Water levels in video games are not good. You know that, I know that, it's pretty much common knowledge at this point. They're often slow, clunky to control, and at worst, frustrating to play. But what if they were good? As a matter of fact, there are plenty of genuinely fun water stages that take advantage of the liquid's best qualities. From currents that push you forward, to serene or eerie vistas, to entire shifts in tone, let's talk about some of the best water levels that prove they don't all have to be bad.
10. Hydrus (Shadow Of The Colossus)
I was a bit unsure about putting a Shadow Of The Colossus boss on here because, well, it's a boss, not a level. However, I have seen this exact fight on several other "best water levels lists" so I'm counting it. Hydrus is the seventh colossus you fight in Shadow Of The Colossus, and he's easily one of my favorites. Where most colossi in this game are a vertical climb, Hydrus stands out by being a long sea serpent that you have to run across horizontally to hit all his weakpoints. Hydrus is constantly moving and will repeatedly try to dive underwater as you perilously cling on for dear life. It's not one of the harder SotC fights out there, but it's absolutely one of the most exhilirating and memorable for how unique and kinetic it feels compared to all the others. I feel like water stages have a tendency to slow the player down, so it's noteworthy how Shadow Of The Colossus makes its water-based boss one of the fastest in the game.
9. The Iron Whale (Shovel Knight)
Mega Man has one of the better approaches to water levels, using water to augment your abilities rather than limit them. When you're underwater, you can jump as high as you want, but there are often spikes on the ceiling to punish you for abusing your newfound power. However, even with how many great water levels there are in Mega Man, I still think Shovel Knight's crack at the concept surpasses all of them. The Iron Whale takes place inside a submarine and throws in everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to game mechanics. Unstable platforms that sink when you step on them, spikes that stop you from floating up too high, tentacles that pop out of walls, a giant angler fish that chases you, missiles that you can ride on to reach far-away platforms, dropping anchors to jump across, the works. Add in one of the best music tracks in the game by Mega Man legend Manami Matsumae and a fantastic grapple-hook-heavy boss fight against Treasure Knight and you get what is easily one of my favorite Shovel Knight stages, as well as arguably the perfection of Mega Man's approach to water levels.
8. Water Land (Kirby's Epic Yarn)
Kirby's water levels tend to not be too half bad since they often use currents to propel you along, with Onion Ocean 3, Planet Misteen, and Fast-Flowing Waterworks being notable highlights. However, if I were to talk about my favorite water level in all of Kirby, I'd be remiss not to mention how Epic Yarn handles them. Epic Yarn introduces several transformations for Kirby, but one of my personal favorites is the Dolphin transformation which is used for the bulk of this game's water levels. And oh my god, the Dolphin form feels so good to control. You have an incredible level of precision to your movement and you swim so fast! You can even leap out of the water and juggle balls on your nose, it's amazing! Kirby's Epic Yarn has an entire world full of water stages checking off all the usual boxes like a beach level, a coral reef level, a deep sea trench level, and a pirate ship level, but the incredible controls and abundance of charm make Water Land feel like a highlight of the game rather than a low point.
7. Irate Eight (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze)
Donkey Kong games are also pretty well-known for having solid underwater stages, even if I've personally still never been a fan. The controls never really had the speed that I wanted, they still felt somewhat sluggish. That being said, there is a big exception in the form of Irate Eight. Irate Eight is a followup stage to an iconic level in DKC Returns where you get chased around by a giant squid, though in that game, there wasn't any swimming. This time around, the squid is back, fiercer than ever, and has cornered you underwater. Water levels and fast-paced chasing sequences mesh incredibly well and Irate Eight is a great example of that, offering a tense, brutally difficult, and fast-paced level that pushes the game's swimming mechanics to their absolute limit. And I didn't even get into the phenomenal score which contains an absolutely godly remix of Lockjaw's Saga from DKC2. I always found Tropical Freeze's water world to be by far the weakest one, but Irate Eight is so good that it stands out as one of my favorite levels in the entire game.
6. Slimy Spring Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)
From a gameplay standpoint, Slimy Spring Galaxy isn't too much to write home about. It's a solid water level that takes advantage of Galaxy's fun Koopa Shell mechanics to offer a propulsive underwater obstacle course that never slows down. It might actually be one of the harder Mario water stages since it's the only one that actually forces you to really manage your oxygen, with few moments to surface for air. But what really elevates Slimy Spring Galaxy is the presentation. Slimy Spring Galaxy takes place in an underwater grotto, and it looks and sounds incredibly atmospheric. There's overgrown moss everywhere, water ripple patterns on all the walls and platforms, and fog in the air. The soundtrack is minimal and droning, it's equal parts soothing and tense. But then there's the ending, after a long gauntlet with little air to breath, you finally come out the other side and see one of the prettiest sunsets I've ever seen in a videogame, all as the music cuts out to let you appreciate it. Slimy Spring Galaxy, despite the silly name, is quite possibly the most artistic level in all of Mario, a testament to the beauty and serenity of water. One of countless examples of why the Galaxy games are perfect.
