Jousting Arena

First appearance: The Mysterious Seven Project

Jousting Arena is a new starting stage in The Mysterious Seven Project based off the video game Joust. It features a few floating platforms that disappear over time, as well as buzzard-riding enemies that can only be be defeated if you attack them when they are higher.

Background Info
Joust is a platforming game where the player controls a yellow knight riding a flying ostrich or stork, from a third-person perspective. Using the two-way directional joystick and the button for flapping the ostrich's wings, the player flies the knight amidst the floating rock platforms and above pools of lava; when maneuvering off the screen to either side, the player will continue its path reappearing from the opposite side. The rate at which the player repeatedly presses the button causes the ostrich to fly upward, hover, or slowly descend.

The objective is to defeat groups of enemy knights riding buzzards that populate each level, referred to as a "wave". Upon completing a wave, a subsequent more-challenging wave will begin.

Players navigate the knight to collide with enemies. The elevation of an enemy in relation to the player's knight determines the outcome of the collision. If the protagonist is higher than the enemy, the villain is defeated and vice versa. A collision of equal elevations results in the two knights bouncing off each other. A defeated enemy will turn into an egg that falls toward the bottom of the screen, which a player can collect for points. An egg that sits on a platform long enough will hatch into a new knight; if the player does not pick him up, he will gain a new mount and must be defeated again.

The game features three types of enemy knights—Bounder, Hunter, and Shadow Lord—that are worth different amounts of points. A pterodactyl will appear after a predetermined time frame to hunt the hero.

A second player, controlling a blue knight on a stork, can join the game. The two players can either cooperatively complete the waves or attack each other while competitively defeating enemies.

Stage Info
The stage is based off the game Joust, so the stage itself is very similar to that game in that respect. While the fight is going on, there are "waves" of enemy jousters. These Jousters ride buzzards and require you to hit them at a point where you are higher than them. Each wave gets faster and faster and begins to remove platforms.

These jousters are worth a different amount of points, which does get added up to your score if the stage appears in any of the single-player modes.