Smashboards Creates: Battle of AGES, a SEGA platform fighter

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

I have a question.
Will be job about 2nd Party Miscellanous assists?
I'm asking from curiosity.

 

[Deleted member]

Joe Musashi

Who doesn't love a Ninja. Joe Musashi is the main character of the Shinobi series. A Ninja from the Oboro clan, he is armed with his sword Oborozuki as well as mystical abilities he picks up on his adventures. He battles against terrorists and monsters.

 

[Speed Weed]

Aight it's time to voooooooooooote

Let's look at our picks:

Ryo Hazuki ( OrpheusTelos )
Solis R8000 ( Champion of Hyrule )
Vectorman ( Tankman from Newgrounds )
Temjin ( tonygameman )
Asha ( Flyboy )
Dreamcast ( cashregister9 )
Blue Dragon ( PuyoWitch )
Gunstar Red/Blue ( Megadoomer )
Professor Asobin ( YoshiandToad )
Princess Kurumi (meeeeeeeee)
Niño ( osby )
Joe Musashi (@Darkonedagger)

Vote for your top 3 picks - keep your own submission in third place if you're going to self-vote.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

1. Asha
2. Blue Dragon
3. Solis

 

[Megadoomer]

1. Ryo Hazuki
2. Vectorman
3. Gunstar Red/Blue

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

1. Ryo Hazuki (The True SEGA Allstars)
2. Dreamcast
3. Vectorman (Shameless self-vote, but we need another 2nd Party guy here)

Huge shout outs to all submissions that I didn't pick like Joe or Asha.

 

[Deleted member]

1. Ryo
2. Asha
3. Joe (mama)

 

[HyperSomari64]

Dreamcast
Asha
Princess Kurumi

 

[osby]

1. Asha
2. Temjin
3. Ryo Hazuki

 

[PuyoWitch]

1. Ryo Hazuki
2. Joe Musashi
3. Gunstar Red/Blue

 

[Flyboy]

This is a really fun round full of great, super interesting picks. It's tough to nail down who I want, honestly, since so many of them bring something wild to the table.

1. Ryo Hazuki - Perhaps to some he's safe, but he's a fan-favorite and Shenmue is such an important franchise for what it did for gaming, and Ryo is just cool. His absence feels like a big gap.

2. Blue Dragon - Cool dragon. Also I just think the 180/360 shooting mechanic is really interesting, and Panzer Dragoon would be awesome to get represented on the roster, especially with such a fun way to make it happen.

3. Joe Musashi - We GOTTA get Shinobi in this!!

Seriously, this is a difficult round. Stuff like the Gunstars, one of the Sega Hard Girls (my personal favorite piece of weird Sega media), Temjin, and Asobin...all of them have such great things they could bring but I had to go with some heavy hitters this time.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. Asha (Love me some Wonder Boy, so including a rep here would make me happy. Also Asha is neat, I like her )
2. Temjin (Virtual-On is a pretty underrated choice for rosters like these and Temjin’s just cool)
3. Ryo (One of the last big Sega All-Stars that I feel like we should get out of the way imo)

 

[cashregister9]

1. Joe Musashi
2. Asha
3. Ryo

 

[tonygameman]

1. Princess Kurumi
2. The Gunstars
3. Nino

 

[YopAlonso]

1. Asha - P L A Y A S H A I N M O N S T E R W O R L D
2. Temjin - Robots are cool
3. Gunstar Duo - GUNS

(not sorry, Vectorman)

 

[YoshiandToad]

1. Gunstar Red/Blue: The stars of literally one of my favourite games ever, I can't not vote for them.
2. Asha: Just got her game for Christmas. Enjoying it so far, Asha is excellent.
3. Princess Kurumi: SG-1000 represent, my favourite pre-Master System title bar none.

Shout out to Blue Dragon which I think is potentially incredibly creative, Niño who, as obscure as he is, made me seriously reconsider my top 3 and Ryo who should by all rights be in my top 3 but the competition was just too strong.

 

[Speed Weed]

1. Ryo
2. Joe
3. Temjin

Shoutouts to Asha, who I think would be an excellent choice, but knowing what I know about where we're headed with the character prompts, I think I'd rather hold off on her for now

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright the votes are up. Let's take a look:

Ryo: 21 points
Solis: 1 points
Vectorman: 3 points
Temjin: 8 points
Asha: 20 points
Dreamcast: 5 points
Dragon: 4 points
Gunstars: 8 points
Asobin: 0 points
Kurumi: 5 points
Niño: 0 points
Joe: 9 points

And with that, we have a winner: after all this time, at long last, Ryo Hazuki is finally joining the roster of Battle of AGES!!!

