Nightmarish Facility

[as303298]

I designed this simply because I disliked the community's past efforts to create a Metroid Fusion level, let alone make a real Nightmare fight.
While my design style doesn't compare to the original, I would say I got the atmosphere to be similar to Fusions'.
Designing this level took about four days while the boss itself took about 3 extra days to fully work out.
Note- Whoever made the original Nightmare graphics didn't exactly do it correctly. Should anyone intend on using Nightmare, I recommend using my versions as they are a much more viable choice as a boss.

The level was intended to fit together as if it was a giant puzzle piece. So, if things feel a bit weird, keep that note in mind. Below is one of the earlier renditions of this "puzzle piece" level being fit together. Eventually I had to remove this from the level's files, so unfortunately all the player can do is imagine how it would all look together.

Tileset: Valtteri
Original Nightmare: Valtteri
Revised Nightmare: as303298
Design: as303298
Boss: as303298 & Prox (advice)
Music: Metroid Fusions's "Facing a huge reaction", "Environmental Tension" and "Nightmare" theme.

Screenshot:

Spoiler: show

Download: https://www.mediafire.com/?ktgf3f8m81fag6u

[ElTipsta]

i read that in your voice is that bad

Anyway the level looks pretty cool. I may play this at some point.

[MECHDRAGON777]

MECHDRAGON777's unofficial review

Replayability 4/5
As for replayability, I could easily play this level again as it was quite fun. The only thing holding this back is the buggy hitboxes.
Music 5/5
The music fits, but since it is from Metroid Fusion, as with graphics, it is quite hard for you to mess up here.
Gameplay 16/20
This level was very pleasant and it gave the destroyed look quite nice. You even went out of your way to make sure that the level is geographically sensical which is a plus in my book. I also killed all three enemies in my first run in the elevator room what looks like is the fourth room you come to. When I got on the elevator to go down, the enemies respawned, which was odd for a Mario preference, but fine for Metroid. (Just you could not get other enemies to respawn upon leaving and entering a room. The Nightmare fight at the end was very clever, but very broken. One you got to the third phase, you could just multiple spin drill kill him. I also found one grammar mistake in the beginning where you accidentally added an "s" in the second message. This is the message:

Code: Select all

Logs depict a large biomechanical creatures around this facility. If you see it, try to contain it; we need to capture this creature alive if possible.

Even with that funny typographical error, it still was fun.
Gimmick 5/5
The gimmicks you used were quite appealing and were nice to play around with. The use of Nightmare's shadow was a nice preview to the fight. (As if the name was not enough). The random missiles were quite fun to jump around, and when I landed on one, I actually jolted to find out they were bullet bills and not Bowser fires or Erries. Infact, when the missiles hit the environment in that section, the room changed which I enjoyed.
Difficulty 6/10
The difficulty was quite fair throughout the entire thing, except for the messed up hitboxes on the Thwomp Reskin, the narrow space you need to stand, then spin-jump up to the boss room, and even then second half not having any items at all except right before the boss (unless you can jump on a zombie and then do some platforming up to grab a fire flower. The Nightmare fight was quite insanely hard if you do not know you can kill him with a Spin-Jump, which the lack of a second check-point really kills the difficulty score.
Aesthetics 10/10
The Aesthetics are quite perfect, and it is nice to see Valtteri`s Metroid Fusion tiles again. I have nothing to say for the aesthetics except why did you use a Green recolor of the Super Metroid Varia suit for a key?
Total 46/55
Average 8.363636363636363636363636.../10

Screenshots I took during playing:
http://imgur.com/a/RFm67

Spoiler: show

• Grammar.
• Previously killed those enemies on the same playthrough, you should have them disappear for each one killed.
• Can stand on the roof.
• Falling down there is hard to get out of.
• This warp goes nowhere.
• Jumping in this elevator shaft kills the player.
• Can stand on this roof as well.
• Forced Spin-jumping.
• Nightmare tends to go to the bottom of the screen.
• Nightmare can be spin-killed
• When I beat the level.

Video: Held for Video

[PROX]

that's a bunch of 36's

[MECHDRAGON777]

that's a bunch of 36's

Would you prefer me to type it like this:

"8.bar36/10"?

[PixelPest]

Review of Nightmarish Facility

Level Design and Gameplay (weighed 70%): 7.8/10
This level demonstrated a lot of complex design and payed attention to a lot of fine detail that helped develop the atmosphere quite nicely...for 20 sections. However, this actually wasn't a bad thing in this level since it did capture the Metroid feel very well and although there was some backtracking, it wasn't too bad due to the variety. One suggestion regarding backtracking to make it more fun for the player, is to have a layer of NPCs for each time the player has to pass through the section. This would have made some of the sections much more interesting overall because they seemed somewhat bland if the player kills most or all of the enemies an has to return to the section one or more times. Coin placement was also an issue in this level. It really lacked consistency in this aspect of design, since some areas had no coins at all when they really should have. The placement of these coins wasn't too great either. They were strewn across the floor somewhat randomly and seemingly without any intention to present any sort of challenge. On the note of a challenge, one section of this level was very unfair. It involved making an extremely precise crouching jump from one platform, that had a Thwomp resprite completely shadowing it, to another, also with a Thwomp resprite completely covering it. This spike in difficulty seemed completely unnecessary and wasn't much fun for the player. The boss battle in this level however, was really quite well done. It had multiple unique phases that although similar, kept the battle enjoyable even though it was rather lengthy. The level also made an interesting allusion to the boss in one of the sections and the way it built intensity was quite fun.

Graphics and Sounds (weighed 30%): 8.0/10
The graphics used in this level were almost exclusively metroid and really quite outstanding. The fire flower and SMB3 coins, as well as Mario however it wasn't as much of an issue, really stood out. Although the attempt a a crossover theme was evident, they just seemed to take away from the otherwise amazing atmosphere and Metroid feel. The music tracks used in this level were mosty good choices, however something a little darker in mood at the beginning might have been better fitting. The way in which the level built intensity as I mentioned above was really well done, however I think this could still have been accomplished, and maybe even worked out better, if the music had been a little more nightmarish from the very beginning.

Overall: 7.86/10 (Pretty Good)