Best Level Ever

[The Doctor]

I'm sure we've all uttered that phrase at some point in out lives. Obviously this is a hyperbole, but it works. That is what happens when we're playing a game, and a level, boss, dungeon, scenario, world, or chapter enthralls us so much that it is not only a fun and entertaining level, it's hard to imagine anything else topping it. The challenges, atmosphere, level design, scenery, and everything else combines to form one memorable level that's just plain fun to play.

What would you consider the Best Level Ever, and why?

For me, it's Sirena Beach from Super Mario Sunshine.

Mario Sunshine was not one of the most popular Mario games. It had mixed reactions throughout the fandom, with the main poiint of contention being the addition of voices and FLUDD. Personally, I loved it.

The one thing people could not argue however was the fact that the level design was (as is customary for Mario games) spot on. And nowhere else was that more apparent to me than Sirena Beach.

First, let's talk about the first star. The Beach itself is bathed in a gorgeous sunset. The lights are low, the music is soothing, and...the beach is covered in goop. But not just any old goop. This goop is electric! (boogie-woogie-woogie-woogie). You clean some up before suddenly a huge electro-goop manta ray comes chasing after you. This is easily the hardest boss fight in any Mario game, taking over an hour to complete. It's frantic, it's fast-paced...but it's also a ton of fun. The sunset makes for a great atmosphere, and it's just a blast.

After that star, you get to enter the Hotel Delfino. The Hotel is full of secret passages, ghosts, empty and full rooms, a casino, and there are two stars that are "Secret of..." stars, which are some incredibly well-designed platform segments where FLUDD is stolen from you by Shadow Mario.

Everything about Sirena Beach is pure awesome, from the hotel to the sunset to the music to the unique challenges it offers. It's one of my favorite levels I've ever played in any videogame...possibly even the Best Level Ever.

 

[Ferbian]

There's so damn many levels that I have enjoyed through a lot of different games.

I think the very first one that comes to mind is the original Medal of Honor Allied Assault, the mission that takes place at Omaha Beach, which has always been my favorite story to hear about when it comes to war stories, so getting to "experience" it myself fighting there as the computer, I spend hours trying to complete the mission back as a youngster, and I would often go back to play it again.

I remember completing it for the first time and I ran around the house cheering because I had spend 4 hours trying to complete it, I know it sounds ridiculously long, but I was 8.

That would probably be the only one I can truly say is one of my best levels ever, or best mission I would probably call it, but because of the long list of games I've enjoyed, where a lot of them have been simple First Person Shooter games, or some that have been an Roleplaying game that has not had a specific "mission" I'm gonna have to limit it to this single choice.

 

[ABMorales787]

Mine has to be the ever annoying Water Temple from Ocarina Of Time. No matter how many times I play the damn game, I always forget how to do that place and find myself stuck there for days before I figure it out. Its a very challenging level and it also features Shadow Link. Shame he's just a mini boss. The fight is just flat out phenomenal. Great level overall. And complicated as hell.

 

[MasterShakeIz4Real]

"You must spread more rep before giving it to Riaku again."
Excellent choice.

I'll go with the Spirit Temple from Ocarina of Time. First reason, the music in the temple. It was so badass and fit perfectly with the desert feel. Secondly, you had to do half of it as a child, and then the other half as an adult. Plus 2 major items in 1 level? [Silver Gauntlets & Mirror Shield.] How could you not love it. Thirdly, it was pretty challenging. Alooooot of puzzles and 2 hard mini bosses in the "Iron knuckles" The boss itself, eh, not too difficult but it had its moments [Koume & Kotake]. All in all, 1 of my fave levels.

Others

Magus' Tower in Chrono Trigger.

The Shinra Building in FF7 [The part where Jenova breaks free and there's a trail of blood, along with that CREEPY ASS MUSIC, to this day, horrifies me.]

Regole & Lenus' Cave in Legend of Dragoon.

 

[Greyot]

Hmm...this is kinda tough, but I can try to think of a couple.

OoT has plenty of good dungeons. The one that sticks out to me is the Forest Temple kinda because of the atmosphere and the awesome fight against Phantom Ganon.

