Everyone who knows me knows I'm very serious about stages in smash games, and now that smash 4 is "here" in the sense we can watch but not play, I'm putting some serious time into putting together info on the stages. I am trying to get some footage of every stage in action and to give a brief rundown of the stage and its general mechanics as well as competitive pros and cons (being very broad minded; we still don't know so much about this game so I think of it more as a "what to look out for when we begin testing this stuff directly"). If you have footage of any stage in action that I do not have video here for, please drop me a link and I'll add it in. If the stage is complex (moves and transforms), video that is longer is preferred so what the stage does can be seen in action.
Battlefield (Past Stage: Smash Bros.)
Battlefield is Battlefield. The blastzones are a bit bigger than before, but otherwise, it's our old friend from Brawl (and before but with Brawl's good BF ledges). Obviously legal.
Tortimer's Island (New Stage: Animal Crossing)
This stage can take on many different forms so this video may not be representative; in fact, this stage has seemingly infinite variation. Trees will be present in a random lay-out (or may not be; I believe zero trees is possible), the dock will be on either the left or the right side (the dock is a grabable ledge while the beach is not), and the trees might have different types of fruit that sometimes spawn that are different variations on weak throwing items. In terms of stage events, sometimes a shark will come (though I haven't seen him actually attack a player yet), and sometimes a boat will come to the dock to extent the blast zone. This stage mostly seems pretty tame, but the exact gameplay dynamics are pretty unpredictable going into it since you don't know the lay-out in advance. Competitively this could be interpreted as either a pro or a con. It's a pro in the sense that no one can be sure they'll get match-up advantage from this stage, but it's a con in that random events (in this case the stage layout) might be relevant to match outcomes.
Tomodachi Life (New Stage: Tomodachi Life)
Tomodachi Life has been compared to Luigi's Mansion, but that's not really accurate at all to how it plays. In reality it's a basic stage with three very long platforms that pass over it. The rooms appear and disappear as you move in front of them, but that has no bearing on the gameplay since it's just background detail shifting. The lowest ledges are grabable but none of the other are, and there appear to be no dynamic elements on this stage at all. The only real con to legality I can see is that the ceiling is effectively pretty low from the roof of the house (the top platform) and that this layout will give a nice advantage to characters like Kirby with those special up throws; this stage doesn't really have enough going on to have a complex set of problems.
Jungle Japes (Past Stage: Donkey Kong)
This stage is the Melee classic, and in fact it seems a lot more like Melee's version than Brawl's. It has a significant size reduction from Brawl, and the water is no longer swimmable. The current does seem very fast, perhaps faster than either prior smash game, and Klaptrap clearly has a different timing algorithm from Brawl (he appears at a non-7 time in the video). The pros and cons remain largely the same as in prior games; Klaptrap can be a deadly hazard, but it can be argued he's easy to avoid since he only appears below the stage. The lay-out of the stage is somewhat non-traditional which can give strong advantages to characters who control horizontal space or small platforms well, but it can also be argued that this layer of diversity is a competitive strength since it's not too radical but is distinctly different.
Brinstar (Past Stage: Metroid)
This is yet another Melee classic, and it seems to be very faithful to its old self from both Melee and Brawl. The pros and cons are likewise well documented; the stage has proven to be generally fair throughout the years and has a long history as a tournament stage, but many players feel the periodic disruption to gameplay provided by the acid is intolerable. Time will tell what position prevails on Brinstar this time.
Corneria (Past Stage: Star Fox)
As with Jungle Japes, our old friend Corneria seems to have gotten a size reduction, but this stage has been shrinking throughout the series. This stage was banned early in Brawl's life for the various wall abuses as well as the extremely abusable central ledge that allowed for extremely safe use of up special by Marth and Meta Knight. However, with new combo mechanics and new ledge mechanics, the old arguments may not hold for Corneria; we may have to go through everything with this stage anew for smash 4.
