Weapon Data Center

63rd: Weapon Data Center Make a Good Mega Man Level 3

"These are some weird-looking Royal Guards."

Overview Creator(s): 8-BIT FAN Programmer(s): 8-BIT FAN, Fabian Composer(s): 8-BIT FAN, CosmicGem, Hiroki Isogai (originals) 8-BIT FAN (cover) Statistics Scores: 63 61 62 61 63 Total: 62 / 100 Rank: 63rd Elements: 1 Enemies: Buranko R Suzy Returning Machine Gun Joe Searchy Yonbain Gimmicks: Conveyor (MM10) Destroyable Block (Break Dash) Electro Spark Sub-Bosses: Suzak & Fenix Bosses: Hodenki Other Information: Weapons Disabled (all except Mega Buster and Rush Coil) Unlockable weapons (Spark Chaser, Laser Trident, Water Shield, Tornado Blow, Thunder Beam, Magnetic Shockwave, Ice Wall, Break Dash)

Theme Music MaGMML3 - Weapon Data Center Boss: Mega Man 10 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 10 Previous: Treading The Wily Sewer System Next: The Actual Rock Man

Weapon Data Center is the 63rd place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 3. This laboratory-themed level focuses on Special Weapons, principally by disabling all of Mega Man's and scattering unlocks for them across the stage. In addition, the level heavily features the Buranko enemy, which has multiple variants based on previous Robot Masters, up to and including versions of their weapons.

Strategy

The level beings with a short corridor of conveyor belts, Yonbains, a Searchy, and emitters that send Electro Sparks down the length of the conveyor belt. This leads into a room with a capsule for Break Dash, which is necessary to break the rusted blocks in front of the door forward.

The next corridor introduces two Buranko enemies, themed after Punk and Commando Man, and able to attack like the respective bosses. Both are weak to Break Dash, and stand on flat ground that Mega Man can use to defeat them with it. The end of the corridor has a branching path; Mega Man can either climb the ladder upward, or Break Dash through the rusted wall on the bottom right.

First junction - Upper path

The next room introduces two Gemini Buranko, who fire synchronized Gemini Laser shots after both of their previous ones leave the screen, along with three R Suzies. While the latter are weak to Break Dash, buster shots are preferred on account of the conveyor belt and shorter alcoves.

This leads into a long corridor with a Returning Machine Gun Joe, Ballade Buranko (who fires Ballade Crackers), Skull Buranko (who can launch its Skull Barrier) and Wave Buranko (whose Water Waves will always appear directly under Mega Man). The latter is in a pool of water that continues into the next room, where Mega Man can reacquire Ice Wall and use it to float above the attacks of another Wave Buranko.

Another small pool in the next room requires a use of Ice Wall or Rush Coil to escape, after which is another corridor of conveyor belts and sparks, Yonbains and Searchy, this one ending with a Ballade Buranko just before the checkpoint.

First junction - Rightward path

After dashing through the wall, Mega Man falls into a hallway with Ballade and Punk Burankos (both of which are weak to Break Dash), as well as more Yonbains. A ladder at the end leads upward into a room with three R Suzies and a Knight Buranko, whose shield and Knight Crusher can deflect buster shots.

In the next room is a capsule for the Tornado Blow, surrounded by a swarm of Yonbains it can instantly clear. The next two rooms feature a lot of conveyor belt platforming, with some Electro Sparks to ensure Mega Man doesn't remain idle, and that Tornado Blow's jump boost can help bypass. The first room has two Yonbains and a Searchy (and a sealed off, inaccessible door on the right wall), while the second room has a Wave Buranko, whose Water Waves make it dangerous to remain stationary. The ladder leading up from the second room joins back up with the corridor at the end of the other path.

After the checkpoint are some familiar platforming puzzles with Ballade, Commando and Knight Buranko, and some Electro Sparks, which lead into a room where Mega Man can reequip the Water Shield. It should make quick work of the four Yonbains guarding it and, while not a weakness of the two Gemini Buranko in the next room, should absorb most of their multi-segmented lasers. The rooms after that features a Skull Buranko and lots of R Suzies, followed by an Enker Buranko (which can absorb Mega Man's weapons for a brief period, like its template) and a Knight Buranko.

The next room hosts a Suzak & Fenix miniboss fight, with a Thunder Beam capsule in the center. Defeating them opens up branching paths to the right and below the arena, where either Mega Man or an uncollected weapon capsule could suddenly fall if the former is not careful.

Second junction - Rightward path

A small set of R Suzies give way to a trickier set of conveyor belts: first bridging over a spike pit, then forming a set of upward steps to the next room's ladder. This leads to a larger corridor of R Suzies, topped off with a Knight Buranko at the end. The Spark Chaser can be reequipped in the next room, and can make short work of the small enemy gauntlet (aside from one Enker Buranko) leading to the meetup point.

