Crystal Lab

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39th : Crystal Lab

Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

MaGMML2-39-CrystalLab.png
Well this place sure looks cheery...
"This is definitely meant to be an imposing level and so far I think it's doing a pretty good job of it."
HatredElemental, [Make a Good Mega Man Level 2 Let's Play]

Crystal Lab is the 39th place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2, created by Schmidkalkan. The level is a dark, eerie, fluorescent pink facility that has become overgrown with strange crystalline structures. The level also features forced usage of Wheel Cutter.

Strategy

Most of the difficulty in this level comes from the sections where you must use Wheel Cutter to scale the walls. The first such section is easy enough, though the jump to the ladder from the top of the second wall is nigh-impossible due to the low-hanging spikes not giving you enough room, but since you've already had to use Wheel Cutter, just use Super Arrow to get there. The next section after that is a large vertical shaft where you must use Wheel Cutter again to ascend to the top. At the bottom of the shaft is an M-Tank, as well as an introduction to Evi Lifts: platforms on an auger-like rail systems that will slowly grind up to the ceiling when stepped on. Grab the M-Tank if you need it, then head upward. Ascend to the right past the Cannon Joe into a room with a Sniper Armor guarding a 1-UP and two Large Weapon Energies. From here your path forward splits off in two directions: to the right, over the spike pit or down the hole in the middle of the room.

Heading down leads to an auto-scroll section where you must quickly hop from Evi Lift to Evi Lift. Be sure to hang back a bit, however, to give yourself enough room to maneuver, as well as deal with the incoming Hotchkiss'n. The fourth Evi Lift has a lower ceiling, so if you wait too long you won't have enough height to make the jump and will land on the spike next to the fifth Evi Lift. After you reach the end, eliminate the Cannon Joe, then equip Wheel Cutter again to scale another wall, then jump down into a short spike drop.

Heading to the right, using Super Arrow, Rush Jet or Sakugarne, instead leads to a hallway where you must quickly alternate between scaling wall segments with Wheel Cutter and riding Evi Lifts. Waiting for you at the end of this path is some Small Energy, an E-Tank and an M-Tank, as well as a stasis tank containing "Evi 211X", beneath which is another hole down. After a small segment where you must hop on and off of Evi Lifts obstructing your way down, the path reconnects with the main route directly above the spike drop.

The final challenge of the level is a long vertical shaft with a single Evi Lift in the middle. You must ride the Lift all the way to the top, while occasionally using Wheel Cutter to fling yourself past the spikes blocking the Lift by scaling the walls to the sides of the track. This can be tricky, so make sure your Wheel Cutter connects with the bottoms of the wall segments to ensure you have enough momentum to propel yourself over the spikes. There's also another Lift waiting for you after each wall fling, so timing isn't an issue. There are also Weapon Energy pickups after the first wall fling, as well as more Hotchkiss'n to intercept you after each one. After both wall flings, just ride the final Lift all the way up to the boss door.

There is also an alternate path right at the start that can be accessed through an invisible slide hole in the right wall of the level's third screen. This route, which requires using quick movements and precisely timed sliding to navigate through several screens of Evi Lifts and spikes, serves as a riskier but more direct route to the final vertical shaft, at the expense of both of the levels checkpoints.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
snoruntpyro snoruntpyro snoruntpyro : 30 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter?
9 / 15 5 / 10 7 / 15 4 / 5 5 / 5 No



A good concept for a stage, and the rising platforms are simple but efective, but the stage itself seems marred by bizarre design choices. There's random usages of [INSERT UTILITY WEAPON OF YOUR CHOICE HERE] spread throughout the stage, especially near the beginning, and tbh my first thought was that the level was broken rather than me having to use Super Arrow or something. And there's also a few stretches of random Wheel Cutter usage - the level DOES give you heads up by putting cutters in the background, but I didn't even notice them until my second playthrough because I don't really have a keen eye for graphical things. The second shaft of Wheel Cutter usage is particularly frustrating to me - the slipping through spikes manouevers are very finicky and due to the fast rising speed of Wheel Cutter it's hard to really react at all. It also doesn't help that no matter what path you take the checkpoint is quite a ways away from the shaft you'll most likely keep dying in. I would say that the floating platforms didn't get used enough, but near the beginning of the level there's a random secret path you can only get through by sliding through a fake wall that actually DOES have okay usages of the rising platforms. It puzzles me why that wasn't just the second half and was instead put on a random secret path no one will find. Overall, there's nice ideas, but the forced weapon usage just really ruins it for me, because it's so thrown in and obnoxious.

