GOOD Water Levels

[Bakuma1997]

The diver scenes on Crash 3, i find them legitimally breather than the rest, EVEN THEIR BOX GEMS ARE DOABLE IF YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO

On a more recent example, Dos Lunas in Blasphemous 2, yes, is brutal, then again the entire game was made by the Gods of rage, the unique Reflection/Real world Gimmick sealed the deal next to its music next to the background made the five year wait worth it

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

Aquaria Towers in Spyro 2

 

[Bonkers225]

I enjoyed that one swimming level in MGS2

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Aquaria Towers in Spyro 2

Thats right! Spyro had great ones cause you go fast, its like moving through space
Great music and armosphere too

Post automatically merged: Feb 11, 2025

Water......water ships and ship mechanics always seemed like something developers wanted to do but gets disliked or forgotten by fans.

Good water levels ? Hmmm I can think of half life 1 chapter nine I forgot its name its when you encounter the ichysoroath or the alien shark you realize your weapons don't work save for the glock and the crossbow now you have to fight a fast as light fish while hardly being able to see and all you hear is the sound of the fish something like a chainsaw an alien chainsaw what makes it more tense is the fish has high health especially on hard difficulty can't tell if other difficulties have the fish be easy to kill since I only played half life on hard.

Another cool water level has to be in red alert 2 mission 10 where a river separates you from the allies base and you have to pull off a naval landing with the help of squids.

The water monster room in Amnesia the Dark Descent is water level 8) ~

 

[starseeker300]

Pirates of the Caribbean world in KH3 for me, you get to ride around on a pirate ship and engage in navel battles, also the swimming mechanics do NOT make me want strangle the game designer, which is pretty important in water levels

 

[Jeff]

Any Water level from Mario, Donkey Kong Country and Kirby

Bubble Man, Aqua Man and Dive Man from Mega Man

Launch Octopus from Mega Man X

Aquatic Ruin Zone, HydroCity Zone, Tidal Tempest, Ice Mountain Zone, Aquarium park from Sonic

 

[Michael Frank]

Greece sunken sanctuary from Castlevania Bloodlines, and i shall still enjoy it for the rest of my life, also Hidrocity in both 3 and Mania.

 

[Nidoking's icon Nidoking Nidoking]

I rarely actively dislike water levels in games, but I definitely get why they bother people. I'm a huge water geek, though. It's my zen.

One that I think particularly puts water physics to really good use, though? The water dungeon in Skyward Sword. I'm not even very into that game, but that dungeon is phenomenal.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Greece sunken sanctuary from Castlevania Bloodlines, and i shall still enjoy it for the rest of my life, also Hidrocity in both 3 and Mania.

Yooo I didnt think about the greece level from castlevania, that's right it is a water level!
It's one of the best ones in the game

The sick reflection effect
The minotaur enemies interacting with the enviroment, something you don't see often in 2d action games of the era, the great music, the gnarly harpie decapitation, that creative water mage mini boss..
And again it shows that water levels dont have to be slow, it's one of the faster paced stages!

 

[Mr. Daddy]

I always really liked We Love Katamari's water level. Cozy music, good feeling physics, lots of critters to roll up. Good times.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

I always really liked We Love Katamari's water level. Cozy music, good feeling physics, lots of critters to roll up. Good times.

So many good suggestions I haven't considered in this thread! Yeah I never thought about it but katamari HAS water levels, they're so much fun. They got an extra layer of stuff to explore

 

[Ian Naxieas]

Water levels are fiiiiine. I think the reason they get a bad rap is because you need to put more than no thought into them, unlike lots of other types of biomes or buildings. Some devs, good and bad, just can't wrap their heads around it. Making your character slower and changing the gameplay to something more like a mediocre Descent clone could cause some crossed wires and make things more confusing. I also think the addition of what is essentially a timer stresses people out too much, which I can relate to. I'd rather the developers just ignore them (like in Chrono Cross) instead of trying to punch above their weight. Devil May Cry's underwater sections weren't very good and Metal Gear Solid 2's almost gave me a heart attack. I wasn't a big fan of Atlantica from Kingdom Hearts and I don't remember having much fun in the Conker's Bad Fur Day level too. Then there's bland ones, like Xenogears or Dino Crisis 2. Basically the same except now you can float jump! Woo I guess. FPS games don't tend to have very exciting underwater sections either.

