one thing in particular your series has done is remind me of how great the Spyro soundtracks are, talking about them so much in a lot of the posts. that's especially true in my case since i love when artists put variety in their music and Stewart sure did that enough.

I can't see how anyone can dislike that level. *Sigh*

I'm fairly certain no one does!

Alright, let's finish this at long last...

1. Dark Passage

The enemies here can be quite frightening...

Perhaps predictably, a Dream Weavers level takes the #1 spot on this ranking. But while the other Dream Weavers levels are bright and cheerful in their fantasies, Dark Passage is the nightmare side of the world. And honestly, Dark Passage has always just felt like my favorite level in my gut.

The music is obviously the first thing I have to mention. From what I gather, it's considered one of the best and most memorable tracks in the series even among those who don't obsessively listen to these songs thousands of times like I do, and it's no wonder why; it's one of the most unique scores there is. A lot of the ones in the first game have the same kinds of instruments in them, which I actually love because it makes the soundtrack feel like one album and because there is obviously diversity even within that... but Dark Passage is the one track from that first game that really sounds entirely different from the rest, which makes it a really strong one. It's one of the most immediately engaging ones -- from the very beginning, it's a series of loud, clashing tones, before a short keyboard section, and then a fast-paced breakdown. The entire thing contributes to the nightmare theme of the level: The loud tones are instantly scary, the keyboard bit sounds incredibly eerie and is my favorite part of the track, and then the faster part is intense as you run through the level. Other than Lofty Castle, this one is my absolute favorite music track in the series; I love so much how well it fits in with the level and how somehow all the totally different parts of it manage to contribute in their own way to the creepiest level in the series.

That, ultimately, is illustrative of why I love Dark Passage so much: In this level, literally every single aspect combines to fit the nightmare theme. Beyond the entirety of the music, the next thing that makes this level so nightmarish is the enemies. Gods, the enemies. When you first enter, they seem nice and playful: Aww, a cute little puppy -- sure, the cross eye is weird, but it's still cute and it's yipping adorably! Aww, a little turtle! But then, the lights go out... and when the lights go out in Dark Passage, things get a hell of a lot more frightening. The puppy out of nowhere turns into a giant *bleep*ing demon that eats you, with weird-*bleep*, spiraly teeth.

how. how is that also a dog.

And the cute baby turtles (much cuter than those punks at Sunny Beach trying to jump into the cauldron), more sensibly, change into giant, evil turtles. Because that's less shocking, you'd think it's less scary, and it initially is... but as you play through the level more, they're actually scarier, because the demon dogs -- though fantastic and horrifying -- are ultimately your typical large enemy who can be defeated with a quick flame (thx Darius.) But the giant turtles are invincible. There is absolutely no way to damage them. You have to wait until the lights go out... but then you get to that one room where it becomes apparent that the lights never go on, and you have to enter the fray and charge through the turtles. Yeesh. That scared me quite a bit as a kid. In fact, the whole thing scared me so much that along with Aquaria Towers, it was one of the only two levels that I flat-out would not enter as a kid because I was too frightened; I wondered why they put something so scary in to begin with. And those giant turtles' creepy red eyes and giant fangs don't help matters, either; yeah, it's not as jarring as a dog that turns into a giant red demon... but that doesn't mean it isn't pretty *bleep*ing scary.

Along with the enemies being nightmarish, they provide for some of the most unique gameplay in the series; having to wait for the lights to go on and off, or having to flame the jesters for yourself, is something really unique that isn't found in any other level in the game in any capacity. And they're very consistent through the whole level; the enemies that don't transform at all are only those found in places with lights nearby. It's just one more thing that sets this dream apart from the other ones in the world and from the rest of the series.

