Grading all the Super Smash Bros Ultimate Stages: Smash 64 stages

Super Smash Bros is one of the greatest crossover series of all time. What started out as an excuse to see beloved Nintendo characters beat each other senseless evolved into a love to not just Nintendo, but to all things gaming. It’s one of my favourite series of all time, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate, the most recent iteration, is the best of the series.

You can feel free to disagree with me on that, there are certain aspects where the other games are better, but in terms of overall gameplay and content Ultimate wins out. Look at the roster for God's sake. Once Fighter Pass 2 wraps up there’s going to be 82 characters in this. 82! Barring Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3, I'm pretty sure this is the biggest roster for any fighting game.

But I'm not here to talk about the characters, yet, I’m here to talk about another important aspect of Super Smash Bros, the stages. Because Smash Bros is a mixture of platformer and fighting game, most of its stages are a bit more elaborate than in most other fighting game. Outside of some 3D fighting games like Dead or Alive or Tekken which have some environmental interactions in their levels, most fighting game stages are little more than a backdrop to fight against.

Smash Bros stages have so much more to them though. More unique gimmicks, more interesting layouts and they add to the crossover appeal of the game by representing some of gaming's most iconic locations. The stages in Super Smash Bros are arguably just as important to the series identity as anything else.

But not all stages are created equal. While some are a blast to play, some are a kind of pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. So I decided it would be fun to go through all the stages in Super Smash Bros Ultimate and see which ones are good, which ones are meh, and which ones suck harder than Kirby on bath salts.

But because there are so many stages I think I'm going to have to split this project into smaller chunks. If I don’t then this post would be 5 hours long and would be an absolute bitch to proofread. And because Ultimate has stages from every game in the series, we’re going to split this up between when these stages debuted.

Just a heads up, I won’t be judging this based on their competitive status. If I did only 3-4 stages would get a pass. And I'm not a competitive Smash player in the first place so I can’t judge them properly in that regard. The only thing I'll be judging these stages on is how they represent the series and levels they’re based on, aesthetics and fun factor. I’ll also tackle the music, but only the music made specifically for that stage.

In this part, we’ll be looking at all the stages from the original Super Smash Bros on Nintendo 64. And we’re just going to skip the original stages just because I don’t have much to say on them. They were made for more competitive matches and in that regard they’re fine. They just aren’t all that interesting to talk about. Let's not waste any more time and just jump into this.

Peach’s Castle

You ever look at something in a game and think, “did this even make it past the beta phase”? That’s how I feel about this stage. It doesn’t even really feel like I'm fighting on Peach’s castle. There's a small tower in the middle, but that’s the only castle related element here. I do like the added details of the trees and signpost, but the only thing that makes this feel like Peach’s castle is the background image where you see an aerial view of it.

To be fair, the core design of the stage is mostly fine. I’m not a fan of how wonky the bridge is, but there’s nothing offensively awful about the layout. The bottom platform shifting from side to side also helps make the stage a bit more dynamic.

What I really don’t understand about this stage are the two random triangle platforms and the bumper floating at the top of the stage. Why are these here? They don’t tie into the theme and feel out of place. They feel like placeholders they forgot to remove.

Overall grade: C

Kongo Jungle

I’ve always liked how this stage looks. There's something about sunsets that always give me a warm cosy feeling. The funny thing is that the sunset reminds me of the silhouette levels from Donkey Kong Country Returns, even though that game came out several years after the first Smash Bros game. Wonder if they took inspiration from this stage.

The layout is somewhat basic, which is expected from a lot of the N64 era stages, but it’s a fun one to play. It does have some dynamic elements to it with the shifting platforms in the middle and the spinning cannon barrel that floats at the bottom.

That barrel can be life saver if you get to it at the right time or can royally screw you if you don’t. It's a gamble, but a fun one to go for. You can even use the cannon to knock opponents back when making a recovery for some cheeky strategies. A pretty good stage overall and one of the better ones from the original Smash Bros.

Overall Grade: B

Hyrule Castle

Hey look, a castle stage where you actually fight on a castle. This is arguably the first giant stage in Smash Bros. Normally giant stages are among the worst stages in Smash, but Hyrule Castle is actually alright. Mainly because it isn’t too ridiculously big, hence why I said it is arguably the first giant stage.

