June 12, 2021|

Filed under: Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Translation

Special Stages

Brando here with a translation from the official Melee website. The original Japanese page is here. Thanks to PushDustIn for checking!

Special Stages

Page last updated 4 January 2002

In the “Unlockable Back Stages” post [translated here], I said I’d write about Special Stages later.

I think it’s about time to introduce them, so that’s what I’ll be doing in this post.

(Apologies to anyone who hasn’t unlocked them yet.)

Battlefield

Used for events like Multi-Man Melee, this stage has an extremely simple layout.

Here it is.

Even in the last Smash game’s prototype, Dragon King: The Fighting Game, this stage had the same platform arrangement. In other words, this is the most basic of basic layouts!

If you don’t want frills or gimmicks interfering, and just want to enjoy pure battles, this is the place for you. You’ve got to pick this stage!

If you want to make things even more hardcore, you could also turn off items completely.

Unlock criteria: Beat All-Star mode with any character.

Final Destination

I was just kidding before — here’s an even simpler layout.

Even moreso.

This is where you fight the final opponent in Classic mode. There’s no floating platforms to stand on. At the end, the stage background starts to look like the real world… if you want to know why, please take a look at the trophy description.

(By the way, there are trophies for both Battlefield and Final Destination. Final Destination’s trophy is unlocked at the same time as the stage itself.)

Since there are no platforms, you probably won’t utilize all of your techniques when fighting here, but the limited layout gives rise to a unique kind of fun.

Perhaps mid-air combat will be more important on this stage?

Unlock criteria: Complete the final stage in Event Match.

If you’ve finished all the Event matches and Final Destination is still not available, it’s possible that some events still remain hidden.

At the very least, check back after you’ve unlocked all the characters.

Past Stage: Dreamland

The most popular stage in the last Smash game returns, exactly the same.

Ahh, this takes me back.

Of course, the music is unchanged!

Even the graphics are unchanged!

The width is pretty much unchanged as well, but the way characters appear on screen and their abilities have changed from the last game, so it might feel a bit different.

This stage also has a very basic layout, so I recommend it to anyone looking for clean, refreshing fun.

Unlock criteria: Complete “Break the Targets!” with all characters, including hidden ones.

Past stage: Yoshi’s Island

…That’s the name, but this place is straight out of Yoshi’s Story.

Oh, it’s the Super Happy Tree.

The Past Stages have been completely recreated, including the low-res fuzziness of the original graphics, but the background scenery is done in a way that’s just a little bit different.

(In the past, backgrounds were just single static images, but this time the background is layered.)

The stage’s clouds that disappear after standing on them are also still alive and well.

Unlock Criteria: Get a record of at least 400m in Home Run Contest

Past Stage: Kongo Jungle

This is a Donkey Kong stage from the previous game.

Complete with the original Barrel Cannon.

Gentle slopes and a central elevator platform are the special features here.

You can quickly slip through from below the platforms to above them, depending on the state of the Barrel Cannon.

I was thinking to make Barrel items appear more frequently on this stage, but my work piled up too much so I completely and totally forgot. That’s a secret I can’t tell anyone.

Unlock criteria: Survive 15-Minute Melee with any character.

…

Even though it’s just recreating old stages, that still involves a lot of extra work. For example, Whispy Woods’ wind blowing effect looks the same as it did in Smash 64, but it still had to be remade [to be compatible in Melee].

I decided to make the graphics for these stages exactly the same as the previous game, which adds a certain kind of humor and keeps things fun, I think.

There’s still another stage that hasn’t been seen yet, but it will be revealed with the introduction of a certain dark individual.