Running Down a Drain

63rd: Running Down a Drain Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

Working on a mystery, too many snails for me Running down a drain

Overview Creator(s): GameTrooper Composer(s): Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Takashi Tateishi (originals) CRIZ SONNY (cover) Statistics Scores: 65 53 51 52 Total: 55.25 / 100 Rank: 63rd Elements: 1 Box Items: Jamacy Jet Bomb Space Metall Top Lift Wave Man Warp Enemies: Jamacy Jet Bomb Space Metall Gimmicks: Top Lift Wave Man Warp Sub-Bosses: Escaroo Bosses: Bubble Man

Theme Music Running Down a Dream Boss: Mega Man 2 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 5 Previous: Exoplanet Everest Next: Well Oiled Machine

Running Down a Drain is the 63rd place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It is a relatively easy level, with a few difficulty spikes mostly revolving around a trio of Escaroo minibosses. The level relies on a mix of box elements and respawning enemies. It is also the tenth and final location visited in the Goody Two Shoes sidequest before the Shadow Imposter becomes available to fight onboard the SS Elroy.

Strategy

I'll beam you out after I finish my soap opera.

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Shadow Imposter Graffiti

The Shadow Imposter's message is found in the side room with the two Volt Men, and sits above their table. While the message is present, both NPCs have different dialogue commenting on it. Two Shadow Turrets pester Mega Man while looking for the message; one that stays at the top of the screen, and another that orbits him constantly.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 65 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 24 / 35 9 / 15 10 / 10 13 / 25 9 / 15 So I really liked where this level started. Using the Wave Man pipes seemed really cool, especially mixing them with the Top Man platforms. Great idea, but then you didn't do much with it. Really, that was the highlight of the level, but it just fizzles out way too fast. I'm also not a huge fan of miniboss rushes. This one functions in this case, and using the same miniboss with the tops is well done, but I don't particularly love it. If this level was fully fleshed out it could be much better, but as it is, it's okay. Also, it's a bit too heavy on instant death. I think damage spikes would go a long way. The level geometry keeps the level feeling fresh.
PKWeegee  : 53 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 13 / 35 7 / 15 10 / 10 17 / 25 6 / 15 Hmm, could've used the pipes more, ya know? Besides that, there were a lot of questionable design choices. Like, why have so many snail midbosses? And they were all so tedious, to boot. And besides that, it was just...bland. I really liked that one room where both the pipe and the tops were combined, I would have loved to see more of that.
M-Jacq  : 51 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 12 / 35 5 / 15 9 / 10 16 / 25 9 / 15 Hm, this one's got quite a few problems - but I enjoyed it a lot in spite of that. Maybe it's just goodwill towards the late Tom Petty, whose music gives this level its name and a bit of forward momentum. It's also helpful that some of the oversights in the level design make the level more fun rather than less - the blindspots in the trio of giant snail fights make those bosses more enjoyable, and being able to jump out-of-bounds to skip some of the harder platforming bits is sort of amusing. Otherwise, the level doesn't have much going for it on the design front, and feels fairly empty. I'll take a level that spawns enemies too slowly over a level that spawns them too frequently any day, but it's kind of jarring how little threat the missiles and Jamacys pose. Which isn't to say there's absolutely nothing of interest in this level. There's an extremely cool room where you can wipe out an entire row of Jamacy in a single charge shot, which is fun to pull off; the level conveniently puts a checkpoint just before the only really challenging rooms in the entire level, which is a useful rage deterrent. Honestly, I don't wish this level was harder, but I do wish that it wasn't such a cakewalk. It can be fun to tear through easy levels; this level's problem is that it's so light on challenges to tear through.
Freems  : 52 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 15 / 35 6 / 15 10 / 10 13 / 25 8 / 15 The drains sure vanished from that stage quickly, didn't it? In fact, most of the stage was inconsequential outside of the three times we get to fight the snail miniboss. With the second being the most annoying given the fact you only line up with him when the tops are in sync. That and three fights against the Snail miniboss is way too much snail intake for anyone. Most of the actual level beyond that was just kind of bare without a lot going on. The last section had some more ideas but the only real combination of the tops and pipes solved itself if you just rode the top, which on one hand is good design but on the other, makes the pipes completely pointless in the grand scheme of things. Not a bad level by any means, it just needed more... level, and less snail.