Mario's just gonna let it slide.
The Slide Level is a level where you must slide down to the bottom of a slope of some sort. It's very common to see them in 3D Platformers, especially Collect-A-Thon Platformers where one of the Plot Coupons is at the bottom of said slope.
There will usually be items such as in-game currency that you can collect on the way down. There will also be obstacles you must avoid that will cause you to take damage when you run into them and will slow you down. A time limit may be set in place where you must make it to the bottom in the time allotted or else you must restart the level. Racing another character is also common.
Moving around in these levels is not too dramatically different from how you would normally move around in the rest of the game, since you can still jump and move left and right.note The only key difference is that you are constantly moving forward and can't stop, only slow yourself down/speed up. Also, if you have any attacks that you use in regular gameplay, then they may not be usable here.
You can fall off the slope either by flying off the edge, possibly due to going too fast, or falling through holes in the ground. Doing so may cause you to fail instantly and send you back to the beginning of the level.
On occasion, you can win these stages by doing absolutely nothing - letting gravity do its work, or holding down on the button that lets you slide. In cases where this takes place in a game that has a two-dimensional view, jumping over the obstacles and Bottomless Pits is the only thing you really need to do since you can't move left and right, but you may still be able to change your speed while sliding down.
Can be part of a Slippy-Slidey Ice World if the slide is made out of ice. Compare Minecart Madness for another fast way to get down from a location. See also Video Game Sliding, where sliding is a part of a character's moveset to increase their mobility options.
Examples:
- The video game based off of the 2005 film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has two such levels:
- At the very beginning of the game, Charlie must slide through the streets of his hometown on a garbage can lid to retrieve a dollar bill in the wind while avoiding trash cans and Willy Wonka trucks.
- In Chapter 5, Charlie must slide down the garbage chute to rescue Veruca from the incinerator. Obstacles include paths that lead to incinerators and metal gates that will close on you if you don't get past them quick enough and force you to restart.
- Crash Twinsanity has two levels where Crash rides Dr. Cortex like a snowboard in order to descend a snowy mountain and its parallel dimension counterpart (that's not snowy at all).
- Early on in Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth pursues the Mauraders after they make off with a miscreant he needs to murder, and the pursuit has him sliding through an Absurdly Spacious Sewer collecting points and trying to avoid slamming into half closed grates and turning fans.
- Donkey Kong 64 has the races against an annoying sporty beetle in Angry Aztec and Crystal Caves. The first race is entirely set on a downward slope filled with traps while the second one alternates between sliding and running segments.
- Some parts of the Glacius challenge from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban have you using the Glacius spell to freeze the water Harry is going to slide down. You can collect goodies like Beans and Cauldron Cake, but if you fall, you have to restart this part of the challenge.
- "The Descent" level in Journey (2012) sees you dropped onto a mountain slope to sand-surf to the bottom at high speed (with a short break in the middle). If you manage to find a flat surface, you'll discover that said speed is actually artificially boosted, as the devs surreptitiously apply constant forward force to your character's physics model so you keep sliding forward and downward.
- A sliding mini-game in Kingdom Hearts is found in the Tarzan world, Deep Jungle, where Sora and Tarzan surf down trees between sections of the world. Finding hidden slides in Jungle Slider can unlock rare items (you also collect photo slides in Deep Jungle after you use the slides in Deep Jungle).
- The fourth level of MDK has slopes of ice on which you must slide down to progress through the level, with enemies sliding down alongside to stop you and pick-ups to collect.
- Milla's level from Psychonauts is meant to teach you to control Raz's psycho-kinetic ball that he rides on. To this end, the entire level is slanted and, while Raz can slowly make his way up on foot, the ball automatically rolls down with the idea of using ramps to collect the various figments in the level.
- Ratatouille: There are several bonus levels and segments after completing a heist where Rémy slides down drain pipes. Falling off of the slide or falling through the holes will take away two health points and losing all of your health makes you restart the level.
- Rayman has a fair share of levels like this:
- The Cave of Bad Dreams in Rayman 2: The Great Escape sees the Limbless Wonder escaping from the hungry jaws of the cave guardian Jano with a sequence set on a slippery slope of slime.
- A large chunk of Polar Pursuit, the opening level in Rayman Origins’s Gourmand Land, has players alternating between sliding down flumes of ice and timing jumps between them.
- Seiklus has the volcanic mountaintop from which you can slide down back to the beginning meadow area, with collectible wisps appearing along the way.
- Shantae: Half-Genie Hero: The last section of Level 2, Mermaid Falls, ends with Shantae sliding down a waterway which requires her to jump over Bottomless Pits and falling barrels while also dodging enemies. The same applies to the final level.
