News Flash! Smash Bros. Dojo: Back Stages

This is a translation of the back stages introduction page from News Flash! Smash Bros. Dojo, Melee’s version of the Smash Bros. Dojo. Thanks to PushDustin and Soma for their help with the translation. [TN] indicates a translation note.

Well, take a look at this picture.
These are the starter stages in the game.

Tw–twenty-three stages!

That means that you didn’t even see half of the total number of available stages at E3 and Space World.
Compared to the previous game, there are about 2.5 times as many stages.
That’s awesome, Smash.

In the selection screen, stages are arranged so that they appear in two rows.
We call the upper row the “front stages”, and the lower row the “back stages” [TN1].
(The Ice Climbers’ stage is an exception as it has no corresponding back stage)

The front and back stages share the same world.
For example…

Mario’s world
　Front: Peach’s Castle
　Back: Rainbow Cruise

Kirby’s world
　Front: Fountain of Dreams
　Back: Green Grens

Fox’s world
　Front: Corneria
　Back: Venom

So on.
Of course, the music is also different.
Which tune to play with?
Ah– that’s fun.

Alright, the introduction.

– Rainbow Cruise (Mario)

A ship that soars through the sky.

A scrolling stage of sky with a moving ship.
If you don’t prioritize your survival, you may suddenly find yourself being left behind by the auto-scrolling

Also, the ship will sink halfway through.

– Jungle Japes (Donkey Kong) [TN2]

The setting sun is bright.

Cranky Kong’s lab in the dark evening.
The toilet is readily available in a separate house.

There are platforms on both sides, and the battles around the gaps are what this stage is for. Be careful about self-destructs.

The bottom of the screen is a rapid river, and if you fall into it you’ll be washed away.

– Temple (The Legend of Zelda)

T-that’s really wide, isn’t it.
Can you see the Falcon Kick?

For this stage, we did not limit it to a particular game, and instead use Zelda as a whole as the basis and created this made-up temple.
(Because Zelda games are pretty different from each other)
However, the stage is labeled “Adventure of Link”…

And since this is the largest of the Smash stages, it can be played in many ways.

– Yoshi’s Island (Yoshi) [TN3]

Yoshi’s back stage is a recreation of Super Mario World. Or Super Mario Advance 2.

The main thing here is the use of the spinning blocks.

– Green Greens (Kirby)

Ah, Whispy Woods.

Green Greens uses the first stage of the first Kirby game as the theme.

It looks like Dream Land from the previous game, but there are blocks and bomb blocks falling from above and get stacked up.

– Venom (Fox)

Here it comes.

On Corneria, the Great Fox is seen from the side.
On Venom, the Great Fox is seen from the front.

With this change, the terrain is made tighter, making decisive strikes harder to make.

Making good use of the four wings is the key to victory.

As seen in the screenshot, there are still 5 hidden stages.
These are:
– Metroid
– EarthBound
– F-Zero
– Pokémon
– Mushroom Kingdom [TN4]

5 stages, that’s more than half of the last game.
These will appear as the game progresses.

Here.

Some of them are already seen here and there.
Think of those as extra fanservice.

Relative to the more orthodox front stages, stages with more gimmicks make up most of the “back” catalog.
The hidden back stages are even more gimmicky.

They may not be made for serious battles, but lighthearted fun parties fit Smash better, so this is fine.

Even if that isn’t the case, you can get used to them in no time.
I think everyone will have their own favorite stage.

Seeing all the things shown to far, do you feel that this game has gathered an unfathomable amount of content?

No wonder no matter how much I work, the workload doesn’t seem to have reduced.
Wahahaha! Ahhhh.

[TN1] The original words used for “front” and “back” are omote (表) and ura (裏).
[TN2] “Jungle Garden” in the Japanese version.
[TN3] “Yo’ster Island” in the Japanese version.
[TN4] “Ancient Kingdom” in the Japanese version.