Equinox Gate

Equinox Gate is a volcano featuring a launch base built by Dr. Asura. The name is derived from it's launch base, which requires the Enlightenment Crystal to be placed inside it to function during the Equinox.

Concept draft

# Equinox Gate Zone

**Author**: Zibon "PixL" Badi  
**Mapper**: \<NONE\>  
**Canon**: Delfid
**Placement**: Phase 2

## Lore

Hidden inside a volcano, Dr. Asura prepared a launch base for the *Equinox*, 
a rare alignment of Weissblatt's six moons that allows him to utilize the
Chakra Shards' magic for his own purposes.

After the player defeats Patsy Toyfeller during the campaign, MARA steals
the contract to Patsy's soul to lure them into here and use the Chakra
Shards to fuse Weissblatt with the underworld.

## Author's Notes

It's a magic tech launch base inside of a volcano. May contain traces of a
race against MARA, although the difficult parts should be reserved for
*The Underworld*. The second stage of this is intended to be the boss fight
against MARA, with an optional retreat of theirs into the underworld,
should the player have collected all seven Chakra Shards up to this point.

## Themes/Aesthetics

- Volcano
- Launch base/Sci-fi
- Slight dashes of tropical
- Hectic/Hasty gameplay
- Downward spiral/descent into crater

## Elements

- Lasers
- Moving bridges
- Lava
  - Pools
  - Falls
  - 8 balls
- Fans/Wind tunnels

## Ideas


## Sequence

0. <++>
1. Player starts on the outside of the island, spotting MARA running away in the distance
2. Player rushes across some crumbling bridges and encounters a lava river
3. Player crosses the lava river using a nearby 8 ball
outside terrain (crumbling bridges, lava rivers) toward the ridge of the crater
4. Player descends through the crater using nearby safe terrain, passing wind currents from the heat below as well as some cooling units from the side of the walls
  - (The sections switch between crater and cave areas, w/ crater areas having an air counter for "heat")
5. Towards the bottom, player is faced with laser defense systems and turrets to avoid (possibly another 8 ball section)
99. Player reaches the arena bottom area of the crater (end)

## Act 2

1. Boss fight against MARA
2a. (If NOT all Chakra Shards)
   1. Bridge raises
   2. player exit
   3. Game end
2b. (If all Chakra Shards)
   1. Volcano revealed to be a trap
   2. Glenz reactor activates -> Portal to underworld appears
   3. Player jumps into portal

In The Asura Incident

Zone 1

In zone 1, the player chases MARA across the volcano, first from the outside then from the inside.

Zone 2

Concept art for Equinox Gate 2 titled "The Glenz reactor"

Zone 2 starts where Zone 1 left off and the player is locked inside the capsule to fight MARA.

After MARA is defeated, the entire arena is lifted downwards to reveal a laboratory underneath. Following a tunnel reveals a reactor-like structure featurng a pitch black portal overgrown with brambles, leading the player into The Underworld.