There are basically four components to any level: the music, the gameplay, the enemies, and the physical construct of it, and the latter contributes to the nightmare of Dark Passage as much as anything else does. Without fail, the aesthetics of this level (which consists of narrow passageways that go back and forth between two towering islands, floating bizarrely in a dark abyss) all feel as nightmarish as anything else: the islands themselves, when viewed from the outside, are just weird dark mountainous islands floating in the air; the backdrop is dark and foreboding; the architecture is all slanted, disjointed, and pointed, like something out of a Tim Burton movie. This level does a great job of sounding, feeling, and looking the same way, and for that, it's one of my favorites.

But what really sets it over the edge in addition to that is how long it is. The only level in the first game with 500 gems and 5 dragons, it's almost certainly the longest from that game, and I think it's probably the longest in general if you discount the sidequests in later levels that obviously take up more time. The thing is, from start to finish, it actually feels quite short. When you reach the Return Home portal, you're still missing two dragons and quite a significant amount of gems... and what you have to do is glide into a secret, hidden tunnel, and then you go through the rest of the level, which is much harder than the first portion, is much longer than the first portion, and, I believe, contains no Fools lighting up the area. I once played through every level of the first game aiming to get through them without taking a single hit, and it's only when I did that that I realized just how freaking long and difficult this one is. There is a lot more gameplay here than meets the eye, and the enemies are fairly difficult in addition to being creepy. It's the extra length -- accessible via a tunnel that's relatively hidden, and I love hidden things in video games more than just about anything else -- that guarantees this level a #1 placement.

From the music to the enemies to the design, everything about Dark Passage goes together to create a very unique nightmare theme that I've always found incredibly engaging, and the gameplay is unique, extensive, difficult, and fun. While other levels may stand out more in some other levels -- Enchanted Towers is more fun, Summer Forest has a better environment -- Dark Passage is the level that I think most succeeds on some level in all areas, and it's for that that it's my favorite.

But wait! There's more Dark Passage!

Of course, although I did this in the form of a ranking, it was more than anything just to pay homage to the games I love. I mean, there were only like two levels (Idol Springs and Agent 9's Lab) out of almost seventy-five that I'd really say that I disliked, and even Idol Springs had people crying that it was a good level which deserved a better placement, so there truly is no bad level in this series. So don't get too concerned about the placements in this ranking, because just about all of these levels offer something. This is especially true in the top tier; Dark Passage ranks #1, but mostly because something had to. I had more to say about other levels like Lofty Castle, and I have a more emotional connection to others like Summer Forest, and there are some I'm more nostalgic towards, and so on. So really, even Dark Passage's #1 placement isn't totally definite in my mind; I'm sure that after I play through the series again, I'll probably have a new favorite or two or five, because the fact is that these levels are really *bleep*ing great.

Insomniac Games did an unbelievably amazing job on this series, creating a huge amount of environments that manage to be fun and thematically coherent while also totally distinct from one another -- and all within the constraints of the original PlayStation console. I have loved playing it for the past fifteen years of my life, and I'll love playing it in the future. I don't think I'll ever be able to put into words all I want to say about this series. From the bright fantasy world of Dream Weavers to the mucky swamps of Beast Makers to the icy mountains of Magic Crafters, from the volcanoes to the tundras to the cities to the palaces to the oceans to the deserts, from the basic tutorial levels to the most unbelievably tricky puzzles, so many parts of this trilogy offer so many different things.

Again, more than a ranking of "This is better than that is better than the other thing", this was really just a more organized way for me to pay homage to one of my favorite series of all time, and I hope people have enjoyed reading it and revisiting a game that has a hell of a lot of replay value for something so appropriate for all ages. ^_^ The levels are the reason why I enjoy this game at age nineteen as much as I did at age four, and I still love even those levels that ranked as low as in the 50s or 60s. That's just how high the quality of this trilogy is, and I'd like to thank Insomniac Games and Stewart Copeland for all of the incredible memories I have of this series, and all of the memories I'll have of it in the future. <3

It was an interesting to see your defense of Fracture Hills though, KYHO. Still not the level for me, but I can see where you're coming from. I agree with Dark Passage being high up on the list. If I had the time, it would be fun to try to rank all the levels myself. Maybe from Spyro 1.

