Yatagarasu

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Yatagarasu (also known as "Yata" for short) is the hardest Demon level in Geometry Dash. It's an extreme demon mega-collaboration created during Update 2.0. Also known as "Final demon of 2.0", This level honors a three legged crow called a Yatagarasu. It was started by Riot, who had given the level to Surv in order to verify it, who passed it on to Trusta, who proceeded to beat it on January 13, 2017 on his Twitch stream. The level is filled with challenging sections throughout its entirety and is also one of the hardest possible levels in Geometry Dash history. Like many other extreme demons and hellish styled levels, its color scheme is red. Many have suggested that RobTop should add a new difficulty to the game just for levels like this one, which had soon come in 2.1, as the new "Extreme Demon" filter was introduced.

It has currently been beaten by 6 players only: TrusTa (the verifier), Surv (the previous verifier), Sunix, BlassCFB, Skullo, and Wooshi999. The Yatagarasu is known in the Geometry Dash community as a legend about a bird, or three-legged crow. Some jokingly call it a "three-legged chicken", referring to RobTop mentioning Update 2.1. It was set to be verified originally by Riot, who gave it to Surv because he found it too hard. Surv, having failed to verify it, passed it on to TrusTa, who verified it with many nerfs to make it easier and also more consistent. Surv beat it easily a few days after TrusTa.

History
The idea to create Yatagarasu was first proposed by GeoStorm members in November 2015.

It was supposed to be a new Bloodbath, and was inspired from The Hell Factory in its song, and the fact that three coins are presented at the end as an award for completion. As Bloodbath was the sequel to Cataclysm (although Ggb0y's original sequel was going to be Infernal Abyss), GeoStorm members hoped that Yatagarasu would be a fitting mega-collaboration sequel to The Hell Factory, which in turn was an intended sequel to Cataclysm by Team N2.

Rek3dge and Riot first proposed the idea of Yatagarasu, and Viprin hosted the collab from then on.

(Sandstorm and ASonicMen were originally part of Yatagarasu, however Riot disliked ASonicMen's part so he was kicked. Sandstorm was having trouble with creating so he was kicked as well.)

The hype for Yatagarasu started when the name, song, and length were leaked through Riot's extreme demon videos on YouTube. When Riot showed copyables for the demons he beat, many different parts of Yatagarasu were shown in his editor.

Yatagarasu was officially announced on mid December 2015, when Riot let the builders upload their parts to YouTube. Michigun and FunnyGame's parts were the first to surface. More parts were revealed in a short period of time. But some people hadn't uploaded their parts yet. So the complete level was shrouded in mystery.

More light was shed on Yatagarasu when the hacker Cyrillic leaked a WIP version of Yata in early 2015. The version had up to Zelda's part, and Cyrillic had added his own part in the end. People were surprised by how Michigun's part was seemingly replaced by another part.

(In Sea1997's Yatagarasu documentary, Riot confirmed that Zelda had accidentally built into Michigun's part during the level's construction.)

This leak revealed several parts that were not revealed yet, and gave people a brief summary of what the level would look like.

In February 2016, Yatagarasu was fully built. However, Cyclic's hacking scandal over The Hell Zone and Sonic Wave had his part severely nerfed, and then discarded completely. Manix648 would fill in the gap. However, Riot got into a drama with Manix648, and several days later kicked Manix648 from the collaboration. Manix648 has then used his former part for Bloodlust.

During this drama, Riot quit, and handed Yatagarasu to Surv.

Viprin hosted a creator contest to fill in the missing gap. Manix648 retried, but sadly failed. Abstract Dark eventually won the contest.

Giron David and AncientAnubis remade their parts at Surv's request. Vermillion's cave effects were made darker, Csx42's part was buffed, green jump orbs were removed from WOOGI's part, and the skull art from Rustam's submitted Yatagarasu part was added to Vermillion's part.

In addition, the text at the drop was changed from "Embrace... Death..." to "YATAGARASU" in the Oxygene 1 font sometime around the creator contest, too.

Surv made quick progress, reaching 33% in just three days. However, since then he started to dislike the map, and he handed it to TrusTa after he quit.

TrusTa then made 57% in a few days. However, he suffered from lots of fails from then on. He ended up nerfing the level to make it more consistent and possible. Many people were unhappy by the nerfs as it surely contradicts Riot's original intent of the level being harder than any level out there, but others argued that Yatagarasu couldn't be the hardest level anymore (Bloodlust and Blade of Justice was already fully built, and the The Hell Origin was in the reconstruction stage) and were just happy the level was going to be out.

