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Orbital Gate Assault: Stage Research

ParanoidDrone

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Today I'm covering Orbital Gate Assault, AKA Poke Floats IN SPACE, which took a full year to make according to Sakurai. I want to say it's visually noisy, but there's no noise in space.

...

Tough crowd. Shoutouts to @Amazing Ampharos who was interested in this stage. Also, this stage really does have a lot of individual things that are worth keeping note of, so it's possible I missed something. If you think I did, or made a mistake, or whatever, leave a comment and I'll look into it.

Previously Covered
Woolly World
Skyloft
Garden of Hope
Mushroom Kingdom U
Wuhu Island
Mario Circuit

Layout
Orbital Gate Assault is a travelling stage and thus lacks any kind of standard layout. Players instead fight atop the Great Fox, Arwings, and Aparoid Missiles as the Star Fox team fights to defend the Orbital Gate from the Aparoids.

Players 1 and 2 start on the fin and head of the Great Fox. Players 3 and 4 start in between them. The Omega form floats over a void.

Orbital Gate Assault has many different stage hazards, although the nature of the stage means they are all transient in nature and not constant threats. In addition, if neither Fox nor Falco is taking part in the battle and all human players hold ZL on the stage select screen when this stage is chosen, radio chatter from Star Fox will play throughout the first stage loop. This chatter can help clue players into upcoming stage events.

Spacecraft
There are 4 different types of spacecraft the players can fight on, each with their own unique properties. For screenshots, see the Space Battle section below.
  • Great Fox: Mostly the same, but with a visual makeover and a few small differences. The main guns underneath do not fire and act as a standard platform. The area behind the fin is smaller, and the engine can no longer be grabbed. Instead, the engine emits a constant exhaust flame that does constant damage to players in contact with it, at a rate of approximately 5% damage per second.
  • Aparoid Missile: Two of these large green missiles try and blow up the Orbital Gate before being destroyed by Star Fox. The nose of each missile is a grabbable ledge, while the rear forms a three-tiered platform setup. The bottom such platform is solid with a grabbable ledge, while the other two are standard. The middle platform ends with another exhaust flame with the same DOT hazard as the Great Fox.
  • Arwing (Side): Star Fox's Arwings return and are much the same as before. They don't fire, at least not in a way that will ever hit the players, and can be jumped through from below. Their nose is a grabbable ledge and their exhaust does not present a DOT hazard.
  • Arwing (Back): Between the first and second Aparoid Missiles, players ride on the Arwings from a rear perspective looking forward. The new perspective alters their shape but presents no new hazards. The wings all have grabbable ledges and can be jumped through from below, but are solid from above.
Space Battle
Orbital Gate Assault follows a predictable, looping path through a space battle in progress.

Name|Picture|Notes
Great Fox|
|Start position. Rear exhaust does DOT, about 5% per second, and cannot be grabbed. Lower cannons do not fire.
Great Fox 2|
|Two Arwings and an Aparoid Missile come onscreen. Arwings have grabbable ledges on the nose and can be jumped through from below, their exhaust is safe. The Great Fox will soon veer off into the background and drop any players standing on it.
Aparoid Missile #1|
|Arwings eventually fly offscreen, taking players with them. Lowest rear platform on Aparoid Missile is solid, as is the front nose; both have grabbable ledges. Exhaust on middle platform does DOT just like Great Fox, about 5% per second. Aparoid Missile gets shot once on middle of nose, does 10% to players.
Impact #1|
|Force field emerges on impact, does 10% and kills Mario off the top at 120%. After initial impact, force field does diagonal downward knockback, kills Mario at 150%, can tech hit on Aparoid Missile. Star Fox targets missile and fires a 1-2-3 salvo, third strike destroys missile. Resulting explosion does fixed vertical knockback and 0% damage.
Arwings (Back)|
|Arwings catch players from explosion, possible for already airborne players to miss explosion and fall too far to be caught. Players can jump through Arwings from below, all wing edges are grabbable. Tunnel floor does 12% damage, kill Mario at 115%. Tunnel ceiling does no damage.
Arwings (Back) 2|
|Cleaner shot of Arwings. Note second Aparoid Missile in background.
Impact #2|
|Second Aparoid Missile impact. Faces opposite direction but otherwise identical to first.
Arwings (Side)|
|Catch players after second Aparoid Missile is destroyed. Rear Arwing moves to front, other Arwings shuffle to make room. Regular missile approaches new rear Arwing and detonates overhead, does 10% damage and kills Mario at 190%. Missile detonation misses Fox as pictured. Arwings drop players off on the Great Fox for another loop.
Summary
  • Travelling stage, no static layout.
  • Great Fox similar to Corneria, rear engine no longer grabbable, exhaust does 5% per second.
  • Arwings have grabbable ledge on nose, safe exhaust. Wings also grabbable when looked at head-on.
  • Aparoid Missile also has damaging exhaust, 5% per second, grabbable ledges on nose and bottom rear platform.
  • Force field does 10%, kills Mario at 120% on initial impact or 150% later.
  • Tunnel floor does 12%, kills Mario at 115%.
  • Second Aparoid Missile faces opposite direction, otherwise identical.
  • Regular missile detonates over second Arwing rescue, does 10% and kills Mario at 190%.
  • Stage loops after second Arwing rescue.
 
Last edited:
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I'd like to note the ridiculously loud sound effects that occur in the stage, and even in the Omega version of the stage.
Here I go...

'Iz loud yo.'

But seriously, I really think the noise in the stage is notable enough to be mentioned.
 
Last edited:

Piford

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I think it could be mentioned that if you stand still, you can stay with the stage.
 

ParanoidDrone

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I think it could be mentioned that if you stand still, you can stay with the stage.
Player 2 (Falco in my screenshots) can, but not Player 1, as I discovered. They land on one of the Arwings when the Great Fox leaves, and they both carry players offscreen to their deaths.

I was surprised too, I think we both saw the same video where Star Fox was chattering.
 
Last edited:

Piford

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Player 2 (Falco in my screenshots) can, but not Player 1, as I discovered. They land on one of the Arwings when the Great Fox leaves, and they both carry players offscreen to their deaths.

I was surprised too, I think we both saw the same video where Star Fox was chattering.
Wow. Well still the transitions don't seem to be a problem as I can make them all consistently with Little Mac.
 

ParanoidDrone

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Wow. Well still the transitions don't seem to be a problem as I can make them all consistently with Little Mac.
Yep. The only real wrinkle is when the first missile explodes, since the explosion won't catch you if you're above maybe SH height and there's a bit of a delay before the Arwings swoop in to provide surfaces. If you're not alert, it's very easy to fall to your death at that point.
 

KERO

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Yep. The only real wrinkle is when the first missile explodes, since the explosion won't catch you if you're above maybe SH height and there's a bit of a delay before the Arwings swoop in to provide surfaces. If you're not alert, it's very easy to fall to your death at that point.
It should also be mentioned that even if you full hop and double jump to avoid the explosion, there's a good chance that you can fall through the Arwings. It seems there's a small period between when they appear and when they actually become platforms.
 

Linq

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I think it's also worth noting if a character is knocked inside the barrier before it appears, it does not hit them, and they can move through the barrier (to be on the correct side again) without taking damage as long as they do not near the point of contact of the missile. The nose poking through the barrier can be grabbed from inside the barrier if snapped to, and the player can make it back on without taking damage by rolling. There doesn't appear to be any way to stay inside the barrier for the entirety of the transformation.
 

smashbro29

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I think this stage is pretty cool and honestly isn't really disruptive to a real match.

I'm also glad Krystal isn't in the easter egg at all.
 
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