Favorite Stage Aesthetics

[m4tt3r0x]

Which tournament(s) have the best look to each respective stage in them to you? Consider mat colors, decorations, lighting, and other details.

For me, I really like Sasuke 16's Stage 1. I think it may be the only tournament that had every other stages' lighting on while Stage 1 runs were taking place during the night. That on top of the black mats and strong white lighting really gave the course a professional night time sporting event vibe to me, and the film really looked solid because of it. Otherwise I love the green and red mats in other tournaments anyway.

Stage 2 I'm a bit partial to Sasuke 25's warm colors replacing the cold colors from 18-24. The construction tape was also nice touch. Of course any Stage 2 with the fire shooters is good in my book.

Stage 3 I actually liked the purple look in like Sasuke 29.

Stage 4 I would say the modern one, but like 17-24 looked great too.

[dakohosu]

Really great idea for a post.

I actually agree with your Sasuke 16 choice. It was the only Stage 1 in that era that looked good imo, everything else was just kind of bland and monotone. 16 generally had a kind of orangey red vibe for some reason that I really liked. It stood out from a lot of the other competitions in that era for that reason.

Maybe this is controversial but I'd actually go with the current Stage 2. Stage 2 has always stood out to be as being the most visually striking stage, which I guess is necessary as it's usually the filler stage between Stages 1 and 3/a filter for a lot of the fodder lol so it's gotta have the style if not as much substance as other stages. The flashing spotlights and fire shooters in the current iteration, as well as the Backstream (while it's a rubbish obstacle, it does look pretty cool like a huge fishtank), get a thumbs up from me.

Stage 3 for me has never looked that visually appealing, rather it's the definition of substance over style (kind of the opposite to Stage 2) where most of the hype comes from the fact that it's just f***ing difficult. If I had to pick though I'd probably go with Sasuke 25, purely because it accentuates how difficult that course was by just looking insanely scary. The Roulette Cylinder just looked nasty, and the Ultimate Cliffhanger just had this daunting presence that the Crazy Variants just don't have, purely because it was massive lol. Floor mats and decorations were nothing special, the entire stage was just long and mean af.

I'd probably go with the current one but we don't know how it exactly looks. If the rock wall has some cool decorations with different coloured hand and footholds then yeah sure I'll go with the new one, otherwise all of them kind of look the same? It's fundamentally the same tower, just with different fairly bland-looking obstacles. The visual spectacle of someone attempting the Final though is where all the excitement's at though.

[m4tt3r0x]

Heh true, the final stage is literally scaffolding.

And yeah Stage 3 is pretty bland, but the UCH's reveal definitely was an intimidating feature.

For Stage 1 I'd say I also like the shade of red they used for the mats in 26 the best. Was kinda like a wine red.

[azn]

First Stage - Sasuke 33 or 16, pretty much agreed with everyone's opinions for 16, a pitch black background whilst the night runs where happening gave those 2 stages a mysterious feeling to them while the 1st stage itself also looked cool too. As for 33, I just really like the red & black combo used throughout most of that stage, it's a shame that they went for red and blue afterwards.

Second Stage - Sasuke 27 or 11, The former because the golden color scheme that the stage primarily uses, with the pinkish accents in the DSL to Unstable Bridge section is really nice, and the Golden side pieces are also a nice touch. As for SK11, I really enjoy the blood red lighting that pretty much makes up the majority of the stage, also this was during the time a random flash of light would burst once the chain reaction was completed for some competitors, I wish they would've brought something like that back because that was an awesome little touch.

Third Stage - Sasuke 33, SK25 is a close second, it was by far the most intimidating 3rd stage and the way they presented it in SK25 is something that would probably never be replicated, but SK33's third stage, despite it's flack for essentially everything else, is the most aesthetically pleasing third stage they've made, particularly because of how unique the lighting was used. The Violet colors made from the Blue and Red lights mixing with the fog in my eyes was really beautiful to look at, and they also made it so that the blue side lights would turn red whenever an obstacle in that section of lights was cleared which was very smart. It's by far the most unique 3rd stage aesthetically in the Reiwa era, and while not perfect, I find it to be slightly better than SK25's.

Final Stage - Sasuke 32-38, in retrospect I like all of them, I just picked this because it's more modern and the transition from Spider Climb to Salmon Ladder is cohesively done.