Just a Space Level

7th: Just a Space Level Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

Lives up to its name – IN SPACE!!!

Overview Creator(s): Pachy Composer(s): ZUN (originals) 40Nix (covers) Statistics Scores: 96 86 56 88 Total: 81.50 / 100 Rank: 7th Elements: 1 Box Items: Boostun Cyorown Pipi Block Train Gravity Change Enemies: Boostun Cyorown Pipi Gimmicks: Block Train Gravity Change Reflect Block Bosses: Stone Man Other Information: 3 Minutes Late

Theme Music Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom - The Fantastic Legend of Tohno Boss: Touhou Hisoutensoku - Our Hisoutensoku Stage Order Location: Tier 11 Previous: Braving New Depths Next: Cascade

Just a Space Level is the 7th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It's just a space level. It also makes extensive use of looping Block Trains to cross over spikes and Gravity Changers that alter gravity constantly throughout the level. A common threat are Cyorowns in space helmets, who often attack from hard to reach spots, while Pipis work to overwhelm Mega Man with their eggs. It is also the sixth level to be visited during the Goody Two Shoes sidequest, with the Shadow Imposter's message being easy to find, if tricky to get to.

Strategy

The level starts with simple Block Train setups while introducing each of the three enemy types. The Homing Sniper is a useful weapon for taking out airborne Boostuns and distant Cyorowns, while the Flame Mixer is ideal for shielding Mega Man from their projectiles. After the first checkpoint is a long stretch of spiked ground, with Block Train loops as the only means of crossing over it. A set of Gravity Changers beforehand halves Mega Man's gravity, allowing him to jump higher and farther, while also making it easier to avoid enemies. Eventually, Mega Man comes across a room with a long Block Train blocking off a ladder, while Pipis fly through the room and a Cyorown shielded by Reflect Blocks shoots at him. By standing directly under the ladder with the Flame Mixer, both enemies can be easily killed without a flame accidentally hitting a Reflect Block.

In the screen above the ladder, a Gravity Changer doubles Mega Man's gravity and makes him heavier for multiple screens. Fortunately, pits and death spikes are absent in said areas, although Pipis often interfere with platforming across small Block Train loops. At one point, there is an entrance to a side room on the right, but there is nothing there save empty space and the text "Sorry Nothing". Eventually, Mega Man's gravity is restored to normal at a checkpoint, but not for long: A tall wall blocks the path forward, and the screen below (guarded by a Block Train and Pipis) has a small maze of Gravity Changers, though the intended path is quite simple: jump across the bottom three platforms. This gives Mega Man 0.5x gravity with which to jump over the wall, although the challenge can be skipped entirely with the Rush Coil, which can bounce him high enough under normal gravity.

By far the hardest part of the level is its final corridor, which has an entire floor of death spikes while squares of Block Trains snake in place over it. While jumping from train to train, Mega Man comes across Gravity Changers that gradually make him heavier, and more prone to plummeting into the spikes below. Meanwhile, Pipis continue to fly in from the right side of the screen while Boostuns and Cyorowns attack from a distance. However, it is possible to avoid the Gravity Changers and retain higher jumps by jumping over them while offscreen, making the final few Block Trains much easier. Hidden behind the Dr. W logo at the end is an M-Tank, but under 2x gravity it can only be obtained with the Rush Jet or Beat (if he has the Fortified Talons upgrade). The boss of the level is Stone Man, who is fought with 0.5x gravity in an arena with a long Block Train circling the room, which has non-lethal spikes on the floor.

