Anyone else love games with underwater levels?

[suppafly]

I was chatting with kamino last night when i realized i LOVE games with underwater levels. A few examples are:

* Underwater levels in DKC (SNES) sooo erlaxing
* Ecco the dolphin
* Underwater level in Lightening force
* Underwater level in Axelay!!
* Underwater level in TMNT1 (snes)

Theres just something cool about underwater levels ...

Anyone else here has the same opinion?

Thanks

[smokehouse]

For the most part, no, I hate them. Levels like the one on TMNT 1 (NES) and Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (Genesis) only piss me off. Now most of the levels in Mario games I like.

[suppafly]

For the most part, no, I hate them. Levels like the one on TMNT 1 (NES) and Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (Genesis) only piss me off. Now most of the levels in Mario games I like.

Its fun how I´d never realized I liked underwater games UNTIL YESTERDAY lol..

And yes, I love the underwater levels in mario bros 3....!

[CYRiX]

I always loved being in that little submarine in SML. (Super Mario Land)

[suppafly]

I always loved being in that little submarine in SML. (Super Mario Land)

That level kicked ass...Nice comment!

[smokehouse]

As much as I dislike the game as a whole, I really like the feel of the underwater levels in Mario 64. There’s something fluid (ha, ha) and weightless about them. The ones in SMB 1,2,3 and World are also great.

I think the running out of air/time factor in many titles is what bothers me. I don't know why but it does.

[suppafly]

As much as I dislike the game as a whole, I really like the feel of the underwater levels in Mario 64. There’s something fluid (ha, ha) and weightless about them. The ones in SMB 1,2,3 and World are also great.

I think the running out of air/time factor in many titles is what bothers me. I don't know why but it does.

Youre right....thats why I loved the underwater levels in DKC (SNES)...theyre so relaxing, I loved the music too...AND you cant run out of oxygen

[smokehouse]

Yup, I will say the DKC levels were great too. Especially when you get on the swordfish.

[calthaer]

I love the levels in Commander Keen where you are underwater and have to avoid the DOPEFISH.

[boatofcar]

Most of the time I hate them with a passion, i.e. Sonic, but I must say that the ones in Mario 64 and Sunshine really coaxed me into enjoying the underwater experience :)

[Cryomancer]

I hate them with a passion. They instill oddly huge amounts of FEAR into me no good reason. I'm not even really afraid of water or anything but even thinking about ecco the dolphin makes me want to curl up and cry. Never been able to explain this to myself.

[suppafly]

I hate them with a passion. They instill oddly huge amounts of FEAR into me no good reason. I'm not even really afraid of water or anything but even thinking about ecco the dolphin makes me want to curl up and cry. Never been able to explain this to myself.

Try playing underwater levels in shoot-em-ups....like level one in lightening force...or level 4 in Axelay...those are cool!

[tritium]

Umm never did figure out the whole Ecco thing.

I did like the water lvl's in the Mario and Dkc games.

I found the puzzle's in the sonic water lvl's fun.

[CosmicMonkey]

Yeah, the water levels in Mario64 are amazing. The control system is great, why they changed it and made it crap for Sunshine, I'll never know.

The water dungeon in Zelda: OoT is great to. Adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay and is one of the harder dungeons.

Did anyone ever find the secret -1 world in original NES Super Mario Bros? It's a swimming level you can't actually escape from.

The underwater levels in the original Sonic are damn annoying.

[suppafly]

Did anyone ever find the secret -1 world in original NES Super Mario Bros? It's a swimming level you can't actually escape from.

Of course, you just have to do the block trick at the end of the 1-2 dungeon. Then you enter any of the 3 pipes at the end of the room and you get transported to level -1

[Jumpman Jr.]

Whatever the game, I HATE underwater levels. Its usually because I can master a particular character when he/she is on land, but when I try to control them underwater, stuff gets messed up.

[Nez]

I really don't like em. Usually games have bad underwater controll. i guess they devote all there time to making it easy to walk on land wich is what you'll do 95% of the time.

[-hellvin-]

I love the levels in Commander Keen where you are underwater and have to avoid the DOPEFISH.

Oh man, I couldn't stand the underwater keen levels. I hated in CC4 where you got the diving suit and had to go do all those levels...I sucked so bad at them. Most of the time I hate it whenever underwater levels come around. For some reason, I just don't like em.

Strangely enough, I LOVE the Ecco games are they're all underwater ;D.

[suppafly]

I love the levels in Commander Keen where you are underwater and have to avoid the DOPEFISH.

Oh man, I couldn't stand the underwater keen levels. I hated in CC4 where you got the diving suit and had to go do all those levels...I sucked so bad at them. Most of the time I hate it whenever underwater levels come around. For some reason, I just don't like em.

