Stage 8

**Stage 8** is the ninth (or eighth if you do not count the Tutorial level) and final main Stage of the Main Story. This Stage is initially hidden and locked until the player completes every level from the previous 7 Stages and collects all Power Gems while stage-passing every level as well. After the first condition has been met, the unlocking condition for Stage 8 will be by the amount of Power Gems obtained for unlocking subsequent levels in Stage 8. This Stage is a follow-up of Stage 7 and is a climax with the mysterious Hacker, now in a huge, transformed state. It takes place in a dark, inert, sharp tower where the darkness resides called the Hacker’s Towering Corporation. By the time Stage 8 is reached, the entire world becomes shrouded into darkness.

When the player beats the game and enters Stage 8 again, the area is reverted back to how it appears in the darkness, except for the entire world’s appearance. In addition, finishing stage 8-5 unlocks the Fright Zone Challenges instead of completing the entire Stage.

## Overview

Stage 8 takes many aspects from the previous seven Stages into one. Plus, the majority of Stage 8 takes place during the darkness invasion, when the Stage was shrouded into darkness.

## Levels

**NOTE: Bold** indicates that the level contains a boss battle.

ll of the aspects from Stage 5 and Stage 6.

As with level 8-3, this level takes place in the mid-rise area of the Darkness Organization tower. It features all of the aspects from Stage 7.

## Trivia

* As with Stage 2, this is one of the two stages to have a song composed by Doin, except that it is extended (specifically for use in The One Billion Survivor from 2.5 minutes to 3.5 minutes).
* If all Power Gems weren't collected or if any Stages were skipped due to the use of secret exits, then the final Stage would be Stage 7, causing Stage 8 to be inaccessible until the player has enough Power Gems collected.
* Before the new version of The One Billion Survivor came, if you tried to access this stage without possessing the previous encounters from the previous Stages, a message would appear saying, "*Stop! Require your team powerup to access this stage!*"
	+ This message was changed in the new version so that it would appear to be as this: *"Complete the previous Stages and collect all Power Gems to access this stage!"*
* This stage was formerly considered the most popular and the all-time hardest.
	+ This was easily toned down due to the new version of The One Billion Survivor, as only stage 8-6 is afflicted by this.
* In the old version of the game, the reward for completing Stage 8 was the Team Sparkling Pinks group.
	+ This was changed so that beating Stage 8 will unlock the Fright Zone Challenges.
* Stage 8-5 was formerly a normal level, before in the new version, was later upgraded to a boss level.
	+ Unlike other boss levels, stage 8-5's boss battle occurs before the dance battle, making it the only level to do so.
* This world functions similar to how secret worlds from the Nintendo series work, except that the Stage contains boss battles, specifically at least the final boss.
* Stage 8 is directly harder than the previous Stages encountered, even more than so than stages 1 to 7 combined.
* Stage 8 takes place in the same location where the Hacker's Mega Dark Organization Event was held.
* The last level takes place at the top of the Mega Dark Corporation tower, where the final boss is fought.
* There were changes when the idea of having a final boss of The One Billion Survivor was implemented:
	+ In the old version of The One Billion Survivor, the name for the final boss was called "Ultra Ground Nation" ("Underground Nation" if it were to be a harder variation of Stage 8).
		- They have the same attacks as for their original appearances from the respective Korean TV show, The Haunted House: The Secret of the Ghost Ball.
	+ In the new version, however, the final boss you would face is the Hacker, who is fought at stage 8-5. His transformation occurs at the end of stage 8-6, which causes the almost-defeated Hacker to transform into his demonic, deity form, which is now called "The Hacker's Final Form". He is fought in the end of this Stage.
		- The boss' attacks almost appear to be the exact same as for the old version, except that almost all attacks would instantly kill the player if not timed properly.
* The extra final boss was formerly an independent Stage before it was merged with Stage 8 as with the earlier versions of The One Billion Survivor. In addition, parts of the extra final boss were served as a candidate for the second phase of the last level, that being stage 8-6.