Flower Core

77th: Flower Core Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

This lone flower powers an entire space station. Don't laugh, it's overworked.

Overview Creator(s): SVNrenga Composer(s): Harumi Fujita, Kenichi Matsubara, Yasuhiko Manno, Tomoya Tomita, Mari Yamaguchi Statistics Scores: 53 64 39 41 Total: 49.25 / 100 Rank: 77th Elements: 1 Box Items: Beak Cyber Gabyoall Screw Bomber Darkman Block Galaxy Man Portal Enemies: Beak Cyber Gabyoall Screw Bomber Gimmicks: Darkman Block Falling Tower Galaxy Man Portal Hanabiran Clock Arm Key Barrier Sub-Bosses: Hanabiran Bosses: Dark Man 4

Theme Music Part 1: Strider (NES) - Kazakh Rail Carrier Part 2: Contra Force - Player Select Boss: Mega Man 5 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 4 Previous: Air Labs Next: Stormy Tower

Flower Core is the 77th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It is a level that prominently has Darkman Blocks forming walls and barriers that need to be demolished to proceed, as well as a set of colour-coded Galaxy Man Portals. In addition to the default pink version, there are green portals that lead nowhere and act as makeshift trampolines, and one-way red portals that eject Mega Man out of an intangible grey portal. The level also follows a loose storyline, in which Proto Man asks for Mega Man's assistance in destroying the titular flower core (which is just a bog-standard Hanabiran).

Strategy

After teleporting in and encountering Proto Man, the level introduces its box assets (including green Galaxy Man Portals) in a perfunctory fashion, before a vertical scrolling section appears; at the start of this section is a gap leading to a portal puzzle with an E-Tank as the prize. While going downwards, rows of green portals will spit Mega Man in and out of themselves, while Cyber Gabyoalls are crawling nearby, ready to slam into him. No weapon in the game can damage or destroy them, so avoiding them with careful timing (and stunning them with Charge Shots) is the only way to handle them. At the bottom of this section is a teleporter beneath two layers of Darkman Blocks; although the intention is to clear them with the Mega Buster while avoiding a Screw Bomber below, weapons like the Flame Mixer can cut through to the teleporter much quicker. This leads to a checkpoint and a screen with Darkman Blocks over spikes, requiring some to remain intact. Two Beaks on either side can be safely killed with the Search Snake without breaking any blocks, while a ceiling-bound Screw Bomber can be either dodged or killed with the Flame Mixer.

One-way red and grey portals debut on the next screen over, with Beaks always on guard near them. Killing them before proceeding is advised to avoid taking damage, but extreme caution must be taken with the third portal, which is straight below a ladder. A chunk of Darkman Blocks are placed over the exit portal, and will knock Mega Man into a row of spikes if they aren't destroyed before he uses the portal; worse, a pair of Beaks can potentially knock him into said portal via knockback. The safest option is to use the Rain Flush, which quickly wipes out both obstacles. A simple set of portal jumps across spikes follows, before Mega Man comes upon a Hanabiran, with two pink portals on either side of the arena. Defeating it will bestow a key onto him, which will open a Key Barrier blocking a teleporter at the top. Upon taking it, a short platforming sequence over a bottomless pit occurs, with a tall column of Darkman Blocks walling off a door needing to be destroyed while falling from portals.

