What obstacles went from super easy to super hard?

[sackeshi]

Like an obstacle that on its first appearance was a walk in the park or extremely basic to the point where anyone paying attention should clear and then turned into a brutal obstalce in future iterations?

[sackeshi]

I'll start, the flying chute is the best obstacle I can think of for this. Sasuke 18 version was easy as hell, just slide down catch the rope and move over to the net no skill needed surprised anyone failed that version.

Sasuke 19 flying chute was maybe the hardest obstacle ever on stage 1 if not the whole course, took going down full speed and catching the rope with your hands then the net with your feet.

[zoran]

The Jumping Spider in Sasuke 18, small jump and light dismount, upgraded then in 19 to the second hardest version which took out half the field.

[subtleagent]

The Spin Bridge from 27 to 28. It was given bigger balls, a higher end mat and it was moved to obstacle 3. And it did it's job as an obstacle.

I also wanna say the Pipe Slider was buffed exponentially from 14 ~ 17. It's probably the most brutal final obstacle (sans the original Flying Bar as the final obstacle in 25 and 26 which was never attempted).

Also obviously the Backstream from 29. Which was ridiculous BTW.

[darthvaderlim]

Fishbone- They kept adding spokes from Sasuke 34 and 35, before modifying it into Fish Bone Kai.
Vertical Limit- Originally a single ledge, it quickly went from double to triple.
Circle Slider is also another example, since they raised the ring.
Pole Maze- While not many people failed this obstacle, it went from a being a short obstacle to a time waster.

[salt]

Does the Metal Spin count? I'm not sure what they did to it, but it went from taking out only Nagano in 15 to about half the field in 16.

[Dazed (Wiin)]

Vertical Limit. When we consider the rest of the course, I'd say it went from being hard in 28-30, very hard in 31, impossible 32-34, very very hard - 35-36, not a real obstacle in 37 and very very hard again in 38. Only thing here is that I wouldn't say it was super easy to begin with, even though results kind of made it out like it was.

[tns8597]

Yeah Vertical Limit for sure.

I’ve practiced the obstacle and I can say from experience that it’s much easier when you’re moving across the ledge inch by inch because you’re only letting go for a fraction of a second, but the minute you let go (like for the Kai transitions) it becomes a whole new challenge.

Compared to the Cliffhanger there’s a much shorter margin for error in terms of the time it takes to do a transition because hanging on with one arm is effectively impossible unless you’re some Olympic rock climber, so unless you grab the next ledge perfectly you’re in the water straight away (as seen from Kawaguchi in 35).

Also another one I’d add would be the Backstream, and not in a good way. Went from being a simple time waster in 28 to downright hazardous in 29, and ever since then has usually caused a few casualties every one or two tournaments.

Also maybe this doesn’t count but in terms of perceived difficulty, the Rolling Log in Stage 2. I don’t think any of us realised how much trouble it would cause the competitors in Sasuke 38, as well as the effect it had on the already shortened time limit. At least from my point of view it did way more damage than I was expecting.

[subtleagent]

May 31, 2021 3:55:53 GMT -5 salt said:

Does the Metal Spin count? I'm not sure what they did to it, but it went from taking out only Nagano in 15 to about half the field in 16.

Metal Spin was given bungee ropes in 15 which caught Nagano off guard as well as all those who attempted it in 16 (all of which either didn't attempt it in 15 or had attempted it in 14 and weren't expecting the modification). And even then it still took people out who were careless with it despite having cleared it before. (i.e. Lee in 23, Koji Yamada in 17, Hashimoto in 26, Brent Steffensen in 27)