Big Blue

Big Blue (, Big Blue) is a stage from the franchise appearing in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Stage overview
This stage is played on an F-Zero track where players have to use Captain Falcon's ship, F-Zero racers that race on an endless line following one another, and hovering objects as platforms. If a player falls on the track beneath the racers, the player will start speeding to the left, and may be KO'd unless they quickly jump back to safety. In Ultimate, the cars damage the player and deal moderate knockback instead of passing through them. At other times, there is no track under the racers, and a fall at that time results in a KO. The background scrolls incredibly fast, so hitting the track is usually fatal. Items that float in mid-air (Flippers, for example) are also affected by the stage's movement, scrolling to the left.

Players can KO opponents at 0% damage easily by luring them to the car at the far left, grabbing them, and throwing them to the left. The foe will try to get up first, but while getting up, they will be KO'd. This works better if the foe is a heavy and slow character, such as Ganondorf.

In Ultimate, the camera is now fixed instead of zooming in and out. Additionally, five racers appear at a time instead of four.

Ω form and Battlefield form
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the main platform of the Ω form and Battlefield form is reminiscent of the aesthetics of the Falcon Flyer and is the same size and shape as and, respectively. Like the regular form, the stage moves, and in the background can be seen the Big Blue track with F-Zero machines. The three soft platforms of the Battlefield form are metallic and are unique to this form. The main track can be seen scrolling in the background instead of the foreground, with racers driving as per usual.

Hazards Off
With hazards off in Ultimate, no vehicles appear on the road and neither of the floating platform types appear in the air, making the Falcon Flyer (which stays in the middle, horizontally but not vertically, of the screen for the entire fight) the only platform aside from the brief stretches of road.

Origin


This stage is loosely based on the tracks Big Blue 1: Cylinder and Big Blue 2: Quick Turn from , which are the fifth tracks in the Jack Cup and Queen Cup, respectively. Unlike other F-Zero stages in the Super Smash Bros. games, this level is not set on a replica of a track, but is instead randomly generated. Most of Cylinder takes place on the outer surface of a tubular road, and portions of Quick Turn take place in tunnels or upside down. All of the aforementioned features are notably absent in this stage, and features that were not present in either Big Blue track are included, such as jumps and giant loops. However, certain elements are retained, such as s on the track (which refill the F-Zero s' energy), and the various structures in the background.

The originally appeared in the manual for , where there is a comic book that depicts 's first bounty hunt mission. This is the only appearance of the Falcon Flyer, and it never makes an appearance in any F-Zero game.

In Melee and Brawl, the F-Zero machines' designs are based on their appearances in F-Zero X, while Ultimate uses designs based on the revamped models from F-Zero GX, while also adding more detail to the track such as a finish line marquee and Pits.

Tournament legality
Big Blue is banned in tournaments, in Melee, Brawl and Ultimate. The primary reasons are that the track can easily cause SDs, the abundance of platforms causes the stage to favour good jumpers, and it allows excessive circle camping and stalling to be performed easily.

Trivia

 * In Ultimate, the background scrolls faster than the track does, which may be a consequence of the track's speed being reduced for this game.
 * The racetrack is not fully modeled past the edges of the stage, which can be seen using the in-game camera controls. This is because the layout is randomly generated, so each piece of the track is loaded separately from each other. The same holds true for the flat track seen in the background of the stage's Ω form and Battlefield form in Ultimate.
 * This is the only non-Past stage in Melee not used in All-Star Mode.
 * This is the only unlockable Melee stage that returns for Brawl, and it is one of four Melee stages in Brawl (alongside Green Greens, Rainbow Cruise and Pokémon Stadium) not present in either version of Smash 4.
 * In Brawl, can run on the ground of this stage and survive if he is wearing a Bunny Hood; in fact, if the stage is modded so the cars are removed (save for the Falcon Flyer), or if Stage Hazards are turned off in Ultimate (which also removes the cars), it can be seen that Sonic with a Bunny Hood can actually outrun the camera in some parts. When Sonic is giant, from either eating a Super Mushroom or being in a Giant Brawl, he runs at the same speed as the cars, then slowly picks up speed, although not fast enough to SD off the right side of the stage.  can also survive running on the ground of this stage if he is riding his Wario Bike as Wario-Man; in fact, his bike becomes so fast that he actually outspeeds the cars on the stage as well. He can also survive running on the ground of this stage without being Wario-Man if he is riding his Wario Bike and performing a wheelie. It is also possible to SD towards the front of the stage with this. This happens because doing a wheelie makes the bike move faster, and bounces along the ground a bit, so it is not always affected by the fast track. 's Landmaster tank can also survive riding on the ground (as it apparently gets pushed along by the racers).
 * In Ultimate, and any character faster than it can outrun the stage with no hazards turned on if they have a Bunny Hood on.
 * Also in Ultimate, any character can outrun the stage with no hazards if they have a Super Mushroom in Mega Smash and are equipped with a Bunny Hood, even the slowest character.
 * In Brawl, floating items no longer go flying off the screen, but Bumpers cannot be placed in midair.
 * When is used, another fast moving platform will be there for the Trainer to stand on.
 * If an Electrode is summoned, but falls onto the track, it will bounce continuously until it either explodes or goes past the blast line.
 * In Ultimate, the following Assist Trophies can only appear on the Battlefield and Omega forms of this stage: Thwomp, Chef Kawasaki, Kapp'n, Devil, Yuri Kozukata, and the Squid Sisters. Additionally, Marshadow can only be summoned on the stage's Battlefield and Omega forms.

Big Blue