Air Labs

78th: Air Labs Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

Ice is well known for slowing people down, didn't you know?

Overview Creator(s): zEn Composer(s): Kinuyo Yamashita, Yuko Takehara Statistics Scores: 41 52 50 53 Total: 49 / 100 Rank: 78th Elements: 1 Box Items: B Bitter Hirarian 427 Metall DX Air Tiki Cossack Snow Enemies: B Bitter Hirarian 427 Metall DX (fly) Gimmicks: Air Tiki Cossack Snow Bosses: Blizzard Man

Theme Music Power Blade - Sector 2 Boss: Mega Man 6 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 4 Previous: Outer Excavation Next: Flower Core

"So, this is like the final segment, is a bit short, but I needed time to complete Wario Ware Twisted, Wario de Mambo is impossible, really."

―Message from someone

Air Labs is the 78th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It is a level that mostly throws enemies at Mega Man while he platforms across Air Tikis and through Cossack Snow. However, the latter lacks the traditional tile depth, and is only discernable by being on icy floors (making them look more like glue-covered floors).

Air Labs is also the focus of the Studying the Blade sidequest, which tasks Mega Man with killing 50 enemies in the level using only the Tengu Blade (and only the melee slash and dash versions count towards the tally). Fortunately, the level has more than enough enemies to meet that quota, including the Gremlins that spawn from Air Tikis (although only up to 10 of them will count towards the total).

Strategy

Most of the stage is very straightforward and needs little explanation. The level begins with an outdoor platforming section with Air Tikis, but the jumps are very simple. After entering the lab itself, the main challenge is moving right while avoiding B Bitters and Hirarian 427s. Because both enemy types are so weak, Mega Man can use any number of means of effortlessly dispatching them, such as Charge Shots, the Search Snake (which can hit B Bitters underground), or even dashing through with the Tengu Blade. Throughout the stage are ice-covered floors which indicate Cossack Snow, and Mega Man's movement will be slowed down unless he either jumps off of the ice or slides across it. Often this ice will appear on platforms close to spikes or a pit, which can potentially interfere with timing when to jump to the next platform.

The final part of the stage takes Mega Man back outside, with another set of Air Tikis and platforms over a chasm. This time, though, Hirarian 427s are positioned to drop while jumping across platforms, possibly crashing into Mega Man once he lands. Moving slowly and taking out threats from afar is therefore recommended (both the Homing Sniper and Rain Flush are ideal choices). The boss of the stage is Blizzard Man, and the boss corridor contains an E-Tank that is easily obtainable via the Rush Coil.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 41 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 13 / 35 4 / 15 10 / 10 9 / 25 5 / 15 Sometimes I'm not a big fan of story levels, but the signs in this were cute and made me smile. The level felt too sparse overall, though. I was waiting for the level to hit a real climax, and it never really did. Really, what you have here isn't bad, it's just lacking. The rooms feel very in character for Mega Man, which is good, but most of the rooms don't feel like the level is getting harder or leading somewhere. I think just taking more risks in the second half could make this level way better. Trying some non-traditional placement with the Tikis and mixing that with the snow could make this a way more interesting level. You have a solid base, but it could go way further!
PKWeegee  : 52 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 14 / 35 6 / 15 10 / 10 13 / 25 9 / 15 Short, really short. And honestly, quite forgettable, to boot. It was mostly just some corridors with enemies, and jumping from Air Tiki to Air Tiki. There's...really not much going on here.
M-Jacq  : 50 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 14 / 35 4 / 15 10 / 10 17 / 25 5 / 15 I think that of all the obstacles in the Mega Man series, Air Tikis would have to be on a top ten list of the weirdest gimmicks. I mean... angry heads, with drills for sideburns, and gremlins coming out of their ears? They're so bizarre that when that one MM2 hack replaced them with likenesses of George W Bush I think they made MORE sense. Now, here they're used... well, they're used alright, I suppose. I think that this level is most enjoyable when you're blasting through enemies, practically holding right the whole time and occasionally mashing fire, which is enabled in part by the frailty of these enemies but also by some of the Tiki setups. The first couple rooms, for instance, are basically a race from left to right, which is super fun. It's waiting for the Tikis to drop their drills where this level starts dragging, because there's not really much going on here to hold your interest while you're idle. You can get away with that when you're speeding along, but who'd want to walk their way along a racetrack? (This is part of the reason why the Cossack snow is so annoying here - it slows the level to a snail's pace, which emphasizes how featureless some of these rooms are.) I did like this level quite a bit, even if it sounds like I'm rather down on it - it's just not especially memorable, is my problem.
Freems  : 53 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 18 / 35 5 / 15 9 / 10 14 / 25 7 / 15 That level was about as run of the mill as you can get, wasn't it? The gimmicks and enemies sure were there and there was platforming... and that was kinda it. None of it was especially challenging or interesting... but it was mostly serviceable so hooray to that I suppose. Using regular ice graphics in place of the Cossack Snow is questionable just because it's not as easily conveyed. But overall there's just nothing really going on. Enemies are mostly lined up in spots where you can take them out easily, platforming on the Air Tikis is incredibly easy and the snow adds next to nothing to the level. Now if things were fleshed out, I wouldn't even say this level was too short or anything. It just needed that fleshing out, and probably seemed too short simply due to how easy it is to breeze past it.

Notes

• Blizzard Man's damage table in this level is significantly altered from his default Megamix Engine one, with his Flame Mixer weakness swapped for a Tengu Blade one. This is particularly notable as Air Labs is Blizzard Man's only appearance in MaG48HMML.