What if you had to save 8 veterans and 1/4 of the stages from each Smash game?

[LoZ00]

The thread title explains how this works: basically, you can have 8 veterans from each Smash Bros. game and 25% of the stages introduced in each Smash Bros. game (rounding to the closest integer, Smash for 3DS and Smash for Wii U count as separate games for the stages).
Let me show you my take:

Smash 64 characters:
Smash 64 stages (2): Hyrule Castle, Mushroom Kingdom

Melee characters:
Melee stages (6, Melee is a weird case as it has 26 stages and 26/4=6.5): Fountain of Dreams, Temple, Great Bay, Princess Peach's Castle, Kongo Falls, Pokémon Stadium.

Brawl characters:
Brawl stages (8):

Smash 4 characters:
Smash for 3DS stages (8): Paper Mario, Unova Pokémon League, Magicant, Arena Ferox, Reset Bomb Forest, Tortimer Island, Boxing Ring, Gaur Plain
Smash for Wii U stages (8, Smash for Wii U is in a situation like Melee, where it has 34 stages and 34/4=8.5): Mushroom Kingdom U, Super Mario Maker, Skyloft, Jungle Hijinxs, Pyrosphere, Town and City, Wii Fit Studio, Umbra Clock Tower

Ultimate characters:
Ultimate stages (2): Moray Towers, Mementos

 

[Otoad64]

64:
Fighters:
Stages: Peach's Castle, Hyrule Castle

Melee:

Fighters:
Stages: Kongo Jungle, Brinstar, Green Greens, Pokemon Stadium,Mute City, Flat Zone

Brawl:

Fighters:
Stages: Warioware inc, Halberd, Castle Siege, Distant Planet, New Pork City, Summit, Luigi's Mansion, Green Hill Zone

Sm4sh:

Fighters:
Stages in Both: Wily Castle,Umbra Clock Tower, Suzaku Castle, Boxing Ring, Gaur Plain
3DS stages: Pac-maze, Prism Tower, Rainbow Road
Wii U stages: Wii Fit Studio, Pilotwings, Town and City

Ultimate:

Fighters:
Stages: Moray Towers, Minecraft World

 

[Pupp135]

64
Characters: (It hurts a lot to cut Fox and Ness)
Stages: Peach's Castle, Hyrule Castle
Melee
Characters:
Stages: Fountain of Dreams, Pokefloats, Venom, Kongo Falls, Mushroom Kingdom, Temple
Brawl
Characters:
Stages: Delfino Plaza, Pirate Ship, Frigate Orpheon, Lylat Cruise, Summit, Castle Seige, Green Hill Zone, FD
For
Characters:
3DS Stages: Paper Mario, Gerudo Valley, Prism Tower, Magnificant, Mute City, Arena Ferox, Bomb Reset Forest, Pac Maze
WiiU Stages: Mario Circuit, Jungle Hijynx, Gamer, Skyloft, Khalos Pokemon League, Town and City, Willy's Castle, Miiverse
Ultimate
Characters:
Stages: Yggastril Altar, Spiral Mountain, Northern Cave

Here’s why with the characters

Spoiler: Reasons

64: The ones I chose are the most popular.
Melee: From Melee, we have Bowser, Peach, Zelda, Sheik, Ice Climbers, Marth, Mr. Game & Watch, Mewtwo, Falco, Ganondorf, Dr. Mario, Young Link, Pichu, and Roy. Out of these, Bowser, Peach, Zelda, and Ganondorf felt pretty obvious. Dr. Mario, Pichu, Roy, and Falco felt like easier cuts given that the the first one is pretty filler, and there are more important characters in the others’ home series. From the remaining 6, I felt comfortable cutting Sheik as the transformation gimmick died for her, and Mewtwo, Marth, and Young Link are more prominent than a second Zelda. I cut Game & Watch since I prefer Icies.
Brawl: While Brawl has a “stronger“ lineup than Melee’s, it feels pretty easy for who I’d prioritize. Sonic is THE third party, so I wouldn’t cut him. Kid Icarus is more or less Sakurai’s adopted franchise, so Pit stays. While it’s not a major franchise, Pikmin is still relevant, so Olimar can stay. Pokemon Trainer is the player character of Pokemon, and I like how his moveset plays. Wario is a Mario spinoff regular with his own side series. I’d say keep Toon Link over Young Link, but I think King Dedede or Diddy should be added. I went with King Dedede as he feels more relevant than Diddy.
For: Just like Brawl, I feel like priorities are pretty straightforward unlike Melee. Villager is the player character of AC, and Shulk is a protagonist of Xenoblade who also appeared in Xenoblade 2. Miis are too important to cut, but I’ll only keep the Brawler in this case. People wanted Mega Man, and Miyamoto wanted Pac-Man, so they can stay. I like Final Fantasy, so Cloud stays. Greninja is quota filling for adding it as a post Kanto Pokemon, but it is popular, and I couldn’t fit Lucario. For my last fighter, I’ll just say Rosalina just becuase she is an interesting choice for a Mario character.
Ultimate: Inkling is the mascot of the biggest Nintendo franchise to debut in the 2010s. Isabelle and Chrom are important characters in their series. I feel that Steve is too important to leave out in terms of gaming legacy. While they’re not my favorites, Ridley and K. Rool were highly demanded. I‘m just going to be biased with my last ones and add Byleth and Sora.

