Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Laniv]

Question about a really cool stage idea:

Would a Sunset Shore stage be technically possible?

 

[Guynamednelson]

Question about a really cool stage idea:

View attachment 396521

Would a Sunset Shore stage be technically possible?

If Brawl modders can do it I don't see why the official Smash team can't

 

[Hadokeyblade]

That doesn't mean the next game will keep all of them.

For the love of all that is good replace the Sonic stages with actual good ones.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Question about a really cool stage idea:

View attachment 396521

Would a Sunset Shore stage be technically possible?

I'd love to see Sunset Shore or a similar silhouette level be a stage in Smash, I just wonder if the team might find it visually confusing for like mirror matches and not think about doing it because of that. I don't think it would be personally, but I have to wonder if maybe they might.

Also since Donkey Kong is on my mind now, can we get some DK64 music? We've got Grant Kirkhope on the composers list thanks to Banjo, and whether Banjo comes back or not (I think he will for various reasons, but still), I'd love to hear Grant rearrange some DK64 music, like the K. Rool theme or like Angry Aztec or something (if we can get Ice Cave Chant when every DK stage is a jungle then we can get Angry Aztec dammit).

 

[ninjahmos]

For the love of all that is good replace the Sonic stages with actual good ones.

I still think Casino Night and Flying Battery would be pretty cool, as well as a stage from Frontiers. And maybe the Space Colony ARK.

 

[Gengar84]

Whats your opinion of:
View attachment 396514View attachment 396513
These two designs of Link and Zelda becomming the default for smash 6?
I mean in the best case scenario we get a lot of alts for the existing smash versions!

But like if we want a singular new Classic Link or Zelda these designs are a great choice!
Obviously Sheik and Champion Link could stay with Champion link getting decloned!

In general making the small versions of Link and zelda the default for ONCE would be great!

Also keep in mind these would be treated more like their original versions IMO moveset wise with only small bits of EOW showing (like a pirouette taunt, costumes and a Visual change to down special for zelda!)

It’s all personal preference but the toy aesthetic never really appealed to me much. I’d be fine with Toy Link replacing Toon Link but I’d be pretty disappointed if this was our only Link and Zelda.

If we only get one Link, I’d really like to see adult Link back in his green tunic and cap. The blue shirt from Breath of the Wild was cool for a change in that specific game (and its sequel) but Link just isn’t Link to me without the green tunic. My favorites of all the mainline appearances of each recurring character are OoT Link and Ganondorf, TP Zelda, and SS Impa.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I still think Casino Night and Flying Battery would be pretty cool, as well as a stage from Frontiers. And maybe the Space Colony ARK.

The ark would be the defacto stage for Shadow should he ever show up.

 

[Ivander]

The ark would be the defacto stage for Shadow should he ever show up.

looks at Radical Highway

I would much prefer the Ark, but man, Shadow Generations had quite a focus on Radical Highway.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

looks at Radical Highway

I would much prefer the Ark, but man, Shadow Generations had quite a focus on Radical Highway.

obligatory bottom text

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Would a Sunset Shore stage be technically possible?

The main thing is readability. They'd have to make sure that attacks are completely visible despite most of the characters' models being completely monochromatic. I'd imagine they'd do a lot to remedy this by making sure each character's danger zones (gloves, shoes, weapons, etc) are colored in, but there would still have to be a whole bunch of work done on particle effects for it to work, and whether or not it would look nice is an entirely different question.

 

[NintenRob]

I'm just saying, if they're not gonna make Starfy or Dillon into fighters, a Starfy or Dillon's Rolling Western stage would go hard

This is an interesting concept I wouldn't mind discussing.

Smash Bros is no stranger to adding stages from games with no fighters. Historically however, they seem to be from games that don't have franchises that don't have realisable fighters (or at least believed to not have them at the time in the case of Smashville). You could make an argument for Balloon Fight and Wrecking Crew but I don't buy it.

So I wonder if this will always remain the case and if it plays a part of what stages they choose. Like would Sakurai think "hmm, Hanenbow is something that could never have a fighter, but maybe I could get a stage working". Would he ever look at Dillons Rolling western for a stage without first thinking of adding Dillon. And if he rejects Dillon as a fighter, would he then reject the stage? "It doesn't make sense to have the stage without the character."

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

This is an interesting concept I wouldn't mind discussing.

