City Under Siege

21st: City Under Siege Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

The first screen of the level.

Overview Creator(s): gone-sovereign Programmer(s): Zieldak Artist(s): gone-sovereign Composer(s): gouje0864 Statistics Scores: 36 36 27 38 36 Total: 34.6 / 50 Rank: 21st Elements: 1 Collectables: Enemies: Big Eye Camon Camouflametall Flying Shell Gachappon Hammer Joe Jamacy Jet Bomb Kouker Q Metall New Shotman Peng Returning Sniper Joe Swallown Telly Tondeall Gimmicks: Conveyor (MM3) Sparkman Platform Bosses: Mecha Dragon

Theme Music Silverstein - Massachusetts 8-Bit Cover Stage Order Location: Tier 8 Previous: Aurora Man Next: Escape Sequence

"*bzzt* Attention, citizens of New Harbor: This is the brilliant scientist, and soon-to-be ruler of the world, Dr. Albert Wily. My robots and I currently have the city under siege. All highways connecting to the city have been destroyed. Make no attempt to escape, if you value your life. Mr. Mayor, you have 48 hours to surrender the city to me, or else I will command my robot army to slaughter all humans until you change your mind! And if that blue brat Mega Man is watching this, good luck getting past my robot minions! If you do survive, my fortress is located at 721 5th Avenue. There's an old friend waiting to see you! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! *bzzt*"

―Dr. Wily, In-level comment box.

City Under Siege is the 21st place level in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2. Submitted by gone-sovereign, the level is known for its stunning graphics, strong aesthetics, a Rush Jet section in the middle of the level, and a hard difficulty spike near the end of the level.

Overview

The level is one of the few levels in the contest to have its own narrative. The stage begins with a broadcast by Dr. Wily, who has captured the city of New Harbor and will not hesitate to slaughter all humans if the city is not surrendered in 48 hours. He then addressed Mega Man, whom he bids good luck, and warns of an "old friend" awaiting him at Dr. Wily's headquarters, at 721 5th Avenue.

It is divided into four distinct sections: The opening highway segment that begins the stage, the Rush Jet segment across the river, a short street section, and a vertical section that scales Dr. Wily's headquarters. The level ends with a boss fight against the Mecha Dragon, whose platforms have been replaced with conveyor belts.

Strategy

The highway segment at the beginning of the stage is itself inspired by the intro stage of Mega Man X. This section combines basic platforming and enemy challenges. Four enemies are encountered in this section: Camon, Sniper Joe, Kouker Q, and Gachappon. It also introduces two primary gimmicks: Concrete Man's pitfall blocks, and Spark Man's rising platforms. Just like in Concrete Man's stage, that pitfalls on the platforms are telegraphed by a different pattern on the blocks, as demonstrated by a Camon early in the level. The Spark Man platforms are used to reach higher platforms that Mega Man could not reach normally. A Large Energy Capsule can be obtained with the Hornet Chaser near the end of the segment.

Followed by this is a Rush Jet segment. The mechanics of this segment function almost identically to Mega Man 8's Rush Jet segments -- the player can move freely around the screen on Rush, while the screen scrolls with them. This segment purely consists of enemy challenges. Five more enemy types are encountered here: Peng (who has had its sine wave attack pattern removed and now flies straight at Mega Man in groups of three), Swallown, Telly, Jet Bomb, and Flying Shell. All of Mega Man's weapons, sans Sakugarne, are available, though using Flash Stopper on Rush will also cause Rush as well as all enemies on screen to freeze, locking the player's movement. The first of two Noble Nickels in the stage can be found after the third Swallown, near the top of the screen.

Rush Jet drops the player off at a City War-inspired street section, which chiefly consists of enemy-based challenges. In addition to the return of Camon and Gachappon, two new enemies are encountered here: Hammer Joe and New Shotman. Eddie will also appear at the start of the segment to offer the player power-ups. If the player uses Rush Coil to jump up to a single block suspended in mid-air to the right of a streetlight at the start of the segment, they can jump into the building itself and collect an E-tank. If they continue left and drop down behind the first tree, they can also collect an M-Tank. Hornet Chaser or Rush Coil can be used to obtain another Large Energy Capsule sitting in a window of the last building at the end of the block. A single Camouflametall disguised as a 1-up guards a Large Bolt at the end of the segment.

The final segment is a vertical segment which scales Wily's base. This segment once again combines platforming and enemy challenges, but also introduces the risk of spikes. In addition to both Hammer Joes and Sniper Joes, two more new enemies are introduced in this segment: Tondeall and Jamacy. Most of the enemies in this segment can be destroyed from the ladders. A Hammer Joe guards the second Noble Nickel on the first screen of this segment, which can be obtained by using Rush Coil. Spark Man platforms are reintroduced in this segment, and will often try to impale the player onto spikes. Likewise, the Concrete Man blocks return briefly in hopes of deceiving the player to their death. A single Big Eye is stationed on the last screen before the boss gate. To the right, a single Met guards a Large Energy Capsule and a Large Weapon Energy Capsule. An E-tank can be found in a small hole concealed by Concrete Man's pitfall blocks within the boss chamber.

Only the boss remains standing in between the player and the Energy Element -- the Mecha Dragon. In this instance, the Dragon's platforms have been replaced with conveyor belts, which are wider than the Dragon's original platforms, but due to knockback, they are also easier to fall off of if the player gets hit. The strategy here is to alternate between the top and middle platforms, and lure the Dragon's fireballs. Charged Buster shots work effectively here, but Hornet Chaser, Super Arrow and Sakugarne are also effective. Once the Dragon is destroyed, the Energy Element can be obtained to leave the stage. If the Element gets caught beneath the conveyor belt platforms after the Dragon's defeat, the Element can still be reached if the player stands off to the extreme edge of the platform. If the player should die by falling into the pit after the Dragon is defeated, the Element will still count as having been collected.

