Hailfire Peaks

CRASH
"You got your Lethal Lava Land in my Slippy-Slidey Ice World!"
"You got your Slippy-Slidey Ice World in my Lethal Lava Land!"
(Beat)
"Hey..."

A not-quite-original way of saving time or storage space, bringing some originality into the standard Video Game Settings: Take two stock settings and combine them into one. Bonus points if the two are diametric opposites. Triple word score if the two are actually Lethal Lava Land and Slippy-Slidey Ice World; the pervasiveness of this combination probably stems from the fact that these are the two level themes that can be definitely called "opposites" and the fact that Color Contrast between the two makes the level more visual interesting.

The simplest way is to divide the area in half. Half of it is one stage, the other is the second kind. This can also be done chronologically, where the stage is the first way in the first half of the game, but gets changed in the second. A really clever designer will combine them into a coherent whole (even if that doesn't make sense).

In some cases, a game's entire setting may be focused on one trope, which may combine with the others by necessity.

See also Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot. See Patchwork Map for when this occurs in the overworld.

Examples of Hailfire Peaks include:

Video Game Examples

• Named for the stage of the same name in Banjo-Tooie, which was one half Lethal Lava Land, the other half Slippy-Slidey Ice World. It's pretty reasonable given that fire (volcanoes) and ice (snow cover) are both associated with mountain terrain. (For added difficulty, you get turned into a snowball in the Ice side, and then must return to the Fire side while in this form to accomplish an objective. Have fun with that.)
  • When you go to Cloudcuckooland, you can look down and see the ice mountain and the lava mountain. There is no explanation for the two zones being right next to each other.
  • Banjo's no stranger to this trope: the first game featured two Eternal Engine levels that were also Down the Drain.^[1] Yes, they're just as they sound. It also has a Lost Woods that was occasionally a Slippy-Slidey Ice World.
    • Witchyworld, like many modern theme parks, is also a sort of miniature Hub, with Space Zone, Lethal Lava Land-slash-Big Boo's Haunt and Wild West areas.
    • Tooie's first level, Mayahem Temple, combines Jungle Japes with Temple of Doom.
    • The last regular level of Tooie, Cloud Cuckooland (which happens to come right after Hailfire Peaks), combines Bubbly Clouds, Level Ate, the inside of a Death Mountain, and several other things.
    • The handheld game, Grunty's Revenge, also ended on Freezing Furnace—basically Hailfire Peaks, BUT TINY!
      • Freezing Furnace was originally two levels: Freezing Fjord and Fiery Furnace (not to be confused with the level with the same name in DKC2 or the one in DKL2). See this person's videos. Both levels were about twice as large as they were in the final product, but they ended up being merged into a Hailfire Peaks clone, apparently due to cartridge space.
  • Banjoland in Nuts and Bolts, being a Best Of for the last two games' many varied stock levels.
    • Nuts and Bolts also has Nutty Acres, which is Palmtree Panic, Lethal Lava Land, Green Hill Zone and Eternal Engine combined.
• By necessity, the Slippy-Slidey Ice World, Prehistoria and Eternal Engine stages, among others, of the Ecco the Dolphin series are all Under the Sea.
• The Sonic the Hedgehog series seems fond of this trope. Let's run through a few examples:
  • The Marble Zone of Sonic the Hedgehog is a Temple of Doom combined with Lethal Lava Land elements.
  • Half the time in Hill Top Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is spent in breezy outdoors up in the hills, half the time you're running away from earthquakes and lava underground, inside the hills.
    • A desert level called Dust Hill Zone was dropped from the game early in the development cycles. Its art was meant to be reusable for a separate winter level. Some fan mods restore this level and implement the art reuse as a mid-level transition from desert into snow.
  • Mid-way through Lava Reef Zone of Sonic and Knuckles, the lava cools and the stage becomes much more crystalline. If you're playing as Sonic, a small cutscene causes the volcano to start again.
    • Sandopolis Zone provides a three-for of Shifting Sand Land, Temple of Doom and Big Boo's Haunt.
  • Sonic Chaos had the Mecha Green Hill Zone, simultaneously subverting both of the Sonic series's most distinctive settings by combining them.
