Guts Man's Asteroid

12th: Guts Man's Asteroid Make a Good Mega Man Level 2

No, really; it's totally normal for a warp core to do that.

Overview Creator(s): Flashman85 Statistics Scores: 44 35 42 37 42 Total: 40.0 / 50 Rank: 12th Elements: 2 Collectables: 5 Nickels Enemies: X Sub-Bosses: X Bosses: Fake Guts Duo

Theme Music Mega Man 9 "We're the Robots" (Wily 2) and Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 9 Previous: Mount Sabre Next: Sheriff Man

"My soap opera should be over before you get incinerated, so keep exploring until I'm ready to teleport you out."

―Dr. Light, World's Best Dad

Overview

Guts Man's Asteroid is the 12th place entry in Make a Good Mega Man Level 2. The name of the level is a play on the ancient Gutsman's Ass meme, which also resurfaces in a secret room in the level. Flashman85 would normally change "ass" to "butt," but "Guts Man's Buttsteroid" is a terrible name for a level.

Development

The design of Guts Man's Asteroid was heavily influenced by feedback about Flashman85's MaGMML1 submission, Maze of Death, and (to a lesser extent) his level contributions to Mega Man Endless. Before any of the specifics fell into place, the plan was to create a straightforward, normal-length level accessible to players of all ability levels, featuring a coherent theme and clear learning curve.

The first step was selecting a theme; the combination of ground and space was chosen for its relative novelty and for the wealth of thematically appropriate enemies and gimmicks. The next step was mapping out a general challenge progression. Originally, the entire first half of the level was to take place on the cargo ship, with the ship falling out of the sky and crash-landing on an asteroid following a destructive miniboss battle. The second half of the level would have involved low gravity, gravity flipping, crumbling towers (as in the final Dark Man stage of Mega Man 5), and a series of small battles against Prototype Guts Men before facing off against the real Guts Man.

However, it was deemed that too much was being packed into the second half of the level, and that splitting the level into two fundamentally different halves could make the level feel unfocused. Additionally, there was a concern that gravity flipping would be overused in the contest due to its underuse in Mega Man 5 and the popularity of VVVVVV; and technical issues with the devkit made it a liability to combine gravity flipping and crumbling towers. The cargo ship section was shortened to only a few screens, and the level was reworked into something resembling the final product.

One major difference is that, initially, the transition from the Rolling Drill section to the boulder dispenser section did not include Eddie. Instead, there was a puzzle-oriented challenge involving luring a Rolling Drill from the left side of the room to the right side of the room, where it would destroy a wall. This would lead to the boulder dispenser section, which began with a modified version of what is now the fourth room in that section (the one with the Caricarry). These screens were overhauled in large part to keep the gameplay more straightforward.

The final text box with a message from Dr. Light was added toward the end of development, in response to playtester feedback about the boulder dispensers being too unpredictable (and in response to watching playtesters rush through this section without ever slowing down to strategize).

In an earlier draft of the level, Eddie was meant to appear to deliver the Energy Element after the Fake Guts Duo is defeated. This was scrapped due to programming challenges.

Strategy

Don't die.

Easter Eggs

They're everywhere. Look around.