Oh boy... some people ain't gonna like this.
But before you read, please note that I do NOT rate maps based on their overall quality, but for much I personally ENJOY them. Keep that in mind.
1. Tarnish Ward by Princess Plushima
2. Spiral Hill Pizza by Rogerregorroger
3. Magma Laboratory Zone by RoyKirbs
4. Enchanted Enclave by PhilJFou/ChaRG
5. Freezer Folley Zone by Fav
6. SunkSea X Zone by Nuhu64
7. Bitter Brink Zone by MarbleCheese
8. Yearning Yachtyard Zone by PhilJFou/ChaRG
9. Egg Machine Zone by nickls2002
10. Hell Coaster Zone, Act 1 by Voidy2246
11. Festung Oder So by The Shadow
12. Chaos Cove Zone by glaber
13. Foliage Furnace Zone, Act 2 by Othius, Kanna, & Spectorious
14. Zaxel's Thunder Yard Zone, Act 2 by Zaxel Katsugyo
1. Tarnish Ward by Princess Plushima
Finally, a good Emerald Hunt map (Sorry glaber)! It puts two things many emerald hunt maps don't have; setpieces, and hints! I do hope the frameworkf or the hint system comes out soon, because having this has made it so much easier to track emeralds down b nudging you where you should go. and thanks to the clearly distinct areas and landmarks, I had a generally great feel for the layout after some exploring, and still knew what hints to look out for on my first playthroughs. I also appreciate the really secret plant growing sidequest, but it does feel underwhelming to get a token for an award instead of an emblem. Oh, and I like how the atmosphere in this level is too, with its special NPCs and robots, and moody music, they really capture this gloomy poverty, with the occasional glimpse of hope in the cracks. This map is one of those whole packages that gets just about everything right, and it did so as one of the (usually) notoriously crap Emerald Hunt maps!
2. Spiral Hill Pizza by Rogerregorroger
My most frequently replayed map! I didn't like it at first, but once I got the route down, I had lots of fun running it as different characters! I appreciate that you can kinda "skip" this one if you aren't great at speedruning, and I'm not much of a speedrunner either, but I felt really inclined to dash through the city to get the deliveries done, with the different ways you can sprint and leap around. The update certainly helped with readability, but I still felt more could be done. A map like this can also chug in software on some rigs. Still, I had a delectable time with this one!
3. Magma Laboratory Zone by RoyKirbs
We had a lot of fire levels in this comp, but this one has been the most explosive! Fireballs just about everywhere, explosive barrels being triggered by enemies to domino effect, a good ol hot-on-your-toes map that feels great to speed and weave around in. I honestly don't have much to say on it, as its just a really solid map that I enjoyed playing.
4. Enchanted Enclave by Vixuzen
I'm afraid the Rayman stuff is kinda lost on me, but there's still interesting stuff at play here. The path split basically makes this two maps, and the time of day changes every time you load the map too. Its a bit weird having crawlas just... act different without looking any different, but I appreciate having new enemy behavior! I also like how the map end with a new method of scoring as well. Still, while this map is very solid, it feels odd playing this after playin the other Rayman-based levels, as this is like I played Greenflower after I already beat Castle Eggman and Red Volcano. But it does make me think you're going somewhere with all this...
5. Freezer Folley Zone by Fav
A frosted foot level is something I can get behind, and I enjoy using the gelatin more than most other "bouncy sector" levels, mainly because being (what I assume is) a non-solid FOF, it has much better hit detection than the flat floor of a Solid FOF you could stand on the ledge of trying to land on it. I appreciate the style of the texturework too, though I do think there's isn't much Freezer going on here until the end. A short but sweet map!
6. SunkSea X Zone by Nuhu64
I feel pretty strange about this. A pretty good water level with good visuals, but despite playing this map at least 3 times, I'm having difficulty remembering particular elements... But when using the vote checker, it said this was at 6. Sorry that I don't have much to say, other than I enjoyed this map more than the maps below it.
7. Bitter Brink Zone by MarbleCheese
Well, you certainly won the award for best level thumbnail, actually drawing yours! While the Axis 2D area is cool, it feels a big weird that the path you go on for the rest of the level hinges on if you jump over a specific obstacle or not. The sled is a pretty cool idea, but the controls are... really difficult to steer, I feel. This isn't a big deal on the outside path, but the indoor path with the dark maze is both difficult to control and just unfun to actually do, I just stick to the path that's after jumping the booster on the 2D split. Overall, pretty middle on this one.
