Best Levels in Gaming History - Volume Fifteen

Happy Thanksgiving from SuperPhillip Central! If you recall last Thanksgiving, SuperPhillip Central did talk about levels, but they were turkeys of levels instead of good ones. This year, we're going to delve into some of the best levels in gaming history with this long-running series, so long-running that we've hit volume fifteen! The levels featured this volume are greatly designed, memorable, and feature some awesome mechanics to them. If you missed a previous volume and want to get caught up, check out the following links:

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

Gaur Plains - Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii, 3DS)

With Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Wii U releasing in just over a week in North America, it makes sense to talk about a grand area within its predecessor. In Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii and later ported to the New Nintendo 3DS, early on in the game you arrive at a special locale. Before reaching Gaur Plains, Shulk and friends head through smaller contained areas like Tephra Cave and Colony 9. These smaller locations make the player's arrival at Gaur Plains all the more special. It is here at this location on the lower Bionis leg that Xenoblade Chronicles opens up immensely, offering the largest expanse in the game for players to journey and adventure in.

Gaur Plains connects a large variety of areas together, such as the Refugee Camp, where an important progression to the Xenoblade Chronicles story takes place, Volff Lair, Rho Oasis, and Viliera Hill. A gigantic enemy marches through the main field of Gaur Plains, easily able to wipe out Shulk's party if they engage with the omnipotent monstrosity. Still, if you're interested in exploring a massive and marvelous place, Gaur Plains from Xenoblade Chronicles is a terrific spot.

Wild Woods - Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

My favorite of the all-new tracks seen in the downloadable content packs of Mario Kart 8, Wild Woods is a magnificent race through the treetops and a series of treehouses that the Shy Guy characters in this track call their home.

Right away Mario Kart 8's anti-gravity central gimmick comes into play, having the racers line up vertically on a piece of track that stretches towards the sky. After the initial turn, racers choose from one of two short rail-less paths that converge on a curved wooden bridge where avoiding the gaps in the track and the barrels is recommended.

This leads to a brief flight section, where Shy Guys ride down lines in the background and distance, making way for a ride down a water chute with plenty of twists, turns, and opportunities to perform tricks off small jumps. The water leads down to a pond where large lily pads housing boosts float along the top of the water. Finally, an S curve heads to the finish line so the race can be enjoyed for two more laps.

Wild Woods is a marvelous track that contains some amazing beauty, a great location and scenery to boot, and impressive curves that require mighty skill to complete. It is SuperPhillip Central's favorite DLC track in Mario Kart 8 for these reasons.

Chapter 14: Lightning Battle - Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS)

Chapter 14 of Kid Icarus: Uprising is so action-packed, that the action begins immediately, even before Pit can exit Palutena's gateway! Uprising is host to two different types of gameplay in each mission, usually beginning with an on-rails flight portion. This is no different with Lightning Battle, the fourteenth of twenty-five mission in Kid Icarus; Uprising

A massive battle between Hades, the leader of the Underworld forces and Viridi, the leader of the forces of nature, have enemies flying from all over the place. Thanatos from an earlier chapter returns as head of the Underworld forces in battle while Phosphora heads Viridi's minions. Meanwhile, Pit is thrown into the middle of things, soaring through the tumultuous winds of the chapter's flying section. It's all while this amazing, rocking theme plays.

After this section of level is successfully completed, Pit heads into the on-foot portion of the chapter, the Thunder Cloud Temple, a temple with electrified walls in certain places, elevators, secret passages, and ends with an enlightening (literally) battle with Phosphora. It's a tricky place to survive, but one that makes the player proud to complete after surviving the temple's various trials. Both the flying and on-foot sections of Chapter 14 make for one of SuperPhillip Central's favorite chapters in Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Blackout Basement - Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

One of the final levels in Donkey Kong Country, Blackout Basement is a great level not just for its central gimmick, a level where the lights intermittently turn on and off, but because of its progression as a level in general. What I mean by this is that the level is a brilliant example of having a simple level concept and introducing more complexity and challenge to it to make for an interesting and memorable level.

Without much knowledge of the level's design ahead of time, players starting off in this level will take it slow and steady, being unaware of what dangers in the form of enemies and bottomless pits lay ahead. There are a plethora of challenges to worry about in Blackout Basement that would otherwise be easy to pass if the lights didn't go off and on at a consistent pace. There are small platforms hovering above gaps, there are swinging ropes that allow Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to travel across giant bottomless pits, and there are enemies like Kritters, Klaptraps, Klomps, and barrel-throwing monkeys that will trip up any Kong foolhardy enough to not look before they leap.

