Kj64 as starter? Looooool
Run away all day attack from under the stage, use barrels to recover, utilize slants against projectiles... How is this better than lylat?
If you have a projectile and it matters in the matchup... strike it :o
If you play a character that doesn't have a strong aerial game, you'd strike this stage. You can't platform camp most characters here so it shouldn't not be a starter just because some characters can't deal with it. That's their weakness; by having Kongo, you are catering for more aerial characters since the rest of the starters already help characters that stay on the ground enough. With Kongo in a matchup with a super aerial character vs. a character that heavily favours the ground, you would strike to Smashville.
You can play the go under stage game and die for it sure, all it does is add dimension to recovery. Rather than Lylat, which takes away. Also you shot yourself in the foot, Lylat hurts projectiles far more than this stage and it does so randomly, rather than with a static tilt.
The barrel is like randall with the exception of, once you get in, the recovery is free since you become invulnerable when it shoots you. It is the biggest problem of the stage.
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S.D
There is nothing much wrong with only having 3 stages, but Kongo and T&C would get played sometimes I believe. You want to feel like you've catered to all matchups and have something for everyone. Just one example is I think Greninja vs. Jiggs would go to K64 coz Jiggs would probably want space and aerial room and good recovery options and Greninja has lots of setups on the platforms and would rely on being proficient in these scenarios and killing off the top. It doesn't matter much but it's not a big price to pay to have a few more players play on a stage they want more. everyone else can just strike Kongo and T&C, yeah.
To quickly address to T&C, it's literally FD half the time. There are platforms to use but you have to be strong without plats to use this stage.
I believe Kongo exists as a 5th starter because what the stages provide is actually still balanced, and will still strike to Smashville in the case of two characters who function oppositely. It is like FD for characters who like platforms; it is the extreme and polar opposite to FD (whilst still being a stage that doesn't transform). Matchups that would strike to Smashville with (BF, SV, FD) would also to strike to Smashville with (BF, SV, FD, K64, T&C)
Also, a sidenote in favour of the case of having 3 stages, I want to point out that it doesn't even matter who goes first when it comes to strikes.
Unless you don't understand your character at all, the progression of FD to Smashville to Battlefield is pretty obvious and you should know what you want and what they want.
For the record, I'd rather only have 3 stages than have Lylat in the starters. if you put Lylat in instead of Kongo, you have 3 stages that benefit characters who prefer to stay on the ground + Smashville, which depending on your stance also benefits the grounded portion of the cast rather than aerial characters.
That's completely ****ed d00dz