Video Game/Levels GM/Awesome

Gears of War

 * Gears of War 2 can best be described as an entire game of Awesome Video Game Levels. Some of the best parts:
 * The entirety of the Tip of the Spear act. A massed armored assault with Delta on the back of building sized assault rigs, fighting off boarders and shooting down Reavers and Locust mortars, with delta having to leap off mid-transit to protect Dizzy as he repairs "Betty" while Locust swarm at you from every direction.
 * All of Nexus. Particularly the Queen's Palace.
 * "Intestinal Fortitude." Bet you never thought a Womb Level would be quite so impossibly awesome.
 * Bet you never thought that drowning in blood would be something that could actually present a real danger to you.
 * The final level, which has Marcus and Dom blasting their way through an entire Locust army on top of a freaking BRUMAK. There's even a part where you fight a friggin' Corpser in hand-to-hand combat with the Brumak! And it is every bit as awesome as you'd expect it to be.

God of War

 * The Battle of Rhodes in God of War II.
 * In fact pretty much any of the intro sequences.

Golden Eye

 * Golden Eye 1997. St. Petersburg + TANK = Squishy WIN. Ah, memories...
 * Unacceptable Nonmilitary Casualties.
 * Again?! DAMNIT! *throw controller*
 * That's one improvement the remake made- you can blow up, run over, and generally destroy WHATEVER (or whoever) THE HELL YOU WANT.

Golden Sun

 * Venus Lighthouse in Golden Sun. Visited in both games too, so you can hear that awesome music.
 * And the beginning of The Lost Age, in which the player gets to beat the crap out of adult men with a 17-year-old girl accompanied by the best battle music ever.
 * Let us not forget the final level of The Lost Age, Mars Lighthouse. Epic music plays in the background as you wander through the ice-filled structure and go head to head with some difficult--but not too difficult--and well conceived puzzles; after fighting the main villains who have been transformed into dragons, the lighthouse rejuvenates and, at the peak, amidst a blizzard, you have an epic confrontation in one of the few examples of a Giant Space Flea From Nowhere that actually works! In addition, we've also got Crossbone Isle, the Bonus Level from the first game. It has a very spooky atmosphere, not helped by the fact that there are no random encounters, though you do find a (usually challenging) miniboss guarding the door to each level. It also features the hardest puzzles in the game, many of which are throwbacks to puzzles you solved previously in the main story, except this time the kid gloves are off. As you reach the bottom of the cavern, you find a scary abandoned ship, where you go head to head with Deadbeard, one of the most awesome and challenging Bonus Bosses ever.
 * "Dark Dawn" has its share of awesome levels as well, namely the Brelinsk Ruins and Apollo Sanctum. To elaborate... Going into the Brelinsk Ruins, you know that there's an ancient machine down in there that's bad news, the key to activate it is in the hands of someone who may or may not be reliable, and the baddies definately will be going there. In fact, when winding your way to the heart of the dungeon, you see the baddies in front of you - in fact, they're apparently powerful enough to brute-force their way through puzzles, even chucking statues at the wall so hard they actually get embedded in it. Finally near the end, after many excellent puzzles, you get the implication that this ancient machine has something to do with an eclipse. Then, upon reaching the core of the ruins, the resident Malnipulative Bastard makes you fight Those Two Bad Guys, and activates the machine while you're occupied, before the villians flee as a tower rises from the lake, trembling and shaking ominously... and nothing happens. You go the castle, rescue the people that you came to rescue... and then dawn breaks. Surprise surprise, there's a total solar eclipse. That doesn't go away. And evil shadow monsters spawn out of nowhere, everywhere, in a massive patch of darkness covering half the world. You wind up fleeing the town in a ship, while your two new party members swear revenge on the baddies that just killed their brother/father, respectively.
 * But as epic as that is, the magnificent final level may surpass it. After gathering a monumental number of MacGuffins, you approach Apollo Sanctum by first magically scaling a massive tower to the top of a giant wall that traverses the peaks of the local mountain range. At the top of the tower, you open a gate with three of your MacGuffins, and exit onto the world map while epic music plays and you look down at the shadow-stricken land below. After hiking over on top of the wall to the base of the tallest mountain around, you begin to climb cliffs strewn with ruined statues. Finally, after completing a ritual on the mountaintop, the gates to the sanctum open... revealing that you still need to pass through 4 puzzles to open a bigger door, each of which takes place of the side of a massive white marble wall and culminate in an Indiana Jones-style outrunning of giant marble wheels with stylized elemental symbols. And after all of that, you finally get to the inner sanctum, where the plot reaches its conclusion...
 * After you finish the previous part, you solve a quite easy puzzle, and then have a pause right before the final boss where you fight groups mooks that have only moderate HP and can easily level up using the Random Number Generator trick. The great thing? They're weak to EVERY SINGLE ELEMENT, so you can just unleash Djinni after Djinni until they all die, and you'll get tons of experience every battle.
 * Oh no, that's not the best part about the random battle mooks. Remember that trio of shadow soldiers Wake Up Call Boss way back at the beginning that probably made you pull out your hair in frustration? They're back in the Apollo Sanctum as the above-mentioned mooks. Only this time you've got your fully-leveled A-Team that you've spent the whole game decking out with gear, Djinni, and psynergy to throw at them instead of the wimpy one you start the game with. Can you say Payback Time?

Gradius

 * Gradius Gaiden takes Gradius level design to new heights. Stage 2 is a junkyard of past Gradius bosses; can you name them all? Stage 3 is set in a crystal corridor where laser shots--yours and enemies'--will refract through the crystals. Then there's Stage 7, which starts off as an innocent-looking volcano stage...that gets gradually sucked into a black hole behind you, as well as enemies, bullets, and even your own missiles. Your ship is not affected by it, though, since it's capable of cruising at five times the speed of light.

Graffiti Kingdom

 * Damn near every level in Graffiti Kingdom counts, but the Chess Tower stands out.

Grand Theft Auto

 * Grand Theft Auto IV, bucking the trend set by previous games in the series by having their toughest missions serve as the game's Scrappy Level (see "The Driver" in Vice City and "Supply Lines" in San Andreas), actually has some really fun missions among its toughest, including "The Snow Storm" and "Three Leaf Clover" (an Escort Mission where the people you're supposed to protect actually help you by taking out the cops and drawing their fire. Also, it's Heat, the video game). You'll probably die several times in the course of these missions, but you'll enjoy playing through them again.
 * Another great Grand Theft Auto IV mission is "Hostile Negotiation", which has Niko charging into a warehouse trying to save his kidnapped cousin Roman. There's something really exhilarating about wielding an AK-47 while screaming "NOBODY FUCKS WITH MY FAMILY!" at the top of your lungs while about twenty guys are shooting at you.
 * Niko's yelling gets tiresome, if you fight conservatively. It doesn't help that there's only three or four phrases, and they're shouted quite frequently.
 * The Lost and Damned has its final mission: You break INTO the Alderney State Correctional Facility by shooting the front gate with an RPG, then fight your way through it with Clay and Terry. Immensely fun, totally badass, and a perfect way to end. Because who but Johnny would break into a prison to avoid being sent there?
 * The Ballad of Gay Tony, apparently having listened to demands for a return to the over-the-top missions of past games, went all-out with craziness. Hijacking an APC armed with an explosive cannon, flying a gold-plated attack helicopter and using it to shoot down other helicopters, and finally during the finale.
 * Grand Theft Auto San Andreas features the Ocean's Eleven-inspired "Breaking The Bank At Caligula's", which involves a daring casino heist that finishes with a parachute jump off the roof and a mad dash to a waiting helicopter.
 * How about the mission where you parachute onto the roof of the mansion, and systematically fight your way through? Slightly dampened by the chase sequence at the end in the crappy car, but still. Awesome
 * And a mission where you have to chase a firetruck for 5 minutes... And a mission where you have to chase down a plane in a motorbike, drive up the ramp before it lifts off while secret agents are shooting at you, kill everybody inside with any kind of a melee weapon, steal one of the guys' parachute, plant an explosive because the plane is full of dynamite, jump out, and watch the cutscene.
 * ... Heh, and then there's always the motocycle mission in the aftermath of the bad deal with the Russian Mafia. Terribly fun to play over again too.
 * And the one where you fly behind a plane, JUMP OUT, AND FREEFALL ONTO SAID PLANE AND CLIMB IN.
 * The one where you break into Area 51 and steal.
 * Especially since you dont know what you are going to steal. Imagine running down that long stairwell and then staring at that thing floating in midair in front of you, grabbing it, then realizing
 * Most of the rail-shooting missions of the game are pretty fun. Mostly because all you need to do is concentrate on shooting without worrying about crashing.
 * Hands down, "End of the Line" is the most satisfying ending mission to any GTA game before or since.
 * Vice City had lots of missions like that. There is a mission where you have to protect a yacht from homicidal French agents and an attack helicopter. There are RC missions that always involve bombs. And there's the last mission -- the one that is just like the ending of Scarface.

