Fountain of Dreams

Announced in the E3 2001 trailer, Fountain of Dreams (, Fountain of Dreams) is a starter stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee which returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

In Melee’s All-Star Mode or when in his unlock battle, this stage is played on when the player faces and any of his teammates. Unusually, in, is fought on this stage during the giant battle, despite this being 's stage and the abundance of  stages. In Ultimate, is fought here for his unlocking battle.

Stage overview
The stage resembles in its layout, as it consists of a flat main platform with three overhanging soft platforms, all three with the same size. The middle platform is immobile, while the two on the side gently move up and down in no particular correspondence. They can rise to be as high as just under the highest platform, or drop to the point where they sink through the level, thereby making them impossible to stand on.

On the bottom of the stage there is a solid pillar which characters can wall jump on. It is not possible to pass underneath the stage due to this pillar.

Ω form and Battlefield form
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the main platform of the Ω form and Battlefield form is suspended in the air, and it is resized and reshaped to match and, respectively. The three soft platforms of the Battlefield form are based on the ones in the normal form and are stationary.

Hazards Off
With hazards turned off in Ultimate, the left and right soft platforms do not move. This is similar to the stage's Battlefield form, though the pillar underneath remains.

Origin
This stage is loosely based on the located on  in ' and s ''. It is powered by the Star Rod (which is absent from the fountain itself in Smash due to its reoccuring role as an item) and gives good dreams to the inhabitants of. In this stage, the overall design of the Fountain of Dreams and its surroundings are different than how they appear in either game; however, this stage would later become the basis for how the fountain and surrounding area appear in future Kirby games after ''Melees release, such as in ', ', and '.

In Kirby's Adventure, the Fountain of Dreams is where fought and defeated  after he stole and broke the Star Rod into seven pieces. Kirby then restored the Star Rod and put it back into the fountain; however, this freed the evil Nightmare, a dark creature that corrupted the fountain, which King Dedede had sealed away by breaking the Star Rod. Afterward, Kirby fought and defeated Nightmare using the Star Rod. In Kirby Super Star's Milky Way Wishes, there are multiple Fountains of Dreams on Popstar's neighboring planets; Kirby awakens them in order to summon the to grant a wish.

Melee
Fountain of Dreams is a neutral stage in competitive play, and one of the most popular stages for competitive play, due to its general balance: the moving platforms can prevent camping, and the shape of the edges of the stage prevent characters from getting stuck underneath them. Additionally, the pillar on the bottom of the stage allows characters who can wall jump to improve their recoveries, while simultaneously preventing players from stalling by traveling underneath the stage.

Fountain of Dreams benefits characters who gain safer recovery mixups due to the ability to wall jump and/or the very low position of the lower blast zone relative to the stage, such as. It also benefits characters who have largely horizontal KO options but are more vulnerable to being KOed off the top, such as, due to the high ceiling and narrow side blast zones. Fountain of Dreams hinders characters who rely greatly on precise movement, as the moving platforms can mess up the timing of their wavedashing or wavelanding, and the small size of the base stage prevents them from utilizing their dash dance to the fullest potential. This stage is considered excellent for and, as they realize all of the above advantages of the stage; Marth, in particular, can control space much more effectively due to the small stage size. It is considered 's worst stage, and also one of 's and 's weakest stages, although some top Fox players do not mind this stage.

Despite its balance in singles matches, the Fountain of Dreams is often banned in doubles tournaments, due to its small size for doubles matches and the water reflection effects potentially causing framerate drops, especially when the are present. Framerate drops disrupt patterns that rely on knowing exact frame timing, which are commonly used by experienced players.

Ultimate
Fountain of Dreams, including its Battlefield form and Ω form, is usually banned in all modes due to framerate issues, particularly with Wario Bike turning around on the water, which disrupts patterns that are based on exact frame timing. Also, with hazards off, the base stage is considered to be too similar to Battlefield. Most of the framerate issues were fixed in Ultimate as of version 8.0.0, meaning the Battlefield and Ω forms are usually no longer banned, though the status of the regular version remains unchanged and a few issues persist with Wario Bike, leaving legality up to the tournament organizer most of the time.

Update history
 

Teeter drop
In Melee, the teeter drop (or T-drop) is a technique specific to Fountain of Dreams. It can be performed by teetering on either edge of the stage, then turning around and pressing shield. This will cause the character to edge slip and quickly grab the ledge.

Trivia

 * In Melee, the reflection in this stage's water is based on the lower-resolution models also used in offscreen bubbles. These models cannot show changes in facial expressions such as characters blinking. This can best be seen by using 's Rest or by crouching with.
 * In Ultimate, there are water physics present on the stage. These include splashes, projectile reflections, and proper reflections for every single move. Characters being Screen KO'd can also be seen for a brief moment.
 * However, the reflections will disappear if five or more characters are present.
 * The Moon, Nikki, and the Squid Sisters cannot be summoned by Assist Trophy on this stage. In particular, Nikki cannot be summoned due to the dark background obscuring her drawings.