0 Talk

Cliffhanger

Redirected from Ultimate Cliffhanger

The Cliffhanger (クリフハンガー) is one of the longest-enduring obstacles in SASUKE to date, having proven to be brutal throughout the history of SASUKE.

In essence, competitors must traverse through at least three narrow ledges, which are 3cm wide, only long enough to support the fingertips. Since its introduction, it has five renewals.

1 Version 1 (SASUKE 4)
- 1.1 Competitors' Success Rate
2 Version 2 (SASUKE 5~8)
- 2.1 Competitors' Success Rate
3 Version 3 (SASUKE 9~17)
- 3.1 Competitors' Success Rate
4 Shin-Cliffhanger [Version 4] (SASUKE 18~24)
- 4.1 Competitors' Success Rate
5 Ultimate Cliffhanger [Version 5] (SASUKE 25~27)
- 5.1 Competitors' Success Rate

Version 1 (SASUKE 4)Edit

SASUKE Competitions
Cliffhanger Straight Version
The original version of the Cliffhanger.
G4 Name	Cliff Hanger
Stage	Third Stage
First	SASUKE 4
Last	SASUKE 4
Total	1 competitions
First Attempt	SASUKE 4, Asaoka Hiroyuki
First Clear	SASUKE 4, Asaoka Hiroyuki

The original version of Cliffhanger was introduced in SASUKE 4. Its actual name is 直線型クリフハンガー (literally Cliff Hanger straight version). Every ledge was at the same height, and each ledge was 1.2 meters long. It only lasted for the one tournament, as the producers increased the difficulty of each stage afterward due to Akiyama Kazuhiko's kanzenseiha in that competition.

Competitors' Success RateEdit

All results based on the TBS broadcast and external information found

SASUKE	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
4	5	10	50%
Total	5	10	50%

Version 2 (SASUKE 5~8)Edit

SASUKE Competitions
Cliffhanger Drop Out Section
Yamamoto Shingo attempting the second version of the Cliffhanger in SASUKE 5
G4 Name	Cliff Hanger
Stage	Third Stage
First	SASUKE 5
Last	SASUKE 8
Total	4 competitions
First Attempt	SASUKE 5, Yamamoto Shingo
First Clear	SASUKE 5, Yamamoto Shingo

The second version of Cliffhanger appeared in SASUKE 5, where the final ledge was raised 30 cm and was renamed as the 段差型クリフハンガー(literally Cliff Hanger Dropout section). Yamamoto Shingo was the only competitor to attempt this version more than once. He attempted and passed it in SASUKE 5 and SASUKE 7.

Competitors' Success RateEdit

All results based on the TBS broadcast and external information found

SASUKE	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
5	1	1	100%
6	1	2	50%
7	1	3	33.33%
8	3	3	100%
Total	6	9	66.67%

Version 3 (SASUKE 9~17)Edit

SASUKE Competitions
Altered Cliffhanger
The third edition of the Cliffhanger.
G4 Name	Cliff Hanger
Stage	Third Stage
First	SASUKE 9
Last	SASUKE 17
Total	9 competitions
First Attempt	SASUKE 9, Nagano Makoto
First Clear	SASUKE 9, Nagano Makoto

In the third version of Cliffhanger, the length of the first ledge was doubled, the second ledge raised by 30 cm, and the last ledge lowered by 45 cm. It was renamed again, this time as the クリフハンガー改 (literally Altered Cliff Hanger). This version lasted the longest thus far of any iteration. In later competitions, the obstacle marked the halfway point in the stage and passing it was marked as a major accomplishment.