Smash Bros is no stranger to adding stages from games with no fighters. Historically however, they seem to be from games that don't have franchises that don't have realisable fighters (or at least believed to not have them at the time in the case of Smashville). You could make an argument for Balloon Fight and Wrecking Crew but I don't buy it.

So I wonder if this will always remain the case and if it plays a part of what stages they choose. Like would Sakurai think "hmm, Hanenbow is something that could never have a fighter, but maybe I could get a stage working". Would he ever look at Dillons Rolling western for a stage without first thinking of adding Dillon. And if he rejects Dillon as a fighter, would he then reject the stage? "It doesn't make sense to have the stage without the character."

I wish Assist Trophies in general were on the list of possible stage recipients. Even if you don't include the third party ones because of extra licensing and everything (like Virtua Fighter or Bomberman), that still leaves Badge Arcade, Devil World, Dillon's Rolling Western, Brain Age, Golden Sun, Swapnote, The Legendary Starfy, Joy Mech Fight, Mysterious Murasame Castle, and Art Academy from Ultimate's Assist Trophies (though admittedly Badge Arcade and Swapnote would be hard sells nowadays lol).

I think Smash 4 had a Brain Age stage planned and scrapped if I remember right, but that's all that like any of these series have gotten stage-wise.

 

[smashkirby]

In regards to a new Kirby stage beyond Forgotten Land, I like that HAL essentially handed them a second chance at doing a Return to Dreamland stage too with the recent remake lol. Back in Smash 4 I was astounded that we somehow didn't get a Lor Starcutter stage, which to me was one of the most obvious moves you could have made during that era. I'd still love to see that.

I'm fairly certain that a Forgotten Land stage is going to happen, thankfully. Smash 4 remains the one glaring outlier in Kirby representation to me - you can excuse it in Ultimate where we weren't getting that many new stages anyway. And back during Brawl, it wasn't all that noticeable or egregious. In fact we even got remixes like 02 Theme and Squeak Squad from games that straight up didn't involve Sakurai in any way. But 10 years have passed since Smash 4, and whatever could have been seen as maybe a "phase" for the series at the time has become the longstanding norm since 2011. Forgotten Land marks another historical step forward and one that has outsold every other game in the series as well as earning shoutouts from Sakurai himself.

So I don't think we have that much to worry about here, personally. Obviously can't blame anyone for being wary but I do largely believe the state of Kirby up to this point has been a matter of circumstance where, just like with Zelda, a couple missteps during Smash 4 set the tone for the future quite poorly.

Any preference for the new Kirby stage btw? I think Alivel Mall is the standout for me, or the Wondaria Dream Parade.

Personally, I'd like Wondaria Dream Parade and Star Allies' Jambastion with the Jambandran Mages as stage hazards.

 

[Kirbeh]

Hot take, but we should cut like... a ton of the "SO RETRO!" stages.

Because let's be real, the novelty of **** like GB Kirby is completely lost after playing on it more than once.
View attachment 396520

Like when's the last time anyone ever intentionally picked this stage, this is just annoying and cramped outside the visual gimmick.

Honestly, I think I'd like this sort of thing more as adventure mode stages. Proper levels instead of a series of awkward "set pieces." Maybe even bonus rounds in between classic mode stages. I'd rather have an arcade DK inspired mini game than have to play on Smash's 75m in an actual match.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Like when's the last time anyone ever intentionally picked this stage, this is just annoying and cramped outside the visual gimmick.

I will occasionally do so in the event that I play stages designed for free-for-alls since I find it charming. My main complaint about it is that it pretty much always goes from Green Greens to Castle Dedede, and then it's over. I don't remember if this is due to a tendency to pick it when I'm playing with Stage Morph (in which case, that's not the stage's fault), but it does annoy me that I very rarely see any of the more interesting transformations.

EDIT: Unrelated, and probably a hot take, but a retro style Ice Climber stage would be pretty cool. It would be unique in that the vertical scrolling would be almost entirely under control of the players, only scrolling when they reach high platforms, with the exception of the Polar Bear moving things along if the fighters stay too long in the same place. The players could also deliberately cause the screen to scroll to try and K.O. any fighters lingering near the bottom.

