Mystic Museum

1st : Mystic Museum Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

One might say this museum deserves to be placed in a museum!

Overview Creator(s): Shinryu Artist(s): Shinryu Composer(s): +TEK, Namco Bandai, Naoki Kodaka, Kenji Ito (originals) Chip Jockey, Unknown remixer, coatlesscarl (covers) Statistics Scores: 88 92 98 90 Total: 92 / 100 Rank: 1st Elements: 1 Box Items: Gunner Joe Monkikki Parasyu Quicksand Sheep Conveyor Enemies: Flower Presenter Gunner Joe Monkikki Parasyu Phantom Sola 0 Gimmicks: Destroyable Block (Search Snake, Tengu Blade) Quicksand Reflect Block Sheep Conveyor Sheep Platform Tackle Fire Dispenser Sub-Bosses: Empress Elysia Not Napalm Man Truck Joe Bosses: Statue of Wizard Swenner Other Information: PKWeegee's Favorite Weapons Disabled (Concrete Shot, Rush Coil, Rush Jet) Unlockable weapons (Concrete Shot, Rush Coil)

Theme Music Skeleton Boomerang - Shadow Of The Necropolis Empress Elysia: Tales of Phantasia - Take Up the Cross Not Napalm Man: Gremlins 2: The New Batch - Boss Statue of Wizard Swenner: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 11 Previous: Lime and Lame

"Maybe I'm biased, but I think the next simulation deserves the top spot. It's amazing to think it came together in 48 hours."

―Gunner Joe, who IS part of Mystic Museum's box assets, why do you ask?

Mystic Museum is the first place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. In it, Mega Man travels through a large museum filled with Quicksand and enemies, with multiple areas where Sheep Platforms need to be powered on to proceed. In the background are a number of paintings that can be examined; most of them are Robot Master portraits, while some of them are more elaborate environments that Mega Man can interact with and traverse. The level also has a pair of secret bosses hidden within the museum, with unlockable utilities as a reward for defeating them.

Mystic Museum is also the focus of the Bootcamp Graduation sidequest, in which Sarge tasks Mega Man with clearing the level without ever using the Mega Buster (this includes the buster shots fired by the Rush Coil and Beat). As a result, ample amounts of W-Tanks are ideal to have before attempting the challenge.

Strategy

A sign at the museum's entrance lists a set of rules (such as "no dogs allowed", and "don't damage the paintings"), which must be obeyed on pain of being thrown towards the Derwent Pencil Museum across the street. Despite the severity of this punishment, Mega Man is not at risk of ever being thrown out for breaking these rules.

The first few rooms introduce Monkikkis as enemies, followed by Sheep Conveyors that power on Sheep Platforms. With utilities disabled, it is impossible to proceed without using the flip platforms. After an introduction to reskinned Sola 0s, a statue of Pharaoh Man stands over a pool of Quicksand, with a ladder leading into a painting of Pharaoh Man's stage. Here, a Sola 0 in the painting attacks while a Flower Presenter outside tries to snipe Mega Man. A little after climbing out of the painting, Tackle Fire Dispensers reskinned into dragon head statues appear in two rooms, the latter of which has an E-Tank up for grabs if a Sheep Platform is powered on.

After reaching a checkpoint, there is a wall next to a portrait of Tengu Man. A portrait of Wind Man further ahead hints at a secret; by using the Tengu Blade on the wall, a reskinned Destroyable Block will be sliced apart, leading to a room where Empress Elysia can be battled; defeating her opens a room containing bolts, a 1-Up, and a Rush Coil unlock. Back on the main path, Parasyus drop down over a pool of Quicksand, with a one-tile gap that requires an active Sheep Platform to slide through. The room beyond introduces "sandfalls" of Quicksand that can be used as pseudo-ladders. By using the Rain Flush, the Quicksand will harden and stop pulling Mega Man downwards. A short underwater section introducing Gunner Joes follows, and not long afterwards, Mega Man drops into a painting based on The Oregon Trail, where an uncouth Truck Joe damages the artwork and must be destroyed.

Gimmicks and enemies are mixed together from here on out, as Tackle Fire Dispensers shoot over Quicksand while a Sola 0 rests at the top of a ladder. Beyond a Gunner Joe guarding a ladder is a Toad Man statue that reflects most weapons. However, the Search Snake can break it, opening a secret path leading to another boss, Not Napalm Man. The reward for defeating it is a Concrete Shot unlock and some more bolts. Going up the ladder leads to a series of rooms where Sheep Platforms need to be powered up to climb upwards. However, hazards like constantly spawning Parasyus and Tackle Fire Dispensers with unique patterns will try and make Mega Man waste time, causing the platforms to lose power and turn off before he can reach them. Quick reflexes and timing are important for these rooms, although clever use of the Concrete Shot (if unlocked) can provide helpful shortcuts.

