Fortified Lab

29th: Fortified Lab Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

Can't a guy ride a cloud in peace?!

Overview Creator(s): GransveldHakase Composer(s): Tsukasa Tawada Statistics Scores: 29 35 33 35 26 Total: 31.6 / 50 Rank: 29th Elements: 1 Enemies: Apache Joe Blader Dachone Fan Fiend Giree Lyric Metall Metall Cannon New Shield Attacker Piriparee Pooker Returning Sniper Joe Wall Blaster II Gimmicks: Elec Block Junk Block Komuso Mine Sparkman Platform

Theme Music Ikari no Yousai 2 - BGM 2 Stage Order Location: Tier 7 Previous: Cossack's Other Citadel Next: Spiky Situation

"Apache Joes, Bladers, and the cloud things from Flame Man's stage is a bad combo."

―JupiHornet, excerpt from judge comment.

Fortified Lab is the 29th place level in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2. It is a level reminiscent of a Wily Castle stage, with Komuso Mines serving as a major gimmick.

Strategy

The level starts with the entrance to the titular lab, with a Returning Sniper Joe, a Metall, and three Lyrics blocking it. Dropping down leads to a room where Mega Man can grab a large health capsule with a utility or Hornet Chaser. Dropping down again leads to a series of structures with Komuso Mines and Sparkman Platforms making the path more dangerous, as well as more Lyrics, a Metall, a Metall Cannon, and an Apache Joe. After climbing up at the end of this room and going up past a room with a pair of Wall Blaster IIs, Mega Man must make several careful jumps across narrow platforms, with Bladers, Girees, Komuso Mines, and an Apache Joe appearing as additional obstacles.

Dropping down at the end of the room leads to a mostly empty room, with an E-Tank that can be obtained using utilities. Dropping down again leads to a room with three New Shield Attackers, followed by another with a Fan Fiend placed in front of a spike wall. Below it is a room with a Dachone, with a line of Komuso Mines in front of it. Getting around or through it, then dropping down and heading to the right, Mega Man confronts a large pit he must cross on water using a Pooker. Several obstacles stand in the way of Mega Man and the exit; specifically Lyrics, Junk Blocks, Bladers, and an Apache Joe. Making it to the end leads to an upwards climb where Mega Man must face Wall Blaster IIs, Returning Sniper Joes, Lyrics, Piriparees, and Elec Blocks. Reaching the top, Mega Man is greeted with another Dachone. Getting past it and going through the boss corridor leads to an empty room housing the Energy Element.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 29 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 8 / 15 5 / 10 6 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No If a Wily fortress was compressed into one stage. Most of the level I like, and it really does feel like something you'd see in like, a late NES-era Wily Fortress, but there are two sections that really bring the level down for me. You can tell which ones I don't like because they both have Bladers and Apache Joes in them! It's very easy to get unfairly killed just because you didn't see the enemy coming and either have the Bladers swoop down at hyperspeed and kill you or have the Apache Joe bump into you with its building-sized hitbox. The Pooker section is especially bad with this because it's over a bottomless bit so you don't have an opportunity to rescue yourself with Super Arrow or something. The rest of the level is fine, though, but the Shield Attacker room made me cry because it's like the literal worst usage of shield attackers ever and it gives me nightmares from bad fangames. The rest of the level is fine, though I don't think it's terribly interesting. Besides maybe the Sparkman platform setups at the beginning. It's an okay level. Oh btw this level looks amazing, especially because this has no custom assets, so serious props for that.
JupiHornet  : 35 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 12 / 15 5 / 10 13 / 15 2 / 5 3 / 5 The first half of the stage was fine, but the second half...oh man, that part was difficult without weapons. Apache Joes, Bladers, and the cloud things from Flame Man's stage is a bad combo. The vertical section has some really tight jumps and it's hard to get through without falling down, especially with all the enemies around.
Enjl  : 33 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 9 / 15 7 / 10 8 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 No It's like a meeting of many of my least favourite enemies! Joy! Bustering this level is absolute hell but going at it with special weapons is pretty fun. I kinda wish the requirement of using weapons was indicated in any way, such as a jewel satellite block before the water section (that section with only a buster is a spaghettifest), but it's very much fine as is. Some enemies and jumps I don't really agree with in this stage, but otherwise this stage is pretty well-made... and then it ends. I wish it utilised the exploding blocks that it introduced early on in more scenarios. I'm sure there's a lot of stuff that could've been done here with them. As it stands though, nice level that requires some thinking.
Garirry  : 35 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 9 / 15 7 / 10 9 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 Nothing particularly bad here, I think it's actually pretty solid, but the sections where you have to avoid enemies while on the movement-specific sections are pretty bad. Nothing was particularly interesting here, but it was still kinda enjoyable. It did get boring sometimes. Not sure? Nothing seemed to really grab my attention here, level is pretty generic, but I did like the assets used. Looks good and sounds good. Works just fine. This level is just OK for me. I don't think there's much here that is particularly offensive to game design, except maybe the placement of the Bladers in the level, but there's nothing that makes me want to have a lot of fun here. I think the choice of assets was pretty cool, but aside from that, there's little interesting here.
ACESpark  : 26 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 6 / 15 4 / 10 7 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 No Boss corridor. No boss. No nothing. Complete anti-climax. Why. This is a level with more style than substance, and most of that style was pre-made assets.. but that's fine, the assets chosen work well together, you have a very good eye for making the stage visually interesting. I like that there was variety in gimmicks, but.. it does have issues. The segment with the Pooker is infuriating because it's combined with enemies that should never be combined with small moving platforms. Combining it with Junk Drop? Pretty cool idea. With Lyrics? Also good. With Bladers? Uh... And with Apache Joe? What. ARGH. Specific mention goes to that one Blader which is too high for you to hit with most weapons, so you are almost always going to have it ram headfirst into you and knock you to your doom. This bit needed re-thinking. The rest of the level is fine. You DO have a good eye for graphics though, so hopefully you can get original assets to work with in the future.