TP
Smash Master
Feel free to discuss anything about previous stages. I will change my overviews if you bring up good points. Please keep the main focus on the current stage, though.
Jungle Japes
Rating: 4/10
Legal? Often
Discussion:
Japes has a very high ceiling. This makes vertical kill moves less effective. You won't be killing with dash attack or Dair here, so don't worry about them going stale. Likewise, try to keep Ftilt and Fsmash fresh.
A large amount of the fighting will take place on the side platforms. This benefits people who are good at camping. If you are trying to reach someone who is repeatedly camping a side platform, mix up your approaches as much as possible. Sometimes come from the ledge, sometimes from the air, sometimes straight on with an aerial Choke. On the sides, you don't need to worry about DDD's chaingrab. Yay. Unfortunately, grounded Choke is next to useless on the sides. There is also very little Wizkick Canceling on this stage. These issues hurt your mobility, so try to stay in control as best you can.
The Klaptrap will test your awareness of your surroundings. He shows up attacking the right gap whenever the seconds part of the timer ends in a 7. He attacks the left about 3 seconds after that. The better you are at utilizing this, the more successful you will be. Regardless of the Klaptrap, always consider the option of spiking someone through one of the gaps. Most stages do not have such an opportunity.
When in the water, always hold RIGHT to survive longer. If you attempt a ganoncide into the water, the opponent starts going downstream first. This means that if you both have one stock left and you ganoncide on the left side of the stage, you will win.
When fighting in the middle of the stage, always try to get your opponent onto the platform to Uair them through it. The flat surfaces make autocanceling a breeze, which is always nice.
Ban against: Falco, ROB, Pit
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Luigi
Rating: 7/10
Legal? Always
Discussion:
Ganon is a big man, and he needs a big stage to be comfortable. PS1 is very large and open, which is great against characters without projectiles and unfortunate otherwise. Ganon has all the room he needs for Wizkick, Murder Choke, and dash attack. Other close-range fighters can usually beat Ganon by keeping constant pressure on him, but this stage is large enough to have a slower tempo. Ganon likes it slow. Be wary of the ledges, they can gimp you if you don't practice recovering on this stage. Here is a quick breakdown of the 4 phases of the stage. Note that the transitions between these phases can screw over multiple choke attempts. If you know a change is coming, just do a guaranteed followup from a choke instead of trying to choke again.
Neutral: This is a great layout for Ganon. The platforms are placed very nicely for Uairs. Use the large amount of space to keep the battle at a slower pace.
Grass: Like the neutral phase but with slightly less helpful platforms.
Water: The windmill is ultimately a bad thing. Ganon is too large to maneuver around it effectively. However, if you are near it but not under it, you can try to hit the opponent into the windmill. You will have a great positional advantage at this point. If you are to the left, you can hit them and have them bounce off the windmill and go offstage, ready to be edge guarded. Just be wary that the same can happen to you.
Rock: Beware the middle part. Walls are never a good thing for Ganon. In fact, don't fight at all on this part. Just stay away or let them approach you until the stage transforms again. Don't take stupid risks.
Fire: Again, don't approach. Get on one side of the little tree and stay there. Uair them if they try to get close. Utilt rules here. It will hit through the tree, and the opponent can't reach you in time to punish it.
Something cool about this stage is that it is very unlikely people will CP it against you. Campers do well here, but they have better camping stages to pick. You get to come to PS1 only when you choose to, which is when you are against other close-range fighters... such as MK. I am putting this down as our primary CP against MK because he destroys us on all other good Ganon stages.
Ban against: None
CP against: MK
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Ike, Sonic, MK, DK, Falcon, Diddy
Rating: 1/10
Legal? Always
Discussion:
This stage is all about mobility. If you don't realize how much that sucks, reconsider using Ganon. This stage favors agility and good recoveries, so there is pretty much nothing good here. Let's break it down a bit.