Mute City (New Stage: F-Zero)
Go to 1:44 in second video
Now it's getting interesting; welcome to the new F-Zero stage! This stage actually appears to have very simple mechanics. Two platforms are always racing over a track below that, if touched, launches the victim upward with a modest launch force similar to Rainbow Road in this game or Port Town Aero Dive and Mute City from Brawl and Melee respectively. Neither of these platforms have grabable ledges, but to help out, there always seems to be at least one car racing below that players can use as an additional platform though at times there will be more (the stage gives a very clear warning when a car is going to go away). The upside here is that this stage is very simple and easy to fight on; it never really does anything to disrupt what players are doing or cause a significant threat to any player, and there seems to generally be "enough stage" such that players can do most of what they might want to do. The downside is that this stage is extremely non-traditional with no ledges, no bottom blast zone, and a lack of a "main platform" which is going to seriously force a lot of players out of their tactical comfort zone and may favor a very different set of characters than the more ordinary stages.
Reset Bomb Forest (New Stage: Kid Icarus)
This stage has two known forms. For the first minute of the fight, it is a fairly large but otherwise tame main stage with a hole in the middle and several floating platforms. After that point, Viridi gets angsty and turns the stage into a pink mess with a chaotic distribution of platforms and no central ground below which a spiky eel thing will sometimes float by and act as a mild hazard. Unfortunately, even the longest videos are only around two minutes so it's unclear what this stage does after that point which is going to be very important to figuring how this stage will play out. The second form may have independent problems with the extremely large size and the potential loop with the solid object on the left side, but this stage does not have anything seen so far that would seem to be an automatic disqualification from legality.
Magicant (New Stage: Mother/EarthBound)
Go to 3:08 in first video.
Thematically, this stage seems to be a hybrid of both Magicants: the Mother 1 area and the EarthBound area, and it has gameplay scenes from both in the background (so far I've seen Threed, Lumine Hole, Ninten's House, and Rescuing Loid). In terms of gameplay, this stage has a main platform with three other platforms: one on the left and right but not directly above the stage and a third that is actually below the main stage. Several minor dynamic events can happen. A metal octopus statue (Japanese equivalent of the pencil statues) will sometimes appear in the main platform to serve as just a solid block. A mossy statue will sometimes slide along the bottom of the stage to act as an additional platform. A UFO will sometimes come down above the left side of the main stage to be a platform itself, and a few other random platforms may spawn as well (a large walking plant enemy from EarthBound and a tree are what I've seen). The most notable dynamic feature is the Flying Man who spawns out of the house on the right platform. The first player to get over to him claims him as an assist trophy style ally! He seems generally weaker than a real assist trophy and is hittable, but if he's not somehow defeated (an event I haven't witnessed yet), he sticks around for a long time and is very persistent. This stage is very mellow for the most part with random elements that primarily are used by players and not disruptive to players so that' a pro for legality. The cons are that the bottom platform may be defensively abusable and that the Flying Man might be very strong (it's not clear yet how big of an asset he really is).
PictoChat 2 (New Stage: DS Hardware)
This stage has the exact same mechanics as PictoChat from Brawl but with completely new drawings! We obviously haven't seen anywhere near all the drawings so it's very pre-mature to judge this stage, but the ones we've seen seem quite potent in terms of effect on match though none have been as potentially lethal as the deadliest drawings from the last game. The pros are pretty much the same as the old pros: the stage offers great gameplay variety in one reasonably predictable package. The cons are that some players may find the drawings very disruptive, and the new set of drawings seems unlikely to change their minds on that.
Pac Maze (New Stage: Pac Man)
Pac-Man's home stage is quite the interesting one to say the least. It's a very vertical level with two layers of platforms; the bottom layer is Battlefield-esque except the top platform is replaced by another, smaller "main stage" above which there's another triangular platform lay-out, this time all ordinary pass-through platforms. There are two main dynamic elements at work here. Ghosts roam around the edges of the stage and inflict weak knockback on anyone who touches them. Pellets also exist in semi-random patterns around the stage, and players can grab them by passing through them. Any player who grabs 100 pellets will have one super pellet with their player indicator over it spawn. Touching that will put them into a temporary powered up state that allows them to destroy the ghosts and may slightly increase their character's physical parameters. I also believe I saw a spring platform below the lowest part of the stage act kinda like a Yoshi's Island support ghost, but if it exists, it spawns rarely. The pros are that the lay-out is very novel and will add quite a bit of fresh gameplay while the dynamic elements seem very low in power just such that using them is advantageous but not enough that they will really define the gameplay. The cons are that the stage's somewhat large lay-out may allow for some run-away especially with a solid object in the middle and that the power-up mechanic may make some players very uncomfortable.
