Spicy Banana Bread Storehouse

19th: Spicy Banana Bread Storehouse Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

They have to use axes because the bread's so overcooked.

Overview Creator(s): CWU01P Composer(s): Maru no IE, Kiyoshi Yokoyama, Masaki Kase, Ryan Melmoth (originals) DHI (cover) Statistics Scores: 82 58 73 66 Total: 69.75 / 100 Rank: 19th Elements: 1 Box Items: Merserker Monkikki Swallowegg Conveyor Fire Wave Enemies: Merserker Monkikki Swallowegg Gimmicks: Auto Scroller Conveyor (MM2) Fire Wave Key Barrier Reflect Block Sub-Bosses: Berserker Merserker Bosses: Fire Man

Theme Music Red Pollusion Sub-Boss: The Krion Conquest - Boss Battle Boss: Mibibli's Quest - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 10 Previous: Through the Crabacombs Next: Base in the Boondocks

Spicy Banana Bread Storehouse is the 19th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. A typical "fire factory" level common to MaGMML, it derives its name from its use of egg-dropping Swalloweggs and banana-flinging Monkikkis; while many of the latter remain out in the open, others are sealed within terrain and behind Reflect Blocks as pseudo-turrets. The level also contains chutes that spit out Fire Waves, as well as pools of lethal lava flowing under conveyor belts. It is also the eighth level to be visited during the Goody Two Shoes sidequest, and contains the Shadow Imposter's most well-hidden message.

Strategy

The level opens below a green chute showcasing Fire Waves, with the flames changing directions upon hitting green vents marked with arrows, signposting what direction the wave will travel in next. The first proper enemies are a trio of Merserkers, the third of which attacks on top of a conveyor, before Monkikkis start appearing next to open-air Fire Waves. Swalloweggs are then encountered on a set of platforms over lava, but as their eggs cannot be destroyed in MaG48HMML, the only way to deal with them is to jump over them as they rocket forwards, or lure them into flying over Mega Man's head. Right outside a boss door is an E-Tank on a conveyor moving into a wall of spikes. This conveyor moves faster than the previous ones, setting the precedent of variable conveyor speeds later on in the stage. Beyond the boss door is a mini-boss battle against Berserker Merserker, a red Merserker with higher HP and faster movement speed. Defeating it drops the key to a Key Barrier, leading to a checkpoint.

In the following section, all of the level's box assets bedevil Mega Man over pools of lava before it ends with a ladder next to a wall. Up the ladder is a screen with three Fire Wave vents; wait before dropping down to avoid taking damage, then move during the delay between each wave blast. After another short platforming challenge is a vertical set of screens where Mega Man moves against conveyors while enemies attack from afar and Fire Waves pass through his path. Special Weapons can be used to kill the enemies from afar, while the waves can be avoided with either careful jumps and positioning, or by dashing through them using the Tengu Blade. The final section before the end features a slow Auto Scroller, and once again has platforms over lava while Swalloweggs repeatedly make fly-by egg bomb attacks. Between each platform is a vent that sends Fire Waves downwards, which will strike Mega Man midjump if he isn't careful. With the rocket eggs as the less predictable hazard, the safest thing to do is to attempt jumps across platforms while a Swallowegg's egg isn't in the process of descending and being launched from behind Mega Man. Halfway through the section, the platforms are replaced with conveyors – however, their speed is adjusted to match that of the auto scroller, making it easier to avoid the myriad of attacks without being carried into the lava below.

Should Mega Man make it through the fried egg gauntlet, he will reach the boss of the level, Fire Man. Avoiding his attacks is harder than normal, due to the cramped space of his arena, made even smaller by two vents dropping Fire Waves down on either side. Mega Man should time his attacks such that Fire Man doesn't launch a blast of fire as soon as he lands from a previous jump, and should stay as close to the centre as possible. Fortunately, the Energy Element lies in a separate room, so there is no risk of it dropping in the path of the Fire Waves after Fire Man's defeat.

Shadow Imposter Graffiti

The Shadow Imposter's graffiti is found in a hidden area behind the tall wall after defeating Berserker Merserker. Hidden in the wall is a one-tile gap, which can be located with the Search Snake, and it can only be entered using the Concrete Shot as a platform to slide off of. Also found in this area are an E-Tank, M-Tank, and W-Tank. The difficulty of finding this particular graffiti is noted in the Shadow Imposter's previous message, which sarcastically notes that, "You'd somehow need a map to ever find it," a not-so-subtle hint to obtain the Mapper upgrade from the Searchy in Cabin A2. Using said upgrade will clearly show the hidden screens behind the wall.

