Mystic Realm/Archives

The Mystic Realm Archives are a collection of scrapped levels in Mystic Realm. Since the original version of Mystic Realm was assembled from unrelated levels that Mystic had made, the archives mostly consist of the original versions of the zones that predate the pack. In chronological order of their creation, these are Aerial Garden Zone, Jade Coast Zone (the first act of which predates Aerial Garden Zone), Verdant Forest Zone and Flame Rift Zone. All of these levels were significantly revamped and some were expanded later on. The other levels in Mystic Realm were added when the pack already existed, and thus contain fewer differences between their initial and final versions.

Additionally, the archives contain the original versions of Aerial Garden Zone Act 3 and Mystic Realm Zone, both of which were later replaced, and Arena Zone, the very first level Mystic ever made for SRB2. Some of the levels in the archives contain Special Stage Tokens. After collecting these, the player will be sent to the Special Stages used in early beta releases of Mystic Realm v4, before the current emerald stages were created. Many of these Special Stages were subsequently used in SRB2 between v1.09 and v2.0.

The archives can be unlocked by collecting 40 emblems. The maps are located in the slots from MAPC1 to MAPCF, with the Special Stages at MAPCI to MAPCO. The archives contain commentary by Mystic in cutscene form, which will be replicated here. As an introduction, Mystic states:

"Welcome to the Mystic Realm Archives.

This feature includes a look back into the history of Mystic Realm, and old versions of maps included in the current version of Mystic Realm. Note that the difficulty of many of the levels included here is rather high, so be prepared for a lot of Jetty-syns and bad level design. Collecting special stage tokens here will take you to the beta special stages from early versions of Mystic Realm 4. Many of them were later used in SRB2 itself."

Archives

Crawla Valley Zone (MAPC1)

Crawla Valley Zone – July 27, 2001

This was my first map, made with no knowledge of tags or a clue what I was doing. There aren't any deafed rings, or any other common sense. However, it was one of the first custom WADs, so it was rather popular at the time. This version has been modified to use the new water blocks, but otherwise hasn't been touched. This stage was touched up and turned into Jade Coast 1 in Mystic Realm.

Coastal Shores Zone (MAPC2)

Coastal Shores Zone – February 17, 2003

This was an experiment with the new translucent water and the Crawla Commander enemy. Released for the multiplayer-only SRB2:2K3 public beta, this level was never all that popular, and honestly, it's not one of my best works by any means. This stage became Jade Coast 2 in Mystic Realm.

Crawla Isle Zone Act 3 (MAPC3)

Crawla Isle Zone 3 – July 8, 2003

This was the boss act in the original version of Mystic Realm, called the highly original "Mystic Level Pack". The previous two zones and this were lumped together as Crawla Isle, and this became the boss. This act was canned in the current version of Mystic Realm, because it wasn't all that good.

This map is a boss fight against the Egg Mobile. The arena consists of a water pool with a narrow rim of grassland around it. The player starts out on the rim, while the boss starts out in the center of the pool. The pool contains air bubbles, but it cannot be escaped once fallen in.

Verdant Forest Zone (MAPC4–MAPC6)

Verdant Forest Zone – February 17, 2003

This was my second three-act zone, and is very similar to Aerial Garden in difficulty. Gaping pits in act 2, overuse of Jetty-syns, and annoying use of Detons are all here, as well as quite a few frustratingly hard jumps. The new version retextured the map, as well as splitting the second act in half, attaching the first part to the first act, and adding a ton more onto the end of the second.

Flame Rift Zone (MAPC7–MAPC9)

Flame Rift Zone – June 2003

This map was my first attempt to plan out the stage completely on paper before making it in WadAuthor. You'll note that the grid here is abnormally high, a full 256 units, which is a leftover of the crappy graph paper used to originally draw it. I still dislike my second act here, and it's much worse on the original version.

Aerial Garden Zone (MAPCA–MAPCC)

Aerial Garden Zone – January 14, 2002

This was my first three-act zone, and was quite amazing for its time. It had working bottomless pits, the new enemy, the hard Jetty-syns, and texturing that I'm still pretty proud of. The stage is really hard, however, so be prepared for a lot of cheap deaths and bottomless pits. Both of these acts were merged into the new first act, and an entirely new second act was created for the new Mystic Realm.

Aerial Garden Zone Act 3 (MAPCD)

Aerial Garden Zone 3 – Summer 2004

This was the first version of the revamped Aerial Garden 3 intended for Mystic Realm v.4. It involves a crushing floor against hazards, and was an early test of linedef executors. It is an okay map, but issues with cooperative mode and not being all that long or interesting made me can it and create the current Aerial Garden 3 you see today.

At the beginning of this map, the player has to press a button, which will cause the floor to rise. The player must then navigate through several obstacles while the floor rises, trying to avoid being crushed against the ceiling.

Note Due to a bug in the level header of this map, this stage is not accessible in Mystic Realm v4.6. Instead, the archives skip from Aerial Garden Zone to Mystic Realm Zone.

Mystic Realm Zone (MAPCE)

Mystic Realm Zone – Summer 2004

This was the original Mystic Realm Zone, used in v.3 and in early betas of v.4. This is the beta version, with an egg capsule and everything. This was removed when the proper Super Sonic stage was created.

This map is a boss fight against the unmodified Egg Mobile in a space-themed arena with a death pit.

Arena Zone (MAPCF)

Arena Zone – Summer 2001

This was my very first map ever, not so subtly edited from Meadow Match Zone, then called smatch.wad. This level had no title card or any real ideas behind it, except that it was my intent to "improve" the ugly and low-detail match stage. Obviously, I failed pretty miserably, but this is good for quite a laugh. This version has had all serious bugs fixed, but as many visual quirks as possible have been left in. Enjoy!

The goal in this map is to defeat all Egg Mobiles. This is the only map in the archives to contain an emblem. To reach it, go to the large floating platform which hosts the item boxes in Meadow Match Zone. From there, you will see a group of pillars that lead upwards. Climb across these pillars and you will reach a hollow platform at the top of the stage that contains the emblem.

See image

Special Stages (MAPCI–MAPCO)

The Special Stages use the same format that was used in SRB2 until the NiGHTS Special Stages were introduced in v2.1. The player has to collect a certain number of rings under a certain time limit to obtain the emerald. All of these stages except the second and the fourth were used in v1.09 and v1.09.4, and most of those in turn were used in v2.0. The only stages not to be used in SRB2 itself are the second, which features a vertical structure similar to the one in the seventh stage and a water pit below, and the fourth, which takes place entirely underwater.