Crossroads, romanized as Crossroad (クロスロード) was the fourth obstacle in Second Adventure Stage on the first three VIKING tournaments. It was one of a few obstacles to feature choices as opposed to a single, linear challenge, with those choices being Survival Flag (サバイバルフラッグ) and Survival Jump (サバイバルジャンプ). While the obstacle was fairly formidable, it was removed due to a change in format in VIKING 4.
Survival Flag[]
Survival Flag (サバイバルフラッグ) consisted of pulling a weighted bag (30 kg in weight, reduced to 25 kg in VIKING 3) up a pole about 7.5 metres in height, musing a rope which controlled the exit. Once pulled up to the top, the competitor keeps the weight in place by securing the rope with a hook before advancing on. If the competitor was slow to hoist the bag, their time would be consumed mostly by this obstacle, leading to a few timeouts later at Heavenly Climb or increase the pressure for Tactical Parley. From the seven competitors who attempted Crossroads, five choose to attempt Survival Flag and all managed to clear it.
Survival Jump[]
Survival Jump (サバイバルジャンプ) consisted of running up to a trampoline to a rotating pole perpendicular to the run-up. While faster and seemingly the easier of the two choices, any slip-ups without excellent recovery would have spelled immediate disaster, probably the reason only two of the seven to attempt the Crossroads choose the Survival Jump. However, both of them cleared it.
Competitors' Success Rate[]
- All results based on the Fuji TV broadcast and external information found.
| VIKING | Clears | Attempts | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| Total | 7 | 7 | 100% |
Several variations outside VIKING[]
Crossroads[]
While both of the obstacles never appeared anywhere outside VIKING, the Crossroads later adopted in various international Ninja Warrior formats such as Ninja Israel (Ninja Warrior Israel 3), Ninja Warrior France (since Ninja Warrior France 4), Australian Ninja Warrior (Australian Ninja Warrior 5), Ninja Warrior Poland (Ninja Warrior Poland 5), and Ninja Warrior Hungary (Ninja Warrior Hungary 3). However, unlike VIKING, competitors must choose between two routes, with each route have 2 obstacles.
Ninja Warrior Poland 5 and Ninja Warrior Hungary 3 also have two obstacles in each route, but was placed at the third and fifth obstacle (it works like two separate Split Decisions because competitor can choose obstacle (A) for the third obstacle and obstacle (B) for fifth obstacle or vice versa).
On Ninja Warrior Israel 3, the Crossroads have two rules in several heats:
- The first rule was competitors must choose between two routes, with each route have 2 obstacles
- The second rule was the route in which competitors must attempt is randomly announced once competitors reach the fourth obstacle, which would be a similar style to the Split-stage Format of SASUKE Vietnam.
Split Decision[]
Main article: Split Decision
The concept of having competitors to choose between two different obstacles in the same position firstly adopted in Ninja Warrior France (since Ninja Warrior France 2 to Ninja Warrior France 3 and since Ninja Warrior France 7 to Ninja Warrior France 8), later on American Ninja Warrior (since American Ninja Warrior 13 to American Ninja Warrior 14) and Ninja Israel (since Ninja Warrior Israel 5), calling the concept as the Split Decision.
Split-stage Format[]
Main article: Split-stage Format
On SASUKE Vietnam, a variation of the Crossroads, as Split-stage format, firstly appeared on the Stage One of SASUKE Vietnam 1. The first two obstacles are the same, but the producers will decide which competitors run the right-handed course (Stage 1A part) or the left-handed course (Stage 1B part). This making SASUKE Vietnam was the first international format have VIKING's Crossroads concept.
This variation later appeared as a new rule of the Crossroads in Ninja Warrior Israel 3.
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