A home stage is the stage that is most commonly associated with a character, by the game and/or by players. The subject of home stages can at times be somewhat confusing in the Super Smash Bros. series. In both Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, there are playable characters who do not have a stage belonging to their "universe". In addition, certain characters in SSBM have more than one stage. As secret characters are fought on stages specific to each of those characters, and SSBM's All-Star mode also gives each character a "home" stage, it's possible to determine which characters "own" which stages, even though the results may occasionally cause confusion.
Super Smash Bros.[]
In Super Smash Bros., each of the eight starter characters has their own stage. Of the 4 unlockable characters, since Jigglypuff and Luigi are from the Pokemon and Mario universes, Jigglypuff and Luigi share their stages with the starter characters from their universe (Pikachu and Mario). Pikachu and Jigglypuff use the stage Saffron City for their home stage, while Mario and Luigi use the stage Peach's Castle for theirs. The remaining two characters have their home stages defined by where they are fought when they are unlocked. Captain Falcon is fought at Samus's Planet Zebes, while Ness is unlocked by defeating him at Kirby's Dream Land stage. Thus, Captain Falcon and Ness may be considered to have these stages as their home stages (since they are the only two characters who don't have a home stage). There is another stage from the Mario series, Mushroom Kingdom, which is sometimes considered as Luigi's stage, as well as Mario's. However, it's never fought on in 1P Game.
Super Smash Bros. Melee[]
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the situation is somewhat more complicated. While secret characters all have a stage of their own for the purpose of unlocking them, all characters have a stage associated with them for the purposes of All-Star Mode. However, Big Blue and Past Stages are never fought on in this mode. Also, Classic never uses Poke Floats for home stages either.
Marth and Roy are the only two characters who do not have a home stage. But since the song Fire Emblem plays on Temple as alternate music (despite Temple being from the Legend of Zelda universe), that stage may be considered theirs.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, stages and characters are not matched one-to-one like they are in Melee. What follows is a list of home stages based on where characters are fought in Classic Mode and All-Star Mode, almost always based on a character's universe. Also, on All Star, unlockable stages are not fought on unless they are unlocked already. In All Star, Battlefield and Final Destination (from the Super Smash Bros. universe) are not considered home stages. So those two stages along with Melee stages are never fought on.
As was the case with the Past Stages in Melee, stages returning from that game are never seen in Classic or All-Star Mode. This leads to the fact that Halberd is always seen in Classic Mode, no matter what.
As for R.O.B, he is the only character who does not have a home stage. However, because no Mario universe characters are ever fought on Mario Bros. (in both Classic and All Star), that stage is considered R.O.B's.
- ↑ R.O.B.'s home stage is Delfino Plaza if Mario Bros. is not unlocked.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS[]
The following stages are used for characters in Classic Mode. Unlike in previous games, familiar stages also act as home stages, as some of these familiar stages are the only stages available for their respective universes. Characters from series without a stage instead use stages from series with no characters such as Living Room.
- ↑ This stage was added as a free stage in the 1.1.1 update. When playing an older version, the "miscellaneous" stages used by R.O.B. and Wii Fit Trainer are used instead.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[]
The only series with a playable character in for Wii U not to have a stage is once again the R.O.B. series. In this game, R.O.B. exclusively uses the Wrecking Crew stage, as Wrecking Crew has no playable character and is not used as a Mario stage despite being from a Mario sub-series.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
Home advantage[]
There is no clear or consistent benefit to a character fighting on his "home stage." In some cases it may be to a character's disadvantage to be fighting on his home stage, for example Ness is unable to use his recovery move when knocked between buildings in Fourside. In SSBB, Donkey Kong's Final Smash makes him immobile; if used on Rumble Falls, a scrolling stage, it will possibly result in a self-destruct, but when he is using his airborne, he moves along with the stage. Ness and Lucas's PK Starstorm is generally poor in New Pork City, due to the size and the camera zooming out, allowing for opponents to see and easily evade most of the damage.
However, in contrast, some stages do offer advantages to some characters. For example, Zelda's Final Smash is much easier to use, and harder to dodge on the Bridge of Eldin (Link also has an advantage since the left and right blast lines are walk-offs, and the lower blast line is close to the stage and is not always present, minimizing the need for recovery, which Link is very poor at; similarly, the lower blast line of Pirate Ship is usually underwater, also helping Link's recovery there). Also on Summit, all the other characters slide around, except the Ice Climbers who are the same as if they were on any other field, although, like other characters, they are still unable to grab onto the ledge.
On Pokémon Stadium 2, when used from the center, Jigglypuff's Final Smash, Puff Up covers the whole stage, and is almost unavoidable.