One of my favorite worlds [EDIT: Out of Spyro Year of the Dragon] is Fireworks Factory. I haven't played that world for a long time. I'll need to get back to Spyro 3 sometime. But I just LOVE the music! Oh my god, love it to death! And the ninja rhynocs. Oh man, that world made me feel like a ninja warrior! But the children's voices ruin some of it... But who care's when the atmosphere make's you feel like you can take on a ninja rhynoc army of a million, in a castle of ninja (although the castle isn't actually that great), super-annihilate-everything-epic-ninja-unstoppable style!! >:D I can't see how anyone can dislike that level. *Sigh* I just grin whenever I think of the level. *Grin*

I might be able to get online for a few hours on one day, maybe. If that's the case and if I have enough down time before that during which I feel like doing the Dark Passage write-up, I will definitely post it. But if I can't, well, I won't. I'd like to, though, so we'll just see what happens~

I always found Haunted Towers harder than Tree Tops. At least there are the thieves you can follow in Tree Tops. Haunted Towers is easy when you figure it out, but it took me forever because there was no guide whatsoever.

Lofty Castle is awesome. I think I've been under-appreciating both the music and the level itself.

Lofty Castle is a cool level! so is Dark Passage. though i'm curious to see why you put it at #1. it's a cool level though, for sure.

Now, like I've said about a hundred times before and like the results of this ranking have made clear, Dream Weavers is my favorite world in this series by far. Because it was the last full world of the game, they went completely over-the-top to make it an extravagant, whimsical, fantatsical adventure, and I love every second of it. I love the point in the first game where it just stops giving a *bleep* and we get the most shamelessly unrealistic, borderline gaudy world imaginable. I would love to play a whole entire game of Dream Weavers-style levels... and Lofty Castle is, without a doubt, the prototypical, definitive Dream Weavers level.

It's a beautiful, surreal level: The backdrop is fantastic, with two moons, an orange and purple sky, a dark abyss below Spyro; most of the level consists of floating, mystical islands with glowing pools and waterfalls; there are also the giant, towering castles of orange and purple and pink, whose intricate architecture feels just as magical as the rest of the world; and the characters are all bizarre, surreal things: fairies who create rainbow whirlwinds to aid you, cupids with arrows, Gnorcs floating up and down on bespectacled balloons, and very strange, levitating birds. Everything is tied together through its dreamlike nature in this level -- nothing feels out of place -- and it's all gorgeous. When you fly down into Lofty Castle and see all of these things, the sky-high towers and the multiple moons and the fairies, it's almost impossible to believe that you're actually playing the same game that has the simple levels of Artisans, the dry levels of Peace Keepers, and the dark worlds of Beast Makers. Just as the Dream Weavers Homeworld first shows you the mystical nature of the world, Lofty Castle epitomizes it.

And the music... ohh, God, the music. I can't do a Lofty Castle write-up without praising this track. Throughout this ranking, I have placed a lot of focus on the soundtrack of the game. The reason why I care so much about it, as far as my judgment of a level is concerned and beyond simply how much I enjoy listening to the songs, is that (other than the few that repeat) each track was specifically composed for a specific, individual level; therefore, the musical score of any given level is how the game's creators want us to feel about the level. It's the mood they want to set; it's what they want us to think about every time we see it; it is, in essence, the auditory conveyance of everything that the level is. Just about every track in these games perfectly encapsulates the entirety of what the level is meant to be... and the track that Lofty Castle got is far and away my favorite track in the entire series.

Some time ago -- after I'd already started this ranking, after I already knew that Lofty Castle would do well, and obviously years after I'd already fallen in love with this level and its music -- someone shared with me an obscure Stewart Copeland interview, in which he talks about creating the game's soundtrack and actually creates most of the Wild Flight theme during the interview itself. (Sidenote: the Wild Flight theme <3) Towards the end of the video, he says that at the center of all art is the process of creating tension, building it up... and then eventually releasing and resolving it. He says that it happens in a less clearly discernible, more esoteric and subtle way in the case of music.. and I always found it so perfect that he commented on tension and its resolution, and so entertaining that he thought it was more esoteric and subtle, because that idea of building and releasing tension is exactly, almost word for word, what I had always thought about when listening to this track. You can hear it all over the place in this game's soundtrack, but I've always noticed it more here than anywhere else, and it's always been what I've loved most about this particular score.

