belonzik is a creator who, despite not releasing many levels, i view in very high regard, and wavy gardens is my favorite level from her.

the neon, futuristic look the level is built in is a style she loves to use. talking to belo, she clearly has a deep fascination with space, and this fascination permeates throughout all her levels, this one being no different. and while there isn't any space iconography like stars or planets, the song and general atmosphere still feel very space-y.

the level itself is built upon an effect using thin lines of glow and a bunch of move triggers to create waving lines of glow, and belo makes great use of this effect throughout the whole level. effect levels from around this time would often cram in many different effects, resulting in a final product that felt disjointed and messy—key by ilrell being a good example of this—but i have a lot of respect for levels that have the confidence and restraint to stick to a single effect, and the creativity to expand upon it across an entire level. in particular, i really love the backgrounds, which remind me a lot of the waving battle backgrounds in earthbound.

i also really like the use of text throughout this level. text in levels tends to get a bad rap because it's often used to convey an emotion the creator isn't experienced enough to convey through the level itself, but in this level the tone of the text and level work well together, and helps add to the experience.

it's worth noting that this level released in august 2020, which is surprising given how well it's aged. in that regard it reminds me a lot of " " by nasgubb, a neon level which has similarly aged well. but while that level is still remembered very fondly, wavy gardens seems to have been largely forgotten, which is a shame, given that it's one of my favorite levels.