Shadow Imposter Graffiti

The graffiti is "hidden" in the Sorry Nothing room, which cheekily has its message changed to "Sorry Something" while the graffiti is present. The main challenge in finding it comes from simply getting to it, with the level adding an additional challenge in a Shadow Turret that slowly chases after Mega Man while firing targeted shots at him.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 96 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 34 / 35 14 / 15 10 / 10 24 / 25 14 / 15 I think making gravity the focus of a level can be really challenging since it usually compliments other gimmicks more than it shines on its own. This level changed my mind on that. While there are a lot of great parts, the puzzle where you have to find the right gravity to go up to clear the ledge before the last stretch is brilliant. Even if your use of the gravity was great, the block train was also genuinely amazingly done. Other levels have used the block trains similarly, where they're smaller moving platforms instead of winding through a whole level, but the execution here is just amazing. Also, telegraphing them is a great touch that makes it so much easier to understand what you have to do. The birds that drop smaller birds are usually frustrating, but they're mostly fine here. You use the gimmicks on their own really really well, but then the last section is just an absolutely wonderful combination that makes the level come together. The level looks great, feels great, sounds great. The entire package comes together as something better than a lot of people could make for a main contest with so much more time. Genuinely exceptional level.
PKWeegee  : 86 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 29 / 35 13 / 15 10 / 10 22 / 25 12 / 15 Wow, uh, I'm kinda blown away. That was really fun and well thought out. I really liked the usage of the Snake blocks, and combined with the different gravity settings, their placements were always great and fun to traverse. Even the boss battle did a good job of using the Snake blocks in a fun and creative way. Even that one room with all the gravity changers that seemed daunting at first was not hard, but fun and clever! And yes, Touhou music, love it!
M-Jacq  : 56 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 14 / 35 15 / 15 3 / 10 10 / 25 14 / 15 Oh, gosh, if ever there was a level I wanted to judge more generously, it's this one. Because there's so much charm on display here, and so many novel set-ups, and if not for the massive flaws here it'd probably be top-tier material. But unfortunately, this level has a gaping hole in its second half, namely, that the entire final section can be trivialized by going out-of-bounds, thus skipping over all the gravity changers and keeping your jump sky-high for the entire final section. This is a glaring error, made all the more bizarre because the rest of the level blocks off far less obvious places for OOB skips. And yet, this isn't even the worst functionality error in the level: no, that (dis)honor goes to your ability to clip through the block train in the boss room and get trapped in the ceiling, with no way to get back down and continue the fight. This is especially frustrating because, bluntly, the kre8iv arena doesn't make the Stone Man fight any more enjoyable. As for the rest of the level, well, I did mostly like it. Like a lot of levels in this contest using gimmicks in the Guts Lift family, there are moments here where I found myself frustrated by how damn long it took for the Block Trains to get back in place so I could try segments of level again; in general, the longer the train, the more my interest waned. It also didn't help that the Pipis in this level seemed very, very active, and hellbent on dropping their spawn in the least convenient places. It sure sounds like I don't like this level, which is wrong: I did like it, and there are moments where I loved it. You got a lot of utility out of your gimmicks, and there was a pretty natural progression from normal gravity to high gravity to low gravity to the final mix-em-all-together section. But the flaws here are pretty tough to overlook.
Freems  : 88 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 32 / 35 13 / 15 9 / 10 21 / 25 13 / 15 This is one of those levels where it's clear from the get-go that you knew exactly what you wanted to do with the gimmicks you received and you made the most of it. Most levels that use block trains turn them into overglorified autoscrollers but you actually managed to do something unique with them. Acting as either a unique type of platform or a way to create a short endurance challenge. The variety was very welcome. That and the level manages to cycle through all the different gravities with a very good difficulty curve. And I have to appreciate how the spikes just sorta vanished when the platforming got much harder with the high gravity but were present for the easier to manage low gravity section. And of course all levels like this have to end with cycling through the different gravities over a similar platforming section. And you actually managed to put the boss fight with the gimmick and not make me hate the fight. So that's also a plus! Really my top concerns are I feel like a room or two could have been cut out, it feels just a taaad too long at times. There were also a handful of times where the enemy placement seemed a little rude (walking forward and suddenly two crows are shooting you down) and while it was a little annoying, that kind of enemy placement was more of the exception than the norm. So all in all, I had a good time! Good fun!

Notes

• Just a Space Level was submitted three minutes after its 48 hour time limit, though it didn't score high enough for the -3 score cap penalty to affect its final score. It is also the highest-scoring level in MaG48HMML to have a late penalty attached to it, and the one with the lowest total point deduction.