Sky Sanctuary Zone

Sky Sanctuary Zone is a starter stage in Super Smash Flash 2 coming from the  series, based on the location of the same name originating from the SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive game, Sonic & Knuckles. It was confirmed for inclusion in the final SSF2 v0.8 Dev Blog in October, 2011.

Layout
It consists of one large platform, two very long floating platforms, and, like in Sonic & Knuckles, a series of mini blocks that fall down if stood on for too long. The center of the main platform is sunken in, creating two small inner edges.

Music

 * The main music track is titled Sky Sanctuary Zone, a remixed from Sonic & Knuckles.
 * The alternate music track is Sky Canyon Zone from a remixed genesis mix from Sonic Advance 2.

Tournament legality
Sky Sanctuary Zone is banned in tournament play. The long floating platforms, combined with the sunken in central area of the stage, make it very difficult for a player to claim control of the stage if their opponent has already assumed control, as the edges of the sunken region prevent ground approaches while the long platforms hinder aerial approaches. Other than that, the stage also has a somewhat low ceiling and shorter than average side boundaries. Furthermore, the walls, which were made larger in Beta than they were in v0.9b, have gotten larger, which disputably enables infinites.

Overall, it was already the most controversial legal stage, and since then, it had gotten worse.

Origin
Sky Sanctuary Zone first appeared in the game Sonic & Knuckles as the second to last stage. After Dr. Eggman escapes from Hidden Palace Zone with the Master Emerald, Knuckles and Sonic (and often Tails) chase after him. Knuckles leads Sonic to the Sky Sanctuary Zone via a warp, and Sonic follows Eggman on board the Death Egg, fighting Mecha Sonic numerous times along the way. When playing as Knuckles, Sky Sanctuary is his last stage, as he does not go to Death Egg Zone. Instead, Knuckles is forced to battle Mecha Sonic as his final boss. The design of the stage is reminiscent to the level design seen in Sonic Generations.

Trivia

 * If the player looks closely, an Eggrobo flies past the stage in the background.
 * As confirmed by developer James Hadden, the bouncy clouds from the first design were later recycled to make the trampolines and flippers in stage 3 of Target Smash.