User:TheKman100/Crosshair Aware

31st: Crosshair Aware Make a Good Mega Man Level 3

"Sniper, no sniping! Sniper, no sniping!"

Overview Creator(s): Tokyo_tokyo Programmer(s): Tokyo_tokyo, snoruntpyro, Eleven, Pyhrrous, Spin Attaxx Artist(s): Aria, Cresh Composer(s): Kevin Phetsomphou, MiniMacro Statistics Scores: 66 73 76 70 72 Total: 71.4 / 100 Rank: 31st Elements: 1 Enemies: Cannon Cyber Gabyoall Dachone Lyric Tondeall Toss Machine Wall Blaster Gimmicks: Auto Scroller Dangan Platform Drop Platform Sniper Crosshairs Sub-Bosses: Hyoey Bosses: Sniper Man

Theme Music Mega Man Unlimited - Wings Cut Through The Night Stage Order Location: Tier 13 Previous: Alpine Weather Institute Next: Underground Runaround

Crosshair Aware is the 31st place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 3. It takes place in a city highrise at night, which Mega Man must traverse under threat of a persistent sniper.

Strategy

The level begins with simple platforming along a short hallway and ladder-climb section. Lyrics, Toss Machines, and a single Tondeall will aim toward Mega Man, but are spaced out enough to be easily destroyed or avoided. The Sniper Crosshairs first appear in the next room, likely locking onto Mega Man as the tight hallways and Wall Cannon slow him down. However, there is a short delay between the crosshairs locking on and the bullet actually exploding, which gives a sense of the leeway Mega Man will have as the crosshairs follow him further into the stage.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
Mick Galbani  : 66 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 27 / 35 16 / 25 4 / 15 11 / 15 8 / 10 Jet Man's theme remixed from MMU-as well as being a starry night city, and severely weakened Crosshair fire from SFR's Wily 2, all merged into a single level. With such strong inspiration from other fangames, this doesn't impress me on the creativity angle. Fortunately, it has enough unique set-ups in its gameplay that it doesn't lose out completely, there is substance beneath what's been done before. As a whole, these city rooftops make excellent use of their pieces. Personal props for having strong difficulty curves: each individual piece has a solid climb, and this happens without sacrificing the difficulty curve of the stage. The Girder platforms stand out the most in that regard: that second spike room is nice and simple, but the spikes give it that late-level threat it needed. Similarly, the crosshair itself is so simple that it works in basically any scenario, which lets it command a ton of valuable variety in its scenario design. The enemies are simple, but they make good partners for the crosshair, and I appreciate how everything here fits the theme of "aiming". I particularly like that Dachone was consistently something of a threat, normally that isn't the case. Even Tondeall managed to perform better here than it normally does, and I overall appreciate seeing a pushover be made into a fair challenge. The only real dud is Wall Blaster, it doesn't have as much of an impact on the level layout comparatively, and having its first appearance while also avoiding the crosshair seemed a little awkward to me. Ultimately, this is well-designed and fun to play. It's definitely not the most creative level in the contest, but it's still a well-crafted experience. Some personal favourites are the second Hyoey-mixing Drop Platforms and the Crosshair to great effect. And the final Autoscroll room-which is an excellent climax prior to the boss. But the rest of the level serves its purpose nicely, so there's very little to complain about. But... that doesn't mean there aren't issues beyond creativity, namely the boss and the camera. The sniper RM is a little awkward, owing to his really fast bullets and how easily you can prevent his desperation move. As for the camera, there's a few spots where it won't behave quite right, primarily the climbing room with the Drop Platform. *Please* fix the camera in the climbing room, devs, the way it jerks around on that one platform is literally painful... @-@
Shinryu  : 73 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 24 / 35 17 / 25 10 / 15 12 / 15 10 / 10 judge2 = By my own admission, I tend to get bored very quickly when stages are too easy or have very simple enemy and room layouts. To an extent, this level would have fallen into this trap, had it not been for the main gimmick making things way more interesting. The crosshair gimmick technically isn't anything new, as Super Fighting Robot did something just like it with one of its Wily stages. So while I can't give it full marks for creativity, I can't exactly fault it for how engaging it makes the stage. Thanks to the inherent nature of the gimmick, you're pretty much always on the move and need to take care not to trip over enemies in the process. Granted, some of them are a bit more threatening than others\s Dachone in particular presents a nice challenge when used alongside the crosshair, while Tondeall...ok, in all fairness, it's very hard to make that particular enemy threatening. Though I always appreciate the effort to try to find ways to do so. Another thing I like is the general flow of the level design. There's a decent amount of "breather" areas in-between that lack the crosshair, but introduce new gimmicks. Said gimmicks then get used in tandem very nicely with the crosshair, especially by the end during the auto-scrolling segment. It's a really good way to structure things around the central mechanic here, as trying to introduce new stuff alongside the crosshair could have easily proved too hectic otherwise. That said, I did run into a few problems as well. The biggest of them was in the vertical room involving the crosshair and several Shadow Man platforms. The screen has a tendency to jerk upwards when you reach a certain height in this room, which really doesn't help while you're trying to platform. The other main issue I have is actually with the end boss, who I found to be a lot easier than the stage itself. I mainly blame this on him following a perfect pattern for all of his attacks each and every time. While this sort of thing works for mini-bosses, I think it's a bit detrimental to see it on a Robot Master. His desperation attack certainly spices things up, but it also comes with a caveat: You can outright skip it if you damage him enough during his regular pattern. Despite those issues, I still consider this to be an overall well put together and pretty fun level. Nice work!
