Hollow Bastion

Hollow Bastion (, Hollow Bastion) is the final downloadable stage in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, based on the location of the same name from the series. It is the home stage of , and is bundled with him as part of Challenger Pack 11. It was released on October 18th, 2021.
==Stage overview==
The stage is primarily a floating, traveling platform, with one extra platform on top, that begins at the Rising Falls, before soaring in the skies around the outside of the Hollow Bastion castle, and finally returning to the Rising Falls to loop back around.
When time, stocks, or health are running low, the stage transforms into Dive to the Heart (, Dive to Heart), which keeps the same layout, but features one of seven Stations of Awakening in the background, with cameos from different characters and objects:
*'s station has Riku, , a , and the . Its background depicts , and its ring border features the series' famous crown design.
*'s station has Sora, , and . Its background depicts the , and its ring border features cards from Chain of Memories.
*'s station has , Xion, and Riku, as he appears in 358/2 Days. Its background depicts 's clock tower, and its ring border features the emblem.
*'s station has Axel, , , and Sora. Its background depicts from , and its ring border features the Nobody emblem.
*'s station has Ventus, Aqua, and the s he and they possess. Its background depicts a checkered pattern with the series' famous heart and crown designs along with the emblem, and its ring border alternates between a Wayfinder and Terra's own emblem.
*'s station exclusively has Wayfinders, uniquely lacking any other characters. Its background depicts the , and its ring border features Terra's emblem.
*'s station has Terra, Ventus, , and . Its background depicts a checkered pattern with the series' famous heart and crown designs along with the Unversed emblem, and its ring border features a Wayfinder.
===Ω forms and Battlefield forms===
The main platform of the Ω forms and Battlefield forms is identical to how it appears in the normal forms but resized and reshaped to match and , respectively. The three soft platforms of the Battlefield forms also resemble the floating soft platform of the normal forms.
File:SSBU-Hollow BastionOmega.png|Ω form of Hollow Bastion
File:SSBU-Hollow BastionBattlefield.png|Battlefield form of Hollow Bastion
File:Dive to the HeartOmega.png|Ω form of Dive to the Heart
File:Dive to the HeartBattlefield.png|Battlefield form of Dive to the Heart
===Hazards Off===
With hazards off, Dive to the Heart will not occur; the stage will only cycle through the Hollow Bastion environment. Dive to the Heart will also not occur in Ω and Battlefield forms if hazards are turned off.
==Origin==
 is an important world in the Kingdom Hearts series, appearing in multiple cutscenes and repeatedly being alluded to leading up to its appearance as the penultimate world of the first game. The world served as the base of operations for , , and their band of villains who wish to gather the seven , use their power to unlock the world's Keyhole, and use the resulting power gained to take over other worlds. Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy arrive, however, and foil their plans, before reveals himself to have possessed Riku; after he is defeated once by Sora, he flees to the , where Sora and co. follow him after freeing from Sora's heart re-sealing Hollow Bastion's keyhole.
This incarnation of the world re-appears in , , and . In Kingdom Hearts II, it is revealed to have been previously a city known as , ruled by before his apprentices banished him to the and took over the castle. The world in this previous state is explored in , and is restored to this form in and . The world was seen falling to darkness in from the perspective of a young Kairi, who was then by captured by and, by a sequence of events he orchestrated, ends up at the .
 serves as the starting location in the original Kingdom Hearts, and has become a recurring location used frequently for tutorials. In the numbered Kingdom Hearts titles, the player learns basic combat and game controls here. Each character has their own station adorned with symbols and important individuals, and often appear as a dreamlike realm. Battles atop the station can occur whenever an individual enters another heart, such as briefly attempting to overpower Sora while the former was merged with the latter.
==Tournament Legality==
Due to the stage lacking stage hazards and possessing a layout similar to the hazards-off version of the already legal Smashville (albeit slightly larger main platform) and having the same blast zone distance as Final Destination, Hollow Bastion is often considered as a counterpick in many tourneys, and a starter in some.
==Gallery==
===Background details===
;Hollow Bastion
SSBUHollowBastionDetail01.jpg|Rising Falls.