And now we tackle the usual stuff:

Job #121: Submit a moveset for Ryo

i see

As usual, here's the Sacred Moveset Format:

-General playstyle overview
-Notable normal attacks
-Specials and All-Star Move
-Miscellaneous info

ok now bye

 

[osby]

Job #121: Ryo Hazuki moveset

General playstyle: Ryo is a middle-ground character in terms of height, weight, and stamina. He mainly fights with Hazuki-Style jujitsu, with multiple different martial art moves he learned through his journeys thrown in. His damage output can be formidable but he doesn’t have many combos out of the ground. Still, he can do fairly well against anything except strong zoning, making him somewhat of a beginner-friendly Akira. His specialty is throwing and his punishment game, therefore, he can also be seen as a light grappler fighter.

Notable normal attacks: All of Ryo’s moves are taken from Shenmue games.

Basic Attacks:
Neutral A: Jab, Hook, Tiger Knuckle, Body Check. Holding the attack button will make him follow up with Machine Gun Fist.
Forward+A: Twist Knuckle
Down+A: Crawl Cyclone
Up+A: Uppercut
Dash+A: Katana Mist Slash
Air+A: Tornado Kick
Air Forward+A: Jump Kick
Air Back + A: Back Twist Fist
Air Up+A: Brawling Uppercut
Air Down+A: Iron Palm

Smash Moves:
Forward+A: Stab Armor. Deals high shield damage.
Up+A: Crescent Kick
Down+A: Ankle Sweep

Grabs:
Neutral: Grapple
Grab+punch: Grab Melee
Forwards+Throw: Wild Throw
Down+Throw: Rear Foot Sweep
Back+Throw: Over Throw
Up+Throw: Tengu Drop

Specials moves:

Neutral Special: Double Blow. A command grab where Ryo steps forward to grab an opponent and deals two powerful hits on them with rapid succession. Even if he doesn’t succeed in grabbing the opponent, he’ll still follow up with the strikes. When used in the air, this move meteor smashes at high percents.

Side Special: Shadow Step. Ryo sidesteps to go forward a short distance. If he moves behind an opponent, he trips them with an elbow strike to their back. Due to his intangibility frames, Ryo can dodge most attacks with this move but will be left in a long recovery state if he can’t use the finishing attack. This special can be used to help his recovery but will send him into freefall when used in the air.

Up Special: Mud Spider. Ryo places one hand on the ground and launches himself upward with a kick that sends opponents upward. Similar to Akira’s up special but this will travel diagonally rather than directly upward. It doesn’t send Ryo into freefall and goes further if used on the ground. If Ryo hits an opponent or a wall/platform, he can bounce from it to gain extra height.

Down Special: Counter Elbow Assault. Ryo takes a defensive pose and for about a second, he can counter any move coming from in front of him with an elbow strike. This attack applies a high damage multiplier and will crumple opponents but has short-range and high ending lag.

All-Star Move: Dark Side Hazuki. Ryo rushes forward with a shoulder tackle, shouting “Time to finish this fight!”. If it connects with an opponent, a cutscene move is initiated. Just like in Shenmue, button prompts will appear on the screen, forcing Ryo to do a simple QTE to increase his damage.

In the cutscene, Ryo first uppercuts his target then steps back and does a double palm strike before rushing them with a series of punches. He’ll end the scene with an elbow strike followed up by a grab, knee strike, and haymaker fist.

If multiple opponents are struck with the initial hit, Ryo will just run over them with a forklift.

Other:

Aesthetics: Ryo’s appearance is taken from Shenmue 3. His alternate colors change the look of his jacket and pants. He’s voiced by Masaya Matsukaze in Japanese and Corey Marshall in English.

Entrance animation: Ryo drives and jumps off from a forklift.

Taunts:
Taunt 1: Ryo pulls out a gachapon and takes out the toy inside, holding it in front of him. There are multiple different toy figures he can find, decided randomly.
Taunt 2: Ryo rubs the back of his neck and says “Get serious!” or "I see."
Taunt 3: Ryo bows in respect and says “Please step aside!”. If one of his opponents is a female character, he’ll say “I didn’t want to do this, but it seems you left me no choice!”

