Blade of Justice
Blade of Justice (BoJ) is a 2.0/2.1 Extreme Demon collaboration level by Manix648 and more, verified by RicoLP.[1] It is the spiritual sequel to A Bizarre Phantasm. The old, original version is still considered a top end Extreme Demon to this day. The unnerfed version of the level was planned to be even harder than Bloodlust, but Manix648 later ordered RicoLP to nerf it to release it sooner. This level features a mostly blue, black, and white colour scheme, with the exception of two of LazerBlitz's parts, which both have some purple mixed in. Pan has an alleged part in the level but goes uncredited.
A buffed and redecorated remake based on DuaL KiKi's unnerfed version of Blade of Justice, Edge of Destiny, was created in Update 2.1 and verified by polterghast on 9 March 2023.
Description
[edit | edit source]- 0-6% (Manix648): Blade of Justice begins with a half-speed robot segment, with the creators' names showing up. This first sequence is core-like and lasts a while. Its gameplay involves many difficult orb timings, with some orbs within the ground and air, as well as many tiny jumps. After the first half, the robot turns normal-sized for two jumps before returning to its mini-form. In the end, a sword and a text fade in and out, 'Are you worthy?'
- 6-12% (LazerBlitz): Next is a difficult ship sequence made by LazerBlitz (signified by his cube), involving much up-and-down flying through large moving objects. There is also some challenging flying at the end to act as a threat before the next part arrives.
- 12-58% (Manix648): After this is an extremely difficult wave segment by Manix648 (again, signified by his icon). This wave requires extreme timing and consistency to pass, and the frequent switching between normal and mini sizes. Additionally, many moving structures do not make it any easier. The drop comes next, which begins with a long mini-straight-fly sequence featuring the words 'Lets Go!' right at the beginning. Three individual corridors appear, and the player must be able to straight-fly very well to get through. Afterwards, the player must fly through two rows of teeth as the text 'Pierce through all matter' appears. Next comes a short ball section with pulsing decorations and tight spaces, followed by a mini-UFO segment involving some timing and orbs. Next is a relatively long, normal-speed dual-wave reminiscent of Betrayal of Fate. Then, there is an equally long dual-ship, mainly in black and white, with a smiley face in the middle of the section. Following this is a long, fast cube with the text 'Go!' at the start. This section involves tapping numerous orbs and not holding them afterwards, or the player will most likely hit a ceiling or sawblade. After this section is a short auto that says the level's name, followed by a mixed dual, which DuaL KiKi has called the most difficult part of the level. It is immensely difficult and varied when mixing between game-modes as well. Right at the end of this hefty dual comes a short but exceptionally narrow mini-wave, which leads the player into a more relaxing part.
- 58-63% (LazerBlitz): This is another part made by LazerBlitz. It finally slows down a bit, and the gameplay involves a slow cube as the words 'Take a break' are presented. An art piece rises in the background, resembling a solar eclipse, which flashes to the beat as the cube turns into a ship containing a gravity portal and a blue orb, and then an auto with the blade in the background.
- 63-81% (PanMan + Manix648): Next is Manix648 again, with what is probably the most well-known part of the level; a very tight UFO section with a black hole and stars in the background illuminating the hazards, orbs and portals coming up. It will be required to hit many orbs and jump at the right time to avoid crashing into a sawblade. The part ends with a very short mini-ship tunnel featuring a couple of gears, placed to make it more difficult to reach the two final parts of the level. A portal takes the player to a remarkably tight swing copter requiring lots of well-timed clicks, as the final segment made by LazerBlitz, which switches game-modes very frequently, appears.
- 81-100% (LazerBlitz + knobbelboy): LazerBlitz' final part starts with a tight normal-size triple-speed wave, which turns mini for a moment as it then goes into a short ship requiring a little bit of straight-fly, and then a UFO (used as a transition in itself) with orbs the player must hit to the rhythm of the song. It goes back into a ship, now upside-down, and then yet another wave similar to the first one, but shorter. This wave leads into a mini-ball with many orbs requiring timing. Finally, a ship segment features some moving blocks where good manoeuvrability is needed. A cube portal appears, and three orbs need to be hit to get to the last flying part, saying, 'Manix', 'LazerBlitz', 'Verified by RicoLP', and 'Blade art by Knobbelboy', as well as showing the blade at the very end.
