Intro[]
Uh... hi there. It's been a bit hasn't it? I bet you were probably thinking I forgot about this project, and that's fair. The truth is I had these set of stages written down back in April, but a combination of it being written on my other computer and general lethargy led to me just... not posting it. I kept thinking about it though and knowing it needs to go up. And hey, we're finally here. Just think of this like some streaming shows will release half of a season on one day and then the other half months later. Yeah. Think of it like that. Anyways...
Welcome back to my 100 New Stages for the Next Smash project! Today we're covering Stages 51-60, 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 sixth set of 10 stages.
51. Nintendo Museum [Nintendo - Nintendo Museum][]
We got meta once with a stage for Super Nintendo World, but now that we're in the second half of this project it's time to get meta again, this time with the new Nintendo Museum. The Nintendo Museum was opened on October 2nd, 2024 in Uji, Japan where Nintendo fans can gather to not only view artifacts of Nintendo history, but also go through interactive exhibits such as playing retro games on a giant controller built for two, use your own shadow to play Game & Watch games, and create & learn how to play Hanafuda! There's a lot to see and do and I think it could make for an interesting meta stage as well as a celebration of Nintendo's history.
Alright so I picture this stage taking place directly inside of the Nintendo Museum. So there would be battling on the shelves and amongst the various attractions of the Museum. So the idea here is obviously a traveling stage. But instead of having the stage fly around through the air from attraction to attraction, or even worse having the background become a white void and then suddenly you're in your new spot, I want to do something considerably cooler. In the background of the stage you'd get to watch people walk around the museum and interact with it. And at some point you might see someone familiar, such as Shigeru Miyamoto, walk up to the camera and wave at the players. Miyamoto would then *pick up the stage and carry it with him* before finally dropping it off at your next battle destination. You could have more than Miyamoto do this well. You could have Katsuya Eguchi, Eiji Aonuma, Shinya Yakahashi, Koji Kondo, Kazumi Totaka, Shigesato Itoi, Satoshi Tajiri, Masahiro Sakurai, and so many more. Use this stage to celebrate Nintendo's history in a fun and unique way.
52. Big Boo's Haunt [Super Mario - Super Mario 64][]
I said last time that Super Mario 64 has a lot of worlds that could be translated into stages for Smash. The second one I want to nominate in this project is Big Boo's Haunt. We've already got Luigi's Mansion to be a bit of a spooky stage in Smash, but we can do more. Big Boo's Haunt was definitely a spooky place to explore as a child between the general atmosphere and music and of course the Mad Piano just waiting to take a bite out of you. A stage that dives into that fear could be a fun time.
I think there are a couple ways to interpret Big Boo's Haunt as a stage in Smash with those being to either anchor it in a particular room, or have it travel around. Really the only thing I think that's out in my opinion is setting the stage either in front of or on top of the mansion. It's just... far less interesting that way to me. The front entrance could work, but a couple years ago Jonno actually created this place as a stage and he set it inside the carousel which I think is a pretty good idea. The fighters would be battling on the carousel itself as it rotates around pushing the fighters this way and that. The Carousel is also capable of changing directions and speeds. Additionally, Jonno added three floating platforms above the carousel which start out all in a straight line above the stage. Howevrer as time goes on Boos will periodically appear next to the platforms to move them around to different parts of the stage whenever they please.
53. Noisy Notebook [Snipperclips - Snipperclips][]
Snipperclips was a launch title for the Nintendo Switch where two (or four) players had to work together controlling little creatures who could cut shapes out of their bodies to solve a variety of puzzles. It was an interesting little game that I only got to play a small part of (because I am dumb and couldn't figure out how to do things), but it had charm and was well received. The game even got an updated version a few years later that added new features. As for why I'm calling the stage Noisy Notebook? It's the name of the first “world” of the game and it sounds fitting.
Noisy Notebook is a difficult stage to come up with a good design for and I actually struggled with what I wanted to discuss as options. What I decided on though was to create larger generic-looking grounded stage using designs elements from Snipperclips, but that players would need to keep an eye on the background as it would indicate upcoming changes to the stage. The background would show Snip & Clip going through various Snipperclips puzzles. They might have to press a button to make a ball fall, make cuts to their environment, or rotate parts of their puzzle. These changes would in turn affect the battlefield where the fighters are at. A Soccer Ball-like item could spawn on the stage for fighters to use. Parts of the stage, walls or platforms, could be cut out and removed temporarily. The stage itself could rotate somewhat, completely changing what parts of the stage are “safe”.
54. Sargasso Hideout [Star Fox - Star Fox 64][]
Sargasso is a region where various gangs and assorted criminals hide out from all manner of the law. The most famous of these criminals perhaps, is Wolf O'Donnell and his team Star Wolf. The fact that Sargasso is itself hidden inside of the Meteo Asteroid Belt afford it an extra layer of protection as most pilots wouldn't want to risk flying through an asteroid belt just to get at some criminals. The main idea behind choosing this stage though is to have a stage that is more associated with Wolf and his team than Fox or anyone from the Corneria army. Also I had like 2 or 3 ideas for stages that all had some kind of connection to being inside of an Asteroid belt and this was the one that came out on top. Sorry Out of This Dimension, maybe next time.
