Rating Curve

A tour showing what gameplay is like on a pair of red alien planets about 10 million light years away from earth+a break section with some more comprehensible (but just as good) gameplay with some amazing structuring that's been a big inspiration to me. There's clearly still some remnants of the first planet's architecture (both start with similar slope-filled ship gameplay), but generally they're quite different. I would highly recommend visiting the Thycket system if you have the opportunity, just remember to bring enough practice checkpoints.

THE cult classic impossible level. I love the gameplay's theme of using (really good!) effects to obscure it without making anything completely invisible, it's in line with a lot of pre-2.0 and even pre-1.9 design philosophy (in a good way). But even behind the effects, it still has some crazy creative gameplay.

Also to anyone who complains about that one ship part using an overused trope: shut the fuck

Yes, yes really, this is one of my favorite levels in the game. Judge something how you percieve it, and don't let more skilled players' complaints about gameplay ruin something you love.

The art is great, I love the usage of silhouettes, the demon is iconic, and the deco as a whole still holds up today, genuinely great designs in some parts and I love the messy block/glow backgrounds in the latter half. There are several iconic jumps and sections I love, even more iconic because of the level's history. Visual sync is as timelessly good as the original's, bouncing around up and down in time to the music, and it adds to a general atmosphere of a fun adventure through hell with some friendly faces you meet along the way rather than the dark and menacing mood that most other hell levels go for.

This used to be my #1 favorite level in the game. As my tastes have changed it's definitely lost that spot but regardless it still remains a 10/10.

Right off the bat, the effect of the tablet starting up to play GD shrunken down is amazing, and there are so many little details even in this one part. The fact that the LDM is called "change graphics", the death effect, the little fingerprints in the bottom right. The gameplay here has only basic portal sync, but that just lets you roam free and click how you want to like in a lot of pre-1.9 levels (which I assume was the point), there's kind of a reason everybody likes to simultaneously do that one UFO click as a note plays and you cross through a glow pillar, and frankly stuff like that makes up for any boredom from playing the intro. The cycling designs in the robot are great, and again it feels a lot more authentically like an old level than a lot of other "old-style levels". All of this was already amazing, but come on, we all know where the real focus of this level is

The drop really is just something special. I really don't have words that can describe how it feels in general, but I'll highlight a couple details. Chances are you've seen all of these icons/buttons at least once, but a lot of them are ones you rarely think about, so it feels a lot more genuinely connected to the game. Also, the fact that so many objects are interactable really makes it all feel alive. Just beautiful really

If you don't have some shit with a name like "Layout4fun 39" as one of your favorite levels then you're doing it all wrong

High energy throughout, even the "extra slow" part feels intense, opting to use repeated, forceful, but short movements rather than simply a single movement like other levels would do with an extra slow part, and I especially like the blue pads in the ball segment there. The level as a whole feels less like drowning and more like swimming downstream. What I'm trying to say is that the theme manages to match the song just as well as the visuals and clicks.

Additionally, there's clear inspiration from Knobbelboy with all the same-gamemode duals and curvy flying (not to mention the intro and song, duh) but it still remains clearly distinct and creative. It manages to hit that sweet spot where it feels like an honest fan tribute rather than simply copying or barely having a connection.

also thanks for breaking this in 2.2 rob. real nice. can't even noclip past the bug or anything. what programming decision possibly could've fucked up spawn trigger delays in this specific setup, seriously

The official sequel to Bloodbath is here: Yatagarasu. It's got top-notch decoration, all your favorite creators, iconic part after iconic part, years of history, and even one of the first real "level mascots". This is the extreme demon to end all extreme demons, everyone loves it, the hype is unreal, and then...

It's been nerfed to the ground. The promised difficulty and final result aren't even comparable. The eternal unbeatable level gets its first few victors in a matter of days and gets moved down after a couple months.

The drama dies down, time moves on, and it slowly drifts down the list, but nobody dared to touch this version. The sheer scale of its difficulty was way beyond what anyone could do for years on end. As a result, this has gained a sort of mystical aura and reputation to me over time.

Oh and then Zoink verified it in 8k attempts and it would've been barely top 10 if rated lmao

Another level I've talked about extensively elsewhere so I wont bother repeating myself

A level that's good almost entirely by accident and circumstance. Do not do what this level does if you want to be a good creator.

I'll direct you to Sobot's review for the good stuff within the level itself, but that's really only half of what makes it so great. The other half is more to do with what happened outside the level. The history is fascinating from start to finish, that's already one great thing, but I want to point to one specific thing that really hasn't happened with any other level: The first part of the drop and the double click part have both acquired names.

Names make things easy to remember. They have power. The fact that you can say "diamond dance" or "66p" and everyone knows what they are, well, that's something you can't really replicate, especially when these names came from the community, rather than being dictated from on high.

As for which version is better, the unnerfed has the spam, so I'll give it a slight edge, but this has better deco to make up for that. Both are 10/10

This level is what you'd create if you were possessed and the entity possessing you also happened to be really good at music sync. Just a completely deranged level, love it.

It's Sonic Wave. You already know what this level is. In fact, there's a good chance you already know every little detail about this level, I certainly do. Maybe you don't think that makes it a good level, but I'd disagree.