Gunstar Heroes

 * The fifth episode of Gunstar Heroes, after the four selectable stages, is one long uninterrupted run of mass destruction, allowing you to shoot, kick and throw your way through an endless horde of enemies in your own style.
 * Although some of those previous stages are no doubt counted by other games, such as Black's (silly) Dice Maze.
 * Or Green's, complete with exploding trains and transforming 7-force boss. All while riding a gravity-flipping minecart.

Half-Life

 * Ravenholm in Half-Life 2 gives you throwing buzzsaw blades to hurl at zombies, effectively cutting them in half. Throwing buzzsaw blades. The only way it could top that would be by giving you a gun that shoots drills on fire. From Bavaria.
 * The following level allows you to use a crane to drop shipping containers on your enemies.
 * Don't bother with that, just kill them with the crane itself. WHACK! THWACK! Oh, the antlions will eat well of your broken bodies tonight!
 * The two Citadel chapters are even better; nothin' like grabbing your enemies to ragdoll them, and then tossing them at more enemies, or better yet: into areas which would incinerate them!
 * Did we mention you can vaporize enemies? Because you can vaporize enemies. Quite possibly the funnest part of the game--you go from this moment of horror when to childlike glee as you discover what you can now do.
 * It wasn't the buzzsaws that made that level cool, IMO, it was the atmos. Up to that point in the game, you've just been in the new cities and hardly see any headcrabs etc. Then you stumble on to a plagued, derelict town. Oh, and the end is really cool.
 * "Follow Freeman".
 * Owning the Striders? "If you see Dr. Breen, tell him I said *** you!"
 * Few levels are more awesome than leading an unlimited supply of Antlions to attack Nova Prospekt.
 * Closer to the beginning of the game, the air boat sequence, where in you navigate the channels of city 17 at high speeds with a combine chopper chasing after you. Half way through the level your air boat is augmented with a cannon and you finally get to blow that bugger out of the sky.
 * In that level, when the Combine demolish a giant chimney to block your path. The HSQ jumped right there.
 * Highway 17 has the aforementioned crane dropping and it has the goddamn bridge, the most wonderfully atmospheric part of the game. The surrounding overcast driving alongside the ocean is quite awesome too.
 * Oh, that bridge. One of the most stunning things ever seen in a video game. It's a beautiful bridge!
 * Then there's the level in Episode One which is almost entirely pitch black. And you've only got a Ten-Second Flashlight. And there's zombies. Which spawn whenever the flashlight runs out.
 * Also, Antlion Defense in Episode Two, which culminates in Vortal Combat.
 * To sum it up, you've got an antlion army against three vortigaunts, Those Two Guys, and Gordon..
 * Defending the rebel base against the striders at the end of Episode Two is perhaps the most awesome part of the series.
 * Especially when the last 5 all spawn at the same time.
 * Surface Tension in Half Life; while there are plenty of other great chapters, Surface Tension seems to be where everything comes together perfectly and creates a non-stop ride of awesome.
 * To elaborate, this is around the time Gordon Freeman Took a Level In Badass. His feats have been impressive up until this point, evading and destroying United States Marines, all manner of alien horrors, and maneuvering through more traps and puzzles than you can shake a stick at, but here, he goes head to head with the Marines' best-taking on multiple attack helicopters, armored personnel carriers, and main battle tanks. In particular, getting the rocket launcher and finally taking down the Apache that's been attacking you throughout the level might count as a Crowning Moment of Awesome. Assuming you didn't just blow it out of the sky the first time you saw it with that gauss cannon you picked up in the last chapter...
 * However, those who didn't actually find the gauss cannon (and it's easy for beginners to miss) had a... different experience with Surface Tension.
 * Unfortunately, Half-Life: Source waters down this encounter by allowing you to take down the 'copter with just one rocket. As Our Mutual Friend would say, "rather an anti-climax after what you've just survived". Still, at least there's the peace and quiet afterward.
 * Most people up until that point had heard the Valve theme fairly often (every time they started up the game) but as you emerge from the pipe into the canyon and it expands into a full theme as you fight all kinds of marines and finally the helicopter...sheer perfection.

Halo
"UNSC Pilot (Alan Tudyk): Tank beats Ghost! Tank beats Hunter! Tank beats everything! Man, I could do this all day!"
 * The Ark in Halo 3. Opens with a sniper battle, then a fight against hunters. Then it's a long, fast-moving vehicle section in Prowlers...then you get the tank. It's approximately fifteen minutes of just blowing shit up. Your vehicle kills for the level total 2 prowlers, 8 or 9 wraiths, 2 anti-air wraiths, one scarab, at least two dozen ghosts and choppers, and at least one phantom.
 * Also, don't forget that this level also has one of the best scenes in Halo 3, the Forward Unto Dawn touching down on the Ark. Viewable in it's full glory Here
 * The level is best summed up by the following quote:

""Hail humans and take heed! This is the carrier Shadow of Intent. Clear this sector while we deal with the Flood!""
 * Though it was essentially the same as the last mission Halo gameplay-wise, the final mission of Halo 3 was just simply amazing. Driving like crazy on an incomplete Halo and its exploding around you, sending debris everywhere while making crazy jumps and trying to avoid the exploding parts of the track.
 * Try doing it in a Mongoose. Not only do you go that crucial bit slower, but you can't afford to collide with anything, and you have to find a completely different route through some sections, or you plunge into a horrible fiery death. Still one of the most satisfying moments of that game though.
 * Even better than that... Try doing it with all the requirements for the Annual achievement. 4-Player Legendary difficulty with the Iron skull on (Which resets the game to a previous checkpoint if even 1 player dies) and every player riding Ghosts. Best night of gaming. Ever.
 * The Halo 3 level Covenant. Not too far into the level you storm a Covenant tower by air in your Hornet (amazingly fun by the way), all while one of the most amazing tracks in Halo history plays in the background (this particular piece also played during the tram ride on Delta Halo in Halo 2, but here it's much more epic). And if that wasn't enough, near the end you get a choice between another Hornet, a Warthog and a Scorpion to use against two Scarabs. TWO. SCARABS. Jesus.
 * Old school Halo 1 level Assault on the Control Room. Basically traversing most of the level in a tank, near the end, you climb a pyramid while killing pretty much every single Covenant species many many times.
 * The Library, it's a Marathon Level, but it was a blast to play in co-op mode on Legandary.
 * Unless you managed to grab a Banshee on the bridge and skip that entire last part...
 * Grab the Banshee, fly up, hit the doors to make it start playing "Covenant Dance", grab the Banshee and fly down to the bottom, fight your way up from the bottom on foot with the music playing to emphasize how incredibly awesome you are.
 * Then you got to fly around the pyramid in a Banshee, raining Death From Above on hordes of Covenant. Win-win!
 * The final level of the first game, The Maw. Warthog run through the, all set to a song entitled Rock Anthem For Saving The World. It's exactly what you expect.
 * While playing that level with a friend, we discovered the only soundtrack that could possibly top the existing one. There's a point where Cortana says "Final Countdown initiated", to which any red blooded male can only respond "Duh duh duuuh duuh... dah dah dahdahdaah..." The best part is the length of the song fits almost perfectly. And oh god yes someone's done it on Youtube!
 * "The Great Journey", the last level of Halo 2. Hunters as your allies? Check. Scarab? Check. Scarab as your ally? Check. Scarab being driven by Sergeant Johnson? Check. Escorting Sgt.-Johnson-driven-scarab through a canyon in a Banshee while dogfighting other Banshees? Check. It's go time.
 * The Halo 2 Level "Quarantine Zone". Fight endless waves of flood controlled vehicles and giant sentinels with any vehicle you can get your hands on, including, at several points, a Wraith and a Scorpion for a few minutes of mindlessly blowing stuff up. Then get out for a while, and continue to fight endless waves of sentinels and flood with any weapons you can find, most likely an energy sword, shotgun, rocket launcher, and/or sentinel beam, or the epically cool-looking blue sentinel beam that does slightly more damage.
 * Halo 3 ODST's level "Kikowani Station". The ODST squad hijacks a phantom, and the player hijacks a banshee. It's just these 4 guys versus a huge Covenant Army. BRING. IT. ON.
 * How about NMPH? Besides the opportunity to pull off some big sniping, at the end you have an incredibly awesome last stand-esque moment, using the heaviest weaponry in game, to defend against HUGE hordes of Covenant air vehicles and infantry. Plus the cutscene at the end.
 * Although he Flood levels tend to be Scrappy Levels for some, Floodgate and Cortana in 3 are classics. On Floodgate, things were awesome, but a little intimidating. And then you hear the Shipmaster...


