Sand Ocean

Sand Ocean
Sand Ocean in Super Smash Flash 2.
Universe	F-ZERO
Appearance	Super Smash Flash 2
Home stage for
Size	Normal
Availability	Starter
Music tracks	Sand Ocean Big Blue Mute City
Tournament legality	Banned

Sand Ocean is a starter stage in Super Smash Flash 2 and is the home stage for Captain Falcon, as well as the first F-ZERO stage representation in the Super Smash Flash series.

Layout

Sand Ocean takes place aboard the Falcon Flyer, a large ship which flies across a track below. If a player falls onto the track, they will be carried towards the left blast line at a high speed and can be KO'd if they are not careful. Approximately every fifteen seconds, the Falcon Flyer enters a tunnel, which creates a temporary ceiling that prevents KOs from the upper blast line.

With hazards turned on, small F-Zero machines fly below the Falcon Flyer, with each acting as terrain. Hitting the front of one while on the track deals 5% damage and upward knockback. The machines fly in a set pattern, with certain amounts of machines being on-stage, speeding along, or slowing down at specific times, though the machine in each position is randomly chosen from a set of eleven. These include the White Cat, Golden Fox, Fire Stingray, Wild Goose, Blue Falcon, Great Star, Blood Hawk, Mighty Hurricane, Black Bull, Spark Moon, and Groovy Taxi. After about forty seconds, the Falcon Flyer speeds off-stage, leaving on the F-Zero machines on the track, and two small soft platforms also float to the right above these machines. The Falcon Flyer returns after about two minutes and twenty seconds have passed, and the stage returns to its original state after about three minutes.

Music

• The main music track is Sand Ocean, a synthethic rock remix of the theme that plays on the Sand Ocean course in F-ZERO
• One of the alternate music tracks is Big Blue, a techno remix of the theme that plays on the Big Blue course in F-ZERO.
• The other alternate music track is Mute City, a rock remix of the theme that plays on the Mute City course in F-ZERO.

Tournament legality

Sand Ocean is currently banned in tournament play. The design of the stage makes it very easy to camp underneath the Falcon Flyer, because there is no bottom boundary. However, it is possible to get early gimps off the left side of the stage because the stage not only has walk-off edges, but continually moves towards the right. When in the tunnel, the top blast zone is blocked off, preventing any vertical KOs at all.

Origin

Sand Ocean as it appears in F-ZERO GX.

Sand Ocean is a track in the F-ZERO series that first appeared in its debut title, and its design in SSF2 is based most closely on its design in F-ZERO GX. It is a desolate planet whose entire surface is covered in sand dunes, and it was initially thought to have been void of human life for many years. However, ruins of a 30,000 year-old civilization were found deep within the desert along with a monstrous alien life form, resulting in the planet becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations in the galaxy. As a race course, it typically features many sharp turns.

The F-Zero machines are the flying racing vehicles that pilots drive throughout the F-ZERO series, and much like with Sand Ocean itself, their designs in SSF2 are based on their designs in F-ZERO GX. The Falcon Flyer is Captain Falcon's personal spacecraft, having appeared in the comic that came with the original F-ZERO. As this ship does not appear in any F-ZERO game, the stage is likely based on the ship's two main appearances in the official Super Smash Bros. series, those being the Big Blue stage introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Meta Ridley's boss stage from Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Particularly, the F-Zero machines and the moving track at the bottom of the stage come from the Big Blue stage, whereas the Falcon Flyer being mostly stationary comes from Meta Ridley's boss stage.

Gallery

Screenshots

Captain Falcon using his side special move on Naruto.

Sonic running on the track.

Donkey Kong, Lloyd, Fox, and Falco all crouching inside the tunnel.

Chibi-Robo on the Falcon Flyer while Black Mage lies down on the track.

Early designs

Sand Ocean's first early design used in v0.8a.

Sand Ocean's second early design used from Beta 1.0 to 1.3.

Sand Ocean's third early design used from Beta 1.3 to 1.3.1.2. The only difference between this design and the new one is the brightness of the Falcon Flyer's colors.

Captain Falcon and Black Mage standing on the front of the Falcon Flyer.

Captain Falcon jumping on the stage.

Captain Falcon about to launch Black Mage with a Falcon Punch, while he tumbles.

Trivia

The Falcon Flyer in demo v0.9's intro.

• If timed correctly, characters are able to land on the top of the tunnel and act freely, though they will eventually be KO'd by the stage.
• When Sand Ocean was introduced in demo v0.8, it was included as an unlockable stage which could be made available by winning ten matches with Captain Falcon. It became a starter stage with subsequent releases.
• The Falcon Flyer that appears on this stage also appears in the opening movie for demo v0.9, in which it flies alongside the Blue Falcon and the Great Fox from Sector Z.