Level design references (not canonical revisits) in games? (small Crash Bandicoot 4 spoiler)

[Spring-Loaded]

After recently playing Crash 4: It's About Time, a part of a level immediately struck me as familiar

Below is an image of the level Snow Go in Crash Bandicoot 2 (note tthe slippery surface and crate placement)

And here's the start of the Crash Bandicoot 4 level Crash Landed (surface is still slippery, similar crate placement)

Spoiler: Crash 4 Level "Crash Landed"

Any other noteworthy examples in games? And this isn't the same thing as "player goes back to a specific in-universe place/level," and I only specify because my example doesn't fit. e.g. Dead Space 2's Ishimura revisit doesn't count, however the mansion's layout in Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares is a reference to Resident Evil 1's mansion, just not the same place.

If it's somehow plot-relevant, be sure to tag spoilers!

 

[steviestar3]

Doom 2016's callback to MAP07 from Doom II was cool.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Pokémon Sun & Moon have a rather lackluster recreation of the Nugget Bridge from Pokémon Red & Blue. For those who don't know or don't remember, Nugget Bridge is a forced combat event early in Red & Blue. It serves as a road block and a skill check for the player to overcome before proceeding with the story:

It has a very distinct layout where you must navigate in a zigzag pattern through a series of unavoidable battles. There is a recreation of this sequence in Sun & Moon, but it is an optional sequence in an optional area (as I recall). It only serves as fan service. It's hard to find a good picture so I have to use this YouTube thumbnail:

Unlike Crash though, it's very not-subtle and openly acknowledges how its a recreation of the Nugget Bridge from the original games.

 

[Kneefoil]

Pokémon Sun & Moon have a rather lackluster recreation of the Nugget Bridge from Pokémon Red & Blue. For those who don't know or don't remember, Nugget Bridge is a forced combat event early in Red & Blue. It serves as a road block and a skill check for the player to overcome before proceeding with the story:

It has a very distinct layout where you must navigate in a zigzag pattern through a series of unavoidable battles. There is a recreation of this sequence in Sun & Moon, but it is an optional sequence in an optional area (as I recall). It only serves as fan service. It's hard to find a good picture so I have to use this YouTube thumbnail:

Unlike Crash though, it's very not-subtle and openly acknowledges how its a recreation of the Nugget Bridge from the original games.

Click to shrink...

They already did something like this in X and Y too. Santalune Forest is basically the same as Viridian Forest in its layout.

 

[Perzeval]

Far Cry Primal 🙄

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

There's sooooo many of them, everywhere, in tons of game, hard to focus on one in particular, but here's this :

Megaman X (snes) / Megaman ZX (ds)

Also

 

[Finale Fireworker]

They already did something like this in X and Y too. Santalune Forest is basically the same as Viridian Forest in its layout.

Click to shrink...

It's funny, I was going to do both this example and the bridge example but it was such a pain to get the picture from Sun & Moon that I forgot about this one completely.

That's unfortunate for me because this is the better example of the two. Good call.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Click to shrink...

Breath of the Wild's fluid continuity notwithstanding, this strikes me more as a "canonical" example. Especially considering that Age of Calamity seems to depict a fully operational Lon Lon Ranch.

 

[Zolbrod]

 

[ClickyCal']

TLOU2

Spoiler

having another version of

This one is way more intense.

 

[Carassius Auratus]

In Guest Star mode in Kirby Star Allies, each of the dream friends had levels that referenced the games they originally appeared in.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

TLOU2

Spoiler

having another version of

This one is way more intense.

Click to shrink...

Are the positions of the trucks the same or something?

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Are the positions of the trucks the same or something?

Click to shrink...

It's probably close enough to count as a call back that's thematically relevant

 

[Deleted member 34949]

Two out of Megaman X5's four final levels actually do this:

- The layout of the first final level is directly lifted from Quick Man's stage from Mega Man 2, complete with instadeath lasers.

- The layout of the following stage is directly lifted from Sigma Stage 1 in Mega Man X1. Though while the aforementioned example was 1:1 to the original level, this one starts deviating a bit halfway through.