I picture the fighting on this stage to take place on the Sargasso Hideout space station similar to how other Star Fox stages take place on top of ships. Alternatively you could just have a mid-air stage that flies around the hideout and maybe travels near other ships in the area. Either way, I have ideas for two hazards that fighters will need to stay aware of. The first being Team Star Wolf and their Wolfen fighters. Similarly to how Arwings can appear on Corneria to try and shoot the fighters, Wolfens will appear here to shoot at the fighters and kick them out of their base. The other idea for a hazard is astroids. Large rocks that could from time to time crash into the stage to deal heavy damage to anyone that was nearby. One last note I'll make is the idea of mirroring the chatter you can trigger from Team Star Fox when fighting on the Corneria stage by pressing the Down Taunt input twice in succession. Why not bring that mechanic back for this stage and let us hear Team Star Wolf bantering amongst themselves.
55. Grassland Groove [Donkey Kong - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze][]
Grassland Groove is the opening level of Tropical Freeze and is a stage suggestion I see commonly brought up as a new Donkey Kong stage. Initially I dismissed the idea, but after watching gameplay of the level I've come around on it. While Gangplank Galleon is easily the Donkey Kong stage I want to see the most, I liked the general vibe that I saw in Grassland Groove and wouldn't be opposed to seeing it be brought to Smash as well. What makes this stage look fun to me is the fact you're basically running through a parade with animal puppets that are swaying and bopping with the music. There's fun whimsy there.
So for this stage I feel like having some kind of constant sway or motion is important to keep the “Grassland Groove” feel. Things like the long snake puppet could be used as the main platform while also constantly having a gentle sway back and forth. The giraffe and zebra puppets could have platforms added to them and appear left and right of the snake constantly shaking or bouncing up and down. Maybe those puppets would from time to time disappear down below the stage and reappear later as a different animal and the different animal puppets could have a varying number of platforms and at varying levels! I just feel like this stage needs to have *motion* at it's core. Otherwise what's the point?
56. Underworld [Kid Icarus - Kid Icarus][]
The Underworld is a very important location in the Kid Icarus franchise. For one thing it's where Medusa (and Hades) launch their attacks from which is significant considering that most of the enemies you face in the Kid Icarus games are the Underworld Army. Additionally, the Underworld is visited in all three Kid Icarus games, perhaps most notably being the starting location in the original Kid Icarus game where Pit has to escape from the very depths of the Underworld in order to save his goddess Palutena.
I've always thought that if we get a stage based off of the Underworld that they should go the Mario Bros/75m route and present it to us in its original 8-bit form. Take the original starting point of the first Kid Icarus game, draw some platforms over the ground, pretend the walls aren't there and anchor it as a mid-air stage and boom the job is done! We'd not only get a unique platform arrangement out of it, but we'd get to throw another hurrah to retro Nintendo history. And if we need a hazard? The Reaper & Reapette are there just waiting to be utilized. Put a sprite of the Reaper in the background in a deactivated state, then bring it into the foreground and let it glow and walk around to show that Reapettes are about to fly onto the stage to try and take the souls of the fighters by ramming into them.
57. Blossom City [Wonderful 101 - Wonderful 101][]
I've tried playing Wonderful 101 a couple times, but I just can't get out of the early levels. It's an alright game, but it isn't fully connecting with me and I don't know why. What I can say about it is that I like the presentation of having to get all these heroes together to try and fight back against an alien invasion who is trying to attack and destroy Blossom City. That's the idea I want to hit. Having a stage set in the middle of a city under siege.
If we want to capture the “city under siege” vibe then I feel like we need to either have this be a grounded stage battling on the streets, or make it mid-air and fight on the rooftops like with Saffron City and Fourside. Either is a good option, but I think I'm going to lean rooftops here. The background of the stage would show the GEATHJERK aliens invading the city with a focus on some of the larger ones such as Notoriyeah and Kaizor Diejeah. I'm not sure which, but I feel like there should be a couple of them that are utilized as stage hazards to show that the city really is *under siege* and that the fighters will need to watch out as well.
58. Phaaze [Metroid - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption][]
Dark Samus was an Assist Trophy in Smash 4, and a playable Echo Fighter in Smash Ultimate, now let's show them a bit more respect with (a refreshed moveset and) a home stage. Phaaze is naturally the choice for Dark Samus considering all of the Phazon and its also just a really important planet to the lore of the initial Metroid Prime trilogy even though it didn't appear until the third game. In fact its actually the final planet visited in Metroid Prime 3 and technically speaking its actually the main villain of the entire trilogy. People talk about fighting on Grima's back, well how about fighting on living sentient planet that's seeking to corrupt everyone and everything with Phazon?
The way I have Phaaze designed is with a large Final Destination-esque looking main platform, but where its edges look wraped and uneven. Three floating platforms would surround the stage, one high above and two so far left and right that they actually aren't above the main platform at all. What's more is that these platforms can phase in and out of existence with only a short visual indicator warning you about it. I also have two hazards planned, Phazon Tentacles and Phazon Metroids. The Metroids would phase in and out of the stage and act like a weaker version of the Metroid Assist Trophy. The Tentacle on the other hand would sprout up from a random spot on the main platform and act mostly passive as it waves about lazily. But if any fighters runs into the tentacle they'll take a light amount of electric damage on contact.
