Stage legality

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Stage legality refers to the playable status of various stages in mainstream tournaments.

Categories

In general, all stages fall into one of three categories:

Neutral stages may be chosen in any game of a set, including the first game. These are also referred to as starter stages (not to be confused with the term for stages that do not need to be unlocked to be used in-game).

Counterpick stages may be chosen only after the first game of a set, such as games 2 and 3 of a best-of-3 set. Stages in this category tend to give a slight, though not overwhelming, advantage for certain characters over others, such that it would not be fair to include them in the neutral list. These stages may often (though not always) be chosen for counterpicking purposes, hence the name of the category.

Banned stages cannot be chosen at all. Stages can be banned for several reasons, common reasons including but not limited to:

• Especially poor matchup balance by providing a rather extreme advantage for certain characters (such as allowing the character to utilise excessive, gamebreaking camping, or utilise infinite chain throws, as in the case of Fox in Temple for the former, or King Dedede in Shadow Moses Island for the latter).
• Intrusive stage hazards that can easily KO players who are knocked into them, or force players to give up an advantage to avoid them. An extreme example of this is Gamer.
• Allowing players to abuse glitches in the game.
• Possessing one or more "caves of life," allowing characters to survive much longer than feasibly possible under usual circumstances, and creating a general over-centralisation on the ability to tech.
• Possessing permanent walk-off blast lines and walls; the former creates unreasonably powerful camping positions and allows for potential easy zero-deaths that wouldn't occur normally, as well as marginalizing or completely eliminating offstage play (nullifying the value of a good recovery), while the latter also creates powerful camping positions and allow for zero-death or otherwise heavily damaging combos that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Walk-offs and walls that occur only temporarily on a stage are considered detrimental, but acceptable enough to usually not result in a stage's banning by themselves.
• Drastically altering gameplay and the strategies needed to win (such as Icicle Mountain and Mario Bros.).
• Possessing elements that causes the stage to be too strenuous on the system's CPU and thus being capable of reducing the game's frame rate mid-match (such as Fountain of Dreams in Melee doubles play).

The term legal stage can also be used to describe any neutral or counterpick stage, or equivalently, any non-banned stage.

In general, due to the wide variety between stages and stage types and the series as a whole not necessarily being designed with serious competitive play in mind, very few stages are balanced enough to be legal for professional competitive play, which is why a majority of stages in all games end up being banned.

Despite the banned stages list, most tournaments feature some variation of the "gentleman rule", a rule that allows players to choose any stage they want, including banned stages, if all players in the match agree to it. This is usually the only way for banned stages to see serious tournament play. However, even with this rule in effect, it rarely sees use to play on banned stages outside a much higher-skilled player letting an opposing more casual or very young player choose any stage they want, as most competitive players never want to willingly play on the banned stages for the same reasons the ruleset had them banned. Even with the rule in effect, TOs may still ban some stages from being played on via the gentleman rule, if the stage has a propensity to delay the tournament by causing much longer matches (such as Temple, New Pork City, and The Great Cave Offensive).

Major differences in communities

There are many community preferences in terms of stage choices, with there being no agreed-upon standard across all regions on what exactly constitutes a "legal stage", so a stage's legality can be dependent on the region the tournament is in; this is especially true in Brawl and Smash 4, due to a lack of an officially standardized stage list. Pokémon Stadium 2 in Brawl, for instance, was generally banned in the Tristate Area, while tournaments in Texas usually allowed the stage to be a legal counterpick choice.

The commonality of characters can also play a role in what stages are legal or banned. Again in Brawl, the rising prominence of Meta Knight in the metagame led to stage lists in most regions becoming more restrictive. In the Tristate region, Meta Knight was not banned from tournaments, and as a result, the Tristate tournament scene banned or otherwise restricted stages such as Delfino Plaza, Halberd, and Rainbow Cruise due to Meta Knight's overwhelming power on such stages. In some regions, however, Meta Knight was not as widely used as the Tristate Area; as such, some of the aforementioned stages have differing legalities, with Halberd sometimes being a starter stage and Frigate Orpheon going from a banned stage to a counterpick. WHOBO 4, the first American MK-banned major, featured an expansive stagelist that included Delfino Plaza, Halberd, Rainbow Cruise, and Brinstar as counterpicks, even though most of these stages were banned in MK-legal tournaments at the time.

Stage legality in Smash 64

The following is Smash 64's banlist for stages in tournaments. Until mid-2015, four stages — Dream Land, Hyrule Castle, Congo Jungle, and Peach's Castle — were legal. Currently, Dream Land is the only stage that can be used in tournaments. However, with tournaments switching from the vanilla version of the game to the 19XX mod, in some tournaments like GENESIS 5 or GENESIS 6, the stages Duel Zone and Final Destination, which weren't available without hacking, have seen some tournament presence in doubles, though this is generally rare.

More recently, Smash Remix has allowed for certain hacked stages in tournaments, such as Zebes Landing (a version of Dream Land without wind), and even stages with a different layout, like 64 versions of Smashville, Yoshi's Story, Pokémon Stadium and others.

Stage	Status (singles)	Status (doubles)	Commonly cited reasons for status
Dream Land	Starter	Starter	A modified version of this stage without hazards (the wind) or alternative versions in Smash Remix such as Zebes Landing is sometimes used as an alternative.
Congo Jungle	Retired starter	Infrequently legal	Top platforms are too high (characters such as Ness can have difficulty approaching without double jumping); Lack of ledge DI hurts recoveries; poor lighting; barrel turning is randomized and it removes double jump hurting certain recoveries.
Hyrule Castle	Retired starter	Infrequently legal	Too large; cave of life/the tent at stage's right side promotes camping and can lead to powerful combos; left slant is hard to approach; Tornado stage hazards are too powerful and disruptive to gameplay and can also randomly be fast or slow.
Peach's Castle	Retired counterpick	Infrequently legal	Stage lacks grabable edges unfairly punishing characters with short recoveries; irregular geometry, especially due to triangular platforms, sliding main platform, and Bumper; too small to properly accommodate doubles; lack of ledge DI
Saffron City	Retired counterpick	Banned	Too large; Pokémon are too disruptive and can overcentralize matches; helipad and platforms to the left of the stage promote camping; Ness has issues recovering when caught between platforms leading to a specialized ruleset where Ness would have an extra ban.
Mushroom Kingdom	Banned	Banned	Pipes can promote camping and stalling; Walk-off blast lines; POW Block is too disruptive a stage hazard
Planet Zebes	Banned	Banned	Acid is too disruptive a stage hazard and can promote camping and stalling; Distracting aesthetics due to poor lighting and awkward camera angles
Sector Z	Banned	Banned	Too large; Arwing lasers can disrupt gameplay; Great Fox's fin at the right side of the stage promotes stalling
Yoshi's Island	Banned	Banned	Clouds can promote camping and stalling especially if characters with poor recoveries become stuck on them; right blast line is too far from the stage
Yoshi's Island (cloudless)	Banned	Infrequently legal	Stage layout promotes circle camping in singles; unavailable without hacks
Final Destination	Banned	Infrequently legal	Lack of platforms hurt movement options and promote camping; unavailable without hacks; Freezes occasionally (presumed due to the game triggering Master Hand.)
Duel Zone	Banned	Infrequently legal	Platforms are higher than Dream Land preventing certain characters from platform cancelling; Ledge DI can cause an SD by "warping" the character into the bottom due to ledge physics; Unavailable without hacks
Meta Crystal	Banned	Banned	Unavailable without hacks; Too small; slants can alter gameplay

