Platform

This article is about the common stage structure. For the bonus game, see Board the Platforms.

Platforms are stage features upon which characters may stand and objects may land, which usually take the form of floating islands. There are four distinct types of platforms: hard, semisoft, soft, and supersoft, each of which differs in its tolerance of the vertical movement of characters and objects through it. Platforms sometimes accommodate ledges from which characters can hang, and may also incorporate slopes, movement, hazards, and destructible and interactive features. Some bosses are also platforms, and characters can stand upon them. The appearance of platforms ranges from simple or abstract polygonal solids and flat planks, to recognisable objects such as buildings, ships and creatures. Items can land upon platforms, and some, such as the Hothead and Motion-Sensor Bomb, interact with them. Most versus stages involve a large, central, hard or semisoft platform with ledges that may be grabbed, and additional, smaller platforms elsewhere. Stage Builder in Super Smash Bros. Brawl offers a variety of platforms, some unlockable, that can be arranged and customized by players.

Platform types

Battlefield consists of a hard platform with three soft platforms floating above it.

Hard platforms

Hard platforms are solid and cannot be passed through in any direction - their sides are walls, their undersides are ceilings and they usually have ledges that can be hung onto. Hard platforms are often form the main bodies of versus stages, such as Hyrule Castle, Pokémon Stadium and Luigi's Mansion.

Semisoft platforms

Semisoft platforms are platforms that characters can travel upwards through, but not downward. They do not have walls or ceilings; characters who approach from below or from the side will go through them. Semisoft platforms are sometimes used in versus stages as main platforms, and may or may not possess ledges. Kongo Jungle, which has ledges, and Port Town Aero Dive, which does not, are two examples. Many conventional 2D platform games, such as those of the Kirby and Mario series, include this kind of platform frequently.

Soft platforms

Soft platforms, also known as pass-through or fall-through platforms, are thin platforms that characters, projectiles and items can pass through upwards, and that characters may also pass through downwards. Most soft platforms do not have ledges that characters may hang from, although there are exceptions, such as the upper platforms of Norfair. While standing on a soft platform, a character may fall down through it by tapping down on the control stick. Airborne characters may pass through a soft platform from above by holding down on the control stick as they approach it.

All airborne items and projectiles, including Pikachu's Thunder, will travel upward through soft platforms, but will not travel downward through them. The same is true of tumbling and reeling characters, who will fly upward through soft platforms, but will land in a lying position upon a soft platform if they contact it from above. When used under a soft platform, certain special moves, such as Ike's Aether and Yoshi's grounded Yoshi Bomb, may send their performers upward through the platform during the rising portion of the move, and then downward onto the platform during the falling portion. This is also the case with Kirby and Meta Knight's up throws; both the grabber and the victim will rise through soft platforms, but "crash land" onto them during the falling part of the move. Characters performing aerial attacks, including stall-then-fall maneuvers, may not pass down through soft platforms if they are in a position to land upon them. An exception is Fox, Falco and Wolf's up special moves when used in the air - these will pass down through soft platforms when directed at a downward angle.

Supersoft platforms

The super-soft cloud platforms in Skyworld.

Supersoft platforms were introduced in Brawl and are unique to the stage Skyworld, where they take the form of floating clouds. These cloud platforms have the same fall-through properties as soft platforms, however, they are distinct in that airborne characters who have been hit from above can fly downward through them. This can happen either when an airborne character is spiked, or a character is hit upward and rebounds down from the ceiling of a higher hard platform. However, characters who are attacked by downward thrusting attacks will not be pushed down through cloud platforms if they are standing on them. Skyworld's cloud platforms do not have ledges, but the stone platforms that usually cover them do.

Platform features

There are a variety of extra features that platforms may possess in addition to their basic properties.

