Spiral Mountain
| Banjo-Kazooie Spiral Mountain | |
|---|---|
 
| |
| Universe | Banjo-Kazooie |
| Appears in | Ultimate |
| Availability | Downloadable |
| Crate type | Normal |
| Maximum players | 8 |
Spiral Mountain (クルクルやま, Spiral Mountain) is a downloadable stage in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It is bundled with Banjo & Kazooie as part of Challenger Pack 3 and was released on September 4th, 2019.
Stage Overview
The main platform is the peak of Spiral Mountain. After a warning signal, the plane of gameplay rotates around the center of the mountain, changing the overall layout of the stage and causing characters and objects on the spiral pathway to be pushed up or down. Wooden platforms and floating patches of ground occasionally appear in the various layouts. Bottles, Mumbo Jumbo, Tooty, Buzzbombs, the Jinjos (which come in groups of one to five), and Gruntilda appear as cameos on this stage, with Gruntilda flying in the background on her broom. Various objects from the original game, such as Extra Honeycomb Pieces and Extra Lives, can be seen in the background; the placements of which are almost identical to their respective placements in the original Mountain of Banjo-Kazooie.
Ω form and Battlefield form
The Ω form and Battlefield form are set on top of the mountain similarly to its regular form; however, in both forms, much of the mountain is now gone, with the main platform acting as an island floating high above the moat. The stages are also resized and reshaped to match Final Destination and Battlefield, respectively. The three soft platforms of the Battlefield form are also based on the wooden platforms of the normal form. The background characters still appear and the background still rotates (although the arrows and sound indicating rotation are gone), but since the stage is a flat circle, this does not interfere with gameplay.
Ω form in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Battlefield form in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Hazards off
With hazards off, the stage doesn't rotate, and stays in its initial form. At the start of a match, the layout features two platforms, one on each side of the stage. These platforms float and go away after a certain amount of time, and never return.
Origin
Spiral Mountain is the starting area in Banjo-Kazooie and every other game in the series afterwards. Banjo's house is located at the foot of the mountain, and Gruntilda the witch resides in a lair near its peak, connected via a rope bridge. In the first game, it serves as a tutorial area, where Bottles the mole teaches Banjo and Kazooie some basic abilities to prepare them for their adventure. The duo can explore around the mountain, find a set of Extra Honeycomb Pieces and some extra lives, and fight the mountain's living vegetation before heading into Gruntilda's Lair.
In Banjo-Tooie, Spiral Mountain has been trashed by Gruntilda's minions just after her departure; many chunks of the landscape have been broken off and litter the ground. The bridge to Gruntilda's Lair is broken off, and its inside has partially collapsed; only the initial lobby, occupied by Cheato the spellbook, is accessible. The top of the spiral also has a Flight Pad, letting the pair explore more of its surroundings, including a waterfall cave.
In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Spiral Mountain is overviewed and briefly explored in the prologue before Banjo, Kazooie, and Gruntilda warp to Showdown Town with the Lord of Games. The duo return there for the final boss fight against Gruntilda, and stay there after their adventure ends. A significant portion of the upper cliffs is able to be explored, though it is simply more land rather than anything of interest.
The design of Spiral Mountain and its surrounding area in Ultimate is largely based on its appearance in the original game, as the bridge to Gruntilda's lair is still open and the landscape is unscathed. There is also great influence from its appearance in Nuts & Bolts, particularly with its color palette and the geometry of various locations, such as the mountain itself. Notably, the design of Banjo's house is a mixture of its more detailed, stylized appearance in Nuts & Bolts — including Banjo's name written on the door — with its initial, undamaged appearance in the first game. Just like in the original Banjo-Kazooie, an Extra Life statue is hovering above the chimney and behind the waterfall, and Empty Honeycomb Pieces appear atop a tree stump, on a platform in front of the waterfall area, above a tree next to the mountain, and in the vegetable garden.
