Make a Good Mega Man Level 3 (17): Tier 6, Part Two

[@bigrockerending7711]

In case it wasn't obvious, the shenanigans going on surrounding the Tier 6 Boss were all a reference to Mythbusters. Good show, in my opinion

[@anueutsuho7425]

I showed my mom that, even though she would never get the rest of the fangame.

[@Reddprogram55]

25:19 Got a genuine laugh out of me. That would have been my reaction too😂

[@tb3411]

Why did Bean walk to him like that?

[@Bean1227]

I mean, he looks ridiculous. Finding out after the fact he's from MMBN4 (I've only beaten 1 and the GCN platformer) was icing on the cake.

[@tb3411]

@@Bean1227 I mean Regal is from BN4 too. BN4 is just weird.

[@Reddprogram55]

BN4 weird?? No way! Legs go bean! Load Chaud is waiting!

[@tb3411]

Oh yeah and PSA for fan judges: Do not ever use the Step Booster or Met Helmet. It isn't fair to the entry. If you are fan judging, you should judge it the way it was meant to be played. So hopefully, you don't purchase either of those until after the entries. (And if you do, keep them disabled)

[@tb3411]

Hornet Man Got a New Stage- 29 This is honestly my least favorite of the "Robot Master stage remix" entries. While I can appreciate more of an emphasis on using different bee enemies and trimming down Hanabiran's health, I cannot say the execution worked. Most of the stage is pretty boring to play through and even has some frustrations in the form of the CftF bees and the double Hanabiran. I don't care if there is a checkpoint before the fight or if the midboss health is trimmed down, fighting two of those at once with the clock arm is an absolute clusterfuck! And I'm honestly not good at fighting Honey Woman so remixing the battle by including said clock arm in the arena did me no favors. But what ultimately makes this the worst of the remix stages is the amounts of functionality issues. From minor ones like multiple Bokuzurah blocks layered on another and missing ceiling collision in the Token room, to the major issue of using Hanabiran like a normal enemy. Here's the thing, if you try to pass Hanabiran in some rooms without killing it, you encounter an invisible wall thanks to how midbosses work in MaGMML3's engine. The thing is, you can end up _despawning_ Hanabiran if you scroll it offscreen which can lead to getting softlocked. It doesn't help that the invisible walls can leave behind black background tiles after getting destroyed which also harms the aesthetic score. There's just too many small issues that build up to a huge problem for me here.

[@tb3411]

Shape Woman- 60 This is a decently designed romp with a charming notebook and building block aesthetic. I like how the enemy choices are based around basic geometric shapes. It doesn't use gimmicks often, since most of the level tends to be enemy gauntlets, but for the most part they are used pretty well and I appreciate the Tornado Batteries being introduced safely. Combing them with Yoku spikes for a timing gimmick makes for a decent challenge. Using MRC for a Token was a pleasant change of pace since it meant you didn't have to memorize MRC's password to progress. The Sheep Block and instakill Cutting Wheel room is a deceptively daunting challenge that isn't as hard as it looks and it's a creative way to overlap death spikes with the Sheep Blocks, though it may not immediately be clear that the Cutting Wheels are instant death until you collide with one. Something I'm not a particularly big fan of is the underwater section. While a change of pace, dying here and in the otherwise well designed Heart Token room means you are sent back to the Sheep Blocks before the section so you have to wait through this every time you die (though this is NOTHING compared to the horrors of 96th place). Shape Woman has an... interesting design, though if anything she wouldn't look out of place in a Rayman game. At first I didn't like that it was a boss that constantly kept its shield up, but the idea of her shield's gaps gradually expanding to get more hits in is a solid concept. It's really more about patience and endurance at the start and by the time enough of the shield is tossed, you can potentially Buster her on a single cycle. Pretty decent stage overall.