It starts off as a light piano track, but with some lower-pitched notes in the background, creating this undercurrent of tension... and then, at around the 50-second mark, the tension is broken: there's a huge, striking orchestral hit, and from then on, with hit after hit after hit, the track is so much louder and bigger than it was before. It is the best and clearest example of what Copeland was talking about in that interview, and it's something I've always adored: the creation of tension, and its subsequent resolution. It's beautiful. And as I said, from that point forward, the music is so much larger and more grand than it was before... and because any score in this series is its respective level translated into the form of music, having such a fantastic, larger-than-life musical track makes Lofty Castle feel so much more fantastic and larger-than-life than it already is. With Lofty Castle's sprawling mass of islands, giant glides, and skyscraping castles, such a gigantic piece of music is is a beyond perfect fit for the level, and it pushes Lofty Castle forward from being a great level to being one of the absolute masterpieces of the entire series. (That track, of course, is also very great to listen to on its own: with 138 plays, it ranks as my 18th most played song of all time on last.fm, and it is just eight plays shy of being my most-played Spyro track. [Buzz's Dungeon, which is also great but for a completely different set of reasons, has 146 plays; I enjoy Lofty Castle's track much more than any other, but Buzz's Dungeon is something that I put on repeat for quite a while, which bolsters it play count significantly.])

So, the biggest strengths of this level, as I see it, are how fantastical it is and how larger-than-life it is... and the layout of this level contributes to both of those. How it makes the level more dreamlike is pretty obvious: It's comprised of tons of disconnected little circles and strips of land in the sky that don't connect at all and that you have to navigate by jumping, gliding, or using whirlwinds (whirlwinds that themselves add to the fantasy nature of this level, as they're made of rainbow sparkles and constructed by fairies.) The Dream Weavers Homeworld is set up similarly, and I think it works so well for a true Dream Weavers level to have everything so disconnected and far apart, just as dreams are often disjointed and illogical. There's very much overlap and not a totally clear sense of where to go -- the level is an organized mess, and it took me years to figure out how you're actually "supposed" to go through it -- so even the gameplay and physical construct of this level makes it feel more dreamlike. But additionally, in the case of the grand and towering Lofty Castle, having all these different islands makes the level feel so much larger than it is; I described it earlier as a sprawling mass of islands, and that's the best description I think I can use. I don't know what the most massive level is in the first Spyro the Dragon game, but it certainly feels like this one is the largest, if only due to how spread out it is. This level is so decentralized among all the different islands that it is, or at least feels, incredibly massive.

I think I've done a pretty sufficient job of explaining why this level placed so high in this ranking, but there are a few other miscellaneous features of it that I want to bring up:

- You know those funky little crates introduced in Town Square that you flame or bash with your head, and then a gem shoots up into the air briefly? (I love those. I miss those. They should have been put into future games. Maybe they're just a relatively recent development, so they didn't exist in the forgotten lands of a thousand years ago, and they're unique to the main Dragon Kingdoms, so they aren't in Avalar?) Well, Lofty Castle is the only one of those that features a red gem. (When I was a kid, we'd call them 1-pointers, 2-pointers, 5-pointers, and so on. <3) So, that's neat. I mean, it's not like it's the reason why Lofty Castle ranked #2.. but hey, it's still something worth mentioning.

