These are the Best Elevator Levels in Video Games

Elevator levels. We’ve all experienced them in some way. They come in different forms. Sometimes it’s a troublesome puzzle that takes too long to complete. Sometimes it’s an arena battle that hurls loads of enemies at the player. And sometimes it’s a long test of patience as you do nothing but wait as the game loads the next level.

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In the end, it doesn’t matter if the elevator is taking you up, down, left, right, or diagonally—they’re usually never fun. It’s also no fun focusing on the negative either. So, instead, let’s focus on elevator levels that actually attempted to make them interesting and stand out.

8

Where It All Began

Elevator Action (1983)

The 1983 arcade classic Elevator Action was one of the first major games to have gameplay centered around elevators. The entire video game is pretty much one long elevator level as you roam a thirty-story building with more elevators than it needs.

As a secret agent sent to collect documents, you’ll be dodging fire and fighting enemies as you travel from floor to floor in order to reach the bottom before you run out of lives. It was a simple concept, but for an early 80s arcade game, Elevator Action dared to make elevators interesting. Not bad for a game that required only a joystick and a few buttons.

7

A Mind-Blowing Intro

Batman: Arkham Asylum

There’s nothing more awkward than being trapped in an elevator with someone you dislike. So, imagine being stuck with your archnemesis. That basically describes most players’ experience when they first arrive at the madhouse during Batman: Arkham Asylum’s opening. Though it’s mostly a brief walk followed by a short elevator ride, the opening remains iconic for how it draws players into the game’s plot and setting.

Assuming the role of Batman, you enter Arkham Asylum with the nefarious Joker. Even when the Clown Prince of Crime is strapped to a gurney and locked in an elevator, he still manages to be threatening. While also making a few bad jokes too. The tension slowly builds right before everything falls apart and the inmates take over the asylum. It’s an awesome beginning for one of the best DC video games.

6

Y Tower

Streets of Rage 4

Plenty of Fighting and Beat ‘em up games have used elevators as an excuse to put players into a challenging gauntlet. But where some are more forgettable or annoying, Streets of Rage 4’s elevator level is one of the best moments in the game. As you enter Y Tower during Stage 9, you fight from the structure’s lower floor until you reach a lift that’ll take you to the top to face Max Thunder.

While combating several waves of enemies, the beautiful background changes the higher you rise. Sure, being trapped in such an enclosed space seems annoying at first, until you discover that the surrounding glass can shatter, which comes in handy as you start knocking and throwing opponents off. It also helps that the music playing during the combat is awesome too. A satisfying stage for a fun fighting game.

5

Proudstar Cargo Lift

Transformers: Devastation

This one is sort of cheating as it’s a lift going forward, instead of up or down. But a lift is technically a large elevator, it’s basically going in a direction, and it’s fundamentally one of the best encounters in this Transformers adventure. In Chapter Six of Devastation, the Autobots are battling through the Proudstar to stop Megatron’s plans.

In a race against time, the player ends up riding a large cargo lift as the Decepticons do whatever they can to destroy the lift. What should be a generic section where you face a bunch of evil robots feels like a Mini-Boss fight as you battle Insecticons, Seekers, and a giant robot arm as your cargo lift comes apart. The encounter even has its own music that’s way too epic for a fight over a large moving platform. And who said elevator music had to be terrible?

4

Elevator Climb In “Interloper”

Black Mesa

Whether or not you love the remake of Half-Life, just about everyone can agree that Black Mesa’s version of Xen far exceeds the original by a mile. What was once an unappealing finale has become an outstanding climax the first game truly deserved as you take the fight to the invaders.

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During one of the final levels, Interloper, Gordon Freeman comes across a large lift that’ll take him closer to the mastermind behind this whole invasion. What looks like an easy ride becomes a heart-pounding experience as the invaders throw everything they have at you. Yet you keep ascending as you destroy their machines and forces with your advanced arsenal. The encounter was not only an epic encore for the FPS remake, but it was the moment when Gordon Freeman went from a scientist out of his league into humanity’s last and best hope.

3

Technodrome

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles need no introduction. The four ninjas have been fighting bad guys in all sorts of locations—from the sewers of New York to outer space. In one of their all-time biggest adventures in gaming, the hero turtles are combating the forces of the Shredder and Krang from the past to the future.

During the Technodrome stage, players fight their way onto an elevator where their skills are put to the test against an array of Foot Soldiers and other machines before facing the Shredder. It’s a short encounter in the game, but it’s one that players remember fondly for the challenge and music that kicked loads of shell.

2

Elevator Ambush

Metal Gear Solid

The original Metal Gear Solid is jam-packed with so many memorable moments that you could write a whole other list about it. Among them is a scene that’s considered to be one of the scariest moments in the game. It happens just before confronting Sniper Wolf for the last time. Our hero, Solid Snake, gets into an elevator, and already, something seems wrong.

Then your buddy Otacon contacts you about his prototype stealth suits. He says over four are missing. The music and ambiance stops, and by the time you piece together what’s going on, Otacon is screaming that you are in danger as you’re surrounded by four invisible soldiers. It’s an awesome build-up to a heated close-quarters fight, and just another testament to how much of a hardcore soldier Solid Snake truly is when he comes out victorious.

1

Super Tyrant Boss Fight

Resident Evil 2 Remake

A rookie cop and a super-powered virus monster walk into an elevator. Who will win? Not only is the Super Tyrant one of the most intense and iconic boss fights in Leon’s story, but it’s probably one of the greatest uses of an elevator level. During the remake of Resident Evil 2, the infamous Mr. X has been stalking you and your allies throughout the whole adventure.

Now, he’s assumed his final form, the Super Tyrant, and you’re trapped on a descending lift with nowhere to run, in a life-or-death battle, all while a timer hangs over your head, ticking down to the moment the underground facility will self-destruct. The entire fight is amazing and a phenomenal spectacle as you face one of the most dangerous bioweapons in Resident Evil. Well, at least until the next game.

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