Preston Ward Condra Ranks All 35 Super Smash Bros 64 & Melee Stages

by Preston Ward Condra

A project I initially made back in June 2009. I critiqued, discussed and ranked all of the Super Smash Bros 64 and Melee stages from worst to best. I wrote this down, when I was 15 years old. As with all of my other stories, I wrote over 10 years ago? I won't be fixing any of the spelling mistakes, that may or may not be present here. Enjoy reading this now ladies and gentlemen.

14. 23 - Peach's Castle (Melee)

At this point in the countdown it's getting harder and harder to rank the remaining stages because likely from this point onwards, I have to say all of these 23 Stages left to rank, are above-average gameplay wise and just plain fun to fight on. The next stage to appear on the countdown is, another Peach's Castle stage with this one from Melee.

I like this stage better then the N64 Peach's Castle because unlike Peach's Castle where there really wasn't much going on in terms on interactivity, there is a bit of interactivity for you to see and do in Melee's version of Peach's Castle. Two notable gameplay changing elements in this stage is you and/or one of your opponents hitting mystery boxes that once hit, release a few new platforms to fight on for the time being. I enjoy this concept and I think it work very well for other stages in the Smash Bros series.

Another notable gameplay change that happens, is the Bullet Bills crashing down on the castle and once hit by it causes major damage on your character. This is another gameplay concept I liked and I hope Nintendo adds to for other Stages in the Smash Bros series to come.

While Princess Peach's Castle is a decent stage overall, I do have a few problems with it. The most notable problem I had with the stage is the stage design. The stage design in the far left and right corner of the stage where it connects into Peach's Castle is cheap and awkward. It was easy for your opponent to cheaply combo attack you into the corner and not stopping until he/she feels like he/she did enough damage on your character and likely toss you into the other side resulting of a KO.

Another minor problem I had with the stage is that, the stage was fairly small. If all four characters were all battling each other on one side of the stage, the gameplay action would slow down and at times the action would be boxed up with you basically testing your luck with your attacks and hopefully knocking them to the other side of the stage.

Overall, Princess Peach's Castle is a decent stage. Unlike the N64 version of Peach's Castle where it never really felt liked something from Mario, the Gamecube version of Peach's Castle has notable Mario charm in it from the music to the the background fighting on the Peach's Castle from Super Mario 64. I really love Mario games and I am happy Nintendo made this more outgoing and having personality unlike some of the other Mario stages in the series. Like I stated earlier, Princess Peach's Castle, is a decent stage.