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).
- Powerful 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 allow 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, almost all of the stages within any given game are banned and very few are balanced enough to be legal for professional competitive play.
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 "proper 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 Battlefield and Final Destination, which weren't available without hacking, have seen some tournament presence in doubles.
| Stage | Status (singles) | Status (doubles) | Commonly cited reasons for status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dream Land | Starter | Starter | |
| Kongo Jungle | Banned (former Starter)[1] | Banned/Counterpick[1][2] | Too large; Barrel Cannon can artificially prolong games; potentially disruptive aesthetics, due to poor lighting |
| Hyrule Castle | Banned (former Starter)[1] | Banned/Counterpick[1][2] | Too large; cave of life at stage's right side promotes camping and can lead to powerful combos; Tornado stage hazards are too powerful and disruptive to gameplay |
| Peach's Castle | Banned (former Counterpick)[1] | Banned/Counterpick[1][2] | Stage lacks grabbable 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 |
| Final Destination | Banned | Banned/Counterpick[2] | Unavailable without hacks |
| Battlefield | Banned | Banned/Counterpick[2] | Unavailable without hacks |
| Meta Crystal | Banned | Banned | Unavailable without hacks, also too small. |
| 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 | Banned/Counterpick[2] | Unavailable without hacks |
| Saffron City | Banned | Banned | Too large; Pokémon are too disruptive and can overcentralize matches; helipad and platforms to the left of the stage promote camping |
Despite an official ban being placed on Hyrule Castle, the stage is still a rather common pick by players who often invoke it via the gentleman's clause.
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 banning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Banned (former 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 | Banned (former 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 N64 | Starter | Starter | |
| Final Destination | Starter | Starter | |
| 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 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 | Banned (former 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 | Banned (former 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 | Banned (former counterpick) | Banned (former 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 | Banned (former 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 | Banned | 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 | Banned (former 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. |
| Princess Peach's Castle | Banned (former 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 | Banned (former 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 has a highly fragmented and argumentative community when it comes 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 is heavily influenced by Meta Knight's legality, as he tends to gain even more drastic advantages on many fringe stages. Thus tournaments that ban Meta Knight tend to allow more stages than tournaments that keep him legal.
This table shows the status of each stage using a four-tier system.
- Tier 0 stages are legal in all rulesets.
- Tier 1 stages are usually legal, but may be banned in restrictive rulesets such as some Japanese rulesets.
- Tier 2 stages are the most contentious; they may be legal, or they may be banned.
- Tier 3 stages are usually illegal, but may be legal in experimental rulesets.
- Tier 4 stages are completely illegal.
| Stage | Status | Commonly cited reasons for banning |
|---|---|---|
| 75m | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 0 | |
| Big Blue (Melee) | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 3 | 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 | Tier 2 | 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 | Tier 1 | 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) | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 1 | 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 | Tier 3 | 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 | Tier 0 | |
| Flat Zone 2 | Tier 4 | Randomness of the stage; overly small; numerous damaging and powerful stage hazards; no bottom blast line; walk off blast lines |
| Frigate Orpheon | Tier 1 | 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 | Tier 3 | Over-centralises gameplay on camping; randomly appearing bomb blocks disrupt normal gameplay; blocks allow for wall infinites |
| Green Hill Zone | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 1 | 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 | Tier 4 | Stage is overly large; irregular stage design forces major gameplay changes; high camping/stalling potential |
| Jungle Japes | Tier 3 | 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 | Tier 3 | Impassable platforms create caves of life; stage design allows the potential for circle camping |
| Lylat Cruise | Tier 0 | |
| Mario Bros. | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 4 | 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) | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 3 | Overly powerful, frequent stage hazards that disrupt usual gameplay; stage has many ledges that can be easily abused. |
| Onett (Melee) | Tier 3 | Irregular stage design; frequent stage hazard in cars disrupt gameplay; walls allow infinites; walk-off blast lines; no lower blast line |
| Pictochat | Tier 3 | 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 | Tier 3 | High potential for stalling in the water or under the ship's rudder; overly powerful stage hazards |
| Pokémon Stadium | Tier 0 | |
| Pokémon Stadium 2 | Tier 2 | 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 | Tier 3 | 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 | Tier 2 | 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 | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 0 | |
| Spear Pillar | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 4 | 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) | Tier 4 | 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. | Tier 4 | 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 | Tier 0 | |
| Yoshi's Island (Melee) | Tier 3 | 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 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 banning |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| 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 | Banned | Tree on left side of stage can promote camping and stalling; Duck Hunt Dog can be disruptive; blast lines are close to stage |
| 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 banning |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Banned | 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 | Banned | 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 | |
| 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 | Banned | 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 | Starter | |
| 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 | Banned | 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-offs blast lines; no lower blast line; too large; hanging lights are too strong 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 too strong and disruptive a stage hazard |
| Duck Hunt | Banned (former counterpick) | Tree on left side of stage can promote camping and stalling; Dog can be disruptive; blast lines are close to stage |
| 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 | Banned | 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
The list below shows the tournament legality for all stages in Ultimate. With the option to turn off stage hazards (which also turns off transformations) stages like Pokémon Stadium 2, Castle Siege and many more stages are potentially viable tournament stages. Note that this list assumes that hazards are turned off.