 

[MBRedboy31]

Unrelated, and probably a hot take, but a retro style Ice Climber stage would be pretty cool. It would be unique in that the vertical scrolling would be almost entirely under control of the players, only scrolling when they reach high platforms, with the exception of the Polar Bear moving things along if the fighters stay too long in the same place. The players could also deliberately cause the screen to scroll to try and K.O. any fighters lingering near the bottom.

I think it’d be cool if, instead of directly replicating the original game’s graphics with pixelated textures, they fully reimagine it in HD but still use the bright-neon-colors-on-black color scheme of the original game’s terrain. It’d be more distinct from the Ice Climber stages that already exist in Smash games (which use fairly standard icy color palettes) while also being distinct from the original game.

 

[Kirby Dragons]

I don't have any specific examples, but I can imagine in certain series, the atmosphere and/or setting are just as appealing as the characters, if not moreso. Series like that should be getting stages.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

One last opinion on new stages before I go to bed since I keep thinking about it.

Since Animal Crossing will already likely use an island for New Horizons, I would prefer for Wario to get a stage from Get It Together rather than Move It since being inside Wario's game would be much better imo than a New Horizons Island and ALSO Caresaway Island.

 

[Garteam]

Returning stages should really just stand on their own merits. If the location is iconic like Green Hill Zone or the stage is unique and memorable like Temple or Pokemon Stadium, bring it back. In contrast, keep Pac-Land the hell away from future games. Even if it is the inspiration for Super Mario Bros., it does not work in practice.

It's really that simple. No need to overthink it beyond maybe setting some limit to ensure new stages can also get in the game, but you could still cover a lot in 30 returning stages and 30 new stages.

 

[Luke Starkiller]

First post I've done here for a while. I dreamt about a reveal trailer for Isaac Clarke from the Dead Space game series last night.

Isaac Clarke is one of those characters you don't talk about much, but it's nice just to change things from time to time.

Basically, the trailer started with a bunch of footprints in the dirt. Isaac's metallic foot was then seen walking ahead.

We see him walking ahead up a rocky hill holding a Smash Bros letter in his hand whilst he carried his Plasma Cutter in his other hand.

He walks forward before he walks over the hill and takes his helmet off his face.

We see Isaac wearing his Advanced Suit from Dead Space 2 glancing out over Battlefield where several characters are fighting.

The fighters glance back and look at him in confusion.

Isaac smirks back at the fighters ready to fight.

His helmet goes back over his face before he jumps down and takes part in the battle.

After some gameplay, the Super Smash Brothers X Dead Space card props up near the end of the trailer.

Just a fun thing I'd thought I'd write about.

Direct a Trailer!

smashboards.com

 

[Sucumbio]

It's funny but seems to end up on the gimmicky stages way more often than expected but that's quick play for ya

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Just out of curiosity I decided to try and categorize where Smash pulls its stages. Bold Stages are new to Ultimate, italicized stages aren't in Ultimate, and green stages prominently feature a grassy plain.

Spoiler

Smash Original Location: 9/10
Battlefield, Big Battlefield, Castle Siege, Final Destination, Icicle Mountain, King of Fighters Stadium, Small Battlefield, Poké Floats, Summit, WarioWare, Inc.

Starter Area: 19/20
Dream Land, Frigate Orpheon, Golden Plains, Great Plateau Tower, Green Greens, Green Hill Zone, Jungle Hijinxs, Kongo Jungle, Mario Galaxy, Mushroom Kingdom, Mushroom Kingdom II, Mushroomy Kingdom, Mute City, Mute City SNES, Onett, Shadow Moses Island, Umbra Clock Tower, Windy Hill Zone, Yoshi’s Island (Melee), Yoshi’s Story

End Area: 10
Dracula’s Castle, Find Mii, Fountain of Dreams, Hollow Bastion, Kalos Pokémon League, New Pork City, Northern Cave, Unova Pokémon League, Venom, Wily Castle

Hub Area: 11
Delfino Plaza, Garreg Mach Monastery, Mementos, Minecraft World, Palutena’s Temple, Peach’s Castle, Princess Peach’s Castle, Skyloft, Spiral Mountain, Spirit Train, Tomodachi Life

