Joe Man (stage)

For article on the boss, see Joe Man.

40th : Joe Man Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

These aren't your average Joes...

Overview Creator(s): Zieldak Composer(s): ZeroJanitor 8bitdanooct1 Statistics Scores: 30 33 32 24 27 Total: 29.2 / 50 Rank: 40th Elements: 1 Collectables: Enemies: Grenader Joe Metall Neo Heli Metall Shield Attacker TRL Shooter Joe Gimmicks: Count Bomb Joe Mine Reflect Block Sub-Bosses: Joe Mob Bosses: Joe Man Joe Man R

Theme Music Mega Man ZX - Overload Alternate (1/6 chance of playing): Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine - 2 Player VS. Theme Joe Mob: Mega Man 9 - Boss Joe Man, Joe Man R: Mega Man 10 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 6 Previous: Changeable Caverns Next: Crystal Lab

"It feels like this was made by a machine."

―SnoruntPyro, excerpt from judge comment.

Joe Man is the 40th place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2, created by Zieldak. The level focuses on explosives, and obstacles that block Mega Man's projectiles. Fitting its name and boss, every enemy in the level is a variant of a signature Mega Man enemy; specifically Mets, Sniper Joes, and Shield Attackers.

Strategy

The level starts with a simple outdoor area with Mets and Neo Heli Metalls. Going indoors, Mega Man finds another Met, as well as the level's first Shooter Joe. If Mega Man goes to the right instead of going up, he will find himself in a room where two Mets guard the first Noble Nickel. Climbing up normally, Mega Man will be greeted with a Shield Attacker TRL and a Grenader Joe, which cannot be shot from the ladder due to an indestructible wall. Following this is an introduction to Count Bombs, positioned over solid ground.

The next room has multiple Mets, Neo Heli Metalls, and Shield Attacker TRLs, with a Shooter Joe and two paths at the end. Going to the upper path leads to the second Noble Nickel, guarded by two Mets, a Shooter Joe, and a Shield Attacker TRL, and the latter will hit Mega Man if he doesn't wait to climb to the top of the ladder. Going down leads to a room with another Grenader Joe, which is harder to defeat because of a Shield Attacker TRL that will catch Mega Man if he jumps at the wrong time. Going down again leads to a room with more Count Bombs, now made tricker by the presence of enemies, and in the case of the first two, a bed of spikes. An E-Tank and a small screw can be collected by doing a tricky jump off the final Count Bomb. Following this is a boss gate, leading to the Joe Mob.

After defeating the Joe Mob and going through the next room, Mega Man is introduced to mines that explode shortly after he makes contact with them, introduced by a Shield Attacker TRL that flies past a group of them and sets them all off before they can damage Mega Man. Going to the right leads to the third Noble Nickel, which is guarded by a Shooter Joe and two Shield Attacker TRLs, as well as three mines and a spike ceiling on the lower half of the room. Going up leads to two rooms that utilize indestructible blocks, mines, Count Bombs, and spikes at the same time, with an E-Tank being guarded by a tricky set of Count Bomb jumps. After a simpler room with two Shield Attacker TRLs and two mines, Mega Man must traverse a pair of rooms with several Count Bombs and a few Neo Heli Metalls.

The next room has an alternate route to its left, where a series of Count Bomb jumps below spikes lead to an empty room with the fourth Noble Nickel, after which Mega Man will have to use the same Count Bomb jumps to get back on the main route. The main route of this room focuses on combining mines with jumps over bottomless pits, with a Grenader Joe preceding it, and a couple of Shooter Joes in-between. The boss gate is at the end of this room, with Eddie there to give Mega Man an item before the fight against Joe Man.

After defeating Joe Man, a hole is blown in the right wall of the room, leading to another room where Mega Man can choose to either end the level right away by collecting the Energy Element, or fight Joe Man R, with the boss gate leading to the latter having a Yashichi in front of it. If Joe Man R is defeated, a hole is blown in the right wall of his room as well, leading to a reward of two E-Tanks, a massive screw, and another gate that leads to a room with the final Noble Nickel, and a giant mural of I Feel It. The teleporter in the room housing the screw and E-Tanks takes Mega Man back to the room with the Energy Element.

