The most neutral stage in melee.

[Dragoon Fighter]

I know that none of the starter stages are truly neutral, I am fully aware of this, However out of the starter stages which one do you think is as close to neutral as you can get given the options? Why do you believe that the stage you picked is as closest to neutral as possible stage in melee?

I am putting my money on battlefield but I wish to see what others have to say.

 

[EPsilon933]

Final Destination
Fox/Falco get chain thrown

 

[hungrybox]

dreamland.

 

[CloneHat]

People usually seem to have the least strong feelings regarding Battlefield.

FD has chaingrabs, DL 64 you get camped and people never die, FoD is just annoying with the wiggly platforms, and Yoshi's Island is really small and you die early. By the end you're like "Hey, there's actually a stage left over."

 

[Kason Birdman]

dreamland.

lolfu

Battlefield knocka

 

[Pi]

i agree with dreamland

 

[MarioMariox2]

Battlefield (as described by Sakurai and friends) is the most basic and balanced of stages (for Melee/Brawl. 64 it's too big) and for good reason. 3 unwavering platforms floating atop a flatland. You can walljump, but less than in Yoshi's. You can survive quite a bit, but less than in Dreamland. There's well spaced non-moving platforms (unlike FoD). Ample but not too much room for projectile camping on ground level (unlike FD).

It's The Mario of stages.

 

[Zodiac]

dreamland.

ditto'd

10 char

 

[otg]

I'd say it's battlefield.

 

[KirbyKaze]

Pokefloats

 

[h!tboxexplo!ter]

mute city hehe
actually battlefield imo. it has no stage hazards, the blastlines are reasonable, bigger than yoshis smaller than dreamland, and the bottom is perfectly flat like fd. if ps could be frozen id be tempted to say otherwise tho

 

[-ShadowPhoenix-]

battlefield...

if dreamland had smaller boundaries then id choose it...

 

[Iron Dragon]

It's definitely FD. If you think about it, most stages have something weird to them even IF they're neutral. FD is completely flat and has no real problems that I can think of.

But other stages have SOMETHING weird that can mess you up. Battlefield has the weird ledges so you can't always recover a certain way you wanted or w/e. Yoshi's Story has Randall which can help or hurt people. Dreamland has Whispy who may not seem like a big deal but a lot of people complain of him too. FoD has the strange moving platforms so really all of them have something weird goin on.

 

[mers]

Deciding which stage is the "most neutral" automatically implies a judgement call about the ideal way that Smash is played. Player preference can never be separated from rulings on neutrality, which is where a lot of the controversy on banning stages or anything else comes from.

I'm not saying that making these judgements is wrong, just that everyone should realize that this question comes down to personal preference and there is no way to definitively answer this or any similar question.

 

[Siglemic]

It's definitely FD. If you think about it, most stages have something weird to them even IF they're neutral. FD is completely flat and has no real problems that I can think of.

But other stages have SOMETHING weird that can mess you up. Battlefield has the weird ledges so you can't always recover a certain way you wanted or w/e. Yoshi's Story has Randall which can help or hurt people. Dreamland has Whispy who may not seem like a big deal but a lot of people complain of him too. FoD has the strange moving platforms so really all of them have something weird goin on.

battlefield's ledges are constant, so they don't make the stage any less neutral. people don't like the ledges, but that doesn't take away that it's the most neutral stage. they just haven't learned to deal w/ the ledges

 

[Brookman]

dreamland.

This gets my vote.

Final Destination
Fox/Falco get chain thrown

Chain throws dont balance anything. peach/marth/fox/dk/roy/pikachu/pichu/doc/etc being able to chain throw fox falco doesnt even help them all that much.

 

[Griffard]

I guess dreamland? Battlefield seems like the logical choice on paper, but given the shape of the boundaries and the way that the stage can gimp recoveries seemingly randomly, it really isn't that perfect. DL64 is slightly better (but by no means perfect) because the boundaries are pretty equally massive, platforms aren't too close together, and I can't come up with another good reason.

 

[MT_]

Battlefield is made to be neutral. Think about it. All the multi-man melees are played on Battlefield. It follows the standard 3-platform setup and is the middle-man between size (of both stage and boundaries) and spacing of platforms between all other stages that have this setup. Furthermore, it has no gimmicks (like Randall or the wind-blowing tree from Dreamland) intentionally added to it.

For the smaller extreme, Yoshi's Story is there. For the bigger extreme, Dreamland is there.