Stage legality in Melee

In the current Smash Back Room rule set, all stages are listed definitively as a starter, counterpick, or banned stage, as follows:

Stage	Status (singles)	Status (doubles)	Commonly cited reasons for status
Battlefield	Starter	Starter
Big Blue	Banned	Banned	Random terrain; scrolling stage; typical stage layout allows for circle and run away camping; stalling; track that the cars move on carries characters in contact with it extremely quickly towards walk-off blast lines
Brinstar	Retired counterpick	Banned	Acid disrupts gameplay; breakable platforms distort already-awkward stage structure; over-centralization of the aerial game, causing many characters with poor aerial games to have an unfair disadvantage
Brinstar Depths	Banned	Banned	No ledges to grab; irregular stage design and frequent rotating of the stage causes drastic changes in gameplay; contains caves of life; abnormally low ceiling gives a disproportional advantage to vertical finishers; various, unreasonably strong camping and stalling positions
Corneria	Retired counterpick	Banned	Overly large; excessive camping/stalling behind the big fin; fin allows for wall infinites; random, powerful stage hazards in Arwing lasers; several positions from which characters cannot recover which they can easily be forced into, especially by characters with good aerial games; overall gives unfair advantages to fast characters on the stage and aerial-based characters off of it
Dream Land	Starter	Starter
Final Destination (SSBM)	Counterpick/starter	Starter	Typically a counterpick when used with frozen stadium as a starter; The lack of platforms causes certain characters (such as Yoshi) to struggle and significantly changes the dynamics of certain matchups (such as Fox vs. Marth)
Flat Zone	Banned	Banned	Extremely disruptive stage hazards (such as falling, damaging materials, appearing and disappearing platforms, and oil slick); stage is overly small; no bottom blast line; walk-off blast lines
Fountain of Dreams	Starter	Banned	Potential for framerate issues causing lag during doubles play
Fourside	Banned	Banned	No large, stable platforms for fighting, especially in doubles; stalling; walls allow infinites and stalling; UFOs can allow early vertical KOs
Great Bay	Banned	Banned	Solid, middle platform above two lower platforms allows for easy, low-risk, no-edge-guarding-required stage spikes that result in frequent low-percent KOs and gimps that would not occur in usual circumstances; stage design allows for the potential of circle camping and stalling; left blast line is too close to the stage; too small to accommodate more than 2 players
Green Greens	Retired counterpick	Banned	Over-centralizes gameplay on camping; randomly appearing bomb blocks disrupt normal gameplay
Icicle Mountain	Banned	Banned	Randomly moving stage; disproportional advantage to characters with high, fast jumps; over-centralizes gameplay on keeping up with the stage's scrolling
Jungle Japes	Retired counterpick	Banned	Overly powerful stage hazard in Klap Trap; unusually high ceiling gives a disproportional advantage to horizontal finishers; high potential for camping and stalling; very poor matchup balance, giving a disproportionate advantage to characters with projectiles and those that can traverse the stage well
Kongo Jungle	Banned	Banned	Powerful camping position on the rock platform on the bottom right of the stage; Klap Trap too powerful and difficult to avoid when it enters the Barrel Cannon
Kongo Jungle N64	Retired counterpick	Retired counterpick	Above average size gives an advantage to fast or projectile-bearing characters; higher ceiling forces characters to rely more on horizontal KOs; disruptive aesthetics, especially in one-on-one play (pitch-black background, camera errors)
Mushroom Kingdom	Banned	Banned	Irregular stage design forces major gameplay changes; bricks create caves of life, camping spots, and can block hitboxes; walk-off blast lines
Mushroom Kingdom II	Banned	Banned	Walk-off blast lines; stage is too small; random, disruptive stage hazard in Birdo; lack of proper "center" platform hinders gameplay, particularly in doubles
Mute City	Retired counterpick	Banned	Lack of ledges on main platform; main platform poorly accommodates doubles play, being too small and potentially causing slowdown in gameplay; car hazards are overly powerful against fast fallers
Onett	Retired counterpick	Banned	Unusual geometry; overly powerful and frequently appearing stage hazards in cars, which deal in excess of 30% damage and can KO at low percents; no lower blast line; permanent walls promote camping and infinites; walk-off blast lines
Poké Floats	Retired counterpick	Banned	Irregular terrain; scrolling stage; layout frequently allows circle and run away camping; stalling; potential for stage spikes
Pokémon Stadium	Counterpick/starter	Starter	Transformations can allow for wall infinites and camping, especially for Fox and Falco. Certain transformations have locations where players can clip through the stage both intentionally and unintentionally, and most characters are unable to survive.
Pokémon Stadium (frozen)	Sometimes legal	Sometimes legal	The lack of transformations make for a more balanced and consistent experience. Unavailable without modding. Used in modern online events due to stage transformations causing desyncs when playing online with Project Slippi and in some offline locals and major tournaments such as Riptide.
Princess Peach's Castle	Retired counterpick	Banned	OHKO stage hazard in Banzai Bill; walls allow infinites; permanent walls promote camping; separation of large portions of the stage through a castle tower, making it difficult to traverse
Rainbow Cruise	Retired counterpick	Banned	Several ungrabbable ledges; disappearing platforms; scrolling stage, giving disproportional advantages to characters with good aerial games, and punishing those which have sluggish aerial speed; over-centralizes gameplay on keeping up with the stage rather than actually fighting; extremely skewed character matchups
Temple	Banned	Banned	Overly large; large cave of life in lower area over-centralizes gameplay on teching; multiple areas allow for run away and circle camping; stalling; over-reliance on vertical KOs due to sheer horizontal size; gives an extreme advantage to fast characters or characters who can circle camp around the stage with horribly skewed character matchups, most notoriously towards many already-top/high tier characters (such as Fox, Jigglypuff, and Samus)
Venom	Banned	Banned	Slowdown; walls allow for infinites; several, unreasonably strong camping positions; disruptive and powerful stage hazards; separation of portions of the stage by the Great Fox body makes it difficult to traverse; Jigglypuff notably gains a huge advantage here, as the small blast lines make it easier for it to KO opponents, and then infinitely camp below the Great Fox.
Yoshi's Island N64	Banned	Banned	Camping on clouds to the stage's right and left hand sides; run away stalling; characters with poor recoveries who are lured to the clouds, such as Link and Falco, cannot recover
Yoshi's Island	Banned	Banned	Rotating block platforms create caves of life; walk-off blast lines; marginalizes offstage skills; rotating blocks in the middle pit can block recoveries; left and top blast lines too close to stage; potential for easy and inescapable shine combos from Fox
Yoshi's Story	Starter	Starter

In the past, the following stages have been legal counterpicks, but are now banned:

• Big Blue, Brinstar, Corneria, Green Greens, Jungle Japes, Kongo Jungle, Kongo Jungle (N64), Mushroom Kingdom, Mushroom Kingdom II, Mute City, Onett, Poké Floats, Princess Peach's Castle, Rainbow Cruise, Yoshi's Island

The following stages have never been legal in competitive Melee history:

• Brinstar Depths, Flat Zone, Fourside, Great Bay, Icicle Mountain, Temple, Venom, Yoshi's Island (N64)

Stage legality in Brawl

For finer-grained status descriptions, see Tournament legal (SSBB).

