These are the Most Ludicrous and Wierd Stages in Fighting Games.

Fighting game stages are one of the most overlooked aspects of the genre. Super casual fans may not even take note of where the characters are fighting, while hardcore veterans of the genre may choose to forever fight in the training room, never seeing another aspect of the game. Only players who generally fall in the middle of these two extremes will be able to fully appreciate a game’s stages.

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Of course, with a genre that has existed since the beginning of gaming history, there have been more than a few incredibly bizarre stages that characters have fought on. The following list is of some of the most ludicrous stages in fighting game history that will have any gamer raise their eyebrow just a tad.

10

Field (Melty Blood)

Context Matters

Topping off this list is the grassy field stage from the Melty Blood games, including the most recent game, Melty Blood: Type Lumina. This stage is composed of a field of grass and flowers stretching out as far as the eye can see. The only thing in sight that isn’t made of grass is a large tree left over from when this field used to be a forest. It’s quite a tranquil stage to look at when the player isn’t firing off a million attacks at their opponent.

While the concept of a field of grass with a single tree in it may not sound like that crazy of a stage concept to someone who only knows of Type-Moon games via Melty Blood, anyone with the actual context for who these characters are will know exactly why this stage is weird. The prologue of Tsukihime uses this field to establish why Shiki shouldn’t be so reckless with his mystic eyes, with the destruction of the tree, and how that cannot be undone, helping him learn this lesson. So to see this field be in a game all about using flashy moves and fighting all the time is strange to say the least. Of course, it must be placed at the bottom of this list as its strangeness exists only in the form of context and not from the stage itself.

9

Gotham City Empire Theater (Injustice)

More Than Just a Trashcan

Next up on the list is the Gotham City Empire Theater stage from Injustice: God’s Among Us. This stage is one of the most popular in this game, and not just for the easter egg you got for repeatedly throwing your opponent into the theater sign. One of the most notable features about this stage is the dumpster stage hazard, which you can grab and throw at your opponent, taking down massive chunks of their health at once and making you question if this game was ever played competitively.

What truly makes this stage worthy of putting on this list, though, is how it was used in the game’s story mode. During the story mode of Injustice, the player must participate in a minigame where Black Adam throws cars full of people at Superman in an attempt to stop him. Here, the player, as Superman, must repeatedly destroy those cars and people in what may be one of the most out-of-character moments in any adaptation ever. While this only gets the stage a low score on this list, it’s a memorable enough moment to earn it one nonetheless.

8

The Show (Dead of Alive 5)

A Circus of Ideas

The Dead or Alive franchise has always been a bit overlooked when discussing fighting games. While most people would prefer to solely talk about aspects like the fanservice, there is plenty of typical fighting game bizarreness in this series to behold and enjoy. One great example of this is The Show from Dead or Alive 5, which has the characters fight within a circus.

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This stage has plenty of ridiculous elements that one would expect from a circus, but perhaps the most notable is the large button near the back of the stage. If a player were to launch their opponent into that, they’ll be put into a large cannon and launched to the other side of the stage in a comedic fashion. While it’s not the most ridiculous stage in fighting game history, it’s still notable and a reminder of how fun DoA is beyond the fanservice.

7

Volcanic Rim (Street Fighter IV)

Steps Away from Death

Compared to other fighting games, the Street Fighter franchise is almost benign in terms of where it sends the characters to fight. Most of the time, the player will just be sent to an ordinary part of the world as they duke it out with their opponent and move on through the game’s arcade modes. One exception to this normality, though, is the Volcanic Rim stage from Street Fighter IV.

This stage sees the ordinary humans of the Street Fighter universe fight on an erupting volcano as if they were Tekken characters, coming only a few steps away from lava. While this isn’t too strange in the grand scheme of fighting game stages, it does feel odd to see characters like Sakura in this situation. In some strange ways, the Volcanic Rim went on to be a representative of Street Fighter stages as a whole when the theme was used as Ryu’s song in the Project X Zone crossover titles.

6

White House Reborn (Guilty Gear)

Presidential Fisticuffs

The Guilty Gear franchise has always been a bit more ridiculous than your average fighting game, but despite that reputation, the stages are all relatively normal for the setting. One stage that may make players raise their eyebrows and laugh, though, is the White House II. As the name might imply, this stage has the characters fight in the home base for the president of the United States of America.

While the stage itself might not have anything too ridiculous in it compared to other entries on this list, the mere act of fighting within the White House is always a comedic sight, and it’s no mystery why the Guilty Gear franchise has continued to include the president as a character in recent story modes. So while it falls in the lower half of this list, the stage is still worth mentioning when discussing ridiculous fighting game stages.

