Frigid Inferno

14th: Frigid Inferno Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

A Stage of Ice and Fire, by BBLIR. R. Martin

Overview Creator(s): BBLIR Composer(s): LittleLamp, Deathro Statistics Scores: 79 66 86 65 Total: 74 / 100 Rank: 14th Elements: 1 Box Items: Heli Buton Neo Heli Metall Tamp Blade Man Seesaw Crystal Generator Enemies: Heli Buton Neo Heli Metall Tamp Gimmicks: Blade Man Seesaw Crystal Generator Sub-Bosses: Changkey Dragon Bosses: 🔥 Man

Theme Music Mega Man Infamous Intent - Famous 2 (Unused) Boss: Mega Man Infamous Intent - Vs. Tempo Stage Order Location: Tier 10 Previous: Minari Hydrospace Center Next: Cloudy City

Frigid Inferno is the 14th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It is a level that has a dual ice and fire aesthetic, complete with thematically reskinned enemies for both environments (in practice, however, it is more "fire level" than "ice level", with the latter aesthetic only appearing in the beginning and towards the end). Crystal Generators are a frequent hazard, particularly in the second half of the stage, which uses Blade Man Seesaws as a major gimmick.

Strategy

The first part of the level is almost entirely located within an icy area, and features Neo Heli Metalls, ice-themed Tamps, and crystals that drop from chutes. The crystals do not spawn from the chute opening, but instead from slightly higher up, and it can be difficult to see them before they drop. Eventually, the icy terrain gives way to a volcano-esque fire area, complete with a fire-themed Tamp. Shortly afterwards is a battle against a Changkey Dragon, with three platforms to help avoid its fire breath. After defeating it, Mega Man drops into the first checkpoint screen, which introduces a Blade Man Seesaw and has a free E-Tank on the left. This segues into multiple screens that require guiding a seesaw along a rail, either to cross over a pit, or to reach a high ledge. Most of these can be easily skipped with the Rush Jet, though this is harder to do in single-screen sections that go upwards (and contain Crystal Generators). If one elects not to use it, however, the Flame Mixer can protect Mega Man from any overhead crystals.

At the second checkpoint, a Blade Man Seesaw is needed to cross over pools of lethal lava, but there are multiple spikes dotted around the section. A few times, quick reactions are needed to avoid being carried into spikes by the seesaw's movement, but it is otherwise simple to get through. The last challenge of the level returns to the ice aesthetic of the level's beginning, and is a more dangerous seesaw gauntlet with raining crystals and easily-respawned Heli Butons. Without the Flame Mixer to handle both hazards, it is very easy to get knocked off the seesaw and fall into the lava with slim hope of recovery. However, by design or by accident, the ladder at the end is low enough that the Rush Coil can easily reach it, so there's no reason to ever take the seesaw path. At the top of said ladder is the end of the level, which contains a boss fight against the oddly-named 🔥 Man in an icy battleground.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 79 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 29 / 35 9 / 15 10 / 10 18 / 25 13 / 15 Aesthetically, this level is fantastic. Hopping between the two sections and their respective gimmicks just feels great. The crystal dropping is challenging, but not obnoxious like it can easily turn into. The seesaws, while pretty usual for the course, are executed well. Following the A, B, AB section style mostly works for this level, but when you get to the combined section it feels like you ran out of time. It's not that what you have is bad, but I want more. The level ends and it just feels incomplete. A stronger finale would've gone a long way for this, especially with how you built up the graphics with that. If you can make one, another draft or edit of this level could turn it into something really awesome. For now, it's good but a bit underdeveloped.
PKWeegee  : 66 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 21 / 35 10 / 15 10 / 10 17 / 25 8 / 15 At times, it's really fun and nicely designed; other times, I just wonder if the crystal droppers were placed randomly in some rooms. That's honestly my big gripe, that they feel...tacked on. I loved the ice and fire designs for the enemies, though; it's adorable. And maybe it's just me, but the ice tileset hurt my eyes a bit with its flashing. Oh, and the Solar Man resprite is a cool dude.
M-Jacq  : 86 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 27 / 35 15 / 15 7 / 10 22 / 25 15 / 15 Oh man, this level would be SO COOL - so cool/hot, I guess, given the theming - if not for the Tamps. What you have here is a really tight set of platforming challenges which require you to include multiple moving platforms. Tamp clashes horribly with that - you need a lot of free space above you for Tamp to be a fair challenge, but here it keeps getting caught on platforms or clipping out of bounds. I think if you'd kept to the Mets and beetles during those sections you'd be in much better shape. That being said: the theming here is on-point, with a ton of care given to aesthetics (up to and including a custom boss! Wow!). The stage also uses crystal droppers well by carefully positioning the seesaws so that you can avoid their projectiles by standing on the edge and - I can't stress this enough - not putting them all over instant death. It's always obvious what you need to do to progress, and the challenge comes from executing it, with very few surprises. Beyond the Tamps, my only other problem with the level is that the ice and fire segments don't feel very distinct? Like, the ice sections do have ice physics at parts, but the challenges otherwise feel very similar, which is a little disappointing. I don't think it really hurts the level, though.
Freems  : 65 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 20 / 35 10 / 15 8 / 10 15 / 25 12 / 15 Blade Man Seesaws are a tough thing to make interesting. It's a challenge to take a piece that says, "Hey jump back and forth nonstop" and add some life to it; especially when the enemy choice isn't entirely up to your control. All things considered, I think things turned out pretty alright. There were certainly a few seesaw sections that did feel like the same jumping back and forth with little to no excitement, but there were others where there was more thought being put into what you were doing, which was very nice. And the crystal droppers compliment the need to stand in a specific spot rather well. I do like how they were telegraphed with the pipes too. It's so easy to turn things into a guessing game but the pipes help a lot in immediately showing you what's up. Though the fact that they were not solid, while useful for some jumps, is a bit strange and perhaps could have been colored differently to help show that part. Also cute aesthetic touch on the enemies.

Notes

• 🔥 Man's unusual name came about when the Kickboxing Club was being implemented; at the time, the boss lacked a name, and when asked about it, BBLIR suggested "🔥 Man" among other names. The fire emoji was intended as a shorthand for "Fire", but it was taken literally and became part of his name.