Worst Obstacle Modification/Variation

[subtleagent]

So what obstacles do you think got the worst makeovers in the history of the show? 

Of course everyone's probably gonna say the Unstable Bridge (fan-named the Ghetto Bridge) from 28 ~ 30. It was clear they ran out of room and just chose to neuter the obstacle to make it fit because they didn't know what else to put there. The first board was essentially useless in damage and everything really came down to the transition to the second board and staying even on said board, so they might as well have kept the second board since it would've added more challenge. The Unstable Bridge was more of an obstacle that was only difficult if you rushed it (though the only one it actually timed out was Brian Orosco in 23) and with a horrid nerf and a lenient time limit it essentially defeated the purpose of the obstacle.

Another one I'd nominate is the Kudari Lamp Grasper. It was another one where you could tell they didn't know what else to put because they had to lower the end platform to accommodate for the Devil Steps and the globes were close enough where you could just reach across (hell Levi just cheesed down one side in 23 as well). It was essentially useless (then again so was the Rope Junction).

And of course there's the Jump Hang Kai, Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe, and Swap Salmon Ladder for all the reasons everyone complains about. Pointless choice element, lazy creation, f*** ton of technical problems (respectively). Honestly I personally would call the Ni Ren the worst solely because the first wall was absolutely pointless when you could have put something like the Nejireta Kabe or the Great Wall in it's place.

[dakohosu]

It says a lot how most of the obstacles you've mentioned were introduced in Sasuke 28. Especially coming after the Shin-Sasuke course that had so much innovation..... I felt like Inui wanted to bring back a lot of the old obstacles given that he was the director of the show until Sasuke 14, hence the Jump Hang and Stage 2 Spider Walk coming back, but I feel like he tried to be way too ambitious in terms of modifying those obstacles and executed them terribly. Why not just keep the original Jump Hang but make the net farther away, or make a higher Warped Wall? A part of me makes me think he was pressed for time and rushed the course design because his revamp for Sasuke 31 proved that he's capable of creating a really well constructed and interesting Stage 1.

I do, however, think that the Swap Salmon Ladder was a cool obstacle and appropriately harder than the normal or double variant. It was just executed terribly with those stupid motorized rungs that glitched out multiple times as well as that dumb DQ rule. I don't understand why they didn't just say that if you landed lopsided you have to go back down and redo the swap transitions, and not have the motorized rungs. That would be hard enough to fail most competitors for making a mistake rather than just flat out DQ-ing them.

That brings me on to one modification I'd add to this list; the Nobori/Kudari version, purely because it's statistically the easiest variant of the obstacle with the highest clear rate and basically fails no one except rookies and novices which doesn't seem right given that the course is meant to evolve over time to become harder. The Salmon Ladder used to be the biggest hurdle of Stage 2 whereas now it's just another obstacle that most competitors pass. Granted it's become a lot harder after the introduction of the Rolling Log but this was 6-7 tournaments after its introduction.

I'd also add the current Pipe Slider for the same reason, given that it's easier than the variant used 15 years ago. Yuuji's shock fail notwithstanding, it's one of the most underwhelming endings to an otherwise incredibl brutal stage.

Edit: I only just realised that my competitor is assigned as Hiromichi Sato, ffs.....

[subtleagent]

28's Spider Walk wasn't even modified. They just pulled out the Jumping Spider's walls from the shed, slapped an extra panel set on and called it a day. We did get the Spider Drop two tournaments later, but really aside from some close calls (D*** in 30) and semi-shock fails (in that Nagasaki's fail wasn't really as shocking considering he biffed it the tournament prior and Keitaro has never passed Stage 2) that one hasn't really done anything in terms of damage and while one could argue it functions same as the Unstable Bridge (in going fast causes you to fail and going slow risks a time out) the lenient time limits essentially rendered it worthless until 38.

I agree, IDK if 14 ~ 17 would clear H&S (honestly I think it should since the 4 ~ 13 broke Takeda's shoulder and he was injured prior to 12 so it's not like the injury was a function of the obstacle), but yeah 28's Pipe Slider is pretty much useless at this point. The only fails we had on it were Morimoto in 29 (and he's already figured it out to the point where it'd only take him out if he was wearing a blindfold and cinderblocks around his legs... maybe), and Yuuji in 37 (which was due to rushing). Everyone else it's posed almost zero issue.

[dakohosu]

I did like how Inui brought back the Spider Walk for Stage 2. It had been such an iconic Stage 2 obstacle, mainly because it fit the original speed stage theme of the stage, in that it wasn't inherently hard but punished recklessness and rushing, which made it brutal in the first few tournaments. So when I heard it was coming back for Stage 2 I was pretty happy to say the least.

Again though, it was executed terribly (kind of becoming a running theme for 28 isn't it?). As I mentioned the obstacle works at it's best with a low time limit as that's where competitors try to rush through it and end up potentially slipping or missing the landing platform etc. That problem just doesn't exist when the time limit was 135 seconds in 28, and far too high in every tournament since then bar 29 and 38. The only fails we've seen on it have been either when trying to jump on to the obstacle which is an unnecessarily risky move (Nagasaki and Nakagawa) or when the walls were wet (Suzuki). Hot take but I also think the Spider Drop walls might've been more slippery in 35, given that we got no fails on the obstacle for 5 tournaments and then we get both Keitaro and Shunsuke failing it as well as a tester. Then after that we get one fail in the next three tournaments combined.

And yeah I don't think making the platform farther away would pose a problem for H&S, as long as they properly pad the front side of the platform (Takeda broke his shoulder in 12 as it smacked against the scaffolding holding the platform up). Also, there are far more dangerous obstacles that still exist, like the Warped Wall - surely the fact that no one's fallen over and smacked their head on the platform is out of pure luck.