8. Yearning Yachtyard Zone by PhilJFou/ChaRG
I think its pretty neat to have boats scattered across the water areas of the map, but they're always off tot he side and feel more like scenery for most of the map. It's more of a rainforest for the rest of it, and I think you can ignore the ocean entirely. The level ends sooner than I'd have liked, but you went for a specific mood and did a pretty good job at nailing it.
9. Egg Machine Zone by nickls2002
This map is constantly doing different things each room, focused on fighting the button and getting to the exit, and this gives a good amount of variety to the level's challenges, but in addition to probably being a bit too long, some of these parts drive me nuts. Mainly, the laser hallway, which has a checkpoint in the middle of it, as I an never tell the timing for the laser set at the end. With said lasers over a pit, this is an instant death. Similar issue with the room right after, where you can touch the laser floor trying to pre-emptively land on the... seemingly random FOF elevators, and its very possible to fall right into the pit, and back to halfway through the laser hall. The goo path can be real sluggish if you mess up and need to recover, and the ending climb can be cheated out by hitting the reset button, giving you free pick of the monitors and a much easier opportunity to pick off the Jetty-syns. It's not too bad, but I always feel pretty burned out after playing it.
10. Hell Coaster Zone, Act 1 by Voidy2246
Of the 3 fire maps, this one stands out by being more about the titicular coaster. I'm actually surprised on how short the minecart section is, while most of the map's playtime is the 2D section. I was also pretty underwhelmed by how little scenery there was during botht he minecart and 2D sections. Both have ample opportunity to play with visuals, as one has you literally on rails, and the other has a whole background you can stack stuff onto as much as you want. Its also odd that the 2D section doesnt seem to do much with either the fire OR the coaster theming. It has slopes, and that's about it. Not much to do with the lava (outside of it being a OHKO for some reason), and I never got the high speed wow factor that I'd expect from a roller coaster. The areas in between the coaster segments are easily skipped around by most of the cast, so I hardly remember them because I almost always cheesed my way though them. Overall, not a bad map, but I can't say much good about it either, I'm afraid.
11. Festung Oder So by The Shadow
It sure is a fortress... or something. Not a ginle enemy here, but it has a nice little idea where you need to hit 6 buttons in a collapsing fortress. Even so, the falling is pretty lax so it rarely felt like a threat. I can't say I disliked the level, but it feels like the conclusion to a much larger level I never got to play...
12. Chaos Cove Zone by glaber
I thought I was getting deja vu after my recent Banjo-Kazooie playthrough, but I realise this was intentional. This is an incredibly simple Emerald Hunt map with the usual Emerald Hunt problems. Lots of running around until you finally get a ding. Oh, and a ton of emerald tokens are on this map for some reason. Seeing new enemies is nice, but not much to say beyond that. At the end of the day, it sure is another glaber map.
13. Foliage Furnace Zone, Act 2 by Othius, Kanna, & Spectorious
Alright, this is where I'm getting the most heat, I'm sure. How does a map with all this custom texturework and these unique stage elements, wind up all the way down here? Well, as I already said, I rate maps based not on their quality, but how much I enjoy them, and I did not enjoy this map. Like Foliage Furnace Act 1, I am constantly getting lost. The textures are still as busy and difficult to parse paths out of as last time, but the geometry isn't without its navigation issues either. I keep looping back around to areas I've already been to, confused on how to progress often, and there's at least one part where I don't know where the intended path is, and I gotta use the ability of my character to cheese around it. This is also the worst map in terms of framerate performance. Spiral Hill Pizza can lag on some setups but is okay on others or in Open GL, Magma Laboratory can have some chugging frames in software too, but THIS map has SO many flames, and the scale is SO huge, Software AND OGL lag out for different areas. I wanted to like this one, but I just did not like playing it.
14. Zaxel's Thunder Yard Zone, Act 2 by Zaxel Katsugyo
An incredibly long, busy, and bloated from Zaxel, how unsurprising. These maps technically have their differences, but they all feel like I'm playing the same Zaxel level over and over again. But while the other levels were at least open enough to do a lot of Dash Mode running (assuming your chosen character can do that), this map is flooded with hazards from everywhere! Its literally spraying by the fountain, except the fountain is electricity! You think the electric-based shields will help, and they do for a time, but then the Special Stage mines show up to ensure you can't have nice things. I'm just so sick of playing Enemy Spam Hallway Land. Of all the maps, this is the one I'm most likely to go "Ughhhhhhhh... maaaaaaaaan..." before playing. I swear, the next map better be a fight against Zaxel, because after all these maps with these characters being mentioned, but never ever present, and several of this author's maps being training grounds or dojos, it'll be great to finally see what Zaxel is like in a boss fight.
Well, there you go, all the votes for this round. Overall, pretty good contest!