Brawl had a highly fragmented and argumentative community when it came to which stages should be legal. As a result, the stage legality list is significantly messier than the previous two games, with most stages being disputed in one way or another. Additionally, a stage's legal status was heavily influenced by Meta Knight's legality, as he tends to gain even more drastic advantages on many fringe stages. Thus tournaments that banned Meta Knight tend to allow more stages than tournaments that kept him legal.

Stage	Status	Commonly cited reasons for status
75m	Banned	Overly large; camera has zooming issues and difficulty following characters; excessive stalling potential; random, powerful stage hazards; too difficult to move around the stage; walk off blast lines; very poor matchup balance, where characters with powerful and flexible air games, as well as those who can camp with projectiles, have a disproportional advantage
Battlefield	Starter
Big Blue (Melee)	Banned	Random terrain; scrolling stage; ground too close to the cars; gives a disproportional advantage to faster moving characters; stage moves too fast for usual gameplay; too much emphasis on platforming
Bridge of Eldin	Infrequently legal	High potential for camping/stalling; walk off blast lines; overly powerful stage hazard in the bomb thrown by King Bulbin; bottom blast line is not always available; abnormally high ceiling and walk-offs give a disproportional advantage to horizontal finishers. Has only seen legal usage in some Japanese doubles tournaments; banned elsewhere.
Brinstar	Infrequently legal	Irregular stage design; acid disrupts gameplay; main platform allows sharking, poor matchup balance, where air based characters gain a significant advantage, most notoriously Meta Knight. Meta Knight's advantage on the stage is so large that it's universally banned nowadays in Meta Knight legal tournaments, but it may see legality in Meta Knight banned tournaments.
Castle Siege	Counterpick	Second stage transformation and the transition between stage transformations have walk offs; second stage transformation has no access to a bottom blast line and thus does not allow offstage gameplay; second transformation is very large and allows ease of platform camping.
Corneria (Melee)	Banned	Close blast lines and an abnormally low ceiling, which gives a disproportional advantage to vertical finishers; excessive camping/stalling behind the big fin; fin allows for wall infinites
Delfino Plaza	Counterpick	Several stage transformations have walls and/or walk offs; primary section of the stage on the hovering platform allows sharking. Meta Knight legal tournaments that don't intend to be as limited as the Japanese ruleset may ban the stage, solely due to Meta Knight's prowess on the stage.
Distant Planet	Infrequently legal	Walk off blast line; a dangerous stage hazard in the Red Bulborb, which can KO players by dragging them off screen; unreasonably powerful camping position at the bottom of the ramp underneath the platform; stage design allows the potential for circle camping
Final Destination	Starter
Flat Zone 2	Banned	Randomness of the stage; overly small; numerous damaging and powerful stage hazards; no bottom blast line; walk off blast lines
Frigate Orpheon	Counterpick	The stage flipping between its two transformations is susceptible to causing what is commonly seen as unwarranted self destructs; the first stage transformation has no grabbable ledge on the right side of the stage, giving a disproportional disadvantage to characters with tether recoveries and other characters who heavily rely on the ledge to recover. Meta Knight legal tournaments that don't intend to be as limited as the Japanese ruleset may ban the stage solely due to Meta Knight's prowess on the stage.
Green Greens	Infrequently legal	Over-centralises gameplay on camping; randomly appearing bomb blocks disrupt normal gameplay; blocks allow for wall infinites
Green Hill Zone	Banned	Excessive camping near checkpoint hazard; walk off blast lines; bottom blast line is not always available; horizontal blast lines that are close with walk-offs and a high ceiling give a disproportional advantage to horizontal finishers
Halberd	Counterpick	Stage has a rather low ceiling, giving a disproportional advantage to vertical finishers; the hovering platform portion of the stage allows sharking; the Halberd Bridge portion of the stage has powerful stage hazards. Meta Knight legal tournaments that don't intend to be as limited as the Japanese ruleset may ban the stage solely due to Meta Knight's prowess on the stage.
Hanenbow	Banned	Stage is overly large; irregular stage design forces major gameplay changes; high camping/stalling potential
Jungle Japes	Infrequently legal	Overly powerful stage hazard in Klap Trap; unusually high ceiling gives a disproportional advantage to horizontal finishers; high potential for camping and stalling; very poor matchup balance, giving a disproportional advantage to characters with projectiles and those that can traverse the stage well (most notoriously Falco, to where the stage is seen as an autowin for Falco in most matchups).
Luigi's Mansion	Infrequently legal	Impassable platforms create caves of life; stage design allows the potential for circle camping
Lylat Cruise	Counterpick/Starter	Slants at the ledges; tilting can unfairly mess up recoveries
Mario Bros.	Banned	Gameplay is vastly altered by stage enemies; overly powerful stage hazards; impassable platforms create caves of life; walk-off blast lines; no lower blast line
Mario Circuit	Banned	High potential for camping/stalling; walk-off blast lines; frequent stage hazard in karts that often disrupt gameplay; no lower blast line
Mushroomy Kingdom (1-1 and 1-2)	Banned	Scrolling stage; stage moves too fast for usual gameplay; bricks create caves of life, especially in 1-2; ledges are not grabbable; walk-off blast lines
New Pork City	Banned	Stage is overly large; walls allow for wall infinites; excessive stalling/camping potential; camera has zooming problems; OHKO stage hazard in the Ultimate Chimera; stage is abnormally difficult to traverse, disrupting gameplay
Norfair	Infrequently legal	Overly powerful, frequent stage hazards that disrupt usual gameplay; stage has many ledges that can be easily abused.
Onett (Melee)	Infrequently legal	Irregular stage design; frequent stage hazard in cars disrupt gameplay; walls allow infinites; walk-off blast lines; no lower blast line
Pictochat	Infrequently legal	The order in which the drawings appear on the stage is random, and the time to prepare for each drawing is minimal; some drawings can cause a player to be KO'd or fail a recovery against their control (such as the Eyes drawing preventing a recovering character from grabbing the left ledge, or the Gusty Gus drawing appearing and stage spiking a character after they have been knocked back); some drawings create walls, allowing wall infinites; some drawings promote camping; overly powerful stage hazards; numerous glitches can occur on the stage, such as the Earthquake glitch and the Spin glitch.
Pirate Ship	Infrequently legal	High potential for stalling in the water or under the ship's rudder; overly powerful stage hazards
Pokémon Stadium	Counterpick/Starter	Thin lips at the edges of the stage; water transformation has a solid windmill that can create caves of life; walls in fire and rock transformations can lead to camping
Pokémon Stadium 2	Infrequently legal	Stage transformations can cause what many players see as large, disruptive gameplay changes; wind transformation reduces gravity; ice transformation has slippery terrain; electric transformation has large, fast-moving conveyor belts that disrupt usual gameplay; all transformations but ice have powerful camping positions and high potential for stalling. One of the most heavily debated stages, as many players have vouched for the stage and argue its transformations to not be as disruptive as commonly claimed, or in some cases that its transformations are even beneficial to gameplay. Many other players, however, adamantly refuse to touch the stage, and thus it remains commonly banned.
Port Town Aero Dive	Infrequently legal	Randomness of the stage; overly powerful stage hazards in the cars (which can KO under 50%); cars can be difficult to see coming due to the colors and their speed; main platform has no grabbable ledges
Rainbow Cruise	Infrequently legal	Scrolling stage; some portions of the stage have no grabbable ledges; some portions of the stage have walls, allowing wall infinites or walk-off blast lines, creating an over-centralisation on horizontal KO moves; poor matchup balance, where air-based characters have a significant advantage, most notoriously Meta Knight. Meta Knight's advantage on the stage is so large that it's universally banned nowadays in Meta Knight legal tournaments, but it may see legality in Meta Knight banned tournaments.
Rumble Falls	Banned	Scrolling stage; gives a disproportional advantage to characters with fast, high jumps; punishes characters who rely on tether recoveries; first spike is an OHKO stage hazard if not teched; irregular stage design forces major gameplay changes, given an emphasis on keeping up with the stage instead of fighting
Shadow Moses Island	Banned	No lower blast line; walls block access to side blast lines when not destroyed; over-centralisation on teching; game mechanics change too quickly when walls are destroyed or up, giving a disproportional advantage to vertical finishers when the walls are up, and giving that advantage to horizontal finishers when they're down; walls allow for wall infinites; walk off blast lines when the walls are destroyed; a glitch can allow characters to stay on the other side of the walls when they rebuild, allowing the character to safely camp there until the wall is destroyed again
Skyworld	Banned	Impassable platforms; cave of life in centre of stage creates an over-centralisation on teching; the combination of "supersoft platforms" and the aforementioned impassable platforms results in frequent onstage stage spikes, that cause frequent low damage KOs on the stage from what should be a neutral position; potential slowdown in doubles
Smashville	Starter
Spear Pillar	Banned	Randomness of Pokémon attacks; overly powerful stage hazards caused by Pokémon; Pokémon can cause disruptive changes in gameplay, such as slowing down time, reducing gravity, and reversing control; stage design allows the potential for circle camping; lower area of the stage provides a large cave of life
Summit	Banned	Terrain is slippery; lower gravity occurs at one point of the stage; one-hit KO stage hazard of the fish, which quickly drags characters beneath the lower blast line with no hope of survival; ledges are not grabbable, giving a disproportional disadvantage to characters who rely on ledges to recover, especially those with tether recoveries; lower area provides a cave of life; stage design allows the potential for circle camping
Temple (Melee)	Banned	Overly large; large cave of life in lower area over-centralises gameplay on teching; multiple areas allow for run away and circle camping; excessive stalling potential; gives an extreme advantage to fast characters (most notably Fox)
WarioWare, Inc.	Banned	Random bonuses from Microgames have an over-centralising effect, to where someone can win by being luckier with the bonuses; walk off blast lines during microgames; overly powerful stage hazards during microgames
Yoshi's Island	Counterpick/Starter	Shy guys can disrupt projectiles; The Blarggwich can assist in recoveries, but arrival and departure times are random.
Yoshi's Island (Melee)	Infrequently legal	Rotating block platforms create caves of life; walk off blast lines; marginalizes offstage skills; blast lines are abnormally close to the stage

