Top 5 Levels EVER

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

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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