I can't believe I slept on this level for so long, if I had bothered to play it a month ago it would have placed at #4 in my space gauntlet ranking, sitting below Echo Delta and above Space I Guess. Semantics aside, I'm not sure if my opinion is changed by being friends with the creator on Twitter, but in any case Kiss of Fortune is an incredible level on almost all fronts I've praised other contest entries on. There are exactly two things I think held this level back from being up with the best few entries though, the first of which I noticed was the song choice. It's very fun as a listen, but I think the vibe is a little too consistent to really work for any kind of progression that I would hope for in a level as long as Kiss of Fortune. To be fair, Saturno certainly makes the most of it, as Kiss of Fortune features several very distinct parts and is never any less upbeat than the song is. A more obvious criticism I have with the level is the strangely disconnected space elements. I'm all for theming that relies a little more on audience participation - Planispheres ended up as my favorite from the contest largely for that reason - but Kiss of Fortune feels so far in that direction that there's not much left to do other than interpret the space theming purely at face value. What I'm saying is that this level is space themed in the same way Cosmic Dolphin is, with the connection mostly being through very literal imagery of stars and planets rather than really selling the vibes of the cosmos the way levels like Echo Delta and Pluto did. In Kiss of Fortune's case there are also some vague alien figures that show up a few times, but they look too much like stylized humans to really sell it for me.

I bring this up because Kiss of Fortune is clearly going for something a little different, intentionally or not. The best part about having very distinct parts is that each one has their own little shtick to show off. The first part has some beautiful particle work to create a shimmering horizon line, the free fly ship part has some astonishingly polished and fluid structures, and the motion blur in the part afterward is so effortlessly stunning that I couldn't stop thinking about it for the remainder of my practice run. The visuals throughout the level show off some incredible glow and color work, never dropping the ball in quality or cohesion. The gameplay is equally fun and varied throughout the level, and surprisingly the occasional handholding flows perfectly fine making for a very generous and frictionless playing experience. It really was that easy this whole time!!! More than the surface factors, though, this level has a very strong whimsical and adventurous aura during its entirety that I couldn't quite place until I saw the ending credits, including the Kirby series as an inspiration. I don't talk about it often, but I think Kirby is easily Nintendo's best IP, with games that have built up a reputation for having entire worlds chock full with magic and adventure, all while each and every character has been a cute and colorful little short blob since little short blobs could be rendered on hardware. This is what I mean by Kiss of Fortune matching the energy of Kirby perfectly; there's a whole range of ideas that went into this level that got all the execution they deserved, and yet the coalescence of it all isn't some overbearing and cliche idea dump, nor does it offer some epic conclusion after a grand romp through the cosmos. It feels like just enough, and that makes me just as happy as any spin it could have on black holes or supernovae.

If this matters to anyone Alien Dream Emulator absolutely did NOT bring it justice lol that part sucks ass