| Stage | Statussky | Commonly cited reasons for banning |
|---|---|---|
| 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 the 2D stages altering hitboxes. |
| Battlefield | Starter | |
| Big Battlefield | Banned | Too many platforms; too large. |
| Final Destination | Starter | |
| Peach's Castle | Banned | Disruptive geometry; large and triangles can cause for stalling. |
| Kongo Jungle | Banned | Too large; high ceiling and powerful camping spots. |
| Hyrule Castle | Banned | Too large; green tent can create cave of life and can be a camping position. |
| Super Happy Tree | Banned | Clouds can be used for powerful stalling and camping sites. |
| Dream Land | Banned | Very similar to Battlefield. |
| 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. |
| Princess Peach's Castle | Banned | Walls allow for infinites and promote camping; the separation of the wall makes the stage difficult to traverse. |
| Rainbow Cruise | Banned/Counterpick[3] | Contains slopes and walls. |
| Kongo Falls | Banned | Powerful camping spot on the rock at the right; sharking is possible underneath the main platform. |
| Jungle Japes | Banned | High ceiling; lots of camping and stalling spots. |
| Great Bay | 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 zone is too close to the stage; too small to accommodate more than 2 players |
| Temple | Banned | Too large and promotes circle camping; lower part of the stage has a cave of life. |
| Brinstar | Banned | Lots of slopes and uneven platforms. |
| Yoshi's Island (Melee) | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones. |
| Yoshi's Story | Banned/Counterpick[3][2] | Contains slopes at the ledges. |
| Fountain of Dreams | Banned | Too much on-screen activity in the floor water's reflection can lead to occasional framerate stuttering. |
| Green Greens | Banned | Two holes in the center of the stage. |
| Corneria | Banned | Too large; upper blast line is too close to stage; back fin can be used for camping and wall combos. |
| Venom | Banned | Walls allow for infinites; several unreasonably strong camping positions; separation of portions of the stage by the Great Fox body makes it difficult to traverse. |
| Pokémon Stadium | Banned | Too similar to Pokémon Stadium 2: Blast zones are the same, platforms a bit higher. The camera is the reason Pokémon Stadium 2 is considered superior. |
| Onett | Banned | Irregular stage design; contains walk-off blast zones and walls. |
| Mushroom Kingdom II | Banned | Too small; walk-off blast zones; no proper center platform. |
| Brinstar Depths | Banned | Contains walls and caves of life; bottom right platform can be used for camping and stalling; 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. |
| Fourside | Banned | Too large; buildings can be used for wall combos and infinites; no proper platform to fight on. |
| Delfino Plaza | Banned | Transforming stage; contains walk-off blast zones. |
| Mushroomy Kingdom | Banned | Scrolling stage with walk-offs; bricks can be used for caves of life. |
| Figure-8 Circuit | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones. |
| WarioWare, Inc. | Banned/Counterpick/Starter [3] | Blast zones are too close to the stage. |
| 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 can promote stalling; too many platforms. |
| Frigate Orpheon | Banned/Starter [3] | The right side of the stage has a vertically moving platform that when lowered creates a temporary section for wall combos. |
| Yoshi's Island | Counterpick | Contains slopes at the ledges. |
| Halberd | Banned | Opening part has walk-off blast zones; potential for sharking at the main platform of the main stage layout. |
| Lylat Cruise | Banned/Starter[2]/Counterpick | Ledges can cause problems for recovering. |
| Pokémon Stadium 2 | Starter | |
| Port Town Aero Dive | Banned | Some parts of the stage are too close to the blast zones; touching the track when on the flying platform may damage players. |
| Castle Siege | Banned/Counterpick[3][2] | The camera is blocked by a wall in the bottom right corner of the stage; contains slopes; is asymmetrical. |
| 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 since they are immune to the ice physics; cave of life in the center. |
| Skyworld | Banned | Caves of life everywhere. |
| Shadow Moses Island | Banned | Contains walls, walk-off blast zones and no lower blast zone. |
