Combustible Alien Variable Events

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54th : Combustible Alien Variable Events

Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

MaG48HMML-54-CombustibleAlienVariableEvents.png
We look to the stars for aliens. Who would've guessed that they were beneath us the whole time?

Combustible Alien Variable Events is the 54th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It is a cave level that uses Napalm Man's tileset, carrying on an unusual MaGMML tradition of having such a stage as the halfway point in the contest rankings. The level's primary focus is on platforming over Count Bombs, with some setups requiring Mega Man to take a detour to grab a key before too many bombs detonate. As the level name indicates, Adamskis are a frequent nuisance throughout, with some screens having them spawn infinitely.

Strategy[edit]

Each of the level's three enemies are introduced in a short outdoors area, which leads into a spike drop with Count Bombs. However, every spike in the level is a Damage Spike that does 7 HP's worth of damage instead of instant death. An E-Tank can be obtained by falling left towards the end, but it can still be reached from the other side by using a pair of Concrete Shot blocks as platforms. Drill Boulders start falling on the next two screens; though they can be avoided with timing and by destroying them before they shatter, the Flame Mixer is an ideal means of defence which can also intercept falling boulders when released upwards. Following this is a series of Count Bombs over a large pit, with a few Adamskis flying in from the right. At the start of this section, a giant Adamski can be seen in the background below the platforms. Dropping down onto it teleports Mega Man to a secret room, with the text, "AYY LMAO" and an infinite number of Adamskis. An M-Tank and a Yashichi are present, but only the former can be obtained, as an invisible wall blocks off the other side of the room. A black hole on the bottom takes Mega Man back.

A small room after the Count Bomb crossing includes two Adamskis that instantly respawn near a ladder if one of them despawns or dies, so letting them fly by instead of fighting them is often a safer tactic; particularly a few screens later, where a similar alcove summons Adamskis if less than three exist, while Drill Boulders drop down from the ceiling. Another giant background Adamski appears here; reaching it leads to the opposite side of the "AYY LMAO" room with the Yashichi. Drill Boulders pester Mega Man for the next few screens, thus keeping the Flame Mixer active is useful if possible. After a Count Bomb crossing with a Key Barrier, Mega Man comes across a screen with multiple Count Bombs surrounding a key. To obtain it, first detonate the 3-second bomb to the key's left, then climb over to it from the right. However, if the Beat Rescue upgrade has been bought from Deleuze Pipi, the Key Barrier in the previous Count Bomb room can be skipped by flying under it, and that room's key can be used to skip the final puzzle entirely. The level ends with a battle against Dust Man, whose arena has three pairs of Damage Spikes within the floor. Though it's not possible to instantly die here, try to avoid landing the finishing blow on Dust Man while he's standing on a set of spikes, as they won't vanish once he dies.

Judge Comments[edit]

Judge Comments
ParmaJon ParmaJon ParmaJon : 40 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic
12 / 35 6 / 15 10 / 10 6 / 25 6 / 15



This level isn't terrible, but I do genuinely dislike to hate almost every asset in here. Even then, you only use them okay. The falling rocks could be more obnoxious, but they're also not used super well. Like I really wanna say something overly negative or positive, but really, this level is pretty average with bad gimmicks. The design is just fine, it looks okay, it feels okay. It just isn't fun in the end.

PKWeegee PKWeegee PKWeeGee : 72 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic
25 / 35 12 / 15 10 / 10 15 / 25 10 / 15



Really cool Count Bomb challenges that were unfortunately interrupted by seemingly arbitrary sections, full of those falling rocks and UFOs. If the stage were more of the Count Bombs, I would have enjoyed it far more, I imagine. As-is, though, the other sections feel way too spammy at times, which brought the good sections to a bit of a halt.

M-Jacq M-Jacq M-Jacq : 74 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic
27 / 35 6 / 15 10 / 10 21 / 25 10 / 15



Even if this level was terrible otherwise, I think it'd get high marks from me anyway just based on the way you took Drill Man boulders - a.k.a. one of the single worst gimmicks in all of Mega Man - and made them not just tolerable, but fun. Rather than just use them as Crystal Droppers with debris, you used them as obstacles that have to be shot down on tight cycles to progress. Which is awesome! The rooms with the Drill Man boulders are the best parts of the level, if you ask me. This is one of the many levels in this contest which belong to what I jokingly call the Steve Reich school of level design, where you have two or more obstacles on the same screen running on cycles that don't quite sync up, and you have to find the overlap between their blind spots. But when this level does it, I think it does it well, because the Adamskis move horizontally and the boulders move vertically, and there's real level geometry to contend with. You weren't quite as successful with the Count Bombs. The puzzly set-ups where you could backtrack and respawn the Count Bombs were neat. The "lots of Count Bombs over a bottomless pit" sections, not so much. It's hard to fault you for those, though. Level designers (myself included) love Count Bomb runs because they're fun to make and have lots of knobs you can play with - but they all blend together on the player end because all they're too busy dreading the bottomless pit they're trying not to fall into to appreciate your clever obstacle placement. I really liked this level though.

Freems Freems Freems : 45 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic
13 / 35 8 / 15 9 / 10 6 / 25 9 / 15



This one felt a little rough. The level kinda went back and forth between stretches of nothing but Count Bombs, and puzzles that doesn't seem to follow any real difficulty curve. And the UFOs certainly don't help matters. I guess I see the idea behind a lot of Count Bombs and you have to find your way through it, but when most of them are over bottomless pits, it doesn't quite give you time to think. And the last one was the safest one of them all for... some reason. That and while I guess it's something that can work on paper, it's really not fun in execution. It really didn't do anything terrible, but it's not something I would call a fun level.


