The Great Cave Offensive

The Great Cave Offensive
Universe	Kirby
Appears in	SSBWU SSBU
Home stage to	Kirby
Availability	Starter
Crate Type	Presents
Tournament legal (SSBWU/3DS)
Singles	Banned
Doubles	Banned
Tournament legal (SSBU)
Singles	Banned
Doubles	Banned

The Great Cave Offensive is a new stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It is a very large stage based on the underground labyrinth game mode (of the same title) from Kirby Super Star.

Design

This is a very big stage that is meant to cater to 8 player smash. It has multiple sections that appeared in the game mode. All the blast zones are accessible, albeit only in specific spots, and the side ones are a walk off. There are Danger Zones that give massive damage, and if someone touches one them at 100% or higher, they will be instantly K.O.'ed (though in Smash 4 you could Tech it). There are also spikes in some areas, specifically under the right side of the largest top platform and in the bottom right of the stage. They deal 10% damage and decent knockback on contact. Minecarts may appear on the top of the brick platform on the middle right and on the lone floating soft platform on the middle left. When a character enters it- or its left on their own after about 15 seconds from their appearance - they start going forward, dealing 10% damage to any character they hit. The right one can carry characters to the left blast line if not dismounted in time, while the left one crashes in the bottom right corner of the stage (just below the spikes). No damage is dealt to the characters upon impact, although the resulting inertia will likely throw any passengers into the spikes. In the lower parts of the level, there are cannons that can launch other players. They constantly rotate, albeit not smoothly but jumping between the eight cardinal and intercardinal directions (much like in their home series). They work like the Barrel Cannons from the Donkey Kong universe. If the Item Switch is on, Treasure Chests may appear. Hitting one will drop an item, but they may also explode.

Hazards Off

The Minecarts and Treasure Chests do not appear. The rest of the stage gimmicks still work as per normal.

Ω forms and Battlefield form

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the Ω form is a single platform different from all the ones in the normal version, mixing the forest area on the top and the crystal area on the bottom right. It is notably the only Ω form to have two different types of terrain, with the grassy side having greater traction than the crystal side.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the main platform of the Ω form and Battlefield form is similar to SSB4's Ω form; however, it is resized and reshaped to match Final Destination and Battlefield, respectively. The three soft platforms of the Battlefield form resemble the soft platforms in the upper portion of the normal form.

Songs in My Music

For Wii U

• The Great Cave Offensive
• Butter Building Ver. 2
• King Dedede's Theme Ver. 2
• Forest/Nature Area
• Green Greens Ver. 2
• Green Greens (Melee)
• Squeak Squad Theme (must be unlocked)
• Celestial Valley
• Frozen Hillside (must be unlocked)
• The Adventure Begins
• Through the Forest
• Floral Fields

Ultimate

• Any Kirby series music can be played here.
• Main Track: The Great Cave Offensive
• Alternate Track: City Trial

Origin

As the name suggests, it is based on Super Star's sub game of the same name. In the sub-game, Kirby falls down a hole whilst taking a walk, and he must venture through an expansive cave full of various dangers to escape, while finding as much treasure as he can along the way.

The cave is split in four different areas: Sub-Tree (the upper portion of the stage), Crystal (right), Old Tower (lower middle and seen in the background), and Garden (bottom left). Every area holds several treasure chests, some in plain sight and others hidden within puzzles: they all contain various rewards, and, while all of them are optional, 100% completion requires finding and opening all 60 of them. The four areas are connected to each other by short mine cart sections.

Cannons like the ones in this stage appear in the Garden and Old Tower area, forming a maze which Kirby must traverse to proceed. Some of them fire automatically in a fixed direction while others rotate and fire upon a button press.

Some parts of the Old Tower area feature patches of lava on the floor and ceiling which act as hazards, dealing damage on touch and being able to KO Kirby if his hit points are completely depleted.

Coincidentally, the masterpiece for its origin game starts in this sub game.

Legality

This stage is banned in tournaments due to a multitude of reasons, including its overly large size which can create camping, disruptive hazards, walk-off blast lines, and being a giant cave of life due to the Danger Zones being techable, though this is only possible in SSB4.

Gallery

The Danger Zone's instant KO effect.

Fox gets hit by the spikes on the upper right of the stage.

Fox kicks Mario into the Garden area's upper danger zone with his neutral aerial as Yoshi jumps.

Kirby and Zero Suit Samus jump as Mega Man is hurt by the danger zone.

Luigi is hurt by the spike ball.

Meta Knightis hit by the spikes in the bottom right of the stage.

King Dedede hits a danger zone while jumping with Kirby.

Meta Knight uses Drill Rush over a danger zone to attack King Dedede as Kirby falls into it.

The Omega form of Great Cave Offensive.

The Great Cave Offensive in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Trivia

• In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, this is one of the 9 stages that does not appear in Classic Mode, the other 8 being Jungle Hijinxs, 75m, Temple, Flat Zone X, Palutena's Temple, Boxing Ring, Gaur Plain, and the Miiverse stage.
• Super Mushrooms and Lightning Bolts will not spawn regardless of whether they are turned on or not.
  • This is probably because of growing larger being more of a hindrance rather than an advantage on this stage.
  • That said, the Poison Mushroom is also not spawnable.
  • This is also the only stage to prevent some items from spawning.
• For unknown reasons, in Ultimate, the burning sound effect does not play when a character hits a Danger Zone. This can be fixed by inputting the Reset buttons in the Training Mode.
  • This means that the sound effect for the Danger Zones will never play in a regular match.
• If Wario uses his Wario Bike at top speed at the top-middle area and jumps off before he collides with the Danger Zone, the bike will go through the platform and become stuck, so he can never use the move again.
• This stage was originally conceived as being based upon Kirby's Epic Yarn: it was retooled into its current form to avoid redundancy with Woolly World once the latter's source game was announced.
  • Its inclusion is said to be based on Kirby Super Star Ultra, the DS remake of Kirby Super Star released after Brawl.
• Any characters in a cannon will be invulnerable to the effect of a Timer.
• When playing as Pokémon Trainer, the trainer will be standing in one of the four sections of the stage, depending on the player's number.
• In Ultimate, the following Assist Trophies cannot appear on this stage: the Moon, Mother Brain, Nightmare, Andross, Tiki, Ashley, Kapp'n, Devil, Nikki, Arcade Bunny, Squid Sisters and Rathalos. Additionally, the following Poké Ball Pokémon cannot be summoned: Abra, Alolan Exeggutor, Moltres, Lugia, Lunala and Marshadow.