I love you all to death (Just so I can smash bros with you) (SSBWiiU/3DS)

[Koopaul]

I'm pretty sick of Metroid always having rising acid/lava stages. I think it would be neat if say Donkey Kong Country Return's Volcano got a stage like that. We'd also finally get a DK stage that wasn't in the Jungle! (besides the arcade stage)

[TomGuycott]

Well by the look of it the Pyrosphere stage is fire-based, but maybe not the rising and falling levels of lava. I'd consider it a welcome change if they didn't have that trend for Metroid levels this time. I wouldn't mind it elsewhere though, I do like it as a stress-inducing level mechanic you have to take advantage of.

[SchAlternate]

Still, I think that if they are to do that anyway, they have to pick Sector 4.

[Jermungandr]

My biggest issue so far is that every stage we've seen for the 3DS version has been explicitly from the DS/3DS era. I want to see some CLASSIC handheld stages; give me stuff from Wario Land, Kirby's Dream Land, Return of Samus, and most importantly, Link's Awakening.

[TomGuycott]

I am unsure Link's Awakening is gonna be first choice for them since they already have Gerudo Valley, but seeing as there's already 3 announced Zelda characters the franchise does deserve more than one stage, so... here's hoping.

As for why there's more of those instead of classic ones, these are probably just easier to do since there are a number of 3D model assets available to work from. Sure, they make new models and such, but I'm sure SOMETHING is reused from the original games to save time. Thus it would make sense to see stages like that done first, rather than stages that would require more original stuff.

[Koopaul]

Yeah that's a shame that they mostly seem to make stages for the most recent games now. Mostly. I mean we got a Pilotwings stage.

In Smash 64 and Melee they seemed to make stages that were taken from very iconic locations. I'm not saying saying Gerudo Valley isn't iconic... but they could have used a location that had more memorable moments. Lon Lon Ranch perhaps?

[TomGuycott]

Err, I'd rate Gerudo Valley as a fairly memorable place. Catchy music, and it even had fighting aspects to it. Not saying Lon Lon Ranch isn't iconic.. its just not the first thing I think of when I think of a stage for Smash. Granted, a stage based on that done well would GREATLY impress me. It doesn't seem doable to me, though.

[Jermungandr]

Yeah I know that Link's Awakening has no chance because we've already seen two Zelda stages for 3DS. It sucks.

Plus that Gerudo Valley stage really annoys me because of all the places that could have chosen from OoT, they pick one that is so incredibly bland. It's literally just generic rocks with a generic river and a nondescript tent. There's nothing to it that fairly represents the epic adventures that the Zelda franchise has to offer. It's just really flipping boring.

Here's a quick top ten list of locations I think would have made way better stages:

#13: Kakariko Village (In front of the windmill)
#12: Death Mountain (Summit)
#11: Temple of Time
#10: Shadow Temple
#9: Zora Village
#8: Great Deku Tree (either in front of it or inside of it)
#7: Gerudo Village (fighting over the rooftops)
#6: Dodongo's Cavern (in front of the giant skull)
#5: Forest Temple
#4: Great Jabu Jabu (fight mostly occurs in front of him, but occasionally he inhales the fighters to a stage in his belly)
#3: Ganon's Castle (begins on the top floor where you fight Ganondorf, then the castle crumbles and you fight on Ganon's battle ground)
#2: Goron City
#1: The Desert Colossus (the giant statue in the spirit temple)

... okay so I didn't keep it to just ten, so sue me. Point is, there are dozens of better places they could have chosen. Hell, Hyrule Field is also bland, but the notable locations present in the backdrop would still help represent the game better than *blatantly nothing*.

[TomGuycott]

I still feel like Gerudo Valley is being judged a little too harshly considering its not known what other Zelda stages may or may not be featured. I do understand where you are coming from, but I like the dynamics of the stage (Falling bridge, waterfall with a river below, etc). And I personally just resonate better with Gerudo Valley than other people I guess.

It's not completely devoid of notable places. In the background you can see the archery range. Granted, that's no Death Mountain, but still, I think judgement is better reserved for after the whole stage with all its features is analyzable.

[Koopaul]

Also Death Mountain could have been a composite stage that mixed it's Ocarina of Time version with it's Link to the Past version.

Being a place that has appeared multiple times in the series, I'm surprised it hasn't been a stage yet.

[Jermungandr]

Well it will be interesting to see what 3DS stage they come up with for Kirby at least. No Kirby game with 3D models was released on a handheld prior to the development of Smash4, and the most recent game was Mass Attack, which might produce something interesting. They could possibly skip that one though, under the premise of it being a non-traditional one-off, in which case the next choice would be Super Star Ultra. And if they want to go with the last original game, it'd be Squeak Squad. So lots of interesting possible choices there.

[Vitesse]

I think they can still do something cool with Gerudo Valley. They could have Mutoh shouting or something in the background, or Epona could run across the bridge and stuff. Maybe Zoras in the river or something... I don't know...

ANYWAY, the new image of the day shows that forest looking stage from last year (I assume) and it looks a lot like a Luigi's Mansion type stage.

[Ploaj]

"Where am I……?? To be clear, the new Super Smash Bros. games do not feature a story mode like The Subspace Emissary."
Looks like an adventure mode type thing.

[Kriven]

The first thing I think of when I see that forest is Rayman.

[Chaoxys]

The first thing I think of when I see that forest is Rayman.

Glad to hear that I wasn't the only one to think that.