Green Hill Zone
| Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone | |
|---|---|
    Green Hill Zone as it appears in Smash. | |
| Universe | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| Appears in | Brawl SSB4 (3DS) Ultimate |
| Availability | Unlockable (Brawl) Starter (SSB4 and Ultimate) |
| Unlock criteria | Unlock Sonic. |
| Crate type | Presents |
| Maximum players | 4 (Brawl and 3DS) 8 (Ultimate) |
| Article on Wikipedia | Green Hill Zone |
| “ | The concave landscape and blue Point Marker are iconic to this stage. A Point Marker will twirl when the ball is hit, dealing damage to anyone nearby. The ground can collapse after attacking it, so be careful! | ” |
| —Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site | ||
Green Hill Zone (グリーンヒルゾーン, Green Hill Zone) is the stage that represents Sonic the Hedgehog in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It is unlocked after Sonic himself is unlocked in Brawl but is available from the start in subsequent games. In Brawl and Ultimate, Sonic is fought here for his unlocking battle.
Overview
The stage consists in a single piece of land with a bridge on its left, walk-offs at both sides and a depression in the middle. The ground of the middle part is split into three sections that are susceptible to attacks, and the sections will crumble away if they sustain enough damage (125
/100
damage), transforming the center of the stage into a pit. The sections will naturally break after a random amount of time between 90-150 seconds, regardless of how much damage it has taken. The broken parts regenerate after 20 seconds.
Occasionally, checkpoint lampposts randomly spring up. They are normally blue, but when attacked they turn red and start spinning: in this state they are able to hurt players other than the original attacker. They only deal 10%/8% damage, but cause decent knockback with KO capabilities. After a few seconds, spinning lampposts stop and can be attacked again. They disappear on their own after a while.
The background features a giant shuttle loop with a 1-Up monitor above it. Occasionally, Tails, Knuckles, and Silver run along it.
Ω forms and Battlefield form
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, the Ω form is a flat version of the normal form's ground that has the checkpoints, walk-offs, and crumbling terrain removed. The stage also extends below the blast line.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the main platform of the Ω form and Battlefield form is similar to the Ω form in SSB4, however, it does not extend below the blast line and is resized and reshaped to match Final Destination and Battlefield, respectively. The three soft platforms of the Battlefield form are reminiscent of the grassy checkered soil of the ground and are unique to this form.
Ω form in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Ω form in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Battlefield form in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Hazards Off
The layout is the same as the standard stage. However, Point Markers will not appear and the ground will never break.
Origin
Green Hill Zone debuted as the starting stage in Sonic the Hedgehog. Located on South Island, it is an area consisting of distinctively checkered ground with a grass surface and a lush biome, including palm trees and multiple flower species. Various other structures are found, such as shuttle loops and totem poles, as well as bridges, tunnels, and swinging platforms that connect the various parts of the stage. The conventions and aesthetic of Green Hill Zone have since been reiterated multiple times throughout the Sonic series by stages such as Windy Hill Zone in Sonic Lost World, Emerald Hill Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Seaside Hill in Sonic Heroes, and the stage itself has been revisited multiple times, starting in spin-offs, crossovers, and easter eggs, but eventually working its way back into the main campaigns of Sonic platformers starting with Sonic Generations, being placed as the introductory level of that game, Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers.
Green Hill Zone also introduced various elements now prominent in the series. Crumbling ground is a piece of terrain often found at the edge of cliffs, and quickly deteriorate once stepped on. A Checkpoint Marker is an object activated upon running past it, momentarily spinning the orb on its top and then making the orb glow red. It records the player's score and time, and maintains their progress in an Act should they lose a life.
The layout of the Smash stage is loosely based on the beginning stretch of Act 1, with the starting area and raised cliff with a Ring Monitor being modeled offscreen, and the stage itself being a condensed version of the following stretch of the level, in which there is a wooden bridge followed by a curved divot in the ground. However, the crumbling floor and Checkpoint Marker do not appear in the part of the level the stage is based on.
