Megatroid

83rd: Megatroid Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

Does anyone remember that old Flash game, Mega Man vs Metroid? Well, someone did.

Overview Creator(s): pieceofcheese87 & egg Composer(s): Kenji Yamamoto, Hirokazu Tanaka (originals) Loeder, IsabelleChiming (covers) Statistics Scores: 38 41 72 30 Total: 45.25 / 100 Rank: 83rd Elements: 1 Box Items: L.E.C Piledan Sniper Armor Fan Top Lift Enemies: Beak L.E.C Piledan (Normal, Turret, Bomber) Sniper Armor Gimmicks: Falling Platform (MM2) Fan "Rising Lava" Top Lift Sub-Bosses: Mother Brain Other Information: Skippable Weapons Disabled (All except Mega Buster) Unlockable weapons (Concrete Shot, Rush Coil, Rush Jet)

Theme Music Area 1: Super Metroid - Brinstar Overgrown with Vegetation Area Area 2: Super Metroid - Brinstar Red Soil Swampy Area Area 3: Metroid - Tourian Escape: Super Metroid - Big Boss Confrontation BGM (Ridley, Draygon) Stage Order Location: Tier 3 Previous: Forest Castle Next: The Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room

Megatroid is the 83rd place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. Based heavily on the original Metroid for the Famicom Disk System and NES, the level is a mini-Metroidvania where all of Mega Man's weapons except for the Mega Buster are disabled, and he must find and collect certain Special Weapons in order to proceed. It is, however, less open-ended than its template, being divided into three separate areas, all of which are fairly linear when it comes to progression.

Strategy

Megatroid is divided into three distinct areas loosely based on areas from the original Metroid, some more convoluted than others.

Area 1

Based on Brinstar, the level begins with a left wall that's too high to jump over, and a path to the right that leads to Piledans, some of which plug into turrets. After crossing a pit on reskinned Top Lifts, Mega Man will come across a pool of water with a Beak on the right. With no way to cross it, the only way forward is down into a (non-lethal) spike drop, where the Fan gimmick is introduced. A little further ahead is a room with a Beak on a left wall and a Fan on the bottom. Once again, Mega Man cannot reach the other side, and so must jump down past the Fan, and a short while later (beyond a Sniper Armor) is a checkpoint, the unlock for the Concrete Shot, and a teleporter, which leads to the other side of the Beak/Fan room. To leave, use the Concrete Shot to create a block to slide through the one-tile gap in the wall.

With the Concrete Shot in hand, it can be used to cross back over to the other side of the room. Returning to the initial underwater Damage Spike room, a one-tile gap in the wall can be accessed by creating a Concrete Shot block on the spikes next to it, then sliding through the gap. L.E.Cs are introduced in the next corridor, which leads to a vertical climb out of the water. This in turn leads to a hallway with Fans lining the ceiling and the floor, while Damage Spikes float in the space between them. The left of this hallway has an unlock for the Rush Coil, while also linking back up to the underwater area's entrance. Using the newly-acquired weapons, backtrack to the start of the level and scale the wall on the left. Beyond it is a teleporter leading to the next area.

Area 2

Based on Norfair (with elements from Mini-Boss Hideout II, a.k.a. Ridley's Lair), the difficulty here increases despite exploration being fairly straightforward. The first few areas involve fighting Piledans and Sniper Armors while platforming using Fans and Top Platforms, before finding another submerged area. There, two LECs occupy platforms that must be used to cross a large pit, though a wall-mounted Fan makes destroying the top one slightly more difficult. A pair of Piledans guard a ladder leading out of the drink, and a set of Top Platforms spawn from out of a chasm populated with free-floating Damage Spikes. Before long, Mega Man arrives in a water-filled wall to the left of where he first arrived. Dying at this point is ill-advised, as the checkpoint will put him back at the level's entrance, thus forcing him to take the long trip back to the other side of the wall.