[@tb3411]

The Heist- 53 I really like how the MM9 lasers are used here. They made for some really nice puzzles! There's even some interesting platforming with the Jewel platforms toward the end. The utilization of these made for a decently fun romp! Though there's quite a few issues I have in terms of the level design and aesthetics. There's a room that starts with a Met that's placed way too close to you, which can easily knock you back to the previous room thanks to an unnecessary two-way screen transition. I have no idea how to get the Heart Token without taking damage since it doesn't feel possible to have the Jewel Platform umbrella you from the lasers enough to get in and out on time. And the Punk arena layout just makes an already pretty easy devkit boss even easier. As for aesthetics, the nicest I can say about it is that the music is great and the Hammer Joe on the truck was a charming detail that resembled a getaway vehicle for this heist that's apparently in this level. That being said, this level has messy and sometimes inconsistent tilework. There are shutter visuals that you can walk inside at first but on the next screen, they are suddenly solid. And what is with the vault? Why is there a checkpoint before it and after it? It's not like anything can hurt you there. And why are there only a few bolts in this vault? Considering this is meant to be a heist, you'd think a bit more work would be put into making the vault seem more like a vault, but it feels more like a museum with empty pedestals.

[@Bean1227]

Judging by the break in the floor and the getaway truck at the end, I'm pretty sure the place was already cleaned out. That's my take on it anyway.

[@tb3411]

Identity Man- 49 The footage definitely explains a lot of my ups and downs but I'll try my best to add my own input. I really love the Super Mario Odyssey concept this stage has going for it and it can be fun to mess around with, though most of the stage lacks any real design, especially when the hidden Apache Joe and Sakugarne pretty much break it once you know where to look for them. I should mention that I could have given this a full 15 in Creativity but I docked a point for outright plagiarizing Heat Man's Yoku Block segments. Now as fun as it is to mess around with the enemies here, I feel like some of them aren't the right ones. Dadas and especially Crazy Canyons are pretty much useless. And of course they can be awkward to control, Rabbiton in particular. The Heart Token is easily the worst of these due to requiring you to land on EVERY mini top platform (which only Rabbiton can land on) in a short amount of time. You are better off glitching your way through the platform guarding the Token (Fox in Yellow Socks has demonstrated how to do this, it's easier and faster though you will end up getting stuck under there, but since the checkpoint isn't far it doesn't matter too much). The last hallway before the boss is just obnoxious to get through without taking Rabbiton to it or using special weapons/utilities. The enemies are in awkward placements. I do like Identity Man, he can be a really fun boss, but it seems like you got very unlucky in the second half. It's actually not to bad unless the RNG keeps deciding to roll Gyro Man which is what happened with you there. As for the Easter Egg boss that requires specific button inputs to trigger, I have no idea why you would include this as it's not like anyone would figure something like that out besides dumb luck especially with it being only after Identity Man has dropped the element. At least Mecha Sonic is pretty easy. Btw you cannot bring Sakugarne to the boss, there is a Shield Attacker placed in such a way earlier on that Sakugarne is unable to pass through as it will be stuck jumping on top of it. And speaking of Sakugarne, if you entered its area while still in Apache Joe, all of your weapons become disabled pretty much softlocking you. Sharb a.k.a. Renhoek loves to push the engine to its most extreme limits and it tends to show.

[@tb3411]

Assault Hunt- 64 This was an absolute blast to play through. It's fun to blitz your way through these hordes of enemies with different special weapons, especially since enemy spam isn't an issue here considering all the enemies have no collision. Sure it means there isn't much in the way of actual level design but given the Metal Slug inspiration, it's executed fairly well. It's definitely a good thing your score doesn't reset if you die, but you will lose your weapon you were holding onto, and that includes the secret Rush Jet and Magnet Beam which do not come back. I definitely appreciate trying to get high scores to unlock each of the Tokens, but this leads into my first criticism. The 6 million score threshold for the Star Token is a mite too high. Could have been made slightly more lenient such as the 5 million displayed after you collected the element there. And I do have some other things to criticize. The enemy spawners are dropped in at random including in the walls and sometimes they can move jankily when confronted with the wall or ledge. The Purple Joe midboss is an absolute pain with special weapons for some reason and you're better off using the Buster there. Assault Man himself can clip through the walls, on occasion right out of the arena, softlocking you. My biggest criticism of the stage however is the stage is prone to crashing. When I attempted to get rid of the purple Joe midboss with Water Shield, the game crashed on me and I had to start over from the beginning since continuing at a checkpoint after leaving the stage will reset your score! Also was forcing you to fight a MM1 Joe with just your Buster at the beginning really necessary? It can kill you contact, by the way. I do think this was a fun experimental stage regardless of its flaws but Zatsu really needs to let people playtest his entries more.