Iconic Location (within a game/series that isn’t in an above category): 35/36
Arena Ferox, Big Blue, Bridge of Eldin, Brinstar, Brinstar Depths, Corneria, Gamer, Gaden of Hope, Gaur Plain, Gerudo Valley, Halberd, Hanenbow, Hyrule Castle, Jungle Japes, Magicant, Mario Circuit, Midgar, Mishima Dojo, New Donk City Hall, Norfair, Orbital Gate Assault, Pirate Ship, Port Town Aero Dive, Prism Tower, Pyrosphere, Rainbow Cruise, Rainbow Road, Reset Bomb Forest, Saffron City, Spear Pillar, Spring Stadium, Super Happy Tree, Suzaku Castle, Tortimer Island, Yggdrasil’s Altar

Other Location: 8
75m, Great Bay, Moray Towers, Rumble Falls, Sector Z, Skyworld, Temple, The Great Cave Offensive

Ambiguous Location: 8
Coliseum, Distant Planet, Figure-8 Circuit, Woolly World, Planet Zebes, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Stadium 2, Yoshi’s Island

Multiple Locations: 5
3D Land, Dream Land GB, Lylat Cruise, Mushroom Kingdom U, Paper Mario

Game’s Entire Setting: 17/19
Balloon Fight, Boxing Ring, Cloud Sea of Alrest, Duck Hunt, Flat Zone X, Living Room, Luigi’s Mansion, Mario Bros., Miiverse, Pac-Maze, PictoChat, PictoChat 2, Pilotwings, Smashville, Super Mario Maker, Town and City, Wii Fit Studio, Wrecking Crew, Wuhu Island

Thoughts:

• The whole thing with grassy stages is mostly a Mario problem, as 8/18 of them are from the Super Mario series, and discounting stages that nobody really seem to care about when complaining about this, the Super Mario stages become almost all of the grassland stages in question.
  • Also, the series with the second highest number of grassland stages is Kirby with 3, Sonic has 2, and every other franchise with one has only one.
• Other than Lylat Cruise, all non-hub traveling stages are from the Mario series, and feature the games' starter areas.
• Starter stages are the second most common source for a stage just behind the more catch-all "iconic location" stages. This makes sense, as they want to make sure to pick areas that players of the games they come from will have seen, but I can see where the complaint comes from now, especially with the category also having the highest number of grassland stages.
• We have more final level stages than I thought, though the lack of a standalone Bowser's Castle is still criminal.

 

[Wonder Smash]

First post I've done here for a while. I dreamt about a reveal trailer for Isaac Clarke from the Dead Space game series last night.

Isaac Clarke is one of those characters you don't talk about much, but it's nice just to change things from time to time.

Basically, the trailer started with a bunch of footprints in the dirt. Isaac's metallic foot was then seen walking ahead.

We see him walking ahead up a rocky hill holding a Smash Bros letter in his hand whilst he carried his Plasma Cutter in his other hand.

He walks forward before he walks over the hill and takes his helmet off his face.

We see Isaac wearing his Advanced Suit from Dead Space 2 glancing out over Battlefield where several characters are fighting.

The fighters glance back and look at him in confusion.

Isaac smirks back at the fighters ready to fight.

His helmet goes back over his face before he jumps down and takes part in the battle.

After some gameplay, the Super Smash Brothers X Dead Space card props up near the end of the trailer.

Just a fun thing I'd thought I'd write about.

If you have ideas for a trailer, there's a topic for that here:

Direct a Trailer!

One of the most hyped aspects of the pre-launch period of Smash 4 (and the DLC season) was the character reveal trailers. While Sakurai brushed it off by saying he didn’t like how the cutscenes in Brawl could be seen online which pushed him to approach cinematics different; it was obviously a...

smashboards.com

 

[Luke Starkiller]

If you have ideas for a trailer, there's a topic for that here:

Direct a Trailer!

One of the most hyped aspects of the pre-launch period of Smash 4 (and the DLC season) was the character reveal trailers. While Sakurai brushed it off by saying he didn’t like how the cutscenes in Brawl could be seen online which pushed him to approach cinematics different; it was obviously a...

smashboards.com

Thank you for letting me know.

 

[CommanderZaktan]

Tomorrow is Warioware Touched's 20th anniversary, which is also Ashley's debut

 

[BuckleyTim]

Y'know, as much as I've said about Ashley being my least wanted Warioware character for smash... she's still a warioware character at the end of the day. I'd want her over quite a few other picks.

 

[Slime Scholar]

If Brawl modders can do it I don't see why the official Smash team can't
View attachment 396522

NGL, this is visually pleasing but it looks like a nightmare to actually play. Smash makes concessions for the sake of readability (such as the outlines in the 3DS game and keeping launch speed in Smash 4 low so that you don't lose track of characters too quickly) and this is just throwing that out the window.

