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.

26. 11 - Pokemon Stadium (Melee)

I have found all of the Pokemon stages in the Super Smash Bros series to be very enjoyable. Every single Pokemon stage is unique and fun in it's own way. The worst Pokemon stage in the series, Spear Pillar is a decent above-average stage while the rest of the Pokemon stages can be very enjoyable to enjoy and play with. This is true with Pokemon Stadium. The stage is very fun and thanks to how the four changeable stage platforms mix the action up on the stage well, Pokemon Stadium remains as one of best stages in Melee and aside from one nitpicking problem that has it not entering the Top 10 on the countdown, Pokemon Stadium should be enjoyable to just about anyone.

My favorite gameplay element in Pokemon Stadium, was the changeable element based environments on the stage. The stage could transform into four different element ways. Grass, Water, Rock and Fire.

Unlike Pokemon Stadium 2 in Brawl, in which the element changing platform sections, were not thought out well, the first Pokemon Stadium has the element platform sections in the stage, designed and planned out well with all three of them being enjoyable to fight on. My favorite changeable element stage field, was the water element stage. You could fight your opponents on a giant windmill that would mix up the action well and it was a great way to block your opponents attacks if you were high at damage and decided to be a breather or attacking your opponents with you special moves at the top of the windmill.

The elemental stage designs were also very fun and enjoyable to fight on with your opponents. In the Grass type section design in the stage, you and your opponents fight on regular and bouncy platforms and so on and so forth. Pokemon Stadium was one the best stages, design wise due to how well everything was planned out and how much variety and personality is shown on the stage. Definitely a very good thing, since you rarely if ever see that out of most stages in the series.

I enjoyed the music and animation in the stage. The music is remix tunes from of the best music from Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal. The animation on the stage was well done and sometimes enjoyable to see. Fireworks would go off in the stage and the stage would even sometimes show who's the current leader in the stage, something I really like that I somewhat wish that was in most stages for the series.

While Pokemon Stadium from Melee, is a very fun stage and one of the best Melee has to offer, I do have one slight problem with it. When you battle your opponents at the start of the stage, you start out in the "normal" type section in the stage. This section at the start of the stage, can last a while as the elemental type changes to the stages do not happen very often in the stage. Matches can go on for 2 to 3 minutes before one single elemental change in the stage can happen. This is something I have a problem with, because when fighting your opponents on the normal section type platforms on the stage, it can get somewhat boring at times due to the regular fighting basically happening on the stage when the stage is in it's normal base type platform form.

Nitpicking aside from the slight problem that keeps Pokemon Stadium out of the Top 10, Pokemon Stadium is a stage that should appeal to just about anyone and remains as one of the best stages from Melee. With variety in the type changing platforms on the stage to the great style and Pokemon charm in the stage, just anyone should have a fun time playing with friends battling each other on the stage and find something enjoyable out of the stage. Very fun stage that everyone should at least try.