Victory Theme: A remix of Working Man (Shenmue)

Victory Animations:
Victory 1: Ryo performs two quick chops, followed by a roundhouse kick and bows in respect.

Victory 2: Ryo stretches and holds his fist to his chest and looks up. He’ll say “It feels as if my journey will never get to an end.”

Victory 3: Ryo drives his forklift and skits to a stop before hanging out from it and saying “Remember that pain, next time it would be worse!”

 

[Speed Weed]

Aighty so osby's moveset wins by default!

Moving on:

Job #122: Submit a Shenmue stage

ok ye submit a shenmue stage

 

[YoshiandToad]

Do you know a place where "gamers" hang out?

Job #122: You Arcade

Whilst I considered a few places such as the Hazuki Dojo, Shenhua's charming Bailu village or Lan Di's castle in Niaowu, ultimately I'm going to go with You Arcade.

Part of the appeal is to have the cast of Battle of Ages fighting inside a SEGA arcade itself, yes, but this is also the location of what I consider the most memorable combat battle of the first Shenmue; a showdown in the dark and dingy arcade against the Great Chai. You can also play Space Harrier, Hang-On and QTE Title(which is a real Sega arcade game called Big Title in Japan)...oh and darts I suppose.

You Arcade is a very small stage overall and it's a stage that only has one true out of bounds; the front door, which you can absolutely kick opponents out of. There's a ceiling, floor and opposite wall, none of which will allow for ring outs, so this stage is largely best for fights where stamina is the focus...or for you to try and rack up as much insane damage as possible by bouncing opponents off every wall before throwing them out.

In the background various Shenmue I characters would appear playing on the arcade cabinets whilst the fighters recreate Ryo and the Great Chai's encounter.

• Masayuki Fukuhara, otherwise known as Fuku-san, can be seen training his punches against the QTE Title machine in the background.
• Yuji Nito, the owner of You Arcade can be seen at his counter, occasionally looking worried as fighters get knocked about. How's he going to pay for all these damages? His debts are already sky high!
• The Great Chai can be seen hiding behind the Space Harrier arcade cabinet awaiting his time to ambush Ryo once again
• Naoyuki Ito, the classmate that lends Ryo his motorcycle to save Nozomi(and who's bike Ryo uses in Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing) can be seen on the Hang-On machine, enjoying riding once more.
• Koji Yabe and Shingo Mochizuki will be hanging at their usual arcade table.

There might be more but...we'll have to see who makes it as an assist before deciding on more cameos for this tiny arcade stage.

 

[Speed Weed]

Okay, the time has passed: You Arcade will be our Shenmue stage!!!

Moving on:

Job #123: Submit a tracklist for You Arcade

Aight yeah now put together a tracklist. Remember to keep it to a max of 16 tracks

 

[OrpheusTelos]

You Arcade Tracklist

1. Shenmue (REMIX) - Shenmue
2. Shenhua (REMIX) - Shenmue
3. Earth & Sea - Shenmue
4. Bob’s Pizzeria/Tomato Convenience Store - Shenmue
5. Forklift Racing - Shenmue
6. Free Battle - Shenmue II
7. Joy - Shenmue II
8. Pine Game Arcade - Shenmue II
9. Revenge - Shenmue III
10. Street Fight - Shenmue III
11. Clash! - Shenmue III
12. Crucial Fight - Shenmue III
13. Quartet Theme - Quartet
14. After Burner - After Burner II
15. Flicky Medley - Flicky (Consists of Title Theme, Main BGM, and Bonus Round)
16. Main Theme - Enduro Racer

Obviously I had to add some of Shenmue’s most iconic tracks to this stage first and foremost, but I couldn’t not take advantage of the fact that this stage is also an 80’s Sega Arcade. So I took this opportunity to sprinkle in some tracks from Sega’s early arcade library that we don’t already have on other stages.

 

[Megadoomer]

I don't know whether I should bring this up or not (since I don't want it to influence the direction of this thread too much), but this might be worth watching once it releases in about two hours, even if it's just to contrast it with what we have so far:

 

[PuyoWitch]

Because I've only played some Shenmue, I don't have a lot of knowledge that will help for the Shenmue-related jobs, but I will submit some extra art for the project.

