some of those are from within the first 6 mths of q2 arent they? 

Ohhh, these take me back...

nitin, yes. Quake II was released in late 1997, about 1,5 years after Quake. Thusly 1998, until Half-Life came out much later that year, was all about Quake II. Tons of great levels, both single player and multiplayer, the release of the 3.14 patch that finally added some official deathmatch levels to the game, not to mention CTF.

Matt Sefton's Single Player Quake 2 Level Heaven (which also has The Bloodshrine, The Azure Mines, Abandon All Hope and Arkanian), crash's review site (the name and address eludes me), and even Talon's Strike all prospered that year.

I still remember all of the levels mentioned in the news post, except for 666.

Of course, from the modern point of view, there's really nothing special about those levels. However, the first six months after Quake II's release could be considered its Golden Age. Later levels are somewhat better, but the quantity and quality was still very high back then, and new levels were released weekly. Something magical about that spring.

Some nostalgy:
http://www.planetquake.com/spq2
http://www.planetquake.com/talon

Back when 800x600 was enough. 

Somebody should really write an article on the history of Quake (including Quake II) mappery, starting way back in 1996.

Shambler, I'm looking at you. 

I've uploaded the Quake end map from the pre-release 1996 and patched it so it can be loaded and played by modern engines: http://user.tninet.se/~xir870k/end_pre.zip .

It's very different from the later released version. 

I really must dust down my copy of Q2 and get to playing some of those classic Q2 maps. It's funny - I somehow completely bypassed the Q2 custom scene (too enthralled by Q1 still), and there looks to be some real gems in there. 

I know, I've got all those maps except 666 which is a dodgy new release. I just posted because I hadnt seen those maps reviewed for ages, like you said on Matt Sefton's site (which I also though did good quake and unreal reviews too). Also, sefton's own levels were pretty damn good.

I've fired up quite a few old maps up of late since I cant run mos newer games, but the quake/unreal/quake2/HL stuff I've collected over the years is plenty.

Marty Howe's levels are still insanely fun BTW and of course the more high quality later stuff such as your own map and the biggest and best, Spog's masterpiece. 

Which one was that...? 

http://tenfourmaps.telefragged.com/php/review.php?gameid=q2&levid=jj2spq1 

I've made a Q2SP level? 

Waffle waffle 3rd person waffle waffle the fiend this the fiend that waffle waffle.

Well, I'm sure I played it and I'm sure it would have been good... 

It sounds like this update took most of you down memory lane, I know it did for me. Yes, Matt Sefton had these already on his site but every link is dead, I've actually fond all of the spq2 level heaven maps and I'm planning on reviewing them again with updated links. A-C are now done.

I would like to do the same with his Quake site but those amps are harder to find. 

uh, yeah, thats supposed to be found not fond, and maps not amps.....my bad. 

Thanks for the link. Uhhhh.....

Pure brilliance to have the final boss not visible.

Cranky Steve anyone?

Any other pre-release gems floating around? 

Uploading those Q2 levels would be really appreciated, I think. Some of them are still really good and fun to play, while others haven't aged all that well. It's the good ones we're of course interested in.

The others are still good for nostalgy. 

if you want the levels of quake 1 posted at Spq1 level heaven, you can find almost all of them at the following idgams mirrors:

http://ftp.se.kde.org/pub/pc/games/idgames2/levels/

or

http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/idgames2/levels/

The two mirror are not identical. The top one is faster, but it seems to be a mirror from a slightly earlier date than the second mirror, which is a bit slower. You should search both if you're looking for a specific level and can't find it in one. I wouldn't mind helping in the review process. :) 

If you're serious about helping review them email me at DorKwolf@planetquake.com. I could use the help. 

Cool, I've emailed you from my gmail account, CMoody01@gmail.com . 

What do you mean by invisible? Shub is very visible the whole time but it appears as she can't be killed as the final tele is malfunctioning.

The other maps in the prerelease seem basically just the same as the released ones, only with more bugs. 

Wrong choirce of words on my behalf. I meant that only the upper 1/3 of her was visible. When you see Shub in the original game, i thought it a great moment, since you actually saw what Shub looked like. You only get a partial in the old version, which is weak. 

That's not the only thing that's weaker in this version ... 

You can find the link to the full prerelease here: http://www.quakeworld.nu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=173