- There's this one specific area in Lofty Castle that I absolutely love. It's inside of a castle. There's this zigzagging bridge that goes uphill around the perimeter of the circular room, cuts across the diameter, and then goes back around another quarter of the perimeter before you exit out an opening that's perfectly aligned with where you enters. Geometrically, it's very pleasing, first of all. But also, there's a Cupid (or two?) sitting at the end of it; you can't reach the Cupid to flame him, but he can shoot his arrows at you, and if you're hit with even one of them, it knocks you off the bridge. It's definitely one of the more challenging areas to traverse. And if you are knocked off the bridge, you fall off the bridge, and you hit one of the walls of the room, which gradually curve inward into a small opening down into the spacelike abyss below... it's really unique (as opposed to if there were just a whole empty space there) and very aesthetically pleasing. If you haven't ever died in that area or don't know what I'm talking about, then go back to Lofty Castle and intentionally fall off the edge of the bridge in that area. I've always loved the way Spyro slides down there, ever since I was a kid.

- The Supercharge ramp. I've mentioned that there were four levels I could never, ever beat as a kid: Tree Tops and Haunted Towers were the obvious first two. Dry Canyon was the moderately tricky third one. And then the fourth, kind of random one was Lofty Castle; you know how there's that supercharge ramp, and you go off of it onto the circular ramp, and then you fly off of that onto the blue platform? Well this, actually, was the very last thing that I ever managed to complete in Spyro The Dragon. On my very first save file where I ever reached Gnasty's Loot after years of trying, the very last thing I ever did in the game was grab those gems at Lofty Castle. So there is some sentimental appeal there. Even though the second, circular ramp goes directly outward towards the blue platform... I still never figured it out. I just went back and replayed this level, and you can actually reach the treasure without even using the circular ramp... so honestly, I have no idea what mistake I was making here as a kid, but for some reason, I never beat that part.

Overall, this is... an incredible level. Really, an incredible one. In fact, it's so good that after writing all of this up, I went back and replayed both it and Dark Passage, because I was seriously considering going against the conclusion I've had in my head since this ranking began just to put Lofty Castle at #1. And I went back and forth a fair amount between the two after typing all of this. I absolutely love it, and it's not an easy choice to rank it #2. Lofty Castle, like the rest of the levels in this tier, has no weaknesses. It's a fun, unique, phenomenal, grand, spectacle of a fantasy level. It's perfect for what it is and I absolutely adore it. But Dark Passage just feels a little bit better to me.

But wait! There's more Lofty Castle!

And with that, we have our winner... Dark Passage.

I'll try to get the write-up posted tomorrow!

Oh maan, Tree Tops. Tree Tops is the level. It's that one level that everybody remembers. I wouldn't call it the definitive Spyro the Dragon level, and while things like Fireworks Factory exist, I wouldn't call it the most iconic... but I would absolutely, without a doubt, in a heartbeat call it the most memorable level in the entire series. No question. Everybody remembers this level, and everybody remembers it for one reason: Because it was *bleep*ing impossible. If you claim you didn't have any semblance of a hard time with this level, you're lying. It's almost unanimously considered the hardest level in the series, and it's really no wonder as to why.

The level's difficulty comes from its design: Elegant in its frustrating simplicity, Tree Tops consists of a series of strategically placed islands (with some tunnels inside) and supercharge ramps, and that's it. That's all there is to this level. And it's up to you as the player to look around at the ramps, construct a mental path, and figure out how to get wherever it is you want to go -- typically, to the island in the distance where Jed, the de facto hardest dragon to reach in the first game, is frozen and where the green thief teased so many children. The gamemakers designed this level brilliantly: they put in exactly as much as you need to complete the level, and nothing more. It's just a ton of small little trees, and absolutely none of them are connected; you have to navigate your way around the level yourself via a bunch of incredibly well-timed glides, Supercharges, or double-Supercharges. As I've mentioned countless times, what I really love and appreciate in these games is when the challenge feels like it develops organically -- when it's not a question of mastering a specific control scheme but rather of solving a puzzle built into the design of the level itself. Tree Tops is the most (in)famous example of this in the entire series, so it's only natural that it's one of my favorite levels.

