You may have previously seen our article going over the characters in which we were predicting for a hypothetical Super Smash Bros. port for the upcoming Nintendo Switch. To follow that, we will be looking at stage predictions in this article.
Stages are in a way, much harder to accurately predict so we went about choosing the ‘winners’ using slightly different methods than for our character-based prediction.
Firstly, we took into account the characters we had settled on in the previous entry. We then decided to resolve ourselves to 10 stages in total. Five for returning stages, which includes any stages from a previous Smash Bros. game excluding the Wii U version, and also five for new stages.
Following that, we opted to look at stages by franchise. We felt that because some games had more to draw material from than other games, it leveled the playing field. Thus giving us more credible results.
Returning Stages:
1. Magicant (Earthbound/Mother).
Magicant was featured in the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. It quickly became one of the system’s standout new stages and with a total of 7 out of 11 votes, it was a clear favorite to return amongst the team.
2. Summit (Ice Climbers).
The Ice Climbers were one of the seven characters that we predicted to return in our previous article. They ranked second overall in our tally, which meant that a stage was a no-brainer. All 6 of us who voted on an Ice Climber stage felt that Summit was the only choice. None of the other Ice Climber stages got a single vote!
3. Brinstar (Metroid)
Returning Metroid stages got a total of 6 votes split between 2 different stages. They are; Frigate Oprheon and Brinstar, with Brinstar being the favorite with 4 votes.
4. Gerudo Valley (The Legend of Zelda)
Zelda was hardly starved of new and returning stages in the latest Smash Bros. Even still, can there ever be too many Zelda stages? Three veteran stages in total received votes, however, Ocarina of Time’s Gerudo Valley beat out Spirit Tracks and Great Bay by 3 votes to 2 and 1 respectively. Totaling 6.
5. Corneria (Star Fox)
Like The Ice Climbers before, Wolf was a character that also made his return in our prediction. Corneria, a Smash favorite has appeared in 3 previous Smash Bros. games. It secured 4 votes.
New Stages:
1. Dr. Mario or Bowser’s Castle (Super Mario Bros.)
A total of 13 votes were cast across 5 stages that hail from the Mario universe. Which is understandable as 2 of the 7 characters we predicted were technically Mario characters (if you include Geno). Dr. Mario and Bowser’s castle tied with 4 votes each. It’s worth noting that a Dr. Mario stage was possibly previously planned for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
2. Melemele Island (Pokemon)
Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon’s Melemele Island is the sole stage with the most votes with 9. With Decidueye making our prediction it made Melemele Island one of our safest picks!
3. Inkopolis Plaza (Splatoon)
Splatoon has a wide array of environments to select from, three of them received an 8 split of votes with the Inkopolis Plaza coming out on top with 5 in total. The Inklings were another of our predictions for characters.
4. Breath of The Wild (The Legend of Zelda)
You can’t keep Zelda off this list it seems. With Breath of The Wild vastly approaching and considering the huge amount of attention and acclaim it has already garnered, a stage to coincide with Breath of The Wild was something our team deemed likely to happen.
5. Gangplank Galleon (Donkey Kong)
That krafty Kremling; King K. Rool, who may finally get his due if our prediction holds up could be accompanied by his signature stage. Gangplank Galleon. Though it just got 3 votes in total, it placed 5th overall on our list of new stages.
Which new stages do you think could be in an enhanced port of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch? Let us know in the comments!
Great picks, especially the Dr. Mario and Gangplank Galleon stages! I’m surprised they aren’t in Smash already.
The latter stage not being in isn’t really surprising given Sakurai’s apathy towards the DK series.
I don’t really think Sakurai has any real apathy towards the DK series as you seem to claim. If that’s really the case, why did DK get two stages in Melee, Brawl, and a newcomer in Brawl?
DK could for all intents and purposes just be considered a Mario spin-off like Nintendo seems to view it as (With DK and Diddy being given Mario series amiibo, as opposed to giving it an entire new series of amiibo all to themselves), and not give DK multiple stages and an extra character.
I could speculate that like us who like the DKC series, Sakurai would like the classic arcades, but given that we’ve only had one stage and a few items from the arcade title in contrast to the vast amount of jungle stages, Sakurai might seem to prefer DKC more. (But given that, likely the reason we’ve gotten more jungle stages is because the jungle stages are usually the starting point and more iconic of the series as a whole.)
So no, unless you can tell me that Sakurai hates DK with a passion, I can’t accept the idea that he hates the series – Having the Gangplank Galleon as a stage while it would be exciting is like having Bowser’s Castle as a stage – and stages in Smash I believe are meant to represent the theme of the series as a whole on top of the games they represent – it just so happens that DK’s whole motif is mostly related to jungles.