 * And for Cortana, the segment where you escape after saving Cortana while Gravemind roars and High Charity explodes is excellent.
 * ONI: Sword Base, Tip of the Spear, The Package, and especially Long Night Of Solace and  from Halo: Reach.   counts too, but not so much in terms of gameplay as sheer emotional impact.
 * Long Night Of Solace deserves a particular mention, as it's the first time you get to see what 4 fully-fledged Spartans going all out can do. On lower difficulties it's particularly satisfying as you just breeze through a shitload of Covenant, including about 6 high-level Elites, as if they're made of toilet paper.
 * "Winter Contingency" is pretty good too, if only for the awesome Night Vision segment at the end. As well as the frantic base defence before that. New Alexandria was also awesome because of its unique open-world structure. And don't forget the Jetpack segment in Exodus.
 * Forge world.
 * New Alexandria is a truly fantastic level. Still reeling a bit after, the player gets into a Falcon (with a pair of A Is manning the rocket launchers who are actually competant!) and provides air support for several ODST units throughout the city. This includes racing to 3 buildings, one of which is deserted and incredibly eery (until the Drone Swarm shows up), one is a gauntlet with lots of cover for awesome gunfights with Elites and Brutes, and the 3rd has you take on six, count 'em, SIX HUNTERS. After that you need to fly over with your falcon to take out a bunch of anti-air turrets around the central tower. Did I mention that these locations are a good distance apart and as you move between them you shoot down a total of about 3 dozen Banshees and a handful of Phantoms? Epic.
 * In Halo 2, the Multi Mook Melee at the end of Gravemind was awesome.

HAWX

 * Tom Clancy's HAWX. Your PMC
 * The Rio level. You're flying along, and it seems like you'll get there and nothing will happen, then your AWACS controller says that there's a massive invasion force of planes, tanks, and landing craft headed towards the city. Cue what might be the largest battle in the entire game, culminating in a battle with you and your squadron mates against a quartet of Aces (the only pilots in the game that are actually challenging even with ERS) flying Su-47s. AWE. SOME.

Hitman

 * The Hitman series has a few:
 * Plutonium Runs Loose from Codename 47: Running around a humongous map setting up bits and pieces of a gambit and systematically making most every guard in the area disappear, before finally culminating in storming a ship, having to avoid or massacre the multitude of gun-toting crewmen while making your way to the engine room in a race against time to disarm a nuke.
 * The second proper level of Silent Assassin, St. Petersburg Stakeout. Smuggling a sniper rifle out of a subway station and into the sewers, infiltrating an apartment building, then finding out the general you're supposed to kill is in a meeting with four others, and the target's description is gradually given to you by your contact as the meeting progresses.
 * Shogun Showdown, again from Silent Assassin. The previous two levels are usually not very well regarded, but this more than makes up for it- after painstakingly trekking through a snowy mountain and sabotaging all outer defenses, 47 infiltrates a Japanese crime lord's private castle in search of a missile guidance system. Among possible strategies, the player can choose to climb all the way up to the top chamber and face the katana-wielding Hayamoto hands-on before escaping in a helicopter.
 * Terminal Hospitality, a third from Silent Assassin. Getting into the basement of a secret Indian palace to find a cult leader who's about to undergo surgery, before cutting the lights and "finishing the job" yourself.
 * The last two levels of Silent Assassin (it's just that big a crowner):
 * St. Petersburg Revisited: virtually the same setup as in St. Petersburg Stakeout, until you notice the cardboard cutout you're shooting at doesn't budge, and neither does the sniper that ends up killing you almost instantly. After wising up and choosing to investigate up close, you find out it was a surviving Ort-meyer clone, sent by the main villain himself, which leads up to...
 * Redemption at Gontranno: "Here's every weapon you've encountered over the course of the game, and bucketloads of ammo. Here's an army of bodyguards for you to plow through. Enjoy!"
 * Hitman: Blood Money:
 * Curtains Down: The assasination of the game. First of, the gorgeous opera house interior (as pointed out by an in-game tourist guide) and bombastic music played during the rehersals which you have to listen through in order to . Secondly, you can get a bit melodramatic by killing a performer at his number's climax (he literally begs to be shot at that point!) and dropping a chandelier on his partner. Thirdly, framing the kill as an Accident by   seeps of Dramatic Irony as the play they're rehearsing is the final act of Tosca.
 * Murder Of The Crows: Trying to hunt down couple of feathered assassins in the middle of a ridiculously crowded parade they are closing in on their target by listening to their radio chatter? Infiltrating enemy hideout dressed as a cartoon bird? Killing a guy by blowing his payment for the hit he's pulling on his face? Awesome.
 * Amendment XXV: Mr. 47 having a duel of assassins with his Evil(er) Counterpart inside the fricking White House.
 * And of course, the epilogue level of Blood Money, where 47 has his fake death reversed and proceeds to kill all the agents of The Franchise - including their crippled boss. Extremely satisfying.

Homeworld

 * The final level of Homeworld. You're the last people from your planet left. You've just wiped out multiple enemy fleets coming from multiple directions, more are still coming and you're running out of ships. It zooms out to a cutscene and seriously depressing classical music starts playing, as
 * What about the last level of Homeworld 2? The Vaygr are about to overrun the last of Hiigara's defenses. Then.

Hydro Thunder

 * The final course in the arcade version of Hydro Thunder, Nile Adventure, is an amusement ride-like take on the Nile River, with many amazing features such as multi-colored lightning, a dome with a spinning starfield,, and a huge chamber containing a huge cyclopic monster in the water that shoots lasers (though they don't hurt you). It's also one of the longest courses in the game, taking nearly four minutes to complete.

Hype: The Time Quest

 * In Hype: The Time Quest, the thieves' village (not exactly a level, but an area nonetheless) is definitely befitting of this trope. Amazing music, golden light, people in green tights, and fully explorable REALLY thick tree branches!

Iji

 *  Iji, Sector 5. After four levels of introductory skirmishing with the Tasen, this is where you finally discover what the game is really about. You suddenly find yourself in the role of a mere spectator as two alien races duke it out, and it's up to you whether to respond by trying to slip past them while they're occupied with each other... or just blow them both to pieces. It helps that it's also one of the largest levels and has what's widely regarded as the game's best non-boss music track. Keep in mind that basically every song in Iji is Crowning Music of Awesome.

Infamous

 * Alden's Tower in Infamous. A colossal structure that dominates the landscape, with Cole and Zeke fighting their way to the top whilst you climb to dangerous jumps. And then there's a battle at the top with the big cheeses of Empire City fighting for the Ray Sphere...good times.
 * The second game has the mission "Death Toll", where you have unlimited energy by directly draining electricity from the thunder storm. The game pits you against the Ice Gang and gives you the ability for a untold amount of asskicking.

Jade Empire

 * Everything after the point where in Jade Empire just kicks so much arse (although the part where you fight hundreds of little cannibal monsters is pretty damned awesome too).

Jak and Daxter

 * The third Jak and Daxter game features a level containing absurd quantities of win and awesome, which isn't even the end battle. It's the one in which you are basically given a gunship (VASTLY improved from its appearances in the previous game) with unlimited ammunition and a regenerating supply of smart missiles, and set loose on a flying war factory. By yourself. Waftching a smart bomb explosion significantly bigger than your own ship while spamming ammunition at tanks, defensive structures, and flying KG drones, solo? Sign me up.
 * The Dark Maker assault on Spargas City. Unlike the Metal Head/KG Bot attacks in Haven City, everyone in the Wasteland is armed, and they're fighting back. The Dark Makers have shields, and even they're not helping much.
 * Also, the mission where you have to run from location to location killing KG bots and Metal Heads with the Blaster, while picking up weapons. It may rip off your ammo something shocking, but killing hundreds of Mooks almost single-handed, with a sudden tidal wave of Freedom League Red Shirts turning up at the end to help you out against a Blast Bot. Or the time you take over a Blast Bot and march it through the city by remote control. Or doing the same with a Dark Maker version of the Atlas mech. Or Daxter riding a missile. Or...y'know what, half the game.
 * The Tomb of Mar level in Jak II. It is a defining moment in the game and a pure example of excellent good ol' fashion platforming.
 * How about the final sequence where you're chasing the Dark Maker walker? The music, the ongoing storm, bringing down that hulking machine with your machine-gun armed dune buggy...just an awesome chase sequence to get you pumped for the final boss.
 * Snowy Mountain in Jak 1. It is a big,beatiful area with a lot to explore. Running up a hill while avoiding huge snowballs? Exploring icy caves? Jumping and flying through canyons? Discover the fort and jump your way around it? A breathtaking view from above? Snowy Mountain has it all.
 * A trait shared with most of the game. The Precursor Legacy's scenery not only justifies buying the game on its own, it also makes it fun to just run around the levels for ages after you collect everything except a few orbs. In fact, the game world itself is pretty much the world's largest Awesome video game level (without any loading screens it's essentially a single massive place...)
 * That said, Snowy Mountain HAS to win the prize for awesome videogame foreshadowing. After you arrive by cable car, The silhouetted shape of Gol and Maia's citadel, the last level of the game, is visible in the clouds off to the right. Exactly how that turns out cannot be done justice with mere description.
 * Lava tube. Dear god.. Just Lava tube. You start off racing through an active volcano, end up bouncing along metal roller coaster tracks over the top of a really big fast flowing lava river, and then after a rather disorientating set of junctions you end up in something akin to an Eternal Engine level. Except the floor is still covered with Lava. And if you do it backwards, about halfway through you get treated to an almost vertical downhill plunge towards a river of Lava and back up again. The only way to really appreciate it is to do it yourself, and pay close attention to the bacground

Jet Set Willy

 * One for oldbies; "We Must Perform A Quirkafleeg" in Jet Set Willy.
 * And for the sequel, The Cartography Room.