The top of the ladder leads to two paths: one on the left that has an uncrossable pit, and one on the right, which leads to a trio of Piledans. Falling in one of the first two pits should be avoided at all costs, or else one will land back at the start of the entire area. There are two paths into the next screen that can be taken; the bottom one requires no utilities but has a Sniper Armor, while the top one requires the Rush Coil and is otherwise unguarded. Whatever path is taken, a Rush Jet unlock lies in the room beyond. With it in hand, return to the room with the large chasm, and use the Rush Jet to fly to the other side. Another teleporter is located at the end, leading to the final part of the stage.

Area 3

Based on Tourian, this is by far the most straightforward of the three areas, yet also the most brutal. The area begins with a spike-lined corridor that requires the Rush Jet to traverse, followed by a Sniper Armor guarding a checkpoint and boss door. Beyond said boss door is a Melody Response Cannon reskinned as Metroid final boss Mother Brain, with two buttons on either side of the arena (both of which must be pressed to destroy it) and a series of Rinkas moving up and down from spawners in the terrain. Dodging the Rinkas is very difficult, thanks to how close they are to each other, and the lack of weapons like the Flame Mixer or Tengu Blade to bypass them. An effective strategy to reduce going back and forth through the Rinkas is to keep pressing the right-side button until it becomes the first one in the sequence, as the room is open enough to make dodging the retaliatory shots easy.

After destroying "Mother Brain", a teleporter can be accessed using Rush Coil, which leads to a tall vertical area filled with Falling Platforms and Fans. Deadly lava will rise up from the bottom of the screen, forcing Mega Man to climb up the shaft quickly. This is a difficult task, as the platforms will drop if stood on for too long, and both the Fans and falling Piledans make falling down very easy. Worse still, dying here will force Mega Man to fight Mother Brain again. A tactic to cut corners is to use Rush Coil to reach higher platforms from below, but even this isn't a foolproof plan. If by some miracle he reaches the top, the Energy Element sits in a victory screen.

