The Cave Level That Exists

169th: The Cave Level That Exists Make a Good Mega Man Level 3

Welp, it sure does exist!

Overview Creator(s): BigRockerEnding Composer(s): Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya (originals) Danny Baranowsky (covers) Statistics Scores: 22 15 37 35 23 Total: 26.40 / 100 Rank: 169th Elements: 1 Collectables: Enemies: Au-Au Battonton Bomber Pepe Gabgyo (swim) Imorm Metall Metall Swim Morning Joe Octone Shrink Sub-Bosses: Bubble Man & Sonic Man Lantern Fish Mad Grinder Bosses: Mecha Dragon

Theme Music Cave Story - Geothermal Sub-Boss: Cave Story 3D - Gravity Boss: Cave Story 3D - Eyes of Flame Stage Order Location: Tier 1 Previous: A piece of cake, but with aesthetics Next: Cycle Facility

"Well, this level exists"

―???, dialogue box in the start of the stage

The Cave Level That Exists is the 169th place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 3. It is a cave-themed level that uses aesthetics from Cave Story.

Strategy

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

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Judge Comments

Judge Comments
Mick Galbani  : 22 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 6 / 35 2 / 25 0 / 15 5 / 15 9 / 10 ...Not gonna lie, this was kinda pointless. A whole lotta nothin' happened, and there's not much to comment on. About the only gameplay worth bringing up at all is the double devkit boss (which is bad, because they tend to overlap like crazy and be a pain to dodge), and the unnecessarily big rooms (which... is still bad, because there's nothing to do except get lost for no reason). Beyond that, only real comments are that the visuals are extremely bland, there's a broken slope, and the music is nice.
Shinryu  : 15 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 2 / 35 1 / 25 1 / 15 2 / 15 9 / 10 Yup, it sure does... In all seriousness, though, there's not much going on with this level. Many of the room layouts are pretty bare bones, featuring a lot of wide open space that makes most of the enemies a non-issue (even more so when coupled with higher jumps granted by water physics). This is especially true for the Mecha Dragon fight, as you're given 4 whole screens to deal with him. Beyond those issues, the only other noteworthy thing here is the double boss fight. Unless you're going to set them up so that their movements and attacks play off or complement each-other in some way, fighting two bosses at once is typically more of a pain than anything. Just sticking Bubble Man and Sonic Man in a room together, regardless of how large it is, doesn't really work out.
Pachy  : 37 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 7 / 35 9 / 25 6 / 15 7 / 15 8 / 10 THE LOUD MUSIC THAT EXISTS. As well as inconsistent volume. Audio mixing, people!! Well, this level certainly lives up to its name. It's a few screens of enemies, and the only thing going on is the Cave Story aesthetics. As far as crossover stages go, this is unfortunately quite barren. It seems the collisions of the slopes are misaligned, often Mega Man cannot traverse through a set of them without getting stuck in the ground. Another issue is that sometimes it's difficult to tell if you're out of water or submerged, since the water tiles look very similar to empty tiles at first glance. Also doesn't help that screen transitions would mask the whole "splash" effect when normally going out of water. I seem to be really bad at fighting Bubble Man on ground, as the fight with him and Sonic Man felt quite unfair with the lava tiles on the ground, limiting mobility. Bubble Man's buster shots are very hard to dodge without the water physics. Meanwhile, Sonic Man will punish you if you don't stand bound to the ground close to him at all times. The Mecha Dragon, on the other hand, is completely non-asthreatening with so much ground to stand on in its arena, trivializing the fight.
Flashman85  : 35 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 11 / 35 7 / 25 3 / 15 7 / 15 7 / 10 What a title. The confidence you have in your level is exceptional. Ironically, this barely feels like a cave after the first couple screens. However, it does feel like some DOS games I've played--minimalistic but not altogether unappealing graphics, large free-scrolling areas with no sense of challenge progression, and enemies haphazardly introduced and then forgotten forever. No bards will sing of this level's clunky layout or lackluster architecture. Not that anyone would be able to hear them over the music, mind you. Volume aside, the relaxed audio is a good fit for the level, and one of the only reasons I enjoyed myself at all. At the very least, the level needs more background detail (the teleporter statue is a good start), more polished use of collision objects (eg, putting water collision over the topsolid platforms), and some sense of focus beyond "random water enemies sometimes I guess." As a side note, if you're going to use a thematically unrelated Flash Man NPC in a contest where one of the judges is named Flashman, give him dialogue I might actually say. "ZA WARUDO," indeed. Water physics inexplicably disappear where they're needed most--with low gravity, Sonic Bubble could've been a genuinely fun fight instead of the part where you give up on a no-damage run. Good call on the weapon refill at the gate, though. I would've loved to battle Mecha Dragon in a submerged area with larger hops between fewer platforms. Even moving the dragon into the center of the arena would be an improvement; all that room to work with, and the dragon hangs out so far offscreen that you're basically tickling its feet with whatever weapon will reach. Yes, this level certainly does exist. But it needs a better selling point than "it doesn't not exist."
ACESpark  : 23 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 7 / 35 3 / 25 0 / 15 6 / 15 7 / 10