After long periods of nerfs and a devastating 95% fail, Yatagarasu was finally verified on January 13th, 2017, approximately 14 months after it was first suggested. It has since been rated demon and featured almost immediately.

A short time later, Surv conquered the level that once evaded him, making him the second victor of the Yatagarasu. Sunix, BlassCFB, and Skullo eventually beat it as well, and the Yatagarasu currently holds five victors to its name. It looks like normal life is starting again, as Yatagarasu secured its place at #1 and seems like that won't change until Bloodlust or Black Blizzard (possibly) is out. TrusTa has begun uploading normal GD content again, and the four victors, Surv, Sunix, BlassCFB, and Skullo have gone the same way too.

And the most majestic part about the Yatagarasu is that it DID hold the end for one of Geometry Dash's most magnificent chapters - the one in which legends rose, grew dominant and fell - 2.0. 2 days after Yatagarasu was released, Robert Topala finally released 2.1, after approximately 17 months of waiting from the community. It has now truly secured its place for a sequel to Bloodbath - as Bloodbath marked the end of 1.9, Yatagarasu ended 2.0.

But even after being out, Yatagarasu's legacy still remains, as the people who are unsatisfied with the nerfs are trying to find a way to revive Riot's old version of the level, known as Yatagarasu X. There are several debate to how hard this is. Some, like Sea1997, say that Yatagarasu X is harder than Bloodlust. However, others argue that Bloodlust is still the harder level.

Gameplay
Viprin: The level starts with a ship sequence. This section is fairly dark, making it difficult to see the section's layout. The Yatagarasu makes its first appearance in front of the player. There is an Low Detail Mode key in this section. Next up is a cube sequence with invisible obstacles, with the only indicators of them appearing as mirror images on the floor and ceiling. At the end, there is a teleportation portal.

AncientAnubis: This contains the ending of the difficult cube sequence, followed by a short UFO with several gravity changes. Next up is another cube, this one being short, with a triple spike jump. Next is a very brief straight fly ship sequence that passes by a skull, followed by a very short mini ball segment with very precise timing.

Jeyzor: This is a very lengthy and difficult wave with a flashing background and very tight openings. The tight openings require very precise timing to get, and there are multiple speed portals to throw off the player. The name "Jeyzor" flashes by quickly along the ground.

WOOGI1411: This segment starts off with a UFO sequence, later becoming a moderately tight ship. Next is a tight wave, which contains a few invisible gravity portals and speed portals to trip the player up.

Findexi: This segment starts with a simple gravity ball segment. Next is a ship with several size and gravity changes. Following is a slightly harder gravity ball sequence. This part contains several objects with a white pulse effect. In addition, this segment is likely one of the easiest parts of the entire level, along with Rek3dge's and Xcy-7's.

Rek3dge: This part closes off Findexi's ball segment, before switching to a brief ship sequence. A short cube sequence is up next, with several jump orbs. Next is a brief auto segment that shows the name of the level, along with its logo, the Yatagarasu itself, with the level's name in capital letters, "YATAGARASU" in the "Oxygene 1" font. The level then transports the player to Weoweoteo's part. The music's pace halts.

Weoweoteo: The music then drops and picks up a new, faster pace. This is marked by a triple speed straight fly ship segment, which then turns into an extremely hard wave part. If the player manages to finish this, it will turn into a mini ball section, with extremely hard timing.

Orion (aka Anthrax): A double speed wave that requires good timing and very good spam abilities, and then an easier mini ship straight fly part.

AbstractDark: This part starts as a confusing cube segment with hard timing and teleportation portals. It then switches to half speed, with some tricky timings comprised of a UFO and robot part.

GironDavid: This starts off as a brief triple speed straight fly, then changes to a very hard and confusing mini cube, which then switches to an equally difficult ball with very difficult timing.

COSINE: This part has a very difficult mini flying segment to begin with, with a few size and gravity changers to throw the player off. This is then followed by an extremely difficult ball with very precise timing required.

Xcy7: This is probably one of the easiest parts in the level. Xcy-7's part is a simple hard cube with some tight and crucial timing.

Vermillion: This part starts as a double speed ship segment with straight flying and difficult timing, with effects to create a "cave" effect, where the player has limited vision of the obstacles in front of them. This is followed by a very hard ball with very difficult timing, similar to COSINE's part. There's also a skull art created by Rustam at the ball part.

