Rating Curve

I've been obsessed with this level since forever. Definitely a big influence on the neon style and even not taking that into account the visuals are ujust so pretty. It doesn't try going crazy and adding unnecessary effects but instead just focuses on slight progression using colors and shapes.

One thing I love about progressive levels is when you cannot tell if there are 5 different parts or just 1. This level does it so well.

one of the most fun levels ever what else can I say

Well, the name isn't lying. This level is otherworldly. I loved this since release and still love it now. Everything from the sound work to the transitions to just every small detail and effect is so carefully put together and clearly with so much care.

I do like the narrative behind it, jumping from one world to another while some dark matter (or whatever that is) slowly consumes everything, though I do wish the introduction and conclusion to it did a little more.

Great level, a great showcase of LOCO's technical ability and talent. I'd give this maybe around a 9.5? but since I can only give integer ratings I'll round it down.

As a playtester for this level I couldn't live the experience to the fullest, but God is it good. One of the best and most fun ARGs in the whole game. Loved finding every detail and going into the next one.

While playing through the narrative at first I found the narration to be kind of... selfish and obnoxious in a way? It seemed like the narrator was obsessed about needing you to play their levels. Until I realized, that was the whole point. It's an attack towards that kind of self-obsessive mindset.

Great level, one of his best.

This website has an option to give scores for visuals and gameplay separately, and I'm so thankful that it's optional because... how are you supposed to do that here? Forever Bound is a great example of visuals and designs complementing their own gameplay.

The design is clearly a good focus of this level, and particularly how those designs move around and interact with the player. Take the ship part almost halfway through the level, with the lazer shooter moving around and having you dodging its shots, or the iconic rainbow robot part with the monsters moving the bricks around. The prime example though, in my opinion, is the floating gray blocks in the first half (which, following the level's terminology, I'll call notes). They appear for that first half of the level in basically every part: in the start they serve as notes you have to touch in order to get a coin (which by the way, only now I understood how you're supposed to get it, because every time I played this I kept getting it by accident), the way they float around and relocate themselves in the following wave, or the satisfying moving pattern they form in the next UFO part. I think the biggest flaw with Forever Bound is that it doesn't keep playing around with those notes during the second half, and it would be way more cohesive if it used them for that portion of the level more. That doesn't mean it still doesn't play around with interesting movements and designs; it's just that they feel more like random ideas that still feel and play really nice.

I also love the color palette, and how the level becomes more colorful and rainbowy as it goes on, matching the more uplifting and intense parts of the song. I will say though, does fall off in quality a little bit towards the end. Even then many parts hold up extremely well today, particularly the extremely iconic rainbow part.

Overall this level just feels like an ode to everything that made 2.0 effects and designs so iconic, and while I wouldn't say it's flawless, I think it's one of the most emotional levels of its era.

Incredible work, Bob.

Many such cases of bands and artists who write a song, becomes a hit, and said band or artist begins to loathe what they created as time goes on. Not because they think it's bad, but rather because they're reduced to a one hit wonder whose fanbase remembers them for that song and nothing else.

Well, anyone who is familiar with PAHC's catalog knows that SAVE AS is essentially his Creep. The loud majority knows this level, because it was groundbreaking, terrifying, and a massive hit when it came out. And that is for a reason: this level is a god damn masterpiece. I really hate to say this, because I'm pretty sure PAHC doesn't like this level for that reason, but very few if not no other level has managed to achieve what SAVE AS did.

Anyone who's familiar with this level knows what it's about: Alzheimer's. I'm not going to spend my time writing about what it represents and how it's represented because it's been said many, many times. But rather than that I want to talk about him, as a creator.

I'm sure many people consider this to be his peak. The honest truth, to me, is; he never peaked. PAHC is one of the most versatile, conceptual and unconventional modern creators of the current era. While this level is a prime example of that, you don't just have to limit yourself to it: Charmed Life is a beautiful 10+ minute journey; Over Again is easily one of the best and most fun ARGs in the whole game, and even his more conventional modern levels still take many interesting creative decisions and risks. He's always stayed consistent as a creator, and if he chooses to keep going and bless us with more levels in the future, he will continue to stay consistent.

