Sector Upsilon 6

15th : Sector Upsilon 6 Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

Now this is the story, all about how...

Overview Creator(s): M-Jacq Programmer(s): M-Jacq Artist(s): M-Jacq Composer(s): Tim Follin, Magnus "SoulEye" Palsson Statistics Scores: 43 36 45 42 24 Total: 38.0 / 50 Rank: 15th Elements: 3 Collectables: Enemies: Big Eye Octopus Battery Petit Devil (Green, Yellow) Shield Attacker Skeleton Joe Spring Head V Gimmicks: Auto Scroller Chill Man Block Count Bomb Dustman Block Gravity Flip Key Barrier Tomahawk Platform (reskinned) Yoku Block Sub-Bosses: Octoper OA Bosses: Captain Viridian Gravity Man Mecha Dragon Other Information: Skippable

Theme Music Title Theme - Silver Surfer (NES) VVVVVV World: Predestined Fate Captain Viridian: VVVVVV, Potential for Anything - VVVVVV Stage Order Location: Tier 9 Previous: Rad Gravity Next: Truffle Man

"Submitting a level like this to a contest is a REALLY risky move if you ask me, since what this is more closely resembles a full game than it does a standard level."

―Enjl, excerpt from judge comment.

Sector Upsilon 6 is an entry level by M. Jacquelinae in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2. Inspired by Maze of Death and the video game VVVVVV, Sector Upsilon 6 is a sprawling Metroidvania level built around gravity switching. The level has three exits, each with a different boss—Gravity Man (exit 1), Mecha Dragon (exit 2), and Captain Viridian (exit 3). It is a bit of a marmite level: some people love it for its challenge and explorational aspects, while some people despise it for its difficulty and extreme length.

Strategy

In the room immediately to the left of the level's midway checkpoint, there is a color-coded map listing the locations of all the level's collectibles. In order to reach the third and final exit, all six shiny trinkets must be collected: there is an obvious one in the purple sector, but there are also two in the orange sector, two in the green sector, and one in Captain Viridian's teleporter matrix. Notably (and controversially), the player will need to die at least twice to access all the trinkets.

Purple Sector (Octoper) - 1 Trinket

The level begins in the purple sector. Players aiming for the first or third exits should go right; players aiming for the second exit or the Noble Nickels should use the gravity flipper slightly to the right of the opening screen to walk on the ceiling and slide to the left, where the Periwinkle Sector lies. This path is filled with Petit Devils; in most cases, is a better choice to slide under or avoid them than it is to shoot. At the end of the section is an Octoper OA miniboss, fought with constantly flipping gravity; after this lies the "Crossroads" (the level's checkpoint), which connects to the Viridian Base (right), Orange Sector (up) and Green Sector (down)

This path's trinket is clearly visible to the left of a trio of moving platforms; to obtain it, simply flip your gravity to land on the underside of the platforms, then head backwards to pick up the trinket.

Periwinkle Sector (Spike Drop) - 1 Nickel

This part of the level is modeled after the infamous "Veni Vidi Vici" challenge in VVVVVV: it's a spike drop which must be done both forwards and backwards to obtain the trinket. Players can stop at the top of the spike drop to obtain an E-tank and several bolts; from there, using a utility weapon, the player can skip over the spikes to their right to access the Indigo and Grey Sectors and attempt the level's second exit. Alternately, the player can equip Sakugarne and bounce off the spike drop's spikes to access the Cyan Sector.

Viridian Base (Teleport System) - 1 Trinket

Head to the right to access the teleporter system; at the end of the teleporter system there is a shiny trinket. If you don't have all six shiny trinkets, head to the Orange or Green Sectors to find what you missed. Otherwise, unlock the six locked doors at the bottom of the screen and head to the final teleporter, which will send you to the VVVVVV World.

VVVVVV World

The player will instantly teleport This is the most straightforward part of the level platforming-wise-- just make sure not to overshoot on the "Let the Bodies Hit The Floor" room. At the end of the level is a fight with Captain Viridian, who is piloting a souped-up version of the Octoper OA you fought earlier in the level. At half health, Viridian will temporarily withdraw and fire off a volley of projectiles. After beating Viridian, head right and pick up the third and final Energy Element.