Drawing of the third edition of the Cliffhanger.
Added by Blt024

Competitors' Success RateEdit

All results based on the TBS broadcast and external information found

SASUKE	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
9	1	1	100%
10	1	2	50%
11	2	4	50%
12	5	9	55.56%
13	2	3	66.67%
14	2	5	40%
15	3	4	75%
16	3	7	42.86%
17	3	4	75%
Total	22	39	56.41%

Shin-Cliffhanger [Version 4] (SASUKE 18~24)Edit

SASUKE Competitions
Shin-Cliffhanger
The Shin-Cliffhanger (top) compared to the Version 3 Cliffhanger (bottom).
G4 Name	Cliff Hanger
Stage	Third Stage
First	SASUKE 18
Last	SASUKE 24
Total	7 competitions
First Attempt	SASUKE 18, Nagano Makoto
First Clear	SASUKE 21, Takeda Toshihiro

The fourth version of the Cliffhanger came after Nagano's completion of the course in SASUKE 17. It has been renamed once again, this time to the Shin-Cliffhanger (新クリフハンガー) to emphasize its redesign. The second ledge was shortened to 77cm, but also on an incline of 12 degrees. This caused the horizontal gap between the last two ledges to increase to 1 meter. To make up for this large gap, the width of the first part of the third ledge was increased to 6 cm.

Due to the large gap, it seems that competitors must now clear the obstacle by jumping across from second ledge to the third one. The first person not to attempt a jump, Nagasaki Shunsuke, was not able to clear the obstacle. However, in SASUKE 23, Takahashi Kenji was able to successfully clear without jumping.

In SASUKE 19, a metal sheet was placed above the first and third ledges to prevent competitors from getting disqualified like Nagano Makoto in SASUKE 18, who accidentally grabbed the top of the Shin-Cliffhanger instead of the ledge.

This version of the Cliffhanger proved to be one of the toughest obstacles in the history of the show as the first four competitors to try it, all failed (spanning three tournaments). TBS showed testers clearing it in SASUKE 20 and SASUKE 21's introduction, but it wasn't until Takeda Toshihiro cleared it in SASUKE 21 that it was finally conquered in competition.

Competitors' Success RateEdit

All results based on the TBS broadcast and external information found

SASUKE	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
18	0	3	0%
19	0	0	N/A
20	0	1	0%
21	2	2	100%
22	2	4	50%
23	5	6	83.33%
24	7	7	100%
Total	16	23	69.57%

Ultimate Cliffhanger [Version 5] (SASUKE 25~27)Edit

SASUKE Competitions
Ultimate Cliffhanger
Ultimate Cliffhanger, SASUKE 25
G4 Name	Ultimate Cliff Hanger
Stage	Third Stage
First	SASUKE 25
Last	SASUKE 27
Total	3 competitions
First Attempt	SASUKE 25, Takahashi Kenji
First Clear	SASUKE 27, Hashimoto Kouji

The fifth version of the Cliffhanger came after Urushihara's completion of the course in SASUKE 24. It has been renamed once again, this time to the Ultimate Cliffhanger (アルティメットクリフハンガー) to emphasize its redesign. It is by far the largest and longest Cliffhanger to date, with a total of six ledges, double of any previous version. The obstacle first consists of two ledges. The first is 2m and on a 24° angle and requires competitors to climb right, the next is also 2m and is on a 12° angle, requiring competitors to climb left. After that there is a 60cm upwards vertical gap to the third ledge which is 3.2m long. Competitors must then cross a horizontal gap to another 1.2m ledge. At the end of that, they must jump and catch themselves on a small 15cm ledge. From there, they must swing to the final 2m ledge and traverse that to complete the obstacle.

In its first tournament, SASUKE 25, the obstacle proved to be unbelievably difficult. All four competitors who attempted it failed before any could even touch the third ledge. In SASUKE 26 the third ledge was lowered to make the transition from the angled ledges easier but this resulted in making the transition to the fourth ledge much harder. Also a large sheet of metal was placed at the base of the obstacle in order to hide the metal supports that were visible in SASUKE 25. Li En Zhi and Okuyama Yoshiyuki, in their second attempts, made it to the end of the fourth ledge but failed transitioning to the small fifth ledge.

In SASUKE 27, the obstacle was moved from its previous position as the fourth obstacle to the third obstacle. As a result, it was finally conquered by Hashimoto Koji in his second attempt and also completed by eventual Finalist Matachi Ryo and eventual two-time champion Urushihara Yuuji, both their first attempts of the obstacle. The obstacle was nearly cleared by David Campbell as well but his grip gave way on the final ledge, moments before he could reach the other side.