Name of Stage:
Mirage Saloon Zone
Game of Origin:
Sonic Mania
(Main layout of the stage. Character renders shown for size approximation)
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Red: Solid platform;
Blue: Passable platform;
Green: Directional path.
Description of Stage:
Mirage Saloon Zone is one of the handful of original zones in Sonic Mania and, in contrast to the currently two Green-themed Sonic levels across the Super Smash Bros. games, is instead a desert-themed zone.
The stage itself is composed of a central platform that curves downwards towards the center, thanks to a patch of sand that showers downwards, and two adjacent platforms with bars that vertically extend to the lower blast line. Also on the center, a bird statue hosts 3 passable platforms, two being its wings, and the last being its head. Large barrels are held on both ends of the stage, supported by a thin pole.
Gimmicks and Hazards of the Stage:
Gimmicks
Barrel - The main gimmick of the stage. As mentioned earlier, they're held at both ends of the stage, with a pole adjacent to them. They function identically to how they did in Sonic Mania: if the character stays still on the barrel, they will slowly sink downwards as the barrel rotates. Once they are halfway down the barrel, which should take roughly half a second without any input, they will instantly fall through it. If they are below it, they can pass through the barrel and land, just like a passable platform. If a character is sinking but haven't fallen yet, a jump can get them out safely, and moving will make you slowly rise upwards. The barrels cannot be hanged on, but the top of the thin pole surrounding it can. The character will always fall through it at the same speed, regardless of their speed when they're launched directly towards it. The purpose of the barrels is mostly to make edge-guarding a more frenetic activity.
Piñata - A piñata balloon in the shape of a star. They are objects floating near the barrels, and will slowly move up and down from where they spawn, one moving on the opposite direction of the other. Like in Mania, a character making any contact with it will be immediatedly sent upwards a set distance. They will respawn 15 seconds after it last collided with something.
Hazards
Pistol - A huge gun held by an equally big white glove, being supported by a pole that horizontally extends to the stage's blast lines. They have a rare chance to spawn on the stage, and a pistol will never spawn when another is already active, neither before 2 minutes after it was last active or after the battle starts. When they do spawn, they will appear from either blast line and move to the side of the stage, slightly below in level compared to its respective barrel, where it will stay in place. Like in Mania, there's an opened hatch at the top of the pistol, and any character that gets inside it are immediatedly trapped. When that happens, the hatch is covered after half a second, after which the hand begins to spin the gun and quickly rises upwards to a level compared to the bird statue. After it finishes moving, it will begin to automatically aim the pistol up and down, starting upwards.
Pressing any button that isn't directional (which won't influence the gun's aim) in this state will make the character inside to be shot at a straight line in a very fast speed and at a far set distance, and will damage any opposing characters on contact. The damage and knockback dealt is dependant on how far the characters are from the launched fighter: for example, if they are contacted at gunpoint, the launched character will get 20% damage, but in compensation, the affected characters will get 45% damage and very high knockback, almost guaranteed to be a KO unless teched. On the other hand, if they are contacted on the other end of the stage, the launched character will get 5% damage and medium-high knockback, and the affected character will get 15% damage and medium knockback.
If the gun is active and no characters went inside it after 10 seconds, it will close its hatch, move to its blast zone during the course of 2 seconds, and then disappear, after which it's no longer active. If the trapped character has not made any inputs in the last 5 seconds since the pistol has started aiming, it will cue the player by getting a slight red tint and vibrating itself after 4 seconds, which will intensify during the course of the last second. After this animation ends, it will launch the character by itself.
It is possible for more than one character to enter the gun in the half second before the hatch closes. If that happens, any non-directional input from any of the characters enclosed will launch them, and landing on another character or on the ground will deal any of them the same damage and knockback as any launched character, but cannot damage eachother while in a launched state.
