KYHO Ranks The Original Trilogy's 74 Levels! DUN.

Stormy · Nov 30, 2013 2:47 AM

I think I would've liked Skelos Badlands a lot more if it didn't have that dinosaur orb challenge. It's kind of ridiculous that you have to know the exact route/order to kill them. I did enjoy that invincibility powerup, though.

Prism · Nov 30, 2013 2:54 AM

Stormy wrote:

I think I would've liked Skelos Badlands a lot more if it didn't have that dinosaur orb challenge. It's kind of ridiculous that you have to know the exact route/order to kill them. I did enjoy that invincibility powerup, though.

The dinosaurs drove me crazy! I tried for hours before I ragequitted. A year later, I finished it. tongue

Swaffy · Nov 30, 2013 7:30 AM

I agree with you guys. The dinosaur challenge tried my patience.

KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 30, 2013 10:59 PM

I really want to get through the next six updates in particular, because then *bleep* gets really good. The next six levels are all relatively close.

50. Stone Hill
(Game 1 Rank: 22/29)
(Artisans Rank: 4/5)

Stone Hill, for what it is, is basically perfect. Other than the incredibly safe Artisans homeworld, Stone Hill is the first level of the series, which makes it a sort of iconic one right off the bat. It manages to do a very good job of being an easy, introductory level that's playable for new players while also also being a fun, engaging, well-designed level in itself, much more so than its later equivalents Glimmer and Sunny Villa (both of which placed below it in this ranking.) It's a much larger level than one would expect for an introductory level with only 200 gems; although the Return Home portal is about eight seconds away from the entry spot, there is a lot of content for people who try to get 100% completion. It has a sprawling, multi-layered layout and you have to circle around the whole thing in order to get everything. On top of that, Stone Hill makes it a point to include multiple different gameplay elements that show up later for the sake of getting new players used to them as soon as possible; it includes whirlwinds, one relatively long glide, a locked chest with a key, and an egg thief. The designers could very easily have made Stone Hill into a short, forgettable level with no interesting gameplay whatsoever, but instead they chose to make it a deceptively long level with a variety of challenges, and it is a much stronger level as a result of that. I'm also a big fan of the circular room that has a bunch of treasure chests laying around the wall -- a room that my sister and I called the "Jackpot Room" when we first played the game as kids because of how many gems it had -- and it's always fun to charge through all of 'em at once and grab a bunch of gems in a row.

Gameplay aside, Stone Hill also manages to have a variety of different aesthetic elements. For the most part, you have rolling hills with some fancy architecture, as in the Artisans homeworld, but you also have an expansive ocean bordering the level, a few indoor areas that I really like (it would have been interesting to see a whole level inside some kind of Artisans castle), and even an area of coastal sand with a little beach cave. (The latter was also tricky to find early on, as there is hardly any hint that you have to take the leap of faith off the edge of the Return Home area in order to get the rest of the stuff in the level; the only clue is the sparkles of the whirlwind to take you back up, which can very easily blend in with the sparkles of the Return Home portal itself -- surprisingly tricky for something that comes so early in the game alongside such self-explanatory levels as Dark Hollow and Toasty.) There's also some great ambiance in these areas; when you first go up the whirlwind to the blue dragon who greets you as his friend and gives you a tip on gliding, you can hear bluebirds chirping, and seagulls can be heard on the beach. Those little details are what help to make the game feel much more charming. And you play all of this while hearing a relaxing musical track.

The last thing that I'll say I like about Stone Hill is its collection of dragons. I feel like in the Artisans levels, a lot of the dragons talk like they know Spyro as some precocious little scamp who always gets into trouble, and that's evident here; the dragon in the 'Jackpot Room' makes a facetious remark about how Spyro would never get into trouble, and the dragon who tells you how to glide greets Spyro as "my friend." Spyro also tends to be comically impatient with older dragons (as we later see in Dry Canyon and Misty Bog [and maybe Blowhard? I know the dragon there is old and has an exchange with Spyro beyond 'thank you for releasing me!', but I can't remember what it consists of]), but in this level he's actually polite to one! -- when Astor asks if Spyro wants to hear a story, he says "No thanks. See ya! big_smile " and it's adorable. I dunno, I just think a lot of the Artisans dragons are kinda cute and add more character to the beginning of the game through their interactions with Spyro, and Stone Hill really illustrates this.

I think this is one of the longest write-ups so far and it's been nothing but praise, so it probably seems like I'd rank Stone Hill much higher, but it's falling at #50 -- respectable, but still in the bottom third of the game's levels. I guess the reason is that, sort of similar to Skelos Badlands, even though I respect Stone Hill and recognize that it is objectively a good level with a lot of really strong elements, it's just not one that on a purely subjective level I like a lot. I mean although it has some good stuff, all of the good stuff is pretty subtle and you have to look for it; almost all of the level just looks grassy, which is nice and serves as an extension of the Artisans homeworld, but isn't particularly captivating. Stone Hill is kind of a low-key badass as a level; it has a lot of good traits, but you really have to be paying attention to find them. Much of it seems fairly ordinary, so it only ranks at #50, but it has a lot of subtle elements that are nice, and so it deserves a placement within the top fifty.

But wait! There's more Stone Hill!

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49. Metropolis
(Game 2 Rank: 13/21)
(Winter Tundra Rank: 4/5)

Metropolis used to be my one of my absolute favorite levels in the series. While it isn't anymore, I still like it a lot. Metropolis just has a generally pleasing atmosphere; the music is particularly calm and enjoyable, and I like all of the futuristic scenery. With the ammunition-wielding farm animals (because why not have suicide bombing pigs...?), the robots, and the futuristic, metal architecture, the whole level feels distinctly different from the other levels in the game. And I get a pretty big kick out of entering the giant dome at the end of the level and using the superfly/flame powerup to blow up everything and get tons of treasure really quickly. Metropolis is all around an enjoyable level that's put together pretty well, but to me it just doesn't have enough that really stands out as compared to the 48 levels above it; it's a fun and unique level that I've always liked with a generally enjoyable atmosphere, but nothing too special.

But wait! There's more Metropolis!

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Couple more comin' up soon, I had one more write-up done for this post but bumped the level up a few spots after writing it.

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 01, 2013 12:31 AM

48. Sunrise Spring Home
(Game 3 Rank: 15/24)
(Sunrise Spring Rank: 3/6)

Sunrise Spring now joins Peace Keepers as a world that only has two levels remaining. Which will rank highest for Sunrise Spring: Cloud Spires or Seashell Shore? Time will tell..

Sunrise Spring is a pretty good opening homeworld level. It has a pretty chill musical track (lolwut @ some versions of the game playing it during the final boss fight). It has a good tutorial with Hunter that helps teach players who are just arriving how to do different basic techniques of Spyro's, and headbashing/swimming underwater are also necessities to get all of the eggs. But the main thing that brings it up this high is its variety of scenery: you start off in a sunny, open area with a pleasant little river running down the cliffs spilling out into a small, shallow pond. It also features an awesome tunnel (with another river) that has glowing, rocky walls (probably my favorite part), a lake at the end that it's fun to swim around in, and a dark, heavily forested area. The level encompasses a lot of different kinds of environments all at once and I enjoy that enough that I put it this high.

