The GMTK canon of really neat video game levels (Patreon)

In his most recent video, on Edith Finch's cannery level, Super Bunnyhop started the show with his "canon of super neat & super influential levels".

They were:

1-1 (Super Mario Bros), Chemical Plant Zone (Sonic 2), Rainbow Road (Mario Kart, unspecified), E1M8 (Doom), Mario 64 Hub, Unatco (Deus Ex), City Escape (Sonic Adventure 2), DE_Dust2 (Counter Strike), The Silent Cartographer (Halo), Omaha Beach (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault), The Milkman Conspiracy (Psychonauts), Village Square (Resident Evil 4), City 17 Train Station (Half Life 2), All Ghillied Up (Call of Duty 4), Fort Frolic (Bioshock), 1-1 (Braid), Revisiting Shadow Moses (Metal Gear Solid 4), The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed (Red Dead Redemption), Sen's Fortress (Dark Souls), Upper Cathedral Ward (Bloodborne), and Snowdin (Undertale). 

Phew! It's a great list and it totally makes me want to do my own, based on my own tastes and preferences. And also to make a running a list of levels I might want to make videos about!

Before I start, some caveats: This list is incomplete and based on thinking for about an hour. I can't include entire game settings, so no Vice Cities or Zebeses. I'll try and stick to one game per franchise.

Okay, here we go.

1-1 (Super Mario Bros)

You've got to start with this. With one of its earliest games, Nintendo was teaching players organically through level design - setting them up for the adventure ahead. 

Fort Frolic (Bioshock)

I did a whole video on this one - the way it twists Bioshock's traditional gameplay to make you forge a strange relationship with the creepy Sander Cohen is a triumph of gameplay, level, and narrative design. 

Locomotion (Uncharted 2)

It really is the ultimate Uncharted level, mixing combat and platforming and cinematic set pieces all into one hugely impressive stage. The transition from city to jungle to mountain is so seamless it boggles the mind. 

Prague (Deus Ex: Mankind Divided)

I'll deservedly get some shit for picking a modern Deus Ex level over something like Unatco or Hong Kong - but I just loved spending time in Mankind Divided's hub city, taking mini missions, following clues, finding stories. It showed the promise of an immersive sim without combat. 

St Francis Folly (Tomb Raider)

After spending the entire first chapter of Tomb Raider climbing up, the second level tasks you with climbing down - down a dark and foggy chamber, that will put your acrobatic skills to the test. 

Village Square (Resident Evil 4)

If you had any doubt about how great Resident Evil 4's combat is, you won't be in doubt for long. The game opens with a frantic siege on a tiny village as you dart through windows, over rooftops, and around the outskirts, taking down mad Spanish zombies. 

Effect and Cause (Titanfall 2) / A Crack in the Slab (Dishonored 2)

These stages will forever be linked together. Two games had levels about flitting between the past and present, just weeks apart. Titanfall does it with speed and fury, Dishonored does it with tactics and evasion.  

School II (Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2)

Very hard to pick a favourite Tony Hawks level, but School II might just elbow out the others. It's fun to skate, it's nostalgic, and dreaming about pulling off a 900 outside your school is a thrill. I also love Hangar, and THPS4's Alcatraz.

Water Temple (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

I'm still not sure about my very favourite Zelda dungeon. It might even be Sandship from Skyward Sword, as much as that pains me. But Water Temple is going on for now - as painful as it can be, it's also an enormously clever and gratifying spatial reasoning puzzle. 

Sapienza (Hitman)

Some might have picked a Blood Money mission for this list, but for me, Sapienza beats out Curtains Down and any other Hitman stage. The mix of town, mansion, and church; the winding pathways through the level; and the trillions of ways to meet your goals makes it a joy to play (and replay). 

Spencer Mansion (Resident Evil Remake)

On the verge of cheating here - but there are enough other parts to Resident Evil to stop Spencer Mansion being a setting rather than a level. This intricately designed house will burn itself into your brain as you learn the best routes to dodge past zombies. 

Overgrown (Call of Duty 4)

Dustbowl (Team Fortress 2) and The Longest Yard (Quake 3) are other favourite multiplayer maps, but this COD layout is probably my favourite of the bunch. It's winding and intricate and has places for snipers to hide out - and ways for others to sneak up on their camping asses. 

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Okay, there we have it. 

Many of the levels above, and other famous stages, are easy to pick because they are one really great level in a game full of good levels. But in games that are saturated with great levels (Mario, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Meat Boy, Braid) it's hard for any one level to really stand out!

So some other levels that I seriously considered and may still add: We Don't Go to Ravenholm (Half Life 2), Tick Tock Clock (Super Mario 64), various bits of Portal 1 and 2, various Mario galaxies, and various Shovel Knight stages.

I also wanted to pick some levels, but decided I like them more for nostalgic reasons than anything. That includes Hollywood Holocaust (Duke Nukem 3D), Tornado Trouble (No One Lives Forever 2), and various first levels that I played over and over again, like E1M1 in Doom, and Green Hill Zone in Sonic 1. 

Anyway. A good start for the list! Leave your own favourites in the comments.