Tournament rulesets (SSBU)

This is the ruleset for SSBU. For other rulesets and general info on tournament legal settings, see Tournament rulesets.

Tournament legal describes the rules and settings that are generally accepted for use in competitive Smash tournaments. In SSBU, while many elements of tournament rulesets are consistent across major tournaments, they are not set in stone. Some specific details vary from tournament to tournament, with some local tournaments having completely different rulesets depending on the goals of said tournament.

General ruleset

Singles

• Ruleset: 3 Stock
• Time Limit: 6-8 minutes
• All items are turned off.
• Stage Hazard Toggle: Off
• Final Smash Meter: Off
• Spirits: Off
• Mii Fighters and their respective custom moves are allowed. If they do use custom moves, it will be shown in their name with what number move it is.
• Similar to previous Smash titles, if time runs out, the winner is first determined by how many stocks remain, and then by the percentage after time is up.
  • If both stock and percentage are the same, or a game ends in both players losing their last stock at the same time, then a tiebreaker is played, which consists of a 1 stock and 3 minute match with the same characters and the same stage.

Doubles

• All the rulesets for singles above apply.
• Team Attack: On
• Share stock is allowed.

Stages

Since the competitive scene is still rather young, and because of the sheer number of stages and the option to turn off stage hazards, there is no universally agreed upon stage list. This is why some tournaments use stages that are banned in others. When the losing player is choosing a counterpick stage, the winning player is typically allowed to ban two stages they have not counterpicked to or won on in the set. The list compiled below is an estimate based off of tournaments up to Ultimate Nimbus. While Small Battlefield has not seen much tournament play due to the lack of offline tournaments since its introduction, the stage is considered legal at the moment and may be used as a substitute for either Pokémon Stadium. The legality of Minecraft World is debated, due to the ability to choose specific forms, however the lack of offline tournaments since its introduction have inhibited the discussion to a degree. Northern Cave and Hollow Bastion are other recently released stages that have been considered as potential replacements to Kalos Pokémon League and Smashville, respectively.

Universal starters

The following stages are on the starter lists of virtually all tournaments:

• Battlefield*
• Final Destination*
• Pokémon Stadium 2 / Small Battlefield*
• Smashville

Counterpicks

The following stages are commonly seen as counterpick stages. In some tournaments, they may be used as starter stages, or be banned altogether:

• Hollow Bastion
• Kalos Pokémon League
• Lylat Cruise
• Northern Cave
• Town and City
• Yoshi's Story

Uncommon counterpicks/Semi-retired

The following stages rarely see use in larger tournaments, but may still be found in smaller tournaments and tournaments hosted by Nintendo. These stages may also see use in competitive play via the Gentleman's Rule.

• Fountain of Dreams
• Pokémon Stadium
• WarioWare, Inc.
• Yoshi's Island (Brawl)
• Frigate Orpheon
• Halberd
• Castle Siege
• Skyloft
• Unova Pokémon League
• Wuhu Island
• Mementos
• Yggdrasil's Altar
• Spring Stadium
• Minecraft World

Battlefield and Ω forms

Most Battlefield and Ω forms are typically allowed, but there are several that are explicitly banned for one reason or another. Stages that only have two dimensions cause significant differences during gameplay due to manipulating the Z-axis, and as such are always banned. Stages that conceal the ground are banned due to the unfair advantage they provide to characters that lay traps on the stage, such as Snake, Isabelle and Steve.

Stages that manipulate the Z-axis

• Hanenbow
• Dream Land GB
• Mute City SNES
• Flat Zone X
• Duck Hunt
• Pac-Land
• Super Mario Maker

Stages that conceal the ground

• Windy Hill Zone

No longer banned as of version 8.0.0

• Fountain of Dreams, previously banned due to the water's reflection causing framerate drops.
• Garreg Mach Monastery, previously banned due to the stage's ceiling blast zone differing from Final Destination and Battlefield.