A few others:
Silph Co. in Pokemon RBY
Spirit Temple from OoT
The End boss fight from MGS3 (takes place in several zones)

The one thing I've been having a lot fun with lately is the Jhen Moran fight in Monster Hunter 3. Basically, it's a giant whale-type of monster that's so big, you're mostly fighting it from a boat skimming on the sand. Tons of fun if you can get good people to do it with. And the music just makes it epic (especially into the 2nd part of the fight).

This covers the two parts of the fight:
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[Dagger Dias]

I find it impossible to pick just one level out of the myriad of levels I have played through in video games. Therefore, I will pick top contenders for each of the main genres of games.

ADVENTURE
The Spirit Temple in "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time". It was awesome to play through the level as a child AND an adult. Not to mention how intimidating those heavy-armor king/knight bosses were, the twinrova boss, and the awesome music. This will always be my favorite Zelda temple, and it remains my favorite level out of any action/adventure game as well.

PLATFORMER
Lemmy's Castle from "Super Mario World". I have so many memories of trying to clear that level from back in 1991. It was the first time I was truly intimidated by a level in a video game and also one of the first I constantly replayed to re-live the memories of trying to get through it. Nostalgia aside, it's a great level because it has challenging jumps, a couple of secrets, the first ever appearance of Magikoopas, and let's not forget the classic music all Mario World castles had.

SIDE SCROLLING ACTION
Trent Woods from "King of Dragons". This level was insane, especially on expert difficulty. The enemies such as the skeletons and lizard knights begin showing no mercy at this point in the game and attack in huge packs. It was also the first appearance of the Red Slimes who are very frustrating to deal with.... The creepy music and the spider boss were cool too.

SHOOTING
The Facility in "Goldeneye". It was always so fun to run around shooting the doctors and blowing up everything I could find, ending the mission off with shooting the General's endless number of guards with the infinite ammo and invincibility cheats turned on. What a stress reliever that was, and still is!

SIMULATION
Usually I do not play many of these games, however I gotta go with Bloodpool from the simulation mode of "Actraiser". It was the most fun of the towns to create and it had cool events such as turning the blood back into water, and when the townspeople needed the cool music in order to not hate each other anymore.

STRATEGY
Dragons Haven from "Ogre Battle". I used to enjoy using the FIRESEAL code to unlock this level and have extremely powerful armies from the get go. Every now and then I would get rare character classes too, that were extremely hard to get in the main missions. When I think of domination in a strategy game, I think of this level! I had far more fun in that level than I ever did in the main game (although I did clear the whole game with just one unit once before!)

RACING
Bowser's Castle from "Mario Kart 64". This will never be topped in my opinion. It had obstacles, high difficulty, awesome music, and was by far the funnest track in the game (with the exception of possibly Wario Stadium) and its upgraded version in Mario Kart Wii is just as great as the original. To me, this track represents everything a racing game's track should be.

ROLE PLAYING
With all my vast knowledge of RPG's I found this choice to be nearly impossible to make. So who gets the nod by being Dagger's favorite RPG level of all time? I'm going with the Tower of Zot from "Final Fantasy 4" because that place was unbelievably creepy when I was a kid what with the music and the insanely difficult bosses. I will never forget how I got killed so easily the first time I attempted it, as the game's difficulty skyrockets there. Then once you finally defeated The Magus Sisters (a tough boss battle) then there was the in-battle cut-scene where Tellah casts a barrage of powerful magic on Golbez including Meteo for 9,999 damage which was nothing short of EPIC back in the early 90's. Followed by Kain's redemption by rejoining the party after he had turned heel on them, and another tough boss fight against Valvalicia of Wind after they save Rosa.... and this from a game that is nearly 20 years old, it's no wonder it set so many standards we still see in RPG's to this day.

The Tower of Zot from Final Fantasy 4 would probably be my pick when all of these "contenders by genre" that I listed would be up against each other, simply because of the nostalgic value as well as the standards that it set for future RPG events that are still seen today.

 

[Freddy4190]

I think my favorite level would be on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 when you had to run around a war-stricken neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia. Then around a destroyed Washington DC after the Nuke exploded. I think the amount of detail, just the WOW! factor , and the way I had so much fun playing that level does it for me. Pretty badass if you ask me.