Second junction - Downward path

Going down a gauntlet of Electro Spark emitters, Mega Man will fall into a room with several Break Dash walls in alcoves, some guarded by Skull Burankos and Returning Machine Gun Joes. One of the barriers on the right leads to a room with lots of Yonbains, a Knight Buranko, and a Magnetic Shockwave tutorial that leads into a developer credit room. The teleporter sends Mega Man back to the beginning of the room.

Dropping below the alcove room leads to another corridor of conveyor belt platforming, these ones spaced further apart, leading to a Knight Buranko and Wave Buranko. After that is a Laser Trident tutorial, which differs from the previous ones by being two screens long and featuring a squad of shielded enemies, all vulnerable to the Laser Trident. After the checkpoint in the next room comes an "ambush" by Burankos themed after all the Mega Man Killers (along with Skull Man and Knight Man), followed by three screens of upward conveyor belt platforming, made trickier by Electro Sparks and instant-kill spikes on the walls. This ends with an Enker Buranko and a Returning Machine Gun Joe guarding the path to the meetup point.

A small army of familiar enemies stand between the meetup point and the corridor leading into the lair of the stage's boss, Hodenki. After defeating him, Mega Man must enter the next room to alert Hodenki's creator (who'd been hiding out there from the hostile lab robots) and grab the "Discharge Barrier" chip that serves as the stage's Energy Element.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
Mick Galbani  : 63 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 22 / 35 14 / 25 7 / 15 10 / 15 10 / 10 As far as weapon-themed levels go, this is decent. I like the idea of building your arsenal as you advance, and the split paths influencing your final arsenal is a decent idea (though I wish it was an informed choice). Unfortunately, fitting 6 weapon tutorials into a normal-sized level means it spends a lot of time on teaching, less time on using. In fact, most of the level is just enemy challenges that the buster could punch through without much issue. Laser Trident's section is the core exception, with a section that uses interesting enemy combinations while simultaneously encouraging weapon use. More of the level needed to be like Laser Trident. That's not to say there isn't a level here. The enemy set is cool, looking like a cosplay convention of Robot Masters. Some of them are quite useful, namely Punk and Wave Man. Others can be a bit dull: Knight Man is painfully easy to pick off at a range, and Enker is only a threat if you get severely trigger happy. However, the biggest weakness is how often some of the enemies are used. Some of them luck out, such as Skull Man being a good bodyguard. Others, like Commando Man, are too infrequent to be very useful. Even when they do show up, they tend to be very same-y in application, I don't remember a lot of variety in application here. As for the gimmicks, it's mainly Conveyor Belts and Spark Generators. The conveyor belts are standard fare, but the generators are a nice twist that ties into the boss fight. Unfortunately, how well they're handled varies wildly on the split paths. The normal paths, denoted by pink Yonbains, don't really expand on the assets, making it a little boring. But the extra paths, denoted by orange Yonbains, put in the necessary work to create cool challenges using the gimmicks. Beyond that, the Spark Generators tend to blend into the tiles, making it harder to see where you'll need to start dodging-though thankfully not impossible. Still, the level is pretty entertaining with the right paths, and I appreciate that it's not just forced weapon usage outright. It also ends with an okay boss, though Hodenki has some issues. I like his variety of attacks-he ends up a good deal more interesting than most shield bosses. Unfortunately, he doesn't take enough damage to match his vulnerability time, a problem common to most shield bosses. I also have no idea how to consistently dodge his running attack, though the rest of it is easy enough to figure out. As a whole, this is decent. It's not groundbreaking, and it focuses a bit too much on tutorials, but it's still a fun time. Although I don't know why those joke intros exist.
Shinryu  : 61 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 21 / 35 13 / 25 8 / 15 10 / 15 9 / 10 Firstly, let me just say thank you for not putting any tokens in this stage. Given the way it's set up (what with all the split paths), including tokens could have been really detrimental in the long run. The idea of having your weapon set being limited/influenced by which path you take seems like a way better idea. That said, this stage isn't without its faults. While I like the general idea of the level, something about the execution didn't really get me excited for any of my repeat playthroughs to check the other paths. I think this mainly has to do with the overall room and enemy layouts: They're not necessarily bad, as the enemy placement often complements the conveyor belt and spark placements in a way that doesn't make things too chaotic. Rather, it's the lack of difficulty curve that often makes them feel almost indistinguishable from each other. Besides maybe the vertical segment full of conveyor belts after getting the Laser Trident, I couldn't really recall any one distinct section of this stage off the top of my head. Like I said, it's not really bad, just a bit on the bland side. The lesser Robot Master-type enemies do breathe a bit of life