Skip Status

This level was deemed skippable by the judges, due to its absurdly large size and sophisticated layout, rivaling that of a full game.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 43 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 10 / 15 8 / 10 15 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No VERY interesting and creative level, but some design issues prevent me from liking it as much as I'd like to. The first three Noble Nickels are the biggest offenders, really. The Veni Vidi Vici one isn't terrible but I feel like some of the spike manouvers are a tiny bit too tight. The Chill Block route is fine to actually get on to, but I'm not a fan of the Big Eye room because if you get bad RNG then it can force you to either use a utility or die. I reeeally don't like the autoscroll route tho. The first part has some reeally precise spike dodging and it just is NOT fun. Second part with the dust blocks it's sometimes really unclear on what you have to do and I died a lot trying to figure it out. Also, it feels like whenever you get a trinket or nickel, a lot of the time there's no way out other than dying, especially trinkets, since they don't save on level completion. There's not many one-way screen transitions so it's hard to return to the main hub with your trinkets without dying. However, past the complaints there, this level is FANTASTIC. THANK YOU for providing a map - it was a bit hard to understand at first because of the lack of a 'YOU ARE HERE' marker, but once I figured it out it was EXTREMELY helpful and eliminated loads of guesswork. The reverse gravity is used very, very well here, and I love the interactions with the Count Bombs. The Yoku Block sections are really cool and varied, too. And as an exploration level it's pulled off incredibly well because no one path takes very long to play, but the actual playtime comes from trying to 100% it. The VVVVVV references are really funny and clever and the bonus VVVVVV area is really fun, and I adore the little touches with the room name. The boss fight with Captain Viridian is really fun, and the fights with engine default bosses aren't too shabby either - I love how you pulled off the Mecha Dragon fight. Overall the level is really, really good, and incredibly well-built, but there's just a few flaws that bring it down and prevent it from being truly amazing.
JupiHornet  : 36 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 9 / 15 5 / 10 14 / 15 4 / 5 4 / 5 Wow. This level is absolutely HUGE. There are 3 energy elements, and several different paths to go with collectibles along the way. However...I think this level is a bit TOO excessive, and it can be annoying having to backtrack all over the place to find everything. It takes an hour or two to explore the entire place and get every single item, it felt kind of like a smaller version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Great Maze. However, I took as many routes as I could find. The Yoku block puzzles were nice, but one of them requires the player to make some REALLY wide jumps. The difficulty isn't very consistent, those autoscrolling sections on the top route were INSANELY hard. My biggest issue was this stage was the amount of teleporters...I wouldn't mind those by themselves, but this stage is so big that it takes about 10 seconds to load, so it can be annoying having to wait for that several times in a row. Overall though, I think this was a good level! It just felt like a bit too much at parts, that's all.
Enjl  : 45 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 12 / 15 8 / 10 15 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No Submitting a level like this to a contest is a REALLY risky move if you ask me, since what this is more closely resembles a full game than it does a standard level. I think it's a level that needs time and dedication put into a playthrough in order to be truly appreciated. This level is massive, as evident by the map and endless collectibles that can be found if you're up for an extra challenge. The map was a really helpful inclusion in the level and while I think it's silly that you need to take a screenshot of it, it makes traversing the sector much less painful to traverse. As far as difficulty is concerned, this level does a good job at introducing several gimmicks in their own secluded areas and ramping up their difficulty as you go along. In a sense this level can be described as a variety of interwoven levels. I really enjoyed this level as a whole, and the secret exit for getting all the trinkets is easily my favourite section, being a huge VVVVVV nerd myself. That said, the level does have its issues: For example, many sections in the level are unfortunately completely trivialised by the player's utility items. Another point of criticism is that I found the autoscroll sections to be rather precise at times and the noble nickel in the section can easily lead to an unfair death. I collected it while upside down and found myself stuck in that little box. In addition to this, accessing and proceeding in that area can quickly use up the player's weapon energy for various utility items. I also wish it would save trinkets across playthroughs (not just death). So yeah. Overall I gotta stress that this level/game really needs a few hours of dedication in order to be truly appreciated.
Garirry  : 42 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 10 / 15 8 / 10 15 / 15 5 / 5 4 / 5 Well, it honestly could be better. Most of the level was okay but the autoscroller section was absolute shit. Other than that it was decent. It was pretty enjoyable, but certain sections are irritating as shit. Okay, nothing to say here. It's flawless. Great. Well, I can see that there are many sections that are way too easy to break but... yeah. I gotta say, I'm more than impressed. I don't think there's a single level in this game that is more creative than this one. I really liked how well the stage layout was used with the different creative gimmicks. I also had a lot of fun exploring this stage and finding new secret paths. I also appreciate the inclusion of a map, but it's honestly not done that well. [] However, I unfortunately can't call this a perfect level. The level design isn't top-notch, with many sections requiring trial and error, extremely precise movement, or a combination of the two. Additionally, I think there's one Noble Nickel that you can't get without dying. Also, I'm slightly upset over the fact that if you wish to collect all trinkets, there are various points of no return scattered across the stage, meaning you'll have to restart the whole level to get them. Finally, there's a lot of sections that can easily be broken through using special weapons. But seriously, even though this stage has so many problems, the concept behind it is absolutely fantastic and I really appreciate the effort put into it. Would it not have the problems I mentioned, it would easily be a perfect stage in my eyes.