Golden Plains (New Stage: Mario)
This is the only video I could find of this stage; it's really too short to tell you much. This stage has a power-up mechanic similar to Pac-Maze except here you need 100 coins to get the power-up and it very definitely increases your parameters temporarily. How much is still very unclear. This stage also has the significant con of double walk-offs and constant slow horizontal scrolling randomly either left or right, but this stage never seems to do anything particularly disruptive to gameplay.
Mushroomy Kingdom (Past Stage: Mario)
This is precisely the same stage as it was in Brawl. I have yet to see 1-2 and notice the stage has a new icon on the stage select screen; is it possible only 1-1 returned as a past stage? Either way, this stage was quickly agreed to be banworthy in Brawl for the fast scroll, double walk-offs, and low ceiling (ceiling height not confirmed in smash 4). Will history repeat itself here?
Kirby's Dream Land (New Stage: Kirby)
Starting from Green Greens, this stage seems to transition through the entirety of the classic Gameboy game Kirby's Dream Land. This video shows mostly later forms which are otherwise pretty hard to find; it seems to go in the same order the classic game did which makes the transitions completely predictable, and none of the transformations seems hazardous at all. On the other hand, this stage seems to pretty much always have double walk-offs present; those walk-offs and the general stigma associated with them would seem to be the main barrier to this stage's legality.
WarioWare Inc. (Past Stage: Wario)
This stage appears exactly identical to its old self. With extreme random elements that can easily decide the entire game, this stage was an instantly banned stage in Brawl and likely will remain so here.
Distant Planet (Past Stage: Pikmin)
This stage is also pretty much identical to the Brawl version. The pellets look a little less wide to me, but no changes of substance are obvious. This stage in Brawl was discovered to have a lay-out that greatly favored defensive play, and many players were extremely uncomfortable with the left-side only sloped walk-off. Many others, however, had long arguments in favor of this stage's basic fairness that were never abandoned, but this stage did not enjoy much time as a legal stage anywhere in the country. Its fate in smash 4 remains unclear; most of the mechanics changes would seem to argue for a revisit to the reasons this stage was originally banned.
Find Mii (New Stage: 3DS Hardware)
This stage is a bit hard to really figure out. The basic geography is a main platform, a Jungle Japes like side platform but only on the right, and a floating cage over the main stage that basically serves as a block that could obstruct a launch but otherwise doesn't do anything. A glowing green ghostly dragon thing sometimes appears, changes the color of an arbitrary player's outline, and then does... something allegedly dependent on the color of that outline it sets. What precise effect on gameplay this has, whether players have any agency in his actions here, and how powerful these effects are remain to be seen. The dragon also appears to sometimes move into the foreground and act as a direct stage hazard though he seems to do this rarely and usually deal non-fatal knockback. We will have to learn more about the mechanics of this stage before we can really judge anything; it seems a lot more difficult to figure out than it did when we were just getting screenshots.
Balloon Fight (New Stage: Balloon Fight)
This stage is very unusual in that you can run off the left or right side and come off the other direction. However, if you are launched off those sides, it will result in a KO. There's also a fish in the water that, unlike his Brawl self, does not instantly KO the victim but instead just chomps them on the butt and allow them to mash out of being grabbed. There are a lot of solid platforms on this stage, and there are a few flippers as you may remember from Melee. It would seem to me like this stage is destined for a ban with the obvious loop running the unique mechanics allow as well as the effect of having virtual walk-offs; maybe others see more potential here.
Flat Zone 2 (Past Stage: Game and Watch)
This stage has a bit of a graphic make-over but is otherwise its same old self from Brawl. It was banned super early in Brawl, and it seems unlikely with double walk-offs and the lion tamers as strong as ever that anything will change.