Zelda: Zelda's part starts as a brief half speed robot sequence with difficult timing, followed by a wave segment that is mostly an enduring wave "spam" segment, which changes to single speed as it transitions into Michigun's part.

Michigun: One of the most difficult and annoying parts in the level, this starts with a double speed robot with very difficult timing, followed by a cube with equally difficult timing. This goes into a triple speed wave with extremely difficult timing and then a brief but difficult straight fly segment, with a very hard triple spike at the end. The player must jump shortly after this triple spike, or they will crash due to a move trigger that will cause the Yatagarasu to fall and kill the player, synced with the "caw" in the music. There is also a trigger under one part of the wave that changes the RobTop quote at the end to a picture of an Easter egg. Next to the egg, it says "Viprin" and "Michigun".

Luneth: This part starts as a half speed UFO sequence with very tricky timing, followed by a ball segment with equally difficult timing. The music slows down here.

Hinds: Here is yet another very difficult and annoying part. This starts off as a swing-copter mode with extremely difficult timing, then switching to an upside down mini ship with a tunnel-like straight fly that appears in a few of Hinds' levels. This is followed by another extremely difficult swing-copter mode, followed by a very difficult mini ball and mini UFO with very hard timing, with a final mini cube segment.

Evasium: This part is made so the obstacles' hit-boxes are very hard and irritating to locate, and the entire part is in half speed and made with very dark decorations. The first half has similar styled flying to that of Viprin's part. This is then followed by a UFO with very hard timing and gravity portals.

Loogiah: Here is another difficult and super annoying part. This starts as a mini rocket, that then becomes dual, then changes back to a non-dual just to mess with the player, and is entirely straight flying. This is followed by a half speed wave with extremely difficult timing, and then a mini ball part with equally difficult timing. The ball transitions to a normal size ship with changing speeds, marking the transition to CSX42's part.

CSX42: This is perhaps the hardest part in the level, and was once near impossible. The part starts as a half speed ship with very difficult straight flying, followed by a wave with extremely hard timing. This is followed by a ball with very confusing and extremely hard timing, then transitions to mini before transitioning to a mini ship with a short difficult straight flying.

FunnyGame: This entire part is in the mini size. It starts as a mini ship with tricky and difficult maneuvers, due to moving objects and trick jump rings. This is then followed by a ball segment with a mechanic identical to that in one of FunnyGame's levels, Lonely Travel, albeit much more difficult and confusing. This is then followed by a UFO with tricky timing and more moving objects. In the background for this entire sequence, the name "FunnyGame" is visible.

Riot (Decoration by Viprin): This part is mostly just a cube, but this entire cube is filled with tricky and very hard timing. Words temporarily flash by in the foreground, including "death", "decay", and "TrusTa", the verifier of this level. It then ends as an auto ship being "carried" by the Yatagarasu with RobTop's ending quote, "It is not enough for me to succeed, others must fail." The level then ends with the Yatagarasu and the text "The End." The "end-screen" shows a very intricate art of the Yatagarasu. The RobTopGames ending quote can be replaced by an Easter egg found in Michigun's part.

How much did TrusTa nerf?
Viprin - No nerfs

AncientAnubis - No nerfs

Jeyzor - Removed spikes at the mini wave section

WOOGI1411 - Removed green orbs at the ship

Findexi - No nerfs

Rek3dge - No nerfs

Weoweoteo - Ship parts widened

Orion - Wave parts widened

AbstractDark - No nerfs

Giron David - Timings nerfed

COSINE - Nerfed ball timing

Xcy7 - No nerfs

Vermillion - Ball timings nerfed

Zelda - Wave parts widened

Michigun - Removed mini spikes at the robot sequence

Luneth - First jump was replaced by purple jump pad

Hinds1324 - Swing copter parts were widened

Evasium - No nerfs

Loogiah - Slightly wider first dual ship straight fly

Csx42 Gaming - Nerfed regulary throughout

Funnygame - No nerfs

Riot - No nerfs

About The Song
The song is named "Flawless Wings of Yatagarasu" by GlassSkinned (GLS for short). The song itself is a remix of one of Touhou 's mainstream OST "Nuclear Fusion", a theme song for Utsuho Reiuji, the last boss of Subterranean Animism.

