Steelie
Meerkat from outer space
1. Hollow Hill Zone by Othius, Inazuma & Spectorious
2. Ridge Rapids Zone by particle
3. Falcon Emissary Zone by InferNOr
4. Ante-Station Zone by Twins'R'Okay
5. Mercury Mine Zone by Rexeljet
6. Lava Temple by Vixuzen
7. Fort Sunset Zone by DylanDude
8. Teal Tundra Zone by SunCyclone
9. Abyss Caverns Zone by yyeellooww7
10. Zaxel's Thunder Yard by Zaxel
11. Koopa Kastle Zone by Glaber
12. Bombastic Beach Zone by Shapeshifter Boi
13. Music Mash Zone by WasifBoomz
14. Blizzard Bastion Zone by PhilJFou
15. Drenched Dam Zone by Voidy2246
16. Emerald Glade Zone by DoodlesYT
My thoughts on the stages in this OLDC:
2. Ridge Rapids Zone by particle
3. Falcon Emissary Zone by InferNOr
4. Ante-Station Zone by Twins'R'Okay
5. Mercury Mine Zone by Rexeljet
6. Lava Temple by Vixuzen
7. Fort Sunset Zone by DylanDude
8. Teal Tundra Zone by SunCyclone
9. Abyss Caverns Zone by yyeellooww7
10. Zaxel's Thunder Yard by Zaxel
11. Koopa Kastle Zone by Glaber
12. Bombastic Beach Zone by Shapeshifter Boi
13. Music Mash Zone by WasifBoomz
14. Blizzard Bastion Zone by PhilJFou
15. Drenched Dam Zone by Voidy2246
16. Emerald Glade Zone by DoodlesYT
My thoughts on the stages in this OLDC:
Ranked from lowest to best, based on how I enjoyed them.
16/ Emerald Glade Zone by DoodlesYT
I have very little to say about this stage. It’s basically a canvas to try out various functions of ZB. While fine in concept, playing this is a major chore, especially when I got an Emerald to spawn in the pit with spammed spring shells.
15/ Drenched Dam Zone by Voidy2246
I didn’t expect a Metal Sonic race. The whole stage is mired by questionable design decisions, like the invisible walls everywhere barring any progress other than that you intend, which isn’t that bad of an idea itself, but placing invisible walls to block areas that are clearly visible is not the way to do it. The whole stage is fairly claustrophobic to wade through, and the enemies and mines sometimes filling up the stage make maneuvering difficult. The timer counting down is a nice touch, though.
Also, the DK rap remix made my ears bleed and my mind numb.
14/ Blizzard Bastion Zone by PhilJFou
It’s hard to talk about this stage, because it has an okay layout and design, but a lot of the ideas either fall flat or are a massive nuisance. As someone mentioned before, it’s a very Sonic unfriendly stage, having to rely on slope physics to get into the castle. There’s also this particular room with conveyor belts and turret in the middle, which I’m picking out of the lot, because it’s awful. The castle’s inside is where it also gets visually bland: massive rooms and hallways, large amounts of statues, and same texturing most of the way through. It has an okay length and some nice ideas, but I didn’t really have fun.
13/ Music Mash Zone by WasifBoomz
I have to say, I really liked Aquatic Port better. This stage is like a step back in comparison. I couldn’t figure out some of the puzzles and mostly relied on either jumping across or taking different routes. The texturing itself is… really not good. I’d say it’s almost seizure-inducing. The layout of the map itself is fairly straightforward, and I like the callbacks to your older stages.
12 /Bombastic Beach Zone by Shapeshifter Boi
Easily the shortest level of the bunch, I think I finished it in about 40 seconds when I played it first and didn’t know the layout. I like the introduction of the bubble gimmick, but it’s a shame it’s more of a novelty instead of being used properly. Nothing much else to say, it’s kinda basic.