Additionally, the community at large has never considered the sample stages in the Stage Builder as official stages, and as a result, they are all considered banned. Despite this, none of the three stages would be theoretically legal in any ruleset: Hole has no grabbable ledges from the outside and contains a powerful camping location in the lower-left spikes; Bath frequently lacks the lower blast line and has walls that block the horizontal blast lines and allow for infinites; and Maze's irregular design promotes camping, circle-camping, and stalling, and the stage's architecture creates caves of life. Arguably, a large number of setups also often lack the stages, as they interfere with the loading of mods via the Smash Stack.

Stage legality in Project M

The following stages are legal in the PMBR 2018 Full Recommended Ruleset [1]

For counterpicks, the winner of the previous game strikes 2 legal stages after character selection and the loser picks one of the remaining ones.

Stage	Status (singles)	Status (doubles)	Comments
Battlefield	Starter	Starter
Pokémon Stadium 2	Starter	Starter
Smashville	Starter	Starter
Green Hill Zone	Starter	Starter	Entirely redone Project M version with a platform rotating in a circle at the center.
Delfino's Secret	Starter	Starter	Project M original stage that replaces Delfino Plaza.
Final Destination	Counterpick	Counterpick
Fountain of Dreams	Counterpick	Banned	Too small for doubles.
Wario Land	Counterpick	Banned	Stage design from WarioWare, Inc. without transformations. Textures usually changed to a Wario Land theme. Too small for doubles.
Dream Land	Counterpick	Counterpick
Yoshi's Island (Brawl)	Counterpick	Counterpick	Stage design from Yoshi's Island (Brawl) without platform ghosts. Textures usually changed to a Metal Cavern theme.

Stage legality in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Since the release of its home console counterpart, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS has had minimal tournament presence. The following stage list is used by Anther's Ladder for 3DS netplay and most online 3DS tournaments:

