Stage legality

Stage legality refers to the eligibility of stages in tournament play. Stages that are allowed in some way in a tournament ruleset are referred to as legal stages, whereas stages that cannot be chosen at all are referred to as banned stages.
What constitutes a legal stage is dependent on the particular game and the organization behind its tournament ruleset. There are generally two types of legal stages that determine how they are selected during a set: neutral stages (also called starter stages), which are considered the most balanced stages, and counterpick stages, which tend to slightly favor certain characters or playstyles due to their design. A stage may be banned due to having characteristics that are deemed unsuitable for competitive play, such as:
*Poor matchup balance due to providing an extreme advantage for certain characters, such as allowing excessive camping or infinite chain grabbing.
*Powerful stage hazards that easily KO players knocked into them or force them to give up the advantage to avoid them.
*Possessing walk-off blast lines and walls. Both conditions create unreasonably powerful camping positions and potentially allow easy zero-to-deaths that would not occur in a competitive environment; in addition, walk-off blast lines can completely eliminate offstage play, due to the main stage taking up the entire width of the fight.
*Possessing "caves of life", certain sections of the stage that allow characters to survive much longer than realistically possible under normal circumstances, which creates an over-centralization around teching.
*Drastically altering gameplay and strategies needed to win.
*Allowing players to exploit glitches or bugs.
*Causing too much lag when played online, if tournament play is conducted online.
Currently, both games in the series possess established tournament rulesets that are agreed upon by their particular communities, and each has their own rules regarding stages.
== In Super Smash Flash ==
The for Super Smash Flash, as of May 23, 2015, has five stages that are considered legal. Neutral stages may be chosen in any game of a set, whereas counterpick stages may be chosen only after the first game of a set. During the first game, a coin toss decides which of the two neutral stages is selected, and counterpicks have two bans to make up for the limited stage choice.
Below is a list of each stage's current legality and reasons for their respective status.
Stage 	Status 	Commonly cited reasons for legality
 	Neutral 	
 	Counterpick	Very similar layout to Battlefield; top platform is higher than top platform in Battlefield, preventing certain characters from reaching it from main platform.
Emerald Hill Zone	Banned 	Overly large size; very easy to camp from the edges with projectiles.
 	Neutral 	
 	Banned 	Very small; walk-off blast lines.
Peach's Castle 	Banned 	Walk-off blast lines; overly large size; multi-level layout gives too great of an advantage to players on the bottom platform due to the game's platform dropping mechanic; players can get stuck inside the warp pipe.
Pokémon Stadium 	Counterpick	Somewhat large compared to neutral stages.
 	Counterpick	Largest stage in the game.
== In Super Smash Flash 2 ==
The for Super Smash Flash 2, as of Beta 1.3.1.2, has nine stages that are considered legal with stage hazards turned off. Neutral stages may be chosen in any game of a set, whereas counterpick stages may be chosen only after the first game of a set. The first game has a 1-2-1 striking order, and in later games, the winner bans two stages in a best-of-three set or one stage in a best-of-five set. Certain stages are also available to be selected through the Modified Gentleman's Clause, though these are not considered legal.
Below is a list of each stage's current legality and reasons for their respective status.
Stage 	Status 	Commonly cited reasons for legality
 	Neutral 	
Bomb Factory 	Banned 	Walk-off blast lines; no bottom boundary; featureless layout made redundant by Final Destination and Tower of Salvation.
Bowser's Castle 	Banned 	Lava prevents KOs at the bottom blast line; very small boundaries allow for disproportionately early KOs; lacks a proper main platform.
Butter Building 	Banned 	Overly large; unusual layout promotes circle camping; high platforms can allow early vertical KOs.
Casino Night Zone 	Banned 	Floating platforms located far beyond the edges of the main platform enhance the horizontal KO ability of fighters that normally lack a decent offstage game; odd main platform layout gives a disproportionate advantage to whoever controls the center of the stage.
Castle Siege 	Banned 	Slope in the center of the stage disrupts the ground game; asymmetrical layout affects stage control.
Central Highway 	Banned 	Overly large; lacks a proper main platform; pits between platforms.
Chaos Shrine 	Banned 	Long length, walls, and very high ceiling disproportionately increase fighter survivability.
Clock Town 	Banned 	Lacks a proper main platform.
Crateria 	Banned 	Overly large; platform layout promotes camping; large walls make traversing the stage difficult.
Desk 	Banned 	Overly large; walk-off blast line; platform layout promotes camping.
Devil's Machine 	Banned 	Overly large; walk-off blast lines; no bottom boundary; featureless layout made redundant by Final Destination and Tower of Salvation.
Dracula's Castle 	Banned 	Moving platform variations create inconsistent gameplay often promoting camping and favoring characters with high jumps.
 	Counterpick	Very similar layout to Battlefield and Yoshi's Story; high upper blast line makes vertical KOs more difficult.
Emerald Cave 	Banned 	Cave of life inside the stage; edges sometimes obstructed by breakable walls; pit in center of stage.
Fairy Glade 	Banned 	Overly large; mushroom and slope in the center of the stage disrupt the ground game; high platform promotes circle camping.
 	Counterpick	Lack of platforms hurts movement options and promotes camping. Shares a stage strike with Tower of Salvation due to similar layouts, with Tower of Salvation being considered the more balanced stage between the two.
Final Valley 	Banned 	Overly large; unusual platform layout encourages camping; pit of death divides the stage in two, leaving no proper main platform.
Flat Zone + 	Banned 	Overly large; pits divide bottom platform; walk-off blast lines; layout encourages camping.
Fourside 	Banned 	Lacks a proper main platform; pits between buildings; large spire makes traversing the stage difficult; layout encourages camping.