Witchyworld - Banjo-Tooie (N64, XBLA)

A most unwelcome to Witchyworld, the third level within Banjo-Tooie, the sequel to SuperPhillip Central's favorite 3D platformer of all time, the original Banjo-Kazooie. Unlike your Disney World or your Six Flags, Witchyworld is a rundown theme park that houses a cavalcade of hazards, and that's just the food served in the vendors! Alongside the food is the dangerous rides that will for sure take a few years off a bear or bird's life.

Grunty's hostile theme park contains four sections in the main compass directions of the park, Area 51, the Wild West Zone, the Space Zone, and the Haunted Zone. Each area encompasses a different theme and series of of attractions. The rides in each section are mostly broken down and out of service, requiring the player to change into Mumbo Jumbo to recharge them.

The main attraction in the center of Witchyworld is the Big Top. Here is where the boss of the level dwells, a giant inflatable dinosaur named Mr. Patch, who was featured in an edition of Best Boss Battles in Gaming History.

All in all, Banjo Tooie's Witchyworld sports plenty of variety to it through the various sections of the theme park, making it one of SuperPhillip Central's favorite levels in the game.

Best Levels in Gaming History - Volume Twelve

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!

One of my favorite aspects in gaming is level design. Levels have always fascinated me, and as young as I can remember being, I loved drawing up little maps for games like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Mega Man X, for example.

My personal history aside, we last looked as some of my favorite levels in gaming history back in July. I think it's high time for another peek at what some of the greatest levels ever devised are with this twelfth volume. This volume contains levels and areas from Final Fantasy VII, Saints Row IV, and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, to name just three. 

If you missed a previous edition of Best Levels in Gaming History, have no fear. I have collected the links of all previous eleven entries in my long running series for your convenience!

Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight
Volume Nine
Volume Ten
Volume Eleven

The Bombing Mission - Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

So many RPGs prior to Final Fantasy VII started the same-- in bed or in an otherwise subdued fashion. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy VII kicked things off as if bidding adieu to the old style of RPGs the series was associated with in the past, and saying "I am Final Fantasy VII. This is a new generation of Final Fantasies. Hear me roar." And boy, did Final Fantasy VII's opening bombing mission at a Mako reactor in Midgar roar like a lion on steroids.

You play as a part of an anti-Shinra (a corporation with a firm hold on the government throughout the world) militant group AVALANCHE. As the ever-sociable (not) Cloud Strife, your team of militants rush out of a steam locomotive and towards the Mako reactor, one of many in Midgar that AVALANCHE considers Shinra to be using to suck the life out of the planet.

The Shinra rebels leap from the locomotive, knocking out the guards at the station platform. Barret, leader of AVALANCHE, runs forward after giving the newcomer Cloud instructions to follow him. After a battle with two blue-clad soldiers, Cloud and the anti-Shinra militants run into the Mako reactor for the goal of planting the bomb.

Final Fantasy VII's first boss battle occurs, having Cloud and Barret temporarily team up to take on the Guard Scorpion robot. Despite an incorrect translation when and when not to attack the robot, it is an easy battle, as expected from a first encounter with a boss. From there, the bomb is successfully planted and a ten minute countdown is given for players to am-scray or else get blown up with the Mako reactor. 

After exiting the reactor, a tremendous explosion occurs from it, jostling the entire massive city of Midgar with it. AVALANCHE's mission this time around is a success, and so is the developers' attempt at creating one of the most exciting, adrenaline-pumping, and fun openings to any Final Fantasy game, much more to most RPGs. 

Zero Saints Thirty - Saints Row IV (PS3, 360, PC)

We go from one opening mission to another with Saints Row IV's ridiculous first mission. Well, really, most of Saints Row IV's missions classify as ridiculous, but I digress. A nuclear threat has gripped the United States thanks to former STAG commander Cyrus Temple. It's up to a joint effort by the Saints and MI6 to save the day, the country, and look pimpin' while doing it.

Saints Row IV starts out with the Saints in a chopper en route to the missile silo that Temple is holed up in. Upon arrival they meet up with an MI6 agent named Asha Odeckar and proceed to do some reconnaissance on a nearby hilltop. However, the Boss of the Saints' patience isn't the greatest, so he (for purposes of consistency and my own sanity, I'll refer to the Boss as a "he") runs, guns blazing and knives ready to strike into combat, absolutely ripping all of the terrorists outside of the missile silo's entrance a new one. The rest of the group follows into the missile silo and proceeds to give the player control of the Boss, running, shooting, and carving up terrorists with his knife. 