Skip Status

Megatroid was deemed skippable by all four judges owing to its large size and mazelike layout, as well as the high difficulty of both the Mother Brain battle and the final escape sequence.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 38 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 12 / 35 8 / 15 8 / 10 5 / 25 5 / 15 If this level isn't controversial, I'm gonna be shocked. Generally, this level isn't great. It has some concepts and rooms that I find wonderful, but the final product is frustrating. This entire level is very unclear. Not in an open way where you have options and paths, but I'm sometimes just not sure what's the right way. One recurring instance of this is that pits are not clearly defined. This is not every pit, but several of them just have the background extended down to make it look like the stage continues. The smarter thing to do here is to make the background by the pit black so that the player clearly knows what is and isn't safe. Another instance is that in the Norfair section after you get Rush Jet, it's very easy for you to jump back to the start of the section. I honestly just thought that's where you were supposed to go at first. I don't actually get why that isn't a pit because if you die you go to the checkpoint past the room you fall into, so it's not worth redoing stuff, but you may as well throw yourself into a pit and not continue from there.
PKWeegee  : 41 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 10 / 35 12 / 15 8 / 10 5 / 25 6 / 15 Yikes...with a timeframe this short, you shouldn't get this ambitious. I can see where you were coming from, but the execution was severely lacking. The first part was alright, and Concrete Shot was actually used kinda nicely to advance, but after that, you get Rush, and...don't use him for more than one thing. What a letdown. And then there's Mother Brain, and while looking impressive, the fight itself is very easy to cheese. What's annoying about it is that when you die on the next part, you gotta redo Mother Brain as well, and it drags after a bit. But now let's talk about the escape sequence. It's...no. Just no. Not only is it way too tight for what it's worth, but it's just plain annoying, even when you get it right. And the fact that you gotta redo the boss every time just adds to the frustration...
M-Jacq  : 72 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 17 / 35 15 / 15 10 / 10 23 / 25 7 / 15 A long, difficult, Metroidvania-style level with a wretched autoscroller segment and too few checkpoints... now where have I heard that before? Ok, let's acknowledge the elephant in the room: Those of you who've played MaGMML2 may remember my entry to that contest, Sector Upsilon 6. In particular, you may remember *hating* Sector Upsilon 6, because it was among the most unpopular entries in the contest. Megatroid, fairly or unfairly, is going to be judged in relation to my level, because you can copy and paste most of the criticisms and they'll apply perfectly to Megatroid. The particular sticking points here would be, in order: 1) Checkpoints are sparse, especially when the overall difficulty is so high and the level itself so full of pits and spikes. 2) The autoscroller segment is brutally difficult and insufficiently playtested. 3) The background is an endless sea of black, which makes it impossible to tell when you're supposed to go down and when you're just jumping down a pit. So, these flaws are pretty glaring. However! If you're willing to look past these flaws, the level itself is actually pretty good, and not in spite of being a Metroidvania, but because of it. The sense of progression here is really nice. There's something immensely satisfying about doing trick shots with Concrete Shot, or playing the opening stretch of level backwards with Rush Coil. And it's *so cool* that the difficulty curve ratchets up with each change in music and scenery. Other than the LECs (which feel arbitrary) the enemy placement is pretty good, and it's kind of fun going toe-to-toe with the Sniper Joe mechas throughout the level (something I never thought I'd say). And man, what a clever way to duke it out with "Mother Brain" at the end there! There are some miscellaneous flaws that drag the level down, beyond the ones I mentioned earlier, of course. (In particular, I think a lot of screens in this level have too little solid ground next to screen transitions, and that it's kinda dumb that you're given unlimited ammo for Rush Coil and Jet but not for Concrete Shot.) But I mostly really liked this level. I suspect I'll be in the minority on that, though.
Freems  : 30 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 9 / 35 9 / 15 5 / 10 3 / 25 4 / 15 So, let's talk. The idea was to emulate a Metroid game but the problem is the level kind of gave up on it partway through. Using Mega Man's many different mobility tools to make a short metroidvania level is a very novel idea, and done right could prove a very fun and unique time. But it doesn't quite work out that way here. The first area has some backtracking through areas with new tools such as Concrete Shot (which probably should have had unlimited uses because while I never ran out of ammo, I can see it easily happening to someone) and Rush Coil. However the second area is less of a maze and more "get the last tool so you can go left". I'm also going to say that when you make a level that winds around itself, please make sure it's impossible to re-activate an older checkpoint. Because that happened, and let me tell you, that's not fun at all. It's just so strange that the Metroid level gives up on being a Metroid level as soon as the first area ends. The actual areas themselves really aren't anything special. Some spots are just fine but others have little room to actually fight enemies (and since this is the Metroid level, you're pretty much only running buster only) and other times you have Top Lifts that just push you around at different speeds than others for no good reason. That's not to say all the challenges were bad, the first section was mostly good in that regard, but it just degraded as the level went on. The last area is... something else though. There's something nice about reskinning the Astro Man & Bass miniboss into Mother Brain, but to be honest I didn't even realize what it was at first because the two buttons you have to press are so far across the room that I didn't even realize there's a game of Simon Says going on. But let me just be upfront and say that the final escape is a nightmare. I swear you created a section that just has everything out to get you. Lava is rising but also the platforms are falling but also surprise fans (that I've had just randomly despawn in certain runs) and also enemies just meant to make the whole thing even more painful. I was only able to get through it by praying to Rush Coil and hoping that half the fans would despawn on the way up. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's possible without it, but to be blunt, I just didn't have the patience by that point. The idea of emulating a Metroid game isn't a bad one, the idea of an escape sequence isn't a bad one, but call it time constraints or something else, it just couldn't find its footing here.

Trivia

• If a player somehow manages to enter a new area without collecting the weapons in the previous one, the stage will still unlock those weapons to prevent an unwinnable scenario.
• Because of MaG48HMML's "no custom programming" rule, the rising lava at the end is in fact an enemy bullet modified via a custom spawner.
• When played in Bass Mode, the Rush Coil and Rush Jet weapon unlocks are both replaced with Treble Boost unlocks, allowing Bass to collect the weapon twice (not that this does anything).
• For a time, the devteam debated whether or not Megatroid's skip room would include a Chozo Statue holding the Energy Element (as it would an upgrade in the Metroid series). The idea was dropped on the grounds that since the level didn't make such an obvious reference by itself, the developers weren't going to make it for it.