It captures the feeling of fighting on top of Hyrule Castle with the tower in the middle of the stage adding a layer of verticality to it. The only thing that bugs me about it is the gazebo like thing to the right of it. If you play cards right you can rack up insane damage, but you can’t see anything when you’re in it. Makes it easy to lose track of yourself while you're in it.

There are also random tornadoes that will shoot you straight up if you get sucked into one. How high up is this castle that random tornadoes will spawn around it. This is an ok stage in terms of layout and gimmicks, but visually I find it a little bland. I know N64 stages keep their low polygon look to them, but this stage could have used a bit of a visual upgrade, especially with the colours. Not a bad stage but not a great one either.

Overall Grade: C

Super Happy Tree

I love the arts and crafts deco this stage goes with. The platforms made of card board and the hand stitched background add a lot of charm to this stage. I don’t know why it’s always Yoshi that goes for this style, but it works for him.

This stage is so bright and colourful and the music so bubbly and cheerful it’s hard not to have a smile on your face while playing it. It isn’t the most exciting of stages with not much in the way of interesting gimmicks. The cloud platforms do go away if you stand on them for too long but that’s about it.

There is that cloud platform that’s way off to the side, but I'm not sure of what use it is. It's not great for camping because it goes away if you stay on it too long. Maybe it’s good for recovery? Just feels like it makes the stage bigger than it needs to be. Style over substance is a good way to describe this stage and there’s nothing wrong with that if the style is strong enough to carry it, and I think it does here. It's hard for me to hate this one.

Overall Grade: B

Dream Land

Why did they bring this stage back? I know that this stage is iconic to a lot of players of the original Smash Bros, mainly because it was the only competitively viable stage in that game, but I don’t see a reason why this should be here. Not because it’s bad, it’s actually a fairly decent stage all things considered, but it is one of the more uninteresting ones.

The only interesting gimmick is Wispy Woods will blow you away every few seconds, which is already a gimmick in another stage. And the layout is basically just Battlefield. They aren’t exactly the same I'm aware but they’re similar enough that I wonder what the point of was in bringing it back. Just play on Battlefield if you want this layout.

What confuses me is that the Metroid and Star Fox stages did not get brought back because they were both replaced by better stages in Melee. Yet this stage got replaced by 2 better stages and it somehow made the cut. This is a stage I think they should have cut to add in a more interesting stage, like Poké Floats.

Overall Grade: C

Saffron City

I love that they didn’t even try to update the Pokémon sprites in this stage. There’s just something about those low resolution N64 era sprites that’s just so charming to me. Is it nostalgia? Most definitely, but I still love the way this looks.

Saffron City is probably my favourite of the N64 stages. The best part is the centre building. Every few seconds a Pokémon will pop out to interrupt the fight with its own attacks. It's a fun gimmick and thankfully one that isn’t too intrusive. And there’s a decent variety of Pokémon to keep thing interesting.

When you’re not on the centre building it isn’t as interesting, but the stage lay out is designed in a way that draws you towards it anyway so it’s not too bad. This is a fun stage, and it also helps that I’m a fan of city levels. I just love the aesthetic of them.

Overall Grade: B

Mushroom Kingdom

This is the first of the retro themed stages. They really nailed the look of the original Super Mario Bros with this one and the background is one of the livelier of the N64 stages. I especially like how the Piranha Plants are rendered as 2D sprites to add to the retro look and feel of the stage. And there’s the little Easter egg of the danger sign located just off screen which is a cute hidden detail.

This is also the most gimmick heavy of the N64 stages. You've got POW blocks, the hanging platforms in the middle, the Piranha Plant popping out from one of the two Warp Pipes, you can even enter the left Warp Pipe to teleport to the other side. That’s a lot of gimmicks, perhaps a little too much.

I’m surprised they went with this version of the stage and not the one from Melee. I remember really liking that one, but I guess they thought this one was better. I do still like this stage, it’s just a bit on the messy side. Trust me, there’s way worse retro stages to come and this one will look like a masterpiece when we get to some of the other ones.

Overall Grade: B

And that’s it for the stages from the original Smash Bros. Super Smash Bros didn’t have a lot of stages compared to later games, but the stages it did have are solid. Next, we’ll be looking at the stages from Super Smash Bros Melee. This is where the stages get a lot more interesting and some of them are among the best in the series. Which ones are they? You’ll have to tune in next time to find out.