- In The Simpsons: Virtual Bart, the Water Slide Level is based on the TV Series episode, "Brush With Greatness". To complete this level, Bart must choose the correct paths of the H2Whoa! water slide (indicated by the stripes on Groundskeeper Willie's bathing suit) while dodging the other patrons. The first two times Bart goes down the wrong path, he is saved by Homer, who is stuck. If Bart goes down the wrong path a third time, he is either sent back to the beginning of the level or to a path that costs him a life. The level also has a time limit, but Bart can add more time to it if he collects clock power-ups.
- The Smurfs (1994) had a slide level where you must jump over frozen rivers, dodge rocks and trees, and escape a snowboarding yeti.
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- The third section of Ice Cap in Sonic Adventure has Sonic or Tails snowboarding down a mountain to escape an avalanche. Sand Hill from the same game reuses this concept in a desert; Tails goes through it during his story, but it's purely an optional minigame for Sonic.
- The Jungle Level of Sonic Forces Episode Shadow is a series of water flumes you have to use to infiltrate Eggman's fortress. Mines share the waterways with you and need to be avoided, plus choosing the wrong routes can cause Shadow to miss collectibles, and you are quite capable of jumping the sides which can either shorten your route or kill you, depending on your aim.
- In Sonic Labyrinth, the prologue to each boss level has Sonic slide down a slide and collect as many rings as he can before he fights the boss at the end.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom: There are slides within each of the areas that are required to reach certain Golden Spatulas and other required items. Sand Mountain is an entire area dedicated to it, where you must defeat the robots at the end of each slope to earn a Golden Spatula and can beat the record time to earn another one.
- The Sponge Bob Movie Game has a few of these, but unlike the previous game, these take up the whole level and give you a Goofy Goober Tokens for making it to the end. Additional tokens can be earned by beating the time challenges and the ring challenge.
- Spyro: Year of the Dragon: one of the Mini Dungeons in the Crystal Islands level has Spyro sliding down a very long, slippery slide with lots of turns, while trying to collect the gems scattered on it. At the end of the slide is the door back to the main level, so you can freely retry if you missed some gems.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Super Mario Bros. 3 requires the player to slide and knock out enemies, or slide and launch themselves.
- Super Mario 64 has three secret slides that can be accessed within certain areas where completing it gives you a Power Star:
- The Princess's Secret Slide, accessible through a stained glass window in Princess Peach's room, offers two Power Stars: one from a yellow ! block at the end of the slide and another that appears if Mario completes the level in under 21 seconds.
- By going down the chimney atop the cabin in Cool, Cool Mountain, Mario can access a slide that provides two Power Stars: "Slip Slidin' Away", which simply requires Mario to get to the bottom and exit the cabin through the door there, and "Big Penguin Race", which requires Mario to beat the eponymous bird to the finish line without using any shortcuts. This includes not only the hidden path partway down the slide, but also falling from a higher portion to a lower one. Going back to "Big Penguin Race" after achieving 100% Completion results in the penguin becoming even bigger; beating him in this state rewards nothing other than bragging rights.
- In Tall, Tall Mountain, Mario can find a hidden painting midway up the mountain that leads to a hidden slide. Completing it by going through the hole at the bottom dumps Mario in a hidden alcove near the foot of the mountain where he can obtain the Power Star for "Mysterious Mountainside".
- The second star mission of Tree Trunk Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2 revolves around sliding through the interior of a large hollow trunk; hazards include thorny flowers, Wigglers and holes.
- Super Mario Maker 2 adds slopes, both steep (45°) and gentle (30°), which allow creation of levels centered around sliding.
- Mario Party 7:
- The DK minigame Peel Out has all characters ride a wooden slide in which they can gather bananas to later trade them for coins. In each junction, the player has to decide where to go; which side takes them to more bananas is a matter of luck.
- The minigame Gimme a Brake has eight players skate through a steep road slope, and then through a leveled road with the momentum gained prior. The objective is to stop skating as close to the dead end leading to a sandy pitfall as possible without falling there, and whoever does so will win and also render their partner victorious even if they fell down to the pitfall. The catch is that the current wheather will change considerably the best timing to reduce the skating speed: Stopping while skating a dry road is one thing, while trying to do the same in a frozen road or a wet one is another.
- Mario Party DS: The minigame Rail Riders has all characters slide downward through a staircase's handrail to perform a long jump at the end. The character who manages to reach the farthest spot of the floor wins.
- Mario Party: Island Tour: In the minigame Deck Hunt, the characters are skating through a moderately angled road. As they do so, they have to gather coins while avoiding Spiny Eggs (clashing against one will result in a 3-coin toss, giving the chance to the other characters to steal them). After the characters reach the bottom of the slope, whoever has the most coins wins.
- Mario Party: Star Rush: Leafboard Hoard is a Coin Chaos minigame where players ride atop a leaf down a wooden halfpipe track while collecting coins and avoiding Wigglers and thorny flowers.
- Wandersong: There is a quick slide section in the 3rd chapter.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Valak Mountain and Tantal respectively utilize their momentum-gaining ice physics to send you flying off of a slide made of ice, over a giant chasm, and smack-dab into a wall of climbable ivy.
