Difference between revisions of "Bouncy Castle"

Oh my god this level is the most unfocused thing in the universe and I love it for that. It just takes its gimmick and RUNS with it. There's like half the enemies in the game used and they're just bouncing up and down everywhere and it's the dumbest thing ever. My experience with playing the level was basically just 'oh my god it's this enemy' 'oh no how is it gonna use this' it just keeps you on your toes it's just so great. I do have some issues with the design though, namely the first section and the boss. The first section is by far the weakest part of the level, mostly because of the sniper joe setup which just takes a literal eternity to get through and it's really difficult to actually take care of? The level really picks up after it, though, because it really just RUNS with the gimmick. There's alternate paths and tons of stuff and even with how wacky the level gets with its theme jumping all over the place and it using like half the devkit enemies it still manages to create coherent gameplay with it, mostly because the rooms themselves have specific ideas and it isn't just a free for all for the whole level. Fav is definitely the Knight Man room, it's just ridiculously fun to just have SO MUCH BOUNCING. Boss tho, I'm not a huge fan of? The raining bomb attack is fine, but the shield attack seems very inconsistent to actually dodge because you can't guarentee that the attack and the bouncy castle gimmick will line up with its timing. The good definitely outweighs the bad tho and it's a really fun level.

I'm sorry but I don't think this gimmick was thought through enough. The bounciness often sends you flying straight into enemy attacks, and vice versa. There also didn't seem to be a pattern between the 'times' of bounciness, making it even harder to get around. It felt like the stage was made normally and then the bounce effect was added later.

Unfortunately, most of my enjoyment in this level got quickly overshadowed by the unpredictable nature of the bouncy castle, which lies both at the core of the level but is also what makes it hard for me to enjoy the level to its fullest. While I love the bouncing effects and really like the setups you provide that are built around this mechanic, such as in the opening room or the fan area of the castle section, big chunks of the level didn't seem to be particularily bult around the mechanic. Aside from that, if I were able to predict the timing and height of my jumps more accurately, planning around the enemies' bounces would've been a lot easier and more consistent, making the level overall fairer and more strategically oriented. All this needs is a bit more telegraphing as to when a bounce happens. Taking away the initial bounce's effect and having it be purely visual might be enough. As it stands, though, while I like the concept of the level and had some silly fun by just bouncing all over the place, my method for actually advancing in this level is staying away from the ground as much as possible and otherwise playing the level like any other.

Although the idea behind this level is really interesting, it ironically ruins it for me. There's generally little wrong with the level itself, it looks pretty, the level design is fair, it's fun overall, but having Mega Man constantly bounce around makes it hard to make jumps over pits or hit enemies, and shortly after, you find yourself tired from all of this. Honestly I feel like removing the main gimmick altogether would just improve the level overall.

This level made me physically ill about a minute into it. Therefore I am unable to give it a fair review, as I am unable to play it. It was a very clever idea, but somehow in execution it's... unbearable. You have too much motion going on I think is the problem, and vertical motion is not something certain people suffering with motion sickness can deal with. I'm kind of glad we caught this early, we don’t want to make the playbase unwell.