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 30 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 13 / 15 4 / 10 3 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No This is really bizarre. The level is well-designed, it has a proper difficulty curve, it introduces its elements properly, it's professional, it feels like Mega Man....but it's just so BORING. The level is just so...dull and bland. All enemies in the level are variations of Mets, Sniper Joes, and Shield Attackers. Nothing else. The three most generic enemies you could possibly pick. There's mines, I guess, but those have been done before (see MMU), and there's time bombs, but those have been in like every fangame ever. There are a few clever setups - I like the bajillion time bomb + 2 copter met rooms - but the rest of the level is just an extremely basic difficulty curve. There's really nothing interesting. Oh, you have to do a really annoying jump between two time bombs under spikes to get a Noble Nickel. But that's about it. The boss is pretty dull, too, it's just...the attacks of the level's enemies, except in a boss. The bonus boss is even dumber because it's basically the original boss except with three health bars and like one new attack that isn't hard to dodge. It doesn't help that the bonus boss hits like a truck and will kill you quickly if you mess up at all. Like...the level feels like, it was churned out of a factory or something. It's really dull and bland and doesn't have any charm or anything really creative going for it, but there IS proper design. It feels like it was made by a machine.
JupiHornet  : 33 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 6 / 15 7 / 10 11 / 15 5 / 5 4 / 5 This level felt like something straight out of Mega Man 10, with awesome graphics. The miniboss is a fun kill room full of the different types of Sniper Joes. However, there are some unfair enemy placements, mostly with the Shield Attackers. There are a few right after screen transitions that are very hard to avoid (spikes/low ceiling above you so you can't jump over, pit in front of you so you can't slide under, coming towards you so you can't kill them without Flash Stopper) unless you know they're there beforehand. Joe Man himself was an alright battle, but his attacks do a LOT of damage. Joe Man R was just Joe Man with multiple health bars and a few more attacks, which was disappointing. I would have liked to see a boss with Sniper Joe's forms (mech, copter etc.)
Enjl  : 32 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 9 / 15 6 / 10 7 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No Honestly what keeps me from really liking this level is the fact it's not designed around being beatable with Slash Claw only. That would've been such a cool detail, come on! In all fairness, though, this level does a pretty good job at following the formula it's designed by. It properly introduces all of its assets in a safe manner and ramps up its difficulty until you get to the boss, and even beyond that. My one problem is... the boss is a good analogy for the level. The first encounter being the first half, and the 2nd being the 2nd half: It's the same thing, but with an element or two extra and a much higher risk of failure. I really liked the first half of this level, but after that I got slightly bored, as the mines didn't add much to the level's structure and the upwards climb was the part that stood out most about the second half, though I wasn't a big fan of that part. The level ended up feeling repetitive, felt like areas I've already been through, and the same applies for the boss rematch. The Nickel locations in this level are pretty silly. There are some hazards in the stage that I feel were placed unfairly, and most of them (not all of them) are within Nickel nooks. The fourth Nickel in particular contains a spike jump that is very easy to fail, and due to how the level places its checkpoints it takes quite a while to get back to it. Overall I wish the level added another element in its second half, preferrably one that's not scattered across the floor in abundance near the end.
Garirry  : 23 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 5 / 15 2 / 10 6 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 Man, there's a lot of bad design here. So many shielded enemies, sooooo many mets and joes that are just hard to avoid and require extreme patience to beat. Also boss is annoying, especially the extra one. I don't know. The amount of times you die to practically unavoidable enemies and how often you have to pause and wait for the enemy to lower its shield ruins it. Extra boss is piss-poor. I guess it's pretty interesting still. But it's nothing too special either. Nothing to say here tbh. Graphics and music are very good. Works just fine. I think this is one of the few levels that legitimately frustrated me. It's filled with Sniper Joes and other shielded enemies that require extreme patience and timing in order to defeat without taking damage. Often, you can't do it so you end up with all your health lost after a short while. It doesn't help that there is a lack of checkpoints here. I guess using the Slash Claw helps, but most enemies will attack you from far away. What bothers me the most is how insanely difficult the extra boss is; he's practically unbeatable if you don't use E-Tanks. This really could have been a good level. But the awful level design ruins it.
ACESpark  : 27 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 6 / 15 3 / 10 8 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No You started well. Nice tileset, if a little generic, the few new custom assets are good, if generic, decent selection of gimmicks, even if they are also a little generic, and pleasant enough music.... which is also pretty generic now that I think about it. Overall, solid, pretty well built stage, if not the most memorable thing in the world. It dragged a little, and I rather hated the miniboss for how redundant it was, but still... Some of the rooms were great, your use of Count Platforms combined with Flying Mets was pretty clever, and you usually placed Reflection Blocks in really good locations. We had what was a great cap to your stage - your Robot Master - aside from what is possibly a hitbox that is too large, his attacks had conveyance throughout the stage, his pattern was fair, good variety to the fight, and overall he was enough of a challenge to be fun. Your 4th Noble Nickel was probably a bit too hard for its own good, the count bombs needed to be about 16 pixels lower than they are currently, honestly. All this sounds positive so far, right? Just a few nitpicks and the like. Where'd you drop the ball then? Taking everything into account.. that would be your SECOND Robot Master. Oh. Oh dear. Erm, you kind of went overboard, this thing left a rather bitter taste in my mouth. 3 health bars? On a boss that is almost completely invincible about 75% of the time? Ok, that alone, is stupid. But it's a three phase boss fight, so ok, maybe three health bars are fine, provided each phase is different enough. Surely the fact that you can't hit it most of the time is taken into account. But no. Your first phase is, literally, a COPY of the first Robot Master..... just why. Why are you making us redo the exact thing we did just 10 seconds ago? The later forms have attacks where, he's just completely invincible for eons, and the only really good way to beat him before the heat death of the universe is to use the weakness. This just kills it. Everything here is bumped up into frustration levels and hits areas of tedium that I did not know was possible for a Mega Man boss whose name doesn't end in the word ""Devil"". Also, you probably should've put a sign after that boss, because I was left scratching my head for which direction I should head in for that Nickel, because I feared I'd lose my progress by choosing wrong. (If you as a player is reading this review before beating this stage, go right, not up.)