Upon reaching Cyrus, the two duke it out with their fists, a fight revolving around quick time event button presses for the player to successfully pull off in order to win. When Cyrus reaches for a machine gun in a box, the Boss leaps to a nearby gun and blasts him over the railing, into a vat of hazardous material. Before Cyrus is fully bathed in the liquid of certain death, he triggers the nuke to launch. Target? Washington D.C.

Throwing caution to the wind once more, the Boss decides to apparently sacrifice himself to stop the nuke, leaping towards it and hanging off the side. For the award for perfect use of a licensed song in a video game, as the nuke enters the nighttime sky, Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" begins playing as the Saints give their final goodbyes to the Boss as the Boss rips into the circuitry of the missile. Heck, even Asha has a goodbye message for the Boss, although it's what you'd expect from someone who just met the Boss less than ten minutes ago.

Regardless, the Boss victoriously destroys the warhead, leaps from the missile, giving a thumbs up as it explodes behind him, and falls into his seat in the oval office, returning to work as president of the United States. With a quick kicking up his feet onto his desk, another mission to earn America's eternal love and gratitude is in the books.

Saints Row IV's Zero Saints Thirty mission sets the stage for the entire game. This is a game that is here to give player insane moments and crazy good fun. It successfully carves a niche for itself in a genre of open-world sandbox games and distinguishes itself from the Grand Theft Auto franchise in the process.

Mute City - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)

Super Smash Bros. fever is hitting SuperPhillip Central! I've got it! Do you?! I've been really enjoying Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. I take it as an appetizer to the main entree, the Wii U version, releasing in less than two weeks! It only seems appropriate to bring up one of my favorite new stages within the 3DS game.

Mute City features 2D platforms and original sprite vehicles cast on top of the Mute City race from the original SNES F-Zero game. Typically the layout has two 2D platforms on either side of the Blue Falcon that races along the course. Along the way, different vehicles like Pico's Wild Goose, for example, enters the battlefield from one of the sides of the screen as a makeshift platform. Just don't stay too long on these secondary vehicles, as they'll quickly retreat out of the battlefield.

There are plenty of new stages in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS that I really admire and love battling on, but Mute City somehow manages to blend retro visuals with the enjoyable Mute City track environment to make for my favorite.

Bury My Shell At Wounded Knee - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)

Taking place aboard a train in the Wild West in the year 1885-- wait, are the TMNT and Back to the Future series in the same universe? That would have been some kind of crossover! ...Anyway, sorry about that. Taking place aboard a train in the Wild West in the year 1885, Bury My Shell At Wounded Knee takes the pace of Turtles in Time and ramps it up. It sure beats sailing one mile per hour on a pirate ship, does it not?

This level has a lot to it beyond the moving background, however. There are large barrels that can be used to a turtle's advantage, hitting them into a row of enemy Foot Soldiers. There are Foot Soldiers that pull up to the train via horse and dismount onto the train itself-- showing some mighty fine athleticism, mind you. There is also the ending enjoyment of challenging the killer croc with a nasty fashion sense, Leatherhead, in a one-on-one, one-on-two, or if you're in the arcade, one-on-three, one-on-four battle. (Seriously, was it necessary for me to type that all out?) 

Anyhow, Bury My Shell At Wounded Knee is like an old West train ride-- bumpy, entertaining, a thrill from beginning to end, and it always concludes with you battling a bipedal talking crocodile!

Nintendo - Super Monkey Ball 2 (GCN)

I conclude this edition of Best Levels in Gaming History with an ode to one of Nintendo's home consoles of yesteryear, the GameCube. As an owner and lover of the system, I have a wide assortment of software for my purple little lunch box. Two of my favorite titles on the system are both Super Monkey Ball games. (We don't talk about Super Monkey Ball Adventure on this site.) 

I always found the second game the more entertaining of the two, due to the ability of grinding for a multitude of extra lives and continues. That's how I was able to play the final level in the ultra-hard series of Master levels in Super Monkey Ball 2, simply entitled "Nintendo."

The level has you rolling on a slowly spinning Nintendo GameCube. You have to be incredibly careful with your finger-work, as if you fall into one of the cavities on the underside of the system, you would have no momentum to get out. Thus, when the GameCube turned over, you would fall into the abyss below. 

