Green Hill Zone

Green Hill Zone
File:SonicSymbol.png
Universe	Sonic
Appears in	Brawl SSB4 (3DS)
Availability	Unlockable
Unlock criteria	Unlock Sonic.
Crate type	Presents
Tracks available	Green Hill Zone Angel Island Zone Scrap Brain Zone Emerald Hill Zone Sonic Boom Super Sonic Racing Open Your Heart Live & Learn Sonic Heroes Right There, Ride On HIS WORLD (Instrumental) Seven Rings in Hand Bolded tracks must be unlocked
Tournament legality Brawl Singles: Banned Doubles: Banned

Green Hill Zone (グリーンヒルゾーン) is the stage that represents Sonic the Hedgehog in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It is unlocked after Sonic himself is unlocked. The midsection is a half-pipe that crumbles away if it attacked too much during the course of the fight. There are also checkpoint lampposts that can be hit to spin around to hurt other players once they are blue. These only deal 10% damage, but has decent knockback with KO capabilities. In the background is a giant shuttle loop with a 1-Up video monitor above it. The background also consists of various other parts of the Green Hill Zone.

The stage returns in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS as a classic stage.

Origin

Green Hill Zone as it originally appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog.

This stage originates from the first area in Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Green Hill Zone. Green Hill Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog is depicted as being a lush paradise. The stage, almost ten years later, would reappear as an easter egg in Sonic Adventure 2, bringing the stage to a 3D state for the first time. It then appeared a next ten years later in Sonic Generations as the opening stage. In Brawl, there are many references to elements from the original stages that are in the background: palm trees, flowers, spikes, rings, checkered soil, etc.

Green Hill Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog also features a shuttle loop, which in order to get progress through the level, the player has to run through by gaining enough speed. The shuttle loop has been retained in Brawl and is in the background. Ever since Sonic the Hedgehog, the shuttle loop has become a prominent feature in later Sonic games. Another prominent feature in Sonic games are Item Boxes, which contain certain items depending on the image it is showing. If the item box has an image of Sonic's head, it gives the player an extra life, which is the same Item Box that is seen on top of the shuttle loop in Brawl.

There are certain spots in Green Hill Zone where the ground will crumble down when stepped on. They are more particularly located at the edge of cliffs. In Brawl, the middle of the stage crumbles if heavily damaged. Throughout Sonic the Hedgehog, there are "lamp posts" with a blue bulb on top that serve as checkpoints and are activated when the player runs past them. Also, when they are activated, the top section spins for a short period of time and the bulb turns red. In Brawl, the posts occasionally appear on stage and can only be activated by attacking the bulb. They serve as a stage hazard when activated as it spins and delivers knockback to whoever comes in contact.

There are three friends of Sonic's who can occasionally be seen running through the shuttle loop: Miles "Tails" Prower, who first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2; Knuckles the Echidna, who made his debut in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and is also Sonic's rival; and Silver the Hedgehog, who debuted in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

Tournament Legality

The west view of Green Hill Zone.

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 centralising effect due to their significant defensive power for an already highly defensive game, and this 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, players can DI and tech into, creating a cave of life effect that allows them to potentially live to extreme percentages. 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.

Trivia

• When playing as Pokémon Trainer, he stands on top of the loop.
• Sometimes, the bridge will slow down an attack 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.
• 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.
• When a section of the stage regenerates, if a player is below the regenerated ground, they will fall through the ground.
• 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.
• Green Hill Zone is one of only three stages in the Super Smash Bros. series to be featured as a stage in fighting games outside of the Super Smash Bros. series, the others being Boxing Ring and Pyrosphere. Green Hill Zone appears in Sonic Battle as an unlockable stage, an arena in the arcade fighter "Sonic the Fighters", and in the Japan-only Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax.^[2]

Gallery

• 

  (From right to left) Tails, Silver and Knuckles running in the background.

• 

  The Green Hill zone as seen in Sonic Adventure 2.

• 

  The error on the dojo.

• 

  Green Hill Zone in the 3DS version of SSB4.

External links

• DOJO!! Update
• Green Hill Zone in action