Wily's Castle (New Stage: Mega Man)
This stage has some changes from what we saw in the E3 demo; there are now a variety of new platform types that can come in and help out (or not!). Otherwise, this remains a simple flat stage with random moving platforms above and to the sides with the major caveat of the stage boss: yellow devil. Yellow devil follows the same attack pattern he did in the first Mega Man of spawning in place, splitting into orbs, and rhythmically moving in horizontal lines to reform on the other side of the stage ad nauseum. If he takes enough damage, he'll explode and do almost certainly fatal damage to anyone other than the last attacker in range, but the range seems limited to those who were right next to him in the first place. This stage is widely perceived as a likely ban since the yellow devil is very disruptive, but advocates may argue that he's very predictable and that he's the only element of this stage that is not eminently fair.
Green Hill Zone (Past Stage: Sonic)
This stage is seemingly identical to its Brawl self. It was widely considered ban-worthy due to double walk-offs, an unusual bowl-shaped interior, and the generally very powerful checkpoint mechanic in which a checkpoint randomly spawns and can be hit to create a hazard that affects everyone but the user. Some players didn't find this stage as bad as everyone else though; we'll have to see if anything has changed to tip the scales for it in smash 4.
Gaur Plains (New Stage: Xenoblade)
This stage is another walk-off stage, but it's also very different from the others. The "main stage" is actually at the top and extends to both blast zones but has a hole in the middle. It's also a pass through platform, and a variety of small platforms exist below the stage with grabable ledges. This stage seems to have no dynamic features beyond the lighting, but the inverted lay-out and walk-offs may be too much for some players to tolerate. On the other hand, advocates may find them to offer some fresh gameplay, and no one can really argue this stage disrupts anything.
Arena Ferox (New Stage: Fire Emblem)
This stage has a basic form that's just one main floating platform, but it will periodically summon various platforms that float above the stage. Some of these have solid collision and can create assorted geometries, one form has destructible statues, and one form has a moving platform. This stage is pretty much just Pokemon Stadium except with a Fire Emblem theme, different transformations, and no platforms in the base form. Given that Pokemon Stadium has been perpetually legal in Melee and Brawl, this stage would seem to have very high prospects.
Stages I don't have video for:
Final Destination (please not Master Hand form)
Rainbow Road
Yoshi's Island
Prism Tower
Paper Mario
Super Mario 3d Land
Gerudo Valley
Spirit Tracks
N's Castle
Boxing Ring
Living Room
Battlefield (Past Stage: Smash Bros.)
Battlefield is Battlefield. The blastzones are a bit bigger than before, but otherwise, it's our old friend from Brawl (and before but with Brawl's good BF ledges). Obviously legal.
Tortimer's Island (New Stage: Animal Crossing)
This stage can take on many different forms so this video may not be representative; in fact, this stage has seemingly infinite variation. Trees will be present in a random lay-out (or may not be; I believe zero trees is possible), the dock will be on either the left or the right side (the dock is a grabable ledge while the beach is not), and the trees might have different types of fruit that sometimes spawn that are different variations on weak throwing items. In terms of stage events, sometimes a shark will come (though I haven't seen him actually attack a player yet), and sometimes a boat will come to the dock to extent the blast zone. This stage mostly seems pretty tame, but the exact gameplay dynamics are pretty unpredictable going into it since you don't know the lay-out in advance. Competitively this could be interpreted as either a pro or a con. It's a pro in the sense that no one can be sure they'll get match-up advantage from this stage, but it's a con in that random events (in this case the stage layout) might be relevant to match outcomes.
Tomodachi Life (New Stage: Tomodachi Life)
Tomodachi Life has been compared to Luigi's Mansion, but that's not really accurate at all to how it plays. In reality it's a basic stage with three very long platforms that pass over it. The rooms appear and disappear as you move in front of them, but that has no bearing on the gameplay since it's just background detail shifting. The lowest ledges are grabable but none of the other are, and there appear to be no dynamic elements on this stage at all. The only real con to legality I can see is that the ceiling is effectively pretty low from the roof of the house (the top platform) and that this layout will give a nice advantage to characters like Kirby with those special up throws; this stage doesn't really have enough going on to have a complex set of problems.
