#lbsa

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsA] special HOLLYS drop

624 - sea side by hollybaloo

625 - little duckling by hollybaloo

626 - house by hollybaloo

none of these are by ouw own, wonderful @holly-baloo , but when i came across them on LBPfind, i knew i had to give them a whirl. i like to imagine they're from an AU Holly, one on a time line where we all got the childhoods we oughta done.

now, sentiment aside, like, as a pure level review girlie, and these are... well... look, they're clearly made by a kid, so you've got to put a bit of a curve on there. you can tell she had fun making them, and that brings some energy to the table by itself too. they're cute. they're definitely cute, and i'm sure her friends enjoyed playing them.

--------------------------------------

busy busy busy. always so busy me.

oh shite! i almost forgot! go check out holly over on the twitch!

Watch this video on Twitch Live

also check out her gal moxxie! who, like holly, is also very cool and nice!

Watch this video on Twitch Live

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsA] Special JUSTICE Drop!

This level is super cute, very charming, has a fun little mechanic wiv the controllable SackBot friend, and the Asteroids mini-game you unlock by finding all the secrets is really cool.

It's also been stolen to hell and back.

The creator left the level copyable, and, well, tonnes of folx went and copied it and published it as their own, which is really crummy to do.

We actually played one of the copies on stream, and then by total chance played the original a few streams later wivout realizing. It was only doing episodes for the Streaming Pile that i finally noticed the creator names were different, and started some light digging.

The second time we only played a minute or so, 'cause i thought we'd accidentally repeated the same level twice, so i figured i'd do it up as an Archive video so the OG creator could at least get some late flowers.

(it did, however, take a whole heckin' while to render, so while the video looks fantastic, we're probably going to have to dicky around wiv settings lest render times get untenable)

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsA] special IT'S ART drop

Not a tonne to say about these levels except for they're absolutely gorgeous, and go way harder than it feels like LBP2 should have been capable of.

Both of them are relying almost exclusively on hand-drawn paint-mode stickers, wiv just a few necessary gameplay elements (switches and point bubbles mainly), which is just wild. LBP usually struggles wiv having too many stickers on screen, and a lot of times you'll see them getting pixelated, or sometimes not even appearing, but i don't think that happens even once in either level?

It's hard to pick which of the two i like more. RED MACHINE CITY is probably the more fun vis-a-vis playing of the two; it's a big chonky level wiv lots of interactions wiv the environment, and lots of searching around for secrets and progress points.

Buuuuut, Transparent is honestly just shockingly beautiful. To the extent i worry a bit that the video really conveys it, given how YouTub crunches things up, and also i was having to fiddle through a bunch of potential render settings at the time. Hopefully you'll get a good feel for what it's like, but the best option is, as always, playing it yourself, so go grab the both of them off the Dry Archive, eh?

------------------------------

Shite, i gotta run, or i'll be late to work.

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsA] 2026/01/30 Batch

539 - Silent Hill: Tribute by MonkeyButler

A pretty decent level hewing more to the film than the game (and maybe the one the last SH level was complaining about in its description?). Really liked the ranking system at the end, and i wonder how they pulled it off in LBP1. i've got a few ideas, and i suppose i could always just go in and check. Does feel a lil invasive tho' to go in their create mode when i don't have a necessity to do so.

540 - 黑色地獄 The Dark by KENBABE

Very kludgy LBP1 semi-hard level here, but a real good time for all of that. i feel kinda bad we broke it on stream, seeing as they told us exactly how not to do that, and i just wasn't paying attention. Ope.

541 - Mad Mansion by geosautus

This one definitely has its neat elements. The carriage at the beginning is real cool, i definitely liked the puzzle, and the graveyard beast was a great idea. Buuuut... dang was this an easy level to break. Lots of places where the physics can just fuck you over and hand you a softlock.

542 - Dream Bubbles: Skycity by Fotosynthesis1

From just a casual play standpoint, and i really dug this one a lot. Very cheerful, organic shaping to the level, and lots of places to run around and see. Archiving it, tho', was a bit of a pain, not gonna lie. Could be real tough to tell if i'd actually gone everywhere in any given area.