It could work for a Melee-style adventure level, though. Maybe.

 

[Guynamednelson]

NGL, this is visually pleasing but it looks like a nightmare to actually play. Smash makes concessions for the sake of readability (such as the outlines in the 3DS game and keeping launch speed in Smash 4 low so that you don't lose track of characters too quickly) and this is just throwing that out the window.

It could work for a Melee-style adventure level, though. Maybe.

Yeah I was mostly showing that it was possible, not that it was a good idea.

 

[Cyberfire]

Question about a really cool stage idea:

View attachment 396521

Would a Sunset Shore stage be technically possible?

I've been begging for this stage since 2010.

 

[Jave]

For a single player mode, I would love to see them do something like Melee's Adventure mode, but make it unique for each character. I don't mean make 100% unique levels for each character, but change the order of stages, the enemy locations, and the level layout. i.e. playing as Mario starts at a Mushroom Kingdom style level and ends with a Bowser's Castle styled level, while playing as Bowser starts at Bowser's Castle and ends at Peach's Castle. Stuff like that.

 

[Pupp135]

Unrelated, and probably a hot take, but a retro style Ice Climber stage would be pretty cool. It would be unique in that the vertical scrolling would be almost entirely under control of the players, only scrolling when they reach high platforms, with the exception of the Polar Bear moving things along if the fighters stay too long in the same place. The players could also deliberately cause the screen to scroll to try and K.O. any fighters lingering near the bottom.

I’ve entertained the idea of this before. Even though the two prior vertical scrollers get a bad reputation, I think this type of stage would be nice nod to original Ice Climber game, and letting the users have some agency on the scrolling helps make the level more manageable.

 

[PeridotGX]

EDIT: Unrelated, and probably a hot take, but a retro style Ice Climber stage would be pretty cool. It would be unique in that the vertical scrolling would be almost entirely under control of the players, only scrolling when they reach high platforms, with the exception of the Polar Bear moving things along if the fighters stay too long in the same place. The players could also deliberately cause the screen to scroll to try and K.O. any fighters lingering near the bottom.

I still don't have an idea for a new Ice Climber stage, so i'm just going to steal that thank you very much.

 

[Louie G.]

It's really that simple. No need to overthink it beyond maybe setting some limit to ensure new stages can also get in the game, but you could still cover a lot in 30 returning stages and 30 new stages.

I decided to put this to the test for fun - compiling 30 returning (first party) stages, under the very brash assumption that every series sees one stage return and that every first party series is returning to begin with. I tried to factor in games that saw releases on Switch or would still be relevant from the previous console generation.

Spoiler: Returning Stagelist

30 Returning Stages:
Super Mario Maker, New Donk City Hall, Rainbow Road 3DS
*Note, Rainbow Road 3DS may be feasible to bring back because it's in MK8D now.
Kongo Jungle
Temple, Great Plateau Tower
Brinstar
Yoshi's Island (Brawl)
Dream Land (64) or Fountain of Dreams
Corneria
Prism Tower
*Figure if anything, a stage taking place in Lumiose City feels fitting to return given the upcoming Legends Z-A.
Magicant
Mute City SNES
*Feel like this one makes a lot of sense being most visually comparable to F-Zero 99, the newest entry.
Summit
Flat Zone X
Coliseum, Garreg Mach Monestery
*I'm choosing to bring back every DLC stage from a first party newcomer, they're all from Switch games and closely tied to likely returnees.
WarioWare Inc.
Skyworld
Garden of Hope
Smashville
Wii Fit Studio
Boxing Ring
Duck Hunt
Guar Plains, Cloud Sea of Alrest
*Xenoblade may as well keep both stages because they're very clearly Shulk and Pyra / Mythra's respective home stages. XBC:DE also exists.
Moray Towers
Spring Stadium
*Honestly one that I was almost compelled to leave off, just because they can easily swap it out with another ARMS stage. But no reason to make it the outlier.
Wuhu Island, Tomodachi Life

The result is, IMO, not too bad. Granted there are a lot of factors here that make it likely inaccurate. Will all these series return in the first place - and on top of that, which third party stages will return? I'd wager Green Hill Zone, Wily Castle and Dracula's Castle are probably mainstays provided their source character comes back as well (among others - Mementos, Spiral Mountain, Minecraft World...). And I'd say it's fairly likely some series don't get returning stages at all, swapping out their home stage for something new, but for the sake of this thought experiment I thought it'd be better if they did.