However, it doesn't make it higher basically because.. I dunno, it's just kind of plain. It's comfortable and relaxing, but I just can't see it going much higher in this. On top of that, there are a lot of parts of it that are really similar to Summer Forest. I mean, a glowing blue cavern you have to go through to get an (orb/egg)? A Hunter tutorial that ends with an (orb/egg)? A lake outside of a building? Etc. There are just too many similarities there for me -- I had more typed originally, but deleted them because I think the basic point is pretty clear. I said earlier that Spooky Swamp is kind of like a dollar store version of Fracture Hills, but that only applied to a few parts of the design. But Sunrise Spring is totally a replica of Summer Forest, except Summer Forest did it first and did it better. Still, even if a lot of parts of it are similar to those of its Game 2 equivalent, it's really not identical and it's still a fairly solid level in itself.. just not unique or interesting enough to go higher in this ranking, and it is the second-lowest homeworld on this list.

But wait! There's more Sunrise Spring Home!

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47. Jacques
(Game 1 Rank: 21/29)
(Dream Weavers Rank: 5/5)

And Dream Weavers's flawless streak of 0 hits comes to an end, meaning every world has lost at least one level.

Jacques was a really hard level to rank for some reason. I switched its placement like five times and it's still hard for me to get a perfect read on how exactly I feel about it, though I feel comfortable with its current spot. One problem I have with it is that it is a much shorter level than it feels like it is; with grand scenery, a fantastic musical track, its status as the boss of the last full world and the only boss level to have multiple dragons, Jacques feels like it should be a huge level, but it's actually incredibly quick to play through -- particularly compared to the other Dream Weavers levels, all of which are among the longest and most complex levels in the series, as we will get to later on -- which is just disappointing.

That said, those things that I just named as making it feel like a huge, spectacular level are pretty awesome. I love, as shown in the screenshot, the level's pools of lava and castles (that are, in the typical Dream Weavers style, surreal and curved.) I wish the level had included more of these as opposed to the dark purple, cracked mountains that look like those of Molten Crater, but still, I really like what we got. That the musical score for Jacques is one of the best standalone pieces in the series goes without saying; Stewart Copeland evidently liked it enough to include it under the title 'Rain' on a compilation album he released. Granted, I don't know that it was the best tune for this particular level -- I think something dark and sinister would have worked better for a fiery, scary boss -- but it's still a really good track that makes me look forward to playing the level just because of how great it sounds. And I also really like the enemies in the level; they're creepy and bizarre, as they should be. The clock fools are also one of the most creative and entertaining species of enemy in the series (not technically enemies, but you get the idea), and although they're introduced earlier, they're definitely at their best here. They're really creative and it can be challenging to flame them and figure out where you're trying to go quickly enough to do whatever you need to do.

However, despite having a lot of positives, Jacques ranks in about the middle of this ranking; like I said before, it's shorter than I'd like to think of it as being, and I wish it had had more castles and lava than relatively plain mountains. If the whole level had looked like that screenshot, it could have been top 10 easily. Still a very good level, but what it is isn't as good as what I want it to be, so I can't carry it much higher and it's (perhaps predictably?) the first Dream Weavers level to be cut from the ranking.

But wait! There's more Jacques!

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The next two levels out are both from the same game, and one is from the second world of that game.

Prism · Dec 01, 2013 2:09 AM

Ah... Jacques. That level took me way longer than it should've. It took me about two weeks to find all of the gems and defeat Jacques. I also searched around aimlessly for the last 75 gems until I found 3 pink gems right next to the end portal. ._.

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 01, 2013 8:49 PM

46. Dry Canyon
(Game 1 Rank: 20/29)
(Peace Keepers Rank: 2/5)

Poor Peace Keepers is down to just one level now, Ice Cavern. sad I really don't think it's a bad world at all; all of its levels have ranked in at least the stage of levels I solidly like, colored in green on page 1, which can't be said of any other world other than Magic Crafters and Dream Weavers. It was the third-to-last world to lose a level in this ranking, so I definitely think Peace Keepers deserves credit as a collection of solid levels despite its seemingly poor showing in this particular ranking.

Anyways, on to Dry Canyon. Dry Canyon is a level that I have always had kind of a randomly high level of appreciation for; given that I've eliminated all of the other dry and canyon-y levels of Peace Keepers already, you'd think that the level that's *bleep*ing called a dry canyon would do horribly, but it actually outshines them all. While Peace Keepers, Doctor Shemp, and (to a lesser extent) Cliff Town all feel like they look very similar, Dry Canyon definitely outshines them. I can't really put my finger on why it is, but for some reason I enjoy its design a lot more than I enjoy the designs of those other levels. I mean, it isn't beautiful, but I certainly don't think it's bland.

On top of that, the gameplay here is really fun. It manages to include an egg thief - hooray, egg thieves! - and an entertaining ensemble of enemies; small, yellow Gnorcs who shoot you with muskets (whose metal balls, I first discovered to my astonishment after years of playing, can be stopped in midair by charging directly into them), the vultures native to the Peace Keepers world, and giant yellow Gnorcs who straight-up smack you with the birds, which I think is pretty *bleep*ing entertaining. But the number one thing I remember when I think of Dry Canyon is that it was one of four levels from the first game that I never, ever, ever managed to get 100% on for years as a kid -- the first such level to appear on this list. The one part that I could never get was the one pictured up above: *bleep*ing Maximos, surrounded by a couple of gems and the key to the treasure chest. As a kid, I could never figure out how to get to him, and I don't think other people had that much trouble with him, which is amazing to me; I found him just as frustrating and tantalizing as Jed of Tree Tops or Copano of Haunted Towers. It wasn't until I eventually noticed that the three red gems from the inside of the little castle kind of point to the left that I realized you have to glide out that way in order to get him. I've always thought Dry Canyon was a great example of the levels in the first game having tricky layouts that require you to think in order to beat them, and it was always going to do somewhat well in this ranking because of that. Combine that with the fact that I've always thought it's one of the more consistently fun levels to play through and you have a massively underrated level that I'm happy to put at #46 in this ranking and wish I could have put even higher.

But wait! There's more Dry Canyon!

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45. Gnorc Gnexus
(Game 1 Rank: 19/29)
(Gnasty's World Rank: 3/4)

I'm actually really, really surprised that not a single person complained about how high Gnorc Gnexus was -- I thought for sure there would be one or two people having a problem with it outranking ~30 other levels in the series. Maybe it's so insignificant that people either forgot or never realized to start with that it was being ranked? Or maybe other people actually like it? I dunno. In any case, the Gnorc Gnexus, despite being by far the shortest and smallest level in the trilogy, lands at #45 in this countdown, the third homeworld to be eliminated. (It was originally going to be a few spots lower -- it and Sunrise Spring Home's placements were roughly swapped -- but after doing this writeup I decided to bump it up a little bit.)

