Ordinance With Lyrics

102nd: Ordinance With Lyrics Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

Fire Spikes and jellyfish don't deserve top billing.

Overview Creator(s): g a t t y Composer(s): Takashi Tateishi Statistics Scores: 24 32 7 18 Total: 20.25 / 100 Rank: 102nd Elements: 1 Box Items: Dada Lyric SRU-21/P Count Bomb Fire Spike Enemies: Dada Lyric SRU-21/P Gimmicks: Count Bomb Fire Spike Bosses: Crash Man & Dangan Man Other Information: Skippable

Theme Music Mega Man 2 - Crash Man Boss: Mega Man 2 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 1 Previous: Make a 48 Minute Mega Man Level Next: Short Base

Ordinance^[sic] With Lyrics is the 102nd place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. A very short level, its only major focus is platforming over Count Bombs while avoiding enemies and hazards. Despite this, it can be surprisingly difficult due to enemy spam, hard to see Fire Spikes, and the constant threat of instant death by knockback. It also has the first (by level placement) of many "dual boss" fights in MaG48HMML, and arguably the hardest one in the game.

The level is also the seventh one visited while tracking down the Shadow Imposter's graffiti in the Goody Two Shoes sidequest, with its message hidden in a deceptively secret place despite the stage's brevity.

Strategy

The level's second screen throws Lyrics and respawning Dadas at Mega Man straight away, while an SRU-21/P explodes in a pool of water below. A Fire Spike moves over the way down, which leads to a long row of Count Bombs over water. Both Lyrics and SRU-21/Ps attempt to knock Mega Man into the bottomless pit below, as does a Fire Spike near the ladder upwards. Using Rush Jet to bypass the whole mess is easier than trying to time a jump while the Fire Spike is away from the final Count Bomb. After a few more Count Bomb jumps, the stage ends in a battle against Crash Man and Dangan Man simultaneously. Because Crash Man reacts to the player's inputs, it is recommended to defeat him first before fighting Dangan Man.

Shadow Imposter Graffiti

In the corridor with Count Bombs over water, the screen will keep scrolling past the ladder into a completely empty area, seemingly the result of the creator forgetting to place a stop scroll object down. The only way to reach this area is to ride the Rush Jet; at the very end, the Shadow Imposter's graffiti appears in the centre row of the screen. While the stage is vandalised, a Shadow Turret will fly back and forth along the top of the screen and fire shots down at Mega Man semi-frequently.

Skip Status

Despite its short length, Ordinance With Lyrics was made skippable by the devteam due to its extreme difficulty relative to its placement early in the game (assuming a player goes from last place to first). As MaG48HMML lacks a shop where E-Tanks can be purchased, the level would otherwise be a roadblock for players, particularly the dual Crash/Dangan Man fight at the end.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 24 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 5 / 35 3 / 15 10 / 10 2 / 25 4 / 15 There's not much here. Most of the substance of the level is a sorta annoying boss fight. You use all your assets at least, so that should count for something. There's just not much to say considering it's less than a minute long minus the boss fight. Even then, just "WOOOMPH get yeeted into a pit nerd". It's a level.
PKWeegee  : 32 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 6 / 35 5 / 15 10 / 10 7 / 25 4 / 15 This is a huge amount of nothing. It looks bland, and the rooms are even blander. And uh, that boss fight is just a clusterheck. Nothing to see here, folks, move along.
M-Jacq  : 7 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 0 / 35 0 / 15 7 / 10 0 / 25 0 / 15 You know that saying, "it's better than nothing"? I'm not sure this phrase applies here. If anything, it's perversely impressive that a level this short could be improved by removing half the objects in it. Five enemies/gimmicks awkwardly crammed into as many rooms, with half the level being on Count Bombs over death pits while enemies rain from the sky. And then a dual boss which is absurd buster-only and merely tedious with weaknesses. Okay, I guess. I just can't shake the feeling this level took more time for me to complete than it did for you to make it.
Freems  : 18 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 3 / 35 3 / 15 8 / 10 3 / 25 1 / 15 No, no. The contest is make a level in 48 hours, not make a level that will take 48 seconds to beat. The level was pretty ugly to look at and just sort of had its assets thrown together without much thought or purpose and just felt like enemies spammed in random locations in the few screens it lasted. The boss combination also really didn't work well together at all. I'll chalk this one up to rough time management probably.

Notes

• Along with The Quickening, Ordinance With Lyrics has the dubious honour of being one of the shortest levels with a Skip Teleporter in any MaGMML game.
• Ordinance With Lyrics is the only vandalised stage in the Goody Two Shoes sidequest to contain a Skip Teleporter.