A Look At Brawl: P2, Location Location Location

[MacDaddyNook]

Next to the cast, the second most anticipated aspect of a Smash Bros game are the stages players can fight in. Unlike most fighting games, which use an identical area with varying backdrops, Smash Bros features interactive stages with unique layouts, obsticals, gimmicks and hazards that test a player's platforming skill as well as their fighting skill. Stages vary from static locations with an array of platforms to stages that rotate to continuously change the layout to stages in perpetual motion focing the fight to keep moving, with nearly every possible concept in between.
What also makes a SSB stage so interesting is the way most stages represent actual locations, either specifically or in a general idea, from games the fighters come from. Melee's Great Bay emulated the laboratory platform out to sea in Majora's Mask, Saffron City placed the fight atop the Silph building and surrounding skyscrapers of one of the most story significant towns in the original Pokemon games, and Wario Ware takes the fight to new levels by pitting characters in actual Microgames from the Wario Ware series. With so many beloved games to choose from, many fans envision and hope for their favorite locations from their favorite games in the format of a SSB stage, each utilizing the elements that made those stages in their respective games so enjoyable in the first place. And with a larger number and variety of stages already confirmed for Brawl, many fans have and will be getting their wishes.
Like previous installments of Smash Bros, characters and stages, for the most part, go hand in hand. For Mario, there's Delfino Plaza and Mario Circut, Link gets Bridge of Eldin and (Hyrule) Temple. Even guests like Solid Snake and lesser known characters like the Ice Climbers get a stage.
However, a new possible concept has stirred up a large ammount of controversy among the fans. This new idea is the possibility of stages appearing without characters to go with them, something not seen in previous Smash Bros games (with the exception of event stages like Final Destination). Currently, two possible stages support this idea, those being Smashville from Animal Crossing and Pictochat from the Nintendo DS. Both stages feature a logo from their respective series, yet not plausible fighter can be considered to represent them (with most of the potential Animal Crossing characters being either Assist Trophies or part of the stage's scenery). This has opened up many debates as Animal Crossing fans may be disappointed to not recieve a playable AC fighter.

[MacDaddyNook]

As Melee did before it, Brawl will incorperate a large number of new stages, as well as a decent chunk of favorite stages from previous games.

Now we will take a look at the various stages currently confirmed. Like the characters, I will cover the respective games and series each stage represents as well as the workings of said stages.

I will use terms such as Simple, Moving, Transforming, and Hazardous to describe the overall progression of each stage. Simple means the stage will relatively remain constant throughout the battle, Moving means the stage is perpetually or mostly moving and forces the players to keep up with its motion, Transforming means a stage will continously change its layout which may or may not force the player to move to the new layout, and finally Hazardous means the stage will feature many traps or hazards that can harm players. Some examples from Melee of such would be Fountain of Dreams and Yoshi's Story for Simple, Icicle Mountain and Rainbow Cruise for Moving, Brinstar Depths and Pokemon Stadium for Transforming and Brinstar and Flatzone for Haradous.

1. Battlefield (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage01.html)
Series: Super Smash Bros
Debut Game: Super Smash Bros Melee (as a playable stage, though a prototype appeared in the Fighting Polygon team in the original) (Gamecube)
Size: Med-Small
Style: Simple
Normal Layout: Battlefield features the most common layout in Smash Bros. That layout is one large platform on the bottom with two smaller platforms above it on the left and right sides and a third platform in the center above the two other platforms.
Effects: Battlefield will remain the same throughout the entire battle, however, the scenery will change from day to night and back during the course of the battle. Aside from the lighting, the day/night changes will not affect the battle.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgVH9OGugSo
Info: Battlefield is a basic stage that has become popular among fans for its neutrality. Since it doesn't feature any big changes or hazards, it is one of the most "fair" stages for players to fight in, and often used in competitive play.