As for good, Inside comes to mind. That whole game was great and the underwater section was extra butt clenching with that underwater lady thing hunting you. I always liked the underwater planet in Star Fox 64 as well. Really, I think all the different styles of levels were good in that game. Horizon: Forbidden West was good too. It was pretty simple and it doesn't take long for you to get the ability to breathe underwater, so you could take your time exploring the beautiful ruins below Las Vegas. I'm not going to go into underwater focused games though, but if I did my first choice would be Subnautica.

All in all, I like them. I've always had a big fascination with shipwrecks, so being able to explore any sort of underwater structure or ruin is right up my alley, even though I'm actually pretty scared of water in real life. x) I've gone swimming in plenty of lakes, but they've always given me the heebie jeebies.

 

[Turbo Kid]

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission has two of the best water levels I have ever seen in a video game

 

[Redwall Muzyczka Redwall Muzyczka Redwall Muzyczka's icon]

There are a few water sections on the original Half-Life that spice up the gameplay just enough to be challenging, but I never actually liked them as a concept -- gaming allows you to go anywhere, do anything, feel like you are in literally every environment... And it really does feel like a disservice to the whole thing when they choose to put you underwater, with sluggish movements and a hard timer. I much rather prefer going to the moon and jumping thirty feet in the air or something than swimming my way across a few mazes while my character slowly runs out of air.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

I like the ones in Crash Bandicoot: Warped

 

[Megarockman _1987]

You know what? I never had a problem with water levels

I never played all of ocarina of time, since that's the one example everyone gives (I got it on 3ds and only got a couple hours in when it came out)

Labyrinth zone sucks yes, but all the other sonic water levels I like; hell, Hydro City zone is one of my faves!

But I never understood the whole meme where water levels are worse than hitler, when they allow you to be fast and have neat unique mechanics they're fun!

All the ones from Donkey Kong Country 1&2 (didnt play 3):

Spectacular music, great movement, tense with all the obstactles, rad mechanics like the water that turns into lava in dkc2. That level is exhilerating!! You gotta get to the seal in time, you build a whole route, you can skip a seal if you feel ballsy and make it just in time, its one of the best levels!

The ones from rockman 4:

You can approach them in many, jet marine or one your powers, fun minibosses, your speed is rougly the same

Mario Odissey!:

All the rocks look like bath bombs, relaxing, you posess a fish and can swim quickly, fun to explore..

And the ones in metal slug where the game turns into its predecessor In The Hunt? *MWUAH!*





Autoscrollers in mario? Now Those suck

I agree with Mega Man 4's level, but I think Wave Man's (Mega Man 5) is much better. Wave Man has: a good song a jet ski section (one of my favorites) a mini-boss fight and a bubble platforming section

 

[Miles Miles]

Aquatic Ruin from Sonic 2 is amazing because if you're skilled enough you can actually avoid all the water!

 

[NisenWasTaken (NWT)]

Hydrocity, is beautiful.

 

[Retro Doomer]

I can't remember any other right now I could say Zelda the Windwaker but that would be cheating ;)
Besides the one in Rygar Ps2

 

[Turbo Kid]

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Hydrocity, is beautiful.

One of the best levels in the game

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

I actually really enjoyed the two water levels in Super Mario Land on the original GB.

It was cool having a little water vehicle rather than just expecting the plumber to swim his tubby but through the mushroom kingdom lake or w/e

 

[MegaHiro91]

I don't know about that, but my hatred for most water levels is completely genuine.

And what makes you hate them?

 

[fake-kun]

And what makes you hate them?

1. Controls changed for the worst.

2. Breathing mechanics.

3. The fact that most of them look basically the same.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

I do get the genuine hatred for them, especially when the entire level if based around water.
In many ways it's quite boring to have a whole level devoted to a single aspect when you could have water sections of normal levels.