Great Bay

Great Bay
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Appears in
Located	Termina (The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask in Ultimate)
Home stage to	Link (Classic / All-Star) Young Link (Unlocking / Classic) Marth (Classic)
Availability	Starter
Tracks available	*Great Bay *Saria's Song (Alternate)
Tournament legal (SSBM)
Singles	Banned
Doubles	Banned

Great Bay (グレートベイ, Great Bay) is a stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee and returning in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It could be considered Young Link's stage, since it is where the player fights him for his unlock match, and Young Link was the main protagonist in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, from which this stage originates).

In All-Star mode, this stage is where Link and any of his teammates are faced.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, four Event Matches take place on Great Bay, including Event 9: Hide 'n' Sheik, Event 20: All-Star Match 2 (Link's fight in particular), Event 34: Seven Years, and lastly Event 49: All-Star Match Deluxe (Young Link's fight in particular, just like in his unlock match).

Stage layout

The The fighters battle in front of the Marine Research Lab in the Great Bay Coast from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Great Bay is surrounded by water, which characters can fall through, therefore KO'ing them, although in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, this was changed to allow fighters to swim around in the water. The left side of the stage consists of three platforms. The bottom ones have enough space for two fighters, and the left one floats and reacts to the fighters' weights by rocking. The raised platform, which has barely enough space for four characters is solid: This can be exploited by throwing opponents against its bottom to cause a stage spike and possibly an early KO.

The right side is occupied by the Giant Turtle, who can be stood on as a platform. When the battle starts, the turtle is present and looks to the left: after about 30 seconds it sinks, carrying away any fighters still on it and possibly KO'ing them unless they use their recovery. It periodically emerges and sinks again, and can either look left or towards the screen. The trees on its back act as further platforms. The parts not covered by grass have lower traction. When the Turtle is absent, the right blast line is very far from the stage, so staying on the right is in this situation very advantageous.

Tingle floats around on a red balloon over the bottom right platform. Its balloon acts as a platform: standing on it for enough time or attacking it makes it pop, causing Tingle to fall down on the ground or in the water while flailing his limbs. Contact with him in this state causes 1-2% damage and negligible knockback. After a while, he reinflates his balloon and floats back up: if Tingle falls on the lower left platform, when he reinflates his balloon he is trapped under the main platform and his balloon automatically pops.

The Moon in the background steadily falls: When the Moon gets close enough to the ground, the Four Giants appear, stopping the Moon from crashing onto the ground and throwing the Moon back up into the sky where the Moon resume its orbit. The cycle lasts about three minutes and has no effect on the gameplay.

Great Bay was first shown at E3 2001. A difference with the version showcased there is that the Marine Research Lab in the background was part of the arena, allowing characters to walk in and out of it.

Origin

The Marine Research Laboratory, as seen from the coast in Majora's Mask.

This stage is from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. This stage takes place in the area of Termina called the Great Bay Coast. In this stage the players fight on the marine Research Lab located in Great Bay. The overall design of the lab looks similar to how it appeared in Majora's Mask, except the lower platform is now to the right of the building rather than in front of it and the lab and the platforms have been scaled down. In Majora's Mask, the lab is facing toward the shore, but in this stage, the lab is facing away from shore. If the player wanted to save his progress in Majora's Mask he must "check" an owl statue. One of the locations of the owl statues is on the lower platform. The owl statue seen in Majora's Mask is also seen in this stage on the lower platform. The background of this stage is almost identical to the area in Majora's Mask.

Tingle's appearance in the Great Bay is based on his first appearance in Majora's Mask. To talk to Tingle in Majora's Mask, Link has to use a bow and arrow to pop his balloon and make Tingle fall to the ground. When Tingle is on the ground, he spins around for a little bit, and blows another balloon to float back up to where he was. This behavior is retained in the Super Smash Bros. series.

The Giant Turtle is another character who first appears in Majora's Mask, where he must be awoken to get to the Great Bay Temple. The Giant Turtle has been scaled down for his appearance in the Great Bay stage. The giant turtle never goes to the marine research lab, and the turtle also never goes back in the water.

The moon as it originally appeared in Majora's Mask.

In Majora's Mask the moon (depicted as having a hideous face) is falling towards Termina thanks to the titular antagonist Majora, and Link has three days to stop it from falling. The moon can be seen getting closer and closer as time progresses in Majora's Mask and if Link fails to play "The Song of Time" before time is up, it will destroy Termina and Link will have to do the cycle all over again. Ironically, Termina's name is named after the word terminal, meaning "will perish soon." Once the player has completed all four dungeons (representing four giants), the player must play the song Oath to Order to get all four of the giants to come, and grab the moon to stop it from falling. In this stage in Melee, the moon can be seen falling closer towards the ground as time progresses. When the moon gets to a certain height, the four giants come and stop the moon, but the giants now push the moon back where it was previously rather than destroying it like in Majora's Mask.[1]

There are three songs for this stage, two of which are heard at all times. One song is an orchestrated version of the main theme from The Legend of Zelda and the other song is a slightly remixed version of Saria's Song from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. [2]

Gallery

Battlefield form in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Ω form in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Trivia

• This stage is banned in most tournaments due to the easiness of stalling and the bottom platforms which are very easy to gimp off of.
• Great Bay is the only Legend of Zelda stage that is not playable in both Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, because he appears in the background, the Moon cannot be summoned as an assist trophy on this stage.
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate if the player pauses and moves the camera to the far left, a Piece of Heart can be seen in the distance, in the exact same location as it was in Majora's Mask.

External Links

• Zelda Wiki's article on Great Bay