It's been over four years since we've last seen this special series of posts, so why don't we gently ease it back out of hibernation and its hiatus with an all-new entry? Best Levels in Gaming History certainly is a subjective list that holds some of the most enjoyable, entertaining, and exhilarating video game levels, areas, racetracks, and missions for me within gaming's illustrious history.
We've built quite the collection together of levels, and no doubt you may require a refresher or maybe you would like to fondly stroll down memory lane. Fortunately, you can easily do both with these following 22 (wow!) volumes:
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight
Volume Nine
Volume Ten
Volume Eleven
Volume Twelve
Volume Thirteen
Volume Fourteen
Volume Fifteen
Volume Sixteen
Volume Seventeen
Volume Eighteen
Volume Nineteen
Volume Twenty
Volume Twenty-One
Volume Twenty-Two
Now, let's begin Volume 23 of Best Levels in Gaming History!
Downsize Surprise - Astro Bot (PS5)
Let's begin with something big... or small... or both, really! Astro Bot was without question my favorite game of the ones I played in 2024, and it reminded me so much of Super Mario Galaxy in how the game constantly brought new, fresh mechanics and ideas into each level it presented players. Much like with Galaxy, it took lots of willpower to stop myself from playing marathon sessions in Astro Bot, as I wanted to play "just one more level" to see what wild and wacky concept Team Asobi would showcase for the next level.
So, we've settled on the fact that for me, Astro Bot is oozing with creativity in its levels, but what is one of the levels that best presents this? Well, me listing the level name above and spoiling that answer notwithstanding, one of the most impressive levels within Astro Bot's story comes within the second major cluster of levels.
Downsize Surprise is unassuming enough at first. Nothing really stands out apart from the massive building in front of Astro. It's only until our hero slams open a block of cheese that he finds himself seemingly stuck within a cage! Curses--a trap! However, a chest inside said cage reveals the solution and the main, crafty mechanic of this stage. Forming mouse ears from the special item in the chest, players can shift into tiny mouse size to pass through the bars of the cage. What is revealed, then, is that players are able to switch between small Astro and regular-size Astro at will.
This, as you can imagine, opens up incredibly clever level mechanics and creates situations where Astro must switch sizes to pass certain platforming obstacles and challenges. A door to small for regular-sized Astro? Switch to teeny, tiny Astro! If it's a matter of not being able to reach a platform as small Astro, switch to his bigger self!
The fact that all of this is done seamlessly without any discernible loading is just awe-inducing. How the level is built to take advantage of this mechanic and how said mechanic wouldn't really be possible without major sacrifices on lesser hardware than the PlayStation 5, really makes for an incredibly impressive technical feat of a level. And heck, it's also--like so many other levels in Astro Bot--just a dang pleasure to play through in general!
Piranha Plants on Parade - Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NSW)
I brought up Mario earlier, but rather than speak of the 3D games, we're delving into the most recent 2D entry of Mario, and the one that brought back some much-needed freshness to the franchise. Well, at least that of the 2D Mario games.
The "Wonder" in Super Mario Bros. Wonder refers to each and almost every level possessing a Wonder Flower that turns the level into quite a trip. Some levels result in an abrupt freefall, another turns Mario and our playable cast of characters into different enemy types, while another transforms pipes from being stagnant and resting to ones that bend and inch along the ground as if they're doing "the worm"!
However, at least early in the game, nothing comes close to the sudden surprise of the second level's Wonder Flower transformation. Piranha Plants on Parade is the name, and it sort of tricks you into thinking with the first Piranha Plant that you see in the level, that that is the stage's gimmick. This Piranha Plant doesn't stay stationary in its pipe. Instead, it pops out and marches along.
Of course, this isn't actually what the level name references. Upon touching the required Wonder Flower soon after, the real fun begins. Piranha Plants from their various colored combo of pipes pop out and begin singing. Some march, some just peek out to say hello, but they all do so in rhythm to the new song that plays. It's almost a fever dream--seeing this sort of ode to Little Shop of Horrors in the Flower Kingdom happen. All the same, it's a darn enjoyable fever dream!
