Intro[]
Apologies for the delay in getting this posted everyone, let's just say sometimes Real Life can really mess with your plans. Anyways... welcome back to my 100 New Stages for the Next Smash project! Today we're covering Stages 11-20, and remember that these are in a pseudo-randomized order and aren't a definitive ranking of how much I want each stage.
With that all out of the way, let's get into our second set of 10 stages.
11. Flower Kingdom [Super Mario - Super Mario Bros. Wonder][]
Smash more or less has a tradition with giving us new “Mushroom Kingdom” stages that are designed with the elements and style of a particular Super Mario Bros. game. Hell, the original Super Mario Bros. has had *three* stages with this design scheme in mind with Super Mario Bros. 2 and New Super Mario Bros. U getting one each. Flower Kingdom is meant to fall in that same vein as it's a stage including elements and designs from the latest game in the series, Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
As far as the stage design is concerned, I think I'd go with some rather simple. Perhaps a longer version of the Acorn Plains version of the Mushroom Kingdom U stage and some other 2-4 platform arrangement. That's not the important part though. What's important, is the stage's gimmick. The main feature of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the Wonder Effects so if we're going to get a stage from the game in Smash, we've gotta feature the Wonder Effects. The way I'd make it work is that a Wonder Flower would fly in onto the stage similar to Midgar's Summons or Smash Balls and a fighter will need to make contact with the Wonder Flower to activate it. Once that's done, a Wonder Effect will be randomly chosen to affect the stage. Maybe time will pause, maybe everyone will shrink, the stage could be flipped sideways or upside-down! Perhaps a group of regular enemies will spawn that the players will have to deal with! It could be anything!
12. Bonerattle Arena [Splatoon - Splatoon 3][]
Splatoon 2 introduced a new multiplayer mode alongside Turf Wars and the various ranked modes, Salmon Run. In Salmon Run a team of four using randomized weapons have to defeat waves after wave of Salmonid while also working to collect Golden Eggs for Mr. Grizz. While in Splatoon 2, Salmon Run was only available in spurts, In Splatoon 3 it became a permanent game mode with brand new maps. One of those maps was Bonerattle Arena which is set inside of a former penal colony and really gives off some Mad Max-style vibes.
Despite its name and look, I think Bonerattle Arena would work well as a low-hazards stage. Design it so that the fighters are literally fighting atop the arena with its platforms with the only hazard being the changing of the tide. During High Tide, the Salmonid Ink rises limiting the players fighting space. During Low Tide, the Salmonid Ink lowers giving the fighters a greater area to fight in. Meanwhile in the background would be a legion of Salmonids watching the fight and causing a commotion. Perhaps they'll even react to the match and act crazy during moments of high intensity, or wave flags for the characters fighting as their support their favorites.
13. Threed [Earthbound - Earthbound][]
We've already gotten stages of two of the four numbered towns in Earthbound with Onett and Fourside, so why not continue the trend? I've previously made a stage for Twoson, but I think Threed is actually a more interesting idea. By the time that Ness and Paula arrive in Threed, the city is under attack by zombies with only a small resistance force trying to fight them off.
For Smash, I'd like to put the stage of Threed on the ground like with Onett and center it in front of the Threed's circus tent. Fighters could battle both on top of the tent as well as a pair of circus wagons on either side of it. Perhaps we could also have some zombies that wander in from the side of the screen every now and then to try and capture the fighters. Speaking of hazards, I think it'd be fun if the tent actually tried to attack the fighters every now and then since its a Boogey Tent. I figure this would work by the Boogey Tent's face appearing on the tent warning the players that it's in “attack mode” and if a fighter happens to get directly in front of the tent during this time, then the Boogey Tent will close its curtains and trap them inside for a few seconds as they get hit a few times before getting spat back out.
14. Pushmo [Pushmo - Pushmo][]
Let's introduce another new franchise to Smash shall we? Thus far the Pushmo series has only been represented with a trophy, spirit, and a music track, but I think the series could easily work as a stage. Pushmo is a puzzle series (which I have yet to play) where the goal is to pull out blocks in order to climb a structure of some kind. I think a Pushmo stage can take that concept and make an interesting stage out of it.