• Ledges - Some hard, semisoft and soft platforms have ledges that characters can grab or, in Brawl, tether to. However, ledges are most frequently found on hard platforms.
• Uneven ground - Some platforms are angled, or incorporate sloped or curved terrain, such as that of Green Hill Zone.
• Walls - Present only on hard platforms, walls typically constitute the sides of large islands, and are distinct in that characters may perform wall jumps and other techniques with them.
• Lateral movement - Some platforms, such as the small platforms in Congo Jungle, travel up and down or from left to right along a set path, while others, such as the pulley platforms in Kingdom, and leaf platforms in Distant Planet will move up and down in response to the weight of the characters standing upon them. Some platforms that move along set paths, such as the Arwings in Corneria, cross blast lines during their routines.
• Tilting and rotation - Certain platforms, such as the magma cavern of Castle Siege, tilt continuously and result in surfaces with slopes that are constantly changing. Other platforms, like that of Brinstar Depths and the Helirin Assist Trophy, perform complete rotations, transitioning from platforms into walls and back again as their angles change.
• Special surfaces - Platforms with special surfaces affect players' movement when they interact with them. Slippery platforms, like those found in Summit, prolong characters' ground momentum and cause them to slide along the ground. Rolling surfaces, like those found in the electric phase of Pokémon Stadium 2 and on the slope of Distant Planet in the rainy weather, cause players to move in one direction along the ground while they stand, walk, run or attack. Bouncy platforms and springs, like those found in a transformation of PictoChat, are not possible to walk upon because they propel characters high upward upon contact.
• Destructibility - Particular platforms are possible to destroy or alter after they, or adjacent stage structures, take enough damage. They regenerate after a set period of time has passed. For example, the yellow platforms in Skyworld break and disappear after they are struck by enough attacks, the main platform of Brinstar splits in two after the organic material in its centre is destroyed by hits, and the floor platforms of Luigi's Mansion are destroyed as its pillars are broken by damage. Onett's awning platforms are not affected by attacks, but will collapse and disappear after enough characters jump onto them.

Donkey Kong bumping enemies from below a Mario Bros. platform.

• Switch activation - Some platforms, such as the coloured ones in Princess Peach's Castle, do not appear until prompted by the activation of switches.
• Falling away - Certain platforms, such as Drop Blocks and the Donut Lift platforms of Rainbow Cruise, drop downward and eventually disappear when stood on for long enough, and regenerate after a certain amount of time.
• Bump ceilings - The Mario Bros. stage has blue hard platforms that can be bumped. When a knocked or jumping character or item hits the ceiling of one of these blue platforms, that part of the platform raises slightly in response. When positioned on a platform, the stage's native enemies will jump or flip upside down if the platform's ceiling is bumped from below. Characters who are bumped from below will jump.

Platforms and items

All items can land on platforms, but some interact with them in more elaborate ways.

• Barrels and Rolling Crates will roll faster when on sloped platforms. Rolling Crates also serve as platforms, since characters can stand on them.
• A character using a Golden Hammer can walk off a platform and stay level with it while airborne.
• Freezies slide along the surface of platforms on appearance, and Red and Green Shells slide along platforms when thrown.
• If left idle, Bob-ombs and Mr. Saturns will walk along platforms and turn at edges.
• Motion-Sensor Bombs adhere to platform surfaces when thrown, including walls and ceilings.
• Hotheads slide and cling to surfaces, and will circumnavigate most hard and semisoft platforms if thrown onto them. They can slide along soft platforms, but will fall from their edges because they cannot cling to their undersides.
• When used, Warp Stars will rise through platforms, but will not fall down through them.
• The Helirin Assist Trophy is a floating hard platform that rotates.
• In relation to platforms, the behaviour of Smash Balls varies; sometimes they pass through solid surfaces, other times they bounce from them.
• The Landmaster and Iceberg Final Smashes create platforms. Landmasters can be stood upon by players - one particular technique involves raising the Landmaster off the top of the screen in order to Star KO characters standing upon it. While the slopes of the Iceberg cannot be stood upon, characters may stand upon its tip in their teetering animation.
• Boss enemies Porky and Duon, as well as the standard enemies Trowlon and Shellpod serve as platforms.