Escape Sequence

20th : Escape Sequence Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

Gotta run, gotta run now!

Overview Creator(s): Doctor Novakaine Composer(s): RushJet1 Statistics Scores: 30 33 40 40 32 Total: 35.0 / 50 Rank: 20th Elements: 1 Collectables: Enemies: Battonton B Bitter Blader Bomb Thrown Corocoro Crazy Cannon Crystal Joe Graviton Hammer Joe Hothead Jamacy Jet Bomb Jet Buton Lyric Metall Dance Metall EX Mizzile Mummira Neo Metall New Shield Attacker Penpen (swim) Piriparee Prop-Top Pukapelly Puyoyon Rackaser Returning Sniper Joe Ring Ring Rock Thrown Shield Attacker Shigaraky Skeleton Joe Skullmet Space Metall Taketento Telly Tondeall Up'n'Down V Gimmicks: Acid Drop Ballade Missile Building Platform Conveyor (MM2, MM5) Cossack Platform Crystal Generator Daidine Darkman Block Destroyable Block (Mega Buster) Drop Platform Dustman Block Falling Platform (MM2) Galaxy Man Portal Junk Block Quick Laser Sparkman Platform Wanaan Other Information: Infinite weapon energy Increased movement speed

Theme Music Mega Man V - Wily Star Stage Order Location: Tier 8 Previous: City Under Siege Next: Bond Man

"WARNING: Self-destruct sequence activated!
Teleportation requires one Energy Element!
Execute: release weapon energy limiter.
Execute: release speed limiter.
RUN!!!!!"

―On-screen text, first room of the level

Escape Sequence is the 20th place level in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2. It was created by Doctor Novakaine. It is a fast-paced level where Mega Man is given infinite ammo and increased speed to quickly get past a variety of obstacles. While the level acts like Mega Man is being placed on a time limit, such a time limit does not exist save for a few rooms where Quick Lasers will catch Mega Man if he doesn't move quickly enough.

Completing this level unlocks the "Cut Man?" Costume.

Strategy

The first area after the first room is a very long stretch of obstacles and enemies, including two split paths, one of which requires squeezing between sets of Wanaans and spikes to get the first Noble Nickel, and another giving the choice between spike dodging paired with conveyor belts or facing a barrage of enemies. After a room where Mega Man must swerve back and forth while shooting Normal Destroyable Blocks to get away from Force Beams comes a long stretch with various frail enemies, with a sign at the start of the room recommending the use of Jewel Satellite. Taking a brief detour and surviving jumps across falling blocks and Drop Platforms leads to the second Noble Nickel.

After a second room where Mega Man must swerve to the top while shooting blocks and avoiding Force Beams is a room where Mega Man must use Rush Jet to fly across gaps while shooting Dust Blocks, cracked blocks, and enemies that will try to knock him off. After that is a room requiring use of Sakugarne. There is a group of Jet Bombs in this room that Mega Man can bounce off of to reach the third Noble Nickel. Following a third room with blocks and Force Beams is a long vertical section where Mega Man must use Super Arrow (and at the start, Wire Adaptor) to make his way to the top. He must also catch up with a Cossack Platform to safely traverse a series of ladders that lead to the room's exit.

After facing a pair of Building Platforms and a spike drop, Mega Man must use Wheel Cutter to ride up the walls of another vertical room, while being careful not to touch one of the walls with his body, as it is a wall of spikes. There is also a section on the left made exclusively of spikes that Mega Man can ride up with careful use of Wheel Cutter to grab the fourth Noble Nickel. After this is another room combining Destroyable Blocks and Force Beams; the last such room in the level.