Reception

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 36 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 11 / 15 7 / 10 8 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No Okay what the heck you somehow took City War and Sunset Siege and combined them and made a pretty good level out of them??? Seriously, this level is really good. I like the whole setup of the level, and the intro part is pretty interesting with setups like Sparkman platforms + Gachappons, I think it plays really well. Also wooo slopes. Then there's a freakin MM8 Rush Jet part??? Even though it's not like the most creative use of it ever it's still really fun, and I like that a lot too. Then you have the City War section which I really like too?? I really love your usage of New Shotmans here with them above ground? Also I totally got fooled by that Camoflametall ;-;. Most of this level I just really love how it plays and I find it super fun. I think there are two things that bring it down for me, though. I don't like the usage of sniper joes here, they just seem to be placed to waste your time, and also it seems that for this level only their weakness to slash claw was drastically toned down for some ungodly reason. Also, the Mecha Dragon fight. Mecha Dragon just really isn't that fun to fight in general, really. Also it's really easy to get instantly dropped into a pit when entering the boss room because there's no way to tell where the platforms are gonna be, so first time I got there I veered to the left for whatever reason and got dunked into a pit. But it's just two flaws in an otherwise pretty good level, great job here!
JupiHornet  : 36 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 7 / 15 5 / 10 15 / 15 5 / 5 4 / 5 I was expecting a City War sequel when I saw this level's name, and that's...kind of what I got? It's like City War but with better graphics and without all the holes. I really liked some parts, like the Rush Jet section. However, this level has a pretty ridiculous difficulty spike towards the end (literally, you spammed spikes in that vertical section) and that Mecha Dragon boss really ruined the level. Mecha Dragon on conveyor belts just isn't fun.
Enjl  : 27 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 4 / 15 5 / 10 9 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 No This level's city area is very beautiful! I really like how it looks, very authentic. However... it doesn't really feel good to play. I get the feeling the level's design was influenced by its aesthetic, which ended up making it feel rather dull, having to rely on a quantitfy of hazards in order to ramp up the challenge, rather than a clever combination of them and mutation of setups. There could've been more done with the illusion blocks, which I found to be an interesting gimmick that got introduced but unfortunately went largely unused until the end of the stage. The boss is not a lot of fun to play, since standing on either of the left platforms sees the player tumbling to their death as soon as they get hit. The shmup-segment would've been a lot better if you didn't let the player face left, too.
Garirry  : 38 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 11 / 15 8 / 10 10 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 Not bad, aside from a few occasional issues with enemy choice (such as having many sniper joes) and the cheapness of the boss, it's pretty good. It was very enjoyable. It was a little boring at times (early on I think) but it's still very fun. Boss was annoying though. It's an interesting level. I liked the mini-plot and city theme and design. Nothing too special, but very good nonetheless. I'd say that it kinda doesn't look perfect, but I'd give it a 4. Works just fine, but energy element is kinda glitchy. No big deal though. Very good level. The level design is creative and solid, and there are no cheap spots, with the only problem maybe being the large amount of Sniper Joes. I also liked the mini-plot and how the level looks, although the latter could be a bit better. While the Rush Jet section is quite annoying, for me the biggest experience ruiner is the boss and how hard it is to not fall off the moving platforms. Besides that, it remains a very enjoyable level.
ACESpark  : 36 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 13 / 15 8 / 10 5 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No Oh no. War has returned to the City! But at least this time workmen have patched in the holes, (I mean, there might have been some lawsuits involving that.) Pleasant enough stage really. It's clear a fair old whack of effort was taken to make this place look like an actual city, even if the tileset doesn't really suit Mega Man at all. The stage didn't do much in the way of anything original, but I have to admit, the Concrete Man blocks were pretty well handled, and you usually had me going "huh, neat!" every so often. I also loved how these were introduced... probably better than how Capcom themselves introduced the gimmick if I'm honest! The Spark Man platforms got some good usage here, and you slowly increased the difficulty in logical ways. Cool. The Rush Jet segment was a little.. weird. The lack of obstacles in that area, and just enemies, made it rather dull, things the player is required to outright dodge rather than shoot, could've made this interesting. Not bad though, just an observation. Enemy selection worked, the stage was mostly a nice pleasant stroll, and nothing of note stands out. That might just be the level's issue. It's very generic and just sort of there. But it is a nice "sort of there", after all. Also, hi dev-kit boss! He also managed to be the hardest portion of the stage, mostly due to how easy it is to be knocked into a pit by his fireballs. Stage was fine overall, even if it isn't the most impressive thing in the world. Definitely can see the effort that went into it though."

The stage saw mixed-to-positive reviews. The level was praised for being an improved version of City War and having a narrative to go along with it. A major point of criticism, as highlighted by the judges, was the Mecha Dragon fight, made more difficult by the addition of conveyor belts and knock-back. The Rush Jet segment was commended, though it was a point of contention among the judges for having somewhat floundered in its execution. Two lesser points of criticism were the abundance of Joe enemies in the stage, and the use of GXSCC music, though the latter was omitted in the judge comments.

Trivia

• The address that Dr. Wily gives, 721 5th Avenue, points to the address of Trump Tower in real life.
• Aesthetically, the level is modeled after New York City. Each segment is based on certain parts of the Metropolitan Area -- the opening segment is based on the New Jersey Turnpike, the river that the player crosses on Rush Jet is based on the Hudson River, the street section is heavily modeled after Atlantic Avenue, and the architecture of building the player scales at the level's end is based on various buildings in Manhattan.
• The Met positioned to the right of the boss gate is a subtle reference to Mega Man vs. Met.
• This level infamously spit out error messages twice during Flashman85's results stream.