While the graffiti is present, two Shadow Turrets will appear to attack Mega Man throughout the level; one is a Type A turret that chases after him, and the other is a Type C turret which fires shots down from the top of the screen.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 82 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 29 / 35 11 / 15 10 / 10 20 / 25 12 / 15 This level is really fun. It uses the gimmicks in creative ways. The fire in the intro is introduced in a safe manner, which I appreciate. The whole difficulty curve feels really solid and natural, and the level gets challenging at the end while never feeling like too much. The boss uses the gimmicks without going into the realm of stupid. I had no real issues with the level other than there are better. It's genuinely fun so I'm glad I could play it!
PKWeegee  : 58 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 18 / 35 7 / 15 10 / 10 14 / 25 9 / 15 It works; that's pretty much it. It doesn't stand out that much, but it's well-enough designed. One notable thing is the autoscroller at the end, which was paced really well. It didn't feel slow or boring, and the speed was just right for the amount of action that was going on.
M-Jacq  : 73 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 25 / 35 11 / 15 10 / 10 16 / 25 11 / 15 This box could have been a recipe for disaster (Swalloweggs + Monkikkis + conveyors = yikes!), but the resulting level is actually pretty good. Part of this due to some smart decisions: instadeath is kept to a minimum, challenging segments are done over lava rather than bottomless pits (so you have i-frames to burn should you get knocked off), and checkpoints and health pickups are plentiful. There's also a really nice ramping up of the difficulty curve with the Merserkers, which grow more and more threatening with each appearance, culminating in a "midboss" (!) fight that I thought was an extremely clever use of assets. Plus, this level does one of my favorite things you can do in these contests, which is have a (fair) autoscroller in lieu of a final boss, with a checkpoint and generous health pickups before it to boot. (OK, it's not quite bossless because you fight Fire Man, but he's a joke.) The only thing I didn't really like about that level is that it has one of those sections where the Monkikkis are firing at you from behind Reflect Blocks, turning them into turrets that you can't interact with. A lot of people did this, and in nearly every one of those cases I thought it was a mistake - what's the point of having enemies if you can't take them out? A later screen had them toss stuff at you from out of range but required you to go down and snipe them to progress, which is the correct way to do challenges like these.
Freems  : 66 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 22 / 35 8 / 15 10 / 10 15 / 25 11 / 15 I think there were some well put together challenges in this level. The conveyors and fire waves were introduced pretty well and used pretty well throughout the level. The conveyors especially combined well with the axes to make some more unique challenges and the combination of fire traps and conveyor belts near the end of the level provided a pretty decent challenge that felt like a natural difficulty curve. However, for every challenge that made sense, there were rooms that just felt like padding, mostly in regards to the autoscroller at the end which really added nothing to the level and just slowed down the pace of the level overall. The miniboss and boss fight were also rather strange themselves. I guess fighting a fast axe with more health is an idea, but in general there's a reason why enemies with a very simple pattern don't have a lot of health. And let me tell you that it's just not fun to fight Fire Man in such a cramped space. Cut out a little of the fluff and I think this would be a really great level, but for now we'll settle for "good".

Trivia

• To the left of the first screen is a secret area containing a large health energy pickup, a reskinned Eddie that throws a Bomb Thrown's bomb (referencing a similar enemy in the Mega Man-like Rosenkreuzstilette), and a sign that contains "My Secret Life chapter 3" from EarthBound. By CWU01P's admission, this screen exists entirely to mock similar "left of the starting screen" secret areas that were common in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2.
• Spicy Banana Bread Storehouse's music all comes from Mega Man clones from various decades (The Krion Conquest from the 1990s, Rosenkreuzstilette from the 2000s, and Mibibli's Quest from the 2010s). Music from the 1980s bootleg Rocman X was also intended to be used, but ultimately wasn't.
• The level's name comes from CWU01P, wanting to stand out from the many "fire factory" levels that had already been submitted to MaG48HMML, asking for recipes that could be made using eggs and bananas (the projectiles used by Swallowegg and Monkikki respectively). Duan'duliir was the one who suggested banana bread.
• The level was originally named "Spicy Banana Bread Warehouse," but CWU01P changed it after Warehouse of Conveyors was submitted.
• The arrows on the Fire Wave vents were added later on in the level's development, after receiving feedback from TimeLink.
• Early versions of the level had a dual Fire Man and Heat Man boss, with Fire Man on a row of top solids; Heat Man was cut as his projectiles broke when used with top solids. The Fire Man fight also used to have oil on both sides of the arena, creating areas of instant death once both were ignited.

External Links

• CWU01P's developer commentary - YouTube