Bond Man (stage)

For the article on the boss, see Bond Man.

19th: Bond Man Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

I should tell the manager about that leak. Probably tell him about the eyeball monster, too.

Overview Creator(s): TheSkipper1995 Composer(s): Manami Matsumae (original music) Let's 8Bit (cover) Statistics Scores: 43 34 44 24 34 Total: 35.8 / 50 Rank: 19th Elements: 1 Enemies: Beak Big Eye Crazy Razy Glue Devil Glue Telly Gimmicks: Glue Glue Drop Bosses: Bond Man

Theme Music World 1-2 - One Shot, One Kill Stage Order Location: Tier 8 Previous: Escape Sequence Next: Misty Lake

"You aped the style of Mega Man 1 stages without resorting to the worst aspects of that game, and put some honest to goodness creativity into repurposed dev-kit assets."

―ACESpark, excerpt from judge comment.

Bond Man is the 19th place level in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2. It is an industrial level with the primary gimmick being puddles of glue that slow Mega Man down like Oil.

Strategy

The level begins with a simple outdoor area with several Crazy Razies, as well as a brief jump over spikes. Climbing up leads to two rooms with glue drops and Glue Devils. After that, heading to the right will lead to an area with two Glue Devils and a single Glue Telly. Following it is a longer room, utilizing glue drops, Glue Devils, and glue puddles in more complicated situations, with a few Glue Tellies and Beaks thrown in. Dropping down and falling through a room where Mega Man must avoid two Beaks, a Glue Devil, and a spike pit, Mega Man is taken to a pair of rooms where he must make jumps over single-tile platforms with glue drops right above them, with Glue Tellies, Glue Devils, Beaks, and Crazy Razies further complicating the process.

Climbing up at the end of the second of the aforementioned rooms leads to a room with the floor almost completely filled with glue, with a Crazy Razy and two Beaks also blocking the path. Carefully sliding into a small tunnel with a spike at the end grants Mega Man an E-Tank. Climbing up again leads to a room where Mega Man must carefully jump across ladders while watching out for glue drops and a Beak, with a Glue Devil also making less space at the top of the room. Following this is a room requiring carefully-timed jumps across platforms, under a spike ceiling, and around glue drops, with a single Glue Telly obstructing the path as well. After this room is a room with a Big Eye blocking the boss gate, and a large health capsule at the top left that can be reached with utilities or Hornet Chaser. Going through the boss gate and corridor leads to the battle with Bond Man himself.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 43 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 15 / 15 8 / 10 11 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 No While it's not the most flashy of stages, it's an incredibly well designed one. There is a very clear difficulty curve and the setups are well-thought out, and the glue became surprisingly threatening late in the stage -this is pretty neat because early in the stages I thought it wouldn't be an issue because I could just slide through it, but your use of the glue on one-tile platforms was a clever way of preventing just sliding through the glue and ignoring the level's gimmick. Everything is very nicely designed and it feels like a legitimate Mega Man stage. I really like the Glue Devil enemies as well, they're a neat twist on the devils from Mega Man 9. I'd say the one part of the level I didn't really like that much was the fight with Bond Man himself - after getting hit once or twice by the actual glue shots, I realized that he was basically just a glorified Crash Man. If you wanted a simple boss fight, you accomplished it, but I feel like with the whole concept of glue the boss could have been more interesting than 'Crash Man but he shoots freezing shots'. The level itself, though, is very well done, and it's a fun level overall.
JupiHornet  : 34 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 10 / 15 3 / 10 14 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 Alright level, although it got really stressful towards the end with all the spikes. The white enemies were well-placed, but I would have liked them more if they were fully destroyable with the Buster. Bond Man himself was my main issue with the level. His attacks are easy enough to dodge, but if you get hit by them...well, it's actually possible for him to combo you to death really quickly because he does a LOT of damage and freezes you at the same time. As far as I can tell, there's no way to get out of being frozen until it wears off or Bond Man hits you. The level itself is nice, but the boss kinda ruined it for me, sorry.
Enjl  : 44 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 13 / 15 9 / 10 12 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No This stage manages to stay interesting and fun with just very few elements introduced throughout the level. It does a very good job at mixing up its elements to ramp up the difficulty up until the boss encounter, who also uses the level's main gimmick. The platforming in this level was exciting and I like the occasional timing-based puzzle about when to shoot the Petit Devils. The level got slightly repetitive when doing one tile jumps and I wish it had just a few more optional challenges for extra rewards, but overall it's a great stage that does a good job at utilising all of its mechanics consistently.
Garirry  : 24 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 6 / 15 5 / 10 4 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 It was not too bad. However, many sections just feel either empty or the same gimmick is going on for too damn long without anything new. It was kinda boring. Nothing stands out. I don't really know, there's not a lot going on here. There's like one semi-creative gimmick and that's it. Alright. Works just fine (at least). I don't think there's anything interesting here whatsoever. As a level, it's okay I guess... it's nothing too bad but its not interesting either. The whole level appears to just use one gimmick, and it's not a very interesting one. Also, the graphics look boring. I don't know, there's just nothing going on here for me to like this level.
ACESpark  : 34 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 8 / 15 7 / 10 12 / 15 3 / 5 4 / 5 No So you decided to bring an old unused Robot Master out of retirement. Was this worth the effort? You know what, I'd say yes. You aped the style of Mega Man 1 stages without resorting to the worst aspects of that game, and put some honest to goodness creativity into repurposed dev-kit assets. The level is a little on the generic side visually, and gimmicks are limited, but you make good use of what you've got, and there's some pretty nifty segments every so often, enough to keep the player interested with your limited set. You kept the focus where it matters, and whilst the place didn't really look like a glue factory, it felt like one. There is one really big highlight to your stage I have to mention - I love the Glue Devils. They're a very awesome concept, and are the best of the new assets in the stage, and usually positioned exactly in the right spots to get in the player's way without being dickish. There was also a room with 3 glue drips positioned over tiny platforms, which was a great way to use this gimmick, even if the method of getting through the room unscathed requires a little outside the box thinking. But it's little pieces like that which help stages! The Robot Master was... basically a repurposed dev-kit boss, but I appreciate the effort here, even if he particularly easy. I think, maybe the character should've been given an additional attack of some description? I'm glad he's around all the same, because levels lacking their signature Robot Master are a disappointment. Some good new ideas here elevate it out of the range of the truly average stages.

Notes

• Bond Man was the first entry level to be submitted for MaGMML2; because of this, it makes a cameo in the cutscene of Dr. Wily activating the Reality Core.