11/ Koopa Kastle Zone by Glaber
You know, Glaber, after over a decade of mapping, I really expected more from you than this. The stage is bland and geometric, making it look like something out of the Final Demo. The enemies have some harrowing placement, like Sharps on a platform in front of an excruciatingly slow lift—Wait, Sharps? What are they doing here, why not use Spincushions? The 2D section is ok enough, and the Koopa sprites are neat. Brak at the end is an annoyance, though.
10/ Zaxel's Thunder Yard by Zaxel
You really ought to learn how to make shorter levels because hot damn. The electric gimmick is very impressive, and I like its usage across the stage. The visuals are just like before, very nice to look at. Everything else unfortunately falls apart. The stage as mentioned, is overly too long. Not a fan of the enemy lineup either. The spiders feel like crawla resprites, while the fairies are pretty much jetties. The jellyfish was the most interesting of the bunch, but just like the rest, it’s plagued by an unreasonable amount of HP. The beginning text I could get behind being immersive, if you didn’t talk about “girls in season” which genuinely creeps me out. And the loli room just nails it for me further.
Also the troll softlock. I fully expected a prank behind a “very cool” exit, but a softlock is honestly insulting and unreasonable.
9/ Abyss Caverns Zone by yyeellooww7
We’re getting into the territory of stages that are really just “okay” and I have nothing much to say about. This stage is fun, has an interesting theme, but has nothing more than fast platforming going for it.
8/ Teal Tundra Zone by SunCyclone
Essentially the same as above, just handled better. I prefer the wintery theme and I liked how fast paced it is but has nothing much else going for it. Visually, though, I’d think this is worse than Abyss Caverns because it’s very geometric, but it isn’t enough to put it below it.
7/ Fort Sunset Zone by DylanDude
This is a very nice experimental stage. I don’t know what it is a reference to, but I like the cute design. Gameplay-wise it’s extremely basic and gets old very quickly when you realize it’s just a small, symmetrical area in which you have to collect a lot of coins, unfortunately.
6/ Lava Temple by Vixuzen
An entire stage based on a game I only watched my brother play and around a gimmick that is being utilized in a fairly creative way. Some of the ball puzzles were cruel, but it didn’t ruin the experience much. I have played it only with Sonic so far, so I can only comment on his path at the end of the stage. It’s brutal, some of the jumps are overly too difficult to make, especially when the platforms have enemies, so I’d suggest toning that next time. The enemies themselves could’ve been placed more scarcely, especially the Buzz-based enemies around tight platforms for ball maneuvering. Otherwise, I like the theme and the unique challenge. I’ll be sure to play it with more characters to see their end paths.
5/ Mercury Mine Zone by Rexeljet
I like this stage quite a bit visually. The texturing is unique, and the layout is intuitive and fast paced. The length is okay, although I’d prefer it slightly shorter. I’m not too fond of the ring-sapping mercury. Especially when you put ring monitors within the lake, making Perfect bonus impossible for sure.
4/ Ante-Station Zone by Twins'R'Okay
This is more of a proof of concept than a proper stage, but god damn if it isn’t cool. I don’t really like how Software looks, but I’m willing to stomach it for this stage. The biggest issue I really had with it is that the platforming is sometimes downright unfair with the wacky views and how your character doesn’t move with them and so is constantly at risk of simply sliding off. Other than that, really neat.
3/ Falcon Emissary Zone by InferNOr
Well, my PC has a bit of an aneurysm every single time it attempts to load this stage, either on arrival or after dying. When it does, it’s really quite awesome. The visuals are gorgeous, and the gimmicks are impressive. The storm midway through had me engaged and I enjoyed playing through this quite a bit. It has some questionable decisions which prevent it from being ranked even higher, though. Notably some of the ledges are very hard to see that they’re sloped, so spinning into monitors in front of them, thinking it’s a levelled edge that will stop you, meant a few dumb deaths. The enemy placement can be cheap, as there is a lot. And some of the traps are pretty rude, especially when you try to pick up the life at the beginning (which has no real value since lives are turned off in the OLDC anyway) and get assaulted by a squadron of flying enemies. Otherwise very neat.
