Stage – The River Styx

THE RIVER STYX

This stage takes place deep under the earth, in the gloomy realm Hades rules. This is a three-tiered stage. Foes start out in a small dark boat; it is resized to the size of the Rainbow Cruise ship, but flat and with no platforms. In the background, it is paddled along the River Styx by Charon the skeleton. On either side of the boat is the soul-infested river.

Occasionally, the dead  climb mournfully onto the boat, trying to grab foes and toss them off the side and into the water. These can be blasted away by any attack. The water can be swum in; at the time a character would drown, however, a soul merely pulls them down, instead. About halfway through this section, Hades’ pet Cerberus, a massive three-headed dog, appears on an island in the background. He roars viciously and snaps at the boat, but is just like Kraid, in that he doesn’t actually hurt combatants.

This boat phase lasts for about thirty seconds, before the boat reaches the main island of the Underworld. This island is flat, the size of Bridge of Eldin. The boat stays on the left, allowing an extra area to fight near the blast zone. However, it takes more damage to KO foes here; it’s not like Corneria. The water still has souls, but they don’t come onto land here. The right side of the stage is a walk-off, but the blast line is fairly far off here too; early KOs aren’t a big issue.

After thirty more seconds, the stage begins scrolling to the right. In the background, you can see torches, and stairs that lead to Hades’ throne room. You scroll at a slow speed, enough to fight viably with. After fifteen seconds of flat ground, the terrain slopes steeply upwards to the right. After fifteen seconds of diagonal scrolling, the stage stops. The layout now consists of a flat platform the size of the main Battlefield one, with the stage sloping down to the left. On the ride side here is a standard midair blast zone, still a decent drop down. Spike foes here for an easy chance at a KO, of course.

After thirty seconds here, the screen starts scrolling back to the left. You now scroll back to the start of the stage, just in reverse. After the boat phase reaches the Underworld’s entrance to the very far left, it turns around, and the stage starts over. This is a nice counter-pick stage to play on, and a nice Hades home stage.

Cutting The Thread

The Hydra Battle

Ride of the Valkyries

In The Hall Of The Mountain King

It’s Our House Now