Spoiler

• Name: Mr's Bones' Album Goes Ghould
• Series: Mr. Bones
• Source: Mr. Bones (SEGA Saturn) - Japanese Cover Artwork
  
  
  
  
• Name: Someone Too Tough to Beat
• Series: Kid Chameleon
• Source: Kid Chameleon (SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive) - Japanese Cover Artwork
• 
  
• Name: The New Dragon Rider
• Series: Panzer Dragoon
• Source: Panzer Dragoon (SEGA Saturn) - Japanese Cover Artwork (Guest art by Moebius)

 

[Speed Weed]

Aight aight OK OrpheusTelos' tracklist wins by default!!!

Moving on:

Job #124: Submit a Shenmue assist

ok yeah submit a shenmue assist!!!!

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

I don't know whether I should bring this up or not (since I don't want it to influence the direction of this thread too much), but this might be worth watching once it releases in about two hours, even if it's just to contrast it with what we have so far:

I liked that video.
Only bad qualities are that Vectorman is Assist Trophy and that made me sad.
At least Harrier has a role in the SEGA Smash.

 

[PuyoWitch]

Job #124: Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson is Ryo Hazuki's foreign friend from America, and the proprietor of Tom's Hot Dogs. He is usually seen dancing in front of his Hot Dog truck, hoping to attract customers to his food truck restaurant.

As an assist, Tom would arrive with his food truck occupying a chunk of the stage, with his boombox tune taking over whatever music is actually on the stage by making it sound quiet in comparison, similar to how the Squid Sisters' concert works. When left alone on the field, Tom is more or less a nuisance or a gag. He dances from side to side of his food truck, showing off his skills. All of that changes, however, if you run into him or attack him.

Tom would have his own counter that would immediately activate as soon as you attack him in the form of his big move he teaches Ryo, the tornado kick. It's already in Ryo's moveset, but this version would be a more powerful version.

 

[Flyboy]

Job #124: Mario Grianni

That's right baby, he's back! Mario Grianni is the proprietor of Bob's Pizza, a pizza place in Dobuita that Ryo can visit. He's a friendly Italian man and as Enzo showed we need more Italian assists just because. But for real, when summoned, Bob would cook and throw a pizza-shaped projectile with special properties - either a small cheese pizza, medium mushroom pizza, or large pepperoni pizza. The size is determined by how long it's been since you've summoned him last, as a good pizza takes time to cook. When the pizza hits an opponent, it'll split into either 4, 6, or 8 pieces that scatter in other directions, and damage is determined by the pizza's size as well.

Also, I just have to shill this yet again because it's still so cool.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Job #124: Mimi (and Nozomi)

Okay, technically the kitten can be called Mimi, Tama or Chibi, but as the game gives Ryo three seperate ways to call the kitten Mimi (either by choosing it, not choosing ANY name or by attempting to call her Sasuke, a boy's name and Megumi will overrule it as it doesn't 'suit her') I'm going to refer to the kitten as Mimi for this as it's less of a mouthful than 'The Orphaned Kitten'. We can discuss if this should be called 'Kitten and Nozomi' later possibly.

When summoned Mimi will appear. She's adorable! This tiny orphaned kitten is a hungry little girl and desires fish.
Fortunately after she is summoned, punching an opponent will knock fish out of them which Mimi will gobble up greedily.
If players manage to land enough hits to knock five fish out of their opponents, Mimi will mew loudly.

It's very cute, but it doesn't seem to...do anything?

Well...upon Mimi's mew echoing out, Nozomi Harasaki, Ryo's love interest from the first Shenmue will appear.

She will then proceed to act as another fighter on the stage, sharing Ryo's moveset for a twenty second period, being capable of KOing opponents herself and allowing players to have a brief 2 vs 1.

There are, as always, some rules about her though:

1. Nozomi, just like a fighter, can be KO'd before the full 20 second period is up.
2. Nozomi will vanish after the full 20 second period is up naturally.
3. Nozomi does not have access to an All-Star move of her own, nor is she capable of using items.
4. Nozomi also has far less stamina than anyone on the roster.
5. If the summoner cannot gather five fish whilst Mimi is out, Nozomi will not be summoned making the assist essentially useless.
6. This assist has a long cool down period as a result of it being potentially overpowered.
7. If the summoner screws up the Mimi section, the cooldown will be considerably shorter than if it's pulled off successfully.