The ship: This is a pretty bad area for Ganon. It is cramped, which helps against campers but makes choking less effective. It has uneven ground, which hurts thunderstorming. It has a wall, not high enough for Ganon to use, but high enough for tilt locks to get him, not to mention DDD's wall infinite.
The left part: This is where Ganon's bad mobility comes into play fully. No choking game whatsoever here, especially with the very few ledges. Without those ledges, you must accept a huge vulnerability whenever you use Dark Dive. Don't even think of the concept of Wizkick Canceling. This part of the stage pretty much consists of your opponent waiting for you to be wide open and punishing. It is easy to die when going to the pendulum. MK and Kirby will kill you with an Uthrow at super low percents here.
The top-right part: Walk-off edge. Besides that, this area could be worse. Watch out for the donuts falling and you being unable to recover.
The better you know this stage, the better you will perform, but you will still be in an awful situation. Only one character hates the moving ground as much as Ganon does. There are no infinites on part of the stage, so this is a viable place to fight the Ice Climbers.
Ban against: Everyone who does not appear on another Ban list. This is our "standard" ban.
CP against: None.
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Ice Climbers
Rating: 6/10
Legal? Rarely
Discussion:
Green Greens is a place where one mistake can cost you a stock. Fortunately, Ganon mains are used to that sort of thing. The blast zones are very close on this level. This means chokes can start killing very early. In fact, choke is just great on this level in every way. If you choke someone on or near the blocks, they will have very limited options in getting up, which makes it easier to Fsmash, Dair, etc.
Another good thing about the blocks is how they affect Dair. If you Dair a block, the hitbox will stay out for a very long time, and unsuspecting foes will run right into it. However, the opponents can use the blocks as well as Ganon. They act as walls in some situations. Don't ever fight DDD here. People can camp behind the blocks too. It is possible for Ganon to Tipman lock an opponent against the wall, but very hard to setup.
The bombs deal 20% and kill you very early if you don't DI properly. With good DI, you can survive a bomb sending you to the nearest blast zone even at about 100%. Ganon's weight makes him a lot safer than other characters when fighting around the bombs. The apples also help Ganon. Some apples are food, which is nice. A few are bombs, which you just need to be weary of. The majority of the apples are regular projectiles. These are very helpful because they give Ganon an extra option when approaching campers.
Due to how close the blast zones are and the ability to go under part of the stage, recovering is not a big issue here. Obviously, this is good news. Even though edge guarding is less important on this stage, Tipman is still an effective option.
Ban against: DDD (though this is unimportant since the stage is rarely legal)
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: None
Rating: 9/10
Legal? Always
Discussion:
This stage is small. The main platform is not long and the side platforms are tiny. This means Ganon is always able to be right next to the opponent, which makes this a great stage against campers. Campers are also hurt by all the things on the stage that absorb hits. Uair is wonderful here, spam it. The blast zones on the sides are very close. This is good, since it means Fair, Fsmash, and Ftilt will all kill very early. Characters who rely on horizontal kills enjoy this advantage more than we do (DK), but vertical killers like it less (Pika).
The ground is uneven. This is bad, since it screws up thunderstorming. On the other hand, combine small platforms and uneven ground and you get a stage where DDD can't chaingrab well. Don't get caught up on the hittable part of the floor on the right. That area is bad for chokes and wizkicks. However, if you land a choke anywhere near that area, it leads to easy tech chasing.
Recovering on this stage is a breeze. The acid can come up and save you, and the fall-through bottom platform gives Ganon more options. Just don't misplace a choke recovery and end up dying. Speaking of the acid, it follows a predictable pattern. Learn the pattern. Once you know when the acid will be rising, you can do the most fun thing this stage has to offer: lavaciding. Ganoncide someone as the acid is rising and you will survive while they die.
You can refresh your stale moves on the hittable parts of the stage, so do that when you can. Don't ever fight a Wario here, or you'll endure 8 minutes of Dairs and you'll never touch him.
