Home stage

A home stage is the stage that is most commonly associated with a character, by the game and/or by players. The subject of home stages can at times be somewhat confusing in the Super Smash Bros. series. In all the Super Smash Bros. games, there are playable characters who do not have a stage belonging to their "universe". In addition, certain characters in Melee have more than one stage. As secret characters are fought on stages specific to each of those characters, and Melee's All-Star mode also gives each character a "home" stage, it's possible to determine which characters "own" which stages, even though the results may occasionally cause confusion.

Super Smash Bros.

In Super Smash Bros., each of the eight starter characters has their own stage. Of the four secret characters, two - (Luigi and Jigglypuff) - share their stages with the starter characters from their universe (Mario and Pikachu, sharing Peach's Castle and Saffron City, respectively). The remaining two characters (Captain Falcon and Ness) have their home stages defined by where they are fought when they are unlocked, as the F-Zero and EarthBound series do not have stages in this game. There is another stage from the Mario series, Mushroom Kingdom, which is sometimes considered both Mario's and Luigi's stage.

Character	Home stage
Mario Luigi	Peach's Castle Mushroom Kingdom
Yoshi	Yoshi's Island
Donkey Kong	Kongo Jungle
Link	Hyrule Castle
Samus Captain Falcon	Planet Zebes
Kirby Ness	Dream Land
Fox	Sector Z
Pikachu Jigglypuff	Saffron City

Super Smash Bros. Melee

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the situation is somewhat more complicated. While secret characters all have a stage of their own for the purpose of unlocking them, all characters have a stage associated with them for the purposes of All-Star Mode, as listed below. All series with playable characters have at least one stage with the exception of Fire Emblem, meaning that the Fire Emblem representatives Marth and Roy are always encountered on other series' stages. Also of note is that the All-Star Mode stage assignments use every non-Past Stage barring Big Blue.

Character	Home stage
Mario	Rainbow Cruise
Luigi	Mushroom Kingdom
Peach	Princess Peach's Castle
Bowser	Yoshi's Island
Dr. Mario	Mushroom Kingdom II
Yoshi	Yoshi's Story
Donkey Kong	Kongo Jungle
Link	Great Bay
Zelda/Sheik	Temple
Ganondorf	Brinstar Depths
Young Link	Jungle Japes
Samus	Brinstar
Kirby	Green Greens
Fox	Corneria
Falco	Venom
Pikachu	Pokémon Stadium
Jigglypuff	Poké Floats
Mewtwo	Battlefield
Pichu	Fourside
Captain Falcon	Mute City
Ness	Onett
Ice Climbers	Icicle Mountain
Marth	Fountain of Dreams
Roy	Final Destination
Mr. Game & Watch	Flat Zone

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, stages and characters are not matched one-to-one like they are in Melee. What follows is a list of home stages based on where characters are fought in Classic Mode and All-Star Mode, almost always based on a character's universe. The only exception is R.O.B., who has no stage from his universe. Because of this, he is given exclusive usage of the stage Mario Bros. in Classic Mode and All-Star Mode, as no characters from the Mario series are ever fought there.

As was the case with the Past Stages in Melee, stages returning from that game are never seen in Classic or All-Star Mode. This leads to the fact that Halberd is always seen in Classic Mode, no matter what, since that is the Kirby series' only Brawl stage, and the Kirby series is always fought in Classic Mode.

Character(s)	Home stage(s)
Mario Luigi Peach Bowser	Mushroomy Kingdom Delfino Plaza Luigi's Mansion Mario Circuit
Yoshi	Yoshi's Island
Donkey Kong Diddy Kong	Rumble Falls 75m
Link Zelda/Sheik Ganondorf Toon Link	Bridge of Eldin Pirate Ship
Samus/Zero Suit Samus	Norfair Frigate Orpheon
Kirby Meta Knight King Dedede	Halberd
Fox Falco Wolf	Lylat Cruise
Pikachu Jigglypuff Pokémon Trainer (Squirtle/Ivysaur/Charizard) Lucario	Pokémon Stadium 2 Spear Pillar
Captain Falcon	Port Town Aero Dive
Ness Lucas	New Pork City
Ice Climbers	Summit
Marth Ike	Castle Siege
Mr. Game & Watch	Flat Zone 2
Pit	Skyworld
Wario	WarioWare, Inc.
Olimar	Distant Planet
R.O.B.	Mario Bros.*
Snake	Shadow Moses Island
Sonic	Green Hill Zone

*R.O.B.'s home stage is Delfino Plaza in Classic Mode and All-Star Mode when Mario Bros. is not unlocked.

Super Smash Bros. 4

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

The following stages are used for characters in Classic Mode. Unlike in previous games, familiar stages also act as home stages, as some of these familiar stages are the only stages available for their respective universes. Characters from series without a stage instead use stages from series with no characters such as Living Room.