Katamari Damacy

 * The final level in most Katamari Damacy games, that has you rolling up the islands of Japan, rainbows, the clouds, volcanoes, and expies of Godzilla, other Kaiju, and Ultraman. If you're good enough, you can even roll up the King of All Cosmos.
 * The "final" level of We ? Katamari has to be mentioned. You're tasked with rolling up the whole freaking solar system... using the Earth as your katamari! All to a surprisingly understated, kind of eerie song in the background. Equally awesome is the penalty for failure (which you must see at least once to progress in the game): Your rolled-up planets hit the sun and burst into flames.
 * Beautiful Katamari one-ups that. You start with a katamari about a meter in diameter, and roll until you're rolling up buildings, then islands, then continents, and then you go into space and start rolling up planets and stars and other celestial bodies, all in the efforts of making a katamari big enough to block up a black hole.
 * Never mind the fact that you can ROLL UP THE BLACK HOLE.
 * The final level from the first game still trumps them, if only because Katamari on the Rocks, the Main Theme starts blasting and keeps you going. And you know it did.
 * The third-to-last level of Katamari Forever is kind of a refinement of all of the above. You get to roll up everything you'd made in every mode up to that point...possibly including Corrupt Data Peanut Planet.

Kingdom Hearts

 * The first Kingdom Hearts features Hollow Bastion, which is a huge epic castle with great world music and plot-important, dramatic boss fights. Also, it lets you go from packing a near-worthless toy sword made of driftwood all the way up to the awesomely badass-looking Oblivion, the second-strongest Keyblade in the game.
 * Hollow Bastion ought to be the official name of Crowning Game Levels. The scenery is breathtaking, right from the self-explanatory(?) Rising Falls that usher in the level down to the labyrinthine inner sanctum; the boss fights are some of the most intense, emotionally-charged battles in the game; the gamut of challenges is more complete than you even thought possible, even forcing you to go back to the basest of basic weapons as mentioned above, and later including a gummy ship segment, just to make sure you've mastered every art the game offers; the plot takes a breakneck-speed dive into the most epic of territory with dark possession, evil sorcery, gratuitous amounts of Power of Friendship, and even the transformation of the main character into a Heartless; and to bring everything to a height of awesome that only the word "crowning" can describe, there's that haunting organ that ushers in the ultimate boss of the world. You face the rival the hero never managed to top, you meet The Man Behind the Man, fight The Dragon (literally,) and then fight the rival again with his own evil version of the Keyblade. And when he's beaten you free the princesses, and then the hero dies and is revived as the party flees and escapes. Seriously, was this originally where the game ended? The End of the World, despite being suitably epic and large-scale, seems like an afterthought compared to Hollow Bastion.
 * Neverland. By the end of the level, you can fly! Which leads right in to a boss fight with Captain Hook, where you get to use your new ability to dogfight his minions before swooping down on the old codfish. You get the Glide ability after that, but it just pales in comparison to the full flying ability that you have in Neverland.
 * Agrabah. It may have become a Scrappy Level in later games, but it was great fun to play through here: climbing to the rooftops of buildings, exploring the Cave of Wonders, facing down Jafar...all of it memorable.
 * The 1000 Heartless fight in Kingdom Hearts II. They're some of the weakest Heartless in the game, admittedly, but taking on that many still makes you feel like a total badass.
 * Before that, there's the separate fights with heartless where you're paired up with various Final Fantasy characters, and before that there's the battle with Demyx, and before that there's the space paranoids/freaking Tron.
 * Goofy was just taken down before Sora pairs up with the Final Fantasy characters, so unless your heart's a dried up prune, Sora, and by extension the player, is brimming with grief-turned-fury-turned-COME GET SOME!
 * That whole Heartless Invasion was cool. So was The World That Never Was. Despite them being extreme bastards, tell me you don't have separate files for Xigbar, Luxord, Saix, and Xemnas.
 * Beast's Castle, chiefly because all of the bosses you face there are freaking epic, especially That One Boss Xaldin.
 * In 358/2 Days, considering its his claim to fame, pretty much every player who played the game kept waiting the mission where Roxas finally cracked out the dual-wielded Oathkeeper and Oblivion and started kicking ass like he did in KH 2. He finally does it during final mission, so of course it was a lot of fun since you waited the entire game for it. The only problem is that the mission was really short, but hey, we got the dual-wielding at least.
 * Mission 91 is also awesome. Roxas basically goes, "Screw this, I'm outta here!" and you run through the castle fighting Nobodies. And then you fight  And THEN you get one of those awesome FMV cutscenes.
 * Day 357 (Tears)? True, it's a major Tear Jerker, but it brings to a close an unknown chapter in Roxas' life, and by the end of it, you should be ready to storm the Organization XIII headquarters., perfectly set the mood for the aforementioned final chapter. And the boss fight itself is awesome, too.
 * Coded has its version of Hollow Bastion. Let's see here: Four different gameplay styles and three genres (shooter, platformer, action RPG), a two stage fight with, two battles (one three parts) with , then a whirlwind tour of the other worlds in the game. After that we get a fight with   which is easy but oh so cool.
 * The Keyblade Graveyard in Birth by Sleep. Little more needs to be said.

Kirby

 * The entirety of the Revenge of Meta-Knight mode in Kirby Super Star. The running dialogue from the enemies makes Kirby seem like an unstoppable force of destruction!
 * And at the height of it all during the final assault on the airship, all of it is set to Crowning Music of Awesome.
 * Kirbopher (the creator of TTA) made reference to this in his collaborative flash $00pah NiN10Doh!. Kirby infiltrates the Halberd with a machine gun, and one of the Waddle Dees working for Meta Knight says the line "He's like totally owning everything without even TRYING!"
 * Similarly, there's also a stage called "The Revenge" in Kirby Super Star Ultra's Revenge of the King, with similar running dialogue and a Crowning Boss Fight of Awesome.
 * Also in Kirby Super Star Ultra, there's the game mode where you play through all of the original levels, as Meta Knight.
 * Kirbys Epic Yarn, Melody Town. The fact that all of the platforms in the level are musical instruments that respond to your landing on them creates some sort of indescribable audiovisual joy.

Klonoa

 * Klonoa: Door to Phantomile has the Wind Ruins. It's really the first level in the game where the difficulty gets kicked up to interesting, has great background music, and the best boss in the game.
 * Mts. of Mira-Mira in Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil. An extremely fun boarding level with some awesome background music in the form of Stepping Wind (Wahoo Stomp in translated versions).
 * Kingdom of Sorrow. It really, really is.

La-Mulana

 * La-Mulana has the Dimensional Corridor. It's one long string of miniboss fights, and if Lemeza is at full power, you can basically curbstomp all of them. Unless you get stuck trying to get that damn Life Jewel in the room above the Dragon.
 * The Giant's Mausoleum deserves a mention. It's the second area in the game, and it's where the game starts getting serious. Also, the music is some of the best in the game.

L.A. Noire

 * The Black Caesar, the first Vice case in L.A. Noire. First off, Cole and his new partner, Roy Earle, have great chemistry, even if they dislike each other. The dialogue is great, with Cole and Earle both positing their differing views on law enforcement. The case itself is really intriguing, drawing Cole into the dark underworld of organised crime and the morphine trade, where you can't quite be sure who is or isn't involved, including the LAPD themselves. You've also got some great crime scenes to investigate, and a memorable shootout in the finale. And the title of the case is a Red Dead Redemption Mythology Gag.
 * The Quarter Moon Murders, the last Homicide case. You've already solved five homicide case, but you feel that something's up and the individual cases are all actually connected, and you've been charging inncocent men. In this case you are led around LA using clips from Prometheus Unbound to determine the next landmark you need to go to. The end has you

Legacy of Kain

 * Avernus Cathedral in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Finally meeting vampire Turel, the one brother that escaped you in Raziels first game. Finally getting Raziels TK upgraded to Kains level. Encountering Mortanius, who hasn't been seen since the first game. And then, aaaaaaaand then Raziel and Kain finally battle it out to the death and you control one then the other and finally . And there's still a good two hours of game left.

