The Warped Void

122nd: The Warped Void Make a Good Mega Man Level 3

Steal the Wily's treasure!

Overview Creator(s): 8SomaCruz Composer(s): Yoko Shimomura, Keiichi Suzuki, Hirokazu Tanaka, Kozue Ishikawa, Mari Yamaguchi (originals) 8SomaCruz (cover) Statistics Scores: 33 25 72 44 51 Total: 45.0 / 100 Rank: 122nd Elements: 1 Collectables: Enemies: Crystal Joe Cutting Wheel Giant Springer Metall Metall Dance Metall DX (walk) Metall Swim Nitron Nobita Shield Attacker Suzy G Wandering Head Gimmicks: Bubble Platform Gravity Change Gravity Flip Pole Egg Sub-Bosses: Melody Response Cannon

Theme Music Intro & Outro: Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - The Kingdom Called Beanbean Cutscene: Earthbound Beginnings - Poltergeist Void: Wario Land II - The Really Final Chapter Stage Order Location: Tier 5 Previous: Mediocre Oil Level Next: Operation: Narcissistic Stratosphere

The Warped Void is the 122nd place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 3. The level's name is a reference to the Wario Land 3 level of the same name, although the level's tileset and music is that of "The Really Final Chapter" from Wario Land II, which is similar in appearance. The level initially appears to be a Super Mario World-styled level similar to Mario Land, only to fall apart and reveal its true nature after a few screens.

Strategy

The level begins with a loose remake of Yoshi's Island 1 from Super Mario World. The first Trickster Token is readily available at the top of the first slope. Shortly after the Shield Attacker, however, a cutscene plays where Mega Man states he needs to get out of the area. The music changes, and the camera begins to shake, although there is no actual time limit to the section. A teleporter to the proper level is only a screen away.

After entering the titular void, Gemini Man as an NPC can be seen walking around. Several Pole Eggs – reskinned as crystal balls – block the way forward, but can be quickly cleared with weapons such as the Laser Trident or Magnetic Shockwave. The next screen has the first of many purple platforms, as well as Metall DXes. Note that the edge of these platforms is an entire tile of collision, so Mega Man may bump into the edge while jumping onto one. Shortly thereafter, the level's primary gimmick is introduced: Gravity Flips, which are marked by the background waterfalls reversing direction. Gravity Man appears a few screens down as an NPC, shortly before a miniboss fight with a Melody Response Cannon. Defeating it leads to a checkpoint, and a long vertical section containing Bubble Platforms. Arrows in the background lead to the rest of the level, but riding the leftmost Bubble Platform all the way to the top of the section leads to the second Trickster Token. Riding the third giant bubble from the left is the easiest way to reach the ledge to the next area, which features another Melody Response Cannon.

The next part of the level features a black background, Crystal Joes, and increased gravity. The Gravity Change is marked by grey pillars in the background. The next set of screens combines the Gravity Change and Gravity Flip gimmicks. Note that certain areas require the use of utilities to progress if Mega Man is travelling on the ceiling. Falling through a hole in the ceiling while gravity is inverted will lead to a long ladder, a Wandering Head, and the third and final Trickster Token. Note again that utilities will be needed to get the token if Mega Man does not get it while falling up. Going to the left after the Token leads to a room that reverts Mega Man's gravity back to normal, at which point Mega Man can backtrack to the previous room.

