Why do they make water levels?

Water in general is such a taboo thing when it comes to video games. It's either something characters have no problem going into, or they instantly die when they touch it. Some series and sequels later rectify the latter by giving them power-ups or equipment to go in the water or be able to swim with no issues.

For me water levels are better in 2D than they are in 3D, ESPECIALLY early PS1/N64 3D when controlling fuckers like Conker, Bubsy, and Rayman were like trying to move a floating boulder that would not cooperate with you half the time. Otherwise I enjoy exploring the deep and seeing what wonders are in the ocean. Sometimes depending on the game the water world looks better than dry land.

Virtua Fighter 2 did a funny gimmic by making you fight Dural underwater, but they removed the water in Fighters Megamix so it just looked like Greece but blue.
I Don't know but it was pretty fun to swim in duke 3d or quake
 
Jumping back in (pun only mildly unintentional) to say that the Water level I FUCKING HATED with a passion was Kingdom Hearts one or two or whatever abomination of a disney-emo-weaboo cryfest had the mermaid level. I didn't play KH until college and without any nostalgia for it I mostly found it insufferable. That being said that level was a war crime in terms of content, controls and mechanics.
 
Playing through No One Lives forever and that game probably has the worst water levels though not because of shitty design. Mainly due to my hardware and the game not properly syncing causing the scrren to go black when you go underwater
 
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