Unlike many of the later stages in Super Monkey Ball 2, the Nintendo level was fair and didn't require running at full tilt and hoping for the best like how more stages than many would have liked were designed. It was all about going over the edges of the ever-turning GameCube at a sufficient enough pace that you didn't go too fast and slide down the side, or too slow and not have enough momentum to get to the other side. 

At the end of the level, the top hatch of the GameCube system opened, revealing the level's goal inside. I can't tell you how badly I cursed when the system's lid unsuspectingly opened with me on top of it. Into the bottomless abyss I went, along with my hopes and dreams...

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How did you enjoy this edition of Best Levels in Gaming History? Which levels would you add to the list? Perhaps they will a part of a future installment!

Best Levels in Gaming History - Volume Ten

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!

Can you believe we've reached the tenth installment of Best Levels in Gaming History? This series of articles delves into the levels that have impressed us the most, feature great design, are memorable to us even after years of not playing them, and/or contain elements that make them stand out from the competition. Some of the games represented this evening include BioShock, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

If you missed a previous volume, look no further than these links:

Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight
Volume Nine

Fort Frolic - BioShock (Multi)

Looking for a place to relax, to unwind, and to let all of your cares swim away? Well, you're several years too late, as Rapture's ex-amusement destination Fort Frolic is no longer open for business. A place formerly full of places to shop; casinos to gamble in; theaters in which to enjoy the fine arts; and even strip clubs for the older visitors, Fort Frolic served as a home for music, art, shopping, and carefree evenings.

Now, Fort Frolic is the home of the deranged and dangerous Sander Cohen, an artist who is decidedly unhinged. What else can you say about a guy who uses human beings (even children) coated in plaster to make up his unique artistic portfolio besides that the man is demented?

As soon as the player enters Fort Frolic, Cohen locks various doors, restricting access to key locations. One particular spot is the bathysphere that rests across the entry hall. In order to make it past the locked door to the bathysphere, the player must explore the eerie remnants of Fort Frolic. Finding Sander Cohen and putting an end to his creative streak is of the utmost importance.

The goal of this section of BioShock is to retrieve four separate photographs from around Fort Frolic and place them in their frames. Once this task is completed, through journeying through the variety-filled areas of Fort Frolic, the player gets the choice in either keeping Cohen alive or engaging him in a fight to the death.

Fort Frolic is on this list of Best Levels in Gaming History due to its wide amount of locales to look at, the mind games Cohen presents the player with, a fetch quest that is by no means tedious like so many in other games, and because Sander Cohen himself is such an interesting character that talks over the player as they move through the former amusement paradise.

Sanctuary Fortress - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Wii, GCN)

After dealing with the terror and murky environment that is the Torvus Bog, it's a sight for sore eyes when Samus Aran enters the Sanctuary Fortress. Once a holy place that the Luminoth race held dear to them, when the Ing attacked, this holy place became a fortified stronghold for the Luminoth to hide in. When Samus visits the area, the Sanctuary Fortress is overrun with unfriendly mechanical beings, as they were once created by the Luminoth race themselves, but now have been taken over by the Ing.

Compared to other areas in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Sanctuary Fortress is a breath of fresh air and without a doubt the most technologically advanced area in the game. It oozes with high tech everywhere, hallways and chambers full of moving parts, and one of the best boss fights in the game, Quadraxis. It also helps that the item you get from felling the mechanical monstrosity is the awesome Screw Attack. A spectacular location not just in Metroid Prime 2, but the Metroid series in general, Sanctuary Fortress excites and impresses with its awesome futuristic architecture, intense battles, and devious puzzles.

Grassland Groove - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U)

We go from one Retro Studios game to another. The level design within the recently released Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is absolutely masterful, some of the best the 2D platformer genre has ever seen. There are so many levels we could have picked to be represented on our ongoing list of Best Levels in Gaming History, but we're going to play it safe and pick the first level of the third island, Grassland Groove.

Picture, if you would, a level reminiscent of The Lion King, only given a Donkey Kong Country flavor to it. That's what you get with Grassland Groove. The level contains many unique features: trees that wave their branches around in time with the music, and platforms that sway left and right, for instance.

Once Donkey Kong gets blasted from a barrel into another plane, the music shifts gears. Now the only means of traversing the treacherous terrain is by climbing up the necks of giraffes, each conveniently containing a rope for safe ascent. The end of Grassland Groove bestows players with a series of spinning stone snakes to grab onto. Each of these lead to the next, having DK climb upwards towards the barrel leading to the sunset-soaked exit. Grassland Groove is but one of many superbly designed levels that will most likely amaze those upon playing it for the first time.

