NEON GRAVITY

3rd : NEON GRAVITY Make a Good Mega Man Level

Talking Away

Overview Creator(s): Friendly Dictator Composer(s): A-ha, Noriyuki Iwadare (original music) Cleemalt Soa, Bulby (covers) Statistics Scores: 90 62 66 73 86 Total: 75.6 / 100 Rank: 3rd Elements: 1 Enemies: Crazy Cannon Metall Ring Ring Sniper Joe Gimmicks: Black Hole Neon Gravity Switch Sub-Bosses: The Moon Bosses: Gravity Machine

Theme Music A-ha - Take On Me Gravity Machine: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth - Pursuit - Lying Coldly Stage Order Location: Tier 5 Previous: Citadel Basement Next: Mega Man World

"Enemy placement's kinda irritating, but I liked the attempt at making a puzzle level over a Jump & Shoot level."

―Duvi0's comment, summing up the level perfectly.

NEON GRAVITY is the 3rd place level in the original Make a Good Mega Man Level. The level uses retextured Kirby's Adventure assets. Its main feature are its original gimmicks. One of them is an orb that needs to be shot at to destroy blocks, and the other is the Black Hole, which will influence the trajectory of any projectile on screen, even causing them to orbit around itself. The Ring Rings within the stage also have this gravity feature.

Strategy

The level starts with Mega Man spawning by a Black Hole and a Crazy Cannon; the latter of which is completely ineffectual thanks to the former pulling in its shots. The next few sections have purple blocks and spikes that barricade the way forward, as well as destructible orbs that destroy them, and several Black Holes. In each case, Mega Man must fire his shots in such a way that the Black Holes pull them towards the switch. The last puzzle section has no Black Holes, but introduces Ring Rings that share their gravity-warping. These Ring Rings spawn infinitely, and can cause major interference with landing hits if a large number of them are present at a time.

Following this is a section with Black Holes, Ring Rings, Crazy Cannons, a Sniper Joe, and a Returning Sniper Joe. Bottomless pits are also plentiful here, meaning Mega Man must be extra careful to avoid their shots (which are all also affected by the Black Holes). After another switch puzzle with Ring Rings, Mega Man must fight the stage's midboss, The Moon. Once it's defeated, another horizontal stretch of enemies, bottomless pits, and Black Holes must be crossed. Up a ladder, Mega Man must move quickly across a platform to the other side, as a Returning Sniper Joe will fire three shots into the gravity of a small Black Hole. These shots will then orbit the hole without ever being destroyed (though the Joe will also never shoot while these shots are onscreen), and avoiding them is almost impossible.

The last two sections before the boss door are both platforming sections with Black Holes, Metalls, and Sniper Joes, the latter of whom will attempt the same "ring of shots" strategy as the lone Returning Sniper Joe in the previous room. Moving quickly and carefully around these shots is necessary, though sometimes a Black Hole above or behind Mega Man may make an enemy's shots move faster as it pulls them towards it. In Make a Good Mega Man Level Remastered, the Rush Jet can be used to fly over the enemies and pits, but in the original version, the collision issues with the utility makes it an unreliable option. After entering the boss door, Mega Man must defeat the Gravity Machine to claim the level's Energy Element, though a single Black Hole Bomb can destroy it with no effort.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro  : 90 / 100
Personal Fun Factor Other Fun Factor Uniqueness Creativity Graphics Music 22 / 25 20 / 25 15 / 15 13 / 15 10 / 10 10 / 10 WOW. What an absolutely fantastic level! The black hole gimmick was REALLY creative, and definitely something I've never seen before in a Mega Man game. You also utilized it really creatively, especially the parts with the spinning bullet trios. And the level looked gorgeous, and the music was awesome, and the boss fight was really fun! I think the only complaint I have is that some rooms I wasn't sure how to get through without getting hit, like the room with the Sniper Joe just before the boss.
Cheez8  : 62 / 100
Personal Fun Factor Other Fun Factor Uniqueness Creativity Graphics Music 7 / 25 8 / 25 15 / 15 15 / 15 9 / 10 8 / 10 Well, that was certainly a marvel of engineering. I'm afraid it was a little too unnatural for me though- it took a game over or two to really get used to how the wells worked, and until then the stage was just aggravating.
Duvi0  : 66 / 100
Personal Fun Factor Other Fun Factor Uniqueness Creativity Graphics Music 8 / 25 10 / 25 15 / 15 15 / 15 10 / 10 8 / 10 Not really a huge fan of the level. Enemy placement's kinda irritating, but I liked the attempt at making a puzzle level over a Jump & Shoot level. Also: kind of ridiculously beautiful.
Mick Galbani / Blackmore Darkwing  : 73 / 100
Personal Fun Factor Other Fun Factor Uniqueness Creativity Graphics Music 14 / 25 16 / 25 15 / 15 15 / 15 5 / 10 8 / 10 The start of this level is surprisingly brutal, its rather difficult to make it through the first portal section without of damage unless you throw caution to the winds. That...is a frequent occurence here, the level design is the type where you have to speed through it to avoid damage, and yet the black holes are so funky that I, at least, tended to wait and see what I was dealing with first, leading to damage. Not exactly fond of that. That being said, the gimmick itself is brilliant, and used in very interesting ways. I did enjoy how you couldn't cheat your way out of spots with Metal Blade, and the boss was a rather interesting fight... if an easy one.
MrKyurem  : 87 / 100
Personal Fun Factor Other Fun Factor Uniqueness Creativity Graphics Music 20 / 25 22 / 25 15 / 15 15 / 15 7 / 10 8 / 10 I haven't seen this gimmick before - and it was very cleverly executed! Both the boss and the miniboss took full usage of the gimmicks presented to you, and the boss was a good test to ensure you had a hang of the gimmick. Quite challenging to get used to the gimmick, and I don't think the difficulty curve reflected that as well as it could've, but that's not to say the difficulty curve didn't escalated semi-fairly.

Trivia

• NEON GRAVITY was the first level submitted to the original contest, and is thus the first MaGMML level ever submitted. It is also the first level with custom assets to be submitted.