>>736231274
personally more than the water itself, drowning makes me a little anxious and that's mostly due to playing Rayman 2 on the N64 as a kid, because of that level in which you have to dive, follow a whale while getting the air bubbles it gives you, while piranhas try to pop them so you drown

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>>736231606
The one fear of water levels that made sense to me is the music to indicate you're drowning, Sonic 1's drowning theme is a noteworthy case.

>>736231274
>as a kid, I just saw them as "okay this is where the game is going to slog"
if that was your first thought, then you were probably too old to be playing bing bang wahoo

>>736231274
Sound design is the secret sauce to scary water levels. Sound design hard carries horror in general.

>>736231274
>What makes a water level scary?
Not managing to avoid drowning

>>736231274
The music getting frantic when you're about to die

>>736232108
maybe you should suck on my cock instead, faggot.

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>>736231274
Kid who was afraid of water levels in the late 90s/2000s here.

>drowning/a quick timer until death
>equiring you to dive really deep and around tight corridors.
>the abrupt shift in controls.
>large "fuck you" fish that you can only avoid, not fight
That combination made water levels stressful and scary for me.

I actually couldn't get through that eel boss in Super Mario Sunshine because it scared me so much.

>>736234194
requiring*

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>>736231274
>>736234194
No but fucking really. What the fuck was this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HZbUhrtAD0

>>736234194
I knew about the controls but seeing water levels as basically OG Resident Evil is kinda enlightening

>>736234428
>bing bing wah-
>suddenly shadow of the colossus but underwater

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I think the fish on Tiny Huge Island scared me more than anything.

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>>736237936
For me it was this motherfucker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMAwqTbo-W4

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>>736237936
bro stop im legit quaking in fear

My first exposure to a water level was DKC, so I always associate them as relaxing and deeply reflective.
Aquatic Ambience helps me fall asleep.

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>>736237936
This and the terrible two of the PS2

>>736231274
>okay this is where the game is going to slog
that's why they were scary. You knew the game you were enjoying was about to be ruined

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>>736231274
the early version looked genuinely spooky, it's so much bigger in scale it looks kino

>>736237985
I didn't mind him as much given I could lure him to the shore and directly shit eggs on him.

>>736231274
Persecution from an ever expanding wall/floor of death. Make a wrong turn? Now you are trapped and doomed. Miss a jump? Now you can't make it in time and will drown eventually.

I figured this one out. It has to do with the fact that the average human can’t fly an airplane, but can walk on two feet. Swimming is just flying mechanics.

>>736240570
people who don't use inverted Y axis aren't human

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>>736231274
Mario 64 IS scary in general.

>>736237936
>>736238124
Can you imagine swimming happily in the ocean, just floating around and this huge thing shows up, the last thing you see is its huge mouth and and endless void.
I think it probably triggers some kind of genetic memory in some people, a very ancient part of your brain from when we were all living in water millions of years ago

>>736240628
Yeah when I figured out the control stick resembles a human head and tilting it back is exactly the same thing as tilting your own head “back” to look up. I never went back to standard control layouts.

>>736231274
I was never afraid of water levels.
Actually drowning in real life though? That shit's fucking terrifying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRj0lymMMGs

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>swim through a flooded tunnel of brown murky water
>get jumpscared by a a massive mechanical shark

>>736241121
There was a website a while back that was like an interactive video where you're knocked off a ship and you have to scroll up really fast in order to stay afloat, that shit got me sweating like mad

>>736231274
>mario and sonic have infamously bad water levels
>stereotype that water levels are inherently bad pops up because people only play mario and sonic
underwater levels are awesome, and I wish we got more of them

>>736241116
100% exactly this. that is exactly how i picture it. nobody can refute this. if you use up to look up, you're mentally deficient.