Despite being an incredibly minor level, I actually think that the Gnorc Gnexus works quite well as the hub for Gnasty's realm. In the opening cutscene of the game, we're told that Gnasty has been banished to "a remote world" so that he poses "no threat to the Dragon Kingdom." And, well, the Gnorc Gnexus is about as remote as it gets; it's a small, isolated platform surrounded on all sides by water as far as the eye can see. While I get the vibe that the water bordering Artisans and Peace Keepers is some kind of small lake, the Gnexus gives me the feeling that it's a small little junkyard in the middle of an expansive ocean, completely separated on all sides from any other civilization -- the exact kind of "remote" location I would expect to see Gnasty live in. And despite the Gnexus being as small as it is, the little scenery it does have is, as in the other homeworlds, very typical of its levels; the levels of the sixth and final world are heavily industrial harbors, and what we see here is nothing but metal and water, so it fits very well.

The other thing I love about the Gnexus as the final homeworld is its music. In general, I ideally don't like when music is repeated in two different levels; the soundtrack, as I stated in the original post, is one of my favorite parts of the series because of how each track really does fit its specific level as opposed to all of the others. So when you get something like Idol Springs sharing its music with Fracture Hills, that bothers me quite a bit. But in the case of Toasty and Gnorc Gnexus, I actually think that the shared musical track works very well: in Toasty, you'll stick around long enough to hear the music get loud and grand, but you'll likely never be in the Gnexus for more than 30 seconds at a time -- let alone the 90 seconds needed to hear the musical track really get big -- so, to me, it hardly feels like they have the same musical track at all. The quieter opening part of the music, which is likely to be the only thing you hear in the Gnexus (again, why would you stick around here for a minute and a half at a time?) opens with a few foreboding drum beats and then sounds pretty ominous, which, when combined with the creepy metal dragon heads (almost identical, incidentally, to the dragon head surrounding the portal to the other level where this particular musical track is heard), is a great way to make the entrance into Gnasty's realm feel particularly chilling.

Really, I have absolutely no complaints about the Gnexus and in that sense it could have outranked many more levels that I do have some minor gripes with. For what it is, it's marvelous. It fills the role of the first level in Gnasty's World perfectly; however, at the end of the day, it's... I mean, it's the *bleep*ing Gnorc Gnexus, so how much higher can I really put it?

We are now down to 44 levels! And those forty-four levels are..

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The next two levels out come from the same game. One is from the last world, and one is from the first.

Stormy · Dec 03, 2013 9:19 PM

I always liked Dry Canyon for some reason, too. It doesn't look that interesting, but it's just fun to play. I think it was just really well designed, with a clear path to the end while still having some parts that are challenging to reach.

Really surprised to see Gnorc Gnexus on here, though; completely forgot about that level.

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Dec 04, 2013 3:54 AM

it seems to me that Dry Canyon is trying to be an "interesting level", while some of the other levels are just trying to be an extension of the whole desert idea.

Sheep · Dec 04, 2013 1:41 PM

Haha, I forgot about Gnorc Gnexus, or thought that it wouldn't be in the ranking. For me it would probably end on the bottom of the list tongue

Swaffy · Dec 04, 2013 5:23 PM

I never knew about Gnorc Nexus. What game is it from?

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Dec 04, 2013 6:38 PM

it - ..? it's the last homeworld in Spyro 1.

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 06, 2013 12:48 AM

Sorry for the big delay before this update! Haven't gotten the opportunity to post another.

44. Seashell Shore
(Game 3 Rank: 14/24)
(Sunrise Spring Rank: 2/6)

Since the Dry Canyon cut, we have basically reached the point where I strongly like all the levels still in with few to no reservations, and the placements are just a matter of scale.. and we're still in the bottom half of the ranking! That's just how *bleep* good these levels are.

Seashell Shore, like the name implies, is a beach level, and basically all of the level fits with that theme while also being strong on its own; the musical track is a good example of this. There's also a strong selection of enemies: Rhynocs who wield sand shovels while hiding under the titular seashells, sailors throwing barrels at you (reminiscent of the incredibly fun enemies in Gnorc Cove), fun underwater Rhynocs with flippers who shoot at you with little weapons, and octopi that later appear in Crystal Islands. All fairly entertaining and memorable enemies, and all ones that go well together in a beach level.

The eggs in this level are also fun and relatively challenging to get; it actually took me two or three tries to get the Sheila egg on the replay, and fighting the Rhynoc and swimming through the tunnel gave me hell as a kid. Neither of the latter two are hard anymore, but they're still fun. On top of all of that, I generally like the look in this level. The one complaint I do have about it is that I don't find the sandy, outdoor beach areas too visually appealing, but they're kind of a necessity to make it.. well, a beach level, so I can't complain about them. The underwater parts are freaking gorgeous, though, and I wish there had been more than two big underwater rooms. I absolutely loved those parts and even though I would have liked less above-water, sandy areas, they were a good way to have another water level without just replicating the wholly underwater Aquaria Towers. Overall, Seashell Shore is an objectively strong level with a lot of good traits; I just don't love it as much as those still in. But the fact that it is placing in the freaking bottom half is, more than anything, an illustration of just how good this game's levels are. (The child seals are freaking annoying though.)

Also, Sunrise Spring now joins Peace Keeper as a world with only one level remaining. Poor Sunrise Spring, but congratulations to Cloud Spires on being the best of its world!

But wait! There's more Seashell Shore!

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I had a clear, definite level planned out for #43 but now I'm honestly not sure what one is going to be out next because I realized just how much I like that particular level. Once again I gotta work out some of the next few placements and then I'll update again.
Sorry for the slow place and then posting only one level!

Flapjacks · Dec 06, 2013 7:33 AM

Take your time, if it means making better placements.
'A delayed Spyro top level list is eventually good, but a rushed Spyro top level list is forever bad,' in the exact words of gaming genius, Gaben

Flapjacks · Dec 21, 2013 6:48 AM

Is KYHO going to continue this list?

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 21, 2013 10:21 PM

He most certainly is, and he is going to finish it!

Major apologies for the horrendously slow status of this the past couple weeks. I really just haven't had a good time to update -- especially because the next few levels are all really close and I had to replay about three or four of them. But I am now on ~WINTER BREAK~ for the next two weeks, which means that I have few to no obligations and I'll be sure to finish this.

To somewhat make up for how slow this has gone lately, here is the biggest update I have done so far -- it will eliminate seven levels and bring us up to the top half of the ranking!

43. Magma Cone
(Game 2 Rank: 12/21)
(Autumn Plains Rank: 6/9)

The one flaw Magma Cone has is that it doesn't have a particularly unique appearance; the beginning portion is just a bunch of blah greenish-brownish stuff, and although I love the volcano and ice cavern portions, both are essentially identical to things that are seen in other levels. However, it more than makes up for this in basically everything else about the level. Although each of Magma Cone's individual parts may not be the most mind-blowing thing you've ever seen in a Spyro game, that they all exist together makes it a highly original level, and it is kind of hilarious that a volcanic level also has a giant ice cave in the middle of it for the sole reason of "Why the *bleep* not?"

