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.

34. 3 - Saffron City

This stage is without a doubt, the best stage from the original Smash Bros game on the N64. Saffron City, is a classic stage that everyone should enjoy and respect with thanks to such much great things to talk about with the stage, with the stage full of variety of interactivty on the stage to the classic and catchy main Pokemon theme playing on the stage and so on and so forth. If Nintendo and HAL ever make Smash Bros 4, they should have some stages from the games in the series return. Nintendo did so with Mario Kart. If you can have stages reappearing and making a return in Mario Kart Wii, how come you didn't have any of the N64 stages return in Brawl? These N64 scream the word "retro" and I am sure newcomers and veterans to the series, would really enjoy it if they some of the N64 stages reappear in the series.

At any rate, there are so many reasons why this stage is the highest of the Smash Bros 64 stages on the Countdown. The first and for most important positive about Saffron City is, the variety of the stage hazards in the stage. You could battle on the main left side of the stage where you be fighting on flying up and down platforms to battling near the center of the stage where random Pokemon at random times would attack the characters mixing the action well on the stage.

Electrode would cause a massive explosion on the Battlefield and cause major damage on the characters if you are nearby it, Porygon would tackle you down on the left side of the stage, Charmander could use flamethrower and cause a fair amount of damage on the characters on the stage and Chansey would appear and do nothing. It all adds up to a stage, that offers so much stage hazard variety that it would be hard to ignore and enjoy with. Saffron City was the first true stage in the series that mixed action and hazard stage gameplay in a stage for the Smash Bros series and set that standard for other stages in the series to follow.

The fun does not stop there. Thanks to the stage being fairly large, you could battle on a variety of platforms such as fighting your opponents on the top of the Pokemon center tower near the right side of the stage, battling on top of middle tower in the stage where the Pokemon would make an attack cameo from and battle on that or battle on the rear left side of the stage with floating up and down platforms. Also much like Fourside, you could possibly throw and slam your opponents on the sides of the tower of the stage. Thanks to this stage being large in scale and variety of the gameplay on the stage, Saffron City is a true classic and a stage that any fan of the series should enjoy with.

The animation and music on the stage is also classical and fits the Pokemon franchise very well on the stage. Non-attacking flying Pokemon like Butterfree would appear in the background of the stage and a main Pokemon float sign would appear near the rear left corner of the stage giving the stage some of the best personality for a Smash Bros stage in the series to date and easily the best stage with the best personality from Smash Bros 64. The main Pokemon opening theme from Red/Blue/Yellow, is the main theme that plays on this stage and it adds more fun and personality to the stage. Game Freak, HAL and Nintendo did a very good job with this series matching the Pokemon franchise on the stage, very well.

Thanks to the high amount of fun gameplay hazards and personality on the stage, Saffron City is a true classic where every single fan of the series should try and enjoy with. The stage can be very enjoyable and chaotic once four players battle each other on the stage. I will say it once and I will say it again, any fan of the Smash Bros series should give the stage at least a try with and see how enjoyable it is. If you don't have Smash Bros 64, you can go on Ebay or at your local Pawn Shop and hunt a copy of the game down for $10 to $15 dollars. Smash Bros 64 is a classic game in the series with some of the best stages in the franchise to this stage. Saffron City is an amazing stage that everyone should enjoy and have fun with friends, family and so on and so forth. Saffron City remains as a classic in my heart and with that, earns it the #3 slot, on the Countdown.