Ban against: Donkey Kong, Wario
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Pikachu, DDD, Fox, ZSS, other projectile users if they are being campy against you.
Rating: Who gives a ****/10
Legal? Rarely
Discussion:
The blast zones on this stage are very close. That means Choke>Dtilt can kill early hear, as well as Choke>iDA. You can live to high percents if you are good at teching. The blocks don't really give Ganon any advantage sadly. Avoid taking any chaingrabbers here, erspecially DDD. This really isn't a good stage for Ganon, but who cares? It's almost never legal.
Ban against: DDD if this stage is legal
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: None
Rating: 3/10
Legal? Sometimes
Discussion:
This stage is awful in a lot of ways, though it has a few redeeming qualities. We'll go from left to right. The walkoff edge is an awful thing for Ganon. Beware DDD on this stage. On the bright side, if you choke someone up the slope then the followups are guaranteed on every character. Just don't miss the choke and get thrown to death by anyone. The bottom of the slope is a great spot for camping for pretty much any character, Snake most of all. You can SH Uair from that spot until the rain comes and you will never get punished, it is so safe. Unfortunately, the rain sucks. Ganon does not have a good enough recovery to fight it at all. Get off the slope when it starts to rain.
Next, the plant area. The leaves suck, period. They mess up autocanceling and generally are not good for a big, bulky character like Ganon. On the other hand, the flower pills are awesome. They can force a normal getup, which means a free Fsmash to the face. Having a projectile to throw is always good for Ganon, since it gives him a new option. Wizkick is very effective on this stage because it basically attacks the entire plant area and the cancels. The bulb-orb follows a consistent pattern. Be smart and you won't get eaten.
Ban against: Snake
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: None
Rating: 6/10
Legal? Always
Discussion:
This stage is ALL about your awareness of your surroundings. If you aren't good at focusing on things besides you and the opponent, you will fail here. This stage is known for one thing: tilting. It tilts back and forth, meaning you are almost always on a slope. It also means that the stage can tilt away from you while you try to recover, thus gimping you. Awareness won't make that particular issue go away, sorry.
Normally, I don't recommend stages with slopes, because it messes with your autocancels. However, since this stage is so consistent compared to a stage like Yoshi's Island (Brawl) you can build a strategy around it here. Don't try to autocancel an aerial uphill. While going downhill, however, you can AC full jump aerials by landing on the platforms. The platforms are perfect for Uair spam. Of course, the platforms are also great for the Utilts and Uairs of many other characters, so stay off the platforms whenever possible.
Choking on a slope is greatly advantageous, unless every followup was already guaranteed on the opponent on a flat surface. If Choke>Dtilt and Choke>iDA are normally not guaranteed, they will be when the enemy is below you on the slope, because it takes them an extra frame or two to reach the ground and access their options. On the flip side, if jab is normally not guaranteed, it will be if the enemy is above you on the choke, because they are now within its range vertically. This greatly expands are choke game against Lucario, Marth, and Falco. Note that none of this paragraph applies to Wario or Squirtle because they can DI behind you after a choke, making them always immune.
Gimping is very easy here, and so of course recovering for you is more difficult as well. The tilting can block projectiles for you, which is nice.
Ban against: None
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Lucario, Marth, Falco, Wolf
Jungle Japes
Rating: 4/10
Legal? Often
Discussion:
Japes has a very high ceiling. This makes vertical kill moves less effective. You won't be killing with dash attack or Dair here, so don't worry about them going stale. Likewise, try to keep Ftilt and Fsmash fresh.
A large amount of the fighting will take place on the side platforms. This benefits people who are good at camping. If you are trying to reach someone who is repeatedly camping a side platform, mix up your approaches as much as possible. Sometimes come from the ledge, sometimes from the air, sometimes straight on with an aerial Choke. On the sides, you don't need to worry about DDD's chaingrab. Yay. Unfortunately, grounded Choke is next to useless on the sides. There is also very little Wizkick Canceling on this stage. These issues hurt your mobility, so try to stay in control as best you can.