Galaxy Tours 	Banned 	Random selection between multiple stage layouts encourages abuse of resetting the match.
Gangplank Galleon 	Banned 	Very long length and walls give a disproportionate advantage to vertical finishers; buggy collisions on the slope at the bow of the ship.
Green Hill Zone 	Banned 	Walk-off blast lines; no bottom boundary; uneven platform terrain.
Hidden Leaf Village 	Banned 	Overly large; many walls and high platforms that promote camping.
Hueco Mundo 	Banned 	Overly large; walk-off blast line; excessive slopes; moving platform encourages camping.
Hylian Skies 	Banned 	Walls make horizontal KOs difficult; asymmetrical layout affects stage control and recovery.
Hyrule Castle 	Banned 	Overly large; platform layout promotes excessive camping; cave of life on the right side.
Jungle Hijinx 	Banned 	Slope in the center of the stage disrupts the ground game; asymmetrical layout affects stage control; powerful camping location under the floating platform.
Krazoa Palace 	Banned 	Walk-off blast lines; no bottom boundary; walls make horizontal KOs difficult.
Lake of Rage 	Banned 	Overly large; walk-off blast line; layout encourages camping; pit divides the stage in two, leaving no proper main platform; pass-through platform on left encourages sharking.
Lunar Core 	Banned 	Overly large; slopes disrupt the ground game; pass-through main platform encourages sharking.
Metal Cavern 	Banned 	Tiny layout provides advantages to larger, stronger, or disjointed characters.
Meteo Campaigns 	Banned 	Overly large; platform layout promotes camping; large walls.
 	Banned 	Overly large; pit divides the stage in two; blocks form cave of life; walk-off blast lines.
 	Banned 	Overly small; lacks a proper main platform; walk-off blast lines.
Mushroom Kingdom III 	Banned 	Walk-off blast lines; pit divides the stage in two; unusual platform layout promotes circle camping; breakable blocks form caves of life.
Nintendo 3DS 	Banned 	Ledges can disrupt certain recoveries; featureless layout made redundant by Final Destination and Tower of Salvation.
PAC-MAZE 	Banned 	Overly large; unusual layout promotes circle camping; high platforms can allow early vertical KOs.
Palutena's Shrine 	Banned 	Unusual layout promotes circle camping; walls on floating platforms affect recovery; cave of life below main platform.
Phase 8 	Banned 	Overly large; unusual layout promotes circle camping; walls make horizontal KOs difficult; pit of death divides the stage in two, leaving no proper main platform.
Planet Namek 	Banned 	Excessive slopes; asymmetrical layout affects stage control and recovery.
Pokémon Colosseum 	Neutral 	
Polygon Zone 	Banned 	Tiny layout provides advantages to larger, stronger, or disjointed characters.
Princess Peach's Castle 	Banned 	Large tower spire makes traversing the stage difficult; unusual layout promotes camping.
Rainbow Route 	Counterpick	Large with small boundaries; powerful camping location under the center floating platform.
Saffron City 	Banned 	Overly large; pits of death between buildings; central tower spire makes traversing the stage difficult; layout encourages camping.
Sand Ocean 	Banned 	Walk-off blast lines; no bottom boundary; road hazard can lead to very early KOs from the left-hand side; layout encourages circle camping and stalling underneath the Falcon Flyer.
Saturn Valley 	Banned 	Overly large; slopes in the center of the stage disrupt the ground game.
Sector Z 	Banned 	Overly large; gun platform allows for easy camping; over-centralization on the back of the ship due to the wall.
Skull Fortress 	Banned 	Walk-off blast lines; overly large size and unusual platform layout encourages camping.
Sky Pillar 	Banned 	Overly large; unusual platform layout encourages circle camping; walls can enable infinites; cave of life on bottom platform.
Sky Sanctuary Zone 	Banned 	Small boundaries; odd main platform layout gives a disproportionate advantage to whoever controls the center of the stage.
Smashville 	Neutral 	
Steel Diver 	Banned 	Large walls in center make traversing the stage difficult.
Suzaku Castle 	Banned 	Overly large; lower platform promotes camping.
 	Banned 	Overly large; unusual platform layout encourages circle camping; large cave of life below top platforms.
The World That Never Was	Banned 	Small side boundaries allow for disproportionately early KOs; slopes disrupt the ground game.
Thousand Sunny 	Banned 	Overly large; unusual layout promotes circle camping; walls make horizontal KOs difficult and disrupt recoveries.
Tower of Salvation 	Neutral 	Initially considered a counterpick due to small stage boundaries and floating platforms promoting camping.
Twilight Town 	Banned 	Overly large; excessive walls make horizontal KOs difficult; pit of death between buildings; cave of life inside the left-most building.
Urban Champion 	Banned 	Walk-off blast lines; no bottom boundary; fixed camera obstructs top of stage.
Venus Lighthouse 	Banned 	Overly large; walls in center make traversing the stage difficult; ledges on floating platforms can disrupt certain recoveries.
Waiting Room 	Banned 	Featureless layout made redundant by Final Destination and Tower of Salvation. Allowed through the Modified Gentleman's Clause.
WarioWare, Inc. 	Counterpick	Very small size; small boundaries allow for early KOs.
World Tournament 	Banned 	Overly large; walk-off blast lines; no bottom boundary.
Yoshi's Island 	Banned 	Overly large; circling platforms encourage circle camping.
Yoshi's Island (64) 	Banned 	Slopes disrupt the ground game; high platforms promote circle camping; layout made redundant by Battlefield, Yoshi's Story, and Dream Land.
Yoshi's Story 	Neutral 	
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