  • Red Mountain from Sonic Adventure is Death Mountain for the first part, Lethal Lava Land for the second, with some Fire and Brimstone Hell overtones. (But only as Sonic do you get to go through both halves. For Knuckles it's all Death Mountain, and for Gamma it's all Lethal Lava Land.)
  • Ice Mountain from Sonic Advance combines Slippy-Slidey Ice World with Under the Sea.
    • Twinkle Snow from the third game does the same.
  • Coral Cave in Sonic Rush Adventure mixes Under the Sea with Underground Level. It's a pretty-looking place, too.
    • Machine Labyrinth is a Steampunk Eternal Engine.
    • Haunted Ship is Gang Plank Galleon and Big Boo's Haunt.
    • Pirates' Island is Remilitarized Zone Underwater Ruins.
  • Eggmanland from Sonic Unleashed combines the standard Eternal Engine level akin to the ones from other Sonic games with Lethal Lava Land and Circus of Fear features.
    • Also, the Adabat levels combine Palmtree Panic, Jungle Japes, and Temple of Doom.
  • The ill-fated Sonic X-Treme was going to feature an area known as Red Sands.
    • In the same game, by looking at one of the images here, it appears that the planned level "Crystal Frost" combined Slippy-Slidey Ice World with Temple of Doom.
  • Ocean Palace from Sonic Heroes combines Palmtree Panic with Temple of Doom. Somewhat justified because the game always features a level that is a standard theme, then a level that is a variation on that theme and then a boss, and the level before that (Seaside Hill) was simply a Palmtree Panic.
  • Angel Island Zone, the first level in Sonic 3 (a game which was technically the first half of Sonic And Knuckles) is Palmtree Panic with Under the Sea sections, and a small cutscene in the middle of Act 1 shows a good chunk of the island being set on fire.
  • Planet Wisp from Sonic Colors is a Green Hill Zone level, which features large Eternal Engine structures. Also Aquarium Park is a combination of Wutai and Under the Sea.
    • Colors does this a lot - Starlight Carnival is a carnival theme park in space, Tropical Resort is a Palmtree Panic theme park, and Asteroid Coaster is an Eternal Engine theme park. Sweet Mountain is a Remilitarized Zone set in Level Ate. Considering the whole game is Eggman's amusement park divided into different planets, it makes sense.
• Rayman 2 featured The Tomb of the Ancients, which was a Temple of Doom that doubled as a Big Boo's Haunt. There was also The Land of the Livid Dead from Rayman 3 which was also a Big Boo's Haunt (although not in a way you'd expect) but had a few Down the Drain sections. And one of the later levels was a Death Mountain, Slippy-Slidey Ice World, Eternal Engine, Lethal Lava Land, Temple of Doom all in one.
  • Rayman Origins goes for broke in this department. Although the first area and fourth area are straightforward, the Desert of Didgeridoos is a combination of Band Land, Shifting Sand Land, and Gusty Glade, Mystical Pique is a Temple of Doom slash Death Mountain, Moody Clouds is an Eternal Engine Bubbly Clouds, and Gourmand Land? That takes the cake, by combing the classic Hailfire Peaks themes of Lethal Lava Land and Slippy-Slidey Ice World with Level Ate, along with Palmtree Panic and Eternal Engine as cocktail umbrellas.
• Because of their very nature, the dungeons from The Legend of Zelda series generally combine Temple of Doom with a myriad of other tropes, with the occasional non-Temple Of Doom level.
  • Snowhead Temple from Majoras Mask would be a fire-themed dungeon in the traditional Zelda vein, if not for the fact that half of it is frozen over.
  • Oracle of Seasons contributed the Sword & Shield Maze to this trope. It consists of two floors, one full of lava (shaped like a sword), the other full of ice (shaped like a shield). To progress at some point, you have to drop magical ice cubes into the lava to cool it down.
  • In The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, the Arbiter's Grounds is a mix between the desert and haunted crypt themes that had previously been separate in Ocarina of Time when last present in the same game.
  • In The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker, the resident Temple of Doom dungeons are dual: the Earth Temple mixes Underground Level with Big Boo's Haunt, while the Wind Temple fuses Gusty Glade with The Lost Woods, which the Forest Temple in the aforementioned Twilight Princess also does.
  • The Forest Temple in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time combines Big Boo's Haunt with The Lost Woods.
