Mercury, downloadable from here, is a stage inspired by the awesome Golden Sun Battle Medley/Doom Dragon Remix that is found in Brawl. Yes, the song itself. The name comes from the Golden Sun games, which are great and must-plays and deserve a second sequel. The Mercury Lighthouse was one of the four lighthouses that Isaac/Felix and company try to prevent from being lit/light with one of the elemental crystal stars.
In terms of gameplay there was one minor disappointment. I can't set spawns. If I could set spawns, I would place player one and player two on the platforms overlooking the stage. Simply put, the game sucks and doesn't let me do that.
That aside, I'm really proud of how I used falling blocks this time around. I put them on the inside of two ice blocks. What does that do? Well, you can't grab the edge of a block that is adjacent to a falling block. You also cannot grab an ice block. So, if the designer makes it so an ice block is outside a falling block the player could not have grabbed the block in the first place; it's no longer an issue of the falling block interfering with what the user thinks should happen, but instead everything happens as it should. That is a great achievement.
And, taking Ondo's comments into consideration, I managed to create some asymmetrical sections of the stage. The west wall of the stage is designed to have a four-block, vertical gap in the middle, while the east wall is made up of a four-block, vertical segment. Because of this distinction, different strategies will assist players in getting kills on both sides of the stage.
The two moving vertical platforms draw users to the core section of the stage, where I have laid a falling block trap. Note that I've added an escape to this trap thanks to my experience designing stages with traps. It sucks when you have to restart because someone got stuck. However, try to avoid the spikes just the same.
Near the bottom of the stage, I have provided a battlefield that requires constant motion. This is to benefit players that have a mastery of the game. The pieces of this puzzle are as follows. There are two of those circular rotating platforms. One is located by the west wall and the other by the east wall. The centerpiece is a horizontally moving platform that facilitates movement between the two sides while still providing a sense of danger. Again, the gaps on the right and left sides of the stage are asymmetrical, so you just can't use the same strategy for each side.
I think it's a fun stage, but I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks of it.