Notably something I'm a little torn on is if series like F-Zero, Mother or Kid Icarus do not get new stages then it may be worth bringing back two each. Evergreen series that are gonna get new content regardless, like Mario or Zelda or Kirby etc, can probably stand to shed off more extra weight assuming they may even be in the market for two new stages each. But yknow, this is just off the dome.

Maybe I should have brought back Luigi's Mansion, but on the other hand I think LM3 has been big enough to warrant its own stage now.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

I do think that huge stages like New Pork City and Palutena's Temple will return purely for 8 player smash.

I know a lot of us don't like those stages even when playing 8 player smash, but I think Sakurai views it as a necessity.

 

[fogbadge]

Hmm there’s an idea: suggest giant stages

 

[Louie G.]

I do think that huge stages like New Pork City and Palutena's Temple will return purely for 8 player smash.

I know a lot of us don't like those stages even when playing 8 player smash, but I think Sakurai views it as a necessity.

I kept that in mind which is partially why I vouched that large stages like Temple and Guar Plains should stick around, I did over around the possibility of Palutena's Temple too. I did think it might feel a little samey to have two "temple" themed giant stages, although they've clearly got different things going on.

No qualms if New Pork City came back, the stage is kind of a mess but I value the presence of a Mother 3 stage way more than I dislike its design. I just think priority would probably go toward a stage associated with Ness, unless they brought back two or gave EB a new one like Saturn Valley... which frankly, could also be a very big stage if they wanted. I've always envisioned it as kind of a multi-tier canyon not unlike Guar Plains or Tomodachi Life.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Hmm there’s an idea: suggest giant stages

Area Zero could be a great fit for a huge stage.

Artaria too.

 

[Ivander]

I do think that huge stages like New Pork City and Palutena's Temple will return purely for 8 player smash.

I know a lot of us don't like those stages even when playing 8 player smash, but I think Sakurai views it as a necessity.

For Palutena's Temple, I think it just needs an extra set of platforms around the bottom middle area. Same with Gaur Plains. Temple is great. New Pork City I don't think is anywhere near bad. Wouldn't mind a touch-up around the middle of the stage, but it's fine.
Great Cave Offensive I think would be much better if it had multiple respawn points and whenever you are defeated, you respawn where the most active players are close to instead of the respawn point being restricted to the top either forcing all the players to fight at the top or having to work their way back to the other players.

 

[Pupp135]

I do think that huge stages like New Pork City and Palutena's Temple will return purely for 8 player smash.

I know a lot of us don't like those stages even when playing 8 player smash, but I think Sakurai views it as a necessity.

I think another thing that helps Palutena’s Temple are the Guidances.

I’ll make my attempt at a 30 returning stage set.

64: Above Peach’s Castle, Kongo Jungle, Hyrule Castle, Dream Land
Melee: Temple, Brinstar, Yoshi’s Island, Fountain of Dreams, Corneria, Onett
Brawl: Luigi’s Mansion, Summit, Castle Siege, Port Town Aero Dive, Wario Ware, Pokemon Stadium 2, Smashville
3DS: Magicant
Wii U: Flat Zone X, Boxing Ring, Palutena’s Temple, Khalos Pokemon League, Garden of Hope, Wuhu Island, Gaur Plain
Ultimate: New Donk City Hall, Great Plateau Tower, Garreg Mach, Moray Tower, Spring Stadium

 

[Louie G.]

Hmm there’s an idea: suggest giant stages

I had envisioned the theoretical Dread EMMI Zone stage to be pretty big. I have to say it probably wouldn't be a very popular stage because I think it would involve a lot of cramped corridors and closed off areas akin to Mario Bros or Great Cave Offensive, but I envision it being pretty large with room to flee an EMMI attack if it comes around your area (or run yourself into a corner).

I mentioned Saturn Valley before as well and I stand by that. And maybe even Bowser's Castle? I'm thinking kind of an evil version of Palutena's Temple with all sorts of lava traps, fire bars, spikes and so forth. Pretty easy for me to envision them going in this direction although for such a long awaited stage that might disappoint some.