  • Most dungeons in The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword love doing this, as it's part of the changes and mix-ups (alongside the introduction of a dungeon-like overworld) made to the series. The Ancient Cistern combines Temple of Doom, Down the Drain, and Big Boo's Haunt. The two Shifting Sand Land dungeons also introduce Eternal Engine elements (thanks in no small part to the concept of time travel by the Timeshift Stones) and, in particular, Lanayru Mining Facility goes further and adds Tomorrowland into the mix, as does the Sandship with the Gang Plank Galleon. Skyview Temple takes The Lost Woods and combines it with Down the Drain for flavor.
• Prey largely takes place in a biomechanical spaceship that combines aspects of an Eternal Engine and a Womb Level.
• Wario Land 4 featured a level called "Fiery Cavern," which was a lava world until you hit the end-of-level switch (which acts as a Load-Bearing Boss), at which point it freezes over. We're just as confused as you are.
• The Darkice Mines in Star Fox Adventures. In fact, the game loves to mix up the local Temples O' Doom with others: Volcano Force Point with Lethal Lava Land, Ocean Force Point with Down the Drain, and the Krazoa Palace with Gusty Glade.
• Donkey Kong:
  • Donkey Kong 64 features a level called "Crystal Caves": An Underground Level with some Slippy-Slidey Ice World elements (namely frozen log cabins and igloos). Likewise, Angry Aztec features a good mix of Shifting Sand Land and Temple of Doom.
  • Donkey Kong Country 2 featured a level that was a Lethal Lava Land merged with Down the Drain. This was due to the fact that the level featured a Animal Buddy who could turn the lava into swimmable water. Even more directly, the Game Boy port Donkey Kong Land 2 merged the 2nd (a lava world) and 3rd (a swamp themed world) into one. And with all the wildly different biomes on the island, Krem Island deserves some kind of medal.
• Icefire Mountain from Wizards & Warriors II.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Despite its name, Sky Land in Super Mario Bros 3 is only sky-themed in the second half, after Mario climbs the spiral tower skyward. Until then, the levels he explores are Green Hill Zone-themed.
  • The Freezeflame Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy. Though because each level is broken up into "missions", it was actually quite rare to encounter both the fiery and icy parts of the stage at one time. Shiverburn Galaxy from the sequel plays the trope much more straight, though.
  • Super Mario Galaxy seems fond of this, such as Buoy Base Galaxy having features of Eternal Engine and Under the Sea, and Deep Dark Galaxy being a Gang Plank Galleon overlapping with elements of Big Boo's Haunt. And then comes the part where you have to create ice platforms that float on top of Lava so you can slide on top of them. Ice Mario is too cool to care about Convection, Schmonvection. And then there's using Ice Mario to walljump up parallel waterfalls in a tropical paradise galaxy. Which is populated with penguins.
  • Super Mario Galaxy 2 has Cosmic Cove, which goes from Under the Sea to Slippy-Slidey Ice World at the flip of a switch. In addition, there's Freezy Flake, which has a planet that allows you to roll snowballs across pools of lava. There's also Chompworks Galaxy, which combines Eternal Engine with Lethal Lava Land.
  • Dry Dry Desert from the first Paper Mario is a Shifting Sand Land with its own Temple of Doom. As was Shifting Sand Land's Trope Namer from Super Mario 64, with its central pyramid.
  • The sequel Thousand Year Door has a combination Underground Level and Gang Plank Galleon.
  • The first level of Super Paper Mario, Lineland, combined Green Hill Zone, Shifting Sand Land and Temple of Doom.
  • New Super Mario Bros. Wii has some elements of this all throught World 9, but 9-7 is probably the biggest example: using a jungle background and music, it's snowing in the foreground, and where the ground isn't made of warp pipe it's either ice or snow. And the only living things are enemies that shoot fire. And Goombas, but they're in eggs that are hatched by fireballs.
  • World 9 of Super Mario Bros the Lost Levels.
• La-Mulana is another example of the "whole game" variety, its Temple of Doom containg a Lethal Lava Land, a Slippy-Slidey Ice World, and, of course, A Bonus Level of Hell, among many others.
• Metroid:
  • In Metroid Prime 3, there's the Planet Bryyo, which mostly consists of deserty plains, thorny jungles and temples overflowing with exploding Fuel Gel. Then there's a teleport that takes you to a frozen cavern on the other side of the planet. It is justified in that the warmer side is apparently always facing its sun. In the same game, Skytown combined Floating Continent and Eternal Engine.