5. Frigate Orpheon Crash Site (Metroid Prime)
Speaking of serene water levels, the Frigate Orpheon Crash Site sticks out as one of the most striking moments in all of Metroid. Metroid Prime generally has a pretty smooth difficulty curve, with the intensity slowly ratcheting up as the game goes on. By the midway point, you're already being flooded with enemies at nearly every turn, it's constant action. But then you enter that massive shipwreck on the Tallon Overworld, and that action just... stops. This very brief but incredibly memorable water stage serves as a much-needed respite in the middle of Metroid Prime, a place for you to catch your breath and reflect on what you've been through so far. There aren't many enemies here, you already have the Gravity Suit so movement feels totally normal, and all you need to deal with is some pretty basic platforming, but it's perfectly placed to feel like a breath of fresh air. And I didn't even get into the visual storytelling, as it slowly dawns on you that the wrecked ship you're in is in fact the ship from the game's opening, only for that reality to punch you in the gut when you see a bunch of dead Space Pirate bodies float up to the surface. All the while one of the most calming and reflective pieces of video game music plays in the background. It all adds up to what I feel is one of the most hauntingly beautiful areas in any video game.
4. Swimming With Stars (Rayman Origins)
The water levels in the UbiArt Rayman games are incredibly good, mostly due to how well they control. Rayman and his friends swim impressively fast and they have a tight turning radius meaning underwater traversal doesn't feel like a downgrade at all. Rayman Legends probably has my favorite overall water world in any game, 20,000 Lums Under The Sea, a beautiful fusion of water and stealth mechanics with an awesome spy theming that culminates in a chase sequence that puts Irate Eight to shame. However, if I had to pick a single level, Rayman Origins' Swimming With Stars is what really stands out the most. The stage starts off as a pretty standard water stage, but early on, you enter what the soundtrack refers to as "The Abyss", a deep dark trench that marks a shocking change in tone into pure horror. The music becomes eerie, and the previously upbeat singing Lums sound far more menacing now. The stage revolves around you finding and clinging onto whichever light sources you can find, not just to help you navigate, but because if you stay in the dark, these creepy thorned hands will start reaching out to grab you. It's a shockingly tense and oppressive stage in what's otherwise a pretty upbeat game, but that just makes Swimming With Stars all the more striking and memorable. No other water stage does as good a job at highlighting the horrors that lie beneath the surface, and I wouldn't be surprised if it triggered thalassophobia in a lot of the kids who played it.
3. The Entire Starfy Series
It should be pretty obvious by now that water levels do not have the best reputation, which only makes it all the more impressive that TOSE decided to make an entire series centered around underwater traversal. The Legendary Starfy series is often referred to as marine platformers, mostly focused around you swimming around in the ocean. Despite this, you have full eight-directional movement and a very fun spin move that lets you dash around super quickly, so moving Starfy or Starly around never feels like a slog. As a matter of fact, I might even argue that I like the underwater controls in the Starfy games more than the more standard above water controls! Beyond just the gameplay though, I love how well the underwater theming is integrated into Starfy. You get to explore tons of different water-themed locals from coral reefs to icecaps to underwater temples to dark grottos, and the music consistently has this ethereal, flowing, and echoey vibe to it that just screams water. If there's any game series that proves that water levels don't have to suck, Starfy is absolutely that series.
2. Hydrocity Zone (Sonic 3 & Knuckles)
Sonic is often the number one culprit when it comes to water levels that suck, and yeah, it's not hard to see why. Strict oxygen mechanics, labyrinthine level design, and slow movement in a game that's supposed to be fast-paced, it's a cavalcade of bad design decisions that serve as a perfect example of how not to make a water level. However, Hydrocity Zone is a rare instance where Sonic Team actually learned their lesson and made one of the fastest-paced water levels in all of gaming. Waterslides and currents are all over the place constantly pushing you forward, you can run on top of the water, and a skilled player can often avoid water for most of the stage. And on top of that, it's all accentuated by one of the smoothest, catchiest, boppiest music tracks in the entire franchise, a track so good that the Mania remix barely changed a thing. Hydrocity Zone is an iconic Sonic stage for a reason, it's definitely one of my personal favorites.
1. Water Temple (Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time)
Zelda has an incredibly strong track record when it comes to water mechanics. Yes, I'm being serious here, I love Zelda's water dungeons. They often focus on being complex puzzle-boxes that require a ton of spatial reasoning to figure out, my favorite types of dungeons. And Skyward Sword in particular has some of my favorite underwater controls in any game period, it feels so fast and fluid. However, if I had to pick my favorite water dungeon in Zelda, there's no way it wouldn't be the Water Temple. I've always been an ardent Water Temple defender, it's far and away my favorite part of Ocarina and one of my favorite dungeons in the entire franchise. It's the puzzle-boxiest puzzle-box in the series, with a big central hub, a ton of different paths to visit right from the start, and a lot of tough spatial reasoning puzzles as you try to figure out where to raise the water level. It's certainly a brain-teasing dungeon, but a very satisfying one at that, and the calming atmosphere and pretty visuals always keep me at easy whenever I play it. But that's not to say the Water Temple is all pensive puzzles, it actually has a bunch of fun water-related setpieces from currents to whirlpools to Longshotting up a waterfall, just to spice things up every once in a while. The only complaint about the dungeon I agree with is the Iron Boots equipping, but the 3DS remake fixes that regardless (though it also removes some of the challenge so I still prefer the 64 version). Regardless, I think the immaculate design of Water Temple far outweighs the negatives. For my tastes personally, the Water Temple epitomizes everything I love about the Zelda dungeon format, and it stands out as easily the water level I remember the most fondly.
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