Magma Cone also has a great musical theme; although I'm not too big on the bizarre part that randomly sounds like a Snorlax swallowing a microphone whole, every part of the musical track up to and including the part where the organs kick in is just awesome. (I'm a big fan of the fact that this track even includes organs at all; they're all over the place in the first game, but as the musical tracks got more diverse in the second and third games, it seems like organs were used much less if at all, which is a *bleep* shame.) The musical track of the level makes it feel a lot more intense and energetic right off the bat, and I think this is the only level that contains a remix of its own music; when you're chasing the crystals with Hunter, the music contains a sped-up portion of the theme heard in most of Magma Cone, which is kinda neat.

The game play of this level is also pretty fun. Racing Hunter is a fast-paced game that can actually be pretty challenging; I've died a couple times even recently while flying and killing the lava monsters with party hats, because it's very easy to get knocked into the lava, which automatically takes away half of your total hit points; climbing up the volcano was hard when I was a kid and is still a memorable end to the level; I'm a definite fan of the big Earthshapers at the start of the level who you push until they get killed with drills, wrecking balls, etc. Overall it's just a solid level that I don't have any real complaints about; the other levels remaining are just better. That's kind of the point we're at in this ranking: where the levels I'm eliminating don't necessarily have anything bad -- they just might be lackluster at some points and aren't quite as strong as the levels above them.

But wait! There's more Magma Cone!

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42. Haunted Tomb
(Game 3 Rank: 13/24)
(Midnight Mountain Rank: 4/6)

In the only Spyro level ranking I've found on the Internet via Google -- a ranking that was nearly indecipherable and that I think was run through about 5 different languages on Google Translate -- Haunted Tomb was ranked dead last, which to me is.. really strange, because I like it a lot. As a kid, I *bleep*ing hated this level because it was too difficult, but now that I've played all of the games 500 times, I cherish any level such as this one that provides some difficulty for me. The enemies are among the more difficult and unique ones in the series, and both the demolition hovercraft championship (lol @ that existing in a 7000-year-old tomb) and the trials with Agent 9 provide a pretty ideal level of challenge; I know that both of them were among the three challenges from YotD that it took me forever to beat as a kid. (The third is the Frozen Altars boxing challenge, but that's not even fun. *bleep* boxing.) And it also has one of my favorite skill points in the game where you just swim into the little hole. There's a lot of nostalgia in that skill point for me, because when my sister and I were kids we'd play this game and switch off the controller whenever one of us got a Game Over, so whenever it was my turn I'd go to that level and do that skill point just to get a free extra life. <3

I also love this level because it's an Egyptian-themed level, and those are awesome. I used to think I had no specific archetype that I liked the most in video game levels -- no real preference between "fire levels", "ice levels", "water levels", "forest levels", etc., because I basically like any kind of level as long as it is done well. But playing through this level, I realized that "Egyptian tomb levels", although not as ubiquitous in video games as generic "water levels" and so on, are probably my favorite kind of level. In the third Crash Bandicoot game, for example, the Egyptian levels have always been among my favorite stages (although that could also be because the music from those levels is among my favorite musical tracks from any game ever.. but I digress.) So basically, in addition to the fact that I enjoy the challenge of this level, I also really love seeing the Spyro series take on an Egyptian theme three games in and giving us a lot of cool hieroglyphics and sarcophagi, plus a giant king cobra in the middle of the level for no other reason than the fact that it's cool. I think this level was one of the hardest ones to choose a screenshot for at the top of the write-up, because if you look at the rest of them under the spoiler tag, there are so many different images that look awesome and are exemplary of the things I love in this level's design. I ultimately chose this one because, I mean.. it's badass. Anubis with glowing eyes sitting there guarding a door and just waiting for you to come closer? That's awesome. All the blue Anubis-esque dogs in this level are one of my favorite enemies in the series, and I want one as a pet. <3

So because this level has a great level of challenge and does a good job of fitting into my favorite archetype, why doesn't it make it higher? Honestly.. I don't really know. I think that I like it more on paper than I do in reality, because if you play through it, a lot of the scenery is less "cool Egyptian walls and mummies and *bleep*" and more "generic cave stuff", which is disappointing. And when you constantly have to slow down in order to spit the bombs and kill the enemies -- in a game that I usually love powering through as quickly as I can -- it's initially kinda fun and unique but just gets old at a certain point. So basically this level is perfect in concept, but falls a bit short in execution; I still really like it, just not quite as much as I wish I did. I would love to put it higher and would have had it featured more Egyptian stuff, but unfortunately I cannot.

But wait! There's more Haunted Tomb!

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41. Midday Garden Home
(Game 3 Rank: 12/24)
(Midday Garden Rank: 4/6)

Midday Garden is essentially a nice level -- nothing more, nothing less. The music isn't too groundbreaking, but it's a fairly relaxing and happy track that fits with the sunny and pleasant atmosphere that Midday Garden (like most homeworlds) has. The appearance of it isn't too unique or captivating but it's still pretty and makes me happy -- just a bunch of bright green grass with some pleasant water. I feel like it has a lot of pastel-type hues, so it feels like a springtime, Easter-ish level, which I can get on board with. Everything about this level says "happy enough that I enjoy playing it and look forward to it, but not one that I adore." All of this would ordinarily put it more in the 48-50 tier, ranking near the other YotD homeworld to be eliminated, but I bumped it up a couple of spots for one reason and one reason only: Walking through the superflame powerup and blowing up huge clusters of rabbits at once is really, really, really fun. The childlike pleasure I still get from that is enough to bump this level up a few spots. Outside of that, though, it's just a happy homeworld.

Thanks, Midday Garden, for being basically the most inoffensive level in the series! For what you are, you do your job perfectly. <3 You just can't compare to the levels that are still in this.

But wait! There's more Midday Garden Home!

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40. Scorch
(Game 2 Rank: 11/21)
(Autumn Plains Rank: 5/9)

Scorch is a level I totally underrated before replaying the series. I thought it was boring and forgettable -- probably because its music track isn't one I listen to outside of when I'm playing the game, and because I hadn't played the second game without speedrunning for years (and you can easily skip, like, 95% of Scorch if you're going for speed.) But when I went back to replay it, I remembered.. wait a second, I actually really like this level! I've always liked this level! It was one of my favorites from the second game when I was a kid and I remember that during the summer between my 7th and 8th grade (which I spent on a huuuuge Spyro binge) it was also one of my favorites. I'm happy I did the replay for this ranking so I could rediscover my Scorch appreciation. <3

The Arabian theme Scorch has going for it is really strong; Shady Oasis does sort of the same basic thing in the same world, but inside rather than outside and without a desert atmosphere surrounding it, so Scorch feels heavily differentiated from Shady Oasis and is clearly the superior of the two. It's also a pretty fun level with enemies that all go together and fit the theme of the level, which I appreciate (as opposed to when the enemies of a level are just kind of generic baddies, like Bamboo Terrace or something). Both the pink enemies that have rifles (because why not?) and the camels make pretty lulzy sounds when killed. It's really just fun to charge through this level and kill all of the enemies rapidly, and that feeling of how fun the level is is strengthened by how bright and sunny it is. Scorch is just fun, plain and simple.