 

[Perkilator]

64
Characters:
Stages: Peach's Castle and Dream Land

Melee
Characters:
Stages: Princess Peach's Castle, Temple, Brinstar, Yoshi's Story, Fountain of Dreams, Corneria, and Onett

Brawl
Characters:
Stages: Delfino Plaza, Mario Circuit, Bridge of Eldin, Yoshi's Island, Halberd, Lylat Cruise, Shadow Moses Island and Green Hill Zone

Smash 4
Characters:
Stages (Both versions): Suzaku Castle and Midgar
Stages (3DS): Rainbow Road, Gerudo Valley, Prism Tower, Reset Bomb Forest, and PAC-MAZE
Stages (Wii U): Big Battlefield, Jungle Hijinks, Wooly World, Wii Fit Studio, Wrecking Crew and Pilotwings

Ultimate
Characters:
Stages: KOF Stadium and Northern Crater

 

[keleyeemoh]

64:
Stages: Hyrule Castle, Saffron City

Melee:
Stages: Great Bay, Fountain of Dreams, Corneria, Pokémon Stadium, Mushroom Kingdom II, Flat Zone

Brawl:
Stages: WarioWare Inc., Halberd, Smashville, Luigi's Mansion, Pirate Ship, 75m, Mario Bros., Green Hill Zone

4:
Stages: Boxing Ring, Super Mario Maker, Rainbow Road, Paper Mario, Dream Land GB, Prism Tower, Tortimer Island, Living Room, Find Mii, Mario Galaxy, Jungle Hijinxs, Woolly World, Gamer, Town and City, Wii Fit Studio, Miiverse

Ultimate:
Stages: Moray Tower, Dracula's Castle

 

[crazybenjamin]

64:
Mushroom Kingdom, Saffron City

Melee:
Princess Peach's Castle, Brinstar, Temple, Green Greens, Jungle Japes, Pokemon Stadium

Brawl:
Bridge of Eldin, Castle Siege, Delfino Plaza, Halberd, Spear Pillar, Smashville, Green Hill Zone, Distant Planet

Sm4sh:
Wily's Castle, Gaur Plain, Boxing Ring, Arena Ferox, Suzaku Castle, 3D Land, Gerudo Valley, Unova League, Mario Galaxy, Mario Circuit, Jungle Hijinxs, Skyloft, Kalos League, Garden of Hope, Woolly World, Town and City

Ultimate:
Moray Towers, Minecraft World

 

[Butters Stotch]

Eh, I'll just cover the characters for now.

64:
Melee:
Brawl:
Sm4sh:
Ultimate: //

Falco's only here since I wanted to keep Star Fox as a series. I suppose the same could be said about Lucas, but I consider him and his series a lower priority. Isabelle, Daisy, and Byleth aren't top priority for me, but I didn't want to overstuff this with third parties.

