Best Peach Stages

[nevermore]

Hi,

I’m fairly new to competitive smash (I’ve been playing a while and have a solid basic game, but I just found this website and discovered the advanced techniques within the last weeks so they are not incorporated into my game yet), but I want to try improving my game and maybe attending some tournaments to help learn more.

I know most tournaments let losers pick the stage and since I’ll probably be in the loser bracket until I can master the fancy stuff I want to get the best possible use out of my stage picks. Sadly, I don’t know what stages are best for what characters because my friends and I almost always play on battle field and corneria. So, what are the best stages for Peach, and what are the worst stages for the characters I’d likely run into at a tournament.

thanks

[Pikapower]

best stage for peach is:
-kirby's dreamland 64
-FD

[TiRune]

what peach generally doesn't like are small stages with the 3 platform setup.
Fountain of Dreams, Battlefield and Yoshi's story. Pokemon Stadium is in the middle and is neither good nor bad.

[RyokoYaksa]

Play on:
Mute City
DL64
Venom

Avoid:
the Yoshi stages
Onett
Pokemon Stadium if it's against Isai
All stages with low ceilings (especially against the Flaco)

[stilettotrap]

Someone should make a list that tells which stages have the smallest and largest boundaries... maybe I'll do it.

[About Linus]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Corneria. Peach is deadly on Corneria. There are no platforms (save the ships that flight high above the stage) so she is free to use her aerial moves. The edges are fairly far off the screen so she can make recoveries fairly easily. And of course its EXTREMELY easy to combo with Peach near the tail of the ship.

EDIT: I guess the original poster did mention Corneria. But yeah ... it's a great Peach stage.

[D'oH]

What about the DK stage with the rap? Down smash covers the rock entirely, and sometimes the main stage auto CCs....

[UndrDog]

Her ideal level is one with alot of room to come back, abnormal floor that sucks players to it (Like DK Jungle), and ones with walls. too bad there arent many like that. Peach's Castle is a good one. and so is Venom. Corneria is a big level, but has small boundries.

[Yuna]

I think MK I is kinda an anti-Peach stage. In some tourneys, it's not banned, in some it is. If it's not, very afraid, be very afraid, since she has a hard time KO:ing opponents there.

The stupid blocks regenerate all the time, keeping her from KO:ing with the fthrow, even without DI. The only real killer move she has there is the dsmash is aimed right and the usmash, neither of which are easy to pull off (as killers).

[Mikey Lenetia]

Well, there are her aerials, too, but you're right. It's way too hard to KO at the MK for anyone because the blocks suck away the momentum of the move used. You'd basically have to stick by the outside all the time, which is not a smart move, to KO.

[TiRune]

Corneria isn't a good peach stage in tournaments. when u have more damage then the opponent. he can just camp it out (peach has a disadvantage on the attack against most high tiers (at least, mine does >.>).) and you'll get comboed against the wall way 2 ez (fox anyone?)

DK jungle against anything that has decent knockback attacks (Marth, Doc, Sheik etc.) isn't very wise either, you just wont recover as well as u normally would and camping against peach is a big factor there again.

Stick to Mute city, KD64 and FD (last one not against falco, but meh).

[UndrDog]

just be careful of Mute city against Sheiks. she can grab combo and Peach needs time to run away from time to time. Peach does very well when the level stops moving and you have room to work. but I'll your moving its hard to avoid Sheik's attacks. and recovery onto the smaller platform while your moving is very difficult when you very little room to land and Sheik can smack you off again with one of her aerial moves.

[Mikey Lenetia]

True, but on the flip side, there are absolutely NO places to edgehog, which is a huge part of Sheik's game. The only way she can hope to come back is if you miss your target when she gets back on the stage. Which, because of the amount of time she needs to simply get back to her normal stance after landing from her up B, is not going to be that common...

[Yuna]

Originally posted by Mikey Lenetia
Well, there are her aerials, too, but you're right. It's way too hard to KO at the MK for anyone because the blocks suck away the momentum of the move used. You'd basically have to stick by the outside all the time, which is not a smart move, to KO.

The only aerials that she has with a remote chance of killing someone in MK I is fair if aimed correctly and uair. >_>'.


Also, I don't know about NTSC, but in PAL, Mute City is waaaay in Peach's favor. There are no real "grabcombos" with Sheik if you DI and tech.

[UndrDog]

I can only think of one vid that supports my view on Mute City. and I wouldnt bother mentioning just one vid, but this is of Mike G and Isai. two very good smashers. if you wanna find it on DC++ look up Mike G, Isai, 04. I just felt sorry for Mike G during alot of his attempted recoveries.

[Yuna]

With all due respect, Mike G. just screwed up >_>'. The final kill was kinda a suicide. He went under the stage and up + b:ed, but it was too late. It had already started moving and he started falling down to certain death.

[RyokoYaksa]

Mike G also only found out that day that Mute City was good for Peach. So he wasn't at all familiar with it and had no idea how to exploit it. No doubt that that's changed now.

[Yuna]

I can't really remember, it's been a long time since I watched those vids. So Mute City was Isai's counterpick actually?

[RyokoYaksa]

It was Mike's counterpick since Dave, Hein, and myself kinda influenced him to pick it. Didn't work out 100% since he was new to the stage.

[UndrDog]

ah, ok. I know he is up there with the best of the other Peach's and I figured if he had issues on it then wow. but I guess that clears things up.