Gameplay
[edit | edit source]Trivia
[edit | edit source]- Blade of Justice cannot be copied, but it used to be free to copy.
- Blade of Justice was placed at #23 on the Demonlist on 5 July 2017, above Audio Extraction and below Artificial Ideology.
- This addition pushed Dark RainBow Rebirth into the Legacy List.
- Blade of Justice was ranked #49 in GDToday's '100 Greatest Levels of All Time' list.
- Blade of Justice went through several different verifiers in its lifetime. Quantum was supposed to be the first player to verify it, but it was later passed to DuaL KiKi, who made some progress on it. He later realized it was taking up too much of his time, which would soon affect his grades. He felt the best thing he could do was to pass it on. He passed it on to TrusTa, who passed it on to Sunix, who passed it on to Combined, who stopped pretty fast. RicoLP was unofficially practising until Manix648 permitted him to verify it. Therefore, Blade of Justice had seven verifiers in total, which, along with Firework, makes it the level with the third most verifiers ever, after Quicksand by Team Geostar (12 verifiers) and Forever Asleep by Walroose (15 verifiers).
- When TrusTa was permitted to verify Blade of Justice, an uproar of people complained about how TrusTa could nerf the level the way he nerfed Yatagarasu. Unsurprisingly, TrusTa did not care and continued trying to verify Blade of Justice.
- Manix648 stated in a knobbelboy stream that Blade of Justice would be dead if another verifier quits. Therefore, he ordered RicoLP to nerf the level to get it out as soon as possible. This decision paid off in the end, and RicoLP finally managed to verify the level.
- Manix648 initially planned to make Blade of Justice four and a half minutes long, using the entire song. This idea was later scrapped.
- Blade of Justice is #95 on the Low Refresh Rate Demonlist, above The Hell Inferno and below Shock Therapy.
- It is also #58 on the Mobile Demonlist, above SubSonic and below BuTiTi III.
- Blade of Justice has had several redesigns of some of its parts. The first robot was redesigned to match Manix648's 'style', similar to his part in Artificial Ascent. LazerBlitz redesigned the ship sequence that followed to create a cleaner, more dynamic section. The mixed dual-section at 49-57% was redesigned from a messy factory design to a more cleaned-up style, which is considered to fit the rest of the level. The slow cube/ship break segment at 58-64% was also redone by LazerBlitz, which initially featured a mix of Manix648's Yatagarasu Creator Contest #7 entries. However, it was recoloured to fit the blue theme. The famous UFO segment at 64% also had the vortex in the background redecorated, making it look significantly more detailed now.
- Blade of Justice was initially only meant to be a solo level by Manix648, but he later had LazerBlitz come in and finish the level and redesign some of the less detailed parts.
- Sunix used to hold the lowest attempt count record on Blade of Justice, with 551 attempts.[2] This may have been from his previous experiences as a verifier and the level being ridiculously nerfed.
- vAurora became the first player to beat Blade of Justice on mobile in 16,037 attempts.
- MostDefinitelyAlbert verified the unnerfed version of Blade of Justice on 6 March 2024.[3]
- mosk1712 achieved 1118% on Blade of Justice, beating the level at least 11 times in a row, on 17 September 2026.[4]
- In December 2024, a secret was found at the top of the most well-known UFO part. It contained explicit and inappropriate messages: 'credit me you n*****' and 'space a*** by panman'. It was later removed.
- There is a redecorated, impossible remake of Blade of Justice called Maze of Justice, taking a noclip version of Blade of Justice layered with an invisible maze.[5]
- The placement of SHATTER on 19 April 2021 pushed Blade of Justice into the Legacy List of the Demonlist.
- The movement of Libertas on 28 April 2021 pushed Blade of Justice back into the Extended List.
- The placement of Stygian Machinery on 29 April 2021 pushed Blade of Justice back into the Legacy List.
- The movement of Libertas on 28 April 2021 pushed Blade of Justice back into the Extended List.