Oh No! More Compactors

48th: Oh No! More Compactors Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

Bass always preferred making every Lemming in the stage self-destruct.

Overview Creator(s): SCMidna Artist(s): SCMidna Composer(s): Jacques Offenbach (original) Tim Wright, SCMidna (cover) Statistics Scores: 50 63 61 63 Total: 59.25 / 100 Rank: 48th Elements: 1 Box Items: Au-Au Big Eye Claw Compactor Komuso Mine Enemies: Au-Au Big Eye Jamacy Lemming Gimmicks: Compactor Conveyor (MM2) Count Bomb Falling Platform (MM5) Key Barrier Komuso Mine Reflect Block Sheep Block

Theme Music Orpheus in the Underworld - Galop Infernal Stage Order Location: Tier 7 Previous: Scrub City Next: Cossack's Playground

"This sculpture chronicles a revolution among tribes of... actually, you have no idea what this is."

―Sculpture, outside the level's entrance

Oh No! More Compactors is the 48th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level (yaay!). Based on the video game Lemmings (and named after its expansion pack Oh No! More Lemmings), the level doesn't see Mega Man guiding the titular cute critters to the level's exit: Instead, they (as reskinned Claws) appear as enemies that constantly drop from open hatches in the background. As the name implies, Compactors are the primary gimmick of the level, with many setpieces focusing on evading them, a task helped and hindered by the frequent addition of conveyors and miscellaneous hazards – of which the Lemmings are happy to knock Mega Man into.

Strategy

Hold right or left as soon as the level starts for the chance to grab two large Bolts. The level properly begins with a few Compactors and Au-Aus (and a Lemming hatch positioned over a water-filled pit), followed by a screen with Komuso Mines in the floor and Jamacys that drop from the same sort of hatch. The mines are placed close to (or even directly under) Compactors in the next two screens (the latter of which also uses conveyors), so move quickly and carefully, and try to avoid getting hit by a mine's explosion, which can knock Mega Man into the path of a descending crusher. Soon, Mega Man reaches a room with an E-Tank, a Big Eye and multiple Sheep Blocks. There isn't much space to safely destroy the Big Eye without getting hit, so the Spark Shock should be used to keep it frozen in place instead. The screen directly below holds the first checkpoint.

A long pink corridor is divided into two halves: An upper half filled with small platforms, spikes, mines, and Compactors, and a lower half with Au-Aus and Big Eyes. By keeping to the upper half, Mega Man can collect a key lying at the end (though it can also be reached from the other end with some clever Concrete Shot usage). The key will unlock a Key Barrier with large Bolts and an M-Tank lying behind it, but be careful not to accidentally drop down, for the screen below is another checkpoint, preventing Mega Man from retrying the section. This next area is semi-aquatic, with an underwater area where Au-Aus attack while Komuso Mines go off, followed by an area on dry land with multiple Lemming hatches over bottomless pits. The Lemmings spawn very frequently, so the Flame Mixer can be useful for shielding Mega Man from them while focusing on jumping from one platform to the next. The screen below the next checkpoint has a set of Komuso Mines on a conveyor, right next to a Compactor. If Mega Man rushes through, the mines' explosions can easily stun him long enough to be squashed, so to be safe, he should trigger a mine and then quickly retreat before moving on.