The next room may seem foreboding, being a series of Galaxy Man Portals with enemies around them, but in reality the only thing Mega Man needs to do to traverse the portals safely is continue holding left after jumping into the first portal. After this is a vertical room with a plethora of enemies trying to attack Mega Man. Much like the last room, all Mega Man needs to do to make it out safely is hold up. Once he makes it to the top, he faces the final obstacle of the level; outrunning a group of Force Beams while jumping over Vs (The final Noble Nickel is also at the end of this area). After surviving this escape, Mega Man's speed will go back to normal, and he can walk to the room on the right to collect the Energy Element.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 30 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 9 / 15 4 / 10 7 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 No Oof. There are parts of this level that I legit love (the Jewel Satellite section, the final escape sequence with the hyper fast quick lasers) but there are two sections in particular which reeally kill the level for me. The Rush Jet section is the main issue for me - it's like a bajillion times slower than the rest of the level and is also incredibly obnoxious with its enemy and block placement. So not only does it brutally murder the pacing, it'll also kill you a ton of times and keep sending you back and you just get super annoyed. Other section is the Super Arrow/Wire section, it's extremely frustrating due to the huge amount of spikes everywhere that will just keep constantly killing you and sending you back. Really, the instant death is the issue here, because the rest of the level, especially the last stretch which I REALLY love, is incredibly fast paced and encourages you to use special weapons so you basically are blasting through the fortress and plowing through everything and trying to get through as fast as you can and having a heck ton of a fun time, and then in the middle you get these dumb utility sections with instant death everywhere that absolutely KILL the pacing. It's just...frustrating, and sad to see an otherwise really good level get ruined by just one part of it. Ugh.
JupiHornet  : 33 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 7 / 15 4 / 10 15 / 15 4 / 5 3 / 5 That was pretty crazy! Or at least, about half of it was. This was a VERY inconsistent level in terms of design. Some parts were really fast and fun (those Jewel Satellite slide sections were the most satisfying thing ever, but the Prop Tops could hit you through the shield and knock you into the pit) but some others were too slow-paced and annoying (Rush Jet section was very hard unless you knew to hold the left key to slow yourself down). The Sakugarne section was pretty weird because you could actually jump on the explosions, which seemed like an oversight. The ending part where you had to hold certain directions was very well done, good job there. Overall, this level was a super neat idea, but the design kinda fell flat.
Enjl  : 40 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 11 / 15 7 / 10 13 / 15 5 / 5 4 / 5 No Man! What a neat idea! I love the increased movement speed and intense atmosphere in this level. It really gets me to move fast and act quickly... in sections where the level allowed me to do so. I WISH that was every section of this level, but... it's not, which is a shame. I found the Jet and Arrow sections to be kinda disconnected from the rest of the level, being very slow paced unlike any of the other sections which the player can breeze through and tank whenever they feel like. And I LOVE the other sections. The Sakugarne section is loads of fun, the conveyor walk across spikes is risky but feels great to pull off, the jewel satellite section has entire screens dedicated to catharsis between action and the ending segment is an amazing conclusion. It's just... the other segments are kinda halting my enjoyment with the level due to their slow speed. I also find it unfortunate how the framerate suffers from everything happening in this level and how the red acid drops are barely visible against the red background. Overall... really fun for the most part! Super cool idea!
Garirry  : 40 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 12 / 15 9 / 10 9 / 15 5 / 5 5 / 5 Good level design. I really liked how sections were designed with specific weapons in mind. I didn't like the Rush Jet section, the Sakugarne section that much, and the part where you just run without doing anything. It was extremely fun! I loved this level. It's so fast-paced and exciting. You die a lot though. Really liked the ideas here. The unlimited weapons and double movement speed makes it really interesting. I liked the self-destruct theme too. Looks great and music choice is great. Works just fine. It's a really chaotic level, but in a good way! I really liked blazing through it at an insane speed with unlimited weapon usage. And I really liked the weapon-specific parts of the level, with the exception of the Rush Jet and Sakugarne sections. I also didn't really like the part near the end before the Quick Lasers where you just run without doing anything. But aside from that, it's a very fun level with interesting ideas behind it.
ACESpark  : 32 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter? 7 / 15 6 / 10 15 / 15 1 / 5 3 / 5 No ... do I hate this level? Do I love this level? I...have no idea. This level, I can only compare to Marmite. Youll either love it or hate it. I cannot think of any better comparison. The fact that every weapon has infinite ammo sets up what this stage is going to do from the start. And then uses the fact you have infinite ammo to do some really insane stuff. This level is, really creative! Theres the double move speed concept. It's a clever enough gimmick, but pretty weird to actually play. Some of the execution in spots is baffling though. The enemy set.. is.. just.. what-ever you felt like slapping in it seems. Sometimes you are left wondering what the hell that enemy is doing in the spot it's in. Some are pretty annoyingly placed though, and this applies to pretty much every Hammer Joe, Crystal Joe, and that single solitary Tanuki enemy. Your biggest issue is: Far, far, far too much overcrowding. Particularly the areas where you are forced to use utilities. Enemies in those segments, are usually placed in such a way that it's too easy to mess up a shot or two, usually enough to throw off your rhythm and cause you to go into a pit or spike. The main offender was the Rush Jet segment - I'm sorry, even when you're used to it, its frustrating, if only because there are enemies that become unavoidable. Either choose enemies, or destructible blocks, but not both! Your Wheel Cutter based Noble Nickel was IRRITATING. This would've been fine had the walls used for ascent not ALSO been spikes. Making a player lightly tap left or right to dodge incoming spikes is just awkward. This was... a very clever level. Let's leave it at that, but there's severe frustration spikes every so often that litter the stage. If these had been evened out.. this would probably be one of the top tier levels in my eyes. Anything not mentioned should be considered a positive. There is one highlight really worth mentioning: Good force beam usage.

Trivia

• At 125 screens, it is the level with the most screens of all contest submissions.
• The contest entry originally had very long loading times whenever the level was entered or the player died (~10 seconds each time the stage loaded). This was due to the use of multiple autotilers to try to cover the several different tilesets used in the stage. In one of the updates, Entity1037 manually retiled the stage to significantly reduce this loading time.
• The Force Beams in the transition areas between sections are activated by shooting the Normal Destroyable Blocks, which creates a Quick Laser Spawner in the area below the block.
• Sakugarne can bounce off the explosion effects that occur throughout most of the level. This was an unintended byproduct of the coding for the explosions effects, and was left in due to time constraints and being considered unlikely to cause significant issues for players.