The Legend of Zelda

 * The Palace Of The Winds from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Also from the same game, the final dungeon.
 * The City in the Sky in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and the Hidden Village shootout.
 * From said game, mine would be Goron Mines. The boss is awesome and scary looking!
 * Gerudo Desert and the Arbiter's Grounds are the best levels in the game. First you get to be a ninja in the night in the desert and the Bulblin encampment, then you fight your way through the most ancient, elaborate, haunting, Nightmare-Fueled dungeon ever.
 * Gerudo Desert, alternitavely, not going ninja and going Axe Crazy on the Bulbins instead. To clarify not sniping the Bulbins on the towers gives you NEVER ENDING enemies.
 * There's a reason it's considered by many fans to be the best dungeon in the franchise. Seriously. You don't even mind much if you screw up some bits eighty times, because they're just so cool! (Primarily things involving the spinner. That spinner is pure twirling awesome.
 * And the fact that the boss is also considered one of, if not the, absolute best in Zelda history certainly doesn't hurt.
 * Stone Tower Temple from The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask.
 * The Water Temple in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. Makes up for its scrappyness by having some clever puzzles and two fun bosses.
 * The Spirit Temple, also from Ocarina of Time. You get to go through it in both child AND adult forms, and the various puzzles are fun. Plus, you get to fight THREE Iron Knuckles. What more could you possibly ask for?
 * Some of the best dungeon music in the entire series, that's what. The Spirit Temple is a masterpiece.
 * Explorer's Crypt manages to be both this and a Scrappy Level for me.
 * The Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time. The music, the atmosphere, the Stalfos fights, hunting the Poes, the outdoors bits, getting the bow, the level design, the twisting corridors, the Wallmasters...bloody hell it's epic. And to top it all off, the boss is
 * This is also the first dungeon you go through as Adult Link. After turning from a fairy kid to the chosen one with a magic sword, you're ready for some adventure.
 * Either the Colour Dungeon or Eagle's Tower from The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening.
 * Or Turtle Rock.
 * From the The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games, Seasons has the run up to the horribly scrappy Ancient Ruins (aka Tarm Ruins, lots of fun playing with the seasons), while Ages has the Skull Dungeon. Worth investing in both games purely to experience both of those levels.
 * Seasons may possess the distinction of being the only game in the Zelda series where the segment which is almost universally regarded as the most enjoyable and memorable part of the game is not a dungeon. Tarm Ruins and the Lost Wood segment which takes place in the middle of the ruins--you will remember the Lost Woods from these games, if only for the screen where Like Likes rain from the sky--is a friggin' masterpiece. With amazing music.
 * The Savage Labyrinth (The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker) and the Cave of Ordeals (Twilight Princess) are massive Multi Mook Melees that are consistently considered a greater challenge than the Final Boss fights. Both end with fights against three of the game's resident Boss in Mook Clothing, Darknuts/Iron Knuckles, which will challenge your application of your special moves and items. (Heaven help you if you didn't spend the time to learn the Mortal Draw.)
 * And, when you finally do win, you feel like a Badass.
 * Snowpeak Ruins, by virtue that you never expect a ruined mansion to be a dungeon, let alone have one of the most awesome, if not creepiest, boss fights in the game. The fact that it also gives you infite supplies of a free healing item doesn't hurt, either. Nor does it hurt that you get the Ball and Chain. Well, it doesn't hurt you, anyway.
 * Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple pulled the ruined mansion schtick before that, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. Still very awesome.
 * In the Master Quest version, the Fire Temple is awesoem! You fight an Iron Knuckle, much earlier than in the standard game, and the challenges presented here are staggering but fun. You also get the Megaton hammer much earlier in this version of the dungeon, turning it into much more of a useful puzzle solver in said dungeon.
 * Twilight Princess' Temple of Time. Cool puzzles, cool music, Darknut. GIANT SPIDERS. That is all.
 * And to top it all off, just when you think you've beaten the biggest of those spiders, it gets back up. Epic Rematch? Well, no, but would you settle for a Crowning Moment of Funny instead?
 * Wind Temple from The Wind Waker, Mutoh's Temple from The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass and Sand Temple from The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks; nothing better than three Indiana Jones-esque levels to conclude the day. Each with unique puzzles and very creative boss battles.
 * Returning to the Forsaken Fortress with Master Sword in hand is very fun. This time you can take out all those pesky guards before, not to mention fighting the bird who kidnapped your sister!
 * Death Mountain in the original The Legend of Zelda. You finally enter, and this creepy new music starts playing, as you proceed into by far the least linear level in the game, with all the most powerful enemies in huge numbers.
 * From The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, we have the Ancient Cistern, the resident Water Temple. It completely shatters the tradition of Water Temples being Scrappy Levels by being fun; the upper floors of the level are Scenery Porn, resembling a golden Buddhist temple with lilypads, lotuses, and even a giant not-Buddha statue. And then you get to to the basement - a twisted, creepy underworld with Zombie Bokoblins and a poisonous bog. And the only way back up to the heavenly upper level from this hell is to climb a rope bathed in light while endless hordes of Zombie Bokoblins climb up after you, trying to drag you back down to "hell."
 * It contains many nice pieces of symbolism on top of that: the aforementioned giant Buddha statue has easily-retrievable Silver Rupees in its hands, but trying to grab them results in the hand closing on you and harming you (and you don't get the Rupee). The "climbing the rope out of Hell" bit is a blatant reference to a Buddhist parable about an evil man who tried to do just that, but fell down again due to his selfishness. And the dungeon's boss, located at the highest point, greatly resembles a Hindu diety in its second form.
 * The Sandship is also a very cool dungeon. It's a large vessel that is found in the grand expanse of the Lanayru Sand Sea. The boat can be time-shifted so it can exist in the present or past, allowing for some diverse puzzle-solving (much like the Lanayru Mining Facility, but this time for the entire dungeon, rather than just select rooms). The non-time-shift puzzles make good use of your arrows as well. The setting is also interesting, as the ship's design feels authentic and natural yet it also works well as a dungeon in spite of that. The boss is something of a downer, though, due to his odd looks.
 * Lanayru Mining Facility is a blast. It's very compact in size, like the first two dungeons, but it makes it for the density of the puzzles, the enemy population, and the clever usage of the Timeshift Stones. And the music (especially the past-era version) is very catchy.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

 * The Game of the Movie, A Series of Unfortunate Events (the console version, not the PC version) has one minigame that involves playing a specific song on a piano. Not only is the song depressingly catchy, but it requires three tries to get to the end, each time getting faster. After you get into the pattern, it becomes surprisingly easy for this game.

Little Big Planet

 * In Little Big Planet, Skulldozer takes the cake. You're running away from a giant bicycle-wheeled, bull skull-headed mechanical beast surrounded in red fog, piloted by . Blazing guitar plays in the background, and it's downright awesome.

The Lost Vikings

 * From The Lost Vikings 2, the level 4RGH. Coming between That One Level H3LL and the Boss Battle against Tomator, it has very few enemies but plenty of timed switches and thought provoking puzzles.

Mafia

 * Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven might be Nintendo Hard in so many ways, but some parts are just great. But the most epic is The Whore where you need to storm Hotel Corleone and kill a whore. Going through the hotel is filled to the end with supsense and you're the edge of your seat. After reaching the top, what do you do? You plant a bomb, run through a corridor and jump out a roof. After being chased by the police through the roofs you enter a church. Inside follows an epic shoot-out during the funeral of an old enemy. How do you top it off? You escape in a freaking hearse.
 * Left 4 Dead 2s Concert finale. You set up a rock concert, then fight zombies. also, the Tank has remixes of its theme to match the two songs that play. AWESOMEST ZOMBIE FIGHT EVER.
 * "So we got to set up to rock, and then fight zombies? This is the greatest day of my life!"
 * The Midnight Riders have the greatest fireworks and light show in history, hands down. Now imagine yourself on the up there, killing zombies who are bumrushing the stage, through fireworks powerful enough to set people on fire. It is the greatest moment of the game, and one of the greatest in video game history.
 * Speaking of Left 4 Dead, how about some of Left 4 Dead's community-made levels? Personally, there is nothing more awesome than the Helm's Deep level for Left 4 Dead 1. Re-enact the holdout of Helm's Deep for Lord of the Rings with zombies? Breathtaking level-making? Using the Crowning Music of Awesome straight from the movie? Hell. Yes.
 * Hard Rain. Fightning zombies in the middle of a hurricane.

Mickey Mania

 * Mickey Mania has a level exclusive to the Sega CD and PlayStation versions that comes right before the final battle. Pete stands on top of a stack of three crates, and he laughs off any marbles you throw at him. Fortunately, he doesn't actually harm you, not even when you run into him. However, you have to run back and forth collecting pencils to call the other Mickeys as Pete summons more weasel guards to take care of you. The first of the Mickeys, Mad Doctor Mickey, lights a cannon that destroys the top crate. Next, Mickey and the Beanstalk Mickey takes a saw and saws down the second crate. Lonesome Ghost Mickey then runs in, bumps into the last crate a few times, and finally pushes it away. But the level is still not over. The next pencil summons Moose Hunter Mickey, who blows his horn and leaves, followed by a moose running in and trampling Pete. Then the Prince and Pauper Mickey (or is it Pauper Mickey dressed as the Prince and vice versa?) each swing in on a chain, the latter swinging a sword and exposing Pete's Goofy Print Underwear. The last pencil brings in Steamboat Willie, who blows a whistle and summons a crane that carries Pete away, ending the level. It's Better Than It Sounds.

