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The Murder wall (AKA Death wall, Drill wall, or Murder wall) is an evil and adrenaline-inducing game element present on a select few rounds in KC, three actually:
- Hills of the Warrior 1 (Stage 1)
- Forced Entry (Stage 3)
- Bloody Swamp (Stage 3)
These levels have special background music to alert you to the danger that is coming as soon as they start.
The Wall[]
The Grinder's videogame debut. Picture, if you will, pain. The worst pain possibly experienced. Now picture that times ten. Picture that times ten. Picture that times ten. Pictured that? Good. The Wall is a machine that makes that kinda pain seem like a stubbed toe. The wall is covered in spikes, grinders and drills and looks a bit like death incarnate with a chainsaw. Touching the wall, no matter what helmet or how many hit points you have, will kill you instantly.
The wall rapidly moves to the right, forcing the player to keep up a good pace during the whole level. To make things worse, the levels with murder walls are usually designed so that falling behind is easy - shooter blocks, chain reactions that you must wait for, inconveniently placed rubber blocks, platforms that'll crush you if you're not careful, and so on. Sure, you can outrun the murder wall and leave it way behind, but one mistake and it could be back to tooth and nail in an instant. This makes the murder wall levels some of the hardest in the game.
Enemies or blocks are unaffected by the Murder wall, and no attacks can harm it. The only way to escape is by reaching the right end of the level. Usually, a flag or teleporter can be found there so get to it and get the hell out! Take the wrong path though, and you'll find yourself in a dead end. In this case, you'll have no choice but to let the murder wall rip you to smithereens and try again.
But Kid's got a couple tricks up his sleeve...[]
As the result of a bug, Kid can briefly pause the Murder wall by doing his ledge grab move. It's not much, but it just might save you from a good old slice n' dice.
The only way to actually defend yourself from the Murder wall is with Berzerker's or Skycutter's 20-diamond power, Invulnerability. The diamond shield will prevent the murder wall from killing you, but the screen will continue to scroll forward. You won't be squished by the scrolling, just left behind. However, if you're stuck behind the wall when the diamonds wear off (which happens about 8.5 seconds later), you'll die. Thus, the invulnerability is only good to grasp a split second off the inevitable, as it can still save you a life.
Going completely behind the wall will cause a graphical bug where you'll see your diamond shield come out from the right side of the screen, and actually represents how far behind the murder wall you are. When the diamonds fade away, you'll hear your death sequence.
Scrolling[]
There's a maximum distance that the wall can fall behind, so any mistake could bring the wall on screen. Remember: the Murder wall is always closer than it appears!
The Murder wall is gauged at two different scrolling speeds. There's a slower speed that's only present in Hills of the Warrior 1, and a faster one in Forced Entry and Bloody Swamp. The faster speed is the same as Kid's walking speed.
Trivia[]
- Of the three Murder wall levels, Forced Entry and Bloody Swamp can be easily avoided by taking different routes (check the Stage 3 map).
- While we are at it, Hills of the Warrior 1 can be avoided too by taking a bridge, which will spare you this and about a dozen other levels.