Joe Man (stage)

For article on the boss, see Joe Man (boss).

"It feels like this was made by a machine."

―Pyro, Comment post judging.

Overview

Joe Man is the 40th place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2, created by Zeildak. The level is has mostly solid level design, and mostly consisted of shielded enemies.

Strategy

The level is rather straight-forward in terms of design, as most of it's Noble Nickels could be acquired with no problem. However, the last 2 are arguably the hardest to get; one being hidden behind a tough jump, and the other obtained by defeating Joe Man R.

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 30 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 13 / 15 4 / 10 3 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No This is really bizarre. The level is well-designed, it has a proper difficulty curve, it introduces its elements properly, it's professional, it feels like Mega Man....but it's just so BORING. The level is just so...dull and bland. All enemies in the level are variations of Mets, Sniper Joes, and Shield Attackers. Nothing else. The three most generic enemies you could possibly pick. There's mines, I guess, but those have been done before (see MMU), and there's time bombs, but those have been in like every fangame ever. There are a few clever setups - I like the bajillion time bomb + 2 copter met rooms - but the rest of the level is just an extremely basic difficulty curve. There's really nothing interesting. Oh, you have to do a really annoying jump between two time bombs under spikes to get a Noble Nickel. But that's about it. The boss is pretty dull, too, it's just...the attacks of the level's enemies, except in a boss. The bonus boss is even dumber because it's basically the original boss except with three health bars and like one new attack that isn't hard to dodge. It doesn't help that the bonus boss hits like a truck and will kill you quickly if you mess up at all. Like...the level feels like, it was churned out of a factory or something. It's really dull and bland and doesn't have any charm or anything really creative going for it, but there IS proper design. It feels like it was made by a machine.
JupiHornet  : 33 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 6 / 15 7 / 10 11 / 15 5 / 5 4 / 5 This level felt like something straight out of Mega Man 10, with awesome graphics. The miniboss is a fun kill room full of the different types of Sniper Joes. However, there are some unfair enemy placements, mostly with the Shield Attackers. There are a few right after screen transitions that are very hard to avoid (spikes/low ceiling above you so you can't jump over, pit in front of you so you can't slide under, coming towards you so you can't kill them without Flash Stopper) unless you know they're there beforehand. Joe Man himself was an alright battle, but his attacks do a LOT of damage. Joe Man R was just Joe Man with multiple health bars and a few more attacks, which was disappointing. I would have liked to see a boss with Sniper Joe's forms (mech, copter etc.)
Enjl  : 32 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 9 / 15 6 / 10 7 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No Honestly what keeps me from really liking this level is the fact it's not designed around being beatable with Slash Claw only. That would've been such a cool detail, come on! In all fairness, though, this level does a pretty good job at following the formula it's designed by. It properly introduces all of its assets in a safe manner and ramps up its difficulty until you get to the boss, and even beyond that. My one problem is... the boss is a good analogy for the level. The first encounter being the first half, and the 2nd being the 2nd half: It's the same thing, but with an element or two extra and a much higher risk of failure. I really liked the first half of this level, but after that I got slightly bored, as the mines didn't add much to the level's structure and the upwards climb was the part that stood out most about the second half, though I wasn't a big fan of that part. The level ended up feeling repetitive, felt like areas I've already been through, and the same applies for the boss rematch. The Nickel locations in this level are pretty silly. There are some hazards in the stage that I feel were placed unfairly, and most of them (not all of them) are within Nickel nooks. The fourth Nickel in particular contains a spike jump that is very easy to fail, and due to how the level places its checkpoints it takes quite a while to get back to it. Overall I wish the level added another element in its second half, preferrably one that's not scattered across the floor in abundance near the end.
Garirry  : / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality / 15 / 10 / 15 / 5 / 5 {{{gacreativitynote}}} {{{gaaestheticsnote}}} {{{gafunctionnote}}}
ACESpark  : 27 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 6 / 15 3 / 10 8 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No You started well. Nice tileset, if a little generic, the few new custom assets are good, if generic, decent selection of gimmicks, even if they are also a little generic, and pleasant enough music.... which is also pretty generic now that I think about it. Overall, solid, pretty well built stage, if not the most memorable thing in the world. It dragged a little, and I rather hated the miniboss for how redundant it was, but still... Some of the rooms were great, your use of Count Platforms combined with Flying Mets was pretty clever, and you usually placed Reflection Blocks in really good locations. We had what was a great cap to your stage - your Robot Master - aside from what is possibly a hitbox that is too large, his attacks had conveyance throughout the stage, his pattern was fair, good variety to the fight, and overall he was enough of a challenge to be fun. Your 4th Noble Nickel was probably a bit too hard for its own good, the count bombs needed to be about 16 pixels lower than they are currently, honestly. All this sounds positive so far, right? Just a few nitpicks and the like. Where'd you drop the ball then? Taking everything into account.. that would be your SECOND Robot Master. Oh. Oh dear. Erm, you kind of went overboard, this thing left a rather bitter taste in my mouth. 3 health bars? On a boss that is almost completely invincible about 75% of the time? Ok, that alone, is stupid. But it's a three phase boss fight, so ok, maybe three health bars are fine, provided each phase is different enough. Surely the fact that you can't hit it most of the time is taken into account. But no. Your first phase is, literally, a COPY of the first Robot Master..... just why. Why are you making us redo the exact thing we did just 10 seconds ago? The later forms have attacks where, he's just completely invincible for eons, and the only really good way to beat him before the heat death of the universe is to use the weakness. This just kills it. Everything here is bumped up into frustration levels and hits areas of tedium that I did not know was possible for a Mega Man boss whose name doesn't end in the word ""Devil"". Also, you probably should've put a sign after that boss, because I was left scratching my head for which direction I should head in for that Nickel, because I feared I'd lose my progress by choosing wrong. (If you as a player is reading this review before beating this stage, go right, not up.)

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