I LOVE YOU WHOEVER SUBMITTED THIS

Regret Cave is one of my favorite 1.9 levels ever and it's also probably the most underrated. This level got massively overshadowed by the whole thing with it being superbuffed and becoming the hardest 7 star and then being nerfed again, and I think that's way less interesting than the level itself. In fact, none of what I think is interesting about Regret Cave has to do with the old buffed version and I like the current version better anyway. Even so, my attraction towards Regret Cave doesn't have as much to do with gameplay or even the incredibly well aged visuals. Like very few levels from the era have, Regret Cave has captured the simultaneous retrospective goofiness and preserved sincerity of 1.9 levels in a way that really stuck with me. Even the song, one of the classics from DJ-Nate, is at once adorable, powerful, and impossible to take seriously. In the midsection with the buffered yellow orbs along with the pulses in the song, it's so fucking stupid but it just works perfectly.

Regret Cave is a pretty archaically designed level, maybe even a little bit amateur for the time, but when the drop hits and the gradient finally fades in it's a magical moment. People always cite Lonely Travel for the grayscale to full color transition but this level precedes it and does it just as effectively in way less time!! The effect itself is also AMAZING looking even now, and especially when the color comes back towards the end I think it's still the most creative standard use we've gotten out of the 4 color channel restriction ever, GDPS or otherwise. Animations and art in 1.9 are cool and all, but the really cool stuff lies in effect and color work and I wish more people were doing that. Incredible level