Home stage

The subject of home stages can at times be somewhat confusing in the Smash Bros. universe. In both Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, there are playable characters who do not have a stage of their own. In addition, certain characters in SSBM have more than one stage. As secret characters are fought on stages specific to each of those characters, and SSBM'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 have their own stage. Of the four secret characters, two (Luigi and Jigglypuff) share their stage with the starter character in their universe (Mario and Pikachu, sharing Peach's Castle and Saffron City, respectively). The remaining two characters have their home stages defined by where they are fought when they are unlocked. Captain Falcon is fought at Samus' Planet Zebes, while Ness is unlocked by defeating him at Kirby's Dream Land stage. Thus, Captain Falcon and Ness may be considered to have these stages as their home stages.

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.

Home advantage
There is no clear or consistent benefit to a character fighting on his "home stage." In some cases it may be to a character's disadvantage to be fighting on his home stage.