Previous Goodies
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Welcome to Previous Goodies. Here, I’m going to find five good old maps every week (by hammering the Random button on NUMA or other means), despite being completely underqualified to talk about old maps, and present them here with a short synopsis which exposes my utter lack of knowledge of everything on NUMA to an astounding degree. I'm not confident. No harm in trying, though.
As an extra feature, each month I'll try to submit highscores on NReality for some of the maps. They won't be too hard to beat, they won't necessarily be all-gold demo(e?)s, they're just there for fun. You get no prizes for beating them.
Ka – Chink
(Evil_Bob, http://numa.notdot.net/map/56280)
Evil_Bob is currently having a sexy run of action-puzzles and NReality-based maps, but this map from 2006 is just a clean mines-and-rockets action map. It looks simple to beat, but you'll be surprised how often you make stupid mistakes. The rocket launcher placement is spot on, so they're easy to avoid while at the same time having an unreasonable large proportion of the map in their sights.
Screwdriver
(blue_tetris, http://numa.notdot.net/map/63879)
This is one of blue_tetris' easier maps, although it's still tough going, particularly the combination of thwump and floor guard in the middle of the bottom. The gold is tricky to get, especially when it's suspended directly beneath a gauss. The pixelly tileset works well, too.
Inconsistency
(Echarin, http://numa.notdot.net/map/5183)
"Inconsistency" is very descriptive of the design, but it plays surprisingly well. There are lots of little touches that make this map fun (albeit frustrating), such as the little gauss challenges in the top-left corner. If you absolutely cannot stand ideas like using gold delay on a switch to provide a tiny survival section as you hop to and fro to stop a gauss shooting you, though, it's probably not for you. All-golding it may be challenging too, as the map has HEAPS of the stuff.
'Cris on a Speedboat
(whaleshow527, http://numa.notdot.net/map/37544)
Like Ka - Chink, the only enemy types are mines and rockets, but whaleshow holds back on enemies (only one rocket launcher compared to Ka - Chink's 3, and 15 mines compared to many), choosing instead to create a symmetrical switch-collection map. It's pretty fast - again, the rocket gets most of the map to itself, forcing you to move quickly - but flowy with it. Easy enough to be fun, but just frustrating enough to be worthy of your time.
Thats what she said
(Brttrx, http://numa.notdot.net/map/62480)
Finally, something very different from Brttrx. Drones in compact spaces can be annoying, and certainly this is frustrating. Thankfully, though, you're provided with enough space hidden away from danger to ready yourself for the next section. It's very compressed, but that's the whole point, and despite how crushed-in it is, when you die it's usually your fault for being so impatient/careless/etc. And given that you're in tile-wide corridors with one laser drone and three chainguns, that must mean it's very well designed.
(Highscores recorded for Ka - Chink, Screwdriver, 'Cris on a Speedboat and Thats what she said. Damn you, Echarin.)