(Also, because this game was released in 1999, that meant they saw nothing wrong yet with having as an enemy an Arabic guy named Bombo who hurts you by chucking bombs... way to go, 1999 Insomniac.)

But wait! There's more Scorch!

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39. Desert Ruins
(Game 3 Rank: 11/24)
(Midnight Mountain Rank: 3/6)

Not unlike Scorch, Desert Ruins is a level that I think can really only be described as fun. In terms of something that I love to listen to on its own outside of the context of the level, its musical track is one of my favorites out of the entire series (we'll get to the level that has my #1 favorite much later!), solely for the upbeat piano sections. What this means for Desert Ruins itself is that I have a pretty strong bias going into it and right away the music is engaging and maintains a fun, positive atmosphere for the remainder of what is clearly -- like Scorch -- a bright, sunny, fast-paced level. The gameplay of this level is where it really shines; it has an awesome selection of fairly difficult enemies, and for some reason, the whole thing feels kinda different than a Spyro level -- but in a good way. I don't know, with the side-scrolling Sheila portion, the specific ways the enemies attack you, and the blatant parody of another video game's character (lol @ "Tara"), it just feels kinda different. I don't know whether it's anything like the Tomb Raider games it mentions, because I haven't played them, but it certainly feels like a distinct level from a gameplay standpoint. The main reason it doesn't make it higher is just that it has a lack of captivating scenery; it does do a good job of really looking like a ruin, but it just doesn't blow me away. Still, though, that's totally outweighed at this stage in the ranking by how fun it is to play and how great its musical track is. And also, lol @ them putting an underwater section in the middle of the desert level (where you ride a manta ray with weapons attached, no less) for no discernible reason, just as they put a snowy area in the middle of Magma Cone.

But wait! There's more Desert Ruins!

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38. Sgt. Byrd's Base
(Game 3 Rank: 10/24)
(Midday Garden Rank: 3/6)

As we will see a bit later on in this ranking in Enchanted Towers, Sgt. Byrd is easily, by far, my favorite of the four extra characters in YotD. By far. I think he's the funniest character and more importantly I find him way more fun to play as than any of the others -- which, really, I think shouldn't come as a surprise. Bentley can be fun but he can't jump for jack and is pretty slow. Sheila's only shtick is jumping high; Sgt. Byrd can fly. Agent 9's only shtick is shooting lasters; Sgt. Byrd can do that while also flying. He's easily the most fun of the four no matter which level you put him into, so it's not surprising that they also gave him the most fun level, outranking all the other characters' home levels by over 20 places (which is a lot in a ranking that only has 74 entries to begin with.)

Besides the fact that it's inherently a fun level because of who you're playing as, where this level also succeeds is in that it really, really doesn't feel like a tutorial; it feels like an actual level. Agent 9's Lab is flat-out being taught how to do things; Bentley's Outpost might as well be the same thing; Sheila's Alp does deviate from that, but Sheila herself really has no interesting techniques (her only attacks are identical to Spyro's flaming and headbashing), so it's not like there's anything to teach anyway. Sgt. Byrd is the one character who has a totally unique style of play but whose level doesn't resort to just having a related character tell you, one step at a time, "Now do this!" When you play as him, you're learning all of his different things he can do -- flying, shooting missiles, carrying weight, dropping bombs -- through actually having to use them to navigate the level. I give massive props to the Base for being fun to play through while also teaching everything there is to teach about Sgt. Byrd; a level like the Lab leaves me asking "Okay, now what?", because as soon as I've learned all Agent 9's techniques I'm out of the level with no opportunity to use them in a natural context, but the Base sets up that context right off the bat and instantly gives you a opportunity to just use Sgt. Byrd's techniques on your own.

What this level also deserves credit for from a gameplay standpoint is the enemies; I actually nearly died while playing through this level on the pre-ranking replay, which is a huge rarity. The level expects you to really use Sgt. Byrd's long-distance attacking capability, because all of the enemies here attack you at a range, which especially becomes challenging for a player like me who usually charges through the entire level killing enemies as soon as I come across them, rather than methodically, slowly, safely attacking them before I reach them. The Skill Point where you have to kill the gophers is also incredibly fun and, once again, requires you to get all the use out of Sgt. Byrd's weaponry that you can.

The main reason why this level, despite being so fun, falls so low is because it is too contained. Granted, with a character like Sgt. Byrd who can just fly wherever the hell he wants, it's kind of a necessity to keep the level contained indoor so that the player doesn't just fly to the end right away; there is no escaping that. However, necessary as it may be, this confined layout is definitely not as ideal as a a sprawling, open level. It feels too claustrophobic and that does weigh down the level enough to put it lower in the ranking despite having a lot of huge strengths. That said, once you reach the end of the level where you can fly around in an open space, it is incredibly fun and liberating to do so, and the end of this level is one of my favorite parts of any level in the game. Overall this level is definitely one of the funner ones in the series and absolutely exemplifies the kind of thing I wish they had gone for with Bentley and Agent 9, and that it manages to fall in the bottom half of all Spyro levels just proves how good those levels are.

But wait! There's more Sgt. Byrd's Base!

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We are now at the halfway point! We started with 74 levels, and now there are 37 remaining. This would be a sensible place to end the update, but I'll go ahead and do one more cut just because I've done so few lately. The first level in the top half of the series is...

37. Cloud Temples
(Game 2 Rank: 10/21)
(Winter Tundra Rank: 3/5)

I feel like it's worth pointing out that in this relatively massive update where I've eliminated more levels than I have in any other one post, Spyro 1 has gone completely untouched. Not a single level from it was cut in this post, and at the top 36, it has twice as levels as either of the other games: a whopping 18 levels, half of those remaining, are from the first game, while 9 each are from games two and three. I think it's pretty safe to say at this point that the first game is definitely my favorite one of the trilogy, which really I've always been aware of -- I play this game for the intricate, creative, and in-depth levels, and the first game excels at creating these. The second and third game are more about mastering various new sets of controls and completing structured challenges in a very clear, ordered way; the first game basically tells you to go where you want with little restriction and you beat its levels with nothing other than the basic jump/glide/charge/fly combination that Spyro always has on him. Having so few controls means that the game gets its fun from the levels themselves, meaning that those levels have to be stronger and giving us the Game 1 domination in this ranking. (Of course, that is not to say that I don't also love the later games -- I probably have more nostalgia for Ripto's Rage than either of the others -- but Game 1 surpasses them just a little bit, especially in a ranking of the levels.)