543 - Broken wheel and girl [ Japanese horror ] by keisama777

A bit of a weird one here. Mostly a haunted house where you're looking for event flags to trip so you can backtrack and trip some other event flag kind of deal? Some of the bits are really neat, if a bit gruesome, but the level just, kinda, breaks? You get to a point where all the lights go out completely, and they don't go back on unless you put a sticker up somewhere. Like, anywhere, any sticker, not something special already outlined in the level, and... why would anyone think to do that? i did, but i still don't know why it worked. Eventually you come to a point where a door gets stuck, and you just can't progress beyond that; which, ok, that's happened plenty of times before, but when i went into create to see if it was my fuck up, and there are just a tonne of bits, all blocked out wiv cameras for movies that... like, they're not triggerable? There's no leading logic to get them to start? There's a secret dev room that has no way to get to it, no teleporter or level drop outs? But there's a Sackthing down there that has dialogue, and there are prizes, and wtf?

544 - Muddy Malignance by Nexus_Prime73

i really, really liked the look of this one, but dang some of the gameplay bits were just kind of frustrating. i don't know if i was having trouble figuring out what was expected of me, or if they'd just not been playtested quite enough, but this one was a real struggle.

545 - [JPN] 青/緑 BLUE/GREEN by taka061

i'm gonna just wind up archiving all of taka061's levels eventually, aren't i? They're just such a great creator, and i love their style and elegance in presentation.

546 - A Cubist Nightmare by ninpy

i don't know about this one, really It's not bad, don't get me wrong, and it certainly has all of the ninpean hallmarks, but it just doesn't quite land as well as some of his others do for me. Might just be the b&w colour scheme, and just how all around dark the level is don't really let you get a good feel of how impressive the mechanical work is here.

547 - Breath of Sapphire by theflashback02

Visually this level is just gorgeous, even playing on ps3. And it definitely has some neat gameplay elements. Shaking the controller to cause earthquakes to open paths was really cool; feels like i hardly ever see anyone really using the sixaxis as a gameplay tool. Bringing in Oddsock at the second half, tho', and companion gameplay is always a little meh to me.

548 - Bamboo Boost by Velma4ever

Another banger from Melangard. Great visual design and presentation. Fun boost boots action. Just an all-round good time.

----------------------------------

And that's it for this batch. No real stinkers in the lot, and a couple of real gems. Grab a couple off the Dry Archive and give 'em a play, yeah?

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsA] special ... drop

611 - The Tower of Silence by alexsiro

i don't know why this level stands out so much for me, but it really is one of my faves. It's just so chill? Deeply cozy vibes?

i really like the material choices here, and the shaping suits the level really well. Like, most everything about the presentation here is top marks. The level does have a decent enough flow to it, and some fun gameplay, although alexsiro has put together a teleport if you fall too far, so it's impossible to actually die. i get it, and i don't mind terribly; i'd probably mind a lot more if you could fall all the way to the bottom, and then have to climb all the way back up if you missed a jump. Still, i could see some players being a little weird over that.

Just all in all a real nice level, and definitely one i feel like i could strongly recommend.

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsA] special NEEDLEWORK drop

085 - A Realm Forgotten by Lockstitch

661 - Granite Gardens by Lockstitch

gosh, but Lockstitch's levels were always just fantastic. Interesting shaping, kinda geometric, kinda organic, excellent material choice, and a limited but extremely well-implemented palette of stickers & decos all add up to a visual experience that's distinct and interesting wivout skittering over to being distracting from the gameplay. That gameplay is silk-smooth throughout, low-end challenging, but maintaining a nice, quick pace. On top of all that, there's a fair amount of quite nicely done mechanical movement in all their levels, and i do love me some good old-fashioned mechanicals. Just a top notch creator.

----------------------------------------------------------------

i guess we played through the whole lot of @internet-toon 's Broken Safe of the Forgotten Archipelago on stream? Which i'm pretty sure makes this the longest Streaming Pile episode we've ever done?

Now, wiv all honesty, i probably should have chopped out the mid-stream break from this video, but i was tired and that would have been extra work. Still, maybe an hour-forty minute video could use a bit of intermission. At any rate, this one will always sit near to my heart; it just nails so much of what it's going for, and it has this, like, palpable melancholia and loneliness to it leavening the wonder of the setting (and knowing, broadstrokes, what it took to achieve it) that really speaks to me. Honestly, right up there wiv Chapter Zero by chronos453 for LBP experiences.

--------------------------------------------------

turns out, despite not looking particularly busty, i have in fact outgrown not one, but two summer dresses. Which just goes to show self-judgement doesn't hold many candles to actual physical reality. and, like, look, i am happy about it, but and also... like, those were really nice dresses. <emotionally_jumbled_trombone.wav>

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsA] 2026/01/02/ Batch

Our first LittleBite-sizedArchive batch of 2026! Woot!