Mario Kart

 * Super Mario Kart's Rainbow Road. All its level design is aimed towards making Rainbow Road the epic final stage. It features devilishly thin stretches without guardrails and partrolled by invincible Thwomps, whom you can't even touch safely. These obstacles, plus the aggressive computer racers, make this Rainbow Road the most intense race in all of Mario Kart.
 * Especially if you're able to complete the course without ever falling off. And considering even the AI has trouble, that's quite something to accomplish.
 * Mario Kart 64 has Bowser's Castle with that badass Urban Legend of Zelda and goosebump inducing Cherubic Choir, and that awesome courtyard.But the best track ever invented that then got bastardized in Wii was DK's Jungle Parkway with its frickin' cool river jump and those coconuts that the natives threw, and best of all the river is beautiful.
 * Also MK 64 has Royal Raceway with its Super Mario 64 homage with the castle.
 * Yoshi's Valley, a maze level where you had to figure out which way to go - and the driver rankings can't even be displayed!
 * Banshee Boardwalk was also very fun! You drive through a pier at night, and into a mansion with bats coming out of cells and a coffin! Boos also watch your every move during the later part of the track. It also had no railings in some places so it posed a good challenge for everyone!
 * Other awesome tracks were Koopa Troopa Beach with its rising and sinking water and cave shortcut, Wario Stadium with that big jump where you could screw over everyone if you had Lightning, Choco Mountain for the awesome music and falling boulders, Mario Raceway where you could jump over a frickin wall if you had a Mushroom, and to some extent Luigi Raceway and Kalimari Desert. Luigi Raceway had an Item Box that was always rigged so that you would get Blue Shells giving it some tactical elements, and Kalimari Desert had the frickin train! Mario Kart 64 was basically made of levels upon levels of awesome!
 * And finally the Rainbow Road had a Crowning Music of Awesome theme with beautiful neon lights in the background, chain chomps everywhere and the biggest shortcut ever made!
 * In direct contrast to Rainbow Road in most other Mario Kart games, Rainbow Road has a barrier all around it. While it does sort of ruin the challenge a bit, the ability to relax and just drive is surprisingly fun in its own way.
 * The Battle Stage Block Fort.
 * The GBA game had Cheese Land which had great music and was made of cheese with mice serving as obstacles, Luigi Circuit where it always rained and traction was decreased, Sky Road with its many shortcuts, Sunset Wilds which had Indian Shy Guys and sunset to dusk to night change, Ribbon Road which was fairly challenging and had awesome music, Bowser's Castle 3 and 4 with the former taking place outside and having a Magikoopa cameo while the latter had Mecha-Koopas as obstacles, Lakeside Park which had an erupting volcano, and Broken Pier which was challenging and had Boos as obstacles.
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash! - Rainbow Road was thoroughly epic. Of course, that had a lot to do with the music it played.
 * Especially if you're the only person you know who can complete the level without falling off once. And hit every boost pad.
 * MKDD's Rainbow Road music is particularly awesome though. Even Nintendo think so, as they included it in Brawl as an unlockable track.
 * Double Dash also has Mushroom City, probably the best traffic-based course in the series.
 * Wario Colosseum and Dino Dino Jungle were both awesome courses as well! The former was so long it only had two laps and was a satisfying rollercoaster-like experience while Dino Dino Jungle had lots of shortcuts, geysirs as obstacles, and a dinosaur!
 * The battle mode probably had the best stages out of them all. The first was Nintendo Gamecube, which has you fight atop a giant Gamecube in space. By design it's just a simple flat square battlefield guarded by railing on all sides, but this makes for the most hectic battles as bananas and shells, big and small, to shoot all over the place. And in Bob-Omb Blast mode, it's rows of explosions.
 * There's also Luigi's Mansion, which had 3 floors, the bottom being a split hallway, the middle being filled with item boxes and the top has a giant gap in the middle so you could fall down to middle. Not only was it great for strategic battling in Baloon Battle, it was amazing for Bob-Omb blast as the explosions spanned the entire mansion.
 * Finally there's the secret level: Tilt-A-Kart. What is it? A giant flat 8-bit sprite of Mario Jumping, with white outlines that slow you down so you don't fall off. What makes it special, aside from being the biggest arena? It tilts. You have to constantly be in movement to avoid falling off, or chasing down the item boxes as they fall from the sky and roll off the stage. It's probably the best level for Baloon Battle AND Shine Thief, as the fight can be taken anywhere, and unlike the other arenas, there's also the danger of falling off.
 * On the note of recurring course themes, there's also Bowser's Castle. These courses tend to have the toughest gimmicks in the game, but they never fail to be a blast to play through. Special mention goes to the ones from 64 (which got to be in the final course of Mario Kart Wii's Retro Cups), DD, and Wii (it has Mecha Bowser).
 * Mario Kart DS: Waluigi Pinball. The fact that the sound effects change to sound a little bit more arcade-y also helps.
 * From the same game, there's also Airship Fortress, a big reference to Super Mario Bros. 3 and an awesome course, and Tick Tock Clock, a great tribute to the Super Mario 64 level.
 * Luigi's Mansion is also pretty awesome as well, and a great way to finish the Mushroom Cup. You drive through the front door of the mansion and down into the cellar, out to the graveyard complete with Boos, culminating in a trip through the forest that has moving trees and lots of mud! Rainbow Road in this game was also awesome and was a real rollercoaster experience, with one loop-de-loop and corkscrew, features which never appeared in any other Mario Kart!
 * Mario Kart Wii has Toad's Factory, a great way to finish the Mushroom Cup, Coconut Mall, an overall fun course, and pretty much the entire Star Cup (especially Koopa Cape), sans Grumble Volcano.
 * It also shows
 * MKWii also boasts what is likely the best Rainbow Road track in the series, with amazing music to match.
 * And the Mario Galaxy references!
 * Mushroom Gorge, due to the bouncing off of mushrooms and the music.
 * How about Grumble Volcano? It's not often you experience a mad dash for first place through a volcano AS IT'S ERUPTING.
 * A lot of Mario Kart Wii tracks qualify as this when you're not getting raped by item storms. Any Rainbow Road course is fun to play through if you're good enough not to screw up at every left turn. But DK Mountain and Summit from Double Dash and Wii in particular. Mainly, it's blasting out of the cannons, then making a mad drive down the side of the mountains trying to do it again.
 * Koopa Cape and Maple Treeway. The former has you driving around a cliffside that borders the sea, through caves and rivers, ending with a trip through an underwater pipe... that's see-through. The latter starts with you blasting out of a DK Cannon like in the summit and driving through the treetops to what is probably one of the best music tracks in the history of Mario Kart! And it has leaf piles... that have items! Possibly Starmen as well!
 * Mario Kart 7 has a ton of excellent tracks, such as Music Park (which has you drive on/around musical instruments), Wario Shipyard (a reference to Wario Land), Shy Guy Bazaar (which references Super Mario Bros. 2), DK Jungle (which was even made by Retro Studios) and Rainbow Road (three sections including parts on the surface of a planet and with Super Mario Galaxy like launch stars). And then there's the retro tracks, which seem like they were inspired by this very page, bringing back Airship Fortress, Waluigi Pinball, Maple Treeway, Coconut Mall, SNES Rainbow Road, Koopa Cape and Dino Dino Jungle in the same game. The game is literally like a collection of the series best levels.
 * SNES Rainbow Road is made more awesome in that it's one of only two tracks that do not feature any gliding or underwater sections ever. Just pure racing and item bashing like the older games. The only other track? Luigi Raceway from N64!
 * Mario Kart 7 also has Neo Bowser City, which is rather challenging even if there's no real gimmicks except for the puddles that come from the rain, as well as the glider section that allows you to take a shortcut, so what do you get to compensate? A well-designed track with sharp turns through a dystopian Cyberpunk-like city that pulsates with life through Tron Lines and awesome music to top it off. We also have Piranha Plant Slide which is based on the Underground Levels of the main Mario Games, and the new Bowser's Castle of course. Koopa Beach and Luigi's Mansion are also pretty awesome! The former have been heavily redesigned, while the latter has some new shortcuts and paths to accomodate th glider feature.

Mario Party

 * Luigi's Engine Room, Bowser's Magma Mountain, and Eternal Star from the first Mario Party all had some cool board effects while being fairly challenging.
 * Mario Party 2 had Space Land, Mystery Land, Horror Land, and Bowser Land. Horror Land especially stands out for its day and night system, eery atmosphere, and Big Boo. Bowser Land meanwhile put a new spin on the established Bank System, had Warp Pipes that could help or hinder you, and ? Spaces which did different things depending on what was near it for the first time.
 * Mario Party 3 had Creepy Cavern, a board with a train, an NPC who you had to bribe with items, great atmosphere, and awesome music! The unlockable board of this game, Waluigi's Island, was also fantastic to play on. It featured explosive dynamite, an island on which the spaces constantly changed, and a fork you had to cross if you were planning on using Boo. The wrong choice was random and picking it would send a character back to the beginning.
 * On the Duel Board side, Pipesqueak and Backtrack. Pipesqueak featured Warp Pipes that could take you to any of the other Warp Pipes. If you were lucky and smart enough, you could really put some hurt on your opponent. Backtrack meanwhile changed all those one-time Reverse Spaces into Backtrack Spaces which made everyone go the other path until one stepped on another Backtrack Space. In the Story Mode, Backtrack also had a soothing music.
 * Mario Party 6 had 2 awesome boards: Fair Square and Clockwork Castle. The game's day and night mechanic really factored into these boards. In addition to being the biggest boards in the game, Fair Square had the most side activities, but the main reason it's so great is that the star space remains fixed in one spot, and you could buy as much stars as you want as long as you have the money. In the Day Time, stars are 20 coins as usual, but in night, the price is randomly picked from set prices, cue mad dashes to the star space once it becomes 5 coins each or slowing down when it's 50. There are lots of ways to build up a lot of coins so you could buy as much as possible. Clockwork Castle is also a big board, and the main feature here is a mobile star space. As soon as the match starts, Donkey Kong appears and hits dice blocks to move clockwise around the board as you chase him down. But once it becomes night, movement becomes counter clockwise and Donkey Kong transforms into bowser, who chases YOU down and steals your stars. Switching spaces with the guy closest to donkey kong only to get a bad roll and not reach him, and then get hit by Bowser once it becomes night is one of many possible events here.
 * Mario Party 9 has the final level, Bowser Station. Three Bonus Stage style Captain Events, the Jackpot Machine (which started up minigames with higher stakes), and the best Final Boss in Mario Party: An epic showdown with Bowser himself, who can call the other bosses in as backup.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

