SM64 Lost Universe 2: Curse of Eternity Part 9 - Acidic Arsenic Swamp
00:00 Short and Soft
0:28 A Warmup in the Warm Swamp
4:18 Edgeside Boxes
8:59 A Distant Platform
12:55 Acidic Secrets of the Storm
19:34 Acidic Journey in the Arsenic Swamp
26:34 Red Coins
@amsis
@bubby649
This might be the most iconic level in LU2! I feel like a large portion of this game's notorious reputation is due to the VC level. To be fair to Bubby, this stage got a massive overhaul since I played it a few years ago. The textures were improved, routing options were introduced, and a lot of tedious/filler parts were replaced with fun sections. I actually think Bubby could have even removed a few more parts, but hey, I still appreciate the changes he did make. I also feel like this level has high aura levels. Like it definitely radiates pure aura when you play it. In terms of the gameplay, I have a mostly high opinion of it, but there were small annoyances I had throughout the stage. I figured I would talk a bit about the 3 main paths because they make up the majority of this stage.
The first path I call the box path, but some may call it the easy path. I would hesitate to call it easy because it has some parts that still bite. The box section right at the end is quite scary to do. I noticed an interesting strategy Amsixx used where he almost let the cap run out before pressing the switch. The benefit of this is that it allows you to be forced out of the wall when coming out. That probably sounded weird, but if you know this stage, you will get it. This path was really fun, and I opted to do it first that way I would build some momentum going into the other more difficult paths.
Next is the Secrets path. So, it's not the secrets path itself that is the issue. It's literally climbing up to the Secrets area. First of all, there is a really annoying hole red. Good luck finding a pleasant camera for that coin. Then you have to do these jumps with a homing up following you. I lost a lot of attempts to this annoying stretch, but once you actually get to the secrets area itself, it becomes a lot better. You want to follow up this path with the Acidic Journey path next because those 2 segway very smoothly. I felt pretty consistent at this path most of the time.
Finally, there is the acidic journey path, which some may call the hard path. This is by far my favorite path, but it is also the most precise. I thought all 3 of the wallkick sections were really satisfying to pull off. Because I did this path last, I had a lot of chokes on Reds unfortunately. I had 3 deaths at 15/17 and 1 at 16/17. The 16/17 choke was BS because I died to collision on the arch back at the central area. Thankfully, I got the star the next attempt so there was a happy ending!
Overall, I have to say I really enjoy this stage. I didn't even mention that the spawn is also very fun and quick. Plus, the routing options will help keep the reds feel fresh to attempt. Funnily enough, I ended up sticking with the original route anyways! Btw I think it's funny I gave up on IoC C15 and then managed to beat a much harder level in the meantime. Well, I'm happy I finally beat this level after all these years!
Rating for this level: 8/10