Death Moon
“quote~ originator
Death Moon is a 1.9 solo Easy Demon level created and verified by FunnyGame and published by Caustic. It is an art-based, hell-themed level centered on apocalyptic visuals. Death Moon is one of the most acclaimed levels in Geometry Dash and often appears on lists of the greatest levels ever made,[1][2][3] receiving praise for its intricate art, music, gameplay and innovative effects, and is the eighth most-liked Demon in the game. It is the fifth and last level of the Cursed Gauntlet, after iSpyWithMyLittleEye. A spiritual successor, Reanimation, was created by Terron and released in 2.0.
Gameplay
The level starts with an easy cube section containing speed changes, alternating from triple-speed and half-speed. The music here has a tense feel, making the level seem intense. The cube then switches directions via a mirror portal and goes auto. Then, the player transitions into a moderately difficult ship sequence with mildly tight spaces that can stump some beginners. The ship sequence later transitions into an easier mini-ship part with red flashing blocks and fake blocks in the background.
The mini-cube part following has some mild memorization and tricks, although it is still relatively easy. The mini-cube then switches into a dual cube part, which requires memorization. After that is a relatively easy wave part, although the flashing blocks and spikes could stump the player, followed by two difficult mini-wave sections, with a regular wave section in between. Then, the player goes into a nearly-auto mini-cube section, leading to the pre-drop of the song, where the player transitions to a ship and ball part, respectively. The chorus begins during the triple-speed UFO segment, which is rather difficult because of its somewhat tight spaces. The UFO also changes size once.
Then, there is a moderately challenging triple-speed wave part that can be mastered with enough practice. After this, the music becomes calm again, and the player encounters two normal-speed cube parts and two ball parts with easy timings, followed by a mini-cube section only requiring one long-holding click and a UFO part with easy timings. The player then goes auto and transitions into an auto-ship, where the second pre-drop of the song starts. As the pre-drop progresses, the player enters a moderately tricky half-speed dual wave part, which then transitions into a normal wave.
Then, the second drop occurs, and the player switches into a moderately difficult triple-speed ship part, which then transitions into a triple-speed wave segment featuring rapid-switching artwork in the background. After the wave, the player goes into an auto-ship section, and in the end, the player has to fly through an easy two-block space without spikes below or above. Finally, the level ends at half-speed, showing the level's name in Chinese characters, 死月 and knobbelboy's Demon head.
Fails
- Noobas crashed at 98% on the blocks before the end.
- Brandon Larkin crashed at 90%.
- AssadaWarrior crashed at 90%.
- RocktagonGD crashed at 91%.
Errors
- At 4%, it is possible to jump over one of the floating blades instead of the required one and not crash.
- In the last section, where there are successive game-mode portals, the player can change the gravity of their ball and end up finishing the level upside down.
- At the mini-wave part, the slopes' hitboxes are significantly larger than their physical appearance.
Trivia
- The level cannot be copied.
- The current level version contains 39,828 objects, while the updated version contains 43,759.
- The level is 2m 39s in length.
- The level achieved unique strobing effects by alternating the four colour channels available at the time, between black with blending (rendering the corresponding decoration invisible) and other colours.
- The level was ranked #1 in GDToday's 100 Greatest Levels of All Time list.
- The ending shows Chinese characters (死月, Pinyin: sǐ yuè; Hepburn: Shigetsu) which translate to Death Moon.
- The number of objects in this level surpassed the maximum number in the 1.9 level editor. To achieve that, Caustic used a glitch to add more objects by the Copy and Paste functions (separate).
- The level has only one orb, a pink orb at the cube section around the middle.
- Reanimation, a level by Terron, appears to be a spin-off level created in 2.0, which the community has widely accepted to be 'Death Moon V2' or a sequel to Death Moon. It is exemplified by how details in the level seem to originate from Death Moon and how the symbols 死月 (translating to Death Moon) are shown in the mini-UFO part.
- The previous editions of the song used in the level were deleted from Newgrounds.
- The song was originally composed for the Korean rhythm game O2Jam.
- The original composer of the song SHK (SoundHolicK) would later upload an official release to Newgrounds featuring a more bass-heavy mix. The level was then changed to use this version.
- This level was a Weekly Demon.
- On April 29, 2020, the level temporarily became a free Demon with a message stating that Caustic had lost everything on his account.[4] It was quickly reverted, but it temporarily caused the level to become an Extreme Demon.[5]
- The level formerly had a 2.1 update, which was reverted when the level was restored from its hack.
- The 2.1 version of the level had a Demon Face at the end, accompanied by the text 'Demon Head by knobbelboy' and 'Death Moon'.
- There is an Extreme Demon remake of Death Moon called Pandemonium, created by Terron and Yakimaru and verified by Knoeppel.[6]
- Death Moon is in the Beginner Tier of the GDDP, for Nerve Control.
- Since Death Moon is in a Gauntlet and was the Weekly Level, it was possible to get this level's rewards three times.
- Death Moon is one of four Gauntlet levels created before 2.0, the other three being Fire Aura in the Lava Gauntlet, Scarlet Surge in the Chaos Gauntlet and Kappaclysm also in the Chaos Gauntlet.
- Since the Cursed Gauntlet was released in Update 2.2, this makes Death Moon the first Gauntlet level to have been released three major updates prior to its Gauntlet.
- The name of the achievement for collecting 5,000 moons, 'Death Moon', is most likely a direct reference to this level.
- As of right now, Death Moon is the level that appears in the most rated lists, with 14 in total.