Past the door is one final "escape" section inside a Falling Tower, with different music. To proceed, Mega Man must destroy Darkman Blocks supporting the tower while being careful not to get crushed as the tower falls. Beaks are occasionally positioned on walls inside the tower as an extra obstacle to avoid, and if they aren't destroyed they may be carried upwards along with the tower. One thing to remember is that if a Beak fires while the tower drops down, their shots are carried down with them, rather than staying in the air where they were fired. Going to the right near the end of the tower leads to a cranny with an E-Tank inside; however, it can also be obtained at the end by using the Concrete Shot near the exit teleporter, then sliding through the gap. Doing it this way, however, risks entering the teleporter by accident. After taking said teleporter, Proto Man greets Mega Man in a corridor, expressing surprise that he wasn't destroyed in the shaft. Beyond him is a boss door, behind which "Proto Man" reveals his true identity as Dark Man 4 and goes on the attack. His boss arena has two pink Galaxy Man Portals in the air, which can potentially catch Mega Man while dodging Dark Man 4's attacks, but the fight is otherwise not very difficult.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 53 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 20 / 35 6 / 15 9 / 10 13 / 25 5 / 15 A lot of the challenges in here were pretty decent. Using different colors was pretty clever and made the challenges feel really good since you always knew what was happening. Even when it wasn't often, mixing the two gimmicks usually went really well. The one where you are in looping freefall is pretty dope. However, the whole level just feels really empty. Partially from the lack of background, partially from not a lot of enemies in certain sections, and partially with the escape sequence not having any change. The escape sequence should've been more intense, maybe with more intense music, or a visual change, or autoscroll. It doesn't feel like an escape, but just the rest of the level. You tried to tell a narrative, but didn't do anything to actually accommodate it. Something as simple as flashing emergency lights would've made it so much better.
PKWeegee  : 64 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 23 / 35 11 / 15 10 / 10 14 / 25 6 / 15 Ouch, those tiles are a bit painful to look at. Way too vibrant for my liking. Other than that, there's not much to say. I enjoyed a few of the teleporter puzzles, but some just felt unnecessarily punishing or just a bit weird. And don't get me started on the miniboss — you managed to make it even more annoying. Also, story, because why not.
M-Jacq  : 39 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 9 / 35 6 / 15 10 / 10 7 / 25 7 / 15 To its credit, this level gets a lot of mileage out of its gimmicks. You use the tower blocks as platforms, as obstacles, and even in their intended function propping up the Dark Man tower. You turn the Galaxy Man portals into three distinct color-coded variants, all of which function slightly differently. And you use 'em together! Nice. Except that I didn't really enjoy this level at all. The three "different" Galaxy Man portals are similar enough that I kept confusing them, or forgetting what they did and assuming the differences were purely cosmetic. There's no clear progression or difficulty curve, because the level shuffles from one gimmick to another, frequently over insta-death and without proper introduction. You seem to have noticed this and added a plot to the level to try and paper over that problem, which is commendable but not successful. This is definitely one of those levels that strictly speaking doesn't do anything gruesomely wrong but just sort of exists. Keep at it, though - you clearly have a lot of ideas and I'm sure with practice you can make them into something really great.
Freems  : 41 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 12 / 35 9 / 15 9 / 10 7 / 25 4 / 15 It honestly felt like everything in this level was trying to just be a minor inconvenience. Trying to fight Darkman[sic]? Oh, take these teleporters in the room for some reason. Trying to navigate a path of blocks you can destroy? Well that's okay, here are some enemies you can do nothing about without destroying the blocks you have to stand on. What about that flower miniboss, that has a unique setup? Nah, make it so you have to take the teleporters to get to the barely too high top platform. The different use of Galaxy Man teleporters was pretty interesting, but by the time it devolved into falling into a room of nothing but spikes and teleporters, you start to roll your eyes a little. And while on paper the idea of shooting down a row of blocks while coming out of a teleporter is a good idea, the fact that you can't really see the blocks until you're already freefalling is not the winning move. Overall, there were some decent setups but just a poor execution. It strikes me as something that the creator of the level would be prepared for as they test it countless times, but players would take a very different approach to.

Notes

• Between the submission period and the final game's release, engine changes were made that initially trapped the player at the first row of green Galaxy Man Portals; Mega Man's hitbox when falling after sliding extends higher up than it did during submissions, thus when trying to slide under the portals, he would touch them and get teleported back up. The final game fixes this by shrinking the leftmost portal's hitbox, then (to prevent simply walking under it) adding an invisible portal with half its usual width to the left.
• Throughout the level, "Proto Man" uses his mugshot from Mega Man 5 and lacks his scarf, hinting at his true identity even before the level's end.