JupiHornet JupiHornet JupiHornet : 34 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality
11 / 15 5 / 10 10 / 15 5 / 5 3 / 5



Really cool level! I loved the atmosphere in this place, felt kind of like a ruined factory of sorts. I really liked the use of the elevators, but they kept making the sound it makes when gravity flips, which was kind of annoying. One of them also pushed me through a wall and killed me once. The last Wheel Cutter section was pretty difficult compared to the rest of the level, and new players will most likely die the first time they play through it.

Enjl Enjl Enjl : 29 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter?
8 / 15 5 / 10 8 / 15 4 / 5 4 / 5 No



Pretty neat! I like the platforms this stage revolves around. They're a neat concept and used pretty well. I find it somewhat of a shame how they're rather glitchy, though, with glitchy results when they push the player into a ceiling and the gravity sound effect relentlessly playing for seemingly no reason. I like how this stage makes use of various utility weapons in order to advance, though I wish it'd start out every introduction to a concept in a safer environment, as instant death is kinda everywhere in this stage. The screw platforms themselves never got a proper introduction unfortunately. Its first use is atop a pit of spikes no matter which of the three paths the player takes. Speaking of paths, I like the intense secret route this level offers, but I think due to its difficulty that shortcut should reward with something, perhaps a Noble Nickel. The final section before the boss feels pretty epic and despite my numerous deaths I'm a big fan of it. Nice level overall!

Garirry Garirry Garirry : 24 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality
4 / 15 5 / 10 8 / 15 3 / 5 4 / 5
It may be not too horrible by itself, but everything is placed so randomly and inconsistently, it almost looks like it tries to have multiple paths and secret paths but fails, and it's just confusing and bad. It's honestly boring. It's not really tedious or anything, but it's like there's nothing there. I don't like it. I think this level actually had great potential and a cool design, too bad it fucked up. It has a LOT of rough edges, I don't know tbh. Has many bugs but works.



I don't get it, what is this level trying to be? The level design in this one isn't as bad as the others in terms of enemy placement for example, but the stage layout is just so awkward it almost feels as if the author had tried to implement secret paths into the level but didn't do it. It could have been a good level, the ideas were where they should have been, but the execution is just really, really bad.

ACESpark ACESpark ACESpark : 30 / 50
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality Skip Teleporter?
7 / 15 8 / 10 8 / 15 3 / 5 4 / 5 No



There's plenty to be happy about with this one. Your segments with the Wheel Cutter, and your Rising Platform gimmick was neat (and the auto-scroller and vertical room which combined both!) are really quite enjoyable to go through. The enemy selection is... a bit unfocused, although you did a decent thing with Shield Attackers that's worth a mention. It's just got a few niggles that hinder is a bit. The level is a tad, ugly. Not in the spriting sense but certainly your colour palette. Why is this monochrome?! This is NES styled! Not Gameboy styled! This gets very dull after a while and not even a decent tileset can salvage it. At least make the backgrounds a different colour to the foreground. It makes it hard to tell what you can and cannot walk on at times. Your three other issues are gameplay based, because you didn't take a few things into consideration. Namely, I really think you should've taken the option to render Wheel Cutter with infinite ammo, because you based this entire stage around it... which is fine, but you have infinite lives here, and any player who is struggling will be forced to reset, which is kind of sad. Your rising platform gimmick also breaks one of the Mega Man conventions - gimmicks should respawn, or outright kill you if you fail them. Having them not reset and forcing the player to kill themselves goes against every gameplay instinct a player will have. Finally there are a lot of areas that look like either the correct route, or an alternative route, and they aren't! This sort of thing baffles the player. So yeah, a more thematic enemy selection, better implementation of the gimmicks (although your execution was pretty good!) would've helped this stage a lot. Oh, and, hi dev-kit boss!