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

My take:
64: Mario, DK, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Pikachu, Luigi
Melee: Peach, Bowser, Ice Climbers, Zelda, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Marth, Mr. G&W
Brawl: Pit, Wario, Olimar, King Dedede, ROB, Sonic, Snake
Sm4sh: Villager, Megman, Pacman, Little Mac, Greninja, Mii Brawler, Shulk, Wii Fit Trainer
Ultimate: Inkling, Ridley, Simon, K. Rool, Banjo-Kazooie, MinMin, Daisy, Sora

 

[Depressed Gengar]

64:
Kongo Jungle, Super Happy Tree

Melee:
Peach's Castle, Mushroom Kingdom 2, Great Bay, Fountain Of Dreams, Brinstar Depths, Mute City

Brawl:
Spear Pillar, Bridge Of Eldin, Halberd, Frigate Orpheon, Yoshi's Island, WarioWare Inc., Skyworld, Green Hill Zone

For:
3DS: Rainbow Road, Unova Pokémon League, Prism Tower, Gerudo Valley, Arena Ferox, Gaur Plain, Tomodachi Life, Pac Maze
Wii U: Mario Circuit, Jungle Hijinx, Great Cave Offensive, Boxing Ring, Town & City, Flat Zone X, Wuhu Island, Midgar

Ultimate: (just Pyra, no Mythra)
Moray Towers, Dracula's Castle

Largely self-explanatory, it's largely the most relevant characters who needed to stay, but here's some explanations.

: Only really stuck around because I didn't want Pokémon getting more characters than Mario, honestly. Otherwise Dr. Mario would've been replaced by Young Link, and Rosalina would've been replaced by Duck Hunt Dog.
: Transformations aren't a good mechanic, but even setting that aside, Pokémon Trainer and the Aegises are multiple characters in one slot, so it's kinda cheating to keep all of them. Charizard is a very popular Pokémon, while Pyra is honestly a filler pick because A) I didn't want to include a character without giving them a proper home stage, which would be incredibly hard to do for certain Ultimate newcomers, and B) the ones that already had home stages were those I'd rather have gone anyways.
: Similar to Pyra, he's kinda filler pick. I didn't include Fox in the 64 lineup, so Wolf wasn't an option. R.O.B. lacks a proper home stage as is, so I left him out. I didn't want to add Snake to avoid keeping too many third parties, and Lucas is way too irrelevant to keep, so that basically left Olimar and Pit. In the end, mostly because I think Olimar's moveset could be streamlined some more, Pit stayed.
: Yeah, he's very iconic and popular, but I'll be honest here when I say that the main reason he stayed was so I could add Sephiroth in Ultimate and avoid the more undesirable SSBU newcomers. Otherwise, I would've put either Mega Man or Ryu in his spot.
: Out of all the SSBU newcomers that didn't have home stages already (aside from Inkling, who needed to stay anyways), he was the one I enjoy the most in terms of how they actually play.

And just for the heck of it, here's an SSBU lineup had I not cared about giving every series a home stage:

 

[FirestormNeos]

64: ,, * [Stages- Dream Land, Peach's Castle]

M: , * [Stages- Brinstar, Fountain of Dreams, Great Bay, Big Blue, Jungle Japes, Fourside]

B: [Stages- PKMN Stadium 2, Spear Pillar, Frigate Orpheon, Norfair, Smashville, Halberd, Delfino Plaza, Shadow Moses]

4: , * [Stages- Boxing Ring, Gaur Plain, Wily Castle, Suzaku Castle, Midgar, Umbra Clock Tower, Gerudo Valley, Spirit Train, Tortimer's Island, PAC-MAZE, Pictochat 2, Wii Fit Studio, Orbital Gate Assault, Kalos Pokemon League, Wuhu Island, Gamer]

U: , [&]* [Stages- Dracula's Castle, KoF Stadium, Northern Cave, Mishima Dojo, Hollow Bastion]

Spoiler: Shenanigan Explanations

• : If you consider Yoshi & Donkey Kong to be Mario characters instead of their own seperate serieses, swap DK for Yoshi.
• : I initially wound up with only 7 from Melee, because Melee's roster is... ugh. However, I came up with an easy workaround for this; drop Adult Link from 64, include the (originally excluded) Young Link.
• : If Mii Fighters take 3 slots instead of 1, drop Mega Man & Cloud.
• : If Aegis/Pythra/whateveritcalled takes 2 slots instead of one, drop Banjo-Kazooie.
• Ultimate Stages: Quite frankly, i don't know how on earth you managed to come up with "19/4=2," so I'm cheating and going with five stages here as well. In an alternate universe where I was to indulge that number, I'd go with Northern Cave & Hollow Bastion.