Entering the boss door leads to gravity being flipped again. Crystal Man drops down as the apparent boss, but immediately dies on the spikes lining the bottom of his arena. The next screen restores gravity to normal, and the screen after this returns the level to the original Super Mario World aesthetic. The final obstacle of the level is a single Giant Springer before the Energy Element.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
Mick Galbani  : 33 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 13 / 35 3 / 25 3 / 15 7 / 15 7 / 10 Wow... not the best first impression. Non-threatening enemies and a free Token is one thing, but a surprise Shield Attacker, a cutscene that can hurt you, and screen shake that induced a mild headache? Yeah, this is off to a poor start. I think I get the idea here, this is supposed to be bizarre and inexplicable. Did it succeed? Erm... no. The vast majority of the level is basic enemy scenarios and very little platforming, any variety is caused by poor design. In particular, the several screen bubble room is *tedious*, especially if you want the token. There's also not enough warning when double gravity triggers, which has caused at least one cheap hit. Now, this isn't completely bland. The attempt to show Wandering Head's flight path is appreciated - assuming that's the intent behind the wall decals in their rooms. There's also Melody Response Cannon, perhaps the most interesting part of the level... but the second one bungles it when you realise you can leave the room on the ceiling. The rest of the level was not designed for that, to say the least. One thing that could've made this more fun was a proper boss. Unfortunately, Crystal Man just dies, and then you randomly return to normal space. That's an anti-climax in an already boring level, creating an end result that's playable, but not fun.
Shinryu  : 25 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 5 / 35 3 / 25 4 / 15 4 / 15 9 / 10 Well...that happened, I guess? Honestly, outside of the strange visuals, this stage...doesn't really have a whole lot of substance to it. The room layouts are all rather basic, enemies are pretty much a non-issue (except maybe for the Crystal Joes and their usual absurd damage output), and the gimmicks are severely underutilized. Everything is mostly regulated to its own little section, which really hurts when it's easy to see how the stage could've been more refined. Combining reversed gravity, bubbles, and lower/higher jumps was an opportunity that feels completely missed out on here. Similarly, fighting Crystal Man while upside-down might have been a decent spin on his boss fight...but unfortunately, we'll never know if it was or not, since it was reduced to a gag. Those issues aside, there's one more glaring oversight that can actually cause the player to get stuck. After dealing with the second Melody Response Cannon, it's very easy to enter the next room while upside-down. Doing this puts you in a situation where you can't progress, since you need to slide through an opening at the end of the room (which you can't reach while on the ceiling). Besides the above oversight, the overly long bubble riding segment, and the Melody Response cannons, the visuals are probably the most memorable thing about this stage. While I usually like abstract aesthetics, I can't help but feel they were somewhat wasted here. If you're going to make a level as visually strange as this one, then it wouldn't hurt to capitalize on it and make it a more integral part of the level instead of just some odd/fancy window dressing.
Pachy  : 72 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 19 / 35 18 / 25 12 / 15 14 / 15 9 / 10 Twisty Turnies! Certainly a very bizarre stage... It's kinda charming in a way, though. Some neat ideas such as the gravity flipper against the Simon Says miniboss. It's a bit on the short side, though, and the stage doesn't really push its gimmicks more outside of the miniboss, and the strange non-mazey maze near the end. It's fine as a little sightseeing kind of level just from the odd aesthetics alone. One troubling section would be the one with the bubble riding, it's a bit of a crawl having to wait for the bubbles to raise to reach the right screen again to jump across the tiny bubbles in order to proceed. I was also expecting something to jumpscare you in the final room where everything is normal again, like a Monty Python foot coming down after grabbing the element.
Flashman85  : 44 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 15 / 35 10 / 25 5 / 15 10 / 15 4 / 10 I'm of the opinion that a crossover level is only as good as its fidelity to the source material. Aesthetics are a nice start, but if you're going to reference Wario Land II, go all out: conveyors, more pass-through platforms, things dropping from the mouths in the background. Lock all weapons except Break Dash. The level is weird enough for Wario, but not for the right reasons - it's weird because there's no unified tone to the humor and no underlying logic to the design. I can live with the ho-hum Super Mario World endcaps; they provide appropriate contrast to make the weird seem weirder. But everything else is a mess of random challenges with a loose aquatic theme. Instead of teaching and then testing, the level plops obstacles in front of the player and proceeds to waste their time. The whole reason I made OH JOES! was to inspire people to design differently. Well, I'll give you partial credit for the first high-gravity Joe encounter. I love puzzles, but it's hard to love gravity flips that don't consistently correspond with the background graphics, interminable trial-and-error bubble rides, a memory game with a switch hidden behind the health bar, and secret paths that look identical to bottomless pits. Only the bubble token is passable. It doesn't help that the checkpoint that'll likely get the most use is *before* the tedious, time-consuming segments that should only need to be cleared once. Myriad polish issues bring the level down further. Try riding Rush Jet across the opening section, or leaving the miniboss chamber with gravity still reversed, or backtracking from the final screen. Notice the couple invisible blocks, and the absent tiles beyond the edge of the screen when everything is shaking. The level is *playable*, sure...but I want more than *playable*. At least I got an Energy Element out of it.
ACESpark  : 51 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 18 / 35 12 / 25 8 / 15 7 / 15 6 / 10 Some stages are weird for the sake of weird, and yet others don't really go far enough to be all that memorable. This is the case here; we have a fairly low key stage that hinders itself by a severe lack of conveyance. Oftentimes new gravity switches are indicated in a fairly nondescript manner - I guess this is actually intentional, but it makes for a puzzling first impression when my jump randomly goes from full height to low and I get smacked in the head by a Crystal Joe. The Wave Man bubble segment is interesting, but makes a rather baffling first impression, which is fine and all, but the lack of rules makes the associated Token all rather irritating - Maybe it is doable conventionally, but trying to repeatedly throw yourself at the damn thing and taking such a long time to reset... ultimately ending with the realisation that the solution seems to be "screw it, I'm using Magnet Beam" - not a great feeling to invoke. There's also the glitches; nothing game breaking but giving an aura of lack of polish. Gemini Man just appears kind of broken, and there's buggy collision detection (with the same tile being used for different types of collision, or having collision that is invisible). It's hard to know if these are intentional or not, but again, that's not a great feeling to invoke. I did rather like how Melody Response Cannon got used. Many stages use this thing in an absolutely dreadful manner, but the restraint is appreciated. The graphics and atmosphere is a mixed bag for me; The tileset seems intentionally limited, but the occasions of tile cutoff means that yet again it falls under the aura of lacking polish. The music is weird for the sake of weird, but it's probably an acquired taste. It took me multiple playthroughs for it to start to grow on me. The stage also manages to completely end on an anti-climax. The Crystal Man gag doesn't quite have the punch of Combust Man from the previous contest, and the stage just really peters out after an ending cutscene. For once, I'm actually rather disappointed by the lack of fake out at the Energy Element. There are some creative moments here and there but it just never pushes it above "average", and the issues though small, drag it below that. There always seems to be Mario, or in this case Wario Land, themed levels in these contests. I guess you chose something less generic, so that's a positive at least. Shame the stage seems to be relying on the weirdness to make it work.