[Smash] Why stages are banned in Smash 64

[Flint]

This is an idea has popped into my head and I've been wanting to do. I'll be doing a segment like this on Melee, Brawl and Smash 4 as well. I'll be explaining why these stages are banned and not allowed for use in tournament.

Despite the banned stages list, most tournaments feature some variation of the "gentleman rule", a rule that allows players to choose any stage they want, including banned stages, if all players in the match agree to it.

Many casual Smashers notice that the accepted tournament ruleset demands highly specific conditions under which they would rarely play, and believe that these rules are restrictive and make competitive play less fun. However, tournament Smashers are of the opinion that the ruleset prevents "degenerate" gameplay such as walk-offs, camping, stalling, stage hazards, and too much advantage to a specific character to list the most common reasons.

Dreamland is the only legal (starter) stage in Smash 64 although this depends on the Tournament and Tournament Organizer. In certain tournaments, Peach's Castle and Congo Jungle is allowed for counterpicking in singles and Hyrule Castle is sometimes allowed. Although in major tournaments, Dreamland is the only legal stage in singles. In doubles, Congo Jungle, Dreamland and Hyrule Castle are allowed as Starter stages.

Mushroom Kingdom

Randomized hazards such as the piranha plants and POW block. Pipes allow for camping. Walk-offs can be abused by chain grabs, and allow for more camping.


Planet Zebes

Acid can Star KO players at unexpected moments. Acid disrupts usual gameplay by putting people in a disadvantageous situation; camping; occasionally awkward camera angle


Sector Z

Overly Large Stage. Fin allows for Camping.


Hyrule Castle

This is an extremely recent stage, and is specifically credited towards Bane in his thread "A Case Against Hyrule Castle". This stage is banned for the randomized tornado. It should be noted that this stage is still commonly used in competitive play, especially under the gentlemen's clause. In Peru, this is the only legal stage available. If you plan on playing Smash 64, you should probably learn this stage. Many players like this stage because of the unique gameplay the tent and wall create. It is also noteworthy that you can easily camp on this stage, and stall out the match. Probably the largest reason this stage was banned was because of Mew2King.


Yoshi's Island

Large stage. Clouds can be used for camping. Some characters, like Link, have an extremely hard time returning to the stage if lured out onto the clouds. Cloud camping (as characters on Yoshi's cloud could object to getting back on stage as it is very easy to attack them/put them in a disadvantageous position while recovering); stalling.


Saffron City

Overly large; bottom area and helipad promote camping; Randomized Pokémon hazards. It's impossible for Ness to recover if he is between the platforms.

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And that's it. Other noteworthy things might be that in the Japanese ruleset, Dream Land is the only legal stage. On the other end, Brazil only has Mushroom Kingdom banned. Some places will allow every stage doubles tournaments. In places that see Saffron City legal, either in singles or doubles, usually the stage can't be counter picked against Ness.

If you guys have any criticisms or questions I'd like to hear them.