Stage	Status	Commonly cited reasons for status
Battlefield	Starter
Final Destination	Starter
3D Land	Banned	Occasional hazards; scrolling favors characters with good mobility; several areas of the stage have walk-off blast lines
Golden Plains	Banned	Coins have an overcentralizing effect due to the buffs they can grant; walk-off blast lines
Rainbow Road	Banned	Shy Guy stage hazards are too strong; several stops on the stage have walk-off blast lines
Paper Mario	Banned	Too large; walls can allow for powerful combos; all three transformations of the stage have disruptive elements
Super Mario Maker	Banned	Unpredictable and randomized stage layout; stage hazards are too powerful; walls allow for powerful combos
Peach's Castle (64)	Banned	Too large; promotes camping; bumper creates too much random chance regarding vertical KOs; walls can allow for powerful combos
Mushroomy Kingdom	Banned	Scrolling overcentralizes gameplay on keeping up with the stage and unfairly benefits characters with good mobility; frequent walls can allow for powerful combos; bricks can create caves of life and inhibit mobility; walk-off blast lines constantly present
Yoshi's Island	Starter
Jungle Japes	Banned	Right side of stage promotes camping; windbox underneath the stage is too powerful and can lead to early deaths; Klaptrap stage hazard is too powerful and can result in OHKOs; overly high upper blast line overcentralizes gameplay on horizontal KOs
Gerudo Valley	Banned	Koume and Kotake create stage hazards that are too powerful; walk-off blast lines; frequent absence of lower blast line
Spirit Train	Banned	Distant blast lines; train stage hazards and train tracks are too powerful; lower blast line is absent; potential for walk-off blast lines in some transformations
Hyrule Castle (64)	Banned	Too large; blast lines are too distant from stage; tornadoes are too powerful and can easily KO opponents at low percentages; Tent at the stage's right side can promote stalling and camping, as well as create a cave of life
Brinstar	Banned	Lava stage hazard is too powerful, especially against fast-fallers; stage creates significant reliance on aerial games, punishing characters that need to stay on the ground; irregular, disruptive design that can frequently change
Dream Land	Banned	Scrolling overcentralizes gameplay on keeping up with the stage, giving a strong benefit to characters with good mobility; frequent walk-off blast lines; lower blast line is frequently absent
Dream Land (64)	Counterpick	Wind can alter gameplay; the top platform is closer to the ceiling than battlefield; thus sligtly favoring characters with vertical finishers
Corneria	Banned	Too large; upper blast line is too close to stage; Arwings and Wolfen can disrupt gameplay; back fin of the stage can promote camping and wall combos
Unova Pokémon League	Banned	Pokémon hazards are too disruptive and powerful.
Prism Tower	Counterpick	Some transformations feature walk-off blast lines.
Mute City	Banned	Lack of bottom blast line; road is too powerful a stage hazard; potentially random placement of F-Zero racers; provides significant advantage to characters with good aerial mobility
Magicant	Banned	Flying Men are too powerful a stage hazard and overcentralize gameplay on camping on the rightmost platform.
Arena Ferox	Counterpick	Some transformations feature caves of life.
Flat Zone 2	Banned	Stage features no lower blast line and has walk-off blast lines; Game & Watch hazards are too powerful and disruptive
Reset Bomb Forest	Banned	Lurchthorn stage hazard too disruptive; second transformation of stage features numerous walls that create caves of life; mid-transformation stage features walk-off blast lines.
WarioWare, Inc.	Banned	Microgames have overcentralizing effect due to granting buffs; buffs can be random in nature; all microgames feature walk-off blast lines; stage hazards in microgames are too powerful and disruptive
Distant Planet	Banned	Left side of stage features walk-off blast line; slope just underneath the main platform creates a powerful camping position; Bulborb stage hazard can lead to OHKOs; pellets can act as items and benefit characters who pick them up first
Tortimer Island	Banned	Randomized layout; too large; no lower blast line.
Boxing Ring	Banned	Too large; no lower blast line; walk-offs; upper light fixture is too powerful a stage hazard and can promote camping and stalling.
Gaur Plain	Banned	Too large; promotes camping and circle camping; walk-off blast lines; grants advantage to characters with good aerial mobility
Duck Hunt	Retired counterpick	Tree on left side of stage can promote camping and stalling; Duck Hunt Dog can be disruptive; blast lines are close to stage. Banned on December 19, 2016.
Balloon Fight	Banned	Walk-off blast lines; Fish and other stage hazards are too disruptive and powerful; lower blast line is difficult to utilize
Living Room	Banned	Walk-off blast lines; some transformations can promote camping and/or stalling; blocks are too powerful and disruptive a stage hazard
Find Mii	Banned	Dark Lord is too powerful and disruptive a stage hazard; stage can grant buffs to some players
Tomodachi Life	Banned	Too large; stage can promote camping
Midgar	Banned	Overcentralization of gameplay on collecting Materia; stage hazards from the Materia are too powerful and disruptive
PictoChat 2	Banned	Hazards are too disruptive and powerful for gameplay
Green Hill Zone	Banned	Walk-off blast lines; signposts create powerful camping positions; frequent lack of lower blast line
Wily Castle	Banned	Yellow Devil too powerful and disruptive a stage hazard
Pac-Maze	Banned	Cave of life potential; high upper blast line overcentralizes gameplay on horizontal finishers; ghosts too powerful and disruptive a hazard; overcentralization on collecting pellets, which can grant buffs to players
Suzaku Castle	Banned	Walk-off blast lines on right side of the stage
Umbra Clock Tower	Banned	Some stage transformations feature walk-off blast lines and caves of life; aesthetics can disrupt regular gameplay

Stage legality in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Like Brawl, there is no uniform stagelist for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, with some differences and disagreements on stage categories between areas. The table below generally uses the most commonly accepted legality for each stage.

