Changeable Caverns

41st : Changeable Caverns Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

I dunno, these caverns look pretty static to me...

Overview Creator(s): TheMartianGeek Composer(s): Makoto Tomozawa (original music) TheMartianGeek (cover) Statistics Scores: 35 17 32 27 34 Total: 29.0 / 50 Rank: 41st Elements: 1 Enemies: Drillun Lyric Molier Pickelman Bull Rock Thrown Tondeall Wall Blaster II Gimmicks: Brightman Platform (green, red) Concrete Platform Crash Lift Daidine Drop Platform Guts Lift Tomahawk Platform

Theme Music Mega Man X - Armored Armadillo Stage Order Location: Tier 6 Previous: Wily Coaster Next: Joe Man

"Pretty much all of this stage works, but on the goldilocks scale of level design, it sits just below the 'just right' in gimmick implementation."

―ACESpark, excerpt from judge comment.

Changeable Caverns is the 41st place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2. The level focuses on short platforming segments broken up by enemies, using almost every type of special platform gimmick available in the devkit.

Strategy

I'll beam you out after I finish my soap opera.

This article is missing information on strategies. Please help out the wiki by adding these strategies to it!

Don't die. The easiest way to accomplish that is to get good at jumping.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 35 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 12 / 15 8 / 10 6 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 No Aw why did this have to end so quickly D: I really liked where it was going!! For a level that has a large majority of the special platforms in it it does a very good job at keeping focus and feeling coherent. It introduces each of the platform types safely and uses most in more dangerous setups later on. The difficulty curve is just very well done in general. The enemy challenges are pretty great, too - I really like how the Drilluns and Moliers were combined. But it felt like it ended just as it was starting to ramp up the difficulty!! I really wish there was more because I love what is actually here, it just feels like it got...cut off before it could be truly amazing.
JupiHornet  : 17 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 4 / 15 5 / 10 1 / 15 3 / 5 4 / 5 Pretty forgettable level. It was mostly just rooms with enemies and then moving platforms over pits and that was it. The room with 3 Crash lifts is a bit glitchy, one of them randomly pushed me off for some reason.
Enjl  : 32 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 8 / 15 9 / 10 7 / 15 4 / 5 4 / 5 No This level is a lot of fun to play, but often misses out on aspects such as safety nets and ramping up the difficulty, with later sections sometimes being easier than early sections and the enemy setups not offering a lot of variety. A lot of the level's assets are taken for granted and while others are formally introduced, the others are often what will lead to the player's death. The guts lift section in particular is rather tricky for where it is placed in the level and I died a lot on it when I wasn't exploiting the lack of spike collision in that room to bypass it and explore other parts of the level. The open platforming segments are a nice but rompy challenge and definitely the highlight of this stage.
Garirry  : 27 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 8 / 15 7 / 10 4 / 15 3 / 5 5 / 5 It's not that good. Generally there are a lot of sections which require you to either do precise movements or waiting for two moving obstacles to sync together. Despite that, it was a pretty enjoyable level. Aside from the bad sections, it ranks as decent for me. There's nothing particularly interesting here. It's just a regular cave level. Nothing that creative tbh. The tiles seem pretty lazily put, the background is all black… meh. Works just fine. I feel like it could have been done better. The level just doesn't look nice. Some parts of the stage suffered from either bad enemy placement or having to deal with desynchronised moving obstacles. And overall it just feels generic. Nothing creative or interesting really. At least it was mostly enjoyable.
ACESpark  : 34 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 12 / 15 8 / 10 7 / 15 2 / 5 5 / 5 No Fun little stage, if too much on the safe side. Pretty much all of this stage works, but on the goldilocks scale of level design, it sits just below the "just right" in gimmick implementation. What I mean by that, is you don't go far enough with the gimmicks to be truly memorable, and it's all a little generic, with not much identity of its own other than "every platform gimmick". That being said, there is actual thought behind your use and placement of said platforms, and nowhere does it feel half assed, it's just I feel a few more screens with repeated gimmicks and a slightly higher difficulty (not by much, just slightly) for the climax of your stage would've served you better. You also put in areas where Noble Nickels would've acted much better than... er.. bolts. This is just a poor design choice, as no one will attempt the additional challenges you propose because there is simply no point to it, the stakes aren't high enough. Lastly - I kind of feel the Guts Man platform segment was... pointless. This bit also houses your weakest implementation of any of the gimmicks, as the player is left waiting for the platforms to sync up together. It's minor, but it would've been better to see the platforms return later in the stage with a different setup, rather than the "Hi I exist" cameo. Noteworthy things about this stage - perfect theme and selection of enemies for a cavern setting, good music choice, and gimmicks are introduced very well. Props to the Shadow Man platform segment, I didn't even notice how clever your introduction of them was the first time through! It took a second playthrough for me to get it... but it's subtle but well done. ... one thing that's odd, there are a few spots in the level tiles that look.. unfinished, or are using a beta tilset? They keep showing up and it just looks bizarre.

Trivia

• When in Green Star Mode, a bug relating to room IDs and arrays results in Changeable Caverns' teleporter not having a display count for Green Stars, even though there are still three of them hidden in the stage.