Tournament rulesets (SSBB)
On April 17, 2009, the Smash Back Room released the second set of de facto official rules for tournaments. These mostly mirrored the rulesets of previous installments, with the stages being the most anticipated factor.
General Rules
- 3 stock.
- 8 minutes.
- Items are turned to off and none.
- In doubles matches, team attack is on.
- All non-finals and semi-finals matches are best of three.
- Finals and semi-finals are best of five.
- Controller ports are determined by Rock-Paper-Scissors if there is a dispute.
- In team matches, these are determined in a 1221 fashion, with 1 being the team that won the RPS.
- If time runs out, the winner is determined by stock, and then by percent.
- All persons are responsible for their own control scheme and must make sure it is set before the match begins.
- Any action that prevents the game from continuing results in a forfeiture of the match for the offender.
Gameplay Rules
- Meta Knight's Infinite Dimensional Cape Glitch is banned.
- If a game ends with Bowser or Ganondorf using a Sacrificial KO (with Flying Slam or Flame Choke respectively) and the game is tied, then the Sudden Death is ignored and the Bowser or Ganondorf player is declared the winner.
- Stalling is banned.
- Stalling is defined as any action that deliberately avoids all conflict as to make the game unplayable. Running from an opponent to get to a better position is not considered stalling, but using chain grabs infinitely against a wall (excessively beyond around 300%) or using Sonic's Neutral B repeatedly underneath the stage is.
Set Format
- Both players choose their characters for the first game. A double blind pick may be requested by either player.
- The first stage of a match is selected either randomly or by a stage striking procedure from the neutral stages.
- Both players may choose one counter-pick stage to be banned for the match.
- The loser of the first game announces the stage that s/he will counter-pick.
- Dave's Stupid Rule is in effect.
- The winner of the previous match chooses his/her character.
- The loser of the previous match chooses his/her character.
- Repeat steps 4-6 for successive matches.
Stages
For an explanation as to why stages are counter-picked or banned, see Banned stage
Stages are divided up into neutral, counter-pick, and banned. Neutral stages are the only stages that are used in the first game of a match. After that, the loser may pick any stage, neutral or counter-pick, that is not banned. Additionally, each player may announce a single stage each match that s/he wants banned from the counter-pick list. The stages that are in the "Neutral/Counter-Pick" or "Counter-Pick/Banned" category are left to the tournament organizers to determine their actual placement in any specific tournament.
Neutral
Neutral/Counter-pick
Counter-pick
- Brinstar (Melee)
- Delfino Plaza
- Frigate Orpheon
- Jungle Japes (Melee)
- PictoChat
- Pirate Ship
- Pokémon Stadium 2
- Rainbow Cruise (Melee)
Counter-pick/Banned
- Distant Planet
- Green Greens (Melee)
- Hanenbow (for doubles matches)
- Luigi's Mansion
- Norfair
- Port Town Aero Dive
- Yoshi's Island (Melee)
Banned
- 75m
- Big Blue (Melee)
- Bridge of Eldin
- Corneria (Melee)
- Flat Zone 2
- Green Hill Zone
- Hanenbow (for singles matches)
- Mario Bros.
- Mario Circuit
- Mushroomy Kingdom (1-1 and 1-2)
- New Pork City
- Onett (Melee)
- Rumble Falls
- Shadow Moses Island
- Skyworld
- Spear Pillar
- Summit
- Temple (Melee)
- WarioWare, Inc.
Also, the Sample Stages included with Brawl to demonstrate the Stage Builder are not rated, and so are essentially banned from tournaments.