2. Delfino Plaza (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage02.html)
Series: Super Mario Bros
Debut Game: Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube)
Size: Varying
Style: Transforming
Normal Layout: Delfino Plaza has so many different layouts that it's difficult to consider a single one as its standard layout. However, since each section of the stage is traveled to via a "flying" platform, the general "normal" layout of the stage would be a single small platform with an assorted number and layout of smaller platforms above it.
Effects: Delfino Plaza resembles Melee's Mute City in the way that it takes players from section to section of the location's hot spots via a "flying" platform. In Delfino, the platform carries players to a wide variety of terrains to fight upon including large walk-off platforms, smaller central platforms, uneven platforms with slopes, numerous small platforms forming a long chain with gaps between them, just to name a few.
Video: www.smashbros.com/jp/gamemode/wi-fi/wi-fi06.html
Info: Delfino Plaza is the central hub of Super Mario Sunshine. Through it, Mario would access the levels of the game through Warp Pipes and Paint Smudges (similar to the Paintings of Super Mario 64).


3. Yoshi's Island (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage03.html)
Series: Yoshi's Island
Debut Game: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
Size: Medium
Style: Simple
Layout: A Single large, slightly uneven platform above it with a smaller tilting platform above it.
Effect: The smaller platform above the main platform will ocassionaly tilt to the left or right, creating a slope. During the fight, the background will change to various seasons of the year, which is believed to only be cosmetic changes and not affect the gameplay. On occasion, a being known as the Support Ghost will pop up from the pit on either side and save a fallen character as well as serve as a temporary platform.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSqNEmteYv0
Info: Although Yoshi's Island appears in many games in many different forms, this particular version is based on the SNES classic, Yoshi's Island. It features a watercolor and crayon style artwork trademark of YI, with cheerful grassy feel of early levels of the game.

4. Lylat Cruise (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage04.html)
Series: Star Fox
Debut Game: Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
Size: Medium
Style: Simple
Layout: One large platform extends across most of the screen with a slight downward slope on each side. Three smaller relatively same-size platforms are above it in a relatively level layout.
Effect: Taking place on a unique space craft known as the Pleiades, the stage will travel through various locations of the Lylat Solar System including a meteor field, space armada (including along a corridor of a large space vehicle resulting in walls on both sides of the screen for a brief period of time), dogfight between Arwings and Wolfens, the atmosphere of Planet Corneria and even Corneria's surface. While most locations are merely for appearance, some do affect the stage's layout such as creating barriers on different secontions of the stage. It's also believed that stray fire from dogfights and space battles may harm fighters.
Video: www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/wi-fi/wi-fi06.html
Info: Unlike other Star Fox stages, Lylat Cruise takes place on a SSB exclusive vehicle rather than the Great Fox. Although the verhicle is not from the series, many of the locations in the background are, including Meteo from Star Fox 64 and the space armada at the beginning of Star Fox Assault.

5. Bridge of Eldin (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage05.html)\
Series: The Legend of Zelda
Debut Game: The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (Gamecube)
Size: Large
Style: Hazardous
Layout: A single flat platform extends from one boundary to the other, creating a walk-off stage.
Effect: During the coarse of the battle, the Bulblin King will race from one side of the stage to the other, mowing over any fighter in his path. As he races across the stage, he will leave a barrel of explosives in the center of the stage, as expected, anyone caught in the explosion will be sent flying to their doom. The explosion also causes a massive hole in the center of the stage for fighters to fall in. Recovering players must be careful, eventually the hole will be repaired and it appears possible for players to get trapped under the stage and nowhere to go but the pit below.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjCvWyomKFQ
Info: The Bridge of Eldin is what connects the eastern section of Hyrule over a massive canyon that devides it. In Twilight Princess, Link was forced to face off against the Bulblin King in a horseback joust-like duel in order to save his captured friends.

[MacDaddyNook]

6. Smashville (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage06.html)
Series: Animal Crossing
Debut Game: Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
Size: Small
Style: Simple
Normal Layout: One large platform with a smaller platform above it moving to the left and right.
Effects: As previously mentioned, the smaller platform will move to the left at right. What makes this stage stand out is the way it links up to real-time via the Wii's internal clock so that if it's day in real life, it's day in the game, and likewise if it's night in life, it's night in the game. Also, K.K. Slider will perform a song during the battle on Saturdays at 8 PM. Also, packages will occasionally float by via balloon, if stuck, they will drop an item.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0rLLk7U3B8
Info: Smashville is losely based on the type of town players get in the DS Animal Crossing game (each town is layed out randomly and players get to name their town). Like Animal Crossing, Smashville is syncronized with the realworld's clock and callendar. Ironically, the name Smashville exceedes the character limit for naming towns in Animal Crossing games.