Stage	Status	Commonly cited reasons for status
Ω forms	Varies	Sometimes banned due to being identical to Final Destination; sometimes legal as an alternative to Final Destination due to Ω forms sometimes having different blast line distances or main platform shapes
Battlefield	Starter
Big Battlefield	Banned	Too large; promotes circle camping due to abundance of platforms
Final Destination	Starter
Mushroom Kingdom U	Banned	Transformations feature disruptive elements; stage hazards such as Nabbit are too powerful and disruptive
Mario Galaxy	Banned	Stage has constant walk-off blast lines and lacks a lower blast line; unusual curvature and gravity of the stage can also impact gameplay physics
Mario Circuit	Banned	Some transformations of the stage can block off blast lines; Shy Guy racers too powerful a stage hazard
Delfino Plaza	Retired counterpick	Stage transformations can have walk-off blast lines or no lower blast line; some potentially powerful camping spots; strongly benefits characters with good air mobility
Mario Circuit (Brawl)	Banned	Stage has constant walk-off blast lines and lacks a lower blast line; Shy Guy racers too powerful and disruptive a stage hazard
Luigi's Mansion	Banned	Lower levels of the stage have caves of life; stage geometry can promote circle camping; breakable columns can be disruptive to characters that rely on projectiles
Jungle Hijinxs	Banned	Stage's two "planes" are disruptive to gameplay; background of stage creates a powerful camping position; parts of stage can collapse, creating a randomized layout
Skyloft	Retired counterpick	The underside of stage can meteor smash players
Bridge of Eldin	Banned	Stage features walk-off blast lines and frequently lacks a lower blast line; upper blast line is too high; King Bulbin and his bombs are too powerful and disruptive a stage hazard
Temple	Banned	Too large; enables circle camping; walls create caves of life and promote powerful combos
Pyrosphere	Banned	Too large; Ridley is too powerful and disruptive a stage hazard
Norfair	Banned	Lava on all sides of the stage are too powerful and disruptive; abundance of ledges can promote stalling; overcentralization of gameplay on the capsule
Port Town Aero Dive	Banned	F-Zero racers are too powerful and disruptive, as well as difficult to predict; ground hazard is too powerful
Woolly World	Banned	Stage frequently features walk-off blast lines; creates overcentralization on navigating the stage in its second transformation.
Yoshi's Island	Banned	Stage is too small and features blast zones that are too close to the stage; spinning blocks can create caves of life; right side of the stage features walk-off blast line
Dream Land 64	Counterpick	Wind can alter gameplay; the top platform is closer to the ceiling than battlefield, thus slightly favoring characters with vertical finishers
The Great Cave Offensive	Banned	Too large; promotes circle camping; frequent walk-offs; Danger Zones and mine carts too powerful and disruptive stage hazards
Halberd	Retired counterpick	Opening transformation features walk-off blast lines; Halberd's armaments are too powerful and disruptive to gameplay; low upper blast line creates overreliance on vertical finishers
Orbital Gate Assault	Banned	Unconventional layout; stage can be difficult to transverse; Arwing stage hazards are too powerful and disruptive
Lylat Cruise	Counterpick/Starter	Slants are located at the ledges of the main stage; unpatched glitch allows characters to fall through the ship at the edges.
Kalos Pokémon League	Banned	Stage hazards too powerful and disruptive, particularly the Flood and Ironworks Chambers; platforms can quickly cross upper blast line and KO players
Pokémon Stadium 2	Banned	Transformations can disrupt normal gameplay, particularly the electric and wind segments
Onett	Banned	Stage features walk-off blast lines and no lower blast line; walls promote powerful combos; low ceiling; cars are too powerful and disruptive a stage hazard
Coliseum	Banned	Walk-off blast lines; no lower blast line
Castle Siege	Retired counterpick	Second stage transformation and transitions feature walk-off blast lines; first and third transformations are too small to accommodate doubles; second stage transformation is too large and potentially promotes camping, circle camping, and stalling
Flat Zone X	Banned	Walk-offs blast lines, alongside a low ceiling; stage's transformations and hazards are too powerful and disruptive; stage's aesthetics are disruptive, due to the fixed camera
Palutena's Temple	Banned	Too large; promotes circle camping; spikes and hazards too powerful and disruptive; frequent caves of life; promotes characters that can easily manuver the stage
Skyworld	Banned	Breakable platforms can create caves of life, as well as cause stage spikes that can lead to early KOs
Gamer	Banned	Randomized layout; 5-Volt overcentralizes gameplay on avoiding her gaze and forcing opponents to take damage
Garden of Hope	Banned	Stage hazards are too disruptive and powerful; stage layout promotes camping
Smashville	Starter
Town and City	Starter
Wii Fit Studio	Banned	Walk-off blast lines; randomized layout
Boxing Ring	Banned	Walk-off blast lines; no lower blast line; too large; hanging lights are too strong of a stage hazard and can promote camping
Gaur Plain	Banned	Too large; walk-off blast lines; stage unfairly benefits characters with good aerial mobility; Metal Face is too strong and disruptive a stage hazard
Duck Hunt	Retired counterpick	Tree on left side of stage can promote camping and stalling; ducks can block projectiles and influence neutral play; 2D mechanic affects hitbox/hurtbox behavior
Kongo Jungle 64	Banned	Too large; several potentially powerful camping positions; high ceiling causes over-reliance on horizontal finishers; disruptive gameplay elements due to the stage's poor lighting and generally zoomed-out camera
75m	Banned	Too large; walk-off blast lines; disruptive aesthetics due to camera being zoomed out; promotes stalling and camping; Donkey Kong, Trouble Bugs, and jacks are too powerful and disruptive; unfairly benefits characters with good aerial mobility
Wrecking Crew	Banned	Too large; hazards are too powerful and disrupt gameplay
Pilotwings	Banned	Irregular geometry due to stage being able to tilt; planes feature powerful camping positions; damaging terrain can disrupt regular gameplay
Wuhu Island	Retired counterpick	Some transformations feature walk-off blast lines; disruptive stage hazards, such as the fountain and balloon
Miiverse	Varies	Sometimes banned due to being a near-exact clone of Battlefield and potentially having distracting background images; sometimes legal as a cosmetic alternative to Battlefield. However, due to Miiverse shutting down, the possible distracting background no longer shows up which could make this stage legal.
Windy Hill Zone	Banned	Too large; promotes camping and stalling, especially on the right side of the stage; unusual gravity mechanics and physics due to stage being curved
Wily Castle	Banned	Yellow Devil is too powerful and disruptive a stage hazard
PAC-LAND	Banned	Stage has walk-off blast lines and frequently lacks a lower blast line; autoscrolling overcentralizes gameplay on navigating the stage and avoiding obstacles; unfairly benefits characters with good mobility
Suzaku Castle	Banned	Right side of stage features walk-off blast line
Peach's Castle (64)	Banned	Disruptive geometry, especially on the lower part of the stage and the triangular platforms; Bumper hazard is too disruptive
Hyrule Castle (64)	Banned	Too large; high ceiling creates over-reliance on horizontal finishers; Tent creates a powerful camping position and has a cave of life; tornadoes are too powerful and disruptive
Super Mario Maker	Banned	Unpredictable stage layout; potential for walk-offs; disruptive stage hazards
Pirate Ship	Banned	Cannonballs and catapult are too powerful and disruptive as stage hazards; frequent absence of lower blast line; King of Red Lions and the area underneath the ship on the island create powerful camping positions
Midgar	Banned	Overcentralizes gameplay on Materia, which can summon powerful and disruptive stage hazards
Umbra Clock Tower	Banned	Some transformations feature walk-offs and caves of life; stage aesthetics can be distracting

Stage legality in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, having the most stages in the series and the option to turn stage hazards off, has the most potentially legal stages of any Smash game. Since the stage list and hazard toggle were revealed, players and TOs have been debating the stage list for the game, and have yet to come up with a definitive answer. Major tournaments have largely erred on the side of having relatively large (eight to ten) stage lists, but some regional tournaments have already cut back to four to six legal stages.

