Top 5 Levels EVER

I did that fucking plane mission about a hundred times before I finally got it, and I'm not saying it was worth it, but it was close, and that's saying something.

-Rasta frog level on Parappa the Rapper.

-There's a section of Far Cry where you need to take out a fortress/bunker type thing on the edge of a deep ravine which is the best implementation of single player sniping ever made.

-Kingdom of Zeal in Chrono Trigger

-Skyscrapers level on Twisted Metal 2 (god twisted metal 3 sucked ass)

-Lara's mansion from Tomb Raider 2

The site that's from is incredible though! (look for "ripped" maps)

Starlight Zone. YES.

uh...
another vote for Area 5 in Bionic Commando

I'm dating myself with these choices. I don't play current videogames that much. Right now I am revisting Uncharted Waters.

i'm trying to think of an especially great bit of System Shock 2.

Mario 3 - That secret white coin ship thing
Secret of Mana - Gaia's Navel
FF7 - Snowboarding minigame
Mario Kart - Koopa Beach
Gradius 3 - stage with all the huge bubbles

xpost: I like the music the least in Rez stage 5, but the visuals are the best.

Wow, that game was amazing, I'm going to fish it out tonight and have a go (possibly).

-New Reno in Fallout 2
-any of the races in Project Gotham Racing 3 where you cross the Brooklyn Bridge (especially while looking off to the side in a car that does 200+)
-The Fortified Residential Zone in Jet Set Radio Future
-'Smile, Part 2' from Killer7
-Skaters Heaven in THPS2

(I was kind of late to the whole console thing)

Marble Zone in Sonic 1

GTA3 - picking up the gold bars left on the road, the more bars you picked up the heavier your van felt so you had to keep unloading it.

IK+ - deflecting balls with your shield bonus levels, just got so fucking exciting as it all speeded up.

Res Evil 4 - when night time falls on the village, and it starts raining, just after you've rescued the girl. it's when you first notice the red eyes in the zombie villagers. excellent atmosphere.

The fight with the winged chick in the 7th level or whatever of the Xbox Ninja Gaiden.

I really want to play ninja gaiden.

it's like, ok, i got this game, Sonic the Hedgehog, about a blue hedgehog that runs really fast, cool!

wow, cool, green hill zone, cool! Run, Sonic, RUN! GO GO GO! Wheee, this is fun! Ok, i did Green Hill 1 in like 30 seconds, cool!

ok, green hill 2! woah, this is slightly longer, seems like there're a couple of different routes to take too! Go, Sonic GO! Run like the wind! Ha ha, that was cool!

Ok, Green Hill 3... wheee! More fast, furious fun! And oh no, BOSS, OH NO! Ok, i got him. What's next!!?

Marble zone, well sounds cool! It might be really slippery or something, should be fun though! Go, Sonic, GO! RUN LIKE THE WIND! Er... wait... ok, i have to... go really slowly... in cramped areas... and do precision jumps over spikes... so.. sloooww... and.... boring.... more cramped areas.. ok. now i have to stand on this block that moves really slowly through lava... then walk around a bit more in another cramped area. and shit, these levels are long...

to me, Marble Zone smelled like ass.

All this coming from you, and you're usually so OTM!

http://www.kittenrecords.co.uk/slypics/merrypwnage.jpg

The Goomba's shoe level (5-3) in SMB3 was pretty awesome… but why couldn't you keep the boot?

Also on SMB3: secret levels?… am I the last person on the planet to hear about these?

I think actually you might be the second to last person on the planet to hear about the secret levels. I hadn't!

...