  • Many zones in the Metroid Prime games feature this, but most are Eternal Engine + some environment (i.e. Sanctuary Fortress is an industrial Temple of Doom, Magmoor is an industrial Lethal Lava Land, etc.)
  • Both Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Other M, being set in space stations, mix Eternal Engine with a setting that varies accordingly to the area. In particular, Other M does this with Jungle Japes (Sector 1/Biosphere), Slippy-Slidey Ice World (Sector 2/Cryosphere), and Lethal Lava Land (Sector 3/Pyrosphere). Elements of Abandoned Laboratory can also be seen all throughout each sector, in the form of the various containment tanks and maintenance rooms between the environmental rooms.
• In Serious Sam The Second Encounter the next-to-final level starts in a snowy Santa's Village, continues with a sojourn in the hellish bowels of a fiery cave network and returns to an iced-up area for the final part.
• The final dungeon of Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Mars Lighthouse, is yet another fire-themed dungeon that has been frozen over. It sports both fire-breathing statues and slippery ice floors...often in the same room.
  • There's also Air's Rock, combining elements of Temple of Doom, Gusty Glade, and Death Mountain.
• Many of the levels in Team Fortress 2 feature a somewhat stark contrast between traditional Red construction and the industrial Blu buildings.
• Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 seamlessly combines Shifting Sand Land, Lethal Lava Land, Temple of Doom, and Eternal Engine in one level. Also, in the series in general a lot of different level types have elements of Eternal Engine.
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition has this as the basic premise of the entire game; the first half of it mostly takes place on the Slippy-Slidey Ice World surface of E.D.N. III, while the secondhalf takes place in searingly-hot volcanic regions.
• In Rocket Robot On Wheels, the level "Pyramid Scheme" is a jungle level with a pyramid, a river, and isn't that hazardous... until you step on a special Sun/Moon pad, which switches the level to and from Lethal Lava Land mode.
  • That is not enough about that game. Almost every level fits this trope in some way, with the most jarring being "Food Fright," a combination Big Boo's Haunt and Level Ate.
• As lampshaded by Lisa in The Simpsons Game: "How can a cold place be so close to a hot one?"
• The penultimate stage in Little Fighter 2 is an ice-covered landscape with raging volcanoes in the background. Appropriately, the Mini Boss of the stage is Firzen, who uses fire and ice attacks.
• Frostfire, Warmup Boss (no pun intended) of City of Heroes is this trope personified, using fire and ice Elemental Powers. His unique map is an office that's been alternately frozen and set on fire, and famously features an ice half-pipe.
• Okami features a haunted shipwreck, thus combining Gang Plank Galleon with Big Boo's Haunt.
• Kirby examples:
  • Floria in Milky Way Wishes in Kirby Super Star has four different levels connected by doors (winter, summer, fall, and spring). Likewise, the technically final planet, Halfmoon, is an unusual mixture of Space Zone and Jungle Japes.
  • In Kirby Mass Attack, several stages in Sandy Canyon are a rather contradictory combination of Temple of Doom and Eternal Engine.
• Guild Wars has two. Shing Jea Island is an Eastern-looking Green Hill Zone/Slippy Slidey Ice World, and the Maguuma Jungle is a wasteland filled with red rocks, Jungle Japes, and Bubblegloop Swamp.
• Happens in the Shoot'Em Up Tyrian. In Episode 4, you are required to go into a planet's core to stop the bad guys from turning it into a sun. Once you do so, the planet's core starts cooling down rapidly, and you have to get out of there via an ice passage or freeze to death.
• The Neverwinter Nights expansion Hordes of The Underdark has Cania, the eight plane of hell, which is a frozen wasteland with rivers of lava. The characters even point out the physical impossibility of this, and that it must be supernatural. In fact, it goes a bit deeper than that; the rivers of lava flow through the ice because it's impossible. The arbitrary landscape is designed to torture the mind.
• World of Warcraft has a few of these, as if its patchwork geography weren't already schizoid enough. The icy continent of Northrend is home to Sholazar Basin, a tropical forest preserved by Titanic magic. There's a spot in the east called the Avalanche where the Titans' defenses are broken and the snows of Icecrown are invading it. Un'goro Crater in southern Kalimdor is a similar example—a tropical jungle sandwiched between two deserts and preserved by the Titans. The world PvP area of Wintergrasp is even more of a mishmash, featuring a jungle plateau and a volcanic caldera amid ice, water, and snow. Similarly, Dragonblight has the dragonshrines, microcosms of life, nature, and fire in the snowy wasteland. In all of these cases, A Wizard Did It, explicitly.