Anyways, that little explanation of my Game 1 fantarding moment being done... Cloud Temples!
Cloud Temples has a really unique feeling to it. All of the magical elements -- the warlocks, the floating platforms, the wizards, the enemies in stone -- and the frost breath, something not seen anywhere else, make the level feel really distinct from a lot of other levels. It all feels so very mystical, and that's essentially the biggest reason for this level's placement in the top half: I love the magical, wondrous feeling you get here.

What I also adore about this level is its orb challenges. The Agent Zero one, for some inexplicable reason because it seems SO easy now, was torturous as a kid. I could never, ever, ever do it, nor could my brother or sister, and I consider it of the more memorable parts of the series for that reason. But the other orb challenge here is even better: ringing the bells. I really love the frost breath and I'm happy it was only used in this one level; it makes it feel that much more special. It's incredibly fun to spit a snowball that freezes the enemies, and the visual effect it has when it makes contact (the four glowing, evanescent blue spheres that spread outward and fade from the screen quickly) is really, really pretty. The challenge itself, not just the power you use to do it, is also really fun. Something that I love a lot in a level is when it has a part that feels hidden in some way, and this is a great example of that: I love the whirlwind that randomly appears and takes you on top of the roof, where you have to ring a sudden third bell and can launch the rocket that explodes the metal chest. I can't explain why, but that bonus area on the rooftop feels sort of secretive to me and makes me think "Wait, this was here the whole time? ..Cool." -- a feeling that I love.

Also worth noting about Cloud Temples, but hard to incorporate into any other part of the write-up, is that it has one of the better scores in the series, particularly of the first game. It flows together really nicely, is really catchy, and also adds to the mystical feeling that I love in the level. It never really has a big peak and it isn't too fast-paced, but it has kind of a feeling of finality about it that I can't really explain, fitting for a level in the last world, and makes me happy to listen to. ^_^ In general, I think Cloud Temples is a really strong level that has a few big things going for it and there's no real reason why it doesn't rank higher; the top thirty-six are just even better. It is a great way to transition into the top half of this ranking.

But wait! There's more Cloud Temples!

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Whew, that was a big update -- seems like a good time to give a refresher on which levels are still in the running. Here are the top thirty-six:

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This was a pretttty long post, so I might have messed up somewhere -- linked to the wrong music, included the wrong image, said the wrong world name or placement or something, etc. Let me know if you see any mistakes in this post! It's much easier to mess up with such a big one.

RadSpyro · Dec 22, 2013 2:37 AM

This is looking great so far. Keep it up!

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 24, 2013 11:38 PM

Just one brief update for now.

36. Crystal Glacier
(Game 2 Rank: 9/21)
(Autumn Plains Rank: 4/9)

I've never really thought of myself as having a particular preference towards snowy, icy levels before, but now that I think about it, just about all the Spyro levels of that general theme tend to deliver pretty strongly. There are quite a few snow-themed levels in this series, but other than Frozen Altars -- which is anomalous in that it only placed low due to the horrid boxing, and should have been much higher up -- Crystal Glacier is the first one to be eliminated, and we're over halfway through the ranking. So good job, snow levels, on bringing something to the table every time!

As for Crystal Glacier specifically, I think Crystal Glacier's biggest strength is that it's a very pretty level with a relatively diverse set of aesthetic elements. It has pink and green lava/slime, it has giant green towers, it has some skeleton bones, and it's all covered in snow.. but all of these things work really well together and make it a very appealing level visually. Everything about it is really pretty and that in itself makes it a nice one to play. The level's orb challenges are also pretty strong: The baby snow leopard George is freaking adorable, and flying/flaming the draclets is a fun challenge that was pretty difficult for me as a kid.

Really, every part of Crystal Glacier works well and I have nothing to complain about; it just feels somewhat lackluster compared to the 34 above it. Not that there's anything wrong with it whatsoever -- it outranks over half the levels in the trilogy -- there's just not as much right as there is in those levels still remaining.

But wait! There's more Crystal Glacier!

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We're at the part now where it's really getting hard to cut levels -- everything left has a lot to offer! So once again I have to look at the next set of levels to be eliminated and really work out the right order, because all of them are pretty close.

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 28, 2013 12:40 AM

35. Twilight Harbor
(Game 1 Rank: 18/29)
(Gnasty's World Rank: 2/4)

Twilight Harbor isn't one of the best levels aesthetically as far as I'm concerned; I appreciate the uniqueness of its straight-up industrial feel, but on a totally subjective level I just don't care for it or all of the orange hues. However.. all of that is completely made up for by how much I love the gameplay of this level. Specifically, the enemies. Twilight Harbor might have the best and most difficult selection of enemies of any level in the trilogy. It's definitely up there, at least. I mean, they're *bleep*ing Gnorc commandoes with machine guns -- what more do you want? That is straight up badass. They're also really challenging; this level is up there with Misty Bog as one of the hardest ones to make it through without getting hit. This level also incorporates supercharge in a pretty unique way, with the bridge that you have to both raise and lower in order to do everything you have to with the supercharge ramp. I pretty much love all things supercharge-related -- notice how of the seven levels with supercharge ramps in the first game, this is the first one to be eliminated -- and this level uses it in a really fun way. But more than anything else, the biggest reason why this level cracks into the top thirty-five is the simple fact that the enemies are commandoes who hit you with giant knives, lob grenades at you, and shoot you with machine guns. I mean that is just awesome and that in itself is enough to bring this level up into the top half of all Spyro levels.

But wait! There's more Twilight Harbor!

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34. Autumn Plains
(Game 2 Rank: 8/21)
(Autumn Plains Rank: 3/9)

Now the cuts are starting to get really hard. sad As denoted by the change in color on the first page list, I think there is a pretty sizable gap between Twilight Harbor and Autumn Plains. I am (spoiler!) a HUGE fan of the homeworlds from the second game. All three of them are really relaxing and serene. Of the three, Autumn Plains is the weakest, but it is still a fantastic level. It's a generally pretty level; the view when you first enter and see all of the autumn trees with leaves falling and the pool in front of you is pretty gorgeous. Its background track is very fitting -- just a simple, relaxing synth tone for a couple of minutes. The most lackluster of the three homeworld tracks, but still really relaxing.

What I especially love here, though, is the size and enormity of the castle. Summer Forest has a few buildings rather than one large, distinct castle. Winter Tundra has one clear one, but it's not that big. But in Autumn Plains, you have a huge, huge castle that towers over any other structure in the trilogy. It's so giant and I love it. I love how tall it is, I love the incredibly high tower you can climb up to (the highest point in any level in the series, maybe?) and how you hear wind whipping around Spyro as you climb up to it, I love the long glide from there down to the island out in the exterior of the level, I love the regal purple and yellow coloring inside of the tower, and I love charging along the castle's wall that divides the perimeter of the level. The Autumn Plains homeworld is defined by its expansive castle which is one of my favorite fixtures of any level in the series. Autumn Plains is a serene, relaxing level and a wonderful addition to the series; I just believe that the other two homeworlds from the same game fill a similar role more strongly, and there are 33 stronger levels. I still adore it, though.