For those not in the know, they may be wondering what the flipping heck this assist even is, so allow me to elaborate:

In the original Shenmue, if Ryo feeds the kitten five sliced fish prior to coming across Nozomi defending a child in Sakuragaoka park, Nozomi will join Ryo in teaching the bullies Enoki and Nagashima a lesson using his moveset if the player inputs a code during the cutscenes start:

Look at her go!

That's right, this assist is a reference to a pretty awesome Shenmue Easter Egg.

Canonically Nozomi isn't a martial artist, and is a rather sweet girl, but this little hidden secret addition is far too neat a reference for me to pass up.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

I don't know whether I should bring this up or not (since I don't want it to influence the direction of this thread too much), but this might be worth watching once it releases in about two hours, even if it's just to contrast it with what we have so far:

the video has opa opa in it. It’s perfect.

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

the video has opa opa in it. It’s perfect.

But it doesn't have Vectorman in roster.
He has more moveset potential than Ecco.
Ecco should be Assist Trophy.

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, it's time to start voting on assists!

Let's take a look:

Tom Johnson ( PuyoWitch )
Mario Grianni ( Flyboy )
Mimi and Nozomi ( YoshiandToad )

And here's the poll:

Le vote | Straw Poll

What is your opinion? Vote now: Tom Johnson, Mario Grianni, Mimi and Nozomi

strawpoll.com

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, the votes are in, and Tom Johnson will be our Shenmue assist!!!

Moving on:

Job #125: Submit a misc. stage from a "third-party era" SEGA IP

I think it's time we do another misc. stage! We've done arcade stages, we've done stages from console games that came out when SEGA still made consoles, so I think our next logical step would be to cover games that SEGA made after going third-party. "Modern" SEGA games, if you will. For the record, I am allowing stages from arcade games released during this period to be submitted, as it'd have zero overlap with the arcade job's turnout anyway. And as always, please do remember that whatever stage wins will take any character from its series out of the running for the base game. ok now bye

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

Two Point Hospital

I know literally nothing about this game but I think it could make a good stage, with its layout essentially being this game’s version of tomodachi life where each floor has a random room from the game

 

[Deleted member]

Spiral Corridor (Catherine)

Based on the Puzzle RPG published by Atlus. Players fight on top of the little platforms like the ones seen in the image above. They will fall and players will have to climb and jump around. Players can use use the blocks to form staircases to help them. Some blocks have additional functions such as throwing the the fighter up higher, and some blocks are traps. It gets pretty chaotic. Vincent can sometimes be seen running around frantically in the background.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Modern Sega arcade games are allowed for this round, eh? This gives me an idea...

Job #125 - Dinosaur Battlefied (Dinosaur King)

Okay, so you know that Mushiking thing we have as an assist with the beetles fighting each other? Well that wasn’t the only card-based fighting game that Sega released in the early-mid 2000’s. Just off that game’s success, Sega released Dinosaur King in 2005, a game that uses very similar card-based mechanics and a rock-paper-scissors battle system, only this time with superpowered dinosaurs instead of beetles. And boy did Sega go all-in on this one. Throughout the mid-late oughts, Dinosaur King got a manga adaptation, an anime adaptation localized by 4Kids in the west, a DS game based on said anime adaptation, and a trading card game. Needless to say, this was Sega’s big monster-collecting franchise for a while. At least until they bought Atlus and aquired the Megami Tensei franchise, but that’s neither here nor there. Point is, this was a moderately successful franchise for Sega and while I doubt anyone here is clamoring for a character from it, I think a stage that features dinosaurs fighting would kick ass.

So the jist of this stage is that you’re plopped in the middle of an empty plane, similar to Rathalos’ arena in Smash Ultimate but with a single large platform in the middle. While you and your opponent are fighting, two dinosaurs will show up and start duking it out. While the dinos are fighting, one of them will unleash a super move that will alter the stage’s terrain. The possible terrains that will appear are as follows:

• Fire Battlefield - The arena takes on a more volcanic appearance. Occasionally, the volcanoes will erupt and the floor will become covered in lava, forcing players to retreat to the top platform.
• Water Battlefield - This arena takes place against a wetland area with waterfalls. Occasionally, a water geyser will erupt and damage any fighter it hits.
• Thunder Battlefield - The arena becomes stormy and bolts of lightning will strike from the sky to hit opponents.
• Earth Battlefield - The battlefield becomes a rocky desert and becomes susceptible to earthquakes. Fighters who don’t get on the platform before the earthquake starts will get hurt.

