Statistics
With every Zelda series stage covered, I will now provide some tables listing some of the various statistics regarding the games each stage hails from. The first of these will cover which games have received stages and how many times they have. Compared to the Mario series this list is significantly shorter.
| Game | Year(s) of Release | Stage(s) | Smash Game(s) Debuted in |
| The Legend of Zelda (Series) | 1986 – 2001
(at the time) |
Temple | Super Smash Bros. Melee |
| The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | 1998 | Hyrule Castle
Gerudo Valley |
Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS |
| The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask | 2000 | Great Bay | Super Smash Bros. Melee |
| The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker | 2002 | Pirate Ship | Super Smash Bros. Brawl |
| The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess | 2006 | Bridge of Eldin | Super Smash Bros. Brawl |
| The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks | 2009 | Spirit Train | Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS |
| The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword | 2011 | Skyloft | Super Smash Bros. for Wii U |
Next up we have a table covering how many Legend of Zelda stages there are in each Super Smash Bros. game. For Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, I will exclude any stages that aren’t exclusive to them.
| Game | New Zelda Stages | Returning Zelda Stages | Total Stages |
| Super Smash Bros. | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Super Smash Bros. Melee | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Super Smash Bros. Brawl | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Super Smash Bros. for Wii U | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U (combined) | 3 | 4 | 7 |
Grand total of The Legend of Zelda stages in the Super Smash Bros. series: 8 stages
And finally, this last table lists all the times a console had one of its games represented in Smash.
| Console | Number of Stages |
| N64 | 3 |
| GameCube | 1 |
| Wii | 2 |
| DS | 1 |
Note: Due to representing the Zelda series in general, Temple is not counted on this table.
Trivia
– The oldest Legend of Zelda game represented is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) and the newest is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011). Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987), while not having a stage, has elements of it appear in the Temple stage.
– The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the only Zelda game to receive a second stage.
– Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the only Smash Bros. game to have an unlockable Legend of Zelda stage (if one does not count DLC stages in Smash 3DS/Wii U).
– Great Bay is the only Zelda stage to not return in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
– Great Bay is the only first stage for a Zelda game that is not set in an early-game area.
– Temple is the only Zelda series stage to not originate from a specific game.
– Pirate Ship is the only stage from Super Smash Bros. Brawl to be available as DLC in Smash 3DS/Wii U. In fact, it is the only returning DLC stage that isn’t from the original Super Smash Bros.
– Spirit Train is the only stage in Smash that comes from a top-down Zelda game. It is also the only Zelda stage in Smash to originate from a handheld console.
– Every 3D Zelda game has had a stage in Smash.
– Link and Zelda are the only playable Legend of Zelda characters to have never had a stage based on their debut game, The Legend of Zelda.*
– The Legend of Zelda is one of only two series that was in the original Super Smash Bros. that hasn’t had a stage based on its first game at this point in time.
*Toon Link’s debut game was The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, however the version of Toon Link in Smash is specifically the Hero of Winds, who first appeared in The Wind Waker.
Beta Stage Content
In game development there are many times where content is shown to the public that is changed in the final game, and Super Smash Bros. is no exception to this. There have been a few times where we have be shown footage or images of some of the Zelda series stages which have elements that are not present in the final game, and I thought I would briefly mention them.
Obviously the reason being able to enter the laboratory was cut was because research is boring!
Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 doesn’t really have much of note regarding Hyrule Castle, other than that it was more of a shade of brown instead of grey. In Super Smash Bros. Melee however things get much more interesting. In Great Bay, fighters could originally walk inside and on top of the Marine Research Laboratory, and the lower platform near the turtle was much smaller, consisting of only three metal beams instead of five just like it did in Majora’s Mask. Meanwhile, Temple used to have some strange brown platforms that are not seen in the final version that can be seen in the Special Movie found under Data in the menu of the NTSC versions of Melee. Unlike the last two games, there doesn’t appear to be any beta differences for Super Smash Bros. Brawl‘s Zelda stages as far as we know. Lastly, a rather minor change in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS can be seen in a picture of the Spirit Train stage, where the floating platform above the train was originally carried by birds. Why this was changed in the final game is unknown.
On Page 3 we will conclude with discussing notable absences and predictions of possible future stages.
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I think the Zelda series is pretty well represented in terms of stages (or at least about as well as it could be being such a big series with the number of stages its given). In addition to rarely double dipping as far a game representation, it also reps a pretty diverse set of locations across its series, not putting an extreme emphasis on one type of environment like DK and Metroid.
The focus on the 3D titles kinda seems to reflect the outlook of the series proper post-OoT, with the 3D games getting considerably more promotion than the 2D games. Its a shame LttP ended up getting past over because of this but I feel a stage from ALBW could potentially also serve as LttP representation provided its based on an area appearing in both games, so it might have a chance.
It’s adequate, but for such an important series as Zelda it should be getting a bit more than two new stages per game, especially since they’ve never been able to make up for lost ground what with there being at least two new Zeldas by the time of each new Smash game. I feel like three new stages (if Smash for Switch isn’t a port) would be good for the series. Enough to include Breath of the Wild, A Link Between Worlds and an older Zelda game too. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with double-dipping, just as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of other games getting shafted like what happened with Kirby. It does have a pretty great variety of locations (castle, beach, ocean, canyon, fields, village); I’d argue much better than Mario stages in terms of different settings.
I understand that 3D Zeldas have more focus in real-life too, but it really is a shame that they’ve all been shafted in Smash except for Spirit Tracks. It’s still kinda hard to believe no old-school Zeldas are in Smash; it’d be like having no stages from the classic side-scrolling Mario platformers. I’d rather not have the ALBW stage double as an ALttP stage since I feel that kinda be a cheap way of representing it, plus I feel an ALBW stage should be about something important to that game (fighting on the walls would be cool). I feel if there was an opportunity for an ALttP stage, it would have been in Melee.
I’m surprised that they haven’t made many Zelda stages based on a recurring location in the series, since the only one in Smash is Hyrule Castle. I’d be down for a stage based on the Lost Woods, Death Mountain, Lake Hylia, etc., which come with the bonus of finally repping the original Zelda and LttP in Smash.
I guess it’s because Sakurai might have wanted to pick locations that can only be associated with the game the stage is based on, hence something like Bridge of Eldin for Twilight Princess. I wouldn’t mind some of those locations you mentioned though.