Great Bay

Great Bay
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Appears in	SSBM
Located	Termina
Home stage to	Young Link (Unlocking/Classic) Link (Classic/All-Star) Marth (Classic)
Availability	Starter
Tournament legal (SSBM)
Singles	Banned
Doubles	Available

Great Bay is a level in Super Smash Bros. Melee that could be considered Young Link's stage (it is where the player fights him when they attempt to unlock him, and Young Link was the main protagonist in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, from which this stage originates). Announced at E3 2001, this level is quite fair, although the advantage goes to the large character instead of the small one. It is best to be large because of the setup of the level itself: The more space one can control on the small platforms on the side, the less vulnerable they are to any approach on that area. Staying to the right side of the stage also provides advantage due to the mismatched length of the stage; the area with the turtle has a very long dis to the wall unlike the other. Also, it is possible to perform a stage spike by hitting or throwing characters into the underside of the main platform, resulting in easy KO's, especially for those with decently long forward or backward throws.

The water has no effect on characters in this stage. The left platform fits only about two people, and this is still a pretty small area for two people to be dueling. The bottom right platform is equivalent in size and shape. Above and between the two small side platforms, there is a long platform that is the main fighting area. This platform is flat without any obstacles,and provides an easy KO oppurtunity; by having your back face the bottom of the main platform, throwing an opponent behind you will result in them hitting the bottom of the platform and tumbling into the water, taking down the unwary opponent at even low percentages.The main platform can fit four fighters, but only about three comfortably. Sporadically, a large, green turtle will appear in either of two orientations to the right of the stage. After about half a minute, the turtle will sink back into the ocean, killing any players who choose to remain on it. On its shell, it has green grass that provides normal movement friction for characters, but any spots of the turtle not covered by grass will work like a slick surface (i.e. ice or oil). Additionally, the turtle has trees on its shell that players can stand on.

Tingle, from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, also appears on this stage. Tingle floats around on a red balloon on the right side of the stage, directly above the right-bottom platform. It is possible to pop his balloon, causing him to flail his arms and legs and fall to the ground or water below. While he is flailing his arms and legs, he can deal 1-2% damage with negligible knockback.

In All-Star mode, this stage is played on when Link and any of his teammates is faced.

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 in 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, a character from Majora's Mask is featured in this stage is seen hanging on a red balloon. In Majora's mask, if the player wants to talk to Tingle, the player must 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. In Melee he repeats this behavior. In Majora's Mask there is a giant turtle that must be awaken to get to the Great Bay Temple. In this stage, the giant turtle is retained, but the turtle has also been scaled down. 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 is falling towards Termina, and Link has three days to stop the moon from falling. The moon can be seen getting closer and closer as time progresses in Majora's Mask. 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]

Strengths/weaknesses in characters

• Young Link
• Link
• Zelda
• Sheik
• Ganondorf
• Donkey Kong
• Ness
• Fox
• Falco
• Bowser
• Mario
• Peach
• Luigi
• Dr. Mario
• Marth
• Roy
• Pichu
• Pikachu
• Mewtwo
• Jigglypuff
• Yoshi
• Mr. Game & Watch
• Ice Climbers
• Captain Falcon
• Samus
• Kirby

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.
• In a beta version of the game, the Marine Research Lab in the background was part of the arena, allowing characters to walk in and out of it. It was moved into the background in the final version.