The pistol launches characters at very high speeds and a far set distance, and as such not only is it tricky to use properly, but can be risky to use when aiming at something in midair, as they risk being KO'd (on the other hand, if more than one character is inside the pistol, it can act as a great alternative to "suicide" moves if one character has a stock advantage over the other, as the gun starts aiming upwards and any non-directional input from anyone results in everyone inside getting launched). Launched characters can also be affected by the piñata, thus making the risk of being KO'd higher as it can launch the player to the upper blast line.
Uber Catterkiller - The stage's boss. They're a massive catterkiller which can be seen roaming on the stage's background when they're not active. They're only guaranteed to act after 2 minutes have passed on the stage. When he's active, he'll roam closer to the foreground, where the sound of him burrowing through the ground will be audible, and act like he does as the boss of Sonic and Tails' Act 1 boss in Mania, launching towards where the piñata would spawn, either one of them, and will appear from behind or the front of the stage to jump to the other side, damaging any character that is hit by any part of its body, dealing 15% damage (they will also instantly pop the piñata as it comes into contact with it, but will otherwise not be affected). After doing so once, it will then be shown roaming underneath the ground in the background for around 5 seconds before doing so again on the opposite side of the stage. They will repeat this a total of 4 times before it's gone.
Also like Mania, they're defeated after being dealt 6 hits on their head, regardless of what damage it does, and within a half second time buffer that's individually counted per character, as to avoid abuse from multi-hitting attacks. Like in the origin game, this process be tricky due to the Uber Caterkiller only being damageable in a short amount of time while its head is level to the stage. After being defeated. the boss will have each of its body parts explode and will only spawn back after roughly 4 minutes, being completely absent from their background appearance when they're defeated. The character who deals the final blow will be rewarded a stock. After the boss is active again, their health is back to 6 regardless of being defeated or not.
The only exception regarding damage dealt to the Uber Caterkiller is if the attacker is a character launched from a pistol. Regardless of how much health the boss has, the boss will be instantly KO'd when in contact with a launched character, and a stock will be rewarded accordingly. However, if more than one character is shot from the gun and all hit the Caterkiller at the same time, a distinctive sound effect plays and all the launched characters ricochet away from the boss, dealing no damage to it. This also happens when more than one character attempts to hit them at the same time outside of the pistol.
Unlockable?:
Yes. Complete Classic Mode on Medium difficulty or above as any representative of the Sonic series without continuing, or beat 7 Versus matches (number meant to reference the seven Chaos Emeralds) in a row with a set Sonic representative (if using CPU, only counts at difficulty level 5 or above).
Extra Stuff:
Under the stage, a "Wanted" poster depicting either Fang the Sniper, Bean the Dynamite or Bark the Polar Bear is shown. When the stage is loaded, the character shown is chosen at random each time the stage is selected.
Oil Ocean Zone makes an appearance on the far right of the background. This cameo is identical to Mania's, at the end of Act 2's Oil Ocean Zone transition cutscene.
The stage also has a day-night cycle, with each time's palette resembling their counterpart in Mania: morning, day (pictured), sunset and night. Time cycles after roughly 2 minutes, where it'll jump to the next time in the order mentioned earlier.
The stage's hazardless mode will, obviously, get rid of the hazards (pistol and Uber Caterkiller), and everything else is untouched. On its Battlefield form, the level's shape is straightened on top and its bottom is beaten into shape like other Battlefield/Omega stages, the gimmicks are rid of, along the thin poles surrounding the barrels, and the bird statue's wings are lowered to the same level and slightly enlarged, along with the head platform being lowered slightly. Its Omega form is identical to its Battlefield form, but the bird statue, along with its adjacent wing platforms, are rid of.
Mirage Saloon Zone
Game of Origin:
Sonic Mania
(Main layout of the stage. Character renders shown for size approximation)
Red: Solid platform;
Blue: Passable platform;
Green: Directional path.
