The Three Pillars is considered by many to be the second hardest harder level in the game. Personally, I’d put it around #10 on the Hardest Harder list. It’s an XL level with hard wave parts towards the end, so make sure you have practice with wave and nerve control before attempting this.

This level can be split into three sections:

0-27%: Rayquaza

Probably my least favorite part of the level as it is the most unbalanced. Most of this part is free with basic easy demon difficulty ship control. However, at 16-17%, you have possibly the jankiest and tightest ship control part of any harder level I’ve ever played. Trust me, dodging the moving thunderbolts is WAY harder than it looks and you don’t really understand how bad this part is until you’ve played it yourself. Luckily, if you can pass 17%, you actually have a decent shot at reaching Groudon, the final pillar, so long as you don’t choke on Kyogre

27-66%: Kyogre

Surprisingly the easiest part of the level. This part is all about memory, so as long as you practice it a couple hundred attempts you should have no issues here. I find the hardest part of this section is actually from 27-31% before you even face Kyogre - you have to spam with the UFO a precise number of times at a precise percent to avoid the wave of dragons. The rest of Kyogre is just a matter of knowing what attacks to dodge, but none of these attacks are difficult to dodge skill-wise. The robot from 55-66% can be unsightreadable, so make sure you fully memorize what platforms to jump from before playing in normal.

66-100%: Groudon

Arguably the hardest part of the level, especially if you struggle with wave. Most of this section is memory, but 75-77% requires some insanely precise mini wave control for a 7 star level. Trust me, this part is a lot harder than it looks and I died to it 3 times in normal. If you can get past 77% though, you have a very good shot at beating the level. The rest of this wave part is just knowing where to spam and maneuver the wave. Then at 88% you have a free robot part, just make sure you’re prepared for it as nerves can kill you here

I really wanted to enjoy this level - it fits my XL skillset pretty well. Unfortunately, it’s just super boring to play in normal imo. Rayquaza is free aside from the thunderbolt part at 16%, so most attempts ended there, over 30 seconds into the level. The song doesn’t help much, I really dislike this remix of the Hoenn Legendary theme. Any death past Rayquaza felt like a gut punch, a wasted opportunity. And at the end of the day, the mini wave at 75% just felt like the lottery

For all these reasons, I cannot recommend this level unless your goal is to beat the entire Hardest Hard list.

As for my visual score, I would say it looks good for 2.0 but that’s mostly because of the pixel art that was copied from Pokemon so I can’t give it credit for that. By the time I beat this level I thought this looked like an eyesore, but that might just be me.

Cheeto wave my beloved

terrifying level