Cutman's New Warehouse

152nd: Cutman's New Warehouse Make a Good Mega Man Level 3

Despite the new look, there are still many familiar foes.

Overview Creator(s): Natnat Gaming101 Composer(s): Manami Matsumae (originals) RushJet1 (cover) Statistics Scores: 34 23 48 40 37 Total: 36.4 / 100 Rank: 152nd Elements: 1 Collectables: Enemies: Batton Beak Big Eye Blader Cutting Wheel Flea Flying Shell Metall Neo Metall Octopus Battery Returning Sniper Joe Screw Bomber Scworm Shield Guard Sniper Joe Spine Gimmicks: Crash Lift Drop Platform Foot Holder Guts Lift Super Cutter Revenge Bosses: Cut Man

Theme Music Mega Man - Cut Man Boss: Mega Man - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 3 Previous: Hunter Tower Next: Disobedience of Superior Machines

Cutman's New Warehouse is the 152nd entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 3. This level attempts to reimagine Cut Man's stage from the original Mega Man, reusing several enemies from the original iteration while also introducing some new elements. The biggest concern for Mega Man is avoiding instant death traps such as getting knocked into a pit by an assortment of defensive or out of reach enemies, as well as falling off of Guts Lifts into spikes.

Strategy

The opening section can be quite tricky due to the high concentration of enemies, each of which have often haphazard setups. In particular, the Bladers can overwhelm Mega Man while trying to deal with other enemies if not taken down beforehand. The Tornado Blow can be used to quickly kill most of them in a pinch, but the Water Shield also works as a passive defence against the Bladers. The onslaught of enemies slows down after entering the warehouse proper, though there are a number of tricky setups regardless. The Thunder Beam is a useful weapon here, as its three-way fire can target several enemies, and it can kill Octopus Batteries with one hit.

Past the first checkpoint is a long spike-covered floor with three Guts Lifts running above it. A ladder can be reached from the second lift, and leads to a room with Crash Lifts that can be climbed rather easily due to a lack of hazards. At the top of the screen is a Guts Lift and two sets of alternating Yoku Blocks, both leading to the first Trickster Token. Mega Man should take care not to re-enter the main path below without holding onto the ladder, as the Guts Lift does not start immediately under him; this can lead him falling onto the spikes and dying instantly.