But before you read, please note that I do NOT rate maps based on their overall quality, but for much I personally ENJOY them. Keep that in mind.
1. Tarnish Ward by Princess Plushima
2. Spiral Hill Pizza by Rogerregorroger
3. Magma Laboratory Zone by RoyKirbs
4. Enchanted Enclave by PhilJFou/ChaRG
5. Freezer Folley Zone by Fav
6. SunkSea X Zone by Nuhu64
7. Bitter Brink Zone by MarbleCheese
8. Yearning Yachtyard Zone by PhilJFou/ChaRG
9. Egg Machine Zone by nickls2002
10. Hell Coaster Zone, Act 1 by Voidy2246
11. Festung Oder So by The Shadow
12. Chaos Cove Zone by glaber
13. Foliage Furnace Zone, Act 2 by Othius, Kanna, & Spectorious
14. Zaxel's Thunder Yard Zone, Act 2 by Zaxel Katsugyo
1. Tarnish Ward by Princess Plushima
Finally, a good Emerald Hunt map (Sorry glaber)! It puts two things many emerald hunt maps don't have; setpieces, and hints! I do hope the frameworkf or the hint system comes out soon, because having this has made it so much easier to track emeralds down b nudging you where you should go. and thanks to the clearly distinct areas and landmarks, I had a generally great feel for the layout after some exploring, and still knew what hints to look out for on my first playthroughs. I also appreciate the really secret plant growing sidequest, but it does feel underwhelming to get a token for an award instead of an emblem. Oh, and I like how the atmosphere in this level is too, with its special NPCs and robots, and moody music, they really capture this gloomy poverty, with the occasional glimpse of hope in the cracks. This map is one of those whole packages that gets just about everything right, and it did so as one of the (usually) notoriously crap Emerald Hunt maps!
2. Spiral Hill Pizza by Rogerregorroger
My most frequently replayed map! I didn't like it at first, but once I got the route down, I had lots of fun running it as different characters! I appreciate that you can kinda "skip" this one if you aren't great at speedruning, and I'm not much of a speedrunner either, but I felt really inclined to dash through the city to get the deliveries done, with the different ways you can sprint and leap around. The update certainly helped with readability, but I still felt more could be done. A map like this can also chug in software on some rigs. Still, I had a delectable time with this one!
3. Magma Laboratory Zone by RoyKirbs
We had a lot of fire levels in this comp, but this one has been the most explosive! Fireballs just about everywhere, explosive barrels being triggered by enemies to domino effect, a good ol hot-on-your-toes map that feels great to speed and weave around in. I honestly don't have much to say on it, as its just a really solid map that I enjoyed playing.
4. Enchanted Enclave by Vixuzen
I'm afraid the Rayman stuff is kinda lost on me, but there's still interesting stuff at play here. The path split basically makes this two maps, and the time of day changes every time you load the map too. Its a bit weird having crawlas just... act different without looking any different, but I appreciate having new enemy behavior! I also like how the map end with a new method of scoring as well. Still, while this map is very solid, it feels odd playing this after playin the other Rayman-based levels, as this is like I played Greenflower after I already beat Castle Eggman and Red Volcano. But it does make me think you're going somewhere with all this...
5. Freezer Folley Zone by Fav
A frosted foot level is something I can get behind, and I enjoy using the gelatin more than most other "bouncy sector" levels, mainly because being (what I assume is) a non-solid FOF, it has much better hit detection than the flat floor of a Solid FOF you could stand on the ledge of trying to land on it. I appreciate the style of the texturework too, though I do think there's isn't much Freezer going on here until the end. A short but sweet map!
6. SunkSea X Zone by Nuhu64
I feel pretty strange about this. A pretty good water level with good visuals, but despite playing this map at least 3 times, I'm having difficulty remembering particular elements... But when using the vote checker, it said this was at 6. Sorry that I don't have much to say, other than I enjoyed this map more than the maps below it.
7. Bitter Brink Zone by MarbleCheese
Well, you certainly won the award for best level thumbnail, actually drawing yours! While the Axis 2D area is cool, it feels a big weird that the path you go on for the rest of the level hinges on if you jump over a specific obstacle or not. The sled is a pretty cool idea, but the controls are... really difficult to steer, I feel. This isn't a big deal on the outside path, but the indoor path with the dark maze is both difficult to control and just unfun to actually do, I just stick to the path that's after jumping the booster on the 2D split. Overall, pretty middle on this one.
