User:Scatman's World

50th: Cursed Darkness Make a Good Mega Man Level 3

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You bring a light?

Overview Creator(s): Scatman's World Composer(s): CosmicGem Mari Yamaguchi Minae Fujii Statistics Scores: 63 56 71 80 56 Total: 65.2 / 100 Rank: 50th Elements: 1 Collectables: Enemies: Battonton Darspider Deispider Ratton Mousubeil Wall Sleepy Gimmicks: Concrete Platform Guts Lift Nitro Cans Teckyun Sub-Bosses: Twin Shooter G Bosses: Pharaoh Man in the Dark

Theme Music MaGMML3 - Cursed Darkness Cutscene 1: Mega Man 5 - Boss Cutscene 2: Mega Man 5 - Wily Capsule Boss: Mega Man 4 - Wily Capsule Stage Order Location: Tier 11 Previous: Magmatic Panic Next: Robogarden

Cursed Darkness is the 50th entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 3. Taking place in a dark castle, the main gimmick is Pharaoh Man-themed cans that spawn a Pharaoh Shot above Mega Man that will temporarily light up the area. Other threats in the stage include Nitro cans that will explode when touched, and faces in the walls that will shoot at Mega Man if awoken by light.

Strategy

I'll beam you out after I finish my soap opera.