Let's say that we take a main stage platform like Brawl's Yoshi's Island, but put a Pushmo puzzle in the background. Now, each match would randomly have a different Pushmo puzzle and maybe throughout the match if it goes long enough (1 minute? 2?) the puzzle would swap out for a different one. But what's the point of having the puzzle in the background and not on the stage you may be wondering. In the background you'd see Mallo from the Pushmo games moving the blocks around and when Mallo pulls out some blocks from the puzzle... those blocks enter the foreground of the stage and become a solid obstacle/platform depending on how that block is shaped. You could have puzzles designed like a staircase, a duck, heck even 8-bit Mario! Every time you play the stage you start with a different puzzle and have to deal with Mallo pushing and pulling blocks around so that he can climb up the puzzle all the while giving you platforms and obstacles that you have to fight around.
15. Gangplank Galleon [Donkey Kong - Donkey Kong Country][]
Gangplank Galleon is the location of the final boss fight of Donkey Kong Country and where the second game begins. It's the personal ship of King K. Rool who was added to Ultimate and its an iconic location from the Donkey Kong games. Sure, we already have a pirate ship stage in the aptly named Pirate Ship, but we've also got multiple Mushroom Kingdoms, Yoshi's Islands, and general grassy plains-like stages. So I don't think having another pirate ship is a problem at all.
While the Gangplank Galleon isn't sailing while you're there in Donkey Kong Country, I think we can go ahead and have it sail here in Smash. For a small bit of difference, we'll have it sail to the right since Pirate Ship sails left. Players would be able to run up and down the full length of the ship and use platforms on the middle and right masts to fight on as well. Another unique element I'd propose for this stage is that instead of having the ship crash on rocks or be attacked by other ships mid-battle, why not bring in the boss you have to fight here from Donkey Kong Country 2, Krow? I don't know if Krow should be more of a fully formed Stage Boss or something more like a mini-boss hazard. You could have Krow fly around and ram into the fighters, or have Krow fly at the top of the screen and drop eggs down onto the stage like he does in Donkey Kong Country 2. Maybe if Krow gets attacked and defeated by the fighters, the next time he appears he'll be in his ghost form!
16. Metal Cave [Super Smash Bros - Super Smash Bros][]
Technically a new stage, technically not. When playing through the 1P Game mode of the original Smash 64, there was a stage where players would have to fight against Metal Mario. This stage has been called a few different things such as Meta Crystal and Metal Cavern and it was only ever available in the single player mode. In fact, this stage is the only one to both 1. Never appear in a future Smash game and 2. Not be replaced by a more updated version. Even the other single player stages in Smash 64, Duel Zone (Renamed as Battlefield) and Final Destination became selectable in multiplayer in future smash games.
So I say, bring this piece of history back. It's got a unique platform arrangement compared to other stages and if they feel like adding anything new to it they can pull ideas from Super Mario 64 since this stage was based on the Cavern of the Metal Cap in that game. Whether they keep the design the exact same or throw a fresh coat of paint on it, either way, I just think it'd be great if they were to bring this st age back.
17. Murasame Castle [The Mysterious Murasame Castle - The Mysterious Murasame Castle][]
Takamaru has been a requested character for Smash since Brawl and we know he's on Sakurai's mind, but even if we don't get Takamaru in the game that doesn't mean we couldn't get a stage from his game. The Murasame Castle is where all the action takes place as aliens have taken it over and Takamaru has to free the castle of their influence.
Jonno previously created a submission for the stage on the Smashtopia wiki and set the stage to be very vertical with a variety of platforms that fighters can use to climb all the way up to the top (or fall back down). Jonno also gave the stage several hazards in the form of lightning strikes and five different enemies from the original game appearing as enemies to all the fighters on the stage. We don't have a lot of very vertical stages in Smash, it's pretty much just things like Icicle Mountain and Rumble Falls and those are both scrolling stages. Murasame Castle, especially Jonno's rendition of it, would be a very unique setup and I'm here for it.