In the actual song, it is characterized as a fight against Utsuho through the Hell of Blazing Fires. In this remix be that as it may, GD players depict the song as a terrifying melody with an exceptionally devilish tune.
 * The purpose behind being called "The Flawless Wings of Yatagarasu", is that the song has something to do with Utsuho Reuiji, the Touhou character that cases the original song as Her theme.
 * A tremendous reference says that; Utsuho 's species is a Hell Raven, joined by the Yatagarasu (cleary alluding to the level AND the song).
 * This is valid because of the way that Utsuho has otherworldly forces that permit Her to have the Abilities of the Mythical "Yatagarasu" of old Asian culture, although in the most nuclear, solar, and atomic ways as possible.
 * Also, the purpose behind GD players describing the remix as a diabolic piece with a very frantic theme that no longer holds the idea of representing the sun (however keeping its violent composition), as a direct result of the dim nature and satanic climate that GLS has remixed within the song.
 * This statement can be upheld with the clarification; The song is used by a few red/hell-themed Demon levels, for example, "The Hell Factory" by TeamN2 and "The Flawless" by RyanAB.

Trivia

 * Quite Ironically, the Yatagarasu is a mythical bird in ancient Asian culture (China, Korea, and Japan), and represented the Sun, bringing harmony and well-being, not a hellish bird creating hazards as depicted in the level. Due to this level, many people mistake what the Yatagarasu actually is, and tend to believe it as "Just an evil bird from hell." Yatagarasu is Japanese for the crow with three legs.
 * Yatagarasu is believed to be a sequel to "Bloodbath", which is also a collaboration made by Riot.
 * Cyrillic posted the old version of level, with Cyclic's part in it, along with Zelda's extended part.
 * Shortly after it was rated, Yatagarasu was placed at #2 in the Official Extreme and Insane Demon Records list, which was behind Sonic Wave. This caused a lot of controversy despite the fact the editors claimed that both TrusTa and Surv stated that the latter level is harder. However, it might be a mishap or a lie, as TrusTa said Yatagarasu was harder than Sonic Wave. It was moved to #1 shortly after to end the hate they were receiving.
 * It was yet again moved to to #2. This time however, they have proof that Sonic Wave is harder, as all the people who had beaten both levels claimed that Sonic Wave is harder. It is likely that this will remain like this way.
 * Several players, including Anubis and Giron David, have changed their parts completely following initial versions.
 * There was been a debate on whether Yatagarasu or another upcoming level, Bloodlust by Manix648 and knobbelboy, is harder. Manix himself said Riot confirmed the harder level is Bloodlust. Due to Yatagarasu's nerfs and it being placed below Sonic Wave, it is certain that Bloodlust will be harder.
 * Surv's record before he quit was 34%. Riot's record before he quit was 13%.
 * On his preview video, Jeyzor states that the level used to have a build limit. However, the level now has nearly 90k objects, far surpassing the object limit for the 2.0 version of the game, and still exceeds the current 80k object limit of version 2.1.
 * On 17 July 2016, Surv deleted some objects off Jeyzor's part after rage quitting in a stream, but they were later restored.
 * Findexi originally wanted to remake his part. Viprin declined him, stating the level now is "the final product".
 * Surv once got upset on one of his streams over repeatedly dying at WOOGI's part, then he abruptly ended his stream without warning, and ended up quitting Geometry Dash altogether a few days later.
 * Ironically, Yatagarasu verified on Friday The 13th, which is considered an unlucky day in western superstition.
 * There is a secret way right at the end of Luneth's part. If the player go up and misses the teleporation portal to Hinds's part, they will discover a secret way, but will later crash at the end as there are intentionally placed saw-blades. This means there's no way to beat Yatagarasu with a secret way.
 * Sunix crashed at 98%, which marks as the single worst fail in the entire game. He achieved this after failing to tap the final sets of blue orbs quick enough to provide the cube enough height to jump over the last hazard. Skullo crashed in the same way.
 * A group of players, PeytonYT, WilliamYT, and IanYT, are currently working a remake of this level known as Wazowskarasu, and it is based on Mike Wazowski, a popular character from the Pixar animated movie Monsters Inc, instead of the mythical Yatagarasu.
 * Wazowskarasu will be around easy to medium demon difficulty when finished, and will be verified legitimately by PeytonYT.

Records
Please note that the reason behind Surv's attempts being surprisingly low is that he was the previous verifier, therefore he has some know-how of the level. TrusTa's nerfs may be another reason.