SAGE 2022 - Demo Mega Man at the Tokyo Olympics 2 (SAGE '22 Demo)

It's been some time since I played an InsectDuel romhack. There is some good in this but I feel the stages need to be looked at again or in some cases redone. You do some good things like alerting as to what might need to be used or if something is gonna pop out of a pit but then you do the opposite stages later where it's masked and you have no clue where the trigger is or the gimmick is poorly communicated.

I will preface this with I did not play the first Megaman at the Tokyo Olympics.

Rush Jet does not work yet. It cannot be summoned and used. Save for Stadium 1 where it's already spawned.

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Intro Stage

This is alright. I reckon this is a throwback to your first game since it ends with Darkman / Proto Castle 4.

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Charge

The issues I had with this stage was there was a lot going on, you couldn't really tell what was a platform you could stand on and which ones you couldn't. It was inconsistent. They should be brighter in color denoting its more of a foreground object and can be interacted with.

The worst bit - for me - was the stretch with the meteors. You've got all these enemies and the meteors and the NES, emulated or otherwise is not able to keep up / display them all so you're taking hits from things you can't see. This section in this stage needs to be reworked.

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Wave

The odd choice for ice physics in this stage which makes some platforming a pain in the stone man stage layout copy rooms. Specifically the room with the droppers and the wave man wheels. This and I think one other level use the Crystal Man crystal droppers just randomly in a corridor and those could be removed or lessened and given an indicator of some kind.

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Star

You have the gimmicks labeled in this stage and this stage only. Not sure why the Space Metalls are in the upside down section of the stage as they're a pain enough to deal with when under normal gravity. The only other issue I have with this stage is the use of the red ball shooting guys in the gauntlet at the end with the napalm man pit missiles.

Maybe make this stage one room longer so you can respawn in the boss corridor instead of out side the door [very minor]

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Gravity

The ladders not going all the way up so you have to jump to be on the top layer of the platform. The ladder graphic should be adjusted too. The unlabeled and unnecessary gravity changes. The odd enemy placement, mostly the dolphins and the fact you can't get the "M" in this level as it loads into a different room when you come back down from the top. It becomes eddy when you drop down into that room again.

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Gyro

The gauntlet leading to the elevator could use a check point room. You could remove eddie from the room after the shutter and make that the checkpoint room. The gimmick of you needing to walk on the wheel enemy after the elevator needs to be communicated better. Even a "ride/walk" text would suffice.

The gimmick itself needs to be looked at again since it'd be necessary for a couple rooms. One needs to be added to the spike drop in the same room you first encourter the gimmick. We either need a back and forth variant that doesn't drop or fall down or the spikes need to be removed as you can only make that by using rush coil as a platform.

The drop into the room where there are TWO of the walkable enemies needs a safety platform upon falling in because that's an unnecessary blind death.

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Crystal

Same platform issue as Charge Man. If you're going to use it to teach the player they can hide under certain things . It needs to be used in a sense like how it was in Charge with the meteors, in this stage have the dropper enemies show up toward a room in the middle and have those peg-like platforms be the only thing there. Them being used with that we'll call it a gimmick on a screen transition is rough.

You need a checkpoint room somewhere in the first half of the stage before the eddie room.... the next should be after you transition into the lava plce. The amount of enemies and all you gotta deal with before you are sent to the lava place is too much.

The unmarked Napalm man pit missiles coupled with the red ball guy makes that section a bit much but it's manageable.

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Napalm

I think this stage needs to be redone. Auto scroller is ok.. but when you are forced against the left side and can't do much isn't great. The end where you go up and have to go back down then up the ladder so that that the blocks are gone could maybe be communicated better since that gimmick isn't used before that room.

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Stone

This being a 1:1 to Bright Man's stage is a nice change versus the self-designed stages. The only tough bit was the last stretch where you ride the rotating platforms with the copter enemies. More of a timing or shooting a head of you issue though.

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Stadium 1

Enemy spam
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Stadium 2

no notes
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Stadium 3

Ran into a bug where beating Napalm Man caused all 3 capsules on that side to deactivate.

Hey KHRoxas, thanks for playing my demo and your suggestions as I am going to reply to it.

Rush Jet will be taken out of the weapon menu for a completely reworked weapon AI like with the first one which is why you can't summon him in the demo. Before I get to edit the levels for designing, some of the empty space like TSA, Screens or Structure Table may be reserved for ASM coding for bosses, weapons etc and may learn bankswitching as the Wily 3/4 stage are unused will have that reserved space.

For Charge/Japan: These tiles where you step on as top platforms is the tile originated from the game with the Okinawa stage so I will not change color quad or TSA tile behavior. However the meteor part will be fixed as some sprites will be relocated depending on CHR data and some sprites used in the CHR data may be altered or removed.

For Star/Brazil, the 1-boss door is inspired by Axel the Red's stage. However first Mega Man at the Tokyo Olympics game Leon's stage in Kanto has only 1-boss door with a large corridor filled with 2-tile spikes. The level itself may be fixed ASAP.

For Gravity/USA: It is possible to collect the M letter. You have to jump before you go into screen transition and use the Super Arrow while in jumping mode and you are able to get the M letter. Sorry to disappoint but it's not a shortcut to the next screen based on the scroll editing design. The ladders you criticizing is also from the source game (because the character JUMPS off the ladder to the platform instead of climbing up on top of the ladder) but I may change it for Mega Man Style purposes.

For Gyro/France: I agree about the checkpoint as it does feel that it should be after the Elevator section rather than the Eddie room as it may be too short for a checkpoint. The spikes before going down should be removed based on your suggestion as it's a segment from Darkwing Duck and it wouldn't fit into a Mega Man game.

For Napalm/China: It's incomplete and is under maintenance.

and for Stadium 3: The bug only triggers if you play the game without a GAME OVER. Beating Napalm capsule does not cause the right sides to deactivate but collecting the 2 big life health refills after the autoscroll in the China stage activates it. China is incomplete and definitely going for a BIG change to make the level better. Charge and Crystal capsule rooms can be faced if you lose all of your lives and get a game over.

All other levels will have minor or major fixes for the final version of the game.