Megawads with a secret level or regular level that is different from theme from the rest of the levels

A good example is level 20 of Alien Vendetta known as Misri (something) when all of a sudden you are investigating a huge Egyptian structure it is the only level in that megawad that has an Egyptian theme or the secret levels of the original Doom2 where all of a sudden you are fighting Nazis anyone know of any other good examples like that. 

In UAC Rebellion, there's a vaguely Mario themed secret map.

UDM2.wad (deathmatch) features an all-out SMB3 themed map.

Not a megawad, but Wolf3D has those nifty secret Pac Man maps.

I know there are some other fantastic examples out there, just struggling to remember them at the moment..

Requiem has its Map31, which is an almost accurate translation of Quake E1M6: The Door to Chthon.

I think valiant had something similar? Correct me if I'm wrong 

I'd say that most megawads do this in their secret levels.

For Map31 and Map32, "Doom 2 The Way id Did" pulled from id's history and made a certain boss encounter even more terrifying.

Honestly, I'm with scifista42 here. Even going back to the IWADs and properly old megaWADs, secret levels are either gimmick maps, differently themed or easter eggs. The Wolf3D maps in Doom II (also Easter Eggs), Pharaoh and Caribbean in Evilution, the snowman map in The Rebirth (a Christmas-themed Easter Egg, IIRC) and Xaser's Sector (also a gimmick map) in episode 3 of ZPack are examples of unique themes as secret levels.

I know you're aware of most of these examples, but the former two rather set the template (along with Plutonia and the secret slaughter map cliché). If you want more examples like Misri Halek, Community Chest 4 has a snowy MAP08 out of nowhere, and maps 20 and 21 very strongly stand out thematically.

An odd example from my own history was putting the biggest map I've ever made in as a secret level of what was basically an old school megawad. This was changed after tester feedback, so the gimmick was instead hyperdetail and a new enemy in a more fittingly sized map, with Warpzone getting it's own release in the end. They're both weird ZDoom projects and I'd not really recommend either, to be honest, but it is probably the strangest example of a secret level I've ever seen. The map originally took about half as long as the rest of the megawad put together to beat, and tended to slow down the PCs of the day. I was young and ambitious once...

Not to forget the Virtual Reality maps in Invasion UAC (iu-part5), as Map31 & Map32

16 minutes ago, Phobus said:

Honestly, I'm with scifista42 here. Even going back to the IWADs and properly old megaWADs, secret levels are either gimmick maps, differently themed or easter eggs. The Wolf3D maps in Doom II (also Easter Eggs), Pharaoh and Caribbean in Evilution, the snowman map in The Rebirth (a Christmas-themed Easter Egg, IIRC) and Xaser's Sector (also a gimmick map) in episode 3 of ZPack are examples of unique themes as secret levels.

 

I know you're aware of most of these examples, but the former two rather set the template (along with Plutonia and the secret slaughter map cliché). If you want more examples like Misri Halek, Community Chest 4 has a snowy MAP08 out of nowhere, and maps 20 and 21 very strongly stand out thematically.

 

An odd example from my own history was putting the biggest map I've ever made in as a secret level of what was basically an old school megawad. This was changed after tester feedback, so the gimmick was instead hyperdetail and a new enemy in a more fittingly sized map, with Warpzone getting it's own release in the end. They're both weird ZDoom projects and I'd not really recommend either, to be honest, but it is probably the strangest example of a secret level I've ever seen. The map originally took about half as long as the rest of the megawad put together to beat, and tended to slow down the PCs of the day. I was young and ambitious once...

Community Chest 4 is just a variety of levels with no real theme to start with though if I remember correctly so a snowy level in a community based project isn't going to have a coherent theme to tie the levels together unless the moderator of the project has some kind of strict guideline about the theme

Good point, but to me it still stands out amongst the more traditional tech bases and gothic maps.

Whispers of Satan Map31: Space Station Skywalker was Star Wars-themed.

map26 of scythe 1 if ya want a regular level

37 minutes ago, bonnie said:

map26 of scythe 1 if ya want a regular level

26? Don't you mean 29?

29 minutes ago, Archvile Hunter said:

26? Don't you mean 29?

29 fits the idea of different theme more but 26 does indeed have drastically different gameplay from the rest of the wad ya know

Jenesis's and Jiffy Bag's MAP32s are both essentially time capsules; they're (only slightly-) edited versions of maps I did as a kid.

Both secret maps in Interception.

Revilution also have egyptian-themed secret level (I hope they are not pulled out this like MAP32).

Doomed Space Wars is Star Wars themed, but its secret levels are based on Quake, PSXDoom, and Wolfenstein. (And a secret area in another map is Super Mario themed!)

Didn't read everything, but I think I didn't see anybody mentioning BTSX's Commander Keen secret level yet.

2 hours ago, Darch said:

Didn't read everything, but I think I didn't see anybody mentioning BTSX's Commander Keen secret level yet.

That was from D2TWID, mentioned (in a roundabout fashion) upthread:

20 hours ago, Lollie said:

For Map31 and Map32, "Doom 2 The Way id Did" pulled from id's history and made a certain boss encounter even more terrifying.

On 11.5.2017 at 9:33 AM, Outrageous Videos said:

I think valiant had something similar? Correct me if I'm wrong 

Well it's slaughter-ish with some music  that's  funny in the context (the final countdown or so?) While the rest is less crowded.

2 hours ago, Pirx said:

Well it's slaughter-ish with some music  that's  funny in the context (the final countdown or so?) While the rest is less crowded.

 

 

Isn't that lunatic that has the final countdown?

Wait a second....technically, that happens too in regular Doom 2 for the secret levels, you know...

Also happens in TNT, map 31

1 hour ago, Outrageous Videos said:

Isn't that lunatic that has the final countdown?

Valiant's map31 is the cyberspace slaughtermap. Valiant does have a remake of the Final Countdown map from Lunatic, but it's actually a secret area off of one of the moon maps (27, maybe?).

8 hours ago, Not Jabba said:

Valiant's map31 is the cyberspace slaughtermap. Valiant does have a remake of the Final Countdown map from Lunatic, but it's actually a secret area off of one of the moon maps (27, maybe?).

You're right.  31 is cyberspace and 27 has the final countdown secret.