SSBUHollowBastionDetail02.jpg|Castle detail.
SSBUHollowBastionDetail03.jpg|Castle detail.
SSBUHollowBastionDetail04.jpg|Castle detail.
;Stations of Awakening
SSBUStainedGlass01.jpg|Sora
SSBUStainedGlass02.jpg|Riku
SSBUStainedGlass03.jpg|Roxas
SSBUStainedGlass04.jpg|Xion
SSBUStainedGlass05.jpg|Terra
SSBUStainedGlass06.jpg|Ventus
SSBUStainedGlass07.jpg|Aqua
===Gameplay===
SSBUWebsiteSora1.jpg| at a readied stance on the stage.
SSBUWebsiteSora3.jpg|Sora using Blizzaga against Popo on the stage.
SSBUSoraMario.jpg|Sora and on the stage.
SSBUSoraMarioCloudSephy.jpg|Sora combating with Mario, , and on the stage.
SSBUSoraTauntSpells.jpg|Sora casting Stopga, Aeroga and Curaga on the Dive to the Heart section of the stage.
SSBUSoraJump.jpg|Sora jumping in his Station of Awakening.
==Names in other languages==
==Trivia==
*Many Dive to the Heart station designs have been changed from their original appearances for Ultimate, with all of these changes having previously been made in the 15th anniversary versions of the stations used in merchandise. These changes remove explicit references to other Disney properties.
**Sora's is missing images of Donald Duck and Goofy. They have been replaced with icons of a raft and paopu fruit from the "Sora's Mind" station from Birth by Sleep. Additionally, Riku's picture has changed location.
**Riku's is missing the image of Mickey Mouse. He has instead been replaced with art of Sora originating from the cover of Re:Chain of Memories.
**Terra's has had Mickey symbols on the outer ring border replaced with alternating Terra and Wayfinder symbols.
**Aqua's has had Mickey symbols in the central checkerboard background replaced with more Unversed symbols.
*Hollow Bastion is the only stage to change its background for the remainder of the match when a certain condition is met. Additionally, said condition is time running low, being on one stock, or having low stamina, meaning this stage is also the only one to do something besides changing music when this occurs.
**As a result, Dive to the Heart is uniquely completely inaccessible while in Training Mode.
*Dr. Kawashima cannot appear from Assist Trophies on this stage. Lunala cannot appear from Poké Balls.
*Discounting the Dive to the Heart stations, Hollow Bastion is one of two paid DLC stages without any visible background characters, along with Northern Cave.
*Hollow Bastion's Battlefield and Ω variants will turn into their respective Dive to the Heart variants if stage hazards are on, but not if they are off. This makes Hollow Bastion's Battlefield and Ω variants one of two stages where the Battlefield and Ω variants have differences between hazards on and hazardless versions, the other being Figure-8 Circuit (where Shy Guy racers do not appear in hazards off versions of the Battlefield/Omega forms).
*This stage's default My Music settings are non-standard. By default, is the most likely song to appear, while , , , and are all equally set as the second-most likely choices.
*Hollow Bastion features seven Dive to the Heart stations. This coincidentally is the same amount as the .
**The stations of four of these guardians are featured on this stage: Sora, , , and . 
***Two additional guardians, and through his nobody also appear in these stations.
*In a YouTube video, Masahiro Sakurai showed various changes made to Hollow Bastion before the final release:Odds and Ends of Supervising: Sora Edition [Graphics]
**The colors of the rising falls were tweaked to not look like ice.
**Dive to the Heart was initially too dark and caused visibility issues.
**The cloud density in the background was too uneven initially.
**The pipes on Hollow Bastion initially looked to flat, so their gradation was tweaked to look more 3D.
**There were issues of background elements contrasting too much and blending into the foreground.
**A progression of the stained glass background was shown.
**A structure on Hollow Bastion initially looked too much like a churro.
**Characters initially blended into the stained glass too easily.
**The drop through platforms in Dive to the Heart were changed to be easier to see. The platforms also had a visual bug where they changed hues depending on location.
**The Dive to the Heart floor was made less vibrant for visual clarity.
==References==
es:Bastión Hueco
Category:Disney
Category:Downloadable content