A Bizarre Phantasm is a classic in every sense of the word. It paved the way for future levels, and still holds up as one of the more popular extreme demons in the game.

Visually speaking for update 2.0, this level aged very gracefully, especially compared to many of the other levels from that time period. Parts like Koreaqwer, Miner & Yuri's key maze are timeless and will continue to be appealing as long as the game is still alive. For a megacollab of its age its surprisingly cohesive, without it being to a fault where every part looks the same.

Watching this level is always a good time, but playing it is another story entirely. While learning it first appears to be fun, unfortunately playing from 0 is one of the most soul crushing experiences if you're around it in skill. The problems start with 69%. The transition into the dual ship is genuinely one of the worst I've ever played, and I racked up many deaths there. The dual itself feels held together by duct tape and chewing gum, and I could never find an entirely consistent way of doing it. No matter how many times I tried to figure it out I just couldn't. Passing that isn't the end of the terrible gameplay late into the level, as you get thrown into a really chokeable mini wave right after the most rng part in the level. Every death there would just mean hoping to get lucky on the dual again. Beating ABP genuinely felt like a slot machine for the last four days worth of playtime I had. This stretch of gameplay completely ruined the level for me.

Overall I still love ABP from a design and vision perspective, but the playing experience unfortunately didn't live up to my expectations for such a beloved level.