The Klaptrap will test your awareness of your surroundings. He shows up attacking the right gap whenever the seconds part of the timer ends in a 7. He attacks the left about 3 seconds after that. The better you are at utilizing this, the more successful you will be. Regardless of the Klaptrap, always consider the option of spiking someone through one of the gaps. Most stages do not have such an opportunity.
When in the water, always hold RIGHT to survive longer. If you attempt a ganoncide into the water, the opponent starts going downstream first. This means that if you both have one stock left and you ganoncide on the left side of the stage, you will win.
When fighting in the middle of the stage, always try to get your opponent onto the platform to Uair them through it. The flat surfaces make autocanceling a breeze, which is always nice.
Ban against: Falco, ROB, Pit
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Luigi
Pokemon Stadium 1
Rating: 7/10
Legal? Always
Discussion:
Ganon is a big man, and he needs a big stage to be comfortable. PS1 is very large and open, which is great against characters without projectiles and unfortunate otherwise. Ganon has all the room he needs for Wizkick, Murder Choke, and dash attack. Other close-range fighters can usually beat Ganon by keeping constant pressure on him, but this stage is large enough to have a slower tempo. Ganon likes it slow. Be wary of the ledges, they can gimp you if you don't practice recovering on this stage. Here is a quick breakdown of the 4 phases of the stage. Note that the transitions between these phases can screw over multiple choke attempts. If you know a change is coming, just do a guaranteed followup from a choke instead of trying to choke again.
Neutral: This is a great layout for Ganon. The platforms are placed very nicely for Uairs. Use the large amount of space to keep the battle at a slower pace.
Grass: Like the neutral phase but with slightly less helpful platforms.
Water: The windmill is ultimately a bad thing. Ganon is too large to maneuver around it effectively. However, if you are near it but not under it, you can try to hit the opponent into the windmill. You will have a great positional advantage at this point. If you are to the left, you can hit them and have them bounce off the windmill and go offstage, ready to be edge guarded. Just be wary that the same can happen to you.
Rock: Beware the middle part. Walls are never a good thing for Ganon. In fact, don't fight at all on this part. Just stay away or let them approach you until the stage transforms again. Don't take stupid risks.
Fire: Again, don't approach. Get on one side of the little tree and stay there. Uair them if they try to get close. Utilt rules here. It will hit through the tree, and the opponent can't reach you in time to punish it.
Something cool about this stage is that it is very unlikely people will CP it against you. Campers do well here, but they have better camping stages to pick. You get to come to PS1 only when you choose to, which is when you are against other close-range fighters... such as MK. I am putting this down as our primary CP against MK because he destroys us on all other good Ganon stages.
Ban against: None
CP against: MK
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Ike, Sonic, MK, DK, Falcon, Diddy
Rainbow Cruise
Rating: 1/10
Legal? Always
Discussion:
This stage is all about mobility. If you don't realize how much that sucks, reconsider using Ganon. This stage favors agility and good recoveries, so there is pretty much nothing good here. Let's break it down a bit.
The ship: This is a pretty bad area for Ganon. It is cramped, which helps against campers but makes choking less effective. It has uneven ground, which hurts thunderstorming. It has a wall, not high enough for Ganon to use, but high enough for tilt locks to get him, not to mention DDD's wall infinite.
The left part: This is where Ganon's bad mobility comes into play fully. No choking game whatsoever here, especially with the very few ledges. Without those ledges, you must accept a huge vulnerability whenever you use Dark Dive. Don't even think of the concept of Wizkick Canceling. This part of the stage pretty much consists of your opponent waiting for you to be wide open and punishing. It is easy to die when going to the pendulum. MK and Kirby will kill you with an Uthrow at super low percents here.