But wait! There's more Autumn Plains!

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Hint for the future...

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36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Dec 28, 2013 6:18 AM

something interesting i could point out is, i really have to admire how "homeworlds" are basically selection areas for the other levels, but they never felt like that. they really are part of the game themselves, and i think that's pretty cool.

also, i meant to read this since you posted the really long update a few posts back, but just got around to it tonight. still enjoying reading these!

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 28, 2013 7:11 AM

36IStillLikeSpyro36 wrote:

something interesting i could point out is, i really have to admire how "homeworlds" are basically selection areas for the other levels, but they never felt like that. they really are part of the game themselves, and i think that's pretty cool.

Very true. Because there is a bit of a Homeworld slaughter coming up this is definitely something I was going to talk about in it. Ones in particular that don't feel like simple hubs but rather like levels of their own are Magic Crafters, Dream Weavers, Beast Makers, Summer Forest, and Autumn Plains -- and a lot of the ones that do just feel like hubs are still great levels anyway because of their own unique designs and atmospheres, and with that I'm referring to all the ones still in this that I didn't just name. Like, a small and simple one like Artisans does feel like it's just a hub to select other levels if you think about it.. but it still has a strong enough environment of its own that it is memorable and entertaining to explore in itself.

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 29, 2013 11:05 PM

HOMEWORLD SLAUGHTER
(my f and g key have just fallen out of my keyboard so if there are any typos due to one of those letters being missing then please excuse them)

33. Artisans Homeworld
(Game 1 Rank: 17/29)
(Artisans Rank: 3/5)

Artisans is another one of the levels that I really gained a lot more appreciation and respect for after replaying the series before doing this ranking. The reason why I love it is essentially that it is everything that I think the first level in the series should be. It has a perfect difficulty curve for new players: The enemies can't hurt you, so it's virtually impossible to die here. All of the games should start with enemies that can't hurt you, and Artisans is one of the two that does. At the same time, it does have a layout that requires the new players to learn the ropes of playing as Spyro: The small pillars with gems on them teach you to coordinate Spyro's jumping, the huge pillars by Town Square teach you how to glide and use whirlwinds, and the maze by Dark Hollow is incredibly simplistic but still to some degree gets a new player acclimated to navigating the 3D world. The most challenging part of this level, I always thought, was the big hill that you have to walk to the top of in order to reach the gems on top of a little building. I had no idea what to do there when I was a kid until an older cousin pointed it out to me. That hill is the first instance in Spyro of having to look at the landscape in order to figure out how to get to wherever it is you need to be, and that is what I love about the first game -- its focus on having a level there right in front of you, with no hints as to what to do; you have to figure out on your own how to use Spyro to get what you need. The little hill area tests for the first time your ability to do that and also to simply learn the controls of jumping and gliding.

In addition to all of this -- the Artisan homeworld's role as somewhat of a tutorial level to the controls and techniques of the game (without actually being a tutorial) -- I also think it just has a very nice environment for the opening level. The whole landscape here is simple and welcoming. It all feels nice, calm, peaceful, and happy, as the opening level of the opening game should, and this feeling is strengthened by the music. For such a short and simple level, there is a pretty solid amount of diversity in the scenery, as shown in the screenshot: beyond the simple grassy hills that comprise a majority of the level, there are also hedges in the maze, a beautiful waterfall, an expansive ocean, and mystical castles.

Also, I mentioned this in Stone Hill, but in the Artisans world, the dialogue of the dragons hints at them already knowing Spyro and his being kind of a rambunctious scamp. He says a lot of stuff here about his eagerness to go after Gnasty, he's greeted as familiar by Tomas, and you have my personal favorite line of dialogue from any of the dragons in the game when Delbin tells Spyro, "Keep your horns on!" That line of dialogue is so adorable and entertaining to me that I had to make it my username here when I registered. <3 In general, all of the dragon exchanges here are sweet and charming, as opposed to later levels that are filled with 'THANK YOU FOR RELEASING ME' repeated ad infitum, and at the same time they teach the new players about things like requirements to move on, how to glide, Sparx, etc. Artisans is a perfect fit for the first level of the series and I definitely appreciate it. It's a strong level.. but we're at the point where they're all strong levels and it just doesn't quite stack up to the top 32.

oh and i forgot to mention this before but the hidden sunny flight portal is *bleep*ing AWESOME and blew my mind as a kid.

But wait! There's more Artisans!

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32. Midnight Mountain Home
(Game 3 Rank: 9/24)
(Midnight Mountain Rank: 2/6)

When I played through this level, I was surprised and kind of disappointed by how short it is on the initial playthrough, especially if you compare it to the last homeworlds of the first two games, Dream Weavers and Winter Tundra. (Because, let's be real, the Gnorc Gnexus doesn't count.) That knocks it down quite a bit in this ranking.. but it still does well because in terms of a hub level -- in terms of just having a general environment that I love when I run from one level to another -- it is almost unparalleled. The Dark Passage background and the snowy mountains are all so pretty. The whole level feels wintry to me and it looks like it smells like peppermint. ^_^ You also have pink lava, because hey, why not? And I also love the huge, towering castle -- especially when I use Gameshark codes to jump and fly as high as I want so that I can climb around the sides of it and see all of the Midnight Mountain scenery from a giant height.

I feel like this level is kind of a mixture of the other two final homeworlds, actually, despite being shorter than both of them. From Winter Tundra, it gets the general look and atmosphere -- mountains covered in snow but the ground having a lot of grass, blue cliffs, a nighttime background that's still somewhat bright an colorful -- and from Dream Weavers, it gets the layout that consists solely of a bunch of islands floating in the middle of nowhere with expansive space around them. The highest point of this particular level is of course the tantalizing island off in the distance that you can never, ever reach.. that tortured me as a kid. It was originally supposed to take you to the Super Bonus Round (the portal would be there, and after beating the Sorceress a huge, huge whirlwind would take you out of a hole that is still present in the top of the castle room) but for whatever reason that got cut, leaving a remnant that tortured so many kids who wanted to know what was out there (it seemed especially likely to hold something extra with the bizzare completion percentage of 117% as opposed to 120% in the first game and 100% in the second.)

I can't quite place why I like Midnight Mountain so much, but it just has a general feel about it that I really, really enjoy. I look forward to arriving here and it makes me happy to play in this level, and that's all I really care about. It doesn't make it higher because Winter Tundra essentially does the same thing better, but it is still a strong and fun level. It doesn't have much gameplay, but it's a nice and relaxing level that I think makes for an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. <3 If you doubt its status as a top 32 level from the trilogy, then just look at how pretty some of the screenshots are.

(With this cut, the Evening Lake Home is the highest-ranked homeworld of YotD. Good job, Evening Lake!)

But wait! There's more Midnight Mountain Home!