59. Rhythm Heaven [Rhythm Heaven - Rhythm Tengoku][]
A few years ago Jonno and I made a moveset for Marshal for our Super Cast Bros podcast and at the time we agreed on his home stage being Night Walk which was later added to the Smashtopia wiki by Jonno. But I've always had in mind to do a more general “Rhythm Heaven” stage that would celebrate the series as a whole. It's not a series that I've had much experience with, and hell I didn't even know it existed until the Chorus Kids were rumored to be included in Smash 4. But with the new Switch version coming out soon... maybe I'll give the series a shot.
My proposal for a Rhythm Heaven stage is to have it work similarly to the WarioWare, Inc. stage that we got in Brawl. Platform arrnagement would need to be different somehow, and perhaps we could make it a grounded stage to help it stand out against WarioWare, Inc. But the core idea of the stage would be to take a few of the different unique and popular minigames from across Rhythm Heaven's history, have them appear on the stage randomly, and make the player partake in the minigame. Success means a boon of some kind, failure means a bane of some kind. A simple formula.
60. Sootopolis City [Pokemon - Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire][]
Smash sadly has a tendency to pull from just the latest Pokemon generation and not add any new characters or stages from older generations. It has a few times, but its more of an exception to the rule. Gen 3 sadly didn't get either a character or a stage and it definitely has good options for both. The location I've chosen though is Sootopolis City. It's the site of the final Pokemon Gym, its got a very unique design compared to most other cities in Pokemon games, and its (nearish) where Groudon and Kyogre (and Rayquaza) had their clash after the chuckleheads of Team Magma and Team Aqua released their respective legendaries and soon learned the meaning of FAFO.
I picture this stage taking place right in front of (and on top of) the Pokemon Gym in Sootopolis City. It'd be the only building in the fight and probably the only platform besides the ground until we need to add a floating platform somewhere. The city would also be surrounded by tall curved walls making it more difficult for fighters to be knocked out of the stage, but also make it more difficult for them to recover back in considering they only thing outside the walls is water to drown in. Although, I do think it'd be fun to have a Wailord that could appear from time to time on either side of the wall to act as a temporary platform if a fighter falls out of the city. Wailord wouldn't stay around forever though so take your moment and try to get back in. Also, if I'm going to do a stage of Sootopolis City, I want the weather trio to be involved as hazards somehow. Groudon creates intense heat which blinds the stage, makes everyone take fire damage over time, and lowers the strength of all Water/Ice attacks. Kyogre causes rain to obscure the screen, adds tripping, and lowers the strength of all Fire/Explosive attacks. Rayquaza creates strong winds that blow the fighters around, and lowers the gravity of the stage effectively increasing everyone's jumping capabilities while making them floatier in the air. Each of the Legendary Pokemon would only appear for a short time and when they leave they take their effects with them.
BONUS! 101. Ingot Isle [Donkey Kong - Donkey Kong Bananza][]
All of the stages for this project were selected before I posted the very first set of 10 here for all to read. Considering the 6 month gap between Parts 5 and 6, and the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, I decided to include a Bonus Stage at this point to highlight a game that I think could give us a great stage. And as you can tell, I've picked Donkey Kong Bananza. Truthfully of all the Nintendo games released between now and when this project first started, I think Donkey Kong Bananza is the only game I would have added in a stage for beyond my initial list of 100. Anyways, Ingot Isle is where your adventure begins before a cave-in occurs sending Donkey Kong plummeting down beneath the surface and discovers all kinds of crazy layers before finally making it to the Planet Core itself. I think this is a great location to use as a new stage because it would be something different than what the Donkey Kong series tends to get and is a great early representation of the Nintendo Switch 2.
But how would this stage work? It's definitely a traveling stage, but not like how Smash typically does them. The majority of traveling stages in Smash have a magical platform appear from under fighters that lifts them off the group and carries them through the sky like a magic carpet ride before depositing them somewhere else. However for this stage I would to simulate the imagery of Donkey Kong falling from one layer to the next. So the fight would always start on Ingot Isle and then after time a warning icon would appear as the background fades out. After a brief transitionary period the background would change to one matching a layer from Donkey Kong Bananza with the fight environment changing to match with new platforms coming in. Ideally, I'd love to include every layer if possible (though some would be more difficult than others). That said including every layer would mean it would take forever to get to see all of them during a single battle. My solution to this is to have the layers be visited in order, but the stage will randomly decide if it's going to go down 1-3 layers. For example, after Ingot Isle the stage would bring you to either the Lagoon Layer, Hilltop Layer, or Canyon Layer. And then after the Canyon Layer you would go down to either The Divide, Freezer Layer, or Forest Layer. And so on and so forth until you loop back around to Ingot Isle at the top.
Outro[]
And with that, we have another 10 stages in my 100 New Stages for Smash project, bringing us to 60! 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: A Military Compound, an Opera House, and a Celebration!