089 - Caverns of the Lost by LittleBigDes

This one's a real charmer. Very much of a particular type of LBP2-era presentation that i really love. Solid gameplay, wiv a few (not very secret) secrets. Des is a long-time visitor to the Empty Room, and i've been blessed for knowing her. Her daughter sent me fanmail once, and that just tickled me to death. It's a shame this level never got it's promised follow-up, tho'.

119 - The Clock Repairer by Intangir85

A little bit clunky in its added mechanics, tho' certainly forgivable given how difficult it could be to implement those in LBP2. Was really glad to be able to revisit this one, as it was another that was broken when playing in LBP3.

520 - Seaside Hotel by NackedOcelot

A chill little hangout level from LBP1. Lovely design, and a solid build. A little small compared to others i've played, but i think it works better for that; some of the big house-style levels just wind up feeling a bit empty. Love the fireworks display from the balcony. Just all-round a nice level to visit.

521 - Coaster Inc by Pign

This is a really neat one, tho' the size and amount of moving objects really push the PS3 through its paces. There's a weird bit near the end where the coasters just kind of get stuck? Don't know if it's a dThermo loading thing fucking wiv the logic, or a faulty build, but it definitely adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the proceedings. Of course, that's just because it's (barely) escapable. If it softlocked the level, it'd be a very different story.

522 - Grab 'N' Graveyard by r2d2111

Wow... this one is really some kind of wow. Not always in the good way, either. It has a fantastic presentation, and some really fun and interestingly implemented mechanics, buuut... those mechanics can be fiddly as hell. Really easy to have momentum put you where you're not expected to be, and wind up eating a lot of deaths. Still, i never thought i'd play a level that had you rappelling wiv zombie guts, or plucking eyeballs out, so, like... that's cool.

523 - Silent Hill 1 Tribute by KilledByKangaroo

Honestly? This is a pretty decent representation of SH1 wivin LBP1. i mean, you have to be accounting for the limitations of create mode, but still, it was really neat. Even had a UFO ending, so that was cute. Was kind of funny how the creator was very specific about it being a tribute to the game, and not the movie, and i feel like it was in response to another SH tribute level of the era that had the temerity to include Red Pyramid Thing.

524 - THE LITTLEST BIGGEST EXCELLENTEST ADVENTURE [EST] 1 by Redfinio

Despite a title that feels like it's promising a meme level, this one is actually a pretty solid, and decently large early LBP level. A couple of tense bits like the steamroller, tho' nothing too difficult. Had a really good time wiv this one. There is one potential softlock in the level, tho' you have to be pretty unlucky, or playing kinda weird to get stuck in it. Like me. i did get stuck in it.

525 - Ocean Commotion [LBPCC1] by Chessguy

Holy crap, but it is shocking how good this level is. Just absolutely gorgeous, pretty tight, zippy gameplay, a few tricky spots mechanically. There is one section i could quibble wiv the setup some, but overall, just a really fun level to challenge yourself wiv. But even more than all that is just how well it plays even on the PS3. You'd think wiv all the motion and decoration that the engine would start to chug and you'd wind up wiv some nasty lag, or objects popping in and out, but i really didn't see any of that. Super impressive work from Chessguy.

526 - Head in the Clouds by KomodoBrothers

Another solid one from KomodoBrothers here. Lovely presentation, wiv some really nice colour choices, which is something i feel like doesn't usually get focused on as well as it should. Gameplay is fun, although it can be a little confusing getting the hang of just what they want you to do the first time through. It's one level where i'm glad they make the race an option on subsequent plays, instead of throwing you right in it first time; i feel like it'd get real frustrating until you've got a good mental map of things.

527 - Cardboard -NEW- by taka061

Yet another fun, intricate level from taka061. It feels a little more directionless compared to some of their other works, but the exploration works well enough here. i've always been a sucker for well done cardboard levels, and this is a great example of the type; there's lots of nice detailing work to help break up what can be a very bland material when it's used in broad swaths.

-------------------------------------

Right, that's it for this go about. Hopefully there's something in there that tickles your fancy, so head on over to zaprit.fish and pull a few down to give a spin yourselves!