Stage	Status	Commonly cited reasons for status
Battlefield forms	Varies	Treated the same as Battlefield and struck alongside Battlefield when either is chosen. Some Battlefield forms are banned due to distracting stage effects or gameplay-altering differences, such as 2D stages altering hitboxes.
Ω forms	Varies	Treated the same as Final Destination and struck alongside Final Destination when either is chosen. Some Ω forms are banned due to distracting stage effects or gameplay-altering differences, such as 2D stages altering hitboxes.
Battlefield	Starter
Small Battlefield	Counterpick/Starter	Stage layout is similar to Pokémon Stadium 2, albeit with a smaller stage size and larger platforms. Thus, there has been some debate on where Small Battlefield stands in the current stage list, with some tournaments having it replace PS2 as a starter, while others put it as a counterpick.
Big Battlefield	Banned	Too large; promotes circle camping due to abundance of platforms
Final Destination	Starter
Peach's Castle	Banned	Disruptive geometry; offstage triangles and walls can block K.Os and promote camping.
Kongo Jungle	Banned	Too large; high ceiling; platform layout promotes stalling and circle camping.
Hyrule Castle	Banned	Too large; green tent creates cave of life.
Super Happy Tree	Banned	Clouds off right side of the stage highly favor camping; right blast zone is extremely far away from the main body of the stage.
Dream Land	Banned	Too similar to Battlefield, omitted from most rulesets to reduce redundancy.
Saffron City	Banned	Too large; contains walls; helipad and platforms to the left promote camping.
Mushroom Kingdom	Banned	Contains walk-off blast zones; pipes can be used for stalling and camping. Lower blast zones practically nonexistant.
Princess Peach's Castle	Banned	Walls allow for infinites and promote camping; disruptive geometry makes the stage difficult to traverse.
Rainbow Cruise	Retired counterpick	Contains slopes and walls, top platform is extremely close to the blast zone.
Kongo Falls	Banned	Rock off the right side of the stage promotes camping; sharking is possible underneath the main platform.
Jungle Japes	Banned	High ceiling; platforms off both left and right sides promote camping; water current unfairly punishes characters with poor recoveries.
Great Bay	Banned	Solid middle platform above two lower platforms allows for easy, low-risk stage spikes that result in frequent low-percent KOs and gimps that would not occur in usual circumstances; water promotes camping and negatively affects edgeguarding; left blast zone is too close to the stage; stage design overall promotes camping
Temple	Banned	Far too large and promotes circle camping; very large cave of life in lower half of the stage.
Brinstar	Banned	Blast zones are very close to the main body of the stage and all 3 soft platforms; uneven geometry favors short characters; main body promotes sharking
Yoshi's Island (Melee)	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones; caves of life; uneven geometry which allows characters to live far longer than they would otherwise.
Yoshi's Story	Infrequently legal	Features slopes on the ledges; blast zones are rather close to the main stage. Also features a low ceiling, which can lead to early kills. Making this stage banned in some tournaments.
Fountain of Dreams	Banned	Water effects (particularly from effect-heavy moves such as Wario Bike or Power Geyser) can cause performance issues, even in Battlefield and Ω forms; too similar to Battlefield with hazards off.
Green Greens	Banned	Blast zones are very close to the stage; layout generally promotes camping.
Corneria	Banned	Too large; upper blast line is too close to stage; gun and back fin promote camping.
Venom	Banned	Walls allow for infinites; several unreasonably strong camping positions; separation of portions of the stage by the Great Fox's body makes it difficult to traverse.
Pokémon Stadium	Infrequently legal	Often excluded in favor of Pokémon Stadium 2: Top and side blast zones are the same, stage is a bit smaller, platforms a bit lower, camera is angled differently.
Onett	Banned	Irregular stage design; houses allow for infinites; contains walk-off blast zones and generally disruptive geometry.
Mushroom Kingdom II	Banned	Too small; walk-off blast zones; no proper center platform.
Brinstar Depths	Banned	Contains walls and caves of life; unusual geometry; strong camping position under the main body of the stage; low ceiling.
Big Blue	Banned	The road at the bottom of the stage will move players very quickly to the blast zone; no bottom blast zone; main body of stage is very small; unusual camera.
Fourside	Banned	Buildings can be used for wall combos and infinites; unusual geometry favors circle camping.
Delfino Plaza	Banned	Various transformations include walls, walk-off blast zones, water, and generally uneven geometry. Main transformation's main platform can be sharked. Transformations cannot be turned off.
Mushroomy Kingdom	Banned	Scrolling stage with walk-offs; bricks can be used for caves of life.
Figure-8 Circuit	Banned	Stage features walk-off blast zones. No bottom blast line.
WarioWare, Inc.	Infrequently legal	Horizontal blast zones are extremely close to the main body of the stage; unusual camera.
Bridge of Eldin	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones; the bridge remains intact with hazards off, covering the lower blast zone.
Norfair	Banned	Too large; abundance of ledges and strange layout can promote stalling.
Frigate Orpheon	Retired counterpick	Unusual, shifting semisoft platform on right side can prevent successful recoveries, as the ledge on the main body of the stage disappears when it is at equal height or lower; creates accessible wall, which can promote camping until the platform rises.
Yoshi's Island	Infrequently legal	Slopes at the ledges, horizontal blast zones are close to the body of the stage, layout is similar to Smashville.
Halberd	Retired counterpick	Opening transformation has walk-off blast zones; potential for sharking the main platform of the main transformation. Narrow blast zone on second transition can benefit horizontal attackers.
Lylat Cruise	Counterpick/Starter	Slants can alter gameplay and mess up projectiles; certain recoveries had difficulties grabbing the ledge prior to 8.0.0.
Pokémon Stadium 2	Counterpick/Starter	Sometimes deemed as a counterpick, with Small Battlefield replacing it as a starter, and other times excluded in favor of the original Pokémon Stadium in certain regions of the world.
Port Town Aero Dive	Banned	Various transformations feature walkoff blast zones and unusual geometry; touching the track when on the flying platform may damage players.
Castle Siege	Infrequently legal	The camera may be blocked by a wall in the bottom right corner of the stage; contains a slope in the center of the stage; asymmetry affects how stage control operates.
Distant Planet	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones.
Smashville	Starter
New Pork City	Banned	Too large; promotes circle camping; contains walls and caves of life.
Summit	Banned	Slippery floor can be disruptive and give the Ice Climbers an unfair advantage, as they are immune to the ice physics; cave of life in the center; damaging hazard as the stage slides down the mountain, covering the bottom blast zone; water in one of the transformations can promote stalling and negatively affect edgeguarding.
Skyworld	Banned	Cave of life in center stage, generally disruptive geometry.
Shadow Moses Island	Banned	Contains walls, only top blast zone is accessible.
Luigi's Mansion	Banned	Lower levels of the stage have caves of life; stage geometry can promote circle camping.
Pirate Ship	Banned	Water negatively affects edgeguarding; instant-K.O hazard in front of the ship.
Spear Pillar	Banned	Promotes circle camping; large cave of life on the lower level.
75m	Banned	Platforms are too small; features a walk-off blast zone; contains hazards (even with hazards turned off). Stage promotes circle camping due to extreme size.
Mario Bros.	Banned	Contains caves of life, walk-off blast zones, unusual horizontal blast zone behavior, and no lower blast zone.
Hanenbow	Banned	Layout promotes stalling; unfairly benefits characters with high aerial mobility; 2D property results in unusual hitbox behavior.
Green Hill Zone	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones; no lower blast zone; uneven terrain favors short characters.
3D Land	Banned	Scrolling stage with walk-off blast zones and walls.
Golden Plains	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones and walls.
Paper Mario	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones and walls.