into the stage, at least for a little while. Although they're certainly fun to look at and fight against, I found their novelty wore off pretty quickly on repeat playthroughs. The split paths also suffered a bit during this as well, mostly with the decisions for which weapons to get. Once you realize that Laser Trident is the most effective weapon to use on the boss (and a good chunk of the enemies), there's little incentive to avoid the path it's on (unless maybe you want to challenge yourself not to use it). On that note, Hodenki is easily the best part of this stage. In terms of shield-focused bosses, his fight is really well put together! His attacks all have good telegraphs, and each of his moves are threatening without being too difficult to avoid...with the slight exception of him walking around with his barrier up (I found trying to dodge him with the weird room terrain can be a bit finicky, though still doable). It also really helps that Hodenki himself is pretty memorable, largely thanks to his opening dialogue and the variations you can get if you lose to him. Overall, while the stage itself is a bit of a mixed bag (especially on repeat playthroughs), I still really like the idea behind it, and the end boss manages to salvage it by a good amount. Plus, I really got a kick out of those extra intros, so kudos on having one of the few stages in this game to do comedic relief well! ...All right, so now that the review portion of this is over, I have one final little side note to address regarding the end of this level. Keep in mind that what I'm going to bring up here didn't affect this level's score. Rather, I'm using this as an opportunity for a bit of a PSA, specifically for those of you who want to drop hints at potential extra content that would be adapted from your level into the main game. Simply put: Don't do it. That kind of decision is up to the dev team to make, not you. Just because you have a well-designed Robot Master fight doesn't automatically mean it'll get represented with an Alter Weapon or a skin. In fact, trying to push this (via hints, dialogue, sidequests, or whatever else) is more likely to make your requests go ignored. Just focus on making a good/fun/unique level, and let the dev team handle the extra stuff.
Pachy  : 62 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 16 / 35 10 / 25 12 / 15 14 / 15 10 / 10 Protect The Data! There's a lot of cool ideas with this stage, but the execution is just not quite on point. The main enemies, for example: basically they are various boss attacks, each being implemented into a stage enemy of its own. That is a really cool idea! But the bosses that were chosen, a lot of their roles are overlapping, like Knight Man, Enker, and Skull Man all filling the shield role. It heavily limits the design choices when it comes to creating challenges, and the stage shows just that. Oftentimes when you fight them together, there is a boss replica accompanied by one of the shield bosses mentioned. It gets stale and repetitive. Another point to mention: throughout the stage you will encounter the Knight Man enemy a lot, as he always seems to be guarding a room exit. Meanwhile, there are Joe enemies in the stage, too, for extra shielded padding glory. It quickly becomes tedious walking through with all the stalling that occurs. The electric ball gimmick, I really don't like how the spawner is merged into the tileset. While it looks neat aesthetic-wise, the readability is hindered in the process; it can become difficult for the player to notice the danger coming their way. The weapons that you come across, since the stage doesn't really convey their functions beyond the screen or two they were placed in; most of the time I switched back to the buster. They just aren't relevant enough, and the stage wouldn't have played much differently if the player were to be given them at the get-go. The boss is just... uh...? What the..? He's dabbing now? Silly intros are fine, but this seems really unnecessary, especially when after you defeat him, he gives you this dramatic exchange that is supposed to be taken seriously. After that you meet his creator, who is a Mega Man edit, where the dialogues also started rather seriously, but thankfully toned down afterwards. The whole exchange just felt really awkward. The music sounds cool at first with the snippets of Enker's stage from MM10 remixed here and there. However, it does get a little repetitive as it goes on for this rather long stage with multiple winding paths.
Flashman85  : 61 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 20 / 35 12 / 25 8 / 15 13 / 15 8 / 10 Let's jump right in. The aesthetics and architecture feel professional. Challenges are never unfair or overly difficult. Conveyors and sparks are a decent combo. Checkpoints and power-ups are generous. There are some issues (slight softlock potential, minor programming and layout complaints, some rehashed Suzy use), but they're not what bug me most. I'm sorry; this is going to be a rant. So you're gradually building an arsenal of special weapons. Awesome. But the level isn't designed around the inherent limitations or unique properties of your arsenal. Break Dash knocks down a wall or two. Ice Wall floats in water, which is never relevant again. Considering the premise, the level is buster-friendly to a fault. Because the challenges remain constant in complexity and difficulty, the level keeps getting easier as more weapons are unlocked. Break Dash and Laser Trident make short work of the copious enemies that stand around blocking your path. I