 * Arcade's World in Marvel Ultimate Alliance. It starts up with you (and the characters) duped into thinking it's Dr. Doom's castle, but smash the stone pillars and you reveal brightly coloured spirals, as well as carnival music some other oddities. When the rug is pulled about halfway in, the players pursue Arcade through a funfair called Murderworld, fight Shocker and Rhino, participate in life-size games of Space Invaders and Pitfall, and run over infinitely spawning clowns in a bumper car. Then they fight Arcade in a giant robot. All of this in a stage with brilliant fairground music and visuals. ...And then you beat him, and he promptly ends the fun by revealing that whilst he led you on,
 * Additionally, Ultimate Alliance had the balls to
 * Well,


 * Thor's simulator disc can also be fairly awesome. While the unending swarm of trolls and clay warriors can be a nuisance, by this point you likely have access to the devastating hammer throw attack, which has a stun effect as well as dishing out decent damage (especially if mixed with a power booster, such as Thor's team buff). As a result, it ends up as pretty much a medieval Norse skeet shoot as you sledgehammer an endless string of trolls to death, then proceed to the next target.

Mass Effect

 * The final level of Mass Effect. Oh, and there's Crowning Music of Awesome, just for kicks.
 * Becomes even more awesome (although a bit of a cakewalk) if you bring
 * Virmire. Starts off with pretty much nothing but nonstop destruction in the Mako, followed by launching a three-person assault on the most heavily-defended geth base this side of the Terminus Systems, and that is while you can hear the raging battle in the background as Captain Kirrahae's salarians Hold the Line. Not to mention the confrontation with Sovereign, the fight against Saren, and most heart-wrenchingly of all
 * Let's face it, Mass Effect is a Crowning Video Game of Awesome.
 * The infamous and much-touted "suicide mission" of Mass Effect 2. Considering it is essentially what the entire game is building up to, it better be worth it, and by god is it intense. From the initial run through the Omega-4 Relay to the furious assault upon the itself, with all the firefights and interesting gimmicks being thrown at you, having you on the edge of your seat the entire time because you are on pins and needles about whether all your decisions throughout the game were enough to have your team make it through -- and make no mistake, if you didn't do enough, they will die. And then the final boss comes.  And even after all of that, ! It's rare for a game to spend its entirety building up to one intense mission, but it all paid off in the end. Unless, you know, you lost your favorite party members.
 * Let's just think about the amount of work that went into programming this one level. It is possible to lose party members during the approach, meaning there are several scenarios programmed before you even start the mission proper. Then you can lose party members at pretty much any point during scripted events, even if they're . Then you find . Then you can send someone back, who may or may not make it; then, before the final battle, party members can die holding the line. And then, after the final boss, you might still lose party members . Think about this for a minute: it is possible for eleven squadmates to die at any of six or seven points during the mission. How much work must have gone INTO that?! There's a reason this mission is so talked up on all the promotional material for this game: Bioware is very proud of it, and with all the work they've done on it, they should be.
 * Not to mention that there has never been a level quite like it. There are levels where people can be killed depending on your choices but when you go into thinking about the transfer that will take place in Mass Effect 3, where everyone killed here will not be in it, it's unparalleled.
 * One of the things that really makes the suicide mission interesting is the fact that, when looked at on paper, it sounds like a Scrappy Level. First, you need to pick two people to do certain jobs, temporarily eliminating them from your squad. Then, you need to fight your way through a timed, pseudo-escort mission. Screw the jobs up, and squadmembers die permanently. Next, you need to pick two people to do jobs again. you need to stay within a small bubble for the next segment; going outside means you start getting damaged. Screw the jobs up again, and squadmembers die again. Then you finally get to the final boss, but he constantly calls in mooks. Even after you beat him, Shepard him/herself can die. From the start of the entire mission to the end, you're facing Demonic Spiders and Goddamned Bats, as well as a respawning miniboss. It sounds terrible... and yet it's awesome.
 * the music. Because somebody had to mention it.
 * The Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC is noteworthy in how impressively deep and cinematic it is, as well as having some incredibly awesome levels. When you're, you know you've got an awesome level.
 * Hell, even before reaching the Broker's base, you've got a running fight across Illium that includes a chase in flying cars.
 * We'll say it again folks: you participate in a flying car chase.
 * The icing on the cake is all the self-referential humor. *Crashes into several flying cars* "Still better than the Mako!" -- "Remember when you could just slap a bunch of omni-gel on everything?" "That security upgrade made a lot of people unhappy" -- "You'd think they'd send everyone in a huge wave." "Stop giving them tactical advice!"
 * Kasumi's loyalty mission is really cool. Infiltrating a bad guy's party, sneaking around to find a way into his vault without attracting any attention, and then fighting your way out when you get caught - just a really good level, and very, very different from anything else in either game. Not to mention the way Kasumi takes out the gunship's shields, which is almost worth the price of admission on its own...
 * Legion's loyalty mission is utterly brilliant. It's not very often a moral dilemma in a game is so deliciously murky, but the superb writing makes this one of the best examples of a grey and grey choice ever.
 * The Citadel siege in Mass Effect 3, especially if.
 * The entire goddamn Tuchanka campaign in 3 if you
 * This ends with you
 * Tuchanka has nothing on the Rannoch campaign. It starts with you infiltrating a Geth dreadnought, running along the length of the main gun, destroying the drive core, and then escaping as the quarian fleet blasts the hell out of it. From then, it only seeks to ramp things up more and more, eventually culminating in Shepard . And if you've made all the right choices,.
 * Cerberus HQ. After spending the entire game being harassed endlessly by Cerberus, it's time to take the fight back to them.
 * Mars. The atmosphere really feels more like the other Mass Effect games (in particular the first one) than the rest of the game does. Great way to start the game.
 * Even the London level, which can be seen as a Disappointing Last Level for some, works as an example of this trope. After getting the Cain, killing six Brutes and several Banshees on foot, killing another Reaper, and the final charge against, it honestly feels like the Reapers are throwing everything they have at you, and it's still not enough.
 * Even the London level, which can be seen as a Disappointing Last Level for some, works as an example of this trope. After getting the Cain, killing six Brutes and several Banshees on foot, killing another Reaper, and the final charge against, it honestly feels like the Reapers are throwing everything they have at you, and it's still not enough.

The Maw

 * Looferland in The Maw. After Maw eats the Loofer at the start of the stage, he turns into an unstoppable laser-spewing platform of destruction, which Frank rides as his mighty steed, pumping his arms triumphantly as all that stand in their way are destroyed with lasers. It's too bad it comes two levels before the end, as they can only be disappointing by comparison.

Mech Warrior
""Attention, Mercenary: This is the dread legion. Whatever the Combine's paying you, we'll double it. Just turn around, go back to your Drop Ship, and we'll do the rest.""
 * In Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, one campaign for the Draconis Combine has you up against a mercenary company that went rogue. On approach for the final battle, you receive the following message:


 * In the same vein, a much later final mission has you piloting a captured 100-ton uber-mech for your employers - and your briefing is interrupted partway through by your operator, asking you if you still want to try to steal it for yourself. You do have the option. It is difficult. But behind the wheel of the most ridiculously over-armed mech you'll ever have, it's going to be fun the whole way through.
 * In Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, one planet features your forces engaging a group of Clanners. Do well enough and you'll be able to challenge them in a Trial of Possession -- meaning, your mechs and their mechs are going to duel to see who gets the island chain. As if that weren't awesome enough, Spectre decides it's time to show the Clanners who's boss. Your opponent, Star Colonel Thastus, brings ten mechs to the engagement. Spectre shows up with eight. She asks if maybe he misread the invitation. He replies, no, that's just how he rolls -- is she scared? He then proceeds to take her mechs apart with better tactics and incredibly huge guns. The alternative to this mission is pretty interesting in its own right: having decided he's not going to muck about with this "honor" bullshit, Spectre tells them he's going ahead with the duel, and then attacks their base the night before, getting the drop on them and wiping the group out.