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Judge Comments

Judge Comments
Mick Galbani  : 63 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 23 / 35 7 / 25 12 / 15 11 / 15 10 / 10 Gah… I want to like this level, I really do! Cursed Darkness is a rare case where I actually really enjoy a darkness gimmick! The Pharaoh Cans work really well through most of the level, especially on the third token. The Nitro Cans have a good concept behind them, working really well with ‘McShooty Face’, and I appreciate the way they combine with enemies. The remainder of the gimmicks work pretty well, the enemy set is downright excellent, and for the most part the experience was a joy to play… up until the last stretch. Before that final stretch, the level is extremely well crafted: The Pharaoh Cans last just the right amount of time. The level takes great care to give you all the information you need (props for the items and Mousubeils that mark platforms, especially). And it works very hard to make itself fair, best highlighted by using damage spikes instead of death spikes. The final stretch abandons those previous benefits, with a lot less platforms marked in sections where you *really* don’t want the lights on, lest McShooty Face knock you into a pit. But the Nitro Can Up’N’Downs are the biggest sticking point. They aren’t introduced safely *at all*, easily killing you on the first appearance, and they can be stuck in some royally nasty positions. Considering the rest of the level was completely fair? And Pharaoh Man is a great fight? It’s a crying shame how badly the end segment drops the ball. But then we have the No Death Tokens… oh boy. Darkness gimmicks are already nasty, and having a timer on your light means more incentive to rush the level. More importantly, that final section is rather on the cheap side. But now we’re asking players to do this entire ~50 screen level, complete with that awful final section, without dying once? That’s… That’s completely bloody HIDEOUS! I don’t mind doing no-deaths on my own time, but for the love of Pete don’t make it a requirement for 100%! Those all but force the player to play this stage twice, and with the mess of that final section? Trying to get those bloody tokens slaughtered a lot of my goodwill, and I walked away frustrated beyond belief. Just… wow, this darkness-based level had me enjoying myself throughout, only to go entirely too far in the end. What a way to shoot yourself in the foot.
Shinryu  : 56 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 19 / 35 12 / 25 8 / 15 7 / 15 10 / 10 If anything, the main gimmick here is certainly interesting. As for everything else surrounding it? Well... The thing is, I'm actually a bit torn with this one. While the light gimmick does make sections a bit more engaging (as it basically acts like a small timer), the platforming segments themselves waver back and forth between boring and actually interesting. There were a number of sections - especially the ones involving the Guts Lifts - that I didn't really care for due to how relatively basic their set ups were (and for how much waiting around was involved). It does pick up a bit more in the later segments, though, especially when those eyes start to become a more prominent hazard. The final stretch in particular was rather enjoyable, although I do think those Up ‘n' Down Nitro canisters could have used a better introduction or telegraph. As a whole though, I think the stage is at its best when it's focusing on more unique challenges surrounding the main gimmick, as seen with most of the token rooms. These actually stand out quite a bit from the rest of the stage thanks to their more clever layouts, such as the one that has you going to the end of the room with the lights on, but then needing to make your way back in complete darkness. With that being said, however, I'm not a fan of how you go about getting the last two tokens. Aside from my dislike of being gated off from something for simply dying, I feel like those tokens could have been hidden behind far better challenges. It definitely soured the ending of the stage a bit for me, but was somewhat redeemed by the boss. He's not all that difficult, but he does take decent advantage of the main gimmick, along with having quite a few interesting attacks. Overall, while it's not that bad of a level, it could have been a lot better as well.
Pachy  : 71 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 26 / 35 14 / 25 11 / 15 11 / 15 9 / 10 Good Work! But You Missed 2 Tokens. *casts Crate Fall on you.* I'm gonna be blunt here, I don't like darkness gimmicks. Building a whole stage centered around darkness mechanics... Let's just say I didn't have a good first impression of the stage. Didn't mind the stage as much on successive playthroughs, the stage could've been a whole lot meaner with the darkness for sure, but thankfully it remains fair for the most part. It provides enough helping tools along the way, such as the Pharaoh... cans. Refreshing drinks! They're fairly well placed just as the lights would go out, or after sessions where you'd need to see to avoid pitfalls. Explosions from nitro blocks also cause temporary light, which helps. The background guys getting angry at the light can make things a bit hectic though since they also react to the nitro explosions and start shooting you. Buncha grumpy fellas. Guts Lifts seem to not sync with the mace trap too well if you decide to wait on the section for a little too long. The real kicker, though, is the tokens. Not sure if I'm a huge fan of locking tokens away to a no-death requirement. I get that this is a reference to Crash Bandicoot, down to the nitro crates and the music and the whole darkness thing apparently. But... idk, this kind of "locking collectibles behind perfection" challenge is not for everyone. Not for me, that's for sure. I kinda enjoy the Pharaoh Man fight and how you have to light up the room again to reveal the man himself to shoot.
Flashman85  : 80 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 23 / 35 19 / 25 14 / 15 15 / 15 9 / 10 This level brilliantly inverts Bright Man's main level gimmick from MM4, making it simultaneously worthy of a boss called Dark Man and appropriate for the photosensitive Pharaoh Man. The real curse here is that these clever challenge arcs aren't organized as well as they could be. For a warmup to the main gimmick, the first arc goes on a few screens too long and is a little heavy on instant death--in contrast with the first token, you're effectively dead if you lose your light. Uneven difficulty from arc to arc and unclear directionality at each split detract from the individual quality of each section. Minus a few slightly messy screens, what's here is good; I just think it needs to be shuffled around and divided up differently in terms of screen transitions. That's my main complaint, and it's honestly not a huge one. Beyond that, there are little annoyances that take me out of the moment, such as inconsistent canister behavior between the boss fight and the rest of the level. What's more important are all the things that make this level so fun, such as the snoozy wall cats (I hope they're cats) and the reward for a no-death run. I enjoy when gameplay, graphics, audio, and story work together to develop a theme. Any level can have a darkness gimmick, but there's some tasty tension in listening to eerily understated music while exploring a spooky castle that pressures you to be hasty in the light and cautious in the dark. Fun boss banter and an exciting boss fight tie everything together, pulling on the threads of past games to weave a surprisingly thought-provoking narrative. And yes, I noticed the subtle nod to the contest rule against adding/modifying weapons--don't worry; you're safe. :)
ACESpark  : 56 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 16 / 35 11 / 25 12 / 15 9 / 15 8 / 10 Initially experienced by proxy, let it be known I was rooting for the stage as I watched Loyana play it.... but the final two tokens destroyed any goodwill that I had after the gauntlet that was needed to overcome to obtain them. When I finally got well enough to play these for myself, I felt dread - since I’d have to experience them myself.... Thematically, the light gimmick is a really cool idea, and I really like how integrated everything about Pharaoh Man is in the level. Pharaoh Shot being used as a gimmick is wonderfully unique. However, I feel there is a fundamental flaw with how the light works in the level and how it handles failure. Running out of time means that you are stuck in complete darkness, with no way to recover. In almost all instances, this results in death. Main line games (barring a particularly stupid segment in Shade Man) offer a way to reset the light in a room, or use platforms that are visible in some way. I do not know how you could 'fix' your version of the gimmick to a way that felt satisfying to play, and this is a fundamental flaw with the level. Sometimes there is no fix. This is a gimmick that effectively forces constant movement, but you added in a couple of places in the level where precognition is required to not die. In the last section of the level, there is an eye below four dropping platforms that guarantees to kill you if you do not stop. There is also a light canister later on that can be destroyed by the exploding barrel, which can pop up as you are trying to shoot the canister - this seemed like an oversight, but combined with the first problem felt very frustrating. I liked the use of the nitro canisters, and felt that those sections worked well. It felt like a much fairer mechanic than the light canisters, especially as they could be reset. The boss cutscene was pretty atrocious. My head hit the desk and Loyana’s face sank during the proxy play... And I zoned out when I finally got to play the level. Argh. Stop. Why. Argh. Thankfully the boss fight itself was fun, and original - even using attacks I had honestly never seen before. Heck, the whole level was a really good reinterpretation of a devkit asset, and I was very impressed by that. Shame those tokens happened. Really is amazing how much goodwill they cost.

Skip Status

Cursed Darkness's Trickster Tokens were deemed skippable, primarily due to the no-death requirement needed to obtain the last two.

Trivia

• This level was inspired by Crash Bandicoot in many ways:
  • The level itself being similar in concept to those of the levels Lights Out & Fumbling in the Dark. These levels are set in a dark castle, where the main gimmick is special Aku Aku masks that temporarily light up the path.
  • The Nitro Cans are derived from the series' Nitro Crates, which also explode from contact with the player.
  • The idea of the no-death requirement for two of the Trickster Tokens is taken from the first game requiring you to complete a level without dying once (in addition to breaking every crate in said level) to get that level's Gem.