Strangely enough, I LOVE the Ecco games are they're all underwater ;D.

What about the underwater parts in Duke Nukem 3d? those were cool with the aqua long...I liked them!

[Whiskers the Wonder Cat]

I really enjoyed Sonic 3's level.

[roushimsx]

I don't like underwater levels per se, but I LOVE submarine levels/submarine-based action games.

Stuff like Sub Rebellion for PS2, Treasures of the Deep for PS1, or the ultra relaxing Aquanaut's Holiday for PS1.

stuff like In the Hunt and the sub levels of Metal Slug 3 also rock my socks all over town.

oh, and the submarine level in the first Medal of Honor or the full size sub in Duke It Out in DC? Gold.

[jdc]

I'll second Treasures Of The Deep. You felt like Jaques Cousteau. I just picked up and started playing Ecco on the Dreamcast. It's gonna be hell.....but it looks nice while you suffer.

Indiana Jones on Xbox had a hell of a lot of water leveling. Mario 64 was great. Swimming down and trying to coax that big eel out of his cave. I'll soon be playing it on the DS. It's the game that I'm most curious about, just to see what they did with it. And the water temple in Ocarina was.....peaceful.

[Felixthegamer]

One of my favourite levels is in super mario bros when you are under water! I really dig the under water stuff in Mario, it is a lot of fun! I am not sure if I would dig stuff in other games as much though. I don't recall playing all too many games with under water levels, but over all I have to say they are cool in my book

[Teknik_SE-R]

whoa! flashback!

ecco, any smb, sonic, and most definitely mario 64, marioland, any DKC and Duke nukem. I also liked the ocean portion of E.V.O. but could never wait to evolve some feet

[Lemmy Kilmister]

stuff like In the Hunt and the sub levels of Metal Slug 3 also rock my socks all over town.

Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! In The Hunt. Too bad the Saturn version of that game only seems to boot up 50 percent of the time.

[Milk]

I really hate the Labrynth Zone in Sonic 1 and World 3 in SMB 3. They've always been so difficult for me. I do like the water levels in Super Mario World though, go figure. I also like playing through Sonic 3 water levels as Tails. They're so much less frustrating than as Sonic. Why does the fastest thing alive move like he's running through molasses whenever so much as a spine gets wet?

[lendelin]

Not only do I love underwater levels, but underwater games.


Stuff like Sub Rebellion for PS2, Treasures of the Deep for PS1, or the ultra relaxing Aquanaut's Holiday for PS1.

stuff like In the Hunt and the sub levels of Metal Slug 3 also rock my socks all over town.


Sub Rebellion is indeed a good game, and so is Treasures of the Deep; Aquanaut's Holiday I still have to purchase and to play.

By all means buy Everblue 2 (Capcom, PS2)! It is better than Treasures of the Deep, a hidden gem, and one of the great gameplay experiences I had of this console generation.

In the Hunt is an awesome shooter; unfortunately, there is no more recent game I can think of which comes close. I had hopes for Seablade (Xbox) but the game is sub-par to mediocre. I hoped it would re-introduce the unusual half-underwater/half-air concept but most of the time is spent in air and diving is an option, not a requirement. (should have been called 'Airblade')

BTW, if you're interested in sea and underwater games, the DP 'zine had an entire issue (#35) about underwater games covering classics from the Atari 2600 to the NES. In a more recent issue ("Skies") there is an article about newer underwater games comparing them to their "sky" counterparts.

Sea and underwater games are terribly neglected, and I never understood why. I can't think of programming difficulties. Probably it is a psychological reason; being underwater seems to have less appeal for most gamers than being in space.

I'd like to see a triple A title-RPG set underwater. The possibilities are fantastic (enemies, hidden areas, topography, weapons, machinery, story), and underwater physics could be incorporated into gameplay. It would be a refreshing variety to the countless medieval/sword/crate-pushing/spell-setting of RPGs.

[lendelin]

Why does the fastest thing alive move like he's running through molasses whenever so much as a spine gets wet?

You hit the nail on its head. This is a general characteristic of underwater games. Programmers and game designers think movement underwater HAS TO BE sluggish and difficult. They turn from unrealistic, fun-gameplay-comes-first-designers into simulation fanatics as soon the setting is underwater.

This is amazing and non-sense if you play as a fish or the game is set in the future. Should I believe even in the year 2500 subs are sluggish and there is no technological advancement? The present planes in AceCombat have better manouverability than most subs and divers in the future.

Steven Spielberg didn't think so when he shot the underwater levels for Naboo. There the sub moves as quick as the the big underwater creatures, and human beings can easily dive and breathe underwater.