Ugh, why would people want those same Melee stages for the fourth time in a row?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sakurai finished the Dr. Mario stage, but I also think a 3D World stage is highly likely given how recent it is yet missed Smash Wii U.
Breath of the Wild stage is guarenteed, but I hope there’s one other new Zelda stage, based on A Link Between Worlds (fighting on a stage drawn on a brick wall).
Gankplank Galleon would be great but I think a Tropical Freeze stage would be more likely.
As for other new stages, Kirby might get a new one, probably from Air Ride since Smash 4 already has new Kirby’s Dream Land and Kirby Super Star stages, and it’s only major Kirby title Sakurai worked on that hasn’t had a stage yet.
Corneria and Brinstar are pretty iconic to Smash and more so than their popularity. They are the basis for what are essentially stage molds, being replaced by Orbital Gate and Norfair respectively. But those stages are not as popular or as good so I could see either the Melee or 64 version of these stages being brought forward to have both varieties of this stage arch-type. Personally I don’t think we would get a Zelda returning stage if we are getting a new one. I’d be more inclined to get it from another series that needs a stage like Kirby or Donkey Kong.
Bowser’s Castle could be from any game really, not necessarily SMB. They could go with Neo Bowser City from 3D World if they wanted. Although, I feel personally that a Paper Mario Color Splash and 100% a Super Mario RPG stage are more likely if Paper Mario & Geno get in.
To be fair, isn’t there already a Paper Mario stage in the 3DS version? (never played the 3DS version myself, but still 90% sure of this). I could see them skimping out on a new one if they just brought that one over.
As for the Super Mario RPG stage if Geno gets in, you’re probably right, but those other new stages are still probably more likely seeing how it seems every shred of content owned by Square looks like it was obtained by pulling teeth and the fact you can cheat by calling Geno a Mario character and say he doesn’t need a new stage.
There’s no way you could add Geno and just not add a Super Mario RPG stage to go with it. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Eh, I agree once again that they probably WOULD, but I don’t think they’d regret it much if they didn’t. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity feel for many of these third parties, and I think they’d regret missing out on any of them much more.
No Mushroom Kingdom? I realize the pipes could be hard to implement, but the mechanic is in 3DS (Pictochat 2).
To be honest, I kind of want all the 64 stages back though.
Honestly they might as well, they’re pretty simplistic so it’s not like they’d be much work to add. We’ve already had five of them return across the series; may as well add the last four. Should put them all on their own page so they are all grouped together for convenience.
For the returning stages, bringing stages from the 3DS can be possible. But since the stages were meant to be differentiated from both Wii U and 3DS, which Wii U takes place in the home console games while 3DS are handhelds, I think bringing handheld stages like Dream Land, Spirit Train, 3D Land, Arena Ferox, etc won’t be possible, except for Pokemon for special reasons.
Magicant is the definite choice to bring for Switch for such beautiful scenery and music, which I believe that stage was the most popular one in 3DS, except for such hatred toward the Flying Man which I really don’t mind. I think Mute City would be possible too since both Earthbound/MOTHER and F-Zero from the Wii U needs new stages, and both stages were originally from the home console world. As the Ice Climbers would definitely return, then the Summit should too, but the Icicle Mountain is another thing I can’t ignore for somehow. I do disagree for having Brinstar back since we already have Norfair with the similar mechanic even the acids and magma are different, but although Gerudo Valley is based from Ocarina of Time 3D, its originally from the 64 version, so I do agree it may return as well, so do Corneria with the same reasons. Others for my choice from the 3DS, I think Prism Tower may have a possibility with additional details for the stage design, and Balloon Fight should bring in too since its originally from the home console world and the gimmicks were unique which other retro stages like 75 m and Mario Brothers didn’t have. From the 64, if Prism Tower won’t be a thing, then I would like to see Saffron City return, with a newly redesigned Pokemon with better graphics than plain 2D form. From Melee, Four Side should return for more Earthbound stages. From Brawl, Frigate Orpheon for Metroid Prime representative.
For new stages, which is very hard to predict of than new characters, I had a same discussion with my friends in Japan through chat, which we all agreed that the Alola Islands should make an appearance for Switch. Since Island Trial is the main point of Sun/Moon, fighters can travel to Melemele, Akala, Ulaula, and Poni randomly, which the Tapus can be its gimmick to attack the fighters from the background. And since Sun/Moon minor change version Stars will be coming to Switch, bringing this stage to Smash Bros. does make perfect sense. Also, I do agree Inkapolis Plaza/Haikara City should make it in if the Inklings joins in, transporting fighters to several Turf War stages with several gimmicks used in that stage. Dr. Mario stage is another interesting stage to have, while others is really hard to think of. Maybe they should add in Nintendo Land, or the infamous Mysterious Murasame Castle and Captain Rainbow.