Great Bay

Great Bay
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Appears in	Melee Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tracks available	Great Bay Saria's Theme (Alternate) Fire Emblem (when facing Marth in Classic Mode)
Tournament legality Melee Singles: Banned Doubles: Banned
Article on Zelda Wiki	Great Bay Coast

Great Bay (グレートベイ, Great Bay) is a stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It could be considered Young Link's home stage, as he is fought here during his unlock battle and he is the main character in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, from which this stage originates.

In All-Star mode, this stage is where Link and any of his teammates are faced.

Stage layout

An in-game battle from Melee.

The left side of the stage consists of three platforms. The bottom ones have enough space for two fighters, and the left one floats and reacts to the fighters' weights by rocking. The raised platform, which has barely enough space for four characters is solid: this can be exploited by throwing opponents against its bottom to cause a stage spike and possibly an early KO.

The right side is occupied by a large turtle which acts as a platform. When the battle starts, the turtle is present and looks to the left: after about 30 seconds it sinks, carrying away any fighters still on it. It periodically emerges and sinks again, and can either look left or towards the screen. The trees on its back act as further platforms. The parts not covered by grass have lower traction, like ice and oil. Notably, when the turtle is absent the right blast line is very far from the stage: therefore, staying on the right is in this situation very advantageous.

File:Melee Tingle.jpg

Tingle standing in front of the Owl Statue in Melee.

Tingle floats around on a red balloon over the bottom right platform. Its balloon acts as a platform: standing on it for enough time or attacking it makes it pop, causing Tingle to fall down on the ground or in the water while flailing his limbs. Contact with him in this state causes 1-2% damage and negligible knockback. After a while, he reinflates his balloon and floats back up: if Tingle falls on the lower left platform, when he reinflates his balloon he is trapped under the main platform and his balloon automatically pops.

The Moon in the background steadily falls: when it gets close enough to the ground, the Four Giants appear, stop it and throw it back up into the sky. The cycle lasts about three minutes, and has no effect on the gameplay.

Tournament legality

Great Bay is banned in tournaments, the primary reason being that the stage allows for ample camping opportunities, including circle camping, by allowing characters to easily go from one bottom platform to the other, through going underneath the impassable main platform or over the top of it. The main platform can also allow very early KOs from stage spiking when players fight on the lower platforms.

Origin

The Marine Research Laboratory, as seen from the coast in Majora's Mask.

The moon as it originally appeared in Majora's Mask.

This stage is based on the Great Bay Coast from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. On the left side is the Marine Research Laboratory, though its exact structure and orientation are slightly different between the source game and Melee. In Ultimate, the design of the Marine Research Laboratory and the buildings in the background have been changed to reflect their appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D.

In Majora's Mask, owl statues act as warp points and, in non-Japanese versions of the game, as quicksave points. One of such statues is outside the Great Bay Laboratory, in the same spot as in Melee.

The Turtle allows Link to reach the Great Bay Temple when it is woken up. However, in Majora's Mask it is found on a different location of the Great Bay, nowhere near the Marine Research Laboratory.

Tingle's design and behavior is also taken from Majora's Mask, which is also his debut game. He appears in several locations, including the Marine Research Laboratory, floating with his balloon. Link can pop his balloon to make him fall on the ground, and then buy maps from him.

The Moon is a core element of Majora's Mask; it is slowly falling towards Termina, and Link has three in-game days, which can be extended by travelling back in time to the beginning of the first day, to stop it by freeing the Four Giants. The 3-minute cycle in Melee is a likely reference to the original 3-day cycle.

Gallery

• 

  Great Bay in Melee.

• 

  Ness walking out of the laboratory in a beta version of the stage.

• 

  Remnants of the laboratory within the stage in Melee.

• 

  Only three beams can be seen in this beta version.

• 

  The full view of Great Bay in Melee, including the underwater ground.

Trivia

The hidden islets in Melee.

• In early builds of the game, the Marine Research Lab in the background was part of the arena, allowing characters to walk in and out of it. It was moved into the background in the final version, though some remnants of the idea can be seen by using unrestricted camera hacks. Furthermore, the platform on the right side of the stage was composed by only three beams instead of the final five, much like the lab's appearance in Majora's Mask.
• Hacked cameras show that there's a complete underwater floor below the stage.
• To the left of the main cove where the platform exists is a second cove; within it is a cluster of 6 islets, matching the location of a minigame in which the player must jump to the designated island in Majora's Mask.

External links

• Great Bay - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Melee