"When people talk about batman with preptime, theyre asking if hes got a dumpster nearby" -Sajam

You give Batman access to a throwable dumpster and he could solo any being in fiction

Everyone always hypes up the Injustice dumpster because of that 1 clip while forgetting the true horror was that damn pig.

UNFREEZE POKEMON STADIUM 🗣

Shoutouts to Touhou Hisoutensoku where, similar to the stone mask thing, if you play as Remilia (a vampire) the game will override your selection if you pick an outdoor stage, sending you to a random indoor stage instead - UNLESS one of the cards in her deck is a parasol, then she's ok!

Leaving DOA out of a video like this is CRAZY 😭

Wish you touched on DOA, stages are such a huge part of the game. From unique transitions, stage traps, and even moves that can only be done near walls, it’s crazy how much interactivity the stages have.

Letting players toggle off hazards and interactables is probably the best compromise, but I kinda like it when fighting games put in some screwball gimmick and force you to deal with it.

I did not realize that Kragg in Rivals of Aether was just MK Tremor

It's important to note that Fatal Fury actually had different uses for the lane system as well. Some stages completely lacked a second lane due to a crowd or other background object keeping you out of the back lane, while one of the stages in 2 had paper walls that would be destroyed when you go between lanes but let you hide behind them in the back lane. The boss stages in 2 had stage hazards too by making the entire back lane into a big trap, such as a bunch of gears, electrified ropes in a boxing ring, and a herd of stampeding bulls that you could knock your enemy into

Is this an excuse for me to talk about Dead or Alive?

Because DoA stages, especially in games like 2 Ultimate, are huge & multifaceted. DoA2 started doing the thing Tekken 4 would do with more unique stages than infinite or ring out, and there's about as much variety as there is in something like Smash, while being an important element rather than busted & banned

I absolutely love how DoA basically feels like a martial arts movie with both the fast paced gameplay, quick reversals a la Holds, & how you can do things like throw someone into a moving car, jump over a fence to enforce a mixup, sweep someone off their feet with a river or rainstorm, etc etc.

(the boobs are nice too but lemme hyperfixate, i love DoA stages)

it's surprising how Krystalline Tremor is comedically top tier in MKX not because he can at will summon an interactable that can be used as movement or as an unblockable...

but because of the other, more simpler move in the variation, Krystallization. It gives him either 1 hit's worth of reduced incoming damage and super armor, or if meter-burned, the ability to completely negate a single instance of damage with faster recovery. It is incredibly powerful.

Cool easter egg(?) in Jojo ASBR, on the Morioh stage with the lightning stage hazard, if you play as Akira (who needs to charge his electricity-based stand with a battery) you’ll instantly get full charge if you get hit by the lightning. Weather Report’s thunder DP will also charge his battery

Not talking about DOA and its stage interactions is CRAZY

Batman's iconic bat-dumpster...
The World Heroes series had an alternate arcade mode known as "Death Match", which featured stages with gimmicks (a hazard at the end of each stage, slippery floors, mines, etc) with the second game having more varied hazards, or at least environments).

It's a very simple one, but I really like how the stages in Lethal League Blaze are different sizes and shapes which favor some characters over others. Since characters are predominantly determined by the angles they hit the ball at, the change in size of the stages allows for different angles to work differently

This is why I love stages in 3D fighters, the stages have combat aplications (specially in DoA)

No DOA mention? True tragedy 😔

Getting a bit specific but DOA2 has the coolest implementation of 3d space in any fighting game imo.

It's a shame you didn't mentioned DOA, DOA is THE "stage matters fighting game", ,everything counts, even things like wet floor, roofs, funiture, etc. To be honest you could make a sequel to this video just talking about this franchise

DOA definitely deserves to be in this discussion, as it has the most complicated stages in 3D fighters by far. It kept uneven terrain when Tekken and VF didn't (granted, DOA combo system probably works better with uneven terrain that those two games); there are objects in the middle of stage, that can extend your combos; there are stage transitions where you can fall to a different section of the stage; you have interactable elements that get activated by hitting the opponent into them, and sometimes with just a power blow; also stages have slippery sufraces, that gives some moves more hitstun, sometimes the whole stage is slippery and sometimes just a part. Also DOA6 has a massive museum stage that has many iconic stages inside it, that you can stage transition into and out of.

Also shoutout to VF5 taco stages for being one of the scariest places to fight in, in the whole genre.

edit. how could I have forgotten the coconut extensions in DOA, extra shoutout for the coconut extensions.