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 both Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, there are playable characters who do not have a stage belonging to their "universe". 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 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 have their home stages defined by where they are fought when they are unlocked. Captain Falcon is fought at Samus's 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. There is another stage from the Mario series, Mushroom Kingdom, which is sometimes considered as Luigi's stage, as well as Mario's.

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.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the situation becomes even more complicated, and not all characters have a home stage. However, when a character must be fought in order to be unlocked, either another stage from their universe, the stage Battlefield, or the stage Final Destination are used. What follows is a list of home stages based on where characters are fought in Classic Mode, almost always based on a character's universe:

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, for example Ness is unable to use his third jump when knocked between buildings in Fourside. In SSBB, Donkey Kong's Final Smash makes him immobile. If used on Rumble Falls, a scrolling stage, it will possibly result in a self-destruct, but when he is using his airborne, he moves along with the stage. However, in contrast, some stages do offer advantages to some characters. For example, Zelda's  Final Smash is much easier to use, and harder to dodge on the Bridge of Eldin. Also on Summit, all the other characters slide around, except the Ice Climbers who are the same as if they were on any other field, although, like other characters, they are still unable to grab onto the ledge.