Celeste Strawberry Jam - ALL Grandmaster Maps (Full Clears + Cutscenes)

NOTE: Some of these videos were recorded during Strawberry Jam's development, and while I did try to keep things up-to-date if maps got any major changes, there may be some slight differences between these videos and the final product.

(can we just pretend that at 1:28:31 a green meter swipes in from the left and "Lava Layer, tobyaaa" swipes in from the right? thanks :D)

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Download Strawberry Jam here: https://gamebanana.com/mods/424541

Well... here it is. Sorry for taking so long on this one, I had to actually... yknow... beat these maps first before editing the video together. Here is the Grandmaster Lobby, the absolute pinnacle of Celeste difficulty... if we ignore the like 50 maps harder than these. People hear the sheer difficulty of Grandmaster and just assume it's absolute needle-precise BS, but it's still just as fun as everything else in the collab. In fact, I think it actually comes super close to the quality of Expert Lobby. I think Grandmaster has something Expert and even Spring Collab's Grandmaster Lobby doesn't have though, and that's the feeling that you're really embarking on a journey when playing these maps. Some of the easier maps are sorta just quick romps like in the difficulty prior, but I think the most memorable moments in this lobby come from powering your way through some of the more difficult maps. They do such an amazing job of making it feel like you just conquered something seemingly insurmountable, and that kind of feeling requires tons of effort. Hearing that lovely piano track play at the end of World Abyss, seeing that familiar flag at the end of summit, shattering the cassette at the end of Shattersong... these are the kinds of moments that live with you ages after you've completed the game.

Aside from all this though, there's one thing in this lobby that felt so truly special to me that I feel like I need to write a whole ass love letter for it. And that thing is called Passionfruit Pantheon: the Grandmaster Heartside. I wrote in the description for the expert video that EHS was the greatest thing I had ever played in Celeste and that nothing else would ever live up to it... but I don't think even THAT can compare to the Grandmaster Heartside. I'd go so far as to say that it might be my favorite thing I've ever played in any platformer... period. And it's mostly because of that feeling of embarking on a journey I talked about earlier. Every single flag feels like such a special moment in this journey, and they're all linked together so perfectly to make it feel like every flag you complete feels like its own little victory. You start at the bottom with blue skies and an overpowering determination to make it to the end. This is the moment you've been grinding all those hours for. As you progress, the sky keeps getting darker, the music gets more intense, and the maps get harder. You feel like you're barely managing to keep up, and that the level is really throwing everything it's got at you. Once you grind through the fucking SEVEN HOURS to get through the literal hell that is Pinball Purgatory's heartside room, the sun starts to rise again and celebratory bells are added on to the music. You've gotten through the hardest part, now it's just one last push to the finish line. But then the clouds start setting in, and when the thunderstorm hits and the music gets even fucking better after you've already thought "there's no way anyone could possibly write music that's better than this", you know you've made it to the real ending. This is it, now you just need to face the final boss. And then you make it to flag 1 and your ears get turned to ashes by Shatter The Pantheon and you look at the cassette maze in the watchtower and think "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE??" But when you beat it, the feelings you get are indescribable. Just watch it/play it for yourself, I'm not gonna spoil everything here (although I'm guessing only like 2 people will read this part anyways). All that matters is, this level was a fucking masterpiece and all the thousands of hours put into making it a reality truly paid off. Thank you to everyone that helped make this. You're all so fucking talented.

TIMESTAMPS:
Intro - 0:00
Belly of the Beast - 1:21
Superluminary - 5:43
Flipside Cliffside - 10:09
Cycle Madness B-Side - 17:35
Stellar Odyssey - 25:37
summit - 35:52
74 - 45:40
Shattersong - 54:56
Cave of the Crimson Sky - 1:11:11
World Abyss - 1:14:59
Lava Layer - 1:28:31
kevintechspam.bin - 1:34:08
Drifting Deep - 1:38:41
Fractured Iridescence - 1:49:26
Ivory - 1:51:27
Nelumbo - 1:55:29
Pinball Purgatory - 1:59:22
The Solar Express - 2:06:45
Passionfruit Pantheon: the Grandmaster Heartside - 2:33:48