Best stages for Bowser?

[Ranias]

Hey all. I've been mostly just playing on For Glory since release. I want to be more prepared for when I play in an offline tournament. Do you all have any input on what can be the strongest tournament legal stages for Bowser? I know it depends on my opponent's character too.

I guess Bowser is weak on FD because of projectile spam right? Is he strong on Yoshi's Island?

 

[Netherfall]

Any stage that has platforms is good for Bowser, meaning Yoshi's and Battlefield are great. Battlefield is probably better than Yoshi's due to the stage ceiling not being super high and how good his side B is. He can also take full advantage of his weight and still hits hard enough to KO other characters at lowish percents. I would avoid Lumiose City though due to how easy it is to combo Bowser to the blast zones when its flat. That's just my opinion though as I don't play in tournaments often.

 

[Anragon]

Yoshi's Island is absolute beast. It benefits a lot to Bowsers D-tilt and F-smash with the angled ground and platform. And it helps his recovery a bit (walls, lucky up-moving platforms).

You can try Ferox as well, Bowser is nearly unkillable on this stage and most of the transformations benefit his Side-b.

Ban/avoid DF and Lumiose in general, Bowser doesn't like flat stages in general (and Lumiose's edges are ****ed up sometimes when you try to recovery with up-b).

 

[Kooky Koopa]

Funnily enough, I am actually finding FD fine as Bowser but am struggling on Battlefield. I was considering starting a new thread but since we're talking about stages, I think the only one where he really suffers is the after mentioned.

While I found it manageable in Brawl, I've been spoiled by FG 1v1 for too long and this has pretty much made me rather helpless on Battlefield platforms as I have no idea how to utilize them effectively, especially in the new format. Ganon's side-b blasts me onto one of the lower two platforms and I eat an up-smash or vs other melee characters, they harass me with f-airs and u-airs as I desperately try to get back to ground level. As well, against ranged characters, the platforms feel like they get in the way I try to meet them back on the bottom level once more. Any advice fellow Bowsers?

As for the rest of the levels, I feel the FG/FD is fine for Bowser so long as you got your shield work down and know what the characters are capable of. Particularly vs ranged they got no where to hide and closing the distance is simply a case of blocking at the right time and knowing your spacing. That said, Prism tower I felt was quite a smooth transition for Bowser despite the changing of the level all around. That and the aftermentioned Yoshi's Island feels quite good to sneak in a few good up-smashes. I struggle though when it comes to the above mentioned BF.

 

[Mr. Bones]

Kooky's right. Battlefield makes it hard for Bowser to get around in Sm4sh when you're fighting a faster character that knows what they're doing. It makes them easier to keep Bowser above them: where he's nearly helpless. He can't even Up-B off the platforms anymore. If customs are allowed, Dash Slam actually switches this around completely.

You can use Aerial Dash Slam/Claw to ledge-cancel off of the platforms and move around like a maniac.

As far as basic Bowser goes, Yoshi's, FD, and Lumiose are fine. He isn't easily camped anymore and has better tools for rushing down projectile spammers now. With Lumiose, you can come through the main platform with aerial Up-B for it's increased damage and snap to the ledge for a pretty safe attack. You can also shark through it with other aerial moves and recover afterwords. Just avoid doing this against characters with Meteor attacks, obviously.

It's not nearly as hard to get down from Yoshi's one platform, so you can still go there and use it to your advantage as well. Never played a serious match on Ferox, but I'm sure there's some neat stuff for Bowser to try there. I'll test it out later.

 

[Ranias]

Okay, so my opponent's character is pretty important for my stage choice then. Yoshi's Island is probably the default best stage since it has a platform and is wavy, has shy guys, etc. I don't want to have the disadvantage of having platforms in my way when fighting fast melee characters. I also don't want the disadvantage of having one long stage when fighting projectile spammers.

 

[MrEh]

Platforms have merits because of Klaw shenanigans and Usmash being stupid.

Flat stages have uses because of Bowser Bomb chases.


Mostly matchup specific really.

 

[B!squick]

Flat stages are the worst because Jiggly can just spam Rollout. :O

 

[Popi]

My best stage with Bowser is Prism Tower and Battlefield at the moment. My worst matchups are with Robin and Diddy and these stages counter them I guess.