Description of Stage:
Mirage Saloon Zone is one of the handful of original zones in Sonic Mania and, in contrast to the currently two Green-themed Sonic levels across the Super Smash Bros. games, is instead a desert-themed zone.
The stage itself is composed of a central platform that curves downwards towards the center, thanks to a patch of sand that showers downwards, and two adjacent platforms with bars that vertically extend to the lower blast line. Also on the center, a bird statue hosts 3 passable platforms, two being its wings, and the last being its head. Large barrels are held on both ends of the stage, supported by a thin pole.
Gimmicks and Hazards of the Stage:
Gimmicks
Barrel - The main gimmick of the stage. As mentioned earlier, they're held at both ends of the stage, with a pole adjacent to them. They function identically to how they did in Sonic Mania: if the character stays still on the barrel, they will slowly sink downwards as the barrel rotates. Once they are halfway down the barrel, which should take roughly half a second without any input, they will instantly fall through it. If they are below it, they can pass through the barrel and land, just like a passable platform. If a character is sinking but haven't fallen yet, a jump can get them out safely, and moving will make you slowly rise upwards. The barrels cannot be hanged on, but the top of the thin pole surrounding it can. The character will always fall through it at the same speed, regardless of their speed when they're launched directly towards it. The purpose of the barrels is mostly to make edge-guarding a more frenetic activity.
Piñata - A piñata balloon in the shape of a star. They are objects floating near the barrels, and will slowly move up and down from where they spawn, one moving on the opposite direction of the other. Like in Mania, a character making any contact with it will be immediatedly sent upwards a set distance. They will respawn 15 seconds after it last collided with something.
Hazards
Pistol - A huge gun held by an equally big white glove, being supported by a pole that horizontally extends to the stage's blast lines. They have a rare chance to spawn on the stage, and a pistol will never spawn when another is already active, neither before 2 minutes after it was last active or after the battle starts. When they do spawn, they will appear from either blast line and move to the side of the stage, slightly below in level compared to its respective barrel, where it will stay in place. Like in Mania, there's an opened hatch at the top of the pistol, and any character that gets inside it are immediatedly trapped. When that happens, the hatch is covered after half a second, after which the hand begins to spin the gun and quickly rises upwards to a level compared to the bird statue. After it finishes moving, it will begin to automatically aim the pistol up and down, starting upwards.
Pressing any button that isn't directional (which won't influence the gun's aim) in this state will make the character inside to be shot at a straight line in a very fast speed and at a far set distance, and will damage any opposing characters on contact. The damage and knockback dealt is dependant on how far the characters are from the launched fighter: for example, if they are contacted at gunpoint, the launched character will get 20% damage, but in compensation, the affected characters will get 45% damage and very high knockback, almost guaranteed to be a KO unless teched. On the other hand, if they are contacted on the other end of the stage, the launched character will get 5% damage and medium-high knockback, and the affected character will get 15% damage and medium knockback.
If the gun is active and no characters went inside it after 10 seconds, it will close its hatch, move to its blast zone during the course of 2 seconds, and then disappear, after which it's no longer active. If the trapped character has not made any inputs in the last 5 seconds since the pistol has started aiming, it will cue the player by getting a slight red tint and vibrating itself after 4 seconds, which will intensify during the course of the last second. After this animation ends, it will launch the character by itself.
It is possible for more than one character to enter the gun in the half second before the hatch closes. If that happens, any non-directional input from any of the characters enclosed will launch them, and landing on another character or on the ground will deal any of them the same damage and knockback as any launched character, but cannot damage eachother while in a launched state.
The pistol launches characters at very high speeds and a far set distance, and as such not only is it tricky to use properly, but can be risky to use when aiming at something in midair, as they risk being KO'd (on the other hand, if more than one character is inside the pistol, it can act as a great alternative to "suicide" moves if one character has a stock advantage over the other, as the gun starts aiming upwards and any non-directional input from anyone results in everyone inside getting launched). Launched characters can also be affected by the piñata, thus making the risk of being KO'd higher as it can launch the player to the upper blast line.