Jungle Japes (Past Stage: Donkey Kong)
This stage is the Melee classic, and in fact it seems a lot more like Melee's version than Brawl's. It has a significant size reduction from Brawl, and the water is no longer swimmable. The current does seem very fast, perhaps faster than either prior smash game, and Klaptrap clearly has a different timing algorithm from Brawl (he appears at a non-7 time in the video). The pros and cons remain largely the same as in prior games; Klaptrap can be a deadly hazard, but it can be argued he's easy to avoid since he only appears below the stage. The lay-out of the stage is somewhat non-traditional which can give strong advantages to characters who control horizontal space or small platforms well, but it can also be argued that this layer of diversity is a competitive strength since it's not too radical but is distinctly different.
Brinstar (Past Stage: Metroid)
This is yet another Melee classic, and it seems to be very faithful to its old self from both Melee and Brawl. The pros and cons are likewise well documented; the stage has proven to be generally fair throughout the years and has a long history as a tournament stage, but many players feel the periodic disruption to gameplay provided by the acid is intolerable. Time will tell what position prevails on Brinstar this time.
Corneria (Past Stage: Star Fox)
As with Jungle Japes, our old friend Corneria seems to have gotten a size reduction, but this stage has been shrinking throughout the series. This stage was banned early in Brawl's life for the various wall abuses as well as the extremely abusable central ledge that allowed for extremely safe use of up special by Marth and Meta Knight. However, with new combo mechanics and new ledge mechanics, the old arguments may not hold for Corneria; we may have to go through everything with this stage anew for smash 4.
Mute City (New Stage: F-Zero)
Now it's getting interesting; welcome to the new F-Zero stage! This stage actually appears to have very simple mechanics. Two platforms are always racing over a track below that, if touched, launches the victim upward with a modest launch force similar to Rainbow Road in this game or Port Town Aero Dive and Mute City from Brawl and Melee respectively. Neither of these platforms have grabable ledges, but to help out, there always seems to be at least one car racing below that players can use as an additional platform though at times there will be more (the stage gives a very clear warning when a car is going to go away). The upside here is that this stage is very simple and easy to fight on; it never really does anything to disrupt what players are doing or cause a significant threat to any player, and there seems to generally be "enough stage" such that players can do most of what they might want to do. The downside is that this stage is extremely non-traditional with no ledges, no bottom blast zone, and a lack of a "main platform" which is going to seriously force a lot of players out of their tactical comfort zone and may favor a very different set of characters than the more ordinary stages.
Reset Bomb Forest (New Stage: Kid Icarus)
This stage has two known forms. For the first minute of the fight, it is a fairly large but otherwise tame main stage with a hole in the middle and several floating platforms. After that point, Viridi gets angsty and turns the stage into a pink mess with a chaotic distribution of platforms and no central ground below which a spiky eel thing will sometimes float by and act as a mild hazard. Unfortunately, even the longest videos are only around two minutes so it's unclear what this stage does after that point which is going to be very important to figuring how this stage will play out. The second form may have independent problems with the extremely large size and the potential loop with the solid object on the left side, but this stage does not have anything seen so far that would seem to be an automatic disqualification from legality.
Magicant (New Stage: Mother/EarthBound)
Thematically, this stage seems to be a hybrid of both Magicants: the Mother 1 area and the EarthBound area, and it has gameplay scenes from both in the background (so far I've seen Threed, Lumine Hole, Ninten's House, and Rescuing Loid). In terms of gameplay, this stage has a main platform with three other platforms: one on the left and right but not directly above the stage and a third that is actually below the main stage. Several minor dynamic events can happen. A metal octopus statue (Japanese equivalent of the pencil statues) will sometimes appear in the main platform to serve as just a solid block. A mossy statue will sometimes slide along the bottom of the stage to act as an additional platform. A UFO will sometimes come down above the left side of the main stage to be a platform itself, and a few other random platforms may spawn as well (a large walking plant enemy from EarthBound and a tree are what I've seen). The most notable dynamic feature is the Flying Man who spawns out of the house on the right platform. The first player to get over to him claims him as an assist trophy style ally! He seems generally weaker than a real assist trophy and is hittable, but if he's not somehow defeated (an event I haven't witnessed yet), he sticks around for a long time and is very persistent. This stage is very mellow for the most part with random elements that primarily are used by players and not disruptive to players so that' a pro for legality. The cons are that the bottom platform may be defensively abusable and that the Flying Man might be very strong (it's not clear yet how big of an asset he really is).
