tokyo in Japan between March 2002 and September 2006, reaching 209 episodes in total, as well as a feature film.

Viz Media would license the series for distribution in North America, including all the main chapters of the manga between 2004 and 2008, while the anime would only have its first season and Axess aired on Kids' WB!

MegaMan NT Warrior takes place in an unspecified year of the 21st century ("200X") in which the internet has rapidly progressed and is now the driving force of everyday life.

Users are able to interact with the internet using PErsonal Terminals (PETs) handhelds and Net Navigators, online avatars with special functionalities including the ability to delete Viruses using Battle Chips.

MegaMan NT Warrior was a success; during its run, the anime drew high viewership in North America and Japan, while the manga adaptation would see monthly sales up to 1.5 million.

Along with Lan are friends Maylu Sakurai, Dex Ogreon, Yai Ayano, Tory Froid, and their respective Navis: Roll, GutsMan, Glide, IceMan.

In the second storyline, Lan and MegaMan fight the remnants of World Three, only to be suddenly attacked by the strongest Navi of the Undernet, the "Black Shadow" Bass.

Famous, who warned them of new enemies in the form of dark power led by the Quartet of Evil that rendered Hub Style useless.

Famous assembled experienced Net-Battlers to combat the threat, but all were defeated save for Lan and MegaMan, and their friends, Chaud Blaze and ProtoMan who gained new power called the Muramasa-style from the King of Undernet, Serenade.

After proving himself trustworthy, Colonel and his operator Baryl allowed MegaMan and Lan to join their cause to defeat the Darkloids led by Regal.

She gathered potentially strong NetNavis and told them to fight against each other and the winner will be bestowed the ultimate program that capable of resealing Cybeast Gregar, the origin of MegaMan's Beast Out power.

Eventually, MegaMan with his Super Beast Out power destroyed the Cybeast's core and was seemingly deleted in the explosion, leaving Lan distraught.

The second half of the season has the characters take on Grave, a NetMafia syndicate spearheaded by Wily that seeks to create a virus beast with the capability to destroy the net.

Months later, Lan's father Yuichiro Hikari completes his research on the Synchro Chip, a device that enables Operators and NetNavis to become one through the use of Cross Fusion.

Lan manages to use the then-untested Synchro Chip to Cross Fuse with MegaMan and defeat the Darkloids that materialize in the real world with the aid of Dimensional Area Generators.

Intrigued by Cross Fusion, he decides to spare mankind temporarily, bestowing a test upon the main characters to assess whether or not humans truly merit survival.

Pitted against the newly emerged Zoanoroid armies of the Cybeasts, Lan, MegaMan, and a select group of their partners, find themselves drawn into the parallel world of Beyondard.

Guided by a mysterious girl, Iris, they join the human resistance in the fight to claim the "Synchronizer" powers of Trill, with which MegaMan is able to "Beast Out".

Nearing the end of Beast, the android brain belonging to Wily of Beyondard reveals himself along with his lackeys, Blackbeard and Yuika, hoping to acquire the victor Cybeast as his new body.

Prior to the first game's release, Takamisaki was only able to access press material, and had to base the setting off what he had until he was able to obtain a copy, at which point he went back and reworked anything that contradicted the lore.

[5] The English adaptation was produced by Viz Media and recorded by Ocean Productions; it was announced by Warner Bros. on February 14, 2003, and first aired May 17, 2003,[6][7] on Kids' WB in the United States and Teletoon in Canada.

[17] As with many anime series airing at the time, MegaMan NT Warrior underwent censorship; in particular, names relating to either fire or explosives were changed to remove such references.

However, to help promote the English version of the anime series, Mattel created a line of original MegaMan NT Warrior action figures for the U.S. market.

[21][23] Other merchandise includes a life-sized Mega Buster that fires foam darts, an original MegaMan NT Warrior-themed board game, and MegaMan.EXE Halloween costumes.

According to a viewership sample conducted in the Kantō region by Video Research, the anime drew in an average of 4.5% and a maximum of 5.9% of households during the last year of its original run.

[6] The MegaMan NT Warrior: Program of Light and Dark and Duel Masters: Curse of the Deathphoenix double feature ranked first for the weekend ending March 13, 2005, dethroned Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean from the first place and broke the record for spring break in Japan with a gross of US$12,708,498.