like the "bosses as enemies" concept, and that they use appealing new sprites, but there's too much ability overlap (block shots, fire forward). The more versatile enemies (Commando, Punk, Wave) are used infrequently and in places that don't take full advantage of their attack patterns. Moreover, a player unfamiliar with these bosses may struggle to adapt to so many new enemies at once. Hodenki is the icing on this frustration cake. He's a fine opponent, but how is he a weapon data guardian? The ending dialogue with ??? is the last straw; it sounds like we're going to use Hodenki's power to get the tools from the lab, but then the level just...ends. That's either confusing or presumptuous, depending on whether you expected an Alter Weapon from the devteam. It's not a bad level by any means, but *man* does it press all the wrong buttons for me.
ACESpark  : 63 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 18 / 35 14 / 25 9 / 15 12 / 15 10 / 10 Another long one, but that's for a rather odd case... Ok, I get the picture that the stage's promise of an unlockable weapon was due to a massive misunderstanding on how the unlocks were handled in past MaGMMLs. It happens, but at the end of the day, it isn't going to be unlockable. The reasons why not, are fairly obvious - entrants forcing us to include unlocks is not a precedent we want to ever set. For what it's worth, this meta element isn't affecting the score from me and I don't have anything to add about it until the end of the review, as it has no real bearing on the qualities or faults of the stage. I just figured it was worth a mention. With that out of the way... God this is clearly a ton of effort. And y'know, it's a cute concept. The er, "Minion versions of Robot Masters" is adorable, and the level has some actual life in the animation. Aesthetically, it's grand, and upgrading your arsenal over time here manages to avoid the trite "bad attempt at a Metroidvania in a level design contest" that seems to be a recurring nemesis of MaGMML judges by being both linear, but also offering paths to increase replay value - and again this must be praised for restraint - not *forcing* that with multiple endpoints. This feels like a deliberate method of avoiding the increasingly overused trope of "level where you collect and get locked into weapons". Somehow in execution it all feels rather routine and by the numbers. Very few of the Master Minions feel like they are placed in any sort of challenging or interesting way. Hell, some, like the Knight Minion and Enker Minion, are almost utterly useless as an enemy, feeling more like timewasters than an actual threat. Others feel like one-trick ponies, such as the Gemini Minions. Collecting weapons throughout the stage feels equally worthless. For once, I feel some more forced weapon usage could've made upgrading feel worthwhile. There's so few instances where the weapons have an impact. Combined with some of the dullest enemies in the devkit and the entire place looking very samey, and frankly, boring... I haven't normally mentioned devkit midbosses unless they're egregious, and frankly, Suzak and Fenix are. They really felt like a pointless addition thrown in just for the sake of it. Unfortunately, no real path offers anything particularly new over the others, sure, one route has the world's smallest water segment, and the climb of conveyors starts to rise to the challenge before ending on a whimper... really and thus kind of defeats the point of multiple routes. In the end, the stage, for all its good qualities, ends up rather dull, and predictable. And that's a real shame. I wanted to like it, but aesthetics and occasional charm can only carry you so far. Let's end on Hodenki. Overall, I like him. Big praise for the simple addition that his weakness is the only required weapon in the level. He is a hard fight, but a player isn't left in the cold, forced to E-Tank if they just can't deal with him. Good. He has an interesting suite of attacks that do not offer obvious dodges, but require you to learn him and his tells. I would have liked the personality he offers more, especially the overconfidence offered by the lying down animation, but I think in your rush to show off all his quirks, left me rather irritated that the cutscene keeps repeating... and repeating. This does not endear me to keep trying to perfect the fight... which has its own problem. His, er, "walking attack", offers a *huge* hitbox and quickly corners the player. Minus weapons, I have found no way to dodge this. It ends on a sour note, as he's a fun boss otherwise. And the attacks, as I said, they're interesting. The multi-uses of Discharge Barrier seem like they'd make an ideal Contest Weapon. And in spite of the crap "walking attack", I did like Hodenki. And I like his attacks. And without that blunder I mentioned at the beginning, there's a chance Hodenki's weapon would be a shoo-in. So, yeah, kind of shot yourself in the foot there.

Notes

• Weapon Data Center has the lowest judge score variance of any MaGMML3 entry, with only two points between the highest (63) and lowest (61) scores.
• The Break Dash weapon capsule is the only one that Mega Man is required to pick up, due to weapon-specific barriers in front of the door. All others can be avoided or bypassed with Rush Coil.
• A maximum of six weapons can be reclaimed in one playthrough of this stage: Break Dash, Ice Wall or Tornado Blow (depending on the first branching path), Water Shield, Thunder Beam, Magnetic Shockwave, and Laser Trident (from the lower route of the second branching path).