  • Blackfathom Depths fuses Under the Sea with Temple of Doom and Wailing Caverns fuses Underground Level with Prehistoria.
• Mt Here and There in Graffiti Kingdom, which is a big mountain, with a white line drawn drown the middle. The two halves are nearly identical, and the only necessary rooms are the ones that have fire AND ice, meaning it actually functions as two versions of the same level.
• This could arguably apply to many Doom levels, Which were built to look like techno-bases, but slowly turn into hellish architecture by the presence of the demons.
• Final Fantasy XII featured the Giza Plains. Initially a dry plains, full of deserty enemies much like the deserts that surround the other sides of Rabanastre, but when the rains come it turns into a lush swampy region with much tougher, more aquatic styled enemies. Although the "seasons" in Giza start out locked and change only by advancing the plot, midway through the game or so, they start cycling every hour (which is handy since there are certain tasks that can only be completed in one season or the other, and at least one which requires returning during the different seasons).
• Scribblenauts has a volcano-y and snowy peaks area in the first half of the game.
  • This being Scribblenauts, you're also perfectly capable of conjuring a snowman in the volcanic area or a volcano in the tundra.
• Nethack: The Valkyrie Quest has both lava and ice in the same map. Explained as the result of Fire Giants invading the naturally frosty Valkyrie homeland.
• Loco Roco has Jaojab which alternates between yellow Mayincatec areas and green Jungle Japes areas.
• The Katamari Damacy - esque wii game The Munchables features one in it's last stages. It's actually a frozen island and a volcano cut in half and sawed togheter like Dr. Frankenstein's resort.
• In Heretic, the Ice Grotto level is a cross between a Slippy-Slidey Ice World and a Lethal Lava Land.
• Probably the most Egregious example is Cel Damage Overdrive for the PlayStation 2. An unlockable level featured a mix between all settings in the game, in a pretty well made fashion. It combines the Wild West, Temple of Doom, Space Zone and Big Boo's Haunt. Unfortunately, this extra level is absent in the Xbox and Game Cube versions.
• SSX, known for its creative snowboarding courses, featured a level called Aloha Ice Jam. Word of God says it is set on an iceberg towed to sunny Hawaii. The level features snow, ice, penguins, giant metal death-fans, torrential rivers, giant tiki heads, molten lava, ice platforms and sand—more or less in that order.
• In LittleBigPlanet 2, you get Victoria's levels, which are a mixture of Level Ate and Eternal Engine
• The planet Effluvia in Adventures of Rad Gravity is one third Down in the Dumps, one third Lethal Lava Land, and one third Eternal Engine.
• Ilvern Ruins in Ys III is a Temple of Doom in Lethal Lava Land.
• The River of Souls in Turok 2 is a cross between a Temple of Doom and Big Boo's Haunt.
• Volcano Castle in Bonk's Revenge is a Lethal Lava Land in a ruined castle. Fireball Field is a combination of Lethal Lava Land and Green Hill Zone.
• Limewater Cave in Ys VI is two thirds Underground Level, one third Under the Sea.
• The Colombia Temple Ruins level in Soldier of Fortune II is a jungle level with a Mayincatec Temple of Doom.
• In Dragon Quest VI, the cave before Murdaw's keep starts as a Lethal Lava Land, then you climb up stairs and you find yourself in a watery cave.
• The StarCraft II map editor allows easy combination of any type of terrain, allowing a few unusual maps like testbug to come out.
• Super Monday Night Combat features Moco Loco Arena, which is situated on a remote island featuring an active volcano on one side and a snowy alp on the other. This is all just window dressing, since actual gameplay doesn't involve either, though it's thematically significant—the two sides of the island represent the two sides of the conflict, the Hotshots and the Icemen.
• Snailiad has two:
  • Mare Carelia combines Under the Sea and Green Hill Zone.
  • Amastrida Abyssus combines Lethal Lava Land and Under the Sea (again).
• World 4 in Something is a desert/ice world. One of its levels is "So Sand or Snow?", where Mario can use pipes to switch between the desert and ice halves.