1 - second level of Lucasart's Outlaws where you're in a wild west town, it just has a fantastic atmosphere.
2 - first level of Soldier of Fortune where you're taking out terrorists in a subway station (shame that the game goes downhill from there)
3 - the apartment block level of Max Payne (you hear a toilet flush, then get to shoot a guy as he's coming out of the bathroom, like Butch the Boxer does with Vincent in Pulp Fiction)
4 - the snow tracks from NFS4, mad sliding action
5 - the "mimes invade UNITY HQ" level of NOLF2

- Level 4 on Marble Madness, 'Aerial', so so awesome. Interesting to see who plays it safe and goes the long way and who's willing to hold down the turbo and jump the gap. Those little vertical rods that pop you way into the air if you're not careful...and then of course running the gauntlet at the end with the hammers.

- The facility level on Goldeneye, which is the second level, I think. I'm not even sure it's that well designed - in fact, having to run up to every scientist in the building to see if they have the keycard is pretty fucking annoying - but since there was some sort of cheat you could unlock by beating the level with a ridiculously fast time, I ended up playing it over and over and over until running through it became a brain stem level task. Also, hanging around at the end while the alarms go off and killing off wave after wave of enemies is fun too.

- One of the final levels in Super R-Type for SNES...I think the penultimate stage. It's the one where you fly into the evil gigantic lordship, and apparently the only possible entrance is a reaaaally constricted series of tunnels flying by incredibly fast, with turrets and bullet hell surrounding you the entire way, and it only goes faster and faster the longer you go. Frustrating and difficult, but also exhilarating and unforgettable and satisfying if and when you make it all the way through without crashing.

- The stage in Final Fight Guy where you bust through a door and somehow you wind up in a wrestling ring in front of a cheering crowd going nut.

- uh, minor brain meltdown at this point, but I just remembered fucking JUMPING FLASH for PSX. Damn, that was a fun game. I only played the demo version of it, but it seemed like it would be legendary. So, the demo level for Jumping Flash.

- The stage in Final Fight

^^^ My favourite two stages from the arcade version of Final Fight are the fight against Sodom (Katana in the US version) and the above mentioned wrestling ring fight against the half dozen Andor dudes. The smash-the-car-up bonus stage is fun too, but I guess that it doesn't count as a proper level. Least favourite stage is the bloody construction elevator with the firebombs raining down.

1. the town near the start of resident evil 4 (until the bell rings)
2. touch fuzzy get dizzy from yoshi's island
3. diner (1st stage) in fahrenheit/indigo prophecy

can't think of any more that haven't been said so I'll just go with
4. milkman in psychonauts
5. THE SHOE

touch fkn fuzzy get fkn dizzy otm

dudes you don't get dizzy you fucking TRIP BALLS

I love perfectly-judged, stimulating levels but actually really this thread my real favourites are the levels about joy - 'you have beaten the game, really, so lets give you everything you've ever enjoyed about it all at once, in one giant overwhelming chunk, with thrilling giddy music'

the human body/skeleton level in Life Force

Life Force OMFG

The prime example of a game forcing you to memorize it in order to advance. I tried to get into it, really, I did, but I think that's the kind of game where unless you were in a situation where you were 7 years old and you had no other game to play and so you played it every day for a year straight, it's impossible to get into.

Me and Life Force have some issues going way back, obviously, sorry.

05 - sands of time "atop a birds cage". okay just the wtf camera swoop that tracks from the cage's opening to the platform at the top to the insane vicarious joy of jumping and swooping and swinging your way to the top. and then theres the hero leap u get to make off the top of the rotunda. basically all the best parts of the game in one section

04 smw "awesome". all time speed run/star power lvl and then that jump @ the end is probably the hardest in the whole game. dope lvl design. recklessness was always a virtue imo~~~

03 thief ii "life of the party". i dont really no y this 1 in particular~ i just like it the best maybe cuz the one chick that says "robber!" half scared, half excited.

02 shining force ii "desktop/chess set". the hardest battle in any srpg ever. maybe it seems obv or cheesy or literal but cmon ~ ur fighting a fukken chess set, on a chess board. dope imo. also the intro part where u 1st get shrunk is really cool including that in this

01 super mario kart "star cup 2". fuiud

Final Fantasy II - the MOON

after all these years this is probably still my fav game music of all time