This transformation sets the scene for Super Mario Bros. Wonder's campaign and essentially tells players, "expect the unexpected" for the rest of the adventure. While future levels and their Wonder effects may surpass the craziness and awesomeness of Piranha Plants on Parade's effect, it's this very level that sets the expectations--or lack thereof--for the entirety of the game, being quite memorable and a fantastic early highlight of Wonder in the process.
Kingdom Valley Act 1 - Sonic X Shadow Generations (Multi)
This next level comes from a recent release from last year: Sonic X Shadow Generations, chiefly the entirely brand-new Shadow Generations portion of the game. Like Sonic Generations, Shadow's half of the game sees the brooding hedgehog play through various levels, old haunts, and highlights from his gaming career. There's the Space Colony Ark from Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes' Rail Canyon, and yes, even a stage from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)--that of Kingdom Valley.
To say 2006's Sonic game was rough around the edges (ow, the edge) would be an understatement and underserving just how much of a radical trainwreck the game was. That said, Shadow Generations takes Sonic 2006's stage representative and much like every other past stage it references in the game, it improves upon it in pretty much every way.
Kingdom Valley (specifically Act 1, which stands as my favorite of the two acts in Shadow Generations) takes much of its references from the original Sonic '06 level, including the eagle that Shadow can cling onto to take him to higher areas, smashing his way through pane glass windows of castle towers, speeding through the water whirlwind tunnel where Sonic's Mach speed section from the 2006 game took place, and also adds new touches, too. One of these is introducing a new Doom Power to Shadow, that of Doom Surf, allowing Shadow to automatically bust out a surfboard made of Doom energy to coast along watery channels and corridors within the level.
It says a lot about a game with mostly stellar designed stages that one could easily pick any of them to represent Shadow Generations, but for me, my highlight for Shadow the Hedgehog's half of Sonic X Shadow Generations no doubt had to be Kingdom Valley. Proof that you can polish what I considered in 2006 to be a turd into something truly magnificent when enough TLC has been put into it.
The Raging Sea - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Multi)
From riding the waves as Shadow the Hedgehog to walking the waves as the Prince, the Raging Sea is one of the most impressive areas within Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's amazing Metroidvania world. The concept of the area is that it's completely frozen in time, so the Prince can literally run along the top of the water itself. Within the sea is a series of ships, a fleet, frozen solid, where the Prince can enter into the various vessels and explore. Lightning strikes, too, are forever documented as snapshots of the weather phenomenon, but also quite painful to the touch and resulted in frozen fires burning as well.
While the area itself is rather flat, the map reveals itself as essentially one straight horizontal line from left to right, there is a fair amount of variety to be found. The aforementioned ship fleet lends itself to having plenty of places to perform proficient platforming, enemy types are numerous, and secrets abound indeed. The boss fight that takes place at the far right edge of the map also brings the heat and is quite challenging for unprepared players. Hell, even seasoned action-platforming vets may find themselves having to redo this fight multiple times.
All in all, it's not every day that an area or zone from the Metroidvania genre delights and delivers in concept and execution. Nowadays, the genre is a dime a dozen seemingly, but Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown made its case for one of the top titles in the genre last year--and just one of the best games of 2024 as well.
A Trip to Alivel Mall - Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NSW)
Let's shift away from dark, stormy, and brooding with something more cute and cuddly to wrap up this volume of Best Levels in Gaming History. Kirby and the Forgotten Land brought the long-running Nintendo / HAL Laboratory franchise into full 3D, and the experiment was an absolute success.
One of the early levels of the game remains one of my favorites within the entire campaign--that being A Trip to Alivel Mall. Kirby and Forgotten Land, as the name implies, features Kirby running and jumping through a dilapidated land, once bustling and teeming with life. It's decidedly reminiscent of a world humans left behind, and this concept is no clearer early on in the game than Alivel Mall.
With a quaint and cozy theme, Kirby runs up escalators, enters the food court, and passes by abandoned, shuttered stores in this once-thriving and happening location. Though, it's far from lacking occupants inside, of course, as enemies and caged-up Waddle Dees have taken up residence--the latter against their will.
It's a setting that we don't see too much in games--that of a mall, sure, but also one that's been virtually abandoned and allowed itself to be eroded by the sands of time. Between solving puzzles on which hall to enter based off of cleverly-hidden signs as hints, and battling the pink puffball's way through the bright and bouncy level, A Trip to Alivel Mall is a standout early stage within Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
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