Tournament legality
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
On March 17th, 2009, the BBR announced that the stage should be banned, as opposed to its former status as a counterpick, and the stage has since been universally banned in tournament play. Many players take issue with Green Hill Zone for its extremely campy nature: the most effective strategy when fighting here is to camp the signposts, which have a centralizing effect due to their significant defensive power for an already highly defensive game, can severely elongate the flow of the match. Another major issue with the stage is its deep slope design, which, besides being awkward to fight on, can create a cave of life effect since players can DI and tech into the ground. Furthermore, both sides of the stage have permanent walk-off edges, favoring chain throws or simply camping the edge; the frequent absence of a lower blast-line also negates any off-stage play.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Green Hill Zone is universally banned for many of the same reasons as in Brawl. While turning off stage hazards mitigates some issues like camping, other issues are left unaddressed.
Gallery
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Green Hill Zone in Brawl.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Green Hill Zone in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Captain Falcon and Sonic on Green Hill Zone in SSB3DS.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Villager caught by the Arcade Bunny's claw on the stage in Ultimate.
Knuckles posing on the stage. Note that it is impossible to summon him here in the final game.
Steve at the base of the loop, a viewpoint normally inaccessible in-game. Screenshot from Masahiro Sakurai's Twitter account.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
グリーンヒルゾーン | Green Hill Zone |
 English |
Green Hill Zone | — |
 French |
Zone Green Hill | — |
 German |
Green Hill Zone | — |
 Spanish |
Zona Green Hill | Green Hill Zone |
 Italian |
Zona Green Hill | Green Hill Zone |
 Chinese |
Green Hill Zone | — |
 Korean |
그린 힐 존 | Green Hill Zone |
 Dutch |
Green Hill Zone | — |
 Russian |
Зеленые холмы | Green Hill |
Trivia
General
- When playing as Pokémon Trainer, they will stand on top of the loop.
- Despite appearing as a cameo in this stage in Smash, Silver had not been playable on Green Hill Zone in a Sonic title at the point of Brawl's release - however, he is planned to be added in a future update to the Roblox game Sonic Speed Simulator, making this cameo retroactively relevant to a non-Smash Sega game.
- Unlike Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles (as an Assist Trophy in Ultimate), Tails, Knuckles, and Silver use their Brawl models (which in turn is based on their appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)) in Smash 4 and Ultimate, rather than using their updated appearance from Sonic Unleashed onwards.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Due to the slope being destructible and triggering hitlag, the bridge will sometimes slow down attacks like Spin Dash or Wario Bike. This is rather ironic considering that, in the Sonic series, a player would ordinarily use the Spin Dash in an area with this stage's layout in order to quickly accelerate to max speed and jump high into the air.
- A mistake currently exists in the Spanish and United Kingdom versions of the DOJO!! of this stage's page: instead of displaying the Sonic universe icon, Sonic's head's silhouette, it has the symbol of the Mario universe, which is a mushroom.[1]
- Green Hill Zone is the only stage to have only one original remixed song.
- The musical selection for Green Hill Zone makes a subtle reference towards Sega in the first letters of each track that ends in "Zone": Scrap Brain Zone, Emerald Hill Zone, Green Hill Zone, and Angel Island Zone.
- With a total of eight, Green Hill Zone has the most default tracks in a stage.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
- In All-Star Mode, checkpoint lampposts do not appear on the stage.
- Green Hill Zone is the only third party stage to use music from two separate games.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Knuckles cannot be summoned by an Assist Trophy on this stage, due to Knuckles being a background element of this stage.
- Additionally, Midna, Color TV-Game 15 and the Squid Sisters (due to the center of the stage not being a flat surface) can only be summoned on the Battlefield and Omega forms of this stage.
- The following Poké Ball Pokémon can only be summoned on this stage's Battlefield and Omega forms: Abra (because the stage has walk-offs on both sides), Entei, Suicune, Kyogre, Palkia, Giratina, Zoroark, Keldeo, and Marshadow. Lunala cannot be summoned here at all.
External links
References
 Sonic the Hedgehog universe
| |
|---|---|
| Fighter | Sonic (SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU) |
| Assist Trophies | Shadow · Knuckles |
| Stages | Green Hill Zone · Windy Hill Zone |
| Enemy | Eggrobo |
| Other Characters | Tails |
| Trophies, Stickers and Spirits | Trophies (SSBB · SSB4) · Stickers · Spirits |
| Music | Brawl · SSB4 · Ultimate |
