Saturn Fortress

71st: Saturn Fortress Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

The Fankurow primarily makes its nest in close proximity to lethally sharp objects. It blows prey into these, so that its young may feast on the scraps.

Overview Creator(s): Norman Composer(s): Makoto Tomozawa, Kouji Murata (originals) Unknown remixer, Mathew Valente (cover) Statistics Scores: 49 56 45 62 Total: 53 / 100 Rank: 71st Elements: 1 Box Items: Fankurow Foojeen Haehaey Galaxy Man Portal Rotating Spike Platform Enemies: Fankurow Foojeen Haehaey Gimmicks: Galaxy Man Portal Rotating Spike Platform Sub-Bosses: Stompy Bosses: Saturn

Theme Music Mega Man 10 - Heart of Enker Boss: Mega Man V - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 4 Previous: Fortified Base Next: Sleet Citadel

"WILY FORTRESS - PROPERTY OF WI--SATURN."

―Sign on the first screen.

Saturn Fortress is the 71st place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. Following a loose premise of being a Wily fortress taken over by Saturn, it is a platforming-heavy level that uses Rotating Spike Platforms and Galaxy Man Portals as its primary gimmicks. It also uses Fankurows, whose alternating suction/wind-blowing attribute is used to make platforming both easier and harder.

Strategy

Initially, Fankurows stand in Mega Man's way and should be destroyed. Eventually, Foojeens start appearing in low areas out of the Mega Buster's range; while some weapons can reach them, it's better to just avoid their shots and run past them. After a few jumps involving Fankurows and spiked platforms, a battle with a Stompy ensues, which can be easily won with either the Salt Water or rapid-fire Concrete Shots. The next couple of sections feature slightly more difficult platforming challenges, with Rotating Spike Platforms floating over beds of lethal spikes. Galaxy Man Portals also start being used as a more active stage gimmick, and using one can get Mega Man to an E-Tank standing atop a spike platform. In a room with a boss door and two spike platforms over death spikes, a boxed-in Fankurow lies in the ceiling; however, destroying it can make it harder to cross the room, so instead, Mega Man should time his jumps so that the Fankurow pulls him while facing left, before pushing him while facing right. Another Stompy fight follows, and is more dangerous than the first with the addition of a Rotating Spike Platform and a bottomless pit in the middle of the room.

Following a Haehaey aerial ambush, Mega Man must proceed by jumping into Galaxy Man Portals, usually while moving across Rotating Spike Platforms. Some spike platforms hang low enough in the air that Mega Man can hit their spiked sides if he jumps too high, which can send him falling down into previous screens. The final room before the end of the level has a minor puzzle element to it: going all the way to the right eventually leads to a wall, with the only ground over a large chasm being a set of Rotating Spike Platforms and Galaxy Man Portals. To get past the wall, Mega Man must use the Galaxy Man Portal in the centre below the Dr. W logo, as the other two merely lead to each other. The boss is, unsurprisingly, Saturn, but the arena also contains a Fankurow on a platform high above the two combatants. If at all possible, it should be killed as quickly as possible using Special Weapons, as its wind abilities makes it almost impossible to avoid being hit by Saturn's projectiles during his time stop attack.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 49 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 18 / 35 7 / 15 10 / 10 9 / 25 7 / 15 This level is fine. You show that you know how to use the gimmicks, but you don't go far with them. The Galaxy Man portals mostly just exist until the last section, and the challenges are incredibly easy. This applies to the flip platforms as well; it's not like they are used badly, they're just underwhelming. Really, the only challenge is the blowing owls, but they are almost all easy to dispatch. There's just not a whole lot of challenge in this level and it makes it feel very plain. The graphics are used fine, but the level lacks its own identity. It doesn't take any risks or stand out. Trying some odd things would really help this level. Even if you did something weird and it wasn't perfect, it would at least stick out for that. You at least show understanding and could definitely do better in the future, so I really hope you can. Also, near the end you can just hold right and hit the wall and die and skip the last challenge and appear at the last checkpoint.
PKWeegee  : 56 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 14 / 35 8 / 15 10 / 10 13 / 25 11 / 15 Those stars, though. This stage does some nice things with the teleporters and the spike platforms, although it never goes anywhere too exciting. I do appreciate the usage of the owls, though, even if it would have been smarter to make the ones involved in challenges invincible.
M-Jacq  : 45 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 13 / 35 5 / 15 8 / 10 10 / 25 9 / 15 Eeeergh. Not a fan of this stage. I think the problem here is that the stage really struggles to use its enemies - although it does excel in struggling to use its enemies in a variety of different ways. You've got the Haehaeys, which are almost entirely negligible except on the screens where they ambush you while you're jumping; you've got the Foojeens, which are used as makeshift turrets except on the screen where it's easily disposed of from a ladder and poses no threat; and you've got the Fankurow, which are mildly inconvenient but aren't really going to hurt you. The lack of, e.g., a Big Eye-style heavy-hitter enemy means that the stage is extremely light on enemy challenges; to make up for it, you've got a lot of platforming over spikes, but those aren't particularly tricky either. Occasionally the Fankurows are used in conjunction with other enemies or gimmicks (pushing/pulling you onto the rotating spike platforms, for instance) but more often than not they're just sitting there. As for the bosses? Well, I did like the Brave Little Toaster guy from CFTF, and how you fight him twice in a harder arena. I did not like the Saturn fight, where the Fankurow is completely irrelevant except for making it impossible to reliably dodge Saturn's Time Stopper impression. I don't think this stage is particularly offensive, because the difficulty level is low and the presence of a fun miniboss does sort of lift up the play experience. At the same time, though, the difficulty in this level largely comes from cheap shots (Haehaey ambushes, the aforementioned Saturn fight) and spikes, which is not great.
Freems  : 62 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 21 / 35 6 / 15 8 / 10 16 / 25 11 / 15 I feel like this level just needs a little push into the right direction to make that leap from "alright" to "a good time". It feels pretty close, but something is just missing. While the spike platforms and the bird enemies feel like they're used pretty well, it takes nearly the entire level for the Galaxy Man portals to reach anything other than "alternate way of holding right" and then it doesn't really do much with it. I like how in the owl's introduction the spike platforms can catch you if you mess up, but just once. That's a cute take on an enemy introduction that made me happy. But overall it just needed a little more spice in there. Perhaps something with using the teleporters to trigger the spike platforms from below, making them safe to platform up normally? Also if you're an idiot like me and keep holding right on the last teleporter section even though there's a wall, the checkpoint still triggers. Which is a bit unfortunate, even if it saved me a minute.