In the next corridor, more Lemmings drop down into pits while Mega Man must jump past them and onto conveyors; once again, the Flame Mixer is useful not just as a shield against the Lemmings, but as a quick way to kill the Au-Au that appears part-way through. After that is a room with several Count Bombs and a Big Eye on a set of conveyors to the left. Stay on the left side of the room to keep it from dropping down, and avoid the Count Bombs' explosions to reach the level's final checkpoint. From this point, the main challenge is platforming over instant-death lava and across Count Bombs, with some right next to Compactors. Be careful with activating these bombs, as they might end up detonating while the Compactor is down and blocking the way forward. The last challenge of the level is a vertical scrolling area with Sheep Blocks, with an Au-Au shielded by Reflect Blocks, a Lemming hatch, and a Big Eye as hazards. The latter two will remain on the top half of the screen if the yellow Sheep Blocks remain intact, while the Au-Au can be killed with the Rain Flush or Beat. Beneath the blocks is a screen congratulating the player for bringing 100% of all Mega Men to the end (the minimum required to pass), with the Energy Element out in the open.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 50 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 19 / 35 5 / 15 9 / 10 11 / 25 6 / 15 This entire level is all over the place. Instead of exploring directions, it just feels like a jumbled mess. You quickly bring in other gimmicks that exist for a room or two and then are gone, like the Count Bombs and the Sheep Man blocks. Focus on less and make more engaging challenges with what you have instead of adding more. I know the two gimmicks don't work great together so adding in something else is a good idea, it's just that the execution of it was lackluster. It's not that every room was problematic even, just that the bigger picture of the level is sort of a mess. Good attempt; you could definitely take ideas from here and improve them into something way better. There's potential.
PKWeegee  : 63 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 18 / 35 10 / 15 10 / 10 13 / 25 12 / 15 Lemmings...now that's something I'm not too familiar with. What I am familiar with, though, is squished Mega Men. And that's honestly most of my experience with this level. It was frustrating at times, because instadeath is something that just gets annoying after a while. It wasn't completely frustrating, though, as a lot of places were totally fine and fun to play through, but the compactors just kinda dragged it down, due to their abundant placement.
M-Jacq  : 61 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 18 / 35 12 / 15 10 / 10 13 / 25 8 / 15 Even if this level had no other redeeming qualities, it would still be appreciated for bringing "Oh No! More Lemmings" into the universe of outside IPs that are concurrent with MaGMML. I suspect that if we charted out all the franchises in our Mega Tommy Westphall Universe it'd be a seriously convoluted nexus of crossovers. Anyway, and I mean this in the best way possible, your opinion on this level will depend on how much you think sadism is a valid design principle, because this level really relishes in freaking the player out. Take, for instance, the screen with five gajillion (rough estimate) Count Bombs and a Big Eye. That's a screen that evokes a palpable GULP in a player's throat. Of course, once you know what's coming, the actual path through that screen is pretty straightforward. Lemmings is an apt reference point: it's a tricky puzzle in the moment, but once you work out a game plan, you can figure out what to do. Unfortunately, not all the challenges in this level are created equal. In particular, the Komuso Mines are a sticking point. Many times throughout the level, I don't think it was taken into account that the mines hurt you if you happen to be standing directly to the side of them, leading to a lot of moments where you get hit by them seemingly at random even after you think you've cleared them. If this WAS deliberate, it sure doesn't feel like it. It's also occasionally unclear what to do or where to go, as with the sort of confusing room with the Au-Au and the million Sheep Blocks. But I did like this level, in the end.
Freems  : 63 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 19 / 35 10 / 15 9 / 10 16 / 25 9 / 15 I definitely totally got the reference! Yessiree! I feel like at points you had some ideas for level design before you got your gimmicks and just kinda included them anyway. Sheep Man Blocks and Count Bombs just kinda show up and are suddenly a prominent part of the level around halfway through and by the end (and the Gyro Platforms, but those ones aren't even prominent, they're just there), they kinda overshadow the main two gimmicks in question. Perhaps you could argue that you ran out of things to do with Compactors and Komuso Mines, but then the level also feels like it goes on a bit longer than it should, which makes the added gimmicks just feel oddly tacked on. There are some creative setups with them, but it's weird that the more creative parts of the level aren't even with the compactors or mines. For the most part the compactors themselves were used well enough but the Komuso Mines just kinda felt there for the most part. The introduction for them was too close quarters for its own good and the challenge with them felt similar throughout the entire level (as in, you slide over them). I do think this would have felt a lot better if you just put more focus on the gimmicks given to you instead of making them feel like more of an afterthought by the end of the level. Especially since one of them is right there in the title.

Trivia

• To commemorate the level achieving 48th place (as in 48 hours), a unique Lemmings statue was added by the devteam in Tier 7 next to the level's entrance. Said statue is based on a real life Lemmings statue found in Dundee, Scotland.