Reaching Jed is just such an iconic challenge in the Spyro trilogy, and he sent countless little Spyros falling to their doom when I was a kid. I've figured out how to get him now, of course, but as a kid, he taunted me.. he just sat there in a far-off island, with a fence making it so I could see him but not actually glide to him, and no matter what I tried, he seemed impossible to reach. And it never got any less tantalizing. I have mentioned previously, in the write-ups for Dry Canyon and Haunted Towers, that there were four levels I never, ever managed to beat when I was first playing these games. Tree Tops, quite obviously, is one of the other two, and I don't think there's anybody who didn't share that experience. To finally reach him, you have to go through a convoluted path where you go down two ramps, but up two others, all across four different islands, and then glide off in the distance to him while going at breakneck speed... obviously. It's such a hard process and while the entire level is full of challenges, Jed specifically is such an iconic part of this series.

I believe I mentioned this offhand back in the write-up for High Caves: This level's musical track is a sped-up remix of the High Caves theme, which I think was a brilliant choice. High Caves was the first level where you really had to use Supercharge, while Tree Tops is the one that most clearly tests what you have learned. I've given a lot of props to Supercharge-oriented levels throughout this ranking, and Tree Tops is the definitive one, and the last one in this ranking that really contains Supercharge as a significant feature. Outside of its great symbolism, the music of this level sucks you in right from the start into an intense whirlwind of speeding and jumping, and it never lets up for a *bleep*ing second.

But beyond the top-tier gameplay, the atmosphere of it is actually really, really well done, too: looking down and seeing how far down the huge trees extend, and imagining how much further it would be to the ground, is breathtaking. You're set up as if you're incredibly high up in the air, and it really, really feels like it, as all of the structures in the level extend down far past what you can actually see. This level's backdrop is possibly the best of the entire game as well. It's filled with other tree designs, and with how far apart the ones in the actual level are spread, it really does feel like those are actual, solid trees sitting there miles off in the distance. And of course it's topped off with a brilliant, shining, full moon to add to the atmosphere of the level and make it all more dark. So when I'm playing this level, I really do get immersed in it, not despite the minimal nature of its scenery but rather because of it; it feels like Spyro really is high atop any other level in the game at the peak of the Beast Makers jungle canopy, with the number of trees that actually reach that high few and far between.

A big part of why I love Tree Tops is how iconic its difficulty level is, and another big part is just how much *bleep*ing fun I have nowadays wasting lives by supercharging around in random paths to my doom over and over and over. (I really love supercharging.) But the biggest reason why I consider this a top-tier level is that it's just amazing to me when the creators of this game put together a level whose design both works as a landscape and provides a challenge, and no other level combines these two things quite as well as Tree Tops does. The scarcity of the structures in this level makes it really feel like you're in the treetops and is simultaneously at the core of its gameplay, which revolves around figuring out for yourself where you have to go and how you have to get there. This level is designed perfectly, both practically and aesthetically, and it's such a unique concept for a level that they -- smartly -- never even tried to recreate. Tree Tops is a brilliant, one of a kind concept in this series, and it is executed perfectly, so for that, I think it is easily one of the best levels in the entire series.

But wait! There's more Tree Tops!

So, it has come down to this...

DARK PASSAGE vs LOFTY CASTLE. It comes down to a Dream Weavers showdown... *plays the Dream Weavers Homeworld theme on my iTunes*

Dream Weavers has *bleep*ing dominated this ranking so far: It took 27 other eliminations before the boss Jacques was eliminated at #47, making Dream Weavers the last level to take a single hit, and after that, no Dream Weavers levels were eliminated until the top twelve. An entire freaking third of the top-tier levels (per the color-coded list on the first page) are Dream Weavers levels, and all three of its main levels ranked in the absolute top section. In this ranker's opinion, Dream Weavers is by far the best world in the Spyro the Dragon series. It is the fantastic pinnacle of everything that these games have to offer... the only question now is which one takes home the title of my favorite Spyro level of all time. Place ya bets!

and you have a point with its layout. ...... what if Fracture Hills was going to be the spring homeworld?