Temporal Pillar

Chapter 2: Temporal Pillar Make a Good Mega Man Level: Episode Zero

The final tower in a trio. Just a coincidence, I guess.

Overview Creator(s): Chiko Composer(s): Spike Chunsoft, ZUN Statistics Rank: Chapter 2 Collectables: 078: Sakuya Izayoi Enemies: Peterchy Rolling Clock Tokitokei Gimmicks: Crash Lift Knife Rack Press Time Block Yoku Block Bosses: Sakuya Izayoi

Theme Music Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky/Time/Darkness - Temporal Tower Boss: Touhou 9 ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View - Flowering Night Stage Order Previous: Cursor Corruption Next: Bubble Base

Temporal Pillar is the fifth level on the path to the Psycho Chip in Chapter 2 of Make a Good Mega Man Level: Episode Zero. Having put up with the Cursor's mischief, Zero finally leaves the woods as he discovers a tall tower hidden within, containing time-stopping blocks and enemies modelled on clocks. It also contains Crash Lifts, Yoku Blocks, and several Presses, which he must freeze in place using the aforementioned Time Blocks. Conversely, however, some of these gimmicks will only move while time is frozen, and others are never frozen and will always move no matter what.

Strategy

Shortly after entering the tower, a series of Presses try to crush Zero; most can be avoided, but some guard small Bolts. Peterchies and Tokitokeis are introduced next, the latter trying to snipe Zero with their clock arms while staying in high places. Soon, a screen introducing Time Blocks appears, with two horizontal Presses next to a ladder. Normally they will knock Zero off if he climbs it, but by shooting the Time Block, they can't move and the ladder can be safely climbed. The room to the left has Rolling Clocks moving across multiple floors, and a horizontal Press on the second-lowest floor. Safely going past it requires a short jump to trigger the Press and then moving to the next floor before the Press retracts.

At the first checkpoint is a pair of Knife Racks, which shoot a knife straight ahead every few seconds. Beyond them is a set of rooms where time needs to be frozen to stop Yoku Blocks from quickly vanishing; one room also contains a Press that is frozen by default, but active when time is frozen. A puzzle room with a CD throws such a Press into the mix, which will normally damage Zero when he tries to cross. To avoid it, it can be triggered to fall when freezing time while the Yoku Blocks are gone, before unfreezing time and refreezing it once the Yoku Blocks appear, preventing the Press from fully retracting back into place. A few rooms later, another Yoku Block puzzle appears, with three Tokitokeis attacking - one of which is green and frozen unless a Time Block is hit. In the room above, green Rolling Clocks that likewise only move in frozen time are introduced. Two large Bolts are hidden behind curtain tiles, with a Press slamming into them close by.

A pair of inverse Presses lie in wait on the walls of the second checkpoint, with another set of Yoku Blocks that need to be frozen. The screen above introduces Crash Lifts that move in frozen time, and the one on the right has multiple pink lifts that are needed to reach a platform over spikes. A set of vertical sections follows, with the first introducing green inverse knives, and the second blue knives that will always move regardless of if time is frozen or not. The latter has a pair of inverse Crash Lifts that require freezing time to move, and unfreezing it occasionally may be needed to avoid the knives. At the top is a free W-Tank, and a checkpoint to the right. With careful airdashing on the bottom an E-Tank can be grabbed, while a set of time-freezing puzzles take place over a long bottomless pit - here, blue Crash Lifts that are never frozen appear. After more screens of enemies and puzzles, Zero will climb to the boss door, but finds a Time Gear instead of an Energy Element. After picking it up, however, a wild Sakuya appears...

Z-Phone Dialogue

	Contact	Transcript
	Dr. Wily	Temporal Pillar? The final tower in a trio. Just a coincidence, I guess. This one's more... modern, though. I think some ex-Chronos Institute people founded it after I sort of... ruined their building. So now it's just some secret rarely-used tower-laboratory thing in the woods. Hooray?
	Agent Krantz	Krantz: Temporal Pillar? That place was built after workers at the Chronos Institute found some ancient artifact. Using it they were able to develop blocks that could envelop the area in a "time field" when hit. Zero: Time field? Krantz: Essentially, time will stop for a brief period, and normal obstacles and enemies won't move. Zero: If all time stops when I use those, then collecting the Element should be easy. Stern: Sound logic, if we didn't require them to install defense systems. Zero: Pardon? Krantz: We've had incidents in the past where people have misused time anomalies for their own gain. To prevent that happening again, we required they install defense mechanisms against their own systems. So some of their defenses are designed to run in tandem with the time field, rather than against it. We didn't tell them how they needed to design their defenses though, so they designated them by color. Pink should indicate normal defense forces, while green indicates "inverse" defense forces. Blue will run regardless of the time field.
	Galaxy Man	In that tower, there'll be a part where there's a path on the bottom and a path on the top! Take the bottom path, time your time block thingy correctly, and snag the CD!
	Yamato Man	Yamato Man: Sakuya Izayoi? That name rings a bell. I wonder why she's dressed like a maid, that's hardly a good battle outfit. Zero: Perhaps she is working for someone? Yamato Man: If that's the case then I seriously hope it's not Wily or Light, that'd just be really weird. In any case, her brand of time-stopping powers doesn't seem to affect you or your bullets, but if her kitchen knives have a green aura, then they'll only move when time isn't stopped, so she may use them to lay traps for you! Try to split your attention across the array of projectiles as best as you can.
	Knives	Knives: Ooh, the time tower ruins thingy... Our date could last forever in a spot like this! But when you stop time it gets all grey and stuff. That kills the mood for me. We gotta have more reds and blues and reds! Give the date a good color feel. Zero: Well, we can go to the tower. You walk in first, and I will test the time stop. Knives: Oh, so ladies first! What a gentleman! Hehehe! But no.

Notes

• The use of a shader for the level's time-stopping gimmick requires DirectX9 to correctly run, meaning most newer computers will be unable to run it by default. In v1.0 of Episode Zero, the game would crash if this requirement wasn't met, rendering the level unbeatable. From v1.1 onwards, the level no longer crashes, but the monochrome effect while time is frozen will not appear. Additionally, Time Man will appear as an NPC at the start of the level if the player lacks DirectX9, offering them a download link to it.
• In v1.0, the Presses and Crash Lifts that follow normal timeflow are the same color as they appeared in the devkit (a deep pink and yellow palette). In v1.1 onwards, they have the same pink palette as other "normal" foes.
• The Time Gear at the end hails from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, which is also where the level's music comes from.
• The Time Blocks mechanic and the way the stage interacts with it, alongside Sakuya being the boss, is likely a reference to the Touhou fan game, Touhou Luna Nights.