Generation Retro is without a doubt one of the most infamous levels in Geometry Dash. Many players nowadays see it as an abomination, and the fact that it's "officialized" in the Poison Gauntlet only rubs salt in the wound. The level receives nonstop hate comments from angry players, and is overall the butt of many jokes across the community (which I may or may not be partially responsible for...). But as someone who thinks about Generation Retro far more than any normal human being, I've grown to realize that there's lots that goes unappreciated. As much as I love to joke about the level, I actually see it as a passion project that unfortunately got ruined by its placement in a Gauntlet - something that ArathhSA had no control over. I see lots of hate directed towards him for making this level, but I've always considered RobTop to be the one at fault for forcing players to beat something this unpolished.

I could probably spend around 28 minutes talking about why this level plays so terribly, but that would be like explaining how water is wet. Most early 2.0 levels had a huge tank in gameplay quality compared to 1.9, and no doubt it's because creators were eager to shoehorn in all the new features that were yet to have proper gameplay standards. The level has invisible size/speed portals, sudden moving objects, unconventional gimmicks, and an infuriatingly unfair boss fight that boils down to memorization. Most of the 2.0 features do more harm than good, and it makes for a pretty miserable gameplay experience. It's clear that the level was not tested, and that playability was far from ArathhSA's top priority. It's also worth noting that boss fights were very new to Update 2.0, and it would take a lot of time for creators to understand how to make them "work". So while the fight in Generation Retro is a bit of a mess, it was certainly novel for the time considering how few bosses there were to use as a reference.

What makes Generation Retro so iconic is, of course, its theming. Many 1.9 levels played around with the green retro arcade aesthetic in the past, but Update 2.0 allowed this level to take it a huge step further. This time, there could be moving objects, animated Space Invaders aliens, cutscenes and dialogue throughout the level, and once again, a boss fight to top it all off. You could tell that ArathhSA really tried to make this level something special, but unfortunately it missed the mark. The decoration is bland and repetitive, the music sync is minimal, and the level relies too heavily on (likely stolen) pixel art that's copy/pasted throughout the entire thing. Not to mention the cutscenes, which have horrible pacing and hilariously broken English.

But while Generation Retro is terrible in execution, it's still clearly filled with so much passion. You can tell that ArathhSA was extremely excited about this level, and took a lot of pride in it. Because even if the level is pretty subpar in reality, it makes up for it in creativity. While most GD levels are about avoiding arbitrary obstacles and rushing to the goal, Generation Retro can be seen as an interactive story that uses Geometry Dash as its medium to tell it. Before the level was popularized by the Poison Gauntlet, it was actually very well-recieved because players understood ArathhSA's vision. RobTop himself even commended the level on Twitter, and it resonated enough for him to want to include it in a Gauntlet nearly a year and a half after its release.

At the end of the day, Generation Retro is an objectively terrible level IF you're simply playing it to beat the Poison Gauntlet. And that's because there's almost nothing physically in the level that makes it good. Nowdays it highlights everything wrong with early 2.0 levels, but back then it revealed all the potential that came with the update. To truly appreciate Generation Retro, one must step back and view it as a form of creative expression. ArathhSA never cared about rate standards or making the best level possible - he just had a cool idea that he was excited about. The level may be terribly put together, but he still had the balls to turn his unique vision into a Geometry Dash level and hit upload. And for that, he's earned my respect.