Guts Man's Asteroid

12th: Guts Man's Asteroid Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

No, really; it's totally normal for a warp core to do that.

Overview Creator(s): Flashman85 Statistics Scores: 44 35 42 37 42 Total: 40.0 / 50 Rank: 12th Elements: 2 Collectables: 5 Nickels Enemies: X Sub-Bosses: X Bosses: Fake Guts Duo

Theme Music Mega Man 9 "We're the Robots" (Wily 2) and Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 9 Previous: Mount Sabre Next: Sheriff Man

"My soap opera should be over before you get incinerated, so keep exploring until I'm ready to teleport you out."

―Dr. Light, World's Best Dad

Overview

Guts Man's Asteroid is the 12th place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2. The name of the level is a play on the ancient Gutsman's Ass meme, which also resurfaces in a secret room in the level. Flashman85 would normally change "ass" to "butt," but "Guts Man's Buttsteroid" is a terrible name for a level.

Development

The design of Guts Man's Asteroid was heavily influenced by feedback about Flashman85's MaGMML1 submission, Maze of Death, and (to a lesser extent) his level contributions to Mega Man Endless. Before any of the specifics fell into place, the plan was to create a straightforward, normal-length level accessible to players of all ability levels, featuring a coherent theme and clear learning curve.

The first step was selecting a theme; the combination of ground and space was chosen for its relative novelty and for the wealth of thematically appropriate enemies and gimmicks. The next step was mapping out a general challenge progression. Originally, the entire first half of the level was to take place on the cargo ship, with the ship falling out of the sky and crash-landing on an asteroid following a destructive miniboss battle. The second half of the level would have involved low gravity, gravity flipping, crumbling towers (as in the final Dark Man stage of Mega Man 5), and a series of small battles against Prototype Guts Men before facing off against the real Guts Man.

However, it was deemed that too much was being packed into the second half of the level, and that splitting the level into two fundamentally different halves could make the level feel unfocused. Additionally, there was a concern that gravity flipping would be overused in the contest due to its underuse in Mega Man 5 and the popularity of VVVVVV; and technical issues with the devkit made it a liability to combine gravity flipping and crumbling towers. The cargo ship section was shortened to only a few screens, and the level was reworked into something resembling the final product.

One major difference is that, initially, the transition from the Rolling Drill section to the boulder dispenser section did not include Eddie. Instead, there was a puzzle-oriented challenge involving luring a Rolling Drill from the left side of the room to the right side of the room, where it would destroy a wall. This would lead to the boulder dispenser section, which began with a modified version of what is now the fourth room in that section (the one with the Caricarry). These screens were overhauled in large part to keep the gameplay more straightforward.

The final text box with a message from Dr. Light was added toward the end of development, in response to playtester feedback about the boulder dispensers being too unpredictable (and in response to watching playtesters rush through this section without ever slowing down to strategize).

In an earlier draft of the level, Eddie was meant to appear to deliver the Energy Element after the Fake Guts Duo is defeated. This was scrapped due to programming challenges.

Strategy

Don't die.

Reception

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 44 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 13 / 15 9 / 10 12 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No Really nice level! The whole plot of the level and the dialogue is really funny, and there were many moments that caught me by surprise, like the spaceship blowing up and...Eddie. The mining theme of the level is pulled off really well, and there's a bunch of mining-themed gimmicks that are introduced well and in a safe environment and the difficulty is properly ramped up. I love the usage of the Drill Man lights - it's a complete subversion of their intended use, and it's really neat. I was also very pleasently surprised to see the napalm drills get usage, too, considering their function in this game. Probably the only part I don't really like is the part with the Drill Man rocks, but I feel like that's less just it being not as good and more just me being terrible at dealing with them. The boss was neat and funny but I feel like the arena got a bit too cramped at times due to it having lots of Drill Man rock spawners in it. But they're just some tiny complaints in an otherwise pretty great level, and it's overall super fun to play! Also I found that hidden yasichi <3
JupiHornet  : 35 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 7 / 15 7 / 10 14 / 15 4 / 5 3 / 5 Man, who knew Dr. Light was so good at dry humor? :P Anyway, this was a pretty fun level! I really enjoyed the space challenge it provided. My main issue was the room where Eddie is just sitting there until he shoves an instant death drill in your face. That's not fair to the player because they won't see it coming. It's not TERRIBLE because there's a checkpoint in the same room, but it's still pretty annoying. A few sections towards the end went a bit crazy with the falling rocks, too. The boss, on the other hand, was a super fun and unexpected fight against 2 Guts Mans. Or is it Guts Men?
Enjl  : 42 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 12 / 15 8 / 10 12 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No Really cool journey! I like the progression in this level, going deeper and deeper into the asteroid. This level's use of the drills was pretty creative and tbh I kinda wish it put more focus on them throughout >_>. Eddie's secret weapon is the best thing ever, though. Sometimes I found the enemies to be pretty tricky to get to or the rocks to be slightly too frequent to make it past safely, but aside from that I really liked their placements. I also like the little secrets hidden in this level and the secret exit. Really cool level overall!
Garirry  : 37 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 10 / 15 7 / 10 11 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 Very solid. I think sometimes the placement of the falling rocks can be bad, and same with some enemies, but ultimately it's quite good. It's pretty fun. Though it is tame at times. Nothing else to say. I really liked the idea of the stage, but I also found some of the easter eggs and mini-plot quite funny and creative. A little tame, but nothing too bad. Works just fine. I found the concept of this level interesting and executed fairly well. Despite that, it just doesn't feel that interesting. However, I think I liked the easter eggs hidden throughout the level and I like how you can just skip the entire level if you wish so. Other than that, it's enjoyable, but that's about it.
ACESpark  : 42 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 9 / 15 10 / 10 14 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 No To the creator: You dickhead. You absolute dickhead. >:CCC If you're reading this before you've played the stage, you'll know exactly what I'm on about as soon as you see it. Actually all told, you made me laugh. A lot. This, was fun, for that reason alone, but you thankfully backed it up with some very solid level design and really nifty usage of dev kit assets. You turned what sounded like the most boring level and theme possible and put as much pizazz as the dev kit assets let you. Your best feature, next to the humour, is you playing with player expectations. You subvert it several times, and always left me wondering what you could possibly pull off next. You also did a pretty good job with gimmick conveyance (although not so much with one or two enemies, but they weren't bad!) so even new players should understand what game mechanics they should expect out of you. I wasn't a big fan of the falling rocks (there's a few too many of them in spots, which kills the pace), nor the Noble Nickel associated with the gimmick, but everything else was pretty damn spiffy. There was one or two iffy jumps, and the aforementioned dick move that let you down a bit, but I think a lot of people are going to like this one. Also, hi dev kit boss! You were used well! And that's great! To anyone playing this: Find the second Energy Element. That shows this guy's commitment to the comedic arts.

Easter Eggs

They're everywhere. Look around.