18. Altar of the Sunne/Moone [Pokemon - Pokemon Sun/Moon][]
The Altar of the Sunne/Moone is an important story location in the Alolan games as it serves as the point where Nebby fully evolves into its final form and allows the player to travel through an Ultra Wormhole and explore Ultra Space. These locations are in the same geographic location and are merely swapped between the different versions with Nebby evolving into Solgaleo at the Altar of the Sunne in Pokemon Sun, and with Nebby evolving into Lunala at the Altar of the Moone in Pokemon Moon. For Smash, I figure the stage could mention both in its name as I've named it here, and each time you load the stage it could either randomly choose whether its the Sunne or Moone variant, or you could do it so that it works based on the current time of the player's system. Maybe 6am-6pm would be Altar of the Sunne, and 6pm-6am would be Altar of the Moone.
As for how the stage would actually function, I picture the fight taking place in front of the altar with a couple floating platforms to the side for fighters to use. The real fun though would occur when Solgaleo/Lunala appear in the middle of the stage. After a roar/screech from them, an Ultra Wormhole would open up in the air and suck all the fighters inside of it and depositing them into Ultra Space. This makes the stage a transforming one as each time the Ultra Wormhole opens up the stage would transition into a different layout featuring one of the known locations inside of Ultra Space. You might yourself in the Ultra Deep Sea, Ultra Jungle, or the Ultra Plant! Perhaps one of the native Ultra Beasts could even appear as a hazard to cause havoc such as having swarms of Kartana fly around to give fighters papercuts if they dare to invade their home in the Ultra Forest.
19. Underground Cavern [Pikmin - Pikmin 2][]
Oftentimes when we talk about potential stages from the Pikmin series we'll look at specific maps such as Perplexing Pool, or the Forest Navel. Well along me to nominate something else. One of the big new features in Pikmin 2 was Caves where you could jump underground with your Pikmin and delve through a bit of a dungeon. In Pikemin 2 these dungeons were partially randomly generated while in Pikmin 4 they were specific and puzzle-focused. Each Cave however would have a set number of floors and treasures and once you cleared out a floor you would have to jump into another hole to proceed down to the next level until you made your way all the way to the end.
In Smash, I see this stage working as a randomly generated traveling stage (not unlike how I previously designed Tartarus from Persona 3) where fighters will battle it out on a random platform arrangement and then after some time passes the stage will transition as the fighters get deeper into the cave and are presented with a new randomly selected platform arrangement. This would continue infinitely until the match was over. Now I don't think the platform layouts would *actually* be randomly generated, instead it'd be more like “here's 20 different possible layouts, randomly select one each time a transition occurs.” For some extra fun (more like terror) you can bring in the Waterwraith to be a very rare hazard that appears shortly at the start of a transition where it would be hazardous to all fighters and invulnerable to all but a very few select attacks.
20. Space Colony ARK [Sonic - Sonic Adventure 2][]
When Jonno and I made a moveset for Shadow the Hedgehog, Space Colony ARK was the stage we both had in mind for him. It makes a lot of sense for the character and would be unique compared to other Sonic stages. Instead of having a stage set on some version of grassy hills, now we're in space! In fact, this is the space station where Shadow the Hedgehog was created and serves as an important location in Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Shadow Generations.
My idea for this stage may be relatively simple, but I imagine a normal-ish platform floating about in space with the Space Colony ARK in the background. Over time the the platform would fly closer towards the station before eventually going inside of it. I think there is room at this point to have the platform stop at 2 or 3 locations inside Space Colony ARK for a change in platform arrangement and temporarily changing the field from a mid-air one to a grounded one. Eventually though the platform would carry the fight back outside of the Space Colony ARK and eventually repeat the process.
Outro[]
And with that, we have another 10 stages in my 100 New Stages for Smash project, bringing us to 20! This time, only 4 of these currently exist on the wiki. Maybe someday I'll get around to making the rest.
Teasers for next time: Dinosaurs, Math, and our first new third party franchise!