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31. Beast Makers Homeworld
(Game 1 Rank: 16/29)
(Beast Makers Rank: 4/5)

The Beast Makers Homeworld just barely misses out on the top thirty. It's one of the best examples of something ISLS just mentioned -- how some of the homeworlds don't just feel like nice environments that branch out to the other levels, but rather like full-blown levels in and of themselves. In fact, the Beast Makers Homeworld might be the best example of this. It's the most sprawling, massive homeworld in the trilogy and I love it for that. I can understand how some people might find swamp levels boring, but when they're done well (i.e. not Terrace Village), I don't agree with that at all. The Beast Makers Homeworld is an extraordinary level. The contrast between it and the other homeworlds of the game -- of the series, really -- is so huge. You exit a pink snowy world full of happy wizards.. and enter this dark level full of tiles that randomly electrocute you and enemies that suddenly charge out of the darkness. And that's when you realize that you're only halfway done with the game, and the second half is going to be much, much harder. The Artisans levels are a joke in terms of difficulty, the Peace Keepers ones aren't too difficult, and the Magic Crafters ones have some tricky enemies but nothing too bad.. but then you enter into Beast Makers, the world that has the hellishly challenging monsters of Misty Bog, the impossible supercharge ramps of Tree Tops, and the huge requirement of 50 dragons in order to leave (the one I always thought was the hardest to meet as a kid), and things immediately get so much more difficult. Right off the bat, this homeworld sets the stage for that. It's not happy, it's not bright, it's not welcoming. It's harsh and difficult and you can tell it's going to be from the second you step foot into the level.

The level is so dark and spooky -- with a swamp you can't see more than two feet outward in (a great touch that really adds to the mystery of this level) and owls hooting for the music (which was a memorable enough track to get remixed for Breeze Harbor) -- that it's no wonder that it's one of the two Game 1 levels I was too scared of to even play as a little kid. Even now I still get a little jump nearly every time that the boar charges out at me from behind the hut near Wild Flight, despite knowing it's going to happen. I also love the layout of the level; rather than being an Artisans or a Peace Keepers with one clear, polished layout, it consists solely of small, barren islands rising up out of the muck. The whole swamp feeling here is so unique compared to other homeworlds and executed so well that it has always been among my favorite levels and it pains me to cut it out before the top thirty. This homeworld is *bleep*ing great.

But wait! There's more Beast Makers Homeworld!

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30. Magic Crafters Homeworld
(Game 1 Rank: 15/29)
(Magic Crafters Rank: 4/5)

And now on the total opposite end of the spectrum from Beast Makers -- despite coming just before it in the game -- we have the Magic Crafters Homeworld. Kind of appropriate that I'm cutting it when I am, because for some reason the entire Magic Crafters home has always reminded me of Christmas. It's covered in snow, it has flashing lights on the supercharge ramp, there's a lot of red and green scenery.. it feels like Christmas to me, and that makes me happy because I love Christmas. The whole look here is so happy and uplifting; with its ridiculous amounts of pink, it's probably one of the brightest and happiest levels in the trilogy, if not the brightest and happiest. The whole feel of this level meant it was destined to do pretty well in this ranking.

On top of all that, though, I love all the gameplay here; if Beast Makers isn't the best example of a homeworld that really feels like its own distinct level, then Magic Crafters certainly is. It's notable as the first level in the series that features Supercharge and I really, really love supercharging things. <3 They make it work in a really fun way here, requiring you to use it to get past the druids, make a sharp turn with it in order to smash one crate, and then you can supercharge all the way to the end with the balloonist if you feel like it. Besides introducing us to supercharge, this level also has some fun enemies -- namely, the druids. They're everywhere in Magic Crafters (the only level where they don't appear is Wizard Peak -- which has the bizarre wizards with rods that also make their first appearance in the homeworld) but they're most plentiful and at their best here, raising and lowering tons of different parts of the scenery, blocking your path with walls, etc. The druids are in serious contention for my favorite enemy from the Spyro series (now there's another ranking I could do...) because I love watching the level morph and twist in ways that make it more challenging. I wish we had seen them in more than just this one world -- but that does add to Magic Crafters's unique appeal. Something I mentioned before (in the Peace Keepers post, maybe?) is how in the first game, all of the levels within a given world feel quite similar to one another. That is hardly more evident than in Magic Crafters where every kind of enemy that you see in the homeworld also appears in multiple other levels of the world.

The last thing I will give Magic Crafters props for is the locked chest, one of my favorite little challenges from the first game. Again, I love how they give you no hints about what to do here. It's in a hidden cavern along the side that you might not even notice, and in order to open it once you have found it, you need to either smash it via supercharging (which is relatively difficult to pull off) or get the key, which is also hidden in a little alcove in another part of the level. Just another memorable little part of the first game that frustrated me as a kid and that I want to give some credit to. ^_^ The homeworld of Magic Crafters is a level I enjoy every, very much and a great transition into the top 30 of this ranking.

(Also, after this cut, Dream Weavers has the honor of not only being the last world to have all its levels remaining, but also being the last world to have only one of its levels cut; Jacques is the only Dream Weavers level that has been eliminated, and every other world has now lost at least two levels. Time will tell how long it maintains this streak! Additionally, Dream Weavers Homeworld is the last Game 1 Homeworld remaining.)

But wait! There's more Magic Crafters Homeworld!

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29 is an awkward number, but that's where our Homeworld slaughter ends, so.. here's the top 29:

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Once we hit the top 25, I might make a smaller image that contains only the thumbnails for those levels remaining. It would make it easier to see which ones are left, but I also kind of like having the greyscaled images of all those levels that have been eliminated, both to remember them and to show how many levels those remaining have beaten out. I dunno. If anyone has a preference then say so!

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on the top 29 and which levels they are rooting for (or against??) most of those remaining~
After the next three cuts, at least one world will have been entirely eliminated from this ranking! Any predictions on which world(s) will be the first to fall?

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Dec 30, 2013 3:43 AM

having the grayscaled ones there seems better to me. then like you said it gives more information.

out of curiosity, "it's no wonder that it's one of the two Game 1 levels I was too scared of to even play as a little kid." what was the other one?

Prism · Dec 30, 2013 6:43 PM

Yay! Aquaria Towers is in the Top 29!

I'm not surprised that Fireworks Factory is in the Top 29. I love the challenge when you had to flame the Oriental dragons and if you didn't keep flaming them, they would begin to regrow. That challenge was so hard as a 6-year old. Now, it's not as challenging, but still has some amount of difficulty to it. I also like the music. In fact, I like it so much that I have it on my iPod.

The music of Magma Cone reminds me of late 60's psychedelic bands for some reason. In fact, until the weird part with the glargly noises (If you know what I mean), I can imagine a psychedelic band playing on stage in 1967.

KeepYourHornsOn · Dec 30, 2013 7:59 PM

36IStillLikeSpyro36 wrote:

having the grayscaled ones there seems better to me. then like you said it gives more information.
out of curiosity, "it's no wonder that it's one of the two Game 1 levels I was too scared of to even play as a little kid." what was the other one?

▼Hidden text

eek!

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