The Precipice - Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Multi)

The main antagonist of Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Admiral Razorbeard, is none too pleased with Rayman acquiring two of the sacred masks. Thus, he calls upon the aid of a warship to pursue the limbless hero through The Precipice level of the game.
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Rayman must constantly stay moving, and the player must constantly be on his or her toes. At any moment a platform shot by a cannonball could crumble to pieces, leaving Rayman falling to his untimely death. Running across unsteady walkways, climbing across nets, and making death-defying leaps, Rayman and the player controlling him certainly have their work cut out for them.

One amusing part of The Precipice has Rayman running around a spire of sorts, as the entire thing slowly becomes submerged in water. Rayman is required to keep running up the tower, jumping over barrels Jumpman style, bouncing off tarps to reach higher platforms, climbing up netting, and avoiding the blasts of cannonballs.

After a section where Rayman must use his hover ability to slowly descend through a canyon, which is one heck of a feat of bravery as a large bottomless pit rests underneath him, Rayman encounters an Elite Henchman. Doing away with this minor inconvenience, Rayman rescues the captured prisoner from his claustrophobic cage. The Precipice is an exciting level that demands the player to pay attention to their surroundings and master the fundamentals of the game's platforming.

Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)

With Yoshi's New Island releasing this Friday in North America, let's take a look at a level from the Super Nintendo original. Here's a level that is more of a novelty than anything, but man, is it one heck of a novelty! Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy is the seventh level of the first area of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

1-7 seems like a typical level at first, and it very much is. There's Tap Taps that cannot be defeated through traditional means, coins and keys hidden inside destructible blocks (made easy with watermelon seeds), and Shy Guys making up the areas of interest in this level.

However, the latter half of the level is where things get... strange. The titular enemy of the level is the Fuzzy. They are big fluffy and furry cloud-like creatures that rise up and down. One might think touching a Fuzzy will damage Yoshi, but they actually don't cause Baby Mario to go bubbling away. Hitting a Fuzzy causes the stage to move around in a wavelike pattern, like some kind of a psychedelic drug. Touching more Fuzzy enemies means an even more trippy experience. Some might call them harmless in the grand scheme of things, but who knows how many brain cells are killed through Yoshi getting a high from the Fuzzies?

Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy is a level that has a very entertaining gimmick at its second half, offering a way ahead of its time gameplay mechanic that is only used in this level. It's for these reasons that we have selected Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy from the original Yoshi's Island to be on our list.

Best Levels in Gaming History - Volume Nine

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!

The creator of SuperPhillip Central has a passion for level design. Every facet of it fascinates him, from the aesthetics to slowly but steadily adding new mechanics to keep each level feeling fresh and interesting. It's no wonder that he started this series of articles, Best Levels in Gaming History. We've reached volume nine, and we don't feel the need to call it quits any time soon! On this edition of Best Levels in Gaming History, we take a look at a series of true classic games like Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Bros. 3, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mega Man X. However, we also dabble in a more recent title in the form of Rayman Legends. We hope you enjoy our next level picks. If you have your own favorites, please comment and tell us about them. And if you have missed a previous volume, here's all of the eight preceding articles to get you caught up!

Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight

Mine Cart Carnage - Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

After going through multiple levels that tested your platforming mettle, Donkey Kong Country throws a screwball into the mix in the second area of the game with Mine Cart Carnage. For this level, your timing, precision, and platforming skills are put to the test. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong ride inside a mine cart and are required to make careful leaps with the cart over various chasms, idle mine carts, and enemies. You have little time to react to the upcoming perils, so being on your toes is heavily recommended.

The track is full of hills, making it one heck of a roller coaster ride, only we don't think it would be passed for inspection by the folks at Six Flags or Disneyworld. Anyhow, the first half of the level is relatively easy, though it still requires your attention. There's a lot of holes within the track, needing you to leap over, some one right after the other. By the time the second half of the level begins (after the continue barrel has hopefully been smashed), the level introduces the aforementioned idle mine carts that mostly lazily lay at the edge of the track next to holes. The final challenge is one that most players first entering the level will probably get surprised by-- Kremlings riding in their own mine carts, riding full stop in your face.

The last portion of the level features several multiple tricky jumps with laying mine carts, big gaps-- one right after the other. Just when you think it's safe to release a sigh of relief, a final Kremling-filled mine cart is needed to leap over to complete the level. It is absolutely humiliating to be put into a false sense of security only to be hit by the final obstacle in the level, right before the end of the level!