| Luigi's Mansion | Banned | Lower levels of the stage have caves of life; stage geometry can promote circle camping. |
| Pirate Ship | Banned | High potential for stalling in the water or under the ship's rudder. |
| Spear Pillar | Banned | Promotes circle camping. |
| 75m | Banned | Platforms are too small; features a walk-off blast zone; contains hazards (even with hazards turned off). |
| Mario Bros. | Banned | Contains caves of life, walk-off blast zones and no lower blast zone. |
| Hanenbow | Banned | Promotes camping and stalling. |
| Green Hill Zone | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones. |
| 3D Land | Banned | Scrolling stage with walk-off blast zones. |
| 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 | Moving stage can be distracting to players and the train itself can break-off, leading to unfair deaths and advantages. |
| Dream Land GB | Banned | Scrolling stage with walk-off blast zones. |
| Unova Pokémon League | Banned/Counterpick[2] | Similar to Pokémon Stadium 2; visually dark; teleport recoveries don't 'hug' against the sides of the stage. |
| Prism Tower | Banned | Transforming stage with a form featuring walk-off blast zones. |
| Mute City SNES | Banned | Similarly to Spirit Train, there are too many distracting elements and moving obstacles. This features blast-off zones, damaging vehicles and alternating routes. |
| Magicant | Banned | Contains a camping spot. |
| Arena Ferox | Banned | Contains caves of life. |
| Reset Bomb Forest | Banned | Hole in the center of the stage; high top platform promotes camping. |
| Tortimer Island | Banned | No lower blast zones. |
| Balloon Fight | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones. |
| Living Room | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones and falling hazards (even with stage hazards off). |
| Find Mii | Banned | The cage is still a problem. Rock column on right promotes camping. |
| Tomodachi Life | Banned | Too large. |
| PictoChat 2 | Banned | Contains slopes at the ledges; similar to Final Destination. |
| Mushroom Kingdom U | Banned | Too large for singles but sometimes considered legal for doubles. |
| Mario Galaxy | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones. Wacky gravity can cause accidental KOs. |
| Mario Circuit | Banned | Contains walls and walk-off blast zones. |
| Skyloft | Banned | Main platform promotes sharking. |
| The Great Cave Offensive | Banned | Too large; too many caves of life; blast zones hardly reachable. |
| Kalos Pokémon League | Counterpick | |
| 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. |
| Palutena's Temple | Banned | Too large and promotes circle camping; lower part of the stage has a cave of life. |
| Gamer | Banned | The stage is randomized and could include caves of life with the hardcover books. |
| Garden of Hope | Banned | Too large; wall on the right. |
| Town and City | Starter/Counterpick[2] | |
| Wii Fit Studio | Banned | The stage is randomized and features walk-off blast zones. |
| Boxing Ring | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones. |
| Gaur Plain | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones; too large. |
| Duck Hunt | Banned | Tree on left side of stage can promote camping and stalling; blast zones are close to stage. |
| Wrecking Crew | Banned | Platforms are too close to the top blast zone; contains ladders. |
| Pilotwings | Banned | Contains walls. |
| Wuhu Island | Banned | Main platform promotes sharking, slopes at the ledges; distracting background. |
| Windy Hill Zone | Banned | Too large; platforms are too close to the blast zones. |
| Wily Castle | Banned/Counterpick[3] | Very similar to Final Destination. |
| Pac-Land | Banned | Features walk-off blast zones and stage-scrolling. |
| Super Mario Maker | Banned | Randomized stage layout with potential caves of life. |
| 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. |
| Umbra Clock Tower | Banned | Occasional distracting background, very similar to Final Destination. |
| New Donk City Hall | Banned | Transformative stage with a form featuring walk-off blast zones. |
| Great Plateau Tower | Banned | Top of tower creates massive Cave of Life on Stage. |
| Moray Towers | Banned | Too many slopes; promotes circle camping. |
| Dracula's Castle | Banned | Contains walls; too large. |
