Ever since I can remember I have hated water levels. The first ones I can recall are the water stages in Super Mario Bros. for the NES. At the time I had never played a water level so I started this game with no biases, but over time I grew to think "Ugh!" to myself whenever I encountered one in any game.
Things were simple enough in the beginning. Oh sure, Mario's ones slowed you down and you had to move in a different way from normal stages, but if you rapidly pressed the 'A' button you could get through those stages faster. And let's not forget the Mega Man ones, where the physics for jumping are completely changed... and when you held down the 'jump' button for too long, the deaths by spikes were numerous. Then there were the Sonic The Hedgehog water acts. There was no way you could move faster through those other than to avoid the water at every chance or to try to "run" underwater to gain momentum.
I guess my problem is I like movement in games to be fast. That's why I can recognize the quality of slow paced games even if I don't enjoy their plodding pace. But with water stages, the speed is almost always slowed down from the regular stages, and in the ones concerned with your mammalian status (Echo the Dolphin, Sonic, etc.), you are in constant danger of drowning unless you are always seeking out air. These stages have enough obstacles and dangers abounding throughout without the need for this omnipresent worry!
So which water stages do you dislike, and what's so bad about them? Do you wish games would skip them altogether? Or perhaps you like water levels and you'd like to defend some good examples. Let us know!