Editing Tidal Wave (section)

==History==
===2021===
Tidal Wave's story begins on 12 April, the date OniLink uploaded a video of a level's layout to his YouTube channel, titled 'Shiawase.vip'.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYZRNY8S4_w</ref> The layout was not of outstanding quality, however, as it was one of OniLink's first.

===2022===
OniLink came back to this old layout, deciding to completely remake it into a difficult three-minute Extreme Demon with a difficulty equivalent to those of [[Trueffet]], [[The Golden]], and [[Sonic Wave Infinity]], giving it a name by which we know it today, Tidal Wave. In August, during the creation process, OniLink obtained Zoink's consent, one of the top players at the time, to review the level. On 4 December, the level's gameplay and decoration were fully completed,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBMA-Ahtc30</ref> but since the original verifier dropped the project, Tidal Wave became an open verification. The first person to make notable progress on the project was Mexui, whose best progress was 23%, 22-30%, and 90-100%, but, realising he vastly overestimated his skill, he quit verifying the level.

===2023 and verification===
Verification attempts by other players were also unsuccessful, and it was believed the level would never be verified. However, in July that year, on the 22nd day, Zoink revealed that Tidal Wave was the verification project he had been keeping secret for some time. That day, he uploaded his 50% record on the level.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHOzhtaSg0o</ref> It turned out that back on 11 July, Zoink contacted OniLink asking if his significantly buffed version of Tidal Wave could become an official version, to which OniLink approved. On 29 July, Zoink got a new best of 67%,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-PZvpEsEqw</ref> on 4 August, he got 74%,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kGaulReN2Q</ref> on 11 August, he crashed at 90%,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8xZnkFcBUc</ref> and on 13 August, (Geometry Dash's 10th anniversary), Zoink died at 95%, the last part, which was later dubbed 'Zoink's curse', as three other players, [[Trick]], [[wPopoff]], and [[Netermind]] crashed at the same percentage. Finally, on 9 September, Zoink verified Tidal Wave, spending 49,534 attempts on this achievement.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzzuCIgc1RI</ref>

===Creation of Tidal Wave===
On 4 February 2024, YouTuber foxxgod interviewed OniLink.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wv1EHAKqwc</ref> When asked what inspired him to create Tidal Wave, he replied that after seeing (in his opinion) unoriginal levels such as [[Tartarus]] and [[Crimson Planet]], he wanted to build something completely new and outstanding. It was like a 'jackpot' for OniLink: creating a very hard level would give him notoriety in the community he had always dreamt of, and he would find help with decorating it. However, everyone declined his offer, leaving Tidal Wave to be fully decorated by him. Foxxgod also inquired how Zoink became the verifier, with OniLink explaining that he had asked Zoink to verify Tidal Wave while it was still being created; he agreed, but he completely forgot about the level and ultimately started verifying it only after one of his friends reminded him. Zoink's friend was a member of the [https://tfl.pages.dev/#/ Upcoming Levels List (ULL)], which hosts the hardest unverified levels, and at the time, Tidal Wave was on said list. He invited Zoink to the list to help him choose a new verification, and he eventually settled on Tidal Wave, as he liked its decoration.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsnbbp_kPts</ref>

===Controversies===
====First rating controversy====
Before its rating on 18 February 2024, Tidal Wave stirred controversy within the community due to its unconventional style. Opinions were split, with some praising its originality while others criticised its perceived 'lack of polish'. Nonetheless, there was general agreement that the level warranted a rating, given its difficulty.

While [[Robert Topala|RobTop]] acknowledged Tidal Wave's presence, notably during the [[The Geometry Dash Awards|Geometry Dash 2023 Awards]],<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nmbxS0LgMs&t=759</ref> he refrained from rating the level or engaging in discussions about it, maintaining complete silence on the matter. His reluctance to rate the level sparked dissatisfaction, leading to the '''#RateTidalWave''' campaign, which was notably visible on Twitter and in the live chat of the 2023 Awards. RobTop later broke his silence on Discord, expressing frustration with the campaign and moderation harassment.<ref name=":1">https://x.com/Just_Horizon/status/1756790878843109386</ref> Some believed his hesitance stemmed from Zoink's use of the 360 FPS bypass mod during the verification, indicating that RobTop intended to establish a precedent that would demonstrate the severity of the bypass ban in the upcoming Update 2.2.<ref>https://x.com/gdzoink/status/1756544712696037645</ref> However, RobTop later denied this theory.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/geometrydash/comments/1aok3kd/comment/kq0i0lr/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button</ref>

Discussions turned sour as dissatisfaction with RobTop's handling of the matter grew. YouTubers like Wavix<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enTGC-f_vSs</ref> and Vit12<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iUgXA9fpuw&t=29s</ref> addressed the issue in videos, while players voiced their displeasure on Twitter, such as Zoink<ref>https://x.com/gdzoink/status/1756904942223188360</ref> and OniLink himself. Some lost hope in the possibility of Tidal Wave's rating, such as Cherry Team, who announced plans to remake the level in a modernised, polished style to secure its rating.<ref name=":0">https://x.com/ytCuLuC/status/1755361877536747873</ref>

Finally, on 18 February 2024, Tidal Wave was rated and claimed the top spot on the Demonlist. Cherry Team clarified that the remake's development would continue and would eventually be named Tidal Wave Infinity. The project was eventually halted, and there has been no news since then.

====OniLink's level update and potential unrating====
On 15 April 2026, a new controversy appeared after OniLink 'accidentally' buffed the level while making an optimisation update on the start position copy back in June 2025, which three players—Servax, A6, and Netermind completed the level on. OniLink then transferred all the changes and buffs to the rated version, but for some reason, added one more change, making all previous completions technically invalid, and the update was unverified.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YNhgedbgDgQ</ref>

Before the community knew that change, from the initial news, some people and the [https://demonlist.org/ Global Demonlist] began considering A6 to be the level's true verifier.<ref>https://x.com/demonlistorg/status/2044584458578202773</ref> However, it later turned out that A6 nor any other victor of Tidal Wave actually completed the newest rated version of the level that is currently on the servers.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZYsLqEh1sho</ref>

Zoink, Trick, and wPopoff beat the first version, while Servax, Taiago, A6, and Netermind beat the second version, meaning none of those victors have verified the level, which might cause RobTop to unrate it potentially. OniLink said he would revert the changes, which were eventually done on 19 April, and thus, the situation has been resolved.<ref>https://x.com/demonlistorg/status/2046092956457930988</ref> Before the revert, JesseGamingGD managed to complete Tidal Wave on that version in that time frame.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd2AK05D7ig</ref> However, his record has been accepted by Pointercrate.