7. Rumble Falls (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage07.html)
Series: Donkey Kong Country
Debut Game: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Gamecube)
Size: Large
Style: Moving
Normal Layout: Since the stage is in constant motion, there is no standard layout. However, there will always be platforms above and below the player to all the fight to climb with the stage.
Effects: The stage constantly will scroll upward while the fighters climb with it to keep in the game. There are latters scattered about the stage for players to climb on. There are also switches in the stage, however, nothing is known about what happens when any of them are triggered.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xefK4DDIFGc&feature=user (1:16 in the video)
Info: Rumble Falls is the first stage of the Pineapple Kingdom of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. Like the stage, it is a vertical climb. DK uses various gimicks in the stage such as bouncy vine teathers, barrel cannons and bubbles DK can trap himself in to float upward. It's currently unknown if any of these elements will be incorperated into the SSBB version of the stage or not.

8. Skyworld (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage08.html)
Series: Kid Icarus
Debut Game: Kid Icarus (NES)
Size: Medium
Style: Simple
Layout: One Large platform, with a slope on the lefthand side, in the cetner with a small platform above its left side and a slightly larger platform above it, and higher than the left platform, to the right. A platform level to the small lefthand platform is to the far right above the stage with nothing below it, and below the main platform, also to the right, is one last small platform.
Effects: Each platform has a layer of destructable rock-like material that can be destroyed by attacks. If this layer is destroyed, the clouds below provide platforms to which characters can be hit downward through.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk3YA_miO3E
Info: Skyworld is the top level of Angel Land and home of the Goddess Palutena. In Kid Icarus, Pit had to climb from the Underworld all the way to the Sky World to save his goddess.

9. Castle Siege (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage09.html)
Series: Fire Emblem
Debut Game: Super Smas Bros Brawl (Wii)
Size: Varying
Style: Transforming
Layouts: Castle Siege is made up of three different layouts that the players will "fall" to during the course of the battle. The first layout, the top of the castle, is a large central platform, which is elevated to the right by a slight incline at the center. A smaller platform is above it on each side. The second layout is a long walk-off ground with a small platform above its center. Another small plaform is above the first slightly to the left. Two platforms are at the top each sloped upward toward the center. The final layout is a large central platform that tilts from left to right.
Effects: During the course of battle, the stage will "crumble" and the fighters will "fall" to another section of the stage below. After the bottom stage, the fight will "fall" back to the top of the stage. The statues holding the platforms in the second layout can be destroyed, eliminating the respective platform. The final layout tilts to the left and right slightly.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFlk7QvDPmo
Info: Not based on any specific location of Fire Emble, Castle Siege embodies the typical castle raid missions throught the series. Much like the stage, these missions are often broken up into indoor/outdoor sequences, with lots of action as your units try to take down the defending units.

10. Wario Ware (www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage10.html)
Series: Wario Ware
Debut Game: Wario Ware: Mega Microgames (Game Boy Advance)
Size: Medium
Style: Hazardous
Normal Layout: The standard layout of the stage is the lobby area in between microgames. This is composed of one central platform with a pair of platforms above each other on each side with the lower of the two platforms being larger than the upper.
Effects: During the course of battle, the doors in the background will open up and the fighters will be thrown into the "room" behind the doors. Inside that "room" will be one of many microgames played in the Wario Ware series, each with their own hazards and objectives. Completing the objective will reward the players by slightly enlarging them while slightly shrinking those that failed, along with not being damaged by the microgame's hazards. After the microgame, the fight will return to the lobby area.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvFvT7XIaqE&feature=user#
Info: Wario Ware, the stage, takes place in the elevator lobby backdrop found when playing a guantlet of assorted microgames in the Wario Ware series. Microgames are five second mini games that come at a rapid pace with simple objective to complete, but as the game progresses, the game's speed will increase, making even the simplest games a bit of a challenge.