Fourside

Fourside (, Fourside) is a stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Melee, it is an unlockable stage, while in Ultimate, it (along with all other non-DLC stages) appears as a starter stage. It is one of 's home stages, but and its teammates are faced here in All-Star Mode.

Stage overview
The stage is set on the rooftops of three buildings of the city of Fourside at nighttime, with several more skyscrapers in the far background. Between the buildings there are pits narrow enough to be scalable by wall jumping.

The building on the left has a slanted, triangular roof. A crane in its background keeps a floating soft platform suspended over it. Occasionally, the crane activates and moves the platform: it starts almost completely over the roof, then it moves to the left until it is fully over the pit, then slighly upwards, then to the right over the building, then down to its starting position.

The skyscraper in the middle, the Monotoli Building, is the largest of the three. A tall spire rises on the left part of its roof: its top is flat, and at about half its height jut out two small ledges. The right part of the roof is a wide flat surface with a helipad in the background: occasionally, a yellow helicopter flies to and from it, with no effect on the fight.

The building on the right is the shortest one, and its roof is a simple flat surface.

Occasionally, a UFO floats downwards with an eerie noise and remains suspended over either the left or the right part of the stage, serving as a temporary semisoft platform which bobs slightly. Its slippery surface is slightly slanted with a bulge in the middle. Its middle section is directly aligned either with the right pit or the middle of the roof of the left building, depending on its position. Wavedashing on the UFO can provide a major distance boost.

After about thirty seconds from its appearance, the UFO starts blinking and quickly disappears into thin air. In Ultimate, however, it has an actual animation, showing it flying away from the stage and into the moon.

The idea of fighting on top of three skyscrapers, as well as the general layout of the stage, makes this stage very similar to the Saffron City stage in the original Super Smash Bros.

Ω form and Battlefield form
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the main platform of the Ω form and Battlefield form is reminiscent of the Monotoli Building, such as the floor resembling the rooftop of the building and the walls resembling the building's facade. The platform is the same size and shape as and, respectively. The actual Monotoli Building and the surrounding buildings are absent and UFOs do not appear. The three soft platforms of the Battlefield form resemble the soft platform the crane supports in the regular form.

Origin
This stage is based on the city of from , which is the largest town in  and the fourth town that Ness visits as the name suggests being preceded by (Onett,  and ) It is visually inspired by, and includes attractions such as a theatre, a dinosaur museum, a café, and an expansive department store.

It also has a dark and bizarre parallel version,, created by the power of the evil. Moonside is primarily made up of neon lights and features inhabitants who behave and speak erratically. Once the Statue is defeated by Ness and Jeff, Moonside disappears. While Fourside is set during the day in EarthBound, it appears at night in Smash, causing it to more closely resemble Moonside's darker color palette; however, it lacks the shining neon lights that make up the majority of color in Moonside.

The is one of the tallest buildings in the city, with a private helipad on its roof. It is the workplace of Fourside's mayor,, who—under the influence of the Mani-Mani Statue—keeps Paula prisoner. After Paula is freed, he offers to lend his helicopter to Ness and his friends to help them reach their next location; however, Porky Minch steals the helicopter and flies away. In Melee, the helicopter has a more realistic appearance, while in Ultimate, it closely resembles its appearance in EarthBound. In both games, the design of the Monotoli Building is different than how it appeared in EarthBound, though it retains the vertical "MONOTOLI" sign on its front.

The top of the left building in this stage resembles Fourside's. However, the museum is not a skyscraper in EarthBound and is much farther from the Monotoli Building.

The crane on the left building is a reference to the ones utilized by and his brother George in EarthBound.

The UFO's appearance is based on the ones which appear in the opening sequence of EarthBound, which shows a still image depicting three large flying saucers attacking a small town. The sound which signals the UFO's entrance in Smash originally played during this opening sequence. Large flying saucers make no further appearances in the game; however, smaller UFOs appear as enemies in both EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound.

Tournament legality
Fourside is often banned due to the various ways in which players can camp and stall due to the large size and unusual geometry of the stage. The lack of large, flat platforms also hampers fighting between players, particularly in doubles. In addition, the UFO provides a platform that is too close to the upper blast line, thus potentially causing early vertical KOs. The presence of pits between buildings gives relevant advantages to some characters, such as (who can stall indefinitely by using Peach Bomber repeatedly against the walls), while greatly crippling characters with primarily horizontal recoveries, such as, who are even more susceptible than usual to early KOs from meteor smashes and spikes. The narrow pits also give an advantage to characters capable of wall jumping such as and  and makes recovery very difficult for  should he fall between them due to the wide angle needed for PK Thunder to be used correctly, making directional air dodging his only form of recovering.

Trivia

 * Despite its unlockable status, this stage can be seen multiple times in Melee prior to its unlocking: it appears in some characters' endings (such as ) as well as in the Gargantuans event. Additionally, the stage shows up in Captain Falcon's vignette in the Special Movie.
 * Excluding the Gargantuans event, when Fourside appears in these cutscenes the moon is not completely full, unlike how it appears during gameplay.
 * In Melee, computer players on Fourside tend to air dodge to recover instead of using their up special moves, sometimes even self-destructing.
 * Due to its slipperiness mechanic, in Melee, repeatedly wavedashing on the UFO can cause a huge momentum boost, benefiting characters like and, who both lack a long wavedash.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, on the right building there is a clothesline with an orange Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses hanging on it, which resemble the shirt and sunglasses worn by in EarthBound. On the same building, a small water tower greatly resembles a house from, home of the Mr. Saturn species.
 * In Ultimate, the inside of the Monotoli Building and the buildings right are fully modeled and textured.
 * Fourside briefly appeared in the E3 2018 Direct, and in the background was a skyscraper with the text "Department" going down its facade; in reference to the in EarthBound. In the final release, the skyscraper is still present; however, the text is absent.
 * Nikki cannot be summoned from an Assist Trophy in this stage, due to the dark background obscuring her drawings. Kapp'n and Rathalos can only be summoned on the Battlefield and Omega forms of this stage. Additionally, Keldeo can only be summoned on the stage's Battlefield and Omega forms.

Fourside