So yeah, the whole gimmick here is that it’s a constantly changing battlefield that keeps players on their toes. Also cool dinosaurs.

 

[cashregister9]

Auriga (ENDLESS)

The ENDLESS Series is made by Amplitude studios and published by SEGA.

The stage would start out in the Middle of Space on top of a starship from ENDLESS Space and ENDLESS Space 2

The starship is a medium sized platform about the size of FD with 2 platforms that bob up and down

The starship flies around before crashing into planet Auriga where you essentially see a game of ENDLESS Legend being played as you fly around on the destroyed starship that lost a platform and the edges are melted and slanted

You see many sites and battles from ENDLESS Legend including many heroes and cities being built from many of the factions.

The ship finally gives out and falls into the ground where they tunnel through it and you end up in a Dungeon from ENDLESS Dungeon or Dungeon of the ENDLESS. From here the Layouts vary wildly and new hazards like enemies running onto the stage and attacking players start to appear.

After a bit the stage resets with everyone back on the starship where you see the planet in all it's glory before the stage resumes.

 

[Flyboy]

Job #125 - Another Super Performance! (Feel The Magic: XX/XY)

Feel The Magic: XX/XY, also known as Project Rub in PAL regions and I Would Die For You in Japan (incredible title) is a Nintendo DS launch title by Sega and Sonic Team, possibly most famous for the sensual box art of a woman in silhouette wearing a bikini. It turns out everything in this game is a silhouette, from the strange Rub Rabbits creatures to the hapless protagonist and his equally unlucky lover. It turns out what this game is is...a really silly and pretty funny little Elite Beat Agents/WarioWare style minigame-collection with a great sense of style and humor, all themed around getting into situations with the mysterious girl of one's dreams you have to rescue her, yourself, or the public from. Sheesh!

This stage based on it would be a wacky one, naturally, to fit the style of it all. At first it would seem like a fairly standard place, as the fighters start on the large Break Time! platform as the girl of one's dreams sips her tea and plays with her cat in the background and the Rub Rabbits lounge around. Nice and peaceful, right?

WRONG!

After a few moments it turns out you're on a tightrope high above the city!

And let me tell you, monocyclists aren't the only thing you'll have to skillfully dodge as our happy couple gets into all kinds of grave danger! Why, they may have to face...

RAGING BULLS!

CALTROPS!

A DEADLY ANTLION!

HUMAN BOWLING BALLS!

AND SO MUCH MORE!

So yes, this stage will have a great artstyle and all kinds of ridiculous hazards that can hinder competitors and transform the terrain, changing the flow of the fight in an instant. It's chaotic, but hey, anything for love!

In researching this stage I realized that the game has so much material you could easily make a moveset for this couple, which is absolutely hilarious to me. Seriously check this game and its sequel out if you get the chance, it's pretty fun.

 

[PuyoWitch]

Job #125- Weapon in the Clouds (Rhythm Thief)

Rhythm Thief is a 3DS/mobile game where you play as a remarkable young thief of Paris named Phantom R looking for his father. While we do have Persona 5, Rhythm Thief differentiates in style by being a rhythm game and feeling a lot more like a Layton game or a Tintin comic in its tone. It has a really cool 'cartoony grand adventure from Europe' kind of feel.

Chapter 9 spoilers for Rhythm Thief in the spoiler tag. I tried to be as nondescript as I could, so I would not give away a plot beat, but proceed with caution.

Spoiler

The ending of the game takes you inside of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which floats above Paris, and is the ultimate weapon of the game's main antagonist. There's a lot you can take from this part from everything you see on the map to the much smaller rhythmic sections to help flesh out a larger scale version of this stage than the one I'm about to show off.

A pretty minor moment in the chapter, but still very important. Near the end, the game has you battling someone in a giant robot mech above lava from inside of it.

This is the part of the game I would pull from. My idea is to actually make the whole stage a rhythm one that works in tandem with whatever music you have playing on it. Occasionally, you would have projectiles being shot by the giant robot towards the platform you're at, on top of making sure you don't touch the lava sections on the ground. There would also be background cameos from Phantom R and his trusty dog, Fondue, jumping around the stage.