PictoChat 2 (New Stage: DS Hardware)
This stage has the exact same mechanics as PictoChat from Brawl but with completely new drawings! We obviously haven't seen anywhere near all the drawings so it's very pre-mature to judge this stage, but the ones we've seen seem quite potent in terms of effect on match though none have been as potentially lethal as the deadliest drawings from the last game. The pros are pretty much the same as the old pros: the stage offers great gameplay variety in one reasonably predictable package. The cons are that some players may find the drawings very disruptive, and the new set of drawings seems unlikely to change their minds on that.
Pac Maze (New Stage: Pac Man)
Pac-Man's home stage is quite the interesting one to say the least. It's a very vertical level with two layers of platforms; the bottom layer is Battlefield-esque except the top platform is replaced by another, smaller "main stage" above which there's another triangular platform lay-out, this time all ordinary pass-through platforms. There are two main dynamic elements at work here. Ghosts roam around the edges of the stage and inflict weak knockback on anyone who touches them. Pellets also exist in semi-random patterns around the stage, and players can grab them by passing through them. Any player who grabs 100 pellets will have one super pellet with their player indicator over it spawn. Touching that will put them into a temporary powered up state that allows them to destroy the ghosts and may slightly increase their character's physical parameters. I also believe I saw a spring platform below the lowest part of the stage act kinda like a Yoshi's Island support ghost, but if it exists, it spawns rarely. The pros are that the lay-out is very novel and will add quite a bit of fresh gameplay while the dynamic elements seem very low in power just such that using them is advantageous but not enough that they will really define the gameplay. The cons are that the stage's somewhat large lay-out may allow for some run-away especially with a solid object in the middle and that the power-up mechanic may make some players very uncomfortable.
Golden Plains (New Stage: Mario)
This is the only video I could find of this stage; it's really too short to tell you much. This stage has a power-up mechanic similar to Pac-Maze except here you need 100 coins to get the power-up and it very definitely increases your parameters temporarily. How much is still very unclear. This stage also has the significant con of double walk-offs and constant slow horizontal scrolling randomly either left or right, but this stage never seems to do anything particularly disruptive to gameplay.
Mushroomy Kingdom (Past Stage: Mario)
This is precisely the same stage as it was in Brawl. I have yet to see 1-2 and notice the stage has a new icon on the stage select screen; is it possible only 1-1 returned as a past stage? Either way, this stage was quickly agreed to be banworthy in Brawl for the fast scroll, double walk-offs, and low ceiling (ceiling height not confirmed in smash 4). Will history repeat itself here?
Kirby's Dream Land (New Stage: Kirby)
Starting from Green Greens, this stage seems to transition through the entirety of the classic Gameboy game Kirby's Dream Land. This video shows mostly later forms which are otherwise pretty hard to find; it seems to go in the same order the classic game did which makes the transitions completely predictable, and none of the transformations seems hazardous at all. On the other hand, this stage seems to pretty much always have double walk-offs present; those walk-offs and the general stigma associated with them would seem to be the main barrier to this stage's legality.
WarioWare Inc. (Past Stage: Wario)
This stage appears exactly identical to its old self. With extreme random elements that can easily decide the entire game, this stage was an instantly banned stage in Brawl and likely will remain so here.
Distant Planet (Past Stage: Pikmin)
This stage is also pretty much identical to the Brawl version. The pellets look a little less wide to me, but no changes of substance are obvious. This stage in Brawl was discovered to have a lay-out that greatly favored defensive play, and many players were extremely uncomfortable with the left-side only sloped walk-off. Many others, however, had long arguments in favor of this stage's basic fairness that were never abandoned, but this stage did not enjoy much time as a legal stage anywhere in the country. Its fate in smash 4 remains unclear; most of the mechanics changes would seem to argue for a revisit to the reasons this stage was originally banned.
