Contrary to D1 the secret levels in D2 are accessable multiple times (as long as you didn´t destroy the reactor, certainly). As well you don´t enter them through hidden Alternate Exits but by a new feature: teleports.

Note that the Guidebot definitely cannot find those teleports for you, you´ve to do it on your own. However that´s quite difficult sometimes cause they are hidden well so I suggest you go to the teleports of D2 to download some demos or check the maps that show you where to find them.

Another interesting aspect is the fact that some of the secret levels can be accessed through more than one teleport; e.g. you can enter secret level 1 through the teleports in level 3 and 4. So here´s the reason for one "error message" some of you may have encountered: "secret level destroyed. Teleport disabled" most likely means you entered the secret level through the first teleport that lead to it, destroyed it by blowing the reactor and later found the other teleport leading to it. But now it naturally doesn´t work anymore cause you already destroyed the secret level.

Usually you shouldn´t destroy them on your first visit (if at all), it´s better just to refresh shields and energy and come back again from the next level so you can do it again. There´s always tons more than 200 units of shields or energy. Also, even when you decided to leave a usual level through the teleport after destroying the reactor always check the regular exit before. Sometimes (like in level 20) there´s a trigger in it that will let you get to some nice goodies (Earthshakers for example).

There are two things that make secret levels hard and often quite frustrating:

1. open-once-and-never-again-doors

   Quite annoying cause most often you need to shoot triggers (once only!) that are on the other side of the level and most likely you´ll never know which trigger opens which door. Also there are doors that can only be opened form one side... most often the opposite side of you!

2. you can´t save in secret levels

Don´t know why they did it but it´s hard. Especially because of 1.) you´ll have to replay the whole level lots of times until you´ve done it. However there´s help for you: Just use markers you place in open doors so they stay open!

The easiest way to place a marker in a door is to open it by flying in and then turning to the right (or left) until the wall´s edge is right in your reticle. Just press F4 without typing any message and the door stays open. I used this method very often e.g. to get an Earthshaker Missile in secret level 5 or the Omega Cannon in level 13. As well Guided Missiles are sometimes very helpful to reach some triggers from afar.
Note that there are some doors that only open when the reactor is destroyed so before you get crazy cause you can´t find the right trigger for that certain door blow the reactor and see if it worked. A more or less successful method to explore secret levels is to save your game in front of the teleport. When you made a mistake in the secret level abort the game and restore it.

At first grab the fullmap (7) and then fly through door (2) and up to destroy the reactor (6) which opens door (2). When the reactor is destroyed door (3) opens automatically.

The problem of this level is that the Thief-Bot seems to be respawning! I killed him a couple of times and he always came back til I had enough. So I reloaded and from that on I only used flares to make him go away. But watch out for your back when you hear that sound! From your starting point place yourself under the display to your right hand. Shoot it and you´ll open up the two secret doors to your left and right. The other secret door in front of you (facing the display above) is opened when the other display (2) on the opposite side of the large room with the lava waterfall is shot.

Place your ship as depicted and fire a Guide Missile through the room to open the grate (1) from the inside. It´s possible if you do it in a wide turn around the lava fall.

A nice possiblity to practice your strafing skills. Place your Pyro as depicted and fire a flare down on the secret doors . Do not wait until it hits but immediately strafe to the right and afterburn to the secret doors . You´ll need to strafe down and fly backwards under the lava cause you don´t have enough time to turn around.

Just shoot all triggers in this room and all forcefields (also in the other room) get deactivated.

So I used another stupid Guided Missile trick. If you place your back against the locked up teleport (so you´re facing the grate) you can shoot a Guided Missile through the grate and lead it through the rooms back to open the grate from the inside. It is a bit difficult but if you practice enough it'll be no problem. Just check out my demo and you´ll have enough time to explore the level. BTW, you can certainly use a Smart Missile instead (I had none left when I recorded the demo), however this isn't necessarily easier as you have to shoot the (bigger) missile in a certain angle so the blobs hit the grate from the inside.

Once you found the fullmap it´s easy to find the rest. However it´s again a tricky thing to get the 6 Extra Lives that are locked up in a row. You´ve got to fly back so you´re coming out above the locked up teleport that´s close to the entrance (it´s near to the hostages). Face down and fire another Guided Missile down the tunnel and lead it to the trigger at the end of it. Then go back to the grates the Extra Lives are locked up behind. Now you can see you opened two doors with a trigger behind. Shoot the trigger and you´ll get them.

I put another demo d2s4extra.zip (21 KB) to make it clear cause a map shot would be too crowded.

Wow, I think this one is the hardest of all the secret levels, at least I needed the most time to figure it out. When you check the maps you´ll realize that I didn´t explain all triggers of this level. Although I could access every room there are still a couple of triggers left I don´t know what they do exactly. I guess they open some of the doors I kept open with markers so I could move around easily. But as said before: you can get into any room and get all goodies so who cares ?!

This one´s similar to opening the grate in secret level 4: the grate opens when the reactor is blown. To have more time to explore this part of the level just fire a Guided Missile through the grate and lead it up again to open it from the inside. The Earthshaker is locked up behind another grate which you can open by shooting the trigger behind it. As well you´ll find a teleport down there so you can escape.

BTW, the grate that locks up the Earthshaker closes when you passed through and cannot be opened again so better place a marker in case you wanna go on exploring the level.

Doors 1, 2, 7 open once and close immediately so you should place markers.

Shoot one of the triggers (2) to unlock door the lower door (1) and then leave through (3).

At the beginning you´re locked up in a small chamber together with the reactor. The walls do not open before it is blown and you´ve about 60 seconds (depends on your chosen skill level) to escape.

However, there are a lot of other reactors in this level and each time you blow one of these the countdown is lengthened by around 35 seconds so you have enough time to explore the whole level. There are a lot of goodies and all in all *3* Earthshakers. I suggest you start with my demo d2s6earth.zip (43 KB) to get the first Earthshaker at the far end of the level (the design is too weird for giving a map) and then go on exploring whereas any time you pass a reactor just blow it up and take the time to check everything thoroughly. The other two Earthshakers are on the opposite side of the level but it should be no problem to find them.

BTW, to make the situation more hectic you´ll hear the Thiefbot creeping up behind you but it´s definitely not there!