Hydrocity Zone intro area

The opening area of Hydrocity Zone 1 is home to a rather complex and detailed introductory sequence, which uses of a lot of different mechanics. At the start of the stage, our heroes fall into a large pool of water: the basin of the waterfall at the end of Angel Island Zone 2. Venturing to the right, they run across a conspicuous button next to a stone door, which blocks a conspicuously dry tunnel visible only to the player.

When they press the button, the stone door slides open and water rushes into the previously dry tunnel. Our heroes get pulled along by the current, avoiding some minor obstacles as water fills the chamber. Finally, the immense pressure of the rushing liquid causes the far wall to break apart, and a jet of water tosses our heroes into the stage proper amidst a shower of stone bricks.

Over the next couple of posts, I'll go into detail regarding every one of these elements, showing how they work together to achieve the final effect, and explaining the oversights in each of them. Most of those were already documented eight years ago by GoldS in his legendary Glitches and Oversights video series, so go watch that in advance.