ParanoidDrone
Smash Master
Today's stage du jour is Duck Hunt, one of two new stages being used at Apex 2015 as of the time of this writing. Not that I'm bitter or anything...
Shoutouts to @Pazx who has been compiling data on ceiling heights in various stages, including this one. His thread on the subject can be found here.
Previously Covered
Delfino Plaza
Kalos Pokemon League
Mario Galaxy
Coliseum
Gamer
Wii Fit Studio
Kongo Jungle 64
Windy Hill Zone
Luigi's Mansion
Norfair
Orbital Gate Assault
Woolly World
Skyloft
Garden of Hope
Mushroom Kingdom U
Wuhu Island
Mario Circuit
Layout
Duck Hunt has a unique layout. The ground is a solid flat block with walled sides. A bush on the right side acts as a platform, although the surface is about halfway down the shrubbery and takes some getting used to. A tree on the left has five individual boughs that each form their own platform. These platforms are high enough that Little Mac and Ganondorf cannot reach them from the ground with their double jumps alone. However, their up specials allow them to reach even the highest of the five platforms.
The stage flattens characters into 2D projections, although the effect is not visually obvious unless the game is paused and players rotate the camera around. In terms of gameplay, this keeps all hitboxes and hurtboxes on a single plane, even when a character would normally animate into the foreground or background.
Players 1 and 2 start near the edges while Players 3 and 4 start closer to the middle. The Omega form has walled sides.
Duck Hunt has no damaging hazards, although there are a few dynamic stage elements.
Game Within a Game
While the fight is in progress, a game of Duck Hunt plays in the background that players can interact with. It follows the same general rules as the Zapper game. By the time the starting countdown finishes, this game is already underway.
One or two ducks fly around in the background, never leaving the blue sky projection. When a second duck is present, it can either appear simultaneously with the first or a second or two later. These ducks have hurtboxes and can be felled with one hit from any attack. Although their initial location and direction are random, they always emerge from the bottom, behind the grass. They also follow a simple linear path that bounces predictably when they reach the borders of the sky projection.
The number of ducks currently in play is shown by the Duck Hunt HUD attached to the front of the main playing surface; flashing duck icons indicate ducks in play. Red duck icons indicate ducks that have been successfully attacked. There are a total of 10 duck icons, and the game will proceed to the next round if 6 or more ducks have been shot down. This has no known effect on the fight.
After 8-10 seconds of flying around, the sky gains a red tinge while a text box with the words "FLY AWAY" appears. At this point any remaining ducks become intangible and make their way off the top of the screen.
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A pair of ducks flying around. They emerge from the grass and do not fly outside the sky boundaries. Their hurtboxes can stop projectiles.
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After 8-10 seconds, the sky tinges red and the ducks fly away. At this point they are intangible and cannot be hit.
The Duck Hunt dog makes regular appearances alongside the ducks. If no ducks have been hit, he rises from the middle of the stage after they fly away, doing his signature laugh. If all ducks have been hit, he rises from the position the last duck fell at, holding the duck(s) on either side. If one duck but not the other is hit, he rises from the position the first duck fell at after the other flies away, again holding it to the side. However, the dog only appears between the tree and the bush; if the last duck to fall is outside this area, the dog instead appears as close to that position as possible.
In all cases, the dog serves as a standard platform and lingers for no more than a second or two. The retro graphics and speed of the whole process makes it difficult to determine the exact size, but it appears to be a simple flat platform that only extends along the dog's head and does not cover the ducks when he's holding them.
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The dog laughing, complete with sound effects. This happens when all ducks escape, always at center stage as pictured. The dog rises from the ground and acts as a standard platform, but it descends again after less than a second.
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The dog after a duck has been shot down. It always rises at the spot the duck was felled, but also stays between the tree and bush. This is its rightmost position, the duck was on the other side of the tree when hit.
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The dog's leftmost position. The duck was directly above R.O.B. when hit. If all ducks are shot down, the dog will appear immediately. If one manages to escape, it will wait until it flies away.
Grass
Players will notice the tall grass in the background of the stage. Every so often, an additional patch of grass will rise in the foreground, effectively blending in with the background grass and hiding players, projectiles, and other entities behind it. In other words, watch out!Wild Pokemon Other fighters lurk in the tall grass!
Only one such patch of grass is ever on stage at a time. It lingers for about 8-10 seconds before vanishing, with another 8-10 seconds in between successive patches. They can appear anywhere on stage with no discernible pattern.
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A patch of grass has risen in front of R.O.B., leaving him (it?) barely visible. Shorter characters like Duck Hunt are completely obscured, as are entities like Luma, the can from Trick Shot, and so forth. Player tags can still give away the location of fighters.
Summary
Shoutouts to @Pazx who has been compiling data on ceiling heights in various stages, including this one. His thread on the subject can be found here.