Find Mii (New Stage: 3DS Hardware)
This stage is a bit hard to really figure out. The basic geography is a main platform, a Jungle Japes like side platform but only on the right, and a floating cage over the main stage that basically serves as a block that could obstruct a launch but otherwise doesn't do anything. A glowing green ghostly dragon thing sometimes appears, changes the color of an arbitrary player's outline, and then does... something allegedly dependent on the color of that outline it sets. What precise effect on gameplay this has, whether players have any agency in his actions here, and how powerful these effects are remain to be seen. The dragon also appears to sometimes move into the foreground and act as a direct stage hazard though he seems to do this rarely and usually deal non-fatal knockback. We will have to learn more about the mechanics of this stage before we can really judge anything; it seems a lot more difficult to figure out than it did when we were just getting screenshots.
Balloon Fight (New Stage: Balloon Fight)
This stage is very unusual in that you can run off the left or right side and come off the other direction. However, if you are launched off those sides, it will result in a KO. There's also a fish in the water that, unlike his Brawl self, does not instantly KO the victim but instead just chomps them on the butt and allow them to mash out of being grabbed. There are a lot of solid platforms on this stage, and there are a few flippers as you may remember from Melee. It would seem to me like this stage is destined for a ban with the obvious loop running the unique mechanics allow as well as the effect of having virtual walk-offs; maybe others see more potential here.
Flat Zone 2 (Past Stage: Game and Watch)
This stage has a bit of a graphic make-over but is otherwise its same old self from Brawl. It was banned super early in Brawl, and it seems unlikely with double walk-offs and the lion tamers as strong as ever that anything will change.
Wily's Castle (New Stage: Mega Man)
This stage has some changes from what we saw in the E3 demo; there are now a variety of new platform types that can come in and help out (or not!). Otherwise, this remains a simple flat stage with random moving platforms above and to the sides with the major caveat of the stage boss: yellow devil. Yellow devil follows the same attack pattern he did in the first Mega Man of spawning in place, splitting into orbs, and rhythmically moving in horizontal lines to reform on the other side of the stage ad nauseum. If he takes enough damage, he'll explode and do almost certainly fatal damage to anyone other than the last attacker in range, but the range seems limited to those who were right next to him in the first place. This stage is widely perceived as a likely ban since the yellow devil is very disruptive, but advocates may argue that he's very predictable and that he's the only element of this stage that is not eminently fair.
Green Hill Zone (Past Stage: Sonic)
This stage is seemingly identical to its Brawl self. It was widely considered ban-worthy due to double walk-offs, an unusual bowl-shaped interior, and the generally very powerful checkpoint mechanic in which a checkpoint randomly spawns and can be hit to create a hazard that affects everyone but the user. Some players didn't find this stage as bad as everyone else though; we'll have to see if anything has changed to tip the scales for it in smash 4.
Gaur Plains (New Stage: Xenoblade)
This stage is another walk-off stage, but it's also very different from the others. The "main stage" is actually at the top and extends to both blast zones but has a hole in the middle. It's also a pass through platform, and a variety of small platforms exist below the stage with grabable ledges. This stage seems to have no dynamic features beyond the lighting, but the inverted lay-out and walk-offs may be too much for some players to tolerate. On the other hand, advocates may find them to offer some fresh gameplay, and no one can really argue this stage disrupts anything.
Arena Ferox (New Stage: Fire Emblem)
This stage has a basic form that's just one main floating platform, but it will periodically summon various platforms that float above the stage. Some of these have solid collision and can create assorted geometries, one form has destructible statues, and one form has a moving platform. This stage is pretty much just Pokemon Stadium except with a Fire Emblem theme, different transformations, and no platforms in the base form. Given that Pokemon Stadium has been perpetually legal in Melee and Brawl, this stage would seem to have very high prospects.
Stages I don't have video for:
Final Destination (please not Master Hand form)
Rainbow Road
Yoshi's Island
Prism Tower
Paper Mario
Super Mario 3d Land
Gerudo Valley
Spirit Tracks
N's Castle
Boxing Ring
Living Room
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