Fourside

Fourside
Universe	EarthBound
Appears in	Melee
Availability	Unlockable
Unlock criteria	Play 100 vs. matches.
Tracks available	EarthBound
Tournament legality Melee Singles: Banned Doubles: Banned
Article on WikiBound	Fourside

Fourside (フォーサイド, Fourside) is an unlockable stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is one of Ness's home stages, but Pichu and its teammates are faced here in All-Star Mode.

Layout

The stage is set on the rooftops of three buildings of the city of Fourside at nighttime, with several more skyscrapers in the far background. Between the buildings there are pits narrow enough to be scalable by wall jumping.

The building on the left has a slanted, triangular roof. A crane in its background keeps a floating soft platform suspended over it. Occasionally, the crane activates and moves the platform: it starts almost completely over the roof, then it moves to the left until it is fully over the pit, then slighly upwards, then to the right over the building, then down to its starting position.

The skyscraper in the middle, the Monotoli Building, is the largest of the three. A tall spire rises on the left part of its roof: its top is flat, and at about half its height jut out two small ledges. The right part of the roof is a wide flat surface with a helipad in the background: occasionally, a yellow helicopter flies to and from it, with no effect on the fight.

The building on the right is the shortest one, and its roof is a simple flat surface.

The UFO.

Occasionally, a UFO floats downwards with an eerie noise and remains suspended over either the left or the right part of the stage, serving as a temporary semisoft platform which bobs slightly. Its slippery surface is slightly slanted with a bulge in the middle. Its middle section is directly aligned either with the right pit or the middle of the roof of the left building, depending on its position. Wavedashing on the UFO can provide a major distance boost.

After about thirty seconds from its appearance, the UFO starts blinking and quickly disappears into thin air.

Tournament legality

Fourside is often banned due to the various ways in which players can camp and stall due to the large size and unusual geometry of the stage. The lack of large, flat platforms also hampers fighting between players, particularly in doubles. In addition, the UFO provides a platform that is too close to the upper blast line, thus potentially causing early vertical KOs. The presence of pits between buildings gives relevant advantages to some characters, such as Peach (who can stall indefinitely by using Peach Bomber repeatedly against the walls), while greatly crippling characters with primarily horizontal recoveries, such as Donkey Kong, who are even more susceptible than usual to early KOs from meteor smashes and spikes. The narrow pits also give an advantage to characters capable of wall jumping such as Mario and Captain Falcon and makes recovery almost impossible for Ness should he fall between them due to the wide angle needed for PK Thunder to be used correctly.

Origin

Fourside as it originally appeared in EarthBound.

Moonside, as seen in EarthBound.

The background music of EarthBound's opening sequence.

In EarthBound, Fourside is the largest city among the ones visited by Ness on his journey. It has a dark and bizarre parallel version, Moonside, created by the power of the evil Mani-Mani Statue: once the Statue is defeated by Ness and Jeff Moonside disappears.

The Monotoli Building is one of the tallest building of the city, whose top hosts a private helipad. It is the workplace of its mayor, Geldegarde Monotoli, who, under the influence of the Mani-Mani Statue, keeps Paula prisoner. After Paula is freed he offers to lend his helicopter to Ness and his friends to help them reach their next location; however Pokey Minch steals the helicopter and flies away.

The left building in this stage could be based on Fourside's Dinosaur Museum, which however in the source game is much farther from the Monotoli Building. From its back room it is possible to access the sewers which lead to Magnet Hill, the fifth Your Sanctuary location.

The UFO's appearance is based on the ones which appear in the opening sequence of EarthBound, a still image which depicts three large flying saucers attacking a small town. Its background music is a longer version of the sound which signals the UFO's entrance in this stage. Large flying saucers make no further appearances in the game; however smaller UFOs appear as enemies in both Mother and EarthBound.

Trivia

• Despite its unlockable status, this stage can be seen multiple times prior to its unlocking: it appears in some characters' Classic Mode endings (such as Captain Falcon) as well as in the Gargantuans event. Additionally, the stage shows up in Captain Falcon's vignette in the Special Movie.
• Computer players on Fourside tend to air dodge to recover instead of using their up special moves, sometimes even self-destructing.
• Due to it's slipperiness mechanic, repeatedly wavedashing on the UFO can cause a huge momentum boost, benefiting characters like Peach and Zelda, who both lack a long wavedash.
• It is possible that Fourside's inclusion as Pichu's home stage may be a reference to the Pikachu and Pichu short that played before Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown, which took place in a big city.