Pachy  : 76 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 25 / 35 17 / 25 11 / 15 13 / 15 10 / 10 Sniper! Oh no, the crosshair from Super Fighting Robot/Battle Network 4 strikes back! Actually, as long as you're moving, the crosshair usually has trouble keeping up, with the level layout also being more calm than where the similar mechanic was used in SFR. There's a few thrilling spots, though, with the drop platforms and shooting shielded enemies with the right timing, making you have to deal with the crosshair. Those sections are really fun. I also appreciate the generous checkpoint usage here. An unfortunate thing about the stage is that it's a bit on the short side. Along with the fact the crosshair is absent during some of the trickier sections, the main gimmick of the stage ends up feeling not as prominent as a result. The setting, while a fairly generic night city, is somewhat fitting for a robot master who is a sniper. I enjoy the vibrant color scheme. The boss can be intimidating at first, but his shots can be dodged and manipulated in your favor once you get the pattern. I like it!
Flashman85  : 70 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 23 / 35 18 / 25 12 / 15 11 / 15 6 / 10 With its interesting premise, steadily increasing complexity, reasonable length, suitable checkpoint placement, mostly solid and sensible construction, clean graphics, and listenable soundtrack, this level meets my expectations for a good Mega Man level. With further refinement, it could definitely exceed expectations. There's a clearly defined structure to the gameplay: introduce new hazards, combine them with an aggressive crosshair\s repeat. However, the level rushes its challenge arcs a little bit. Only a few of the introductions are pitched at the right difficulty for players who've never seen these hazards before, and it wouldn't hurt to cut one or two enemies from the roster (I vote Wall Blaster). Even so, the challenges are good. The speed and damage output of the crosshair gimmick are calibrated perfectly. Enemy placement is excellent, and any combat involving drop platforms is a highlight for me. The boss puts up a good fight, though his crosshairs should really come out at half health, and his departure from the arena should really be through the open ceiling rather than through a solid wall (or solid floor, if you stand too close to him because you hate winning). I'd like to see spikes that look more obviously like spikes, smoother transitions into the continuous scrolling and autoscrolling screens (the former is nauseatingly janky), and power-ups *between* checkpoints (given that checkpoints are just full health refills waiting to happen). I'd also like more integration of the aesthetics and main gimmick - more elements that look like they relate to the crosshair theme, or music that intensifies when the crosshair appears, or obvious visual boundaries between crosshair and non-crosshair areas (perhaps demonstrating that you're safe indoors and vulnerable outdoors, which is only partially true here). There's more I want from the level, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.
ACESpark  : 72 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 23 / 35 18 / 25 10 / 15 12 / 15 9 / 10 This is very close to being a really good level, but there are few places with fairly significant difficulty spikes down to your enemy choice and placement. The vast majority of the enemies were fine, although the first few rooms seemed a bit busy introducing all of the enemies you were using in the stage at once, but the Dachone and Cyber Gabyoall were usually to the detriment of the level. The way the Cyber Gabyoall acted was a recurring nuisance, as it acts differently to most other Gabyoalls and you need to know how it works from the first encounter with it. The movement of the enemy is very finicky, especially as the crosshair gimmick punished you for waiting for good patterns. The bigger problem was the Dachone. The first encounter is usually lethal. It is placed in such a tricky spot to deal with when you do not know how it works - there are two versions of the enemy, the other of which does not have the leg armour but looks almost identical, so even if you know how the enemy works you don't know how to get rid of it in a pinch. The second encounter manages to be more dangerous, because it is much harder to hit safely and respawns if you move back even a little. There should have been a safe version of this enemy first to give the player a chance of understanding how to deal with it. The crosshair gimmick is very simple, but works well. It ensures that none of the screens it occurs on are dull, as the player has to be constantly aware of the crosshair and when it will fire next. The boss was a very welcome addition. It was a reasonable challenge on the first couple of attempts, but also easily masterable. I am also a fan of a stage gimmick coming back and working in a boss fight, which you implemented impressively here. Overall, I really like the way the whole level gelled. It looked good and the music was great, although the background was a little boring. A lot of the elements are fairly generic, but put together still feel like a solid traditionally themed Robot Master stage.

Notes

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