2/ Ridge Rapids Zone by particle
I actually really liked this neat little stage. The visuals, while simple, were cozy and hard to get lost in. The slide sections were fun enough and the 2D section breaks the stage off nicely. I like how the rocks at the beginning were so subtly climbable. They looked small enough, but you really need to jump around to find out that, indeed, you can get all the way to the top of the beginning area, where an Emerald can be found. I feel I ranked this stage much higher than most people, but I don’t care, this is a nice little stage that fits SRB2 perfectly.
1/ Hollow Hill Zone by Othius, Inazuma & Spectorious
This was to be expected, from such a collab. This stage is gorgeous. From the visuals to the gameplay elements to the fact you took your time to find some very clever spots for the emblems, encouraging replayability with other characters. I can’t think of much to complain, other than maybe that the stage is very dark and made playing it in the morning a hell of a chore, though that’s admittedly a me issue for playing OLDC at the time that makes the sunshine feel like it can cook something on the windowsill.
16/ Emerald Glade Zone by DoodlesYT
I have very little to say about this stage. It’s basically a canvas to try out various functions of ZB. While fine in concept, playing this is a major chore, especially when I got an Emerald to spawn in the pit with spammed spring shells.
15/ Drenched Dam Zone by Voidy2246
I didn’t expect a Metal Sonic race. The whole stage is mired by questionable design decisions, like the invisible walls everywhere barring any progress other than that you intend, which isn’t that bad of an idea itself, but placing invisible walls to block areas that are clearly visible is not the way to do it. The whole stage is fairly claustrophobic to wade through, and the enemies and mines sometimes filling up the stage make maneuvering difficult. The timer counting down is a nice touch, though.
Also, the DK rap remix made my ears bleed and my mind numb.
14/ Blizzard Bastion Zone by PhilJFou
It’s hard to talk about this stage, because it has an okay layout and design, but a lot of the ideas either fall flat or are a massive nuisance. As someone mentioned before, it’s a very Sonic unfriendly stage, having to rely on slope physics to get into the castle. There’s also this particular room with conveyor belts and turret in the middle, which I’m picking out of the lot, because it’s awful. The castle’s inside is where it also gets visually bland: massive rooms and hallways, large amounts of statues, and same texturing most of the way through. It has an okay length and some nice ideas, but I didn’t really have fun.
13/ Music Mash Zone by WasifBoomz
I have to say, I really liked Aquatic Port better. This stage is like a step back in comparison. I couldn’t figure out some of the puzzles and mostly relied on either jumping across or taking different routes. The texturing itself is… really not good. I’d say it’s almost seizure-inducing. The layout of the map itself is fairly straightforward, and I like the callbacks to your older stages.
12 /Bombastic Beach Zone by Shapeshifter Boi
Easily the shortest level of the bunch, I think I finished it in about 40 seconds when I played it first and didn’t know the layout. I like the introduction of the bubble gimmick, but it’s a shame it’s more of a novelty instead of being used properly. Nothing much else to say, it’s kinda basic.
11/ Koopa Kastle Zone by Glaber
You know, Glaber, after over a decade of mapping, I really expected more from you than this. The stage is bland and geometric, making it look like something out of the Final Demo. The enemies have some harrowing placement, like Sharps on a platform in front of an excruciatingly slow lift—Wait, Sharps? What are they doing here, why not use Spincushions? The 2D section is ok enough, and the Koopa sprites are neat. Brak at the end is an annoyance, though.
10/ Zaxel's Thunder Yard by Zaxel
You really ought to learn how to make shorter levels because hot damn. The electric gimmick is very impressive, and I like its usage across the stage. The visuals are just like before, very nice to look at. Everything else unfortunately falls apart. The stage as mentioned, is overly too long. Not a fan of the enemy lineup either. The spiders feel like crawla resprites, while the fairies are pretty much jetties. The jellyfish was the most interesting of the bunch, but just like the rest, it’s plagued by an unreasonable amount of HP. The beginning text I could get behind being immersive, if you didn’t talk about “girls in season” which genuinely creeps me out. And the loli room just nails it for me further.