Uber Catterkiller - The stage's boss. They're a massive catterkiller which can be seen roaming on the stage's background when they're not active. They're only guaranteed to act after 2 minutes have passed on the stage. When he's active, he'll roam closer to the foreground, where the sound of him burrowing through the ground will be audible, and act like he does as the boss of Sonic and Tails' Act 1 boss in Mania, launching towards where the piñata would spawn, either one of them, and will appear from behind or the front of the stage to jump to the other side, damaging any character that is hit by any part of its body, dealing 15% damage (they will also instantly pop the piñata as it comes into contact with it, but will otherwise not be affected). After doing so once, it will then be shown roaming underneath the ground in the background for around 5 seconds before doing so again on the opposite side of the stage. They will repeat this a total of 4 times before it's gone.
Also like Mania, they're defeated after being dealt 6 hits on their head, regardless of what damage it does, and within a half second time buffer that's individually counted per character, as to avoid abuse from multi-hitting attacks. Like in the origin game, this process be tricky due to the Uber Caterkiller only being damageable in a short amount of time while its head is level to the stage. After being defeated. the boss will have each of its body parts explode and will only spawn back after roughly 4 minutes, being completely absent from their background appearance when they're defeated. The character who deals the final blow will be rewarded a stock. After the boss is active again, their health is back to 6 regardless of being defeated or not.
The only exception regarding damage dealt to the Uber Caterkiller is if the attacker is a character launched from a pistol. Regardless of how much health the boss has, the boss will be instantly KO'd when in contact with a launched character, and a stock will be rewarded accordingly. However, if more than one character is shot from the gun and all hit the Caterkiller at the same time, a distinctive sound effect plays and all the launched characters ricochet away from the boss, dealing no damage to it. This also happens when more than one character attempts to hit them at the same time outside of the pistol.
Unlockable?:
Yes. Complete Classic Mode on Medium difficulty or above as any representative of the Sonic series without continuing, or beat 7 Versus matches (number meant to reference the seven Chaos Emeralds) in a row with a set Sonic representative (if using CPU, only counts at difficulty level 5 or above).
Extra Stuff:
Under the stage, a "Wanted" poster depicting either Fang the Sniper, Bean the Dynamite or Bark the Polar Bear is shown. When the stage is loaded, the character shown is chosen at random each time the stage is selected.
Oil Ocean Zone makes an appearance on the far right of the background. This cameo is identical to Mania's, at the end of Act 2's Oil Ocean Zone transition cutscene.
The stage also has a day-night cycle, with each time's palette resembling their counterpart in Mania: morning, day (pictured), sunset and night. Time cycles after roughly 2 minutes, where it'll jump to the next time in the order mentioned earlier.
The stage's hazardless mode will, obviously, get rid of the hazards (pistol and Uber Caterkiller), and everything else is untouched. On its Battlefield form, the level's shape is straightened on top and its bottom is beaten into shape like other Battlefield/Omega stages, the gimmicks are rid of, along the thin poles surrounding the barrels, and the bird statue's wings are lowered to the same level and slightly enlarged, along with the head platform being lowered slightly. Its Omega form is identical to its Battlefield form, but the bird statue, along with its adjacent wing platforms, are rid of.
The music are the three main songs that play during Sonic Mania throughout the zone. Preferably, they may also possibly be part of a whole medley, and if not, only the first music track listed may play. It can be composed of either the original music or remixes, but as other Sonic stages' main music follow the trend of not being remixes, the original music would be more reasonable to include.
The main music tracks for the stage are:
The main music tracks for the stage are:
- Rogues Gallery (Mirage Saloon Zone Act 2);
- Skyway Octane (Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 - ST Mix);
- Wildstyle Pistolero (Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 - K Mix).
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But this is one of the Mania original levels and Maina itself is very memorable. Seems worth a 5 to me.
