Hyrule Temple (SSS)

:This article is strictly about how Hyrule Temple and Castle both appear in Super Smash Stadium. For information about them in general, see their articles on ZeldaWiki.
One of the "big ticket" stages on Super Smash Stadium, alongside Final Destination and Midair Stadium, Hyrule Temple is an active stage on SSS that debuted early in 1976 and was the 26th stage to debut. While it generally offers a huge cash prize, it doesn't offer quite as much as Final Destination; its prizes are usually in the $45,000-$60,000 range currently.
==Stage overview==
A MASSIVE stage that's based on the dungeons in Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. (It's the third biggest stage on SSS not counting "traveling" stages like Delfino Plaza.) Starting on the left, there's a small island with a structure on it that resembles the dungeon entrances seen in Zelda 2. This island is linked to the rest of the stage by two soft platforms. Next, there's the actual temple, the roof of which is another soft platform. After a gap, there's a column, followed by a sloped stone slab with another sloped slab on top as another soft platform, and finally, there are two more soft platforms at the edge, stacked on top of each other.
Underneath the temple is the stage's most infamous feature, the "Cave of Life", a smaller island with a small stone slab attached where, thanks to the ceiling created by the temple's island, characters can live to some ridiculously high percents (roughly 1.5 times what they would live to normally). Also, tornadoes periodically lash the upper portion of the stage; get caught in one and you take moderate damage and knockback, potentially dying as low as 65%.
The stage's original form, Hyrule Castle, was pretty broken in its own right, too. This stage consisted of a large main platform and two smaller platforms on either end. The left one was sloped, while the right one had an equally infamous "greenhouse" that also created a "cave of life". On the middle platform, there were three soft platforms that weren't quite stacked on top of each other; the spacing of these platforms allowed some characters to perform the then-broken "Stairway to Heaven" combo, in which an unlucky opponent was 0-to-deathed using up tilts/up airs. Also, there were tornadoes here, too.
==Changes==
The last major change to this stage was made on October 15, 2018, the stage's first appearance in Season 47. On that playing, the stage was altered to take place in a sunset and was given an LZ: Breath of the Wild-style makeover, complete with the top of the stage being above ground and the "cave" portion actually being in a cave, although the holes were all maintained. Prior to this, the stage took place in the daytime and in the sky.
*The first known appearance of Hyrule Temple is September 19, 1983. However, the show's hosts still called it "Hyrule Castle" initially. At this point, the Fire Emblem theme was used exclusively for Hyrule Temple, while the Temple theme was used only on Hyrule Castle.
*The final appearance of Hyrule Castle was on June 17, 1993. Hyrule Temple continued to use the Fire Emblem theme exclusively until April 11, 1994.
*From May 14, 1998 to September 23, 2008, the tornadoes were eliminated.
*Season 37 was a bit of a dark period for this stage. After that playing, where Alex criticized the stage for being "tedious and numbing", the stage essentially "shrank down" to just the middle island and right long platform for its next two playings. Also, for the second playing, the tornadoes returned. Even more strangely, these playings used their own music, a remix of the Zelda 2 "Great Temple" theme.
*After October 2008, the stage went on hiatus. When it returned for Season 38, the changes made on those last two playings reverted, but the tornadoes returned for good.
*For a few playings, starting on April 25, 2013 (as part of the very first ever "Big Money Smash Week"), an even bigger version of this stage is used that's essentially a mashup of both Hyrule Castle AND Temple, with the castle on the left.
==Notable playings==
*There have been two suspected instances of fan interference. The first came on October 7, 1988, in a Zelda vs. Ryu match on Hyrule Castle, where a fan who'd somehow managed to get into the greenhouse attempted to block Zelda, who'd been launched from the other side of the stage by Ryu, so that she wouldn't lose her last life, and thus lose the match. He then tried to sneak away, hoping no one would notice, but everyone on the stage DID notice, and while all three hosts at the time chided the fan for interfering, they never ordered the fan to be thrown out, nor did they take any other action. The contestant wound up losing even with his help.
*The more infamous, well-known instance happened on February 15, 1992, in a Toad vs. Dixie Kong match on Hyrule Temple...and one reason why it's so infamous is because it's never been proven that fan interference happened. The Toad player, Tony, seemed to have unusually good luck, acting as if he knew where the tornadoes were going to be every time and when to get out of the way; he ultimately 5-stocked his opponent by getting them in the tornadoes every time. It's been suspected that he had a "plant" in the audience coaching him, but again, it was never proven...by this point, SSS was taping at its current home, the Roanoke Civic Center. Even though SSS doesn't exactly fill the place to capacity, finding a "plant" can still be difficult there.
**He ultimately went on to become the episode's big winner, taking home $79,897, including the $11,000 "perfect win" bonus that was in place for Target Blast at the time. Despite it never having been proven that Tony cheated, Hyrule Temple wouldn't be seen again for the rest of Season 20, while the tornadoes on Hyrule Castle were given translucency effects that made them harder to see.
==In its own universe==
Hyrule Castle is a recurring location in the Zelda series, first physically appearing starting with Link to the Past (although it had been mentioned earlier than that).
Hyrule Temple is based on the temples seen in the controversial Zelda 2, which acted as the dungeons for that game.