I bet the reason they have Final Destination is because fighting Master Hand on a stage with platforms would just be weird LOL. But yeah that's the ONLY stage that doesn't have platforms so I wouldn't use it as a prototype for the most neutral stage. Battlefield fits perfectly.

 

[TheZhuKeeper]

If battlefield was a little wider and had larger horizontal boundaries, then I think that'd be it.

 

[edgeluca]

If it didn't have transformations, I'd say Stadium.

 

[The Star King]

If only, if only. My vote goes to Battlefield, the ledges aren't a issue at all if you know how to deal with them (it astounds me how much of the community hasn't learned to yet).

 

[Rostigalen]

If X didn't have Y, then X.

(battlefield all the way)

 

[Brookman]

. But yeah that's the ONLY stage that doesn't have platforms so I wouldn't use it as a prototype for the most neutral stage. Battlefield fits perfectly.

silly 1-player mode comments aside: This.

 

[Nø Ca$h]

rainbow cruise because nobody has an advantage.

 

[Brookman]

rainbow cruise because nobody has an advantage.

kill yourself.

 

[MooseEatsBear]

If dreamland had no tree blowing people around, I'd say dreamland, but I have to say Battlefield.

 

[G.L.]

battlefield for sure. DL is too big

 

[JBM falcon08]

We should just look at all of the tourney matches from apex. That would show us what is technically the most neutral, assuming both players prefer that level or aren't against having to play on it(No johns).

I would have to say DL64. its only two flaws to me are marth's weak arms and whispy messing with on-stage battles.

 

[Velox]

Battlefield for sure.


Everytime you do random strikes with someone to determine what the first stage is going to be, you always end up with Battlefield at the end. The only thing bad about it is the ledges (and they are GAY..)

 

[Brookman]

If dreamland had no tree blowing people around, I'd say dreamland, but I have to say Battlefield.

That's it u.u

I'm unsubscribing from this.

 

[MooseEatsBear]

That's it u.u

I'm unsubscribing from this.

What's that supposed to mean?

 

[Archangel]

If battlefield had walls to ride then I'd say Battlefield.

 

[Nø Ca$h]

this thread is stupid it depends on matchups and player preference.

 

[trahhSTEEZY]

the thread is stupid but anyone who says FD sounds even more stupid. How does adding chaingrabs to so many more matchups because of this level make it a good neutral?

literally the least balanced stage of the 5, less than pokestadium (why is poke even banned? cause fox's waveshine lock? that's alot more situational then getting a 0-death chaingrab on FD.)

But i agree with spam that battlefield would be the most neutral if it weren't for the ledges/nowallride.

next i'd have to say FoD.

 

[Rubyiris]

waveshine lock on ps is nothing. it's the fact several of the transformations are outright disruptive to gameplay, and unfairly favor certain characters and strategies.

It's a rare case, but supporting my argument are the fire and ground transformations, which a defensive player gets to burn an entire 60 seconds off the clock just by retreating to the left side of the stage and can, without fail, punish any attempt at approaching.

The neutral transformation is hardly any different from FD. Characters retain their FD chain grabs, but also get easy auto-tech chases on the small platforms. The lack of a top platform to retreat/position yourself on is a huge problem. The most "neutral" part about PS is easily the grass transformation.

BF, and PS "grass" transformation are as close as you're going to get to true neutrals.

 

[trahhSTEEZY]

I wouldn't say they retain their FD chain grabs at all, you can easily slowly DI each chain-throw towards a platform, where as, on FD, there is no platform to save you.

I do get the retreating to the left to hide can be gay, but how often is that abused to take advantage of the clock? not many people time-out nowadays. Now chain-grabs, those do happen nowadays, and very often. FD gets abused more than poke ever has.

it's apparently such a good stage for spacies, which i think is just a placebo honestly. I just love the way the stage is, it's not over-crowding with a platform not in the middle, to attempt not platform combos in the center, but then you also have the platforms to use for other combos.

 

[Kanelol]

Final destination sillys


Sure, you can chaingrab there

but that's not the stages fault, it's imbalances in character weights

 

[Deleted member]

FD imo.

Every decent character has something they can use in their match ups vs other characters on FD whether it be chain grabs, tech chasing, or the flat and platform absent stage to juggle and combo horizontally.

 

[trahhSTEEZY]

the stages arent forced though, the characters are

 

[Van.]

Battlefield by a huge margin, but characters with walljumps are slightly disadvantaged, and characters with grapple recoveries are moderately disadvantaged.