Make a Good Mega Man Level 2 - Tier 6
Entry Stages
Wily CoasterChangeable CavernsJoe Man (stage)Crystal LabNitrogen ManDuwangLava FactoryJust an Ice Level
List of Bosses
Joe ManJoe Man RChill ManCrash Man
Tier Boss
Cheat Man
Make a Good Mega Man Level 2
Characters
Mega Man (Costumes) • Dr. LightDr. WilyZeroRollEddieKnight ManGalaxy Man
Special Weapons
Hornet ChaserJewel SatelliteGrab BusterTriple BladeFlash StopperSlash ClawWheel CutterSakugarneRush CoilRush JetWire AdaptorSuper Arrow
Alter Weapons
Haunt PumpkinBadge BarrierNeapolitan BombTruffle ClusterCyber DistorterForce BeamHazard TrapperMatch BlastLaunch RocketShuttle JetChomp ClawCarry
Entries
A Mega Man for All SeasonsAD 2101Airflow HubbleAlien TempleAncient TombAurora ManBeneath Sand and RockBiplane BayBlaze ManBoil ManBond ManBouncy CastleBut it Lacked the Depth to Convince Me That This Was Really HellCandy PanicCardinal ManChangeable CavernsChomp ManCity Under SiegeColorful HallCombust ManConveyor MayhemCossack's Other CitadelCrystal LabCursor CurseCyber ManDonut Observation CenterDragon Lab LairDuwangElec DamEnhanced MobilityEscape SequenceForce ManForgotten FortressFortified LabGigavolt ManGunpowder CellarGuts Man's AsteroidHaunt ManHoly Crap, Mega Man Can Airslide?Identity CrisisJoe Destruction Co.Joe ManJungle BaseJust an Ice LevelKomuso TempleLaunch Man & Shuttle ManLava FactoryMaze of Significantly Less DeathMegaLondoMisty LakeMix & MatchMount SabreNeopolitan ManNeon ManNitrogen ManOrbital StationPoorly Named LevelQuarantine WomanQuint StageQuirky Unconsistent Incomprehensible Nonsensical TrackRad GravityRuined LabRush CitySector Upsilon 6Sheriff ManShovel KnightSMB3Smed's Big Annoying Mess of a LevelSnow ManSomething OriginalSpiky SituationStarman RecreationTaco ManThe DampeningThe FallThe Stage Nobody Asked ForTruffle ManVolcanic FurnaceWily CoasterWily TowerYggdrasil
Wily Star II
Outer SpaceWater DuctsClassic CastleLever Oriental EnchantedInner SanctumUnobtainium MineReality Core
Tier X
Goblins n' GhastsNightwalk CastleMetallic OceanWily Fortress VRSo GoodMario LandCoyote ManHardcore ParkourDeep ThoughtsThe Quickening 2Swiss HotelStar RoadNull and Void
Secret Levels
City WarTwilight Lodge
Locations
Tier 1 - Ruined SimulationTier 2 - SewersTier 3 - ForestTier 4 - Train StationTier 5 - ArcadeTier 6 - Battle NetworkTier 7 - McWily'sTier 8 - Grand TowerTier 9 - Festival GroundsTier 10 - Rainbow RoadWily Star IITier XDr. Light's LabEddie's ShopCostume ShopDojoChallenge TentChateau ChevaleresqueThe Pit of Pits
Tier Bosses
MilkOmbuds ManDoor ManThe Scorching DuoLord ElewoofroCheat ManGhost of Christmas FutureJet ManButter Nezumi
Robot Masters
Alter ManBoil ManBond ManChomp ManColor ManCombust ManCyber ManForce ManHaunt ManJoe ManLaunch Man & Shuttle ManMatch ManNeapolitan ManNeon ManQuarantine WomanSheriff ManSpiked-Wall ManTaco ManTruffle Man
Other Entry Bosses
Air DevilBig Fire TellyDisco BallGiant MetallGreen Hot DogHall MasterKomuso Man?MixerlydiaMush KingJoe MobRed Hot DogSuper CannopellerTurbo RoostWarp Anomaly8 Centipeder TowerBoss WhopperBoundin' Crash ManBowserCaptain ViridianCATSCirnoCratorCreamCrusher JoeCursorDoc RobotDonut XGuts Man DuoFinal ToadGroovity ManKelbesqueKichonaNapalm ManPharaoh Man's RevengeAlienThe KidRomhack Top ManAir CapsuleAvoidance CherryDennisGangly Crash ManJoe Man R
Fortress Guardians
VanguardMecha Bubble ManBtd'nhanRiplingsAutobounceSuper DachoneSeven ForceHolo DragonChimerabot 1Chimerabot 2Chimerabot 3Chimerabot 4Chimerabot 5Wily Machine SWORDmegaman sprite gameWily Core
Devkit Bosses
Cut ManGuts ManMetal ManCrash ManTop ManGemini ManPharaoh ManToad ManGravity ManPlant ManCentaur ManSplash WomanChill ManVolt ManKomuso ManMecha DragonQuint
Tier X Bosses
SkullderSkullder's RevengeExcalibur ManAir ManUnbeatable Air ManHolo WilyRonrezToad Man's RevengeCoyote ManGigabgyoVolt Man MK2Twin CannonsFire ManCopy HologramDie SignLiterally Just a BeeStone Butterfly
Secret Bosses
Quick ManGammaVolt Man the AssimilatorWishing StarThe MoonBirdoGlass Man
Super Bosses
Absolute ZEROKnight ManGalaxy Man