Oh and RY, clean your PM Box. ^^

[flagitious]

I don't think any one has mentioned DK 64. I don't really play on there but I think its good for peach. Tall ceiling, can up b through the ground, tilted ground.

Anyways for peach I like:
Mute city, anoying but too good
DK 64, theoretically
Jungle Japes, i think its banned, but i say its good for her too
Dreamland 64, i dont actually like this level but its too good for her
Final Destination, not bad, pretty reasonable level for peach
Battle field, not bad
Pokemon stadium, not bad

[Yuna]

The only reason why I dislike Battlefield is that Marth automatically tippers you with usmash.

[Quetzalcoatl]

What are you guys talking about? Mike G won that match, it was one of the few he did win.

Mute is good for peach but its essential you know the stage, it's really best for countering sheik only too. I would take all other characters to dream land or fd.

[Yuna]

For some reason I remember him dying on Mute City because he accidentally Paraol Attacked too late. Maybe that was another match/other people.

[Quetzalcoatl]

that was sastopher vs 1psmetet, and yes, that moment was very hard to watch..

[Sastopher]

Originally posted by Quetzalcoatl
that was sastopher vs 1psmetet, and yes, that moment was very hard to watch..
You're telling me... I've never been quite so friendly with that stage since that match. Plus, I really hate the cars in SSBM. We have a long, troubled history that goes way back. It's best not to talk about it.



While it's definitely a good strategy to play to Peach's strength of recovery and pick large stages with wide sides and tall ceilings, you have to be careful. Peach enjoys survivability, but she also depends somewhat on being able to force an opponent into turtling. She needs to corner or harrass the other player in order to compete against most of the top tiers. She isn't a hit-and-run or a chip-damage character like the fast fallers. She's sluggish, and her aerial ability dwindles when pushed beyond the height of a single jump. In a sense, she's like Sheik and her tilts, pressuring the opponent and making her near and dangerous presence a continual consideration.

This is my opinion, and it comes heavily from my own play, but I find Peach a character that relies heavily on feints and spacing. What makes her hover so useful is that you can relatively quickly and easily adjust height and distance from your opponent, and do so more precisely than other means of movement (dashing, wavedashing, or even dash-dancing) and all while remaining in one of your most deadly stances. Ideally you try to find some zone that exploits Peach's strengths and encumbers the other character. This isn't possible on larger stages with relatively high platforms.

I find larger stages can be a serious disadvantage to Peach when confronting a flighty character. Fox and Falco, specifically, can really punish a Peach on Dreamland or Dk64 by merely remaining defensive the entire game. They have the space to do it, and the platforms are entirely too high for Peach to persue easily. Really, it's best to take these characters to smaller stages. This makes it all the more possible to actively engage the opponent. There must be somewhere to run to for the hit and run tactic to be of any use. FoD is a decent choice, and despite my horrible relationship with Mute City, it is still a good choice against many characters. I'm warming up to Battlefield lately too, as it's odd ledge creates problems for many other characters' recovery, while Peach's remains mostly unhindered. A troubled recovery means easier and more successful edge-guards, which all Peach players should find a very, very good thing.

Speaking of edge guards, there's one last factor to note. Downsmash is somewhat unique in the sense that it hits characters back over and behind Peach. This creates interesting edge-hog -> downsmash combos. Peach does well when there is not an additional platform for opponents to land on, or at least one that isn't too close. In dreamland, for instance, the platform is shifted inward and is significantly higher than the main stage. Yoshi's Story, on the other hand, comes out over the lip of the stage and is relatively low to the ground, making edge guarding of this sort almost impossible.

Anyway, I've talked mostly long enough. A sort of summery follows.

Sheik:
DL (Dreamland) (Depending on Sheik. If they're known to play highly evasively, I'll consider other stages more seriously).
FD
MC (Mute City)(No edges make edge Sheik a sitting duck if she's forced to up-b.)

Fox:
DL (Again, depends on style of opponent)
FD
BF (Battlefield)

Falco:
FoD
BF

Marth: (Peach suddenly gets the advantage of being able to adapt to the hit-and-run style using veggies against a marth, so larger stages are once again preferable.)
FD
DL
PS (Pokemon Stadium) (This isn't really a stage of choice, but it's probably Peach's next best option with a limited stage selection.)

Falcon:
FD (Yay chain grabs.)
DL
MC
FoD (Low platforms can make kneeing difficult at times, combo potential for Peach.)

That's all the important characters, i.e. all that matters.

[3-D]

Actually, I would have to disagree with some people about the platforms. For me, I have found that one of peaches strongest attacks is her smash down A attack, when she spins around. It has good range and damage. It useful for those people who like to sidestep a lot. The best stage I find to use this attack is at "Fountain of Dreams" because of the moving platforms. If Peach can get on the platform when it is moving on the enemy, meaning the platform is above the enemie's waste, the using the smash A can put on at least a good 50% dmg. It takes timing and practice but it is very effective.

Also with small stages, It's true that Peach gets thrown very far with little damage, so its dangerous to be in a small stages. If you find yourself in a small stage or a stage where the edge of the platform is close to the end, the best move to use is her crown attack (when shes in the air, she swings that crown of hers). I admit it took me a long time to get the timing correct, especially with people with counterattacks like Marth, but it can knock your foe with low dmg a good distance. Then I just mess with them by throwing a lot of radishes.

So if you ever find yourself in a stage with platforms or that's small, there are some things that can be used.