With the exception of the Buzzbombs, the characters that cameo in the background each play an important role in the first game, and with the further exception of Tooty, the entire series. Gruntilda serves as the main antagonist of the series, often causing trouble for Banjo and Kazooie. Tooty is Banjo's younger sister who is kidnapped in the first game by Gruntilda. Jinjos are creatures who were kidnapped and thrown into the different worlds in the first game by Gruntilda, and were forced out of their home village in the second game by her drill, the HAG 1. Bottles is an intelligent nearsighted mole who teaches Banjo and Kazooie new abilities in the first game prior to his death at the beginning of the second (although he is eventually revived, he does not continue to teach them). Mumbo Jumbo is a shaman whom Banjo and Kazooie visit in the first game to be transformed into various unique creatures to help them access more Jiggies, and is a playable character in the second game who can use his magic to help solve puzzles. Buzzbombs are enemies introduced in Bubblegloop Swamp in Banjo-Kazooie, with one lone Buzzbomb making an appearance in the intro movie to that game as well.
Gallery
Banjo & Kazooie, Mario, Duck Hunt, and King K. Rool fighting on the stage.
Gruntilda and Mumbo Jumbo in front of Gruntilda's Lair.
The Smash design of Banjo's house takes influence from both Banjo-Kazooie and Nuts & Bolts.
Trivia
- While Gruntilda's appearance, the state of various manufactured landmarks around the mountain, and the presence of collectibles imply that this is the Banjo-Kazooie version of Spiral Mountain, several inaccuracies can be found upon scrutiny, such as the presence of Buzzbombs that never appeared in this area (and the absence of the vegetable enemies that did), the locations of Bottles' molehills, and rock formations at the edges of the valley.
- In Banjo & Kazooie's showcase video, the reason Masahiro Sakurai gives for the Buzzbomb's inclusion is that their wings allow them to float into the stage. Given the humorous tone of his other statements within the video, however, it is likely that he was purely joking. Instead, its appearance on this stage may reference the opening sequence of the game, which features a Buzzbomb flying in the sky before it crashes into the Rareware logo and falls into a lake in an unidentified grassy area somewhat resembling Spiral Mountain.
- Some rock formations around the edge directly reference Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, implying that said formations were present in the original game but not apparent due to a low level of detail. However, in no game in the series was Banjo's house fully viewable from the peak of the mountain (due to a protruding rock wall), and a rock wall behind the stump area, present in every Banjo-Kazooie game, is missing from the Smash version.
- The Empty Honeycomb piece in the vegetable garden appears to reference one that could be acquired by defeating a cauliflower enemy in that area in the first game, but no Honeycomb piece appears in the area with boulders (which, incidentally, lack the eyes that they had in that game), which could, likewise, all be defeated for a piece. Additionally, with a particular camera position, it may be observed that there is no Empty Honeycomb piece in the moat beneath the wooden bridge as there was in Banjo-Kazooie, although this is likely due to this not being something meant to be visible in normal gameplay.
- Though still fairly minor, this stage is Tooty's most prominent appearance since her debut in the original Banjo-Kazooie. While she appears in both Banjo-Tooie and Nuts & Bolts in easy-to-miss cameo photos inside Banjo's house, only this stage and Banjo-Kazooie feature her as an animated character.
- The ink left behind by Inkling's Splat Roller will aesthetically rotate with the stage, but its effects on grounded movement remain in place, which causes a minor visual discrepancy.
- The following Assist Trophies cannot appear on this stage: Jeff, Ashley, Riki, Dr. Wright, Vince, Yuri Kozukata, Arcade Bunny and Shadow the Hedgehog. Additionally, Marshadow cannot be summoned from a Poké Ball here.
 Banjo-Kazooie universe
| |
|---|---|
| Fighters | Banjo & Kazooie (SSBU) |
| Stage | Spiral Mountain |
| Other | Jinjo · The Mighty Jinjonator |
| Spirits | Spirits |
| Music | Ultimate |
