We have yet another rumor about the totals of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but this time a slightly more positive one. According to the CoroCoro magazine, there are a 108 stages in the game, as translated by SourceGaming on Twitter.
This lines up perfectly with what I had expected after the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct in August, when they revealed the total of 96 returning stages, next to the three default stages and four new ones. There they showed us the stage select screen with six open slots in the bottom right corner:
You have to account for the training stage in Training Mode, which wouldn't be visible in the normal Smash mode, so that's five open slots in this setup. 108 is also a very lovely number, if you're a fan of the show LOST like I am (it's the sum of "the numbers" in the series and often found in modern pop culture because of it, if you pay attention). So, I would be completely fine with this total, even if nine new stages aren't that many...
Well, it could be that this is simply speculation from CoroCoro's end or even a typo, because it seems odd that they are revealing the total before Nintendo does, but in any case it's what I would expect at this point.
It's certainly better than being stuck at 103, because I've seen way too many people insisting that 103 is the final total and we're not getting any more stages, because Sakurai didn't explicitly say that we would in the last Smash Direct. I do agree that we're probably looking at the final count of returning stages, because there was no reason to hold any of back at this point, unless they are completely new versions of the same stage, e.g. a Poké Floats 2.
But it's hard to believe that there won't be any new stages at this point, were it's easy to come up with five of them. Here's what my hopes and expectation would be:
Well, the first three are simply based on what we've heard and seen so far. The Ancestral Steppe was already shown to us and could be only part of the Spirits Mode, but it also could be another new stage, which they wanted to introduce later on, since the focus was on Rathalos and Assist Trophies at the time. They did the same with New Donk City Hall, which got shown during E3, but it wasn't properly introduced yet.
If Isaac or any other Golden Sun character gets into the game, they will need their own stage. And the rumors from Vergeben included Minecraft content, where a stage would be the best possible representation, next to trophies and bosses. It would be similar to Monster Hunter, where these third party franchises don't get a character, but are represented in the form of stages, Assist Trophies and bosses.
The last two would simply be my personal picks, because I really like these games and they are still quite new. Both the Metroid and DK franchises also have two absent classic stages, which didn't return for Ultimate, so they could use some compensation...
What three of these ideas have in common are new bosses, which might be important for the Spirits Mode, because like Dracula they might be used there to an extent, while the stage is also available in the normal Smash mode.
As much as I would love to see another Zelda stage, we already got one with the Great Plateau Tower and we got all classic Zelda stages back, so we shouldn't be greedy here. Metroid, DK or any of the other franchises that aren't Zelda or Mario probably need it more.
But of course if there is any other character from a franchise that doesn't have a stage yet, then he/she/it would probably get one as well, for example if Nintendo really could get Banjo & Kazooie from Microsoft. And we still have R.O.B., who is the only character on the official page, who doesn't have a stage in his background as of yet... So, maybe he finally gets his own stage after all these years.
And of course there is the possibility of DLC, where they could add as many new stages as they wanted and maybe even bring some of the missing returning stages back as well in some new forms, like a Poké Floats 2, a new version of Rainbow Road or even Yoshi's Crafted World. The DLC stages probably would get their own tab at the top, much like stages made in a potential Stage Builder.
This lines up perfectly with what I had expected after the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct in August, when they revealed the total of 96 returning stages, next to the three default stages and four new ones. There they showed us the stage select screen with six open slots in the bottom right corner:
You have to account for the training stage in Training Mode, which wouldn't be visible in the normal Smash mode, so that's five open slots in this setup. 108 is also a very lovely number, if you're a fan of the show LOST like I am (it's the sum of "the numbers" in the series and often found in modern pop culture because of it, if you pay attention). So, I would be completely fine with this total, even if nine new stages aren't that many...
Well, it could be that this is simply speculation from CoroCoro's end or even a typo, because it seems odd that they are revealing the total before Nintendo does, but in any case it's what I would expect at this point.
It's certainly better than being stuck at 103, because I've seen way too many people insisting that 103 is the final total and we're not getting any more stages, because Sakurai didn't explicitly say that we would in the last Smash Direct. I do agree that we're probably looking at the final count of returning stages, because there was no reason to hold any of back at this point, unless they are completely new versions of the same stage, e.g. a Poké Floats 2.
But it's hard to believe that there won't be any new stages at this point, were it's easy to come up with five of them. Here's what my hopes and expectation would be:
- New World: Stage based on Minecraft, possibly with Wither and Ender Dragon bosses
- Ancestral Steppe: Stage based on Monster Hunter 4 with various boss monsters from the series
- A Golden Sun stage, e.g. one of the Lighthouses
- Grassland Groove: Stage based on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, revealed together with Dixie Kong Echo Fighter
- Planet SR388: Stage based on Metroid: Samus Returns with Diggernaut and Metroid Queen bosses
Well, the first three are simply based on what we've heard and seen so far. The Ancestral Steppe was already shown to us and could be only part of the Spirits Mode, but it also could be another new stage, which they wanted to introduce later on, since the focus was on Rathalos and Assist Trophies at the time. They did the same with New Donk City Hall, which got shown during E3, but it wasn't properly introduced yet.
If Isaac or any other Golden Sun character gets into the game, they will need their own stage. And the rumors from Vergeben included Minecraft content, where a stage would be the best possible representation, next to trophies and bosses. It would be similar to Monster Hunter, where these third party franchises don't get a character, but are represented in the form of stages, Assist Trophies and bosses.
The last two would simply be my personal picks, because I really like these games and they are still quite new. Both the Metroid and DK franchises also have two absent classic stages, which didn't return for Ultimate, so they could use some compensation...
What three of these ideas have in common are new bosses, which might be important for the Spirits Mode, because like Dracula they might be used there to an extent, while the stage is also available in the normal Smash mode.
As much as I would love to see another Zelda stage, we already got one with the Great Plateau Tower and we got all classic Zelda stages back, so we shouldn't be greedy here. Metroid, DK or any of the other franchises that aren't Zelda or Mario probably need it more.
But of course if there is any other character from a franchise that doesn't have a stage yet, then he/she/it would probably get one as well, for example if Nintendo really could get Banjo & Kazooie from Microsoft. And we still have R.O.B., who is the only character on the official page, who doesn't have a stage in his background as of yet... So, maybe he finally gets his own stage after all these years.
And of course there is the possibility of DLC, where they could add as many new stages as they wanted and maybe even bring some of the missing returning stages back as well in some new forms, like a Poké Floats 2, a new version of Rainbow Road or even Yoshi's Crafted World. The DLC stages probably would get their own tab at the top, much like stages made in a potential Stage Builder.
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