The top-right part: Walk-off edge. Besides that, this area could be worse. Watch out for the donuts falling and you being unable to recover.
The better you know this stage, the better you will perform, but you will still be in an awful situation. Only one character hates the moving ground as much as Ganon does. There are no infinites on part of the stage, so this is a viable place to fight the Ice Climbers.
Ban against: Everyone who does not appear on another Ban list. This is our "standard" ban.
CP against: None.
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Ice Climbers
Green Greens
Rating: 6/10
Legal? Rarely
Discussion:
Green Greens is a place where one mistake can cost you a stock. Fortunately, Ganon mains are used to that sort of thing. The blast zones are very close on this level. This means chokes can start killing very early. In fact, choke is just great on this level in every way. If you choke someone on or near the blocks, they will have very limited options in getting up, which makes it easier to Fsmash, Dair, etc.
Another good thing about the blocks is how they affect Dair. If you Dair a block, the hitbox will stay out for a very long time, and unsuspecting foes will run right into it. However, the opponents can use the blocks as well as Ganon. They act as walls in some situations. Don't ever fight DDD here. People can camp behind the blocks too. It is possible for Ganon to Tipman lock an opponent against the wall, but very hard to setup.
The bombs deal 20% and kill you very early if you don't DI properly. With good DI, you can survive a bomb sending you to the nearest blast zone even at about 100%. Ganon's weight makes him a lot safer than other characters when fighting around the bombs. The apples also help Ganon. Some apples are food, which is nice. A few are bombs, which you just need to be weary of. The majority of the apples are regular projectiles. These are very helpful because they give Ganon an extra option when approaching campers.
Due to how close the blast zones are and the ability to go under part of the stage, recovering is not a big issue here. Obviously, this is good news. Even though edge guarding is less important on this stage, Tipman is still an effective option.
Ban against: DDD (though this is unimportant since the stage is rarely legal)
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: None
Brinstar
Rating: 9/10
Legal? Always
Discussion:
This stage is small. The main platform is not long and the side platforms are tiny. This means Ganon is always able to be right next to the opponent, which makes this a great stage against campers. Campers are also hurt by all the things on the stage that absorb hits. Uair is wonderful here, spam it. The blast zones on the sides are very close. This is good, since it means Fair, Fsmash, and Ftilt will all kill very early. Characters who rely on horizontal kills enjoy this advantage more than we do (DK), but vertical killers like it less (Pika).
The ground is uneven. This is bad, since it screws up thunderstorming. On the other hand, combine small platforms and uneven ground and you get a stage where DDD can't chaingrab well. Don't get caught up on the hittable part of the floor on the right. That area is bad for chokes and wizkicks. However, if you land a choke anywhere near that area, it leads to easy tech chasing.
Recovering on this stage is a breeze. The acid can come up and save you, and the fall-through bottom platform gives Ganon more options. Just don't misplace a choke recovery and end up dying. Speaking of the acid, it follows a predictable pattern. Learn the pattern. Once you know when the acid will be rising, you can do the most fun thing this stage has to offer: lavaciding. Ganoncide someone as the acid is rising and you will survive while they die.
You can refresh your stale moves on the hittable parts of the stage, so do that when you can. Don't ever fight a Wario here, or you'll endure 8 minutes of Dairs and you'll never touch him.
Ban against: Donkey Kong, Wario
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Pikachu, DDD, Fox, ZSS, other projectile users if they are being campy against you.
Yoshi's Island (Pipes)
Rating: Who gives a ****/10
Legal? Rarely
Discussion:
The blast zones on this stage are very close. That means Choke>Dtilt can kill early hear, as well as Choke>iDA. You can live to high percents if you are good at teching. The blocks don't really give Ganon any advantage sadly. Avoid taking any chaingrabbers here, erspecially DDD. This really isn't a good stage for Ganon, but who cares? It's almost never legal.