Character(s)	Home stage(s)
Mario Luigi Peach Bowser Dr. Mario Rosalina & Luma Bowser Jr.	3D Land Golden Plains Rainbow Road Paper Mario Mushroomy Kingdom
Yoshi	Yoshi's Island
Donkey Kong Diddy Kong	Jungle Japes
Link Zelda Sheik Ganondorf Toon Link	Gerudo Valley Spirit Train
Samus Zero Suit Samus	Brinstar
Kirby Meta Knight King Dedede	Dream Land Dream Land (64) (DLC)
Fox Falco	Corneria
Pikachu Jigglypuff Mewtwo (DLC) Charizard Lucario Greninja	Unova Pokémon League Prism Tower
Captain Falcon	Mute City
Ness Lucas (DLC)	Magicant
Marth Roy (DLC) Ike Robin Lucina	Arena Ferox
Mr. Game & Watch	Flat Zone 2
Pit Palutena Dark Pit	Reset Bomb Forest
Wario	WarioWare, Inc.
Olimar	Distant Planet
Villager	Tortimer Island
Little Mac	Boxing Ring
Shulk	Gaur Plain
Sonic	Green Hill Zone
Mega Man	Wily Castle
Pac-Man	Pac-Maze
Ryu (DLC)	Suzaku Castle (DLC)
R.O.B. Wii Fit Trainer Duck Hunt	PictoChat 2 Balloon Fight Living Room Find Mii Tomodachi Life
Mii Fighter	Battlefield

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

The only series with a playable character in for Wii U not to have a stage is once again the R.O.B. series. In this game, R.O.B. exclusively uses the Wrecking Crew stage, as Wrecking Crew has no playable character and is not used as a Mario stage despite being from a Mario sub-series.

Character(s)	Home stage(s)
Mario Luigi Peach Bowser Dr. Mario Rosalina & Luma Bowser Jr.	Mario Galaxy Mushroom Kingdom U Mario Circuit Mario Circuit (Brawl) Delfino Plaza Luigi's Mansion
Yoshi	Woolly World Yoshi's Island
Donkey Kong Diddy Kong	Jungle Hijinxs Kongo Jungle 64 75m
Link Zelda Sheik Ganondorf Toon Link	Skyloft Temple Bridge of Eldin
Samus Zero Suit Samus	Pyrosphere Norfair
Kirby Meta Knight King Dedede	The Great Cave Offensive Halberd Dream Land 64 (DLC)
Fox Falco	Orbital Gate Assault Lylat Cruise
Pikachu Jigglypuff Mewtwo (DLC) Charizard Lucario Greninja	Kalos Pokémon League Pokémon Stadium 2
Captain Falcon	Port Town Aero Dive
Ness Lucas (DLC)	Onett
Marth Roy (DLC) Ike Robin Lucina	Coliseum Castle Siege
Mr. Game & Watch	Flat Zone X
Pit Palutena Dark Pit	Palutena's Temple Skyworld
Wario	Gamer
Olimar	Garden of Hope
R.O.B.	Wrecking Crew
Villager	Town and City Smashville
Little Mac	Boxing Ring
Wii Fit Trainer	Wii Fit Studio
Shulk	Gaur Plain
Duck Hunt	Duck Hunt
Sonic	Windy Hill Zone
Mega Man	Wily Castle
Pac-Man	Pac-Land
Ryu (DLC)	Suzaku Castle (DLC)
Mii Fighter	Battlefield

Theory of "home advantage"

There is no clear or consistent benefit to a character fighting on their "home stage." Any advantages that certain characters have over others on stages happen across the entire stage list and are situational; they are not affected by the universes in which the characters originate from (for example, Fox and Pikachu dominate on Temple, even though they do not originate from the Zelda universe.) In some cases, it may be to a character's disadvantage to be fighting on their home stage; for example, Ness is unable to use his recovery move when knocked between buildings in Fourside. Additionally, Final Destination, which acts as the home stage for Roy, is disadvantageous for him against nearly every character (except for arguably Fox and Falco) as he is much more vulnerable to combos without any platforms to escape to. In Brawl, the ledges of the Lylat Cruise stage are thinner than most other stages, causing Fox, Falco, and most notably Wolf to curve underneath the stage more frequently when using their respective recovery moves instead of directly grabbing the edge. Additionally, in Skyworld, Pit's Centurions in his Final Smash will crash into the breakable platforms when they aim for opponents, quickly destroying the stage and temporarily removing all ledges; this consequently removes Pit's ability to plank and makes him much easier to gimp.

However, in contrast, some stages do offer advantages to some characters; as mentioned before, any such advantages are non-circumstantial, but these certain stages may have been the origination for the "home advantage" theory. In Melee, Fountain of Dreams serves as Marth's home stage, and is frequently cited as one of his best stages in the entire game, even at high-level tournament play. The stage's small size allows him to control space more efficiently, and the extended bottom blast line allows him more room to recover with Dolphin Slash, which travels purely vertically. In Brawl, on Bridge of Eldin, Zelda and Sheik's Light Arrow, Ganondorf's Beast Ganon, and Toon Link and Link's Triforce Slash are much easier to use, and harder to dodge; the frequent absence of a lower blast-line also acts as a benefit to Link, Ganondorf and Sheik, who normally have relatively poor recoveries. The low blastline of Shadow Moses Island acts as a benefit to Snake, as most of his attacks (especially his special moves) have mostly upward knockback; his high weight and falling speed make him more resistant to vertical KOs, so he is not as affected.

On other stages, character can receive neither a clear advantage nor disadvantage. On Summit, for instance, all the characters slide around, except for the Ice Climbers, who experience no change in their friction when walking on the stage. Like other characters, however, they are still unable to grab onto the ledges in the stage; this trait causes Belay to more frequently cause Nana to be KO'd, as while Popo could jump back onto the stage, Nana has no ledge to grab.