Gusty Glade

A video game setting where the player's challenge is made more difficult by winds or air currents (visible or otherwise) that push the player around, interfering with their platforming skills. The winds may be localized to specific sections of the level, or may be stop and blow at intervals. Depending on the pattern, the player will have to time their actions with favorable winds and/or push forward to compensate for hostile winds.

The source of these mighty winds could be anything—an object in the level, a specific enemy, or just Mother Nature getting in on the Everything Trying to Kill You. Characters of a metallic or robotic nature can also blame magnets for similar trouble.

Not to be confused with a powerful wind that halts the character's progress through a specific area entirely (that's just another kind of Broken Bridge). Compare Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt for the on-ground version. May overlap with Bubbly Clouds or Death Mountain.

Examples of Gusty Glade include:

• Donkey Kong Country 2 is the Trope Namer, and the series includes several levels of the type, at least one of which where the wind actually suspends the player in the air through several sections.
  • There's the Trope Namer Gusty Glade, which combines wind with mildly difficult platforming. Most of the difficulty comes from not being used to the wind gimmick yet.
  • Then there's Windy Well, which uses the wind to suspend or raise the player through the air.
  • Finally, there's Animal Antics, where you have to fly through a bramble maze while winds try to push you to the side.
  • As Donkey Kong Land 2 is largely based on Donkey Kong Country 2, it also features wind levels.
  • Donkey Kong Country 3 has a couple of levels with ocean current. In some sections, the player has to try to swim against the current, and in others, the player has to swim with the current and avoid being pushed into enemies.
• Okami actually made this a player power, explained by Amaterasu gaining the powers of the Wind God.
• As your tower gets taller in the freeware game 99 Bricks, you start to experience atmospheric wind that pushes it back and forth, making it more unstable.
• I'm pretty sure there are a couple Rayman levels that do this.
• The Legend of Zelda has this all over the 3D games. Currents (especially circling ones) are a favorite in water levels, while giant fans often show up in wind temples.
  • The Wind Temple in The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker is actually dedicated to this, as is the Forest Temple in Twilight Princess.
• The final level of Battletoads, "The Revolution", introduces an enemy type whose main attack is to blow the player character off the screen, forcing the player to cling to a metal pole until the enemy leaves.
• Air Man's level does this. He does, too, actually.
  • Other examples: The rain in Toad Man's stage in the fourth game has this effect. This obstacle is repeated in Tornado Man's level in the ninth game.
  • Parts of Cloud Man's stage in 7, as well as the boss himself.
  • Pump Man's level in 10 has underwater currents as well.
• Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels does this, to the infuriation of many players.
• Jedi Outcast's Cloud City levels live on this trope.
• The second challenge level in The Legendary Starfy does this with geysers.
• One level in World 2 of New Super Mario Bros. Wii has strong winds, but it blows coins, too.
• Ninja Gaiden 2 (the NES version) had the second part of its second level as a high mountain with constantly shifting winds. It's probably the first real difficult level of the game.
• The archery part of the Peasant's Quest on-line game is made more difficult by variable wind speeds.
• Challenge level 2-5 in the Wii version of A Boy and His Blob gives you only the Parachute to work with, and has you navigate a series of narrow passages full of wind... which also happen to be full of floating mines. It's tons of fun.
• The Sol City in the first Boktai game.
• The Vent Physics in Glider PRO easily leads to this with the presence of invisible air currents that can push up, down, left or right. "Sky Links" is a first-class example.
  • Glider 4.0 couldn't do quite as many things with vents and fans, but a glider in the same room with an open window would tremble violently.
• The Death Peak Chrono Trigger is a windy place; the first challenge is you having to make your way to the top of the screen while the wind intensifies regularly, blowing you off the screen unless you're standing behind a tree when this happens; the second is a thin bridge you have to cross while being constantly pushed down by the winds.
• Some levels in World of Goo have winds.
• Kirby games have lots of them and typically several can be found in every game.
  • Some levels in Kirby's Adventure include winds, like the airship section in one level.
  • Kirby Super Star has also several areas like that.
• In Flintstones - Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, there's a section in the kitchen level where you go down the drainpipe and fight against the currents.
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 is an inversion. There are winds in some levels, but they're there to help you by pushing your clouds along rather than impede you.
  • Also "Gusty Garden Galaxy" from the first Super Mario Galaxy game.
• The Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers NES game featured giant fans that blew you around in one particularly annoying level.
• Waterway from Cave Story. Without active currents, it would be a slow Down the Drain level.
• Played with in Sonic Adventure. Yes, Windy Valley is called that because it has strong winds. But they usually help you.
  • The Sonic series in general rather likes this trope. Anyone remember Wing Fortress Zone?
  • Sonic and The Secret Rings has hindering wind in Levitated Ruin; it is incredibly strong wind to not only rob Sonic of his speed, but pushes him backwards slowly even at maximum speed. Sonic needs to use alternate techniques to get by, such as the Homing Attack and the Speed Break.
  • Sky Canyon in Sonic Advance 2 has fans that pop up. Some will blow wind in Sonic's direction and pushes him more easily to top speed; others will blow wind against Sonic and will stop him in his tracks, preventing him from running further. However, Sonic can use it to accelerate to top speed without anything getting in his way, then turn around and zoom back at blistering velocity.
  • Sonic Generations has the Classic Sonic act of Crisis City, where the last 1/3 is platforming within a fiery tornado (don't touch the centre!) which pulls you towards it, with you fighting against the pull to reach the end.
• Donkey Kong '94, Area Six, which happens to take place on an airplane.
• Sector 7 in Jumper Two had wind that blew at 4-second intervals.
• In Purple, the player can encounter blowing winds in World 5.
• Heretic had some areas like this.
• In Terranigma, there's a boss in Eklemata whose first form takes shape of a yeti which constantly shifting wind in all directions while you avoid blocks of ice.
• Several of the Dynasty Warriors games add this element to the Yellow Turban Rebellion stage, as one of the enemy generals is supposedly a sorcerer with power over the winds. Depending on which game you play it's either push your way against the wind or choose the path with falling boulders and flank him.
• Krazoa Palace in Star Fox Adventures is this trope mixed with Temple of Doom.
• The fan shafts in Primagen's Lightship from Turok 2.
• One level of Quake had tubes with wind currents, although no visible source of wind.
• The wind in Chateau Du Vent, the castle of World 3 in Something, tries pushing Mario to the left, which makes moving to the right much more difficult, especially with the many obstacles in the way.