Previously Covered
Delfino Plaza
Kalos Pokemon League
Mario Galaxy
Coliseum
Gamer
Wii Fit Studio
Kongo Jungle 64
Windy Hill Zone
Luigi's Mansion
Norfair
Orbital Gate Assault
Woolly World
Skyloft
Garden of Hope
Mushroom Kingdom U
Wuhu Island
Mario Circuit
Layout
Duck Hunt has a unique layout. The ground is a solid flat block with walled sides. A bush on the right side acts as a platform, although the surface is about halfway down the shrubbery and takes some getting used to. A tree on the left has five individual boughs that each form their own platform. These platforms are high enough that Little Mac and Ganondorf cannot reach them from the ground with their double jumps alone. However, their up specials allow them to reach even the highest of the five platforms.
The stage flattens characters into 2D projections, although the effect is not visually obvious unless the game is paused and players rotate the camera around. In terms of gameplay, this keeps all hitboxes and hurtboxes on a single plane, even when a character would normally animate into the foreground or background.
Players 1 and 2 start near the edges while Players 3 and 4 start closer to the middle. The Omega form has walled sides.
Duck Hunt has no damaging hazards, although there are a few dynamic stage elements.
Game Within a Game
While the fight is in progress, a game of Duck Hunt plays in the background that players can interact with. It follows the same general rules as the Zapper game. By the time the starting countdown finishes, this game is already underway.
One or two ducks fly around in the background, never leaving the blue sky projection. When a second duck is present, it can either appear simultaneously with the first or a second or two later. These ducks have hurtboxes and can be felled with one hit from any attack. Although their initial location and direction are random, they always emerge from the bottom, behind the grass. They also follow a simple linear path that bounces predictably when they reach the borders of the sky projection.
The number of ducks currently in play is shown by the Duck Hunt HUD attached to the front of the main playing surface; flashing duck icons indicate ducks in play. Red duck icons indicate ducks that have been successfully attacked. There are a total of 10 duck icons, and the game will proceed to the next round if 6 or more ducks have been shot down. This has no known effect on the fight.
After 8-10 seconds of flying around, the sky gains a red tinge while a text box with the words "FLY AWAY" appears. At this point any remaining ducks become intangible and make their way off the top of the screen.
A pair of ducks flying around. They emerge from the grass and do not fly outside the sky boundaries. Their hurtboxes can stop projectiles.
After 8-10 seconds, the sky tinges red and the ducks fly away. At this point they are intangible and cannot be hit.
The Duck Hunt dog makes regular appearances alongside the ducks. If no ducks have been hit, he rises from the middle of the stage after they fly away, doing his signature laugh. If all ducks have been hit, he rises from the position the last duck fell at, holding the duck(s) on either side. If one duck but not the other is hit, he rises from the position the first duck fell at after the other flies away, again holding it to the side. However, the dog only appears between the tree and the bush; if the last duck to fall is outside this area, the dog instead appears as close to that position as possible.
In all cases, the dog serves as a standard platform and lingers for no more than a second or two. The retro graphics and speed of the whole process makes it difficult to determine the exact size, but it appears to be a simple flat platform that only extends along the dog's head and does not cover the ducks when he's holding them.
The dog laughing, complete with sound effects. This happens when all ducks escape, always at center stage as pictured. The dog rises from the ground and acts as a standard platform, but it descends again after less than a second.
The dog after a duck has been shot down. It always rises at the spot the duck was felled, but also stays between the tree and bush. This is its rightmost position, the duck was on the other side of the tree when hit.
The dog's leftmost position. The duck was directly above R.O.B. when hit. If all ducks are shot down, the dog will appear immediately. If one manages to escape, it will wait until it flies away.
Grass
Players will notice the tall grass in the background of the stage. Every so often, an additional patch of grass will rise in the foreground, effectively blending in with the background grass and hiding players, projectiles, and other entities behind it. In other words, watch out!
Only one such patch of grass is ever on stage at a time. It lingers for about 8-10 seconds before vanishing, with another 8-10 seconds in between successive patches. They can appear anywhere on stage with no discernible pattern.
A patch of grass has risen in front of R.O.B., leaving him (it?) barely visible. Shorter characters like Duck Hunt are completely obscured, as are entities like Luma, the can from Trick Shot, and so forth. Player tags can still give away the location of fighters.
Summary
- Little Mac and Ganondorf cannot reach tree platforms from the ground without up special.
- Ducks can be hit, fly in predictable paths.
- Ducks become intangible and fly away after 8-10 seconds.
- Dog acts as standard platform, rises from bottom after ducks fly away or are all hit.
- If all ducks escape, dog rises from center.
- If one or more ducks are hit, dog rises from position of last duck hit.
- Dog only rises between tree and bush, if duck falls outside this area it rises as close to position as possible.
- Grass patch pops up every 8-10 seconds, lingers for 8-10 seconds, hides characters and other entities.
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