Stage Morph



Stage Morph (, Stage Change) is a feature in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, available as a toggle in the Rules selection, which was revealed during the Smash Bros. Direct on August 8, 2018. It allows players to choose two different stages on the stage selection screen for a match, and have these stages transform into each other mid-battle.

Overview
The stage morph toggle can be found in the "Advanced" section of the Rule Settings. The frequency of the transformation can be set to "Off", which disables the feature; "Random", which transforms the stage at random intervals; or "Every [interval]", which transforms the stage at a configurable interval (with a default of 1:00 that can be increased by 30 seconds up to 5:00). Modifying the game speed via Special Smash will also affect the Stage Morph timer, despite the Match timer being unaffected. After activating the setting, players are prompted to select two stages on the stage select screen. Both stages are then loaded simulataneously and one runs in the background to allow a seamless transition with no loading. During the game, a stage will transition to the other at the predetermined rate.

The transition itself bears some resemblance to the transitions of Castle Siege and Reset Bomb Forest. However, instead of temporarily placing fighters on a flat walk-off surface, the terrain of the new stage rises up directly through the current stage's sinking terrain. While a morph is occurring, both stages will be frozen until the morph is complete. If a fighter is not within the new stage's blast lines when the morph concludes, they will be KOed immediately.

Stage Morph is only selectable if the rules are set to "First to 1 Win", or "Number of Stages 1" in the case of the "Elimination" or "Best Of" categories in Squad Strike. Custom stages can't be selected if Stage Morph is on. Additionally, camera controls are disabled from just before the morph occurs to just after it finishes, with camera controls being exited automatically if the frame-by-frame option is used.

In competitive play
Stage morph is universally banned in tournaments, in part due to logistical constraints around how to fairly select two stages that a set of competitors can agree on. It is also not a selectable option in Battle Arenas.

Trivia

 * Some stages are capable of transforming throughout the match in a similar manner to Stage Morph, being: Castle Siege, Paper Mario, Reset Bomb Forest, Mushroom Kingdom U, the Kalos Pokémon League, Garreg Mach Monastery, and Hollow Bastion.
 * Others that are also capable of transforming, but not leaving to a different location, are Pokémon Stadium, Flat Zone, Pokémon Stadium 2, Flat Zone 2, Arena Ferox, Flat Zone X, and Coliseum.
 * If Dialga slows down time, and stage morph happens, time will remain slowed until the morph is complete.
 * Activating a Smash Taunt will delay the stage morph.
 * It's possible to take a picture during a stage morph, though only from the default, fixed angle.
 * As Star KOs and Screen KOs can happen during the transition between stages, this is the only way to have these KOs appear on stages that normally disable them such as Mute City SNES and Dream Land GB. Screen KOs on flat stages do not display properly.