Toad Man's Underwater Sea Lab

23rd: Toad Man's Underwater Sea Lab Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

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Overview Creator(s): PhazonMotherBrain Composer(s): Manfred Linzner, Minae Fujii Statistics Scores: 83 71 60 59 Total: 68.25 / 100 Rank: 23rd Elements: 1 Box Items: Dockalocker Swim Ball Tondeall Concrete Platform Venus Waterfall Enemies: Dockalocker Swim Ball Tondeall Gimmicks: Concrete Platform Maze Warp Quick Lighting Venus Waterfall Sub-Bosses: Stompy Bosses: Toad Man

Theme Music Iridion 3D - Dogfight Above the Pacific Ocean [Stage 2] Boss: Mega Man 4 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 9 Previous: Central Computer Next: Darkwing City

Toad Man's Underwater Sea Lab is the 23rd place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. According to Dr. Light at the start of the level, it is a large facility used by Toad Man in a nefarious plot to weaponize the water cycle. As the name suggests, it's a water level that makes heavy use of Concrete Platforms (typically over and under lethal spikes) and Venus Waterfalls. It also uses enemies that attack Mega Man from high places, trying to knock him off a platform or into a waterfall.

Strategy

The early parts of the level are very easy, consisting of simple Concrete Platform challenges while Dockalockers attempt to snipe him. The latter can be easily avoided or taken out from a distance. Later on, Venus Waterfalls are introduced, and their pathways are marked by purple tiles. One such waterfall washes Mega Man into an underwater area filled with Swim Balls and Tondealls. In an area reached via a rising Concrete Platform is a battle against a Stompy, followed by a checkpoint. Up the ladder from there is a corridor with multiple Venus Waterfalls, all of which will wash Mega Man into either a pit or a bed of spikes. Nearby Dockalockers can potentially knock him into a waterfall, so use of either the Flame Mixer to block their shots or the Homing Sniper to quickly kill them is ideal.

After another checkpoint, the level goes dark, and only a series of Concrete Platforms are visible. All of them are suspended over spikes, so jump quickly across them. Another underwater corridor follows, this time with a spiked ceiling and Concrete Platforms that rise up into it, before another Stompy Fight appears. The arena is mostly the same, except a pair of Venus Waterfalls cascade down on either side, limiting the amount of safe space Mega Man has to work with. After killing the second Stompy, Mega Man enters yet another submerged corridor, this time with a blackout effect and spikes on the ceiling and floor. Both types of Concrete Platform hang in the air, and Swim Balls frequently swim in from the right to tackle Mega Man off of them. It is therefore advised to always have a Charge Shot ready to fire, and avoid jumping too close to the top of the screen.

The last part of the level happens on dry land and without any blackouts, and combines Venus Waterfalls, Concrete Platforms, Dockalockers, and spikes. Each Dockalocker is positioned so that it can be taken out from a safe area, so Mega Man should clear them out of the way first before moving onto less stable ground. As one would expect from the level's name, Toad Man serves as the end boss; however, his arena contains three Venus Waterfalls that wash down intermittently, their areas of influence marked as ever by purple tiles. Though it makes the fight significantly harder, Mega Man can stand roughly halfway inside a waterfall without being washed off, giving him some extra breathing room. Additionally, unlike the other waterfalls in the stage, these have a longer delay between their warning drop and their actual appearance.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 83 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 31 / 35 12 / 15 10 / 10 21 / 25 9 / 15 My number one praise of this level is the pacing. Using the A, B, A, B, AB format really worked wonders. It means I never got bored of one gimmick while the other one always had something new to offer. Also just want to acknowledge that Venus waterfalls can be terrible gimmicks, but you made them work. The waterfall sections always felt fair and well telegraphed so you were never confused about what was going to happen. It was clear and fair, but still challenging. Going from a section based on a lot of waiting to the faster paced falling platform segment was great. Then, the final section wasn't tedious because when the waterfalls were falling, the Dockalockers kept you engaged in those moments. And I'd usually say using Venus waterfalls in a boss is a bad idea, but it's Toad Man so it was fine. Really well designed level. Good job.
PKWeegee  : 71 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 23 / 35 10 / 15 10 / 10 19 / 25 9 / 15 The combination of its two gimmicks is very well handled here, but after a bit, it feels like I'm going through the same sections again, just a bit changed to make them harder. I wish I could say more here, because I did enjoy it quite a bit, but it didn't really leave me with much to talk about, sadly.
M-Jacq  : 60 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 13 / 35 8 / 15 10 / 10 19 / 25 10 / 15 Was there a subcontest going on called "Make a Hard Toad Man Fight" or something? There's about a dozen entries which have you fight Toad Man over spikes or on oil or backwards in heels or something, and all of them are just silly. Toad Man is still absurdly easy no matter how much detritus you stuff his arena with. The level itself, though, is better than it might look at first glance. I think that what makes this level work is that there is a structure here, alternating between sections in the submarine and underwater segments, which makes it feel like you're making progress and moving forwards even though the aesthetics here are so rudimentary. I also really enjoyed some of the faster sections of the level, where you had to hold right and traverse the Concrete Man platforms - especially towards the very end of the level, where you jump past a wall of waterfalls and through boss doors to safety. That felt super cool. Now, unfortunately, this level does feel pretty empty due to the underwhelming enemy placement. I did enjoy some of the Dockalocker setups, to be fair (it was fun sniping the column of them) but they definitely didn't provide much of a challenge. And I really didn't get why the Quick Man lighting was here, or what it added to the segments where they showed up. But, you know, all things considered I mostly enjoyed this level.
Freems  : 59 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 18 / 35 9 / 15 10 / 10 14 / 25 8 / 15 I highly doubt this is on purpose or anything, but it almost felt like I played the same level twice. The first time was pretty alright, albeit a little too empty, and the second time there were a lot more spikes and a lot more waterfalls. For the most part, I think you had a good idea about how to use the waterfalls because combining them with the lockers was a very good move, as it gives you something to avoid while you're waiting for the waterfall, but by the end of the level it started to run out of its novelty as it kept doing the same setup multiple times. While the lockers and the two gimmicks were used well, the other two enemies were left pretty ignored for the most part. I also for the life of me cannot figure out the point of having the lights go out the two times it does. It doesn't make anything impossibly hard or anything it's just... there's really no point other than for you to not always have a clear idea where the instant death ceiling is the second time it happens. Far from a bad time, but it was a little bit of a strange one.

Notes

• If Mega Man rides the first Concrete Platform back up to the first screen, Dr. Light's dialogue will change.