Abandoned Mine (MaG48HMML)

97th: Abandoned Mine (MaG48HMML) Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

Sorry, you two don't seem to know what "abandoned" means.

Overview Creator(s): Seth Bones Composer(s): Iku Mizutani, Hiroyuki Iwatsuki, Manami Matsumae Statistics Scores: 33 44 22 31 Total: 32.50 / 100 Rank: 97th Elements: 1 Box Items: Docbaton Rock Thrown Shield Attacker Rock Platform X Platform Enemies: Docbaton Rock Thrown Shield Attacker Gimmicks: Rock Platform X Platform Sub-Bosses: Combiloid Stone Head Bosses: BombMan.EXE

Theme Music Shatterhand - Area B Boss: Mega Man - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 2 Previous: Fire Armed to the Beak Next: Water Park Sup

Abandoned Mine is the 97th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It is a rocky mineshaft-themed level whose main distinguishing feature is a split path, which contains a different midboss on each path. However, the two inevitably link up, and there is little other reason to take one path over the other. The level's other main claim to fame is as the first simulation to be vandalized by the Shadow Imposter during the Goody Two Shoes sidequest, and thus the level to establish tracking them down.

Strategy

Not a lot of skill is required to complete this level, as the only enemies are easily dispatched Rock Throwns, airborne Docbatons that move slowly, and Shield Attackers that won't turn around until they hit a wall. Much of the terrain is a simple straight line with wide open air, with enemies positioned in such a way that destroying them is easy. Halfway through the stage are a series of airborne X Platforms, and though it appears they lie over a bottomless pit, falling down merely takes Mega Man to an alternate path that is also largely a straight line. However, which midboss is faced depends on the taken path; by falling below the X Platforms, Mega Man must fight a Combiloid on a very large vertical boss door, while successfully jumping to the other side leads to a Stone Head, as well as an E-Tank on some Rock Platforms. At the very end of the stage, Mega Man must fight BombMan.EXE for the Energy Element.

Shadow Imposter Graffiti

The Shadow Imposter's graffiti is located on the X Platform path, shortly after fighting Stone Head. While hunting for it, a Type C Shadow Turret flies across the top of the screen and periodically shoots at Mega Man. This turret can very easily snipe him while trying to jump across the X Platforms, knocking him to the alternate route and forcing him to restart the level, so using either the Flame Mixer to block the turret's shots or the Rush Jet to just fly across is recommended.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 33 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 11 / 35 3 / 15 9 / 10 5 / 25 5 / 15 This really feels like a first level to me, if not a really early try. With that, I want to be generous, but there are some major pitfalls. Most importantly, you use your gimmicks once each, and the rock platform is optional for an E-Tank. When making a level you should take the gimmicks and explore and experiment with them; these just simply exist with no other challenge present. Try mixing them with enemies or with each other. Even if it doesn't turn out amazing the first time, just try stuff and hopefully something sticks! Also, if you're using the X platforms it's best to use visual indicators, but frankly with something this easy you don't really need it, although that would help your aesthetics score. Also, it's weird that the Shield Attackers have no stop points, so they just hit the walls. There's an object that stops them so that you can have more control over their movement. While this level is really underwhelming, I hope you learned a lot from making it, and I hope to see you make another level in the future!
PKWeegee  : 44 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 12 / 35 6 / 15 10 / 10 11 / 25 5 / 15 Even with two paths, it felt so short. It lacked a lot of substance, and most things just felt...there. The bats, for example, were just there to look pretty, I feel. They never really posed a threat, if you just kept moving. And to keep in line with the short level, I'll keep this short as well (mostly because there's not much more to add).
M-Jacq  : 22 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 2 / 35 2 / 15 10 / 10 2 / 25 6 / 15 Let's just get this out of the way: the box usage in this level is really, really bad. You can completely miss one of the gimmicks on a normal playthrough, where it's used on all of one screen as the tiniest possible complication to get to an E-tank. But the big problem with this level is how EMPTY it is. Even with a split path, the level feels totally void of anything, let alone challenge. There are bats in the air, but they just kind of float there... there are some Shield Attackers that pose more of a threat but only because they can occasionally ambush you, not because the setups with them are interesting. It really is a level that's just... there.
Freems  : 31 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 7 / 35 5 / 15 9 / 10 7 / 25 3 / 15 I'm not sure if you remembered that you had box gimmicks, because I barely did. Both platform types appear in a whopping one area each, and the rock one is on an optional path! So does the rest of the level make up for the lack of these platforms? No. Boring enemy placement with bats that hardly ever matter if you're not slowing down to look at the slightly mangled Hard Man textures and Shield Attackers put in a way to slam right into you on screen transition. The fact that there are alternate paths is baffling to me because not only does it add nothing to the level, but if you take the lower half there's no midway checkpoint at all since the checkpoint room just so happens to be part of the upper path. I guess Bomb Man put on a cool costume? But really that's the only memorable thing I could tell you about this one.

Notes

• Going from last place to first, Abandoned Mine is the first level in MaG48HMML to feature a boss with custom graphics.