Medal of Honor

 * Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault has a level where you hijack a tank called a "King Tiger" from Those Wacky Nazis and barrel your way through an occupied town full of enemy tanks and Nazis with rocket launchers. 99% of the buildings in town are Made of Explodium, Germans go flying in graceful arcs when they take a tank shell to the face, and your tank owns everything. The fact that the soundtrack is by Michael Giacchino is just icing on the cake at this point.
 * Battle Mountain, the final level of the final expansion pack. You're completely outnumbered, forced to perform a messy retreat the entire level in an attempt to reach a castle the allies have holed up in. Everyone is using the most powerful weapons in the game, SWARMS of axis forces mob you from every direction, many of the kills you make are too far away to grab the health pickups they drop, ammo dropped by enemies can't be picked up (at least when I played it,) and absolutely nowhere is safe. When you finally make it to the castle, it's being overrun, so the decision is made to radio for bombardment of the castle, except a generator has failed. You then have to defend a tower from an all-out assault with a sniper rifle while it's repaired, and then retreat from the castle as it's blown to smithereens. In summary, it's an FPS level where you fight as hard as you can possibly fight, vie against impossible odds, and LOSE, and it's awesome.
 * Arnhem Knights from Frontline qualifies. For much of the game, it's just been Patterson by himself on covert operations. You come along in the middle of a battle through the ruins of the town between Germans and the British. Some neat level design that keeps you on your toes and your allies actually being somewhat helpful make it one of the most memorable levels of the game. But what really sets it apart is the tear inducingly beautiful background music that plays throughout.

Mega Man

 * Mega Man 9 deserves this with quite a few stages, but a mention must be made for the Endless Stage, which is a single level that has you travel through 42 randomly chosen rooms. And did we mention that you traverse these rooms repeatedly on a single life and the game records how many screens you traverse through each run? And just so were're clear... FORTY-TWO ROOMS.
 * Mega Man 2. Dr. Wily's Castle. That is all.
 * Mega Man 5 has Charge Man's stage, a freight train with fantastic music and great scenery. It's hard to explain, but there's something just plain fun about charging through a train and blasting robot hens and rats to pieces.
 * Mega Man X, armored Armadillo, last mine cart ride.
 * The whole stage is awesome. It starts with a single minecart ride that lets you avoid all the bats on the top and mows through a couple of ostriches before abruptly ending. Right after that you take a leap down and are either chased by or chasing a bulldozer mechaniloid that clears out a straight path through the chaotic terrain and can kill you in one hit, before it falls into a pit of spikes, but it is 'very' satisfying to kill it before then. A little ahead of that and we have another mine cart ride, another drop with another bull dozer enemy and the final minecart ride, which mows through a dozen of enemies and trails a bunch of bird enemies that start smoking, flying lower and crashing when killed, especially with a full powered shot clearing through all of them. At the end of the tunne, the minecart ride bursts out in the open, finally outside of those dingy mines and flying above a waterfall leading into a lake surrounded by forests. You jump off and land on a wall or cliff as the birds fly past and enjoy the view some more before heading in for the boss.
 * Sometimes while on the last minecart, the game slows down because of all the stuff that's going on. It looks more the game goes into an uber-dramatic slo motion sequence that adds to the awesomeness.
 * The opening level of Mega Man Zero 2. After a year of fighting, Zero walks through a desert, wrapped in a damaged cloak. Suddenly, a never ending wave of Neo Arcadian 'bots shows up. Cue cloak throw. Cue Departure. Cue "Let's go...". Cue a weakened, damaged Zero tearing through hundreds of enemies and destroying a huge scorpion mech. Cue Zero not giving up, even though he knows he can't continue. Best level in the game!
 * Egoraptor makes a compelling argument for the opening level of Mega Man X for being one of the best levels in the game, if only for the fact that it teaches you the games controls without any kind of onscreen prompt.

Metal Gear

 * The "Sidecar" sequence in Metal Gear Solid 3. It's a marathon slog of escalating awesomeness with adrenaline-raising music.
 * Or just the jeep escape in the original. The Metal Gear theme kicks in, in all its awesomeness.
 * Or storming the Guts of Arsenal in 2. Right after the naked section, you get all of your equipment back, plus a sword, and you get to slice and dice your way through an army of ninjas with Snake at your side. Oh, and Fission Mailed.
 * There are a lot of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots areas, but my personal favorite has to be the motorcycle sequence. Going through the streets of Eastern Europe with that AWESOME soundtrack going.
 * Head to the Control Tower from Peace Walker.
 * You fight an attack helicopter while the amazing theme song plays as the stage BGM.
 * Returning to Shadow Moses island in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Makes me shed a tear everytime.
 * And then you get to drive

Metal Slug

 * The final level of Metal Slug 3 -.
 * Metal Slug 4: The final level involves an enemy base infiltration complete with rappelling down and killing enemies along the way, you even get the tank and wreak havoc, scientists that shoot bullets that revert your character into a monkey which gives you INFINITE Machine gun ammo, and a face off with Allen O'Neil near the end . All while playing this music.
 * Metal Slug 4: The final level involves an enemy base infiltration complete with rappelling down and killing enemies along the way, you even get the tank and wreak havoc, scientists that shoot bullets that revert your character into a monkey which gives you INFINITE Machine gun ammo, and a face off with Allen O'Neil near the end . All while playing this music.

Metroid

 * Metroid Prime 3 has the mission where you team up with the Galactic Federation and storm into the mines on the Space Pirates' home planet in order to gain access to the seed. This is the one time in the series where Federation soldiers have assisted Samus, and it's freaking awesome!
 * And yet this level is an Escort Mission. But it's all made up for when
 * It's an escort level by formal definition, but not colloquial because while escort missions have become known as situations where you're dragging useless liabilities along with you, here you're pretty much participating in an attack that just happens to progress at your pace.
 * Not only that, but the troopers you fight alongside are actually USEFUL. They do a respectable job at combating the dozens of Space Pirates that you encounter along the way.
 * To quote the Metroid Awesome Moment page: "This is how an escort mission should be."
 * Echoes might not be as good as the first game, but damn if Sanctuary Fortress isn't one of (if not the) best level in the trilogy. Coming off the suicide-inducing Torvus Bog, the So Okay It's Average Agon Wastes, and Temple Grounds, Sanctuary is just the breath of fresh air Echoes desperately needed.
 * The first Metroid Prime itself deserves mention for Crowning Level Design of Awesome. It is entirely possible to get through most of the game without walking the exact same path twice, in a franchise that's normally filled with backtracking. Practically every time you return to a room, you've got new abilities that open up new secrets and new doors that can be accessed. Many return-visits feature rooms that have changed (such as new enemies present or platforms that have changed), keeping the experience fresh. Major props.
 * While we're at it, the final segment of Metroid: Zero Mission is worth mentioning. A little earlier in the game, Samus was been shot down, and lost her power suit (and the area is swarming with Space Pirates that can kill her in only one or two hits.) However, after sneaking through the Space Pirates' ship... she gets it back. Better than before. Cue dramatic music, as the unstoppable Samus Aran goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge through the Space Pirate mothership.
 * Brinstar in Super Metroid. Helped largely in part by the good visuals and incredible music - quite catchy but still tense and foreboding for the green jungle part, and really sad and ambient for the lower red part.
 * Metroid Fusion has Sector 5 (ARC) after Nightmare blows it up. You're hunting a tremendously powerful, completely insane X-infested monster. This comes immediately after getting the Plasma Beam, which allows you to slaughter your way through X like never before. The whole atmosphere feels like a turning point, like you're finally being able to really stand against the X.

Might and Magic

 * The Tomb of Varn in Might and Magic VI. Not only is it one of the most massive dungeons in any game of the series, it also has some of the coolest enemies, genies and jackals.

Mirror's Edge

 * Mirror's Edge has the Jacknife level. You start off fleeing through a drainage ditch, before moving through vast storm drains, leaping between broken service railings and dodging snipers. Then you have to climb back out of the storm drains, do battle with a group of shotgun-wielding guards, and then engage the titular Jacknife in a daring, high-speed chase across the rooftops.

Mushihime-sama

 * The final stage of Mushihime-sama Futari has you weaving through and raiding an Eastern-style village while taking out waves of dragons that are as wide as the screen. And then you fly into a palace and take on Queen Larsa, the infamous Final Boss.
 * Stage 2, particularly on God Mode where you can take advantage of the many bullet-cancelling opportunities to cancel the huge swarms of bullets into gold gems that can raise your score by as much as 25 million points in 5 seconds.

Myst

 * The Amateria age in Myst: Exile. A series of seemingly nonsensical disconnected puzzles whose only common feature is that they all involve rolling glass balls. Then at the end, you discover that you've been constructing the greatest roller-coaster ever, complete with a cutscene of you going through it at the end.
 * There's something incredibly satisfying about the final age, Narayan, where you meet Saavedro face-to-face, and with the flick of a single switch, reduce him to a crying mess begging you to have mercy.
 * He deserves it! After all, if you do what he says and, he just   Bastard!
 * Myst IV: Revelation - The Spire Age. The Featureless Protagonist gets to build a primitive Maglev vehicle, reconnect an dangerous circuit board, blow the crap out of rocks for fun, and then create tones through an entire mountain as if it were a giant pipe organ.
 * The whole game is massive Scenery Porn, but nothing matches when you pull a simple lever in the organist's chair and discover
 * Along the way, you read from Sirrus' journals, and learn how he not only emotionally manipulated his father into giving him some Green Rocks, he gained his sister's trust and hatched a plan to use the Applied Phlebotinum of a different world he had never used before. Atrus may have had two evil sons, but only one was a Magnificent Bastard.

My Sims

 * The Mountains and the Jungle Temple in My Sims Agents certainly count.