Armored Armadillo Stage - Mega Man X (SNES)

One of the best levels in Mega Man history occurs within a mine. Hm, the last level we featured also took place in a mine. What a wonderful segue! Regardless, Armored Armadillo's stage starts off in fine and fast fashion. You can ride a platform on wheels that speeds down an incline, zooming past the sleeping robotic bats that wish to ambush you. (Though one of these bats always gives the player an extra life when defeated, so the ride might not be worth it. It's also a great place to stock up on health.) You need to leap off the moving platform at the end of the line, or else you'll fall into a pit.

Two parts of Armored Armadillo's level includes a burrowing machine that uses its spike-filled arm to clear the path in front of it. Even touching this arm will destroy Mega Man X. Moreover, allowing the machine to stay alive will allow it to destroy platforms that X needs to reach hidden goodies. You can actually fall down behind the enemy and blast it from behind to ensure that it won't take out any needed platforms.

The final portion of the stage is an absolute rush. You ride on a final wheeled platform, destroying enemies that foolishly stand on its track, have robotic birds take flight along your side, and get blasted off outside of the mine, over a huge bottomless pit. Leaping at the right time takes you to the boss's door. However, this level also holds a secret capsule at the end. Through going through the appropriate steps, X can learn Ryu from Street Fighter's Hadouken move. This move can only be used when X is at full health, but the payoff is that it kills anything in one nice, clean hit.

World 5-3 - Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

With Super Mario 3D World releasing this Friday in North America (and the Friday after that in Europe), we figured we'd take a look at one of the most popular levels in one of the most popular Mario games. World 5-3 in Super Mario Bros. 3 takes place in Sky Land. However, Mario and Luigi are still grounded in the first half of this fifth area of the game.

The level is rather curious, as at the start you enter a pipe that takes you to the first main stretch of the stage. It's curious because you have to move right-to-left instead of the traditional left-to-right. That isn't what makes World 5-3 memorable, though. No, what makes the level memorable is a one-off item that you can utilize throughout the entire level, Kuribo's Shoe. When a Goomba riding inside one is defeated, it is free for Mario or Luigi to enter. It can hop along otherwise dangerous Piranha Plants and hop around so elegantly in the process.

By itself the level is well designed, but with Kuribo's Shoe, the level goes from ho-hum to wow-y-wow! The fact that Kuribo's Shoe is only seen in World 5-3 makes the level even more cherished by those who play it.

Star Light Zone - Sonic the Hedgehog (GEN)

After having to deal with the high challenge of the Labyrinth Zone (and the repeated drowning jingle that most will typically hear again and again), and before the perils and many death traps in the Scrap Brain Zone, Sonic and the player get a bit of a reprieve with the gorgeous and dazzling Star Light Zone. Not only does it have chill music, but it also features a variety of obstacles that make the three acts of the zone enjoyable to play.

There's several notable features about the Star Light Zone: blocks that shift into staircases when walked on, fans that blow Sonic backward, and see-saws that require Sonic to jump on one end to make the bomb on the other end fly into the air, and move to the other end for when the bomb lands where Sonic once was, shooting Sonic into the sky.

Then you have enemies like the Orbinaut, a foe surrounded by four spiked balls that throws them when Sonic is near. In addition to that annoying foe are bombs that go off when attacked or when they self-destruct, showering the nearby area with hazardous fire.

The Star Light Zone is one of the most enjoyable levels in the Genesis/Mega Drive era of Sonic the Hedgehog, and we always believe it's worth the trouble of going through the much dreaded Labyrinth Zone to reach it.

Castle Rock - Rayman Legends (Multi)

By far the coolest levels within Rayman Legends are unlocked at the tail-end of each painting (world). Each of these levels has a licensed song that has been put into the ringer and Rayman-ified. These levels have you constantly running, jumping over holes, enemies, and sliding down ropes in time with the music.

Castle Rock is the first of these levels that players are introduced to. The song that plays during this level is Black Betty. The level itself takes place in a medieval setting, with Rayman and the gang leaping over enemies that pop up right on cue with the music, singing along with the music in such a perfect fashion.

While it may sound all like fun and games, Rayman has to survive the entire level. He's chased by a fire-breathing dragon who definitely needs some exercise, he has to slide down ropes, and he has to run along rooftops and through various castle towers. We don't think words do these music levels justice, so click on this link to see Castle Rock in action for yourself.