Tidal Wave

Template:Infobox Level Tidal Wave is an unrated 2.1 solo Extreme Demon created by OniLink and verified by Zoink on 9 September 2023 after 49,534 attempts. It has a wave-based gameplay style, similar to that of a Nine Circles level while showing uniqueness through its bright summer/beach theme. It is set to place at the #1 spot on the Demonlist if rated.

Gameplay

The level begins with a fast-paced cube section featuring numerous fast orb inputs. This section will occasionally switch between the cube game-mode and another game-mode briefly, such as the ship, the UFO, the wave twice, the ball, the spider, and even a swing-copter. The level slows significantly once the player reaches 9%, as they enter a difficult cube segment that spans 4% of the level. If the player completes all of the difficult timings in this segment, they are greeted with a brief straight-fly before moving on to a much faster cube section. In this section, the player must pass through many timings before reaching a big-sized portal halfway through, making it more difficult to pass through these timings. At 18%, the player encounters a ship section with numerous difficult corridors and orb timings to fly through. The ship part briefly switches to dual before the player reaches a short UFO segment with some quick timings. Then, just before the drop, the player must perform a series of simple normal-speed cube clicks before the level's title appears.

The level then increases speed, and the player enters the first drop-wave. For approximately 7% of the level, the player is a large wave maneuvering through constant tight gaps and anti-gravity portals. The wave section becomes even more difficult at 30%, as there are now size portals scattered throughout the section to confuse the player. The level will occasionally darken for a brief period, causing the player to lose track of where their icon is. On top of that, bright effects occasionally and briefly cover the screen. If the player survives this brutal wave segment, they will enter a half-speed break at 39%.

While the gameplay in this break section is significantly easier than in the previous wave segment, it is significantly darker than any other section of the level, with the gameplay and even the icon being difficult to see. The section starts with a cube section featuring moderately tight orb timings. The player must then execute some difficult ship timings before entering a short wave section. The player is met with some tight robot timings at the end of this break section.

At 42%, the level brightens significantly and displays a brief cutscene of a beach. Following that, the level slightly accelerates to normal speed, and the player is confronted with a very difficult cube section featuring some ruthless jump- and orb timings, including one of the most challenging dash orb timings in any level. At 45%, the player continues having to do these timings with a UFO segment, followed by a spider segment. After a few more cube timings, there is a quadruple-speed asymmetrical dual. While this dual may appear perplexing at first, it becomes easier to complete after some practice. Halfway through, both icons of the dual double in size, making the part slightly more difficult. As the player gets closer to the second drop, they are thrown into a double-speed wave segment that constantly switches gravity and size. The player is then met with a slow cube part and a mini-wave break with six easy clicks and a red orb cube timing in between, just before the drop.

The second drop follows. It, as well as the first drop, is quadruple-speed and contains a plethora of gravity portals/size portals. This section is shorter than the previous one. However, unlike the first, this section follows up with much more difficult gameplay. The following gameplay begins with many quick cube timings that switch to other game-modes a few times, similar to how the level begins. A UFO timing, two ball timings, a curvy straight-fly, three spider timings, and a dual orb are among the brief switches. When the player reaches 66%, there is no longer a cube game-mode; instead, there are slightly longer segments with many different game-modes. The first segment features a robot with quick timings, followed by a UFO segment requiring a few orb clicks and a ship segment with three more orbs to hit. After a brief dual UFO transition, the player must traverse through some structures in the wave game-mode. The level becomes much faster in its game-mode switches, switching between them nearly every split second. The gameplay consists of cube clicks, a ship timing, another cube click, three synced UFO timings, and a longer cube segment that switches size every half-second.

At 72%, the level abruptly slows to half-speed, and the player is presented with two simple cube orb timings. However, just before the level accelerates again, the player must perform a single dual-wave click, a single ship click, and two simple UFO timings. The level then returns to quadruple-speed wave maneuvering, alternating between different gravities and sizes to confuse the player. A brief dual-wave spam serves as a short break for the player halfway through the section. This wave section concludes with a dual-wave section containing numerous gravity portals before ending at 88%, where the player must now complete the finale.

The color palette is now orange, giving it a sunset-like appearance. The gameplay remains fast; the finale begins with some robot clicks, followed by slower but difficult mini-cube timings. Following that is a very fast wave section with a couple of gravity portals, and the player must then perform two ball clicks and one cube click. Next up is a ship requiring manoeuvering with a variety of size changes and extremely narrow spaces. If the player gets past this, they will encounter more extremely fast cube clicks as well as a brief ship corridor. After another cube timing, the player must engage in more ruthless maneuvers in the UFO game-mode before reaching the level's final wave segment. The wave segment starts with a brief half-speed spam before accelerating back up to quadruple-speed and throwing some extremely tight spaces at the player until the level ends at 95%.

When the player reaches the end-screen, the level slows down to half-speed, and they will see text that says 'THANKS FOR PLAYING', except the word 'PLAYING' alternates with the word 'WATCHING'. The player will then see the words 'VERIFIED BY ZOINK', followed by the names of the level's playtesters, the words 'LEVEL BY ONILINK', and the level's title.

Trivia

• The level is free to copy.
• The level contains 255,366 objects.
• The level is 3m 1s in length.
  • If rated and placed at the #1 spot, Tidal Wave will become the first three-minute-long Top 1 in the game since Zodiac.
• The level was playtested by Buk, Fear, GoMask, Snoween and T'im.

Videos

VerificationShowcase

File:TIDAL WAVE VERIFIED -- HARDEST DEMON -- ONILINK

The verification of Tidal Wave. Credits to Zoink.

File:NEW TOP 1 VERIFIED - "Tidal Wave" by OniLink -Full Detail-

A 4K quality showcase of Tidal Wave. Credits to fnm04.