Flat Zone X


 * Not to be confused with Flat Zone or Flat Zone 2.

Flat Zone X (, Flat Zone X) is an unlockable stage in that returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Essentially, it is Flat Zone 2 with the addition of the Flat Zone layout, based on Helmet, as another possible transformation. The Helmet layout is unchanged from its appearance in Flat Zone in Melee; the other layouts are unchanged from Flat Zone 2 in Brawl. Mr. Game & Watch is fought here when being unlocked.

Stage transformations

 * See the articles on Flat Zone and Flat Zone 2 for further information.

As Flat Zone X is a composite of Flat Zone and Flat Zone 2, all areas from both stages appear. These include Fire, Oil Panic, Lion, and Chef from Flat Zone 2 and Helmet from Flat Zone. While most of these transformations are unchanged from prior installments, a construction worker now appears in the top right corner of Helmet to signify a stage change in a similar manner to the other transformations from Flat Zone 2. Also, falling tools can no longer OHKO upon being hit by a powerful attack. Characters will appear as 2-D images on the screen, preventing any disruptions caused by the Z-axis.

Star KO'd characters are now covered by the gas station in Oil Panic. Additionally, in Ultimate, the stage's notoriously close blast zones were moved outwards somewhat, reducing the likelihood of extremely early KOs, especially off the upper blast zone.

Ω forms and Battlefield form
In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the Ω form features a brick platform above the normal ground and blast lines are moved further back. The stage is set in the Oil Panic section and does not transition. It is visually identical to the Ω form of Flat Zone 2. When selected through Fixed Camera Smash, the stage appears to be zoomed out during the fighters' on-screen appearances then zoomed in when the match starts.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Ω form and Battlefield form are similar to SSB4's Ω form; however, the main platform is resized and reshaped to match and, respectively. The gas sign is also blue rather than red. The three soft platforms of the Battlefield form are bright red rectangles. The characters are still flat, which also flattens the hitboxes and alters gameplay significantly as a result.

Origin

 * See the articles on Flat Zone and Flat Zone 2 for further information.

From 1980 to 1991, Nintendo produced handheld electronic games called Game & Watch, and there would be one game for each model of a Game & Watch. Game & Watch games use an LCD screen, the same type as an ordinary calculator, which means characters and other moving objects can only move to pre-determined locations on the screen and everything appears flat. Whenever objects move, a beeping sound can be heard. In this stage, the fighters and stage elements on the screen are all flat, and beeping sounds are heard when walking on the stage.

This stage is based on a combination of Flat Zone from Melee, which is primarily based on the Game & Watch game Helmet, and Flat Zone 2 from Brawl, which is based on Fire, Lion, Oil Panic, and Chef. Notably, this stage is based on the widescreen versions of these games with the exception of Oil Panic, which was never released in a widescreen format.

Tournament legality
As with its predecessors, Flat Zone X is banned in competitive play, due to the variety of damaging hazards (such as the falling food items in the Chef scenario), the small size of the stage, the camera's refusal to zoom in at any point, the constantly changing stage setup, and the removal of the lower blast line (which makes techniques that require it, such as meteor smashes virtually useless). Furthermore, the walk-off edges allow characters to throw or spit others off the side blast lines. In Ultimate, the Battlefield and Ω forms are specifically banned due to the stage manipulating the z-axis and causing noticeable gameplay differences compared to the Battlefield and Ω forms of other stages.

Update history
 3.1.0
 * Flat Zone X's on-screen appearances locations have been changed.

Trivia

 * In Ultimate, the writing above the screen was changed from "SMASH BROS." to "SUPER SMASH BROS."; for reasons unknown, this change is not present in the PAL version of the game.
 * This is the only stage in where Star KOs can occur but not Screen KOs, despite Flat Zone 2 in  having them.
 * In, there's a graphical glitch where the star effect is not aligned with the Star KO'd character. This also happened in Brawl, although any other effects besides the star are now properly aligned with the character.
 * The "GAS" sign in Ultimate's Ω and Battlefield forms does not match the colors it has in the standard form of the stage, despite doing so in SSB4.
 * Due to the My Music restructuring, Flat Zone X has less music in Ultimate than in for Wii U.
 * As a result, the stage has the fewest music tracks of any stage in the game, with only two. Prior to the addition of more music from, it shared this title with Midgar.
 * Because of its status as a starter stage in Ultimate, it is the only piece of content from the universe that is available from the start in any Smash game.
 * In Ultimate, the following Assist Trophies cannot appear on this stage: the Moon, Nightmare, Andross, Color TV-Game 15, Devil, Nintendog, Yuri Kozukata, Squid Sisters, Ghosts, and Shadow the Hedgehog. Additionally, the following Poké Ball Pokémon cannot be summoned: Abra, Snorlax, and Lunala.
 * Presumably due to how far to the right the CPU is positioned in Training Mode, they will automatically jump away from the edge of the stage upon starting the mode.