I think he was just appreciating SP in general along with the fact that it's hard to make. The best CTF levels might reach a similar level of popularity, but if I were to list the levels that have impressed me the most, basically all of them would be SP. I'd also guess that most people who rank me on their lists are doing it because of my SP levels rather than my MP levels, even though both have achieved a fair degree of popularity. So I basically agree with snooze, and I think you're overreacting here.


Anyway, to add to this thread, I agree with almost everything people have already posted. So instead, I'll offer a few names which I think are often overlooked. I'm writing this more from the perspective of someone who makes levels, rather than someone who plays them.

Bobby
This may seem like a weird choice, since he never made a huge number of levels, and none of them ever became hugely popular. However, he was one of the main people who discovered how to use trigger zones properly in multiplayer levels. Back then this was called the "Jail 2" concept, named after a level which never really got finished. Essentially, it's a trigger system that allows clients to join a server without needing to have the same triggers as the host. It works by exploiting a little trick to do with how JJ2 handles animated tiles. What sounds like a rather obscure trick actually turned out to be the main thing needed to create custom gamemodes. Early on, basically every level that used custom gameplay had some variant of the "Jail 2" system. Assassination, Jailbreak, Gold Rush, Jail-CTF, you name it. Later on other (better) tricks were discovered, but this one was really the first. Nowadays it's all obsolete because of JJ2+, of course.

URJazz
Again, not too many notable levels. However, the sort of things he managed to do with triggers means he deserves a mention. He never did anything quite as extreme as the sort of things Violet and BlurredD have made, but a lot of it was still very impressive. My favourite was when he managed to make a simplified version of Monopoly using JJ2 triggers.

Kirby
Test levels. I don't think he invented the idea, but he basically was the one who made them popular. This isn't really a testament to anything that can be called skill, but it's still an important contribution.

Ninjadodo
The Lost World Episode is cool. Go play it if you haven't. It's very "cinematic" unlike most episodes.

Dethman
He wasn't really that great of a level maker, but he was basically the first to use trigger zones in levels. MCEs too.


I think a few tileset makers deserve mention too.

Bluez
More for his tilesets than his levels. I don't think any of his tilesets have been used much except for neon (or whatever it's called), but back then they were better than almost anything else at the time. Even today they are pretty impressive. I'd say he is probably the #2 early tileset maker...

Mez
Mez would be #1. Only 4 tilesets (one of which is a joke), but there's really no arguing how important they are.

Agama
Agama tilesets tend to be rather restrictive, and most levels that are made using them look fairly similar. Still, these are some of the best tilesets ever made. Fun fact: there's actually a mostly-complete, unreleased Agama tileset floating around. It would be cool if someone could get her permission to upload it.


There are more names I might post later, since there are a few I'm sure I've left out.