At the very top of these rooms is a wall on the left, next to a statue of Dangan Man. It can only be scaled with either the Rush Coil or Concrete Shot, and on the other side is a one-tile gap in the wall that requires the Concrete Shot to slide through. This gap leads to a secret room dedicated to Kangaroo Jack from Cutman's Bad Scizzors Day, and contains an E-Tank, a W-Tank, an M-Tank, and several large bolts as a reward for finding the secret sidepaths. The final corridor of the level merely has a collection of artwork in the background, with a Monkikki and a Sola 0 guarding the boss door. One painting of a phantom, however, will attack without warning if Mega Man waits for too long. Beyond the boss door is a statue of Wizard Swenner, vanguarded by a pair of Tackle Fire Dispensers. To damage it normally, a treadmill on the bottom can power up Sheep Platforms that reach the orb of energy between the statue's hands. After defeating the mystic statue, the Energy Element rests in a portrait in the adjacent room.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 88 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 31 / 35 13 / 15 10 / 10 20 / 25 14 / 15 RUSH ISN'T A SERVICE ANIMAL WHAT?!? THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! 0/100. Genuinely, though, this level is really good. The whole aesthetic of the stage being a museum was genuinely awesome without having a nonsense story. Your custom graphics were really good without being too much. The use of the gimmicks was super good, especially using the sandfalls to climb to higher elevations. And of course, the supplementary assets were used super well and really made the other assets shine. This level does so much that other levels would fail to do, like the use of a lot of textboxes, the boss (which is actually a fun fight), and making hints towards the secret boss without being too esoteric. For how important the theming was, it was kinda weird how it just goes away in the underwater section, but that's really just a nitpick. The level could've been better in some parts, but overall it's really good. I think this level should be used as an example of how to do certain things (mainly story).
PKWeegee  : 92 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 30 / 35 15 / 15 10 / 10 22 / 25 15 / 15 That. Was. Amazing. Seriously, the idea of running through a museum is a cool one, and how it was executed was also great. The moment I walked inside of a painting was probably the biggest wow factor for me. The usage of the conveyors and the quicksand was also great, and they were combined in super cool and creative ways. I also enjoyed reading all of the signs on the way, and since they were short, it never felt like they slowed anything down. And dang, you even put a secret in the level; that's cool. Overall, I'm blown away.
M-Jacq  : 98 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 35 / 35 15 / 15 10 / 10 23 / 25 15 / 15 It's certainly commendable to make a level with solid design and theming all the way through, as is the case here. But what makes this level truly impressive, if you ask me, is that it's a comedy level that doesn't lose its luster on a repeat playthrough. The "art museum" conceit easily could have lent itself to some attempts at injecting humor into the level by having textboxes with jokes about how, e.g., haha man, aren't monochromatic paintings so *weird?* Modern art, am I right? Instead, the level plays the infoboxes mostly straight and instead has its wackiest gags inextricably tied to the gameplay itself. Like, say, having several screens where quicksand is randomly falling from the sky, which you assume is some arbitrary video game challenge, only to get to the top and discover the sand is spilling out of a painting. The funny thing is, when you stop and think about it, the "rules" of the paintings are completely arbitrary, in a way that flouts conventional level design principles. And yet, it didn't hurt the level at all that sometimes the frames were solid, sometimes they weren't, and that sometimes you're just randomly thrown onto the Oregon Trail (albeit a version of Oregon Trail where trucking accidents have usurped dysentery as the primary cause of death). Which isn't to say the level doesn't do the standard introduce-test-master thing with its treadmill gimmick, but it wisely realizes that this in and of itself doesn't make for a good level. Now, what stopped this level from getting a 100 from me is that the boss is a total letdown. While it's very technically impressive seeing Enker turned into some unmoving demonic monstrosity statue thing, it's just a slog to slooowly deplete this thing's 28 hit points. Thank god for Homing Sniper, I guess - although that just removes any and all challenge from the fight. If it took double damage it'd probably be more enjoyable. This is the only disappointment in the stage, though, and in a contest like this I'd rather have an underwhelming boss follow an incredible level than the other way around. Every MaGMML so far has had the "winner" level, the one that you play and go, "Oh, OK, *that's* what first place looks like." In that regard, Mystic Museum joins the esteemed company of Glass Man and Identity Crisis - and honestly, they've got competition. This wasn't my favorite level in the contest (again, that boss is pretty bad), but it sure as hell came close. Enjoy your victory.
Freems  : 90 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 30 / 35 15 / 15 9 / 10 22 / 25 14 / 15 What a nice level! You really took the aesthetic and ran with it to its fullest potential. It felt like a museum from the beginning to the end. When the very first Hornet Man flower in the painting was alive, I knew I was in for a good time with this one. Nothing jumped out and screamed bad placement to me. The gimmicks were also well done and put together very nicely. The usage of quicksand gets an extra good mark for actually making it interesting and fun. And the way all three were brought together at the end felt like a very fitting conclusion to the challenges of the level. Though there were a handful of sections I feel like I would cut out (Oregon Trail was there because... it was?) a handful of times it became a little too hard to tell what was solid and what was not, mostly in regards to the Pharaoh Man painting, and while the boss reskin was a very nice touch, once you figured out it was just a stationary Enker, he basically takes zero effort to defeat. But overall, I think you did a fantastic job with this one!

Gallery

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  Artwork for the MaGMML website by Phusion

Trivia

• The stage's music is given as "Shadow of the Necropolis" in the jukebox, but this refers to a specific fan remix of the Skeleton Boomerang track "Disco Necropolis" done in the style of the NES game Shadow of the Ninja.
• The Derwent Pencil Museum actually exists. Its location "across the street" from Mystic Museum suggests that the level is supposed to take place in Keswick, Cumbria (or that another Derwent Pencil Museum exists by 20XX).
• With this stage, Shinryu is the first (and so far only) MaGMML entrant to win two separate MaGMML contests.
• Mystic Museum contains the highest amount of modified bosses in MaG48HMML at three (although two of them are entirely optional).