Non-Video Game Examples

Anime and Manga

• The first New World island the Straw Hats visit in One Piece, Punk Hazard, is half-fire, half-ice. On one side, you have a sea of boiling red water, dragons, and volcanoes. On the other half, a mountain of ice and snow storms, separated from the fire half only by a large lake. That's because Aokiji and Akainu fought there two years ago.

Literature

• The high score is currently held by the Keep of the Four Worlds in Roger Zelazny's Amber series: Lava, an ocean, mountains, and a dusty plain with never-ending tornadoes, with the castle at the place where all four intersect.

Tabletop RPG

• The Elemental Chaos of the Dungeons & Dragons 4 ed. is a place where the laws of physics can be a bit screwy (you can have oceans made out of lightning), so places like those described in the trope are not unheard of. Furthermore, there are actual creatures that embody this trope, being lava-ice creatures.

Web Comics

• This strip from Real Life Comics is a perfect example.
• In Homestuck, all the planets in the medium are described from two characteristics. Dave's planet, "Land of Heat and Clockwork", falls under this trope.

Real Life

• Mount Erebus in Antarctica is a lava lake surrounded by snow and ice.
• Iceland - most recently, the volcanic eruptions in Spring 2010 in a glacial area, providing some stunning pictures.
• Yellowstone, particularly in the winter.
• Desserts that are usually served hot (like Apple Pie or Chocolate Lava Cake) then topped with ice cream rely on this dynamic and are best eaten immediately to get the full effect.
• In winter, most active volcanoes whose crater is above the snowline are like this.
• Hawaii's Big Island is home to just about every clime in the book. From a desert made of miles and miles of black rock, to mountaintops with occasional snow, to a rainforest (where Kona Coffee's coffee plantation is found), to more temperate zones, and of course an active volcano. The Big Island has been described as having every climate in the book, except for arctic tundra.
• Jupiter's moon Io. A highly volcanic world that is located far enough from Sun for the temperatures to drop to -150 degrees Celsius when it's not erupting.
• The "snowball Earth" period early in our planet's history is thought to have ended because of the accumulating atmospheric greenhouse gases released through volcanism.

1. ↑ Clanker's Cavern and Rusty Bucket Bay