ACESpark  : 24 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 6 / 15 1 / 10 12 / 15 2 / 5 3 / 5 Yes Interesting concept. It's basically a mini-exploration title in a single level. The use of Gravity Flippers in a novel way is great, and individually most areas of this level are by themselves - good, if sometimes great. Hell, the stage is so convoluted, it comes with a map... which unfortunately is not an MiniMap ala Metroid, but for a single level, that would be hard to program, so I'll give it a pass. Would've been nice though. This stage is also incredibly frustrating, does not take the fact it relies on instant-death into account with it's checkpoints, defies basic player logic at times and asks for far too many finicky moments in succession that any fun with the level, concept and music is killed stone dead. I had to quit this stage and do something else, four times. Four. Every time I reached some sort of stopping point, I'd take it. This is one of the few stages where I did not want to keep playing, but felt like I had to to get a full experience. First major drawback - the lack of background - the entire stage is almost entirely black - and this is a major detriment to the player's enjoyment and actively hinders the stage a lot - there is no way whatsoever to tell what is and isn't a pit in this level. It'd be nice to know that in advance before the player throws themselves down into the abyss. It's also rather dull to look at. The map provided colour codes sections - these sections are the same basic tileset the rest of the stage uses so the player can be left rather confused as to what sector they are in. More background details were definitely needed, if only to help lessen some of the confusion. I should not be sitting around for minutes at a time trying to figure out where exactly I am, this is Mega Man after all! The second major problem with this level - the instant-death. It's not handled well. This really boils down to how finicky some of the maneuvers you have to pull off are, how little room for error there is here, and that the player is usually sent back several screens once they die. This would be a minor issue, if it weren't for the how exacting the requirements are every so often. What kills your stage dead in my eyes is the Mecha Dragon route. The spike drop is harsh. The auto scrolling segment is worse. The final few maneuvers - all of which must be done on a strict time limit thanks to the scroller, are extremely tight, and use a mechanic that is not entirely natural to a player's timing. Not only is there no checkpoint between the spike drop and the auto-scroller, there is no break at all in this section at all. Sometimes it is not a matter of how long a segment is, but how difficult the challenge in question is. The spike drop is not organic like most spike drops in the series. It doesn't flow naturally. Any of these segments, although hard, would've been fine by themselves.Together, these are seriously unfair. To give credit where it is due, the second auto-scrolling segment is rather fun, very well designed... and actually has a checkpoint! The Mecha Dragon itself was rather anti-climactic though. The Gravity Man route... with multiple options, is a tad weird. The Yoku Block route, surprisingly, is fine. A little hard, but not too bad. The Count Bomb route has a jump in the stage, which up until this point has not required weapons - seemingly requiring a weapon to bypass. Or if it doesn't, that jump must be pixel perfect or something, because Mega Man saw the bottom of that pit many, many times. Either way, it either comes out of nowhere, or is too difficult for the average player to do. Finally, there are the collectables - the Nickels, naturally, and the Trinkets. Here is the final nail in this stage's coffin - getting these often require the player to die after collecting them. This is really counter-intuitive, and goes against any instinct the player would have. In fact, to complete the Trinket route, the player outright has to die at last twice to see the additional boss. Why?! Teleporters are an option here. The end-game after the Trinkets is rather good, but by this point the player has played the stage for an awful long time, and probably wants to leave, so it comes off as irritating. (The fact these are not saved between attempts at the level don't help, but I'm not sure much could've been done about that without Pyro's permission. Still an annoyance.) The new boss is... er.. it exists. Yep. The alternative attack pattern it uses exactly once is rather fun... if lasting for a bit too long, and spends the rest of the battle doing absolutely nothing threatening what-so-ever. If you'd mixed these up a bit, this fight would've been entertaining. Overall, great concept for a level - but man, this level annoyed the life out of me.

Trivia

• In 2020, ACESpark revealed that he changed his least favorite level from Yggdrasil, which he said was no longer his least favorite in a video from 2017, to this level. The level's length and confusing nature was what led him to call this level his least favorite.
• This is the only level in MaGMML2 to use the maximum number of collectibles (three Energy Elements and five Noble Nickels, and six additional shiny trinkets).
• This is the highest-ranked level with a skip teleporter (the next-highest ranked being Poorly Named Level in Tier 4).