[Hokkus]

ME, ME, ME!

I love Ecco. Ecco: The Tides of Time is my all-time favorite game. The first one is also great, but maybe a bit too hard for its own good (the end game was a nightmare). I haven't played Defender of the Future yet, I'll hunt it down some day.

And for some strange reason, I also liked Ariel the Little Mermaid on Master System. Awful controls, awful graphics, extremely short and easy, but still somehow very entertaining.

Only water level I really hate is one in Maui Mallard.

[evildead2099]

It generally depends on the game, for me.

3D shooters like Duke 3D, Blood, and Shadow Warrior did a great job incorporating underwater territory into their levels.

[Pantechnicon]

I tend to not like them and it's hard to explain why. I have no especial fear of water or anything....I don't like how one has to readjust to moving a a character underwater after he becomes accustomed to moving in a particular way on terra firma. The worst ones are the ones with oxygen limits. As if you aren't having enough stress moving around underwater now you have to worry about breathing. I see underwater levels and I just want to get through them as fast as possible.

Three of my least favorites:

Jungle Hunt - It took me years to get past the river with the crocs. The oxygen limit isn't so bad, but the timing has to be really precise when you kill the crocs with your knife.

Sonic Adventure 2 - One of the later Knuckles levels requires that you have to have found a power-up on a previous level that grants you infinite air. I did not know this - somehow missed the power-up - and so when I went on to this later level I tried for a week to get Knuckles through this deep underwater movement, hoping I'd keep rounding the next corner and finding a surface break, only to instead kill the echidna again and again ad nauseum.

GTA: San Andreas - I never bothered developing the lung capacity skill adequately enough to do the underwater demolition mission for the Chinese gang, and I really haven't felt like going swimming long enough to bring it up. It's supposed to be Grand Theft Auto, not Grand Theft SCUBA, right? So I put the game down and haven't been back to it since.

[roushimsx]

By all means buy Everblue 2 (Capcom, PS2)! It is better than Treasures of the Deep, a hidden gem, and one of the great gameplay experiences I had of this console generation.

I've heard a lot of good buzz about it in the past (both here and on SomethingAwful), so I ended up scoring a copy for ~$10 a few months ago and have yet to play it. I'm looking forward to when I can squeek it into the queue though, because it really does look and sound pretty sweet :)

Also, I picked up Finny the Fish & the Seven Waters because it looked reasonably interesting. That's another title i'm really looking forward to spending some time with.

[Teknik_SE-R]

I'm a big fan of ninja turtles 1 water levels. half for nostalgic reasons, half for how fun it is. I still don't understand why that gem gets sucha bad rap

early metroid water levels were very well done I think. I still haven't played any new metroid games, any of those have water levels?

name the kirby game. the water sections are not very easy, mainly due to the awkward controls and the falling coconut bomb things that get you every time

[RJ]

@Teknik- who IS that in your avatar pic? @_@

[atomicthumbs]

I'm suprised that no one has mentioned Tomb Raider I and ESPECIALLY Tomb Raider II. Those games had some incredibly great underwater levels with EXCEPTIONAL control!

[Lord Contaminous]

Ikari III: The Rescue. Shooter type stage underwater, you're wearing scuba gear and a harpoon for a weapon.

Most Final Fantasy games are underwater, particularly in transportation as well as the Serpent Trench (FF3/6)

Lupin the 3rd (Famicom)

[christhegamer]

Underwater levels are okay, (they're actually quite soothing), but, man, I Frickin' hate those underwater levels in the Sonic games; it only takes about 10 seconds to die in there! :angry:

[Teknik_SE-R]

its my wife.

Is Lupin III a good game? I have been debating getting it cuz I enjoy the anime, but ususally games based on shows suck (with the exception of disney nes games)

[CreamSoda]

To be honest? NO! LOL

I hate the levels in games where you can drown underwater, it just gets me pissed off.

However there are some exceptions...

DKC series(SNES), awesome graphics, really relaxing music, fun levels altogether.

Super Mario 64(N64), I know you can drown, but most of the water levels in this game kicked ass(accept that fish tank you couldn't escape from!!)

Super Mario Land(GB), that submarine level was awesome!!

and a few more I can't think of...

Nice topic btw,

[Damaramu]

stuff like In the Hunt and the sub levels of Metal Slug 3 also rock my socks all over town.

Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! In The Hunt. Too bad the Saturn version of that game only seems to boot up 50 percent of the time.

Aha! And all this time I thought it was just my copy of the game! *_*

[Lady Jaye]

I don't like underwater levels -- I've always disliked having to go through them in Super Mario in particular (although also in the Sonic series).