Is this his best level? Maybe. It's hard for me to say it's not my favorite. But I guess my whole point is, reducing him to just "the creator of save as" isn't a good thing. But on the other hand, denying the influence and artistic reach of this level also won't help it.

It's fantastic, in so many levels. Thankfully I don't relate to it, but many people do and many people are personally attached and cried to it. And I think that makes it scarily beautiful.

Incredible level.

Go check out his other levels too.

I said this many, many times, and I'll say it again: I've always considered Serponge to be the best creator this game has ever seen, at least from 2.0 and onwards. His approach to design, effects and especially structuring are extremely iconic but still somewhat conventional, so it's no surprise that he's held in good regard by everybody. That's why I thought this level would be very well recieved... But that didn't seem to be the case when it came out.

Coaster Mountain is one of the first platformer levels (concretely, it's the first Legendary rated level ever) and came out pretty recently after 2.2 dropped. I remember Serponge teasing this level and releasing it not long after. I tried to beat it back then, but I found it hard and frustrating at first glance so I didn't complete it until now.

I think that's what led so many people to dislike it the same way. The level progressively gets harder the longer it goes on, and additionally the gameplay is pretty gimmicky and plays with slopes and force blocks in ways we hadn't seen until then (understandably though, it had not even been a week since the update). I don't think this is a bad thing though, and making its difficulty consistent all across would probably make it much less memorable.

Coaster Mountain starts off with a simple climbing up section. It's a good introduction to the level, as it doesn't play with crazy gimmicks yet and simply wants you to climb up and explore the setting. I love the reference to the penguins from MasterGame and it's so cool to see them appear in a new Serponge level. The monologues aren't too important; they're simply telling you to take one direction or explain what's new to the stage in later moments, but they're a good addition.

We could break down the level in 3 stages, each composed by a "predrop" and a "drop". I'm not really sure what to call them. The "predrops" would be the little sections before the slope based parts, which are obviously the main focus of the level. These little sections are great, since the drops are essentially non-stop and you have to complete them straight, without pause, so they allow you to chill a little between them. Each predrop introduces a new gimmick which is limited to that section and doesn't show up anywhere else in the level. We talked about the first one, which is a simple introduction. The second predrop uses ice blocks, and I like that the penguin is advising you to not stop while walking through them, since from that hint you can figure out what to do without the need of any indicators or signs. The third of these sections utilizes wind, which pushes you slightly to the right. I found some of the jumps to be slightly frustracting and inconsistent, but since the level is getting harder as it goes on, it's understandable.

The slope gameplay is very clearly the main focus of the level, and these sections happen after each predrop. The way I see them is this: the first one simply teaches you how the slope gameplay works, without introducing any strange gameplay other than orbs and direction changes; the second one introduces dash orbs, pads, and even some force blocks. If you have played this level a few times, you can probably get through these first 2 sections (and predrops) in about 3 minutes without any deaths. However, the third one is the hardest. It doesn't introduce anything new, but rather takes everything that appeared in the first two drops and makes much harder gameplay out of it. The first two drops simply wanted you to get used to the gameplay, the third puts to test all that you've learnt. This part has a lot of direction changes, which makes it arguably much harder than anything else in the level up to that point, but that's exactly the intention. After you get past it, all that's left is a cutscene and it feels so satisfying to beat the level.

Aesthetically, I love it as well. The decoration isn't too complex but achieves exactly what the level wants to be: rocks covered in snow, some trees as foreground and background as well as the mountain far away that you can see during the whole level make you very immersed in the level while allowing you to focus on the gameplay and getting past it. The structures for the slope parts are very well designed, and I love how they're falling down in the last part to add an effect of intensity. The snow is a great usage of particle objects and I like how there's several layers to it. Finally, I really like the final cutscene of going down the zipline after you get through the final drop.

I love Coaster Mountain, and though it was recieved very negatively at first, I'm 100% sure it's going to age well and be regarded as one of the best early platformers in the next few years. It's definitely the first of its kind, and dare I even say the only one of its kind.