Ice Treatment Facility

28th: Ice Treatment Facility Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

Say hello to that Key Barrier. Odds are you'll be seeing each other quite a lot.

Overview Creator(s): AbsolutiaFrost0 Composer(s): symfonikev, CAPCOM (originals) Mathew Valente (cover) Statistics Scores: 76 81 53 54 Total: 66 / 100 Rank: 28th Elements: 1 Box Items: Feeber Fire Totem Teck Ice Platform Icicle Enemies: Feeber Fire Totem Teck Gimmicks: Destroyable Block (Concrete Shot) Ice Platform Icicle Key Barrier Bosses: Chill Man

Theme Music Stage 22 Boss: Mega Man 10 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 9 Previous: Lasers and Platforms Next: Combustion Castle

Ice Treatment Facility is the 28th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It is a fortress-esque ice stage notable for being lucky with its box and getting both of Ice Man's stage gimmicks from Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge, both of which synergise with each other as platforms and hazards. The level itself is otherwise notable for having several spiked ceilings and floors, and for becoming a water level in its latter half. The combination of the two makes instant death a common hazard, made worse by the level having only one checkpoint prior to the boss corridor.

Strategy

Much of the level's beginning is very simple, consisting mostly of basic introductions to the level's assets and platforming setups with Ice Platforms, as well as ice-covered floors that affect Mega Man's friction. One trait of the level design to keep in mind is that Icicles will usually drop from areas marked with a black square in the background – and once one drops, no more will form from the same spot. Tecks are often seen patrolling ceilings, but are usually within range of the Mega Buster, although the Flame Mixer, Homing Sniper, and Beat are also effective. At one point, an E-Tank guarded by a Feeber can be found in a side room sealed by a Concrete Shot-sensitive Destroyable Block. Reaching the first checkpoint should be no issue, although things get more perilous after Mega Man jumps into a pool of water.

For the rest of the level, Mega Man will spend most of his time submerged, and subject to lower gravity. Icy terrain becomes less frequent, while spiked ceilings conversely appear more often, limiting how high he can safely jump. A wide death pit with only a few Ice Platforms contains one such ceiling, and forces careful jumping to cross. A Key Barrier right afterwards blocks the way forward, necessitating a short detour down a ladder to find a key; this trip not only has Mega Man fighting the same troublesomely-placed Fire Totem twice, but also has a treacherous jump under a very low spiked ceiling that must be made going both forwards, and on the return trip. The room with the key has a large bolt past a pair of Ice Platforms, but it's far safer to send Beat out if the Beat Fetch upgrade has been bought from Deleuze Pipi. The screen also has another Concrete Shot barrier, guarding a room with an M-Tank; be careful when returning, as three Icicles on the ceiling outside the entrance will drop on Mega Man if he steps out of the alcove early.

Three Icicles drop onto a set of spikes after unlocking the Key Barrier, with a one-tile gap between themselves. With little room to jump, it may be safer to slide over the gaps instead. The last sections of the level are full of ways to easily die, and the dearth of checkpoints means dying results in having to redo much of the level, including the key section. As such, Mega Man should exercise caution where possible, particularly in the final section, which has unstable Ice Platforms over a large pit while Tecks, Icicles, and Fire Totems all vie to knock him into it. The Rain Flush is the best tool at clearing out enemies (particularly the otherwise hard to reach Fire Totem), but the safest way of crossing the gap is the Rush Jet. If for some reason it is unavailable, Mega Man should keep jumping to stop the platform he's on from melting. If he manages to get across, a Teck and a Fire Totem guard the door to the boss, Chill Man, whose arena sees the return of icy floors.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 76 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 29 / 35 9 / 15 10 / 10 18 / 25 10 / 15 Really really good level. I think you used the assets given in a really great way without creating an entirely new gimmick. Everything just comes together really well, making a good cohesive experience of a level. Also, you got lucky with several ice gimmicks and making the floors slippery just brings the whole thing together. Using the water in the later part just fits the whole thing really well, complimenting and expanding what you've already built up. Also, using the key to play that section backwards was a nice touch without taking over the whole level. The only real issue that weighs the level down is that I think it needs a checkpoint at the section where the key gate is. A lot of the challenge is based on instant death, which I don't think is terrible for the level; it's just that you have to replay far too much. Splitting that part into two sections would be a massive improvement.
PKWeegee  : 81 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 27 / 35 12 / 15 10 / 10 20 / 25 12 / 15 Funny how you got both 1GB gimmicks, and both were from Ice Man's stage. Coincidences aside, this was a really nice level. Both gimmicks were utilized really well, and even combined in cool and clever ways. It was quite fun to see how the formula was going to be shaken up next. Even the two side paths with Concrete Shot were a good addition. Well done!
M-Jacq  : 53 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 20 / 35 8 / 15 10 / 10 6 / 25 9 / 15 This level does a pretty good job using the gimmicks it was assigned in a variety of ways. The icicles show up sometimes as platforms, sometimes as pseudo-crystal drops, and in one particularly devious case (exiting the M-Tank room) as a sort of Kaizo trap. The Feebers and Tecks are reasonably threatening without ever being unfair, and the level does some clever stuff with the Fire Totems (even though it's utterly bizarre that they show up underwater). Shame that it's all overshadowed by the spiked ceilings in the second half of the level. Seriously, those underwater jumps are brutal, and they were far more prominent in my experience of the level than the actual gimmicks. And, of course, if you do jump into them, the checkpoint is so early into the level that you'll have plenty of chances to mess up again. That's unfortunate, because the level is pretty ice - I mean nice - otherwise.
Freems  : 54 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 16 / 35 8 / 15 10 / 10 12 / 25 8 / 15 You just got handed Ice Man on Game Boy, didn't you? Good news, I can safely say the first half of the level was pretty solid, while the second went far too heavy into spike territory to really be a lot of fun. Though some of the uses of both of the ice gimmicks were interesting, a few uses seemed a little misguided. While in theory there's nothing wrong with a lot of precision jumps using the ice blocks, anything that forces you to stay on them for more than a second are incredibly dangerous due to how they eat your jump. And icicles falling from above as a hazard would be more enticing if it wasn't a one and done kind of deal. The idea behind some of the rooms just turns into waiting until the icicles are done and then play the game. That said, the enemies were handled pretty nicely and were never unfair despite not feeling like a complete after thought. It's just the second half going too heavy on the instant death for the amount of time you have to backtrack (it doesn't help that the checkpoint opens up with you having to wait for an ice block to melt for some reason which just makes it take even longer) that kind of kills the buzz.

Notes

• Both Ice Treatment Facility and Cryonics Lab happen to share the same custom music; however, Ice Treatment Facility skips the first 12 seconds and instead starts the track at its loop point. This shortened version of Stage 22 is listed as its own track in the jukebox.