5

The Gate (Blazblue)

A Cauldron of Time

Arc System Works’ BlazBlue franchise has made quite a name for itself as having some of the most ludicrous character concepts and plots within the entire fighting game genre. Hardly any aspect of these titles has shared commonalities with other fighting games, and that extends to the stages and what they are as well. One great example of this is The Gate (the final stage of the first game’s arcade mode)

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Because BlazBlue’s initial plot deals with an ever-repeating time loop that the characters find themselves fighting in over and over, there is naturally a source for this, and it’s this stage. Every character will eventually fight on this stage and face what will likely be a gruesome fate. What makes The Gate particularly cool is that there are five different versions of it, depending on the context for why a character is there during the story. For being an area that triggers the convoluted plot of BlazBlue, The Gate deserves at least a placement on this list.

4

Fetus of God (Darkstalkers)

Horror Incarnate

With a stage name like this, one has to wonder if there even needs to be an explanation for why it’s on this list. Capcom’s Darkstalkers games are known for taking public domain horror creatures and turning them into playable fighters and stages. The series’ Shinigami character, Jedah Dohma, is one of the best-looking villains in fighting game history and comes with a fittingly horrific stage that is made of nothing but blood and veins, with a giant uterus overlooking characters as they fight.

Once a player sees this stage, they’ll be thinking about it for the rest of their lives, It’s truly a sight to behold and a testament to how great Capcom’s fighting game artists were in the arcade era of gaming. The Fetus of God stage is by far the most iconic in the franchise and has since gone on to represent the series in multiple crossover titles such as Project X Zone. If the name of the stage itself doesn’t convince you that it belongs on this list, then perhaps that cultural status will.

3

The City of Books (Umineko: Golden Fantasia)

A Collection of Stories

Next up on the list is a stage from the game Umineko: Golden Fantasia, a game based on the PC Visual Novel Umineko No Naku Koro Ni. This stage is composed of one singular object: books. More specifically, books that each contain their own world and mystery, just like the one within Umineko. It may be safe to say that the contents of every mystery story ever told are contained within the City of Books. So be careful while throwing fireballs around as Bernkastel here!

In many ways, the existence of this stage and how it contrasts with others within Golden Fantasia perfectly encapsulates the Umineko experience. One minute you could be dealing with a typical mansion murder mystery, and the next you’re dealing with witches and the question of whether magic is real. A city of only books is the perfect place for two witches who are fighting over how this story should end to settle their struggle. Considering that this stage is a metaphysical entity that may or may not even exist (like many of the characters on the roster, actually), it’s fair to say that it fully deserves a placement on this list.

2

Flat Zone (Super Smash Bros)

A Whole Different Dimension

The Super Smash Bros series is known for bringing together a bunch of iconic video game locations and turning them into very interesting stages, so it should come as no surprise that there are plenty of weird ones in the mix, too. Perhaps the weirdest of these stages is the one which Mr. Game and Watch calls home: Flat Zone, and its secondary variant from Super Smash Bros Brawl: Flat Zone 2. These stages are filled with reference to the various Game & Watch miniature games, which Nintendo made ages ago. Some of the references in them can also be found recycled in Mr. Game and Watch’s moveset.

What truly makes this stage a spectacle, though, is the visual effect it applies to the game. Keeping in line with its name, everything in this stage is a completely flat 2D object, and that includes the characters fighting in it. While it can be hard to notice during the heat of battle, zooming in on the camera will reveal that all players get their models completely flattened when on this stage. This incredible detail and the sheer audacity to include it in the game more than earns Flat Zone a high placement on this list.

1

Into the Stratosphere (Tekken 8)

Never Stop Fighting

First on the list is the Into the Stratosphere stage from Tekken 8. This stage already starts in a crazy way as both you and your opponent are fighting each other on a rock hurdling through space, but as the rounds go by, the stage gets crazier and crazier as the meteor plummets to earth, slowly getting covered in fire and breaking into bits along the way. Perhaps the only thing hotter than the forces of gravity is the hot-blooded souls of the fighters.

The stage even has a transitionary cutscene every few rounds where your characters try to stand on their feet as the arena falls down to earth, a rare moment where two fighting game characters take a break from their combat. Truly, what could be more ludicrous than two rivals still fighting each other even as they plummet through the earth’s atmosphere itself, burning along the way? For that reason, Tekken 8’s Into the Stratosphere stage places at the very top of this list.

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