Most underrated obstacle from each stage

[tns8597]

What are the most underrated obstacles by stage in your opinion? I went with underrated because 'best' are quite obvious e.g. Cliffhanger, Warped Wall etc.

Stage 1: Pole Maze - I think this was a great addition to the newly revamped Shin-SASUKE course and was one of the hardest new obstacles along with the Jumping Spider and Half-Pipe Attack, but never seemed to get adequate recognition. It's very easy to just slip and fall off the obstacle, and even if it doesn't it's a really good time waster, as it's caused several strong competitors to take 30-40 seconds and render their chances at completing the stage basically impossible. Yet despite its difficulty it got replaced by a much easier obstacle in 22 (the Circle Hammer or whatever it was called?), that had next to no impact by comparison.

Stage 2: Tackle - I know they still use this in Stage 1 but from a Stage 2 perspective, it only lasted one tournament yet did considerable damage in terms of time, causing Shingo to almost time out and result in there being no Stage 3 attempts. While I like the combo of Tackle+WW in Stage 1, I think few realise how well it fits the speed aspect of Stage 2, having to push these heavy weights as fast as possible, along with the Wall Lift at the end as well. I think it's super underrated because it got replaced by the f***ing Narrow the next tournament, like WHY

Stage 3: Roulette Cylinder - I think as a first obstacle this was an insanely hard and creative start to the renewal in SASUKE 25, especially as it was a much more difficult and taxing take on the Rumbling Dice that was quite iconic. Another case of a cool and appropriately difficult obstacle that got eventually replaced by a pathetically easy one (Arm Bike in 27)

Stage 4: Heavenly Ladder - While I don't think this is as hard as the Spider Climb, I don't think people realise how hard it is to climb a wobbly rope ladder as fast as was done by the finalists during the Shin-SASUKE tournaments. 

[ChiBiJKT48]

First Stage: Spin Bridge. No one seriously considering this obstacle as a threat, but this is a very good obstacle that could wipe out you if you're not careful enough. Just ask Yamamoto Shingo. Shame it was replaced by Hedgehog *I think that was it, my mind kinda blurry for post-Monster9 tournament*.

Second Stage: Goren Hammer. Again, it was never seriously considered by competitors. Most will say they fear Spider Walk, or even the one replacing it, Balance Tank, but only few will say Goren Hammer. Especially when we talk where this obstacle is placed and the purpose of the obstacle.

Third Stage: Spider Flip. Yeah, probably because few people fail this, so no one really consider this a serious threat. But, I don't know, maybe it was because I'm being biased here as I love Spider Flip. And mind you, this is the obstacle that prevent Takeda Toshihiro from attempting Final Stage in Shin-SASUKE.

Final Stage: Agree with Heavenly Ladder. I don't think there will be other answer since all of Spider Climb, Salmon Ladder Jugo Dan, Tsuna Nobori, and G-Rope claimed at least two victims during their lifespan(s).

[tns8597]

All of these I agree with.

Goren Hammer especially I forgot about; I think the reason it's underrated is that it's actually a very easy obstacle, but because Stage 2 in the early days was so time constrained you got a lot of competitors rushing it and being knocked off; that's why it didn't take out anyone in like SASUKE 7/8 because the time limit was far more lenient so no one had to rush. In fact, I'd argue the entire Stage 2 in SASUKE 1-4 was underrated because given how long the Spider Walk was for the 50 second time limit, I'm not surprised it took out the most competitors back then. I honestly think it was the hardest Stage 2 until the Salmon Ladder was introduced.

With Stage 3, true, the Spider Flip didn't get as much attention as it deserved. I'd argue the Jumping Bars were a lot more underrated, because it was the first obstacle in that combo and only took out 1 person, but it really did it's job in causing competitors to tire and fail on the later obstacles (think Takeda in SASUKE 21 and 24, Shiratori in 15). It never got the credit it deserved because it was quite a simple obstacle, but I can tell you as someone who can do the obstacle, it is way damn harder than it looks. In fact I remember that they had to reduce the number of bars from 6 to 4 in SASUKE 16 or 17, because I think they realised that most competitors had nothing left hence why people kept failing the Devil Balanco/Pipe Slider.

[BigT]

Stage 1: Cross bridge. Just like any agility and balance based obstacle, it can suddenly eliminate you. Made Yamada fall out of course, almost eliminated Akiyama in Sasuke 13. Forgotten in an era heavily defined by rolling log, jump hang and warped wall

Stage 2: Delta bridge. Sasuke 16 is memorable because of many stage 2 metal spin fails. I think Delta bridge is part of the reason why as it tired competitor's hands out. It eliminated only one competitor and probably wouldn't be as deadly as balance tank but the combination with metal spin was effective.

Stage 3: I'll go with arm rings. They are easier than rumbling dice in my opinion but still you could see that it is possible to both quickly go through them or get stuck, which tires you out like the obstacle intended.

Stage 4: Not much of a choice. I agree with what was said about Heavenly Ladder. I wold also mention rope climb, more specifically the final stage from Sasuke 1-4 and even 27. We may think of it as very easy (compared to current stage 3) but back then people hadn't figured out how to climb rope as we saw all sorts of ineffective attempts until Akiyama destroyed it. It also tires you out like Ryo in 27 and bad rope climbing skills pretty much guarantee a failure. Then again, maybe it is wrong of me to consider rope climbing underrated.

[tns8597]

The Metal Spin was deadly in 16 I think because it was modified. Most competitors just jumped over the Delta Bridge with one big swing.

No you’re right about rope climbing. It seems that just having good upper body strength isn’t enough imo. Like that’s why so many competitors actively train rope climbing. You can be able to do all sorts of crazy upper body things but you can still suck at rope climbing if you have bad technique.

Think Tanaka Hikaru in SASUKE 2. World class gymnast at the time, so must’ve had insane strength, but still failed the rope climb because I’m sure he didn’t train on it specifically. He didn’t even have bad form but you could tell Akiyama by comparison definitely had the right technique to soar up the rope, despite him probably not being as strong an athlete overall.

[ChiBiJKT48]

With Tanaka's situation, it was because there is rain showering Midoriyama. If there is no rain, he could easily win it, seeing he is only three metres short.

[azn]

Yeah I'm in aggreance with all of these, here's mine.

Stage 1 - Subduction Zone/Lumberjack Climb, a moving rock climbing wall and a wall that could've been a part of the final stage, both I feel these could've been used a lot more, considering that the Tarzan Rope I feel is really overused

Stage 2- Cross Slider, I feel this was a great opening obstacle to the 2nd stage, basically a Tie Fighter without the footholds, would be very interesting to see this in the first stage tho

Stage 3- Chain Seesaw, aka swinging nunchucks, only one appearance which is criminal, now that the obstacle in that position is a lot harder, I could see this being an opening obstacle, remember during it's short time it took out Hashimoto. The only good part of that tournaments nerf in the 3rd stage.

Stage 4- Really only the Heavenly Ladder, tho the Rain Soacked Spider Climb would've been mine, tho we all know that's the fault of mother nature.

[tns8597]

I actually considered the lumberjack climb. And yeah I do agree it would be really cool to see in the final, especially as lumberjacks do actually climb really high using that technique; to be fair I love the obstacle purely because it’s taken out Darvish twice, thus preventing another repetitive 10 minute fluff piece if he did make Stage 2.

I think the Cross Slider was much better than the obstacle that replaced it; true, the latter was a strength drainer and caused people to fail the salmon ladder, but it wasn’t really failable whereas the cross slider was, and it added a bit more of a shock factor to when a competitor suddenly failed it.