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Hmm, come to think of it, we never really told you how to collect Figures, did we?
First, you go to the 'Figure Slot Machine', which is a Figure Lottery in a sense. Then you use a coin to randomly get one Figure. (These coins are unrelated to the Coin Battle coins!)
When you have most of the types of Figures, and it becomes harder to get new Figures, you can gather a lot of extra coins to get a 5% better chance of getting a new Figure.
And how do you get coins to use on the Figure Slot Machine you ask? Well, just play the game, and you will slowly gain more coins! That's right! Melee, Special Mode, Regular Game (Simple and Adventure), Training Mode, Event Mode, and 100 Man Spars all get you coins!
So the more passionately you play, the easier it is to get Figures. Or, so the story goes.... Anyway, please look at this screenshot. This is the Stage Select screen that appears when you first get the game in the final retail version of the game.
 Twe-Twentythree stages?!
The amount of stages previewed at E3 and SpaceWorld appears to be less than half of the final game. This is also over two and a half times more stages than there were in the previous game. Almost a scary amount, isn't it?
The Select Screen has been organized so that there are two rows of of stages with them paired off at the top and and bottom. The upper a pair has been denoted "Overside Stages" and the lower of a pair has been denoted "Underside Stages". (Although, Ice Climber's stage is the only one not to get a Reverse Stage.)
All the stages carry the same themes from various game worlds. For example:
Mario Series Visible: Castle Peach Reverse: Rainbow Cruise
Kirby Series Visible: Spring of Dreams Reverse: Green Greens
Starfox Series Visible: Planet Corneria Reverse: Planet Venom
And so on. Of course the music also changes. Isn't it fun waiting to see which songs were chosen? Yes, such fun....
So let's go on with the introduction.
Rainbow Cruise (Mario)
 The boat that sails the Heavens.
The boat scrolls along as it moves. The true image of the great blue sky. It is important to keep up with the scroll, for at times, the scroll may leave you behind. Also, the boat may sink in the middle of it's voyage.
Garden Jungle (Donkey Kong)
The sunset is....so bright!
Cranky Kong's Laboratory at dusk. Even a toilet stands, on a little annex. On the left and right there are separated platforms. The ravine in between the platforms is an important part of battles staged here. Be careful not to kill yourself.
A raging stream rampages below the screen. Anyone falling in will be swiftly washed away.
Temple (The Legend of Zelda)
Isn't this stage almost too big? Can you see the Falcon Kick?
This stage isn't really limited to the question "Where in the game did this come out?". Instead, this is just modeled after the Zelda series, creating the Floating Temple. (Because the Zelda series in itself changes quite a bit.) It is tentatively modeled on "The Adventure of Link".
Because the Temple is so huge, it can be used to play many games at once.
Yoster Island (Yoshi)
The slanted terrain is borrowed from "Super Mario World".
To make Yoshi's Underside Stage we had to reproduce a "Super Mario World" theme. Well, then again, it could also pass as "Super Mario Advance 2"....
Interacting with the yellow Spin Blocks are an important factor.
Green Greens (Kirby)
Hey! It's Whispy Woods!
Green Greens refers to the theme of Kirby's First Game's Stage 1. This stage is like the previous "Dream Land", except that Blocks and Bomb Blocks rain down from above and accumulate.
Planet Venom (Fox)
Venom is a desolate wasteland.
On Planet Corneria you see the Great Fox from a side angle. On Planet Venom you see the Great Fox from the front. The terrain has become tighter to work with, and winning a match is a bit harder. How well you utilize the four wings of the Great Fox is very important.
As you can see, there are around 5 more hidden stages. -Metroid -Earthbound -F-Zero -Pokemon -Classic Kingdom Are likely to be the themes of those stages.
Speaking of five stages, that's more than half the levels in the first game. The Hidden Stages reveal themselves as you play the game.
Right here.
There is also a that sparkling thing making its debut on screen, but it's one of those attractive extras.
Comparatively orthodox to the Overside Stages, the Underside levels may be divided too evenly. What if the Hidden Underside Stages were even more like that?
Though these probably aren't ideal Stages for really serious fights, it's more like SSB's style to play brightly for fun, and just go all out. It's better this way.
Even if you disagree, you'll get used to it. Maybe some people's favorites stages will be different from this style....
Have you noticed from all our previews the almost terrible amount of resources secretly going into this game?
No wonder the loads upon loads of work never seemed to decrease! Ha ha ha ha! Hmm....

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