Back on the main path, Mega Man eventually comes to a vertical scrolling area with two Flying Shells that continually respawn. Care must be taken to avoid their spreadshots, although the Water Shield may be used to block them entirely. The small gap that the second Flying Shell emerges from is a secret passage, leading to a room with Drop Platforms over spikes and another Flying Shell. The second and final Trickster Token rests on a platform high above. After the next checkpoint, the rest of the level is rather straightforward and can be handled with similar Special Weapon usage. Even the Big Eye guarding the boss door can be dodged rather easily due to the wide open nature of the screen. The level culminates in a battle against Cut Man.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
Mick Galbani  : 34 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 10 / 35 6 / 25 2 / 15 6 / 15 10 / 10 An attempt to revitalise Cut Man's level? I can see the idea, if nothing else. But for the purposes of the contest? This was flawed from the outset, as ideally, you'd make something that's more your own thing. Putting aside the creativity weaknesses, this warehouse has a ton of enemies, and no idea what to do with half of them. I counted 17 different types of enemies here, and the only ones that consistently stuck out as semi-interesting were the Super Cutters and Flying Shells. The Suzies were a little different from normal, but mostly because they were placed in odd spots that made it harder to tell where they'd actually move. Everything else is simple challenges against a largely drab grey, which is neither fun, nor even that well designed. The aesthetic in particular is a sticking point with me. I get that Cut Man's tiles can be awkward to work with, but those indents exist on his tileset because a pure grey wall isn't interesting to look at. It's not actually that bad at the start-which coincides with the level's stronger efforts to be interesting, but as the aesthetic takes a dive, so too does everything else. Considering we're talking about Mega Man 1 aesthetics, this managed to be especially weak. I'll give credit to the Token rooms and the Flying Shell implementation. Those were actually kinda fun. The rest of it though... This needs work, for sure. I'd suggest picking a smaller selection of enemies, and finding ways to adjust their scenarios through terrain or grouping. Quality over quantity, that's my advice.
Shinryu  : 23 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 5 / 35 3 / 25 2 / 15 3 / 15 10 / 10 This is a very...lacking level, to put it mildly. A lot of the enemies are placed in basic configurations that pose little to no threat, with some exceptions for the first few screens (and really, most of it comes from the Bladers). I can only really name two parts of this stage that stood out to me in some way: The small section with two Metools and a rotating Super Cutter, and the vertical section with respawning Flying Shells. Both of these require a more thoughtful approach and quick reactions from the player in order to get through unscathed, at least in comparison to the rest of the level. I feel this stage would have been a lot better if it had focused more on moments like that. What might have also helped is if the gimmicks had a greater presence here. Guts Lifts, Drop Platforms, and a single Footholder only appear for one section each before swiftly disappearing for good. It makes me wonder if there were more sections meant to include these gimmicks, but were never finished. Now that I think about it, that's a good way to sum up this stage: It feels unfinished. Nowhere is that more exemplified than in the backgrounds. What happened to the details here? Aside from drop shadows below the ceilings, the background is almost always a flat shade of gray once you get half-way through. In short: If this had more sections like the ones featuring the Flying Shells or the Super Cutter, then this probably would have turned out to be a pretty decent stage. As it is now, it's just...very bland.
Pachy  : 48 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 15 / 35 13 / 25 6 / 15 6 / 15 8 / 10 Out With the Old, In With the Old?! It's a remix stage, I guess? More appropriately would be a reimagining stage. Or rather it's just a stage that happened to be featuring Cutman elements as well as some others. It does some neat things like making the 8-way shot enemies relevant to the stage layout, otherwise mostly just resembles the original Cutman stage with not much added in, such as the Octopus Batteries or Shield Attacker barely putting up any threats. However, one major difference from the original stage is that this is no longer really beginner-friendly with the additional more complicated gimmicks? That is the main problem I have for this stage, I am really not sure what the goal of this is. Is it trying to expand on using the existing stage as a base? Create a hard-mode version of the stage? The Guts Lifts are a bit annoying in a sense they don't really sync with each other, so you end up with times where you have to wait on the same platform to cycle through until the next platform is in a better spot. There's also a long stretch of the level that is just a grey background, which is not really aesthetically pleasing and uncannily resembles a default GameMaker room... And a random lone Foot Holder that is just there. To end things off is a regular unmodified Cutman fight, it is not really that exciting, and just further conflicts with whatever vision this entry was going for.
Flashman85  : 40 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 11 / 35 8 / 25 2 / 15 10 / 15 9 / 10 I would expect a fresh take on Cut Man to take place at a lumber mill with log and buzzsaw gimmicks; or incorporate the scissor enemies from MM9 and Challenger From the Future; or merge ideas from the NES, Game Boy, and Powered Up versions. I assume this level attempts the latter, but it's hard to tell. The pleasant music, perfectly serviceable graphics, and disappointingly unremarkable boss fight are the only obvious ties to Cut Man. I see a number of assets that have appeared in at least one official version of Cut Man's level; however, I see many additional assets that don't seem to fit. A lack of focus is the big issue here. We don't need two similar styles of moving platform and two similar styles of Sniper Joe. There are enough enemy types without throwing Batton and Scworm into the mix. Foot Holder and Yoku blocks might as well not be there. Forget how everything connects to Cut Man; I barely understand how one screen connects to the next. Without a clear gameplay theme or sense of meaningful challenge progression, this feels like a general MM1 remix run amok. A few screens show some promise--the Metalls right before the first Guts platform are fine, Beak + Crash platform is decent, and Flying Shell + drop platform is nice and tricky. Most everything else is messy, uninteresting, or familiar to a fault. The room with three progressively easier MM2 Sniper Joes blocking hallways and guarding ladders hurts my soul. If you clear out all the moving parts, the structure is pretty sturdy. The architecture is acceptable, with only one glaring flaw (hello, gaping pit where there should be a section divider). Importantly, checkpoints are the right distance apart. Aside from a major redesign of everything challenge-related, a couple power-ups are all the place really needs.
ACESpark  : 37 / 100
Design Fun Creativity Aesthetics Functionality 12 / 35 7 / 25 2 / 15 6 / 15 10 / 10 This stage is, obviously enough, an attempted remake of one of the more basic stages of the original game and in an attempt to flesh out the stage, the final result is a grab bag of generic assets and enemies, placed with such frequency that there is never any time to breathe. That most of these enemies are incredibly tedious to kill removes any sense of flow that the original Cut Man stage had. While I understand why you are using the original tileset, the first game's backgrounds have aged poorly, and as a result unless you expand and innovate on them the result is a fairly lifeless and ugly stage, especially the significant amount of bright, blank background. The rooms with Crash Man platforms were used quite intelligently, and I do not mind the hidden offshoots with tokens, although a clearer visual cue for the second would have been nice. Honestly? I enjoyed the original 1987 stage more.