8. Yearning Yachtyard Zone by PhilJFou/ChaRG
I think its pretty neat to have boats scattered across the water areas of the map, but they're always off tot he side and feel more like scenery for most of the map. It's more of a rainforest for the rest of it, and I think you can ignore the ocean entirely. The level ends sooner than I'd have liked, but you went for a specific mood and did a pretty good job at nailing it.
9. Egg Machine Zone by nickls2002
This map is constantly doing different things each room, focused on fighting the button and getting to the exit, and this gives a good amount of variety to the level's challenges, but in addition to probably being a bit too long, some of these parts drive me nuts. Mainly, the laser hallway, which has a checkpoint in the middle of it, as I an never tell the timing for the laser set at the end. With said lasers over a pit, this is an instant death. Similar issue with the room right after, where you can touch the laser floor trying to pre-emptively land on the... seemingly random FOF elevators, and its very possible to fall right into the pit, and back to halfway through the laser hall. The goo path can be real sluggish if you mess up and need to recover, and the ending climb can be cheated out by hitting the reset button, giving you free pick of the monitors and a much easier opportunity to pick off the Jetty-syns. It's not too bad, but I always feel pretty burned out after playing it.
10. Hell Coaster Zone, Act 1 by Voidy2246
Of the 3 fire maps, this one stands out by being more about the titicular coaster. I'm actually surprised on how short the minecart section is, while most of the map's playtime is the 2D section. I was also pretty underwhelmed by how little scenery there was during botht he minecart and 2D sections. Both have ample opportunity to play with visuals, as one has you literally on rails, and the other has a whole background you can stack stuff onto as much as you want. Its also odd that the 2D section doesnt seem to do much with either the fire OR the coaster theming. It has slopes, and that's about it. Not much to do with the lava (outside of it being a OHKO for some reason), and I never got the high speed wow factor that I'd expect from a roller coaster. The areas in between the coaster segments are easily skipped around by most of the cast, so I hardly remember them because I almost always cheesed my way though them. Overall, not a bad map, but I can't say much good about it either, I'm afraid.
11. Festung Oder So by The Shadow
It sure is a fortress... or something. Not a ginle enemy here, but it has a nice little idea where you need to hit 6 buttons in a collapsing fortress. Even so, the falling is pretty lax so it rarely felt like a threat. I can't say I disliked the level, but it feels like the conclusion to a much larger level I never got to play...
12. Chaos Cove Zone by glaber
I thought I was getting deja vu after my recent Banjo-Kazooie playthrough, but I realise this was intentional. This is an incredibly simple Emerald Hunt map with the usual Emerald Hunt problems. Lots of running around until you finally get a ding. Oh, and a ton of emerald tokens are on this map for some reason. Seeing new enemies is nice, but not much to say beyond that. At the end of the day, it sure is another glaber map.
13. Foliage Furnace Zone, Act 2 by Othius, Kanna, & Spectorious
Alright, this is where I'm getting the most heat, I'm sure. How does a map with all this custom texturework and these unique stage elements, wind up all the way down here? Well, as I already said, I rate maps based not on their quality, but how much I enjoy them, and I did not enjoy this map. Like Foliage Furnace Act 1, I am constantly getting lost. The textures are still as busy and difficult to parse paths out of as last time, but the geometry isn't without its navigation issues either. I keep looping back around to areas I've already been to, confused on how to progress often, and there's at least one part where I don't know where the intended path is, and I gotta use the ability of my character to cheese around it. This is also the worst map in terms of framerate performance. Spiral Hill Pizza can lag on some setups but is okay on others or in Open GL, Magma Laboratory can have some chugging frames in software too, but THIS map has SO many flames, and the scale is SO huge, Software AND OGL lag out for different areas. I wanted to like this one, but I just did not like playing it.
14. Zaxel's Thunder Yard Zone, Act 2 by Zaxel Katsugyo
An incredibly long, busy, and bloated from Zaxel, how unsurprising. These maps technically have their differences, but they all feel like I'm playing the same Zaxel level over and over again. But while the other levels were at least open enough to do a lot of Dash Mode running (assuming your chosen character can do that), this map is flooded with hazards from everywhere! Its literally spraying by the fountain, except the fountain is electricity! You think the electric-based shields will help, and they do for a time, but then the Special Stage mines show up to ensure you can't have nice things. I'm just so sick of playing Enemy Spam Hallway Land. Of all the maps, this is the one I'm most likely to go "Ughhhhhhhh... maaaaaaaaan..." before playing. I swear, the next map better be a fight against Zaxel, because after all these maps with these characters being mentioned, but never ever present, and several of this author's maps being training grounds or dojos, it'll be great to finally see what Zaxel is like in a boss fight.
Well, there you go, all the votes for this round. Overall, pretty good contest!