Trivia[edit]

  • Although an invisible wall in the AYY LMAO room separates the two exit portals from each other, it is possible to climb over it by using the Rush Coil and a midair Concrete Shot (or, in Bass Mode, the Treble Boost) alongside post-damage invulnerability. Doing so from the left side can skip over a significant chunk of the level.
  • The level's name forms an acronym reading "CAVE".
  • If Dust Man happens to drop the Energy Element onto the spikes in his arena, it is possible for the player to die during the victory fanfare; doing so will respawn them at the checkpoint beforehand, but the level will still be marked as cleared, preventing the need to fight Dust Man again.
  • Air Man is seen riding a Cloud Platform in the top-left corner of the final Count Bomb puzzle room, but he does nothing and is purely decorative.


Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level - Tier 6
Entry Stages
Taking a DipCommando CavernsCurious SkymachineOrbital AssaultSeahorse CityCombustible Alien Variable EventsVoid QuestWily StationScissors 'n ShrimpsTesla Coil
List of Bosses
Honey WomanCommando ManGuts ManToxic Seahorse?Dust ManPlant ManIron BallCut ManSpark Man
Box Cartel
Blocky
Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level
Characters
Mega Man (Costumes) • Dr. LightBox Cartel (Don AteteminoKamikaminDockalockerBlockySquare Machine) • RollJosephDeleuze PipiSargeSidequest NPCs
Special Weapons
Flame MixerRain FlushSpark ShockSearch SnakeTengu BladeSalt WaterConcrete ShotHoming SniperRush CoilRush JetBeat
Exclusive to Cheats
Treble Boost
Entries
A Waste of SpaceAbandoned MineAir LabsAlpha-OmegaAncient ZigguratAsinine FactoryBase in the BoondocksblainzBraving New DepthsBunker 20XXBurning BunkerCascadeCaution: Moving PartsCelestial ResortCentral ComputerCloudy CityCombustible Alien Variable EventsCombustible QuagmireCombustion CastleCommando CavernsCopper CaveCornerstone to DominateCosmological FactoryCossack's PlaygroundCrashing in the DarkCryonics LabCurious SkymachineCutting Edge TechnologyDarkwing CityDeep Dark TempleDeep Within the JungleDown the DrainEnkers RevengeanceExoplanet EverestFaint Flying FactoryFire Armed to the BeakFlamecrush ForestFlaming FortressFlower CoreFlowers and ThornsFootlooseForest CastleFortified BaseFrigid InfernoFrozen LabGettin' out of DogecityGraviMan INC.Hopping High Above DangerIce Treatment FacilityIHOPEIWINInto the FurnaceJust a Space LevelLasers and PlatformsLime and LameMake a 48 Minute Mega Man LevelMega Man Saves Canada from the Evil Clutches ofMegatroidMinari Hydrospace CenterMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmoon BaseMystic MuseumObligatory Enemy Spam LevelOh NoOh No! More CompactorsOne Night in XanaduOrbital AssaultOrdinance With LyricsOuter ExcavationPerilous MountainPint House Power HousePlanet XanlordusRealm of the Lich LordRobot Recycling CenterRocky Blocky CavernRunning Down a DrainSaturn FortressScissors 'n ShrimpsScrub CitySeahorse CityShort BaseShort-Tempered CircuitSleet CitadelSlipping Through TimeSonic Man's SpaceshipSpace PipesSpicy Banana Bread StorehouseSpicy Top ActionStormy TowerSuper Pipe WorldTaking a DipTesla CoilThe AbyssThe Bouncy Octa BoomThe End of Needle Man?!The Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki RoomThrough the CrabacombsToad Man's Underwater Sea LabTowerTwilight FortressUntested Rush JobVoid QuestVolcanic FacilityWarehouse of ConveyorsWater Park SupWeapon Testing FacilityWell Oiled MachineWily StationWindy Conditions
Cartel Hideout
Deep Sea Break-InHydrothermal LayerPandora's Parlor
Locations
SS ElroyTier 1Tier 2Tier 3Tier 4Tier 5Tier 6Tier 7Tier 8Tier 9Tier 10Tier 11Cartel HideoutDouble-Action BoutiqueSpecial Weapon Bootcamp
Devkit Bosses
Cut ManGuts ManBomb ManFire ManMetal ManAir ManBubble ManQuick ManCrash ManFlash ManHeat ManWood ManBoobeam TrapGemini ManTop ManSpark ManKamegoro MakerToad ManPharaoh ManDust ManMetall DaddyGravity ManStone ManGyro ManDark Man 4Blizzard ManPlant ManRounder IIPower PistonHoney WomanMega Mech SharkCommando ManChill ManSolar ManEnkerQuintPunkGiant SuzyBalladeHunter Type AMercurySaturnUranusIron BallGrey DevilDangan ManKomuso ManOil ManSonic ManDyna Man
Modified Bosses
BombMan.EXEMother BrainThe City of St. PetersburgToxic Seahorse?Bandana Wander BellQuick Man DuoDarkwing DuckBerserker Merserker🔥 ManLich ManEmpress ElysiaNot Napalm ManStatue of Wizard Swenner
Box Cartel Fights
KamikaminDockalockerBlockySquare Machine
Fortress Guardians
Sea King: The AftermathShinsopod What! & Shinkhangel Where!Don Atetemino
Other Bosses
Haunted TVShadow ImposterPirate Man