Gerudo Valley	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones; bridge remains closed with hazards off, covering the lower blast zone.
Spirit Train	Banned	Uneven terrain; front of train is a damaging hazard; portions of stage may intrusively carry players offscreen.
Dream Land GB	Banned	Scrolling stage with walk-off blast zones; 2D property results in unusual hitbox behavior.
Unova Pokémon League	Infrequently legal	Similar to Pokémon Stadium 2; visually dark; teleport recoveries don't 'hug' against the sides of the stage; lightning effects can cause issues with certain colorblind players.
Prism Tower	Banned	Some transformations have unusual geometry; walkoff blast zones in initial transformation.
Mute City SNES	Banned	Bottom blast zone is covered by a damaging hazard; unusual layout promotes camping; stage flattens the hitboxes of characters.
Magicant	Banned	Extremely powerful camping spot under the main body of the stage; generally unusual layout promotes camping.
Arena Ferox	Banned	Randomized layout; often includes caves of life, walls, and ceilings.
Reset Bomb Forest	Banned	High top platform; disruptive gap in center stage.
Tortimer Island	Banned	Water negatively affects edgeguarding; very large size.
Balloon Fight	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones; unusual horizontal blast zone behavior.
Living Room	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones and falling hazards (even with stage hazards off).
Find Mii	Banned	Cage blocks KOs and creates a small cave of life; rock column on right and aforementioned cage promote camping.
Tomodachi Life	Banned	Blast zones are extremely close to all areas of the stage; layout unfairly inhibits characters with poor vertical movement.
PictoChat 2	Banned	Too similar to Final Destination, omitted from most rulesets to reduce redundancy.
Mushroom Kingdom U	Banned	Main body of the stage is extremely large, and reaches very close to the horizontal blast zones.
Mario Galaxy	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones. Gravity inhibits certain horizontal projectiles.
Mario Circuit	Banned	Fighters can be damaged by the track, various transformations include disruptive geometry, including walls, ceilings, caves of life, and walkoff blast zones.
Skyloft	Retired counterpick	Main platform promotes sharking, blast zones are very close to the main body of the stage.
The Great Cave Offensive	Banned	Extremely large; too many caves of life; Danger Zones are too significant a departure from normal gameplay; blast zones are only accessible in small areas; walk-off blast zones.
Kalos Pokémon League	Counterpick/Starter	Walls located on the ledges of the stage; overall rather large blast zones.
Coliseum	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones; no lower blast zone.
Flat Zone X	Banned	The stage is randomized and features walk-off blast zones; stage affects hitbox behavior.
Palutena's Temple	Banned	Too large and promotes circle camping; lower part of the stage has caves of life; several damaging spike hazards.
Gamer	Banned	Layout is randomized; often includes caves of life. Its Battlefield and Ω forms are often banned due to the camera angle differing from other stages and the blast zone walls being concealed.
Garden of Hope	Banned	Too large; very unusual layout with multiple accessible walls, and two offstage platforms which can encourage camping.
Town and City	Counterpick/Starter	While in early years of Ultimate the stage was consistently considered a starter, views of the stage have changed as more competitively viable stages (including competitively viable Hazards On stages) were added to the game. This is mainly due to Town and City usually being the only transformative stage in most competitive stage lists, as well as having a transformation which is duplicative of Final Destination. When the platforms return during transformation, there is technically a walk-off, which can lead to unfair KOs at extremely low percentages as the platforms move to the blastzones.
Wii Fit Studio	Banned	Layout is randomized; features walk-off blast zones.
Boxing Ring	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones and accessible walls; extremely powerful camping spot on the light fixture.
Gaur Plain	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones; unusual layout and large size promote camping.
Duck Hunt	Banned	Tree on left side of stage can promote camping; blast zones are close to stage; stage affects hitbox behavior.
Wrecking Crew	Banned	Platforms are too close to the top blast zone; unusual and randomized layout; ladders intrusively affect movement.
Pilotwings	Banned	Unusual layout with accessible walls can promote camping. Terrain in the background can damage fighters.
Wuhu Island	Infrequently legal	Main platform promotes sharking, large slopes at the ledges; horizontal blast zones are very close to the main body of the stage; very high ceiling makes it difficult to KO vertically.
Windy Hill Zone	Banned	Large size and layout promote camping; platforms are very close to the blast zones; unusual gravity as with Mario Galaxy. Its Battlefield and Ω forms are usually banned due to the dense grass hiding traps set by Isabelle, Snake, and Steve
Wily Castle	Infrequently legal	Too similar to Final Destination, omitted from most rulesets to reduce redundancy.
Pac-Land	Banned	Extremely intrusive layout includes walls and walk-offs; scrolling can be unfairly detrimental to slower characters, flattened hitboxes significantly alters gameplay.
Super Mario Maker	Banned	Randomized stage layout, often including damaging hazards, caves of life, and walk-off blast zones, flattened hitboxes significantly alters gameplay.
Suzaku Castle	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones on the right, and a powerful camping spot on the left.
Midgar	Banned	Too similar to Battlefield, omitted from most rulesets to reduce redundancy.
Umbra Clock Tower	Banned	Distracting background; too similar to Final Destination, omitted from most rulesets to reduce redundancy.
New Donk City Hall	Banned	Transformations feature strong camping positions, and walk-off blast zones.
Great Plateau Tower	Banned	Top of tower creates massive cave of life in center stage.
Moray Towers	Banned	Large size and unusual geometry promote circle camping; large block on left side creates cave of life, which can also KO extremely early if the tech is missed.
Dracula's Castle	Banned	Very unusual geometry; large size and slope on far right can promote camping.
Mementos	Infrequently legal	Slight slope in center of stage, asymmetrical layout, top platform can promote camping, stage altogether is large and paired with large blast zones.
Yggdrasil's Altar	Infrequently legal	Some of its layouts promote camping. The beginning layout is also too similar to Final Destination.
Spiral Mountain	Banned	Accessible wall on the right promotes inescapable infinites. Bottom blast zone is very low.
King of Fighters Stadium	Banned	The stage has large walls on either side which can allow for infinites. The stage is fairly large. Finally, the mechanic of the walls requiring a fighter to be launched into them with sufficient horizontal speed strongly favours fighters with vertical KO options and horizontal moves with high base knockback.
Garreg Mach Monastery	Banned	Features walk-off blast zones; no lower blast zone. The chandeliers as platforms in the reception hall promote camping. The shops, although breakable, serve as walls which allow for infinites.
Spring Stadium	Infrequently legal	Ceiling strips causes living longer and teching situations.
Minecraft World	Infrequently legal	The stage randomly chooses between one of six different layouts, but each one can be manually selected with button inputs. Provides a home-stage advantage to Steve due to it being designed with his Mine mechanic in mind; stage is overall rather large paired with large blast zones
Northern Cave	Infrequently legal	Stage layout is static and laid out similarly to Kalos Pokémon League without side walls but background is visually busy.
Cloud Sea of Alrest	Banned	The right side of the stage is irregularly slanted, and the angle of the slope occasionally changes. The area starting immediately below the stage is obscured by clouds, making edgeguarding difficult. The meteor blast zone is also very close to the stage.
Mishima Dojo	Banned	The stage has large walls on either side and a ceiling which can allow for infinites. While the walls and ceiling are destructible, the blast zones beyond them are close to the stage.
Hollow Bastion	Counterpick/Starter	Stage layout is static and laid out identically to Smashville with hazards off.

See also

• Tournament legal