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Wild Pokémon appear in the middle of the city to attack the fighters. It's best just to stay out of their way.
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| —Super Smash Bros's instruction manual
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Saffron City (ヤマブキシティ, Yamabuki City) is a playable stage in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The stage is named after a city in the Pokémon series.
In Smash 64 and Ultimate, Jigglypuff is fought here for its unlocking battle.
Stage overview[edit]
Saffron City has one main platform attached to a small platform above a door. To the right is a narrow platform and to the left are two elevators (moving platforms). Between these and slightly lower than the other platforms is yet another narrow platform. There are many gaps in-between that character and items can fall into. It is this feature, as well as the fact that it is a stage upon the tops of tall buildings, that makes it similar to the Fourside stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Pokémon[edit]
Occasionally, the door of the Sylph Co. building opens, and if the door has been open for a while or if a character approaches the door when it is open, one of five Pokémon will emerge from it. These Pokémon are:
- Chansey spawns eggs, just like the Poké Ball version, and heals 5% damage on contact. It's also the easiest Pokémon to knock out. It will not spawn eggs if all items are turned off, or the item spawn frequency is set to "None".
- Charmander deals 5% damage on contact, and sometimes uses Flamethrower, which functions similarly to a Fire Flower. Each flame causes 3% damage and minimal knockback. It can be KO'd with very strong attacks such as Kirby's Stone, Luigi's Fire Jump Punch, Donkey Kong's fully charged Giant Punch, and Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch.
- Electrode uses Explosion, dealing 30% damage and large amounts of knockback. It cannot be KO'd by any means.
- Porygon uses Tackle, dealing 18% damage upon its appearance and 8% damage thereafter. It cannot be KO'd by any means.
- Venusaur deals 14% damage on contact, and sometimes uses Razor Leaf to shoot out sharp-edged leaves, each dealing 3% damage. It cannot be KO'd by any means.
Additionally, some Flying Pokémon, including Butterfree, Pidgey, and Fearow, can occasionally seen flying across the background. Rarely, Moltres makes its way across the background. Moltres is one of the easiest to spot of these Pokémon, as it is bright orange.
Ω form and Battlefield form[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the main platform of the Ω form and Battlefield form is reminiscent of the Silph Co. building, with the floor resembling the building's rooftop and the walls resembling the building's facade. It is also the same size and shape as Final Destination and Battlefield, respectively. The design of the three soft platforms in the Battlefield form are based on the moving soft platforms of the regular form without any propellers.
Ω form in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Battlefield form in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Saffron City as it originally appeared in
Pokémon Red and Blue. The Silph Co. building is the large building in the middle.
This stage is loosely based on Saffron City from Pokémon Red and Green (later released as Pokémon Red and Blue outside of Japan). Saffron City is the second largest city in the Kanto region, behind Celadon City, and one of the largest cities in the entire Pokémon universe.
The main building in Saffron City, Silph Co., is a major producer of items that benefit Pokémon trainers, such as Potions, Repels, Technical Machines, and various Poké Balls. In Pokémon Red and Blue, Team Rocket orchestrates an invasion of Silph Co. to steal their top-secret project, the Master Ball. Upon their defeat, the Saffron Gym becomes accessible. This stage takes place on top of the roof of Silph Co.; however, its design is different than how it originally appears in the Pokémon games. The other buildings, including the ones in the background, do not bear resemblance to any building in Saffron City.
Tournament legality[edit]
This stage is commonly banned in both Japanese and American tournaments due to its overly large size promoting excessive camping, and the random Pokémon hazards disrupting gameplay. Ness' recovery also suffers here; it is impossible to recover using PK Thunder between the buildings should he fall in.
Gallery[edit]
Super Smash Bros.[edit]
Saffron City in Super Smash Bros.
A sprite of Butterfree used in the background.
A sprite of Fearow used in the background.
A sprite of Pidgey used in the background.
Moltres in the background.
Porygon as a stage hazard.
Chansey as a stage hazard.
Charmander as a stage hazard.
Electrode as a stage hazard.
Venusaur as a stage hazard.
The fighters finished their match with Koffing.
A pre-release version Saffron City with considerably more purple and pink.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
- If the door to Silph Co. is open, Captain Falcon (with running jump and a Falcon Punch) can travel through the door frame, ending up to the left of the helipad. This flashy glitch can be used to confuse and catch opponents off-guard, though the stage's ban in the competitive setting prevents this from seeing any use in tournaments, similar to the Hyrule Jump.
- Saffron City's layout can easily confuse CPU characters, due to difficulties in properly judging walls and pits. Standing on the helipad can often result in CPU opponents SD'ing as they attempt to pursue the player.
- In the Japanese version of the game, the Silph logo is spelled as "Silf", and the banner in the background reads "Got a catch 'em all!" instead of "Gotta catch 'em all!". These were changed for the international versions.
- In the Japanese version of Ultimate, the logo now says "Sylph", and the banner is the same as the international version.
- Aside from Charmander and Porygon, the stage hazards would eventually become Poké Ball Pokémon in later Smash installments, though Porygon2 would become a Poké Ball Pokémon in Melee as well.
- Chansey is the only stage hazard to also be a Poké Ball Pokémon in Smash 64.
- This stage and Mushroom Kingdom share the longest gap between appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series, with 19 years between Smash 64 and Ultimate.
- Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Villager and Dark Samus are the only characters who each travel to Saffron City for their Classic Mode routes.
- This is the only stage from Smash 64 that's used when unlocking a character in Ultimate outside World of Light, that being Jigglypuff.
- In Ultimate, the Pokémon that appear on this stage have different voice clips than they do in Smash 64, provided by the current actors from the Pokémon anime.
- While Electrode cannot be summoned from a Poké Ball due to it already being on the stage, Moltres can still be summoned despite also appearing on the stage.
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