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsA] 2025/12/19 Batch

002 - Ghostbusters: The Slime-brary by r2d2111

This one is fine. No better, but certainly no worse. The puppets at the beginning and end are well done, and the gameplay isn't bad (even if it does feel inconsistent), but honestly i haven't given a toss for the Ghostbusters since i was a kid, so it's hard to get excited just for that.

147 - LittleBIG hell by S8N-M

Edgy for LBP1, and kludgy as heck, but not wivout its charms. There is a bit where you've got to get flung up to a platform, and it sure was frustrating as heck.

512 - THE SCARY TUNNEL by ZebraCarDeath

Ok, the tunnel itself? Yeah, pretty well done for an on-the-rails-look-at-stuff. But the level is breaky as heck, especially up around the beginning. Just so many places to fall out, or softlock things, or just get stuck.

513 - Curse of the Orphids by ninpy

This is a really neat one, yeah. Not quite as mechanically intricate as some of ninpy's other levels, but it really nails a feel, and it certainly has a lot of his hallmarks in it. i think about ninpy every now and then. i knew him well enough to talk to, and even did an online create session wiv him the one time. The last i'd seen of him, this would have been around 2020 or 21, he was sliding into some anti-mask/anti-vax posting on the Twitters, and i really hope he didn't get any deeper into that hole.

514 - STARTDUCKS: World's Best Explosive Coffee and Cake Shop! by Five-Ate-Five

i'd grabbed this one 'cause i remembered liking the vibe, and had wanted to use it as a style guide for my stream starting soon screen. Playing it casually, just to get a feel for the lighting and material choices, it's actually a lot of fun. The core mechanic is well-implemented throughout, and at times can be a little challenging. Playing casually, that is. Playing as an archivist, trying to get a run wiv all the secrets, and holy cats was it getting right on my tits. It is super easy to get the wrong trajectory on one of the bomb shots, and blow up a key you need to unlock a hidden area, and then you've got to restart and do the whole fucking thing over again. Just obnoxious. If @hirunda-maxpw hadn't helped me, i'd have never found everything, and that would have left me even more pissed off.

515 - Bathysphere's House of Cake by scuzzy73

This came on my radar on account of @futurefractal leaving a really nice comment on a Streaming Pile video we'd done of it. i figured i'd give it a run through, and it turned out to be an awful lot of fun. Maybe not as ambitious as "Over There and Back Here Again" by the same creator, but a better tuned experience than that one, and probably more fun in the end. Thanks Fractal!

516 - Arcade shooter score challenge by NackedOcelot

This one was by a sometimes stream visitor (and a regular to @holly-baloo 's streams; holly is wonderful, and you should check her out!) and all around delightful kid (kid here in the sense of being younger than me, not actually, like, kid-kid). i always love getting a chance to play viewers' levels, and this was a real nice one to archive. Honestly trying a lot more than anything i ever got up to in LBP1.

517 - Halloween by KilledByKangaroo

Kinda wild seeing the intro to (OG) Halloween rendered in LBP1 style, but it honestly kinda works? The level itself is fine; the presentation of the house is well done, and there are some fun nods to the movie, and generally the build is nice. That being said, the chase is an enormous pain in the butt. i think the obstacles are supposed to dissolve wiv just enough time for you to stay ahead of Michael, but i never really pulled it off, and most of the time i stayed locked in a spawn loop. Still, it was cute enough for what it was.

518 - Sunset Grassland by Alpenglow02

Another strong one from Alpi here, not, perhaps, my favourite (pretty sure that's Syvänne just on the basis of presentation), but it's delightful to look at, and fun to play. An all-around good level. See if you can spot the Kirb!

519 - Frightmares by fotosynthesis1

Why are the spiders so effectively creepy here? Why is that one bit so wet looking? How did foto make that clown actually kinda anxiety-inducing, despite it being a relatively simple boss. Horror levels generally don't really work all that well in LBP for me, but foto did manage to make parts of this one actually sing, and that's pretty darn impressive.

Right, so that's our batch this go about. Some real bangers in there, so head over to zaprit fish and dl the level saves, and take them for a walk around the park yourselves. Let me know which ones really worked for you!

------------------------------------------

Right, once again rushing to get a dozen things done before stream (as of time of writing), and half of them just ain't gonna happen. i really need to sit down and go through my b(i)rb playlists. i want to tighten up the music and video selections in there, and make some new LBP level and game clips. i probably should put together one or two entirely new screens, so we're not always cycling the same three too. That's definitely a project for another day, tho'. Just way too busy right now.