Also the troll softlock. I fully expected a prank behind a “very cool” exit, but a softlock is honestly insulting and unreasonable.
9/ Abyss Caverns Zone by yyeellooww7
We’re getting into the territory of stages that are really just “okay” and I have nothing much to say about. This stage is fun, has an interesting theme, but has nothing more than fast platforming going for it.
8/ Teal Tundra Zone by SunCyclone
Essentially the same as above, just handled better. I prefer the wintery theme and I liked how fast paced it is but has nothing much else going for it. Visually, though, I’d think this is worse than Abyss Caverns because it’s very geometric, but it isn’t enough to put it below it.
7/ Fort Sunset Zone by DylanDude
This is a very nice experimental stage. I don’t know what it is a reference to, but I like the cute design. Gameplay-wise it’s extremely basic and gets old very quickly when you realize it’s just a small, symmetrical area in which you have to collect a lot of coins, unfortunately.
6/ Lava Temple by Vixuzen
An entire stage based on a game I only watched my brother play and around a gimmick that is being utilized in a fairly creative way. Some of the ball puzzles were cruel, but it didn’t ruin the experience much. I have played it only with Sonic so far, so I can only comment on his path at the end of the stage. It’s brutal, some of the jumps are overly too difficult to make, especially when the platforms have enemies, so I’d suggest toning that next time. The enemies themselves could’ve been placed more scarcely, especially the Buzz-based enemies around tight platforms for ball maneuvering. Otherwise, I like the theme and the unique challenge. I’ll be sure to play it with more characters to see their end paths.
5/ Mercury Mine Zone by Rexeljet
I like this stage quite a bit visually. The texturing is unique, and the layout is intuitive and fast paced. The length is okay, although I’d prefer it slightly shorter. I’m not too fond of the ring-sapping mercury. Especially when you put ring monitors within the lake, making Perfect bonus impossible for sure.
4/ Ante-Station Zone by Twins'R'Okay
This is more of a proof of concept than a proper stage, but god damn if it isn’t cool. I don’t really like how Software looks, but I’m willing to stomach it for this stage. The biggest issue I really had with it is that the platforming is sometimes downright unfair with the wacky views and how your character doesn’t move with them and so is constantly at risk of simply sliding off. Other than that, really neat.
3/ Falcon Emissary Zone by InferNOr
Well, my PC has a bit of an aneurysm every single time it attempts to load this stage, either on arrival or after dying. When it does, it’s really quite awesome. The visuals are gorgeous, and the gimmicks are impressive. The storm midway through had me engaged and I enjoyed playing through this quite a bit. It has some questionable decisions which prevent it from being ranked even higher, though. Notably some of the ledges are very hard to see that they’re sloped, so spinning into monitors in front of them, thinking it’s a levelled edge that will stop you, meant a few dumb deaths. The enemy placement can be cheap, as there is a lot. And some of the traps are pretty rude, especially when you try to pick up the life at the beginning (which has no real value since lives are turned off in the OLDC anyway) and get assaulted by a squadron of flying enemies. Otherwise very neat.
2/ Ridge Rapids Zone by particle
I actually really liked this neat little stage. The visuals, while simple, were cozy and hard to get lost in. The slide sections were fun enough and the 2D section breaks the stage off nicely. I like how the rocks at the beginning were so subtly climbable. They looked small enough, but you really need to jump around to find out that, indeed, you can get all the way to the top of the beginning area, where an Emerald can be found. I feel I ranked this stage much higher than most people, but I don’t care, this is a nice little stage that fits SRB2 perfectly.
1/ Hollow Hill Zone by Othius, Inazuma & Spectorious
This was to be expected, from such a collab. This stage is gorgeous. From the visuals to the gameplay elements to the fact you took your time to find some very clever spots for the emblems, encouraging replayability with other characters. I can’t think of much to complain, other than maybe that the stage is very dark and made playing it in the morning a hell of a chore, though that’s admittedly a me issue for playing OLDC at the time that makes the sunshine feel like it can cook something on the windowsill.
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