Aww, this is really cool. I did want to call out the lack of graphics at first, but I quickly got used to it, and I think while playing this level you have to realize that anything more detailed wouldn’t really fit here. Instead this level is all about gameplay: dodging spike balls, finding hidden walls, and making it through two different timed segments, each of which even uses a different timing mechanism! Trigger crates, coins, and carrots feature prominently; ammo is sparse but appropriate; other nonsense is mostly done away with.
This is not a traditional JJ2 level by any means, but it sets out to do a specific thing with a specific sort of gameplay, and does it very well.The puzzles are neither obtuse nor perfunctory. Some of the different areas I really don’t think I’ve seen done before. Just a fun time all the way, provided you like this kind of gameplay to begin with—I don’t know how universally this will appeal to people, especially with how cramped much of the level is, but it works for me.
There are certain issues, of course—I’m not really sold on the JJ3 music’s appropriateness here, and the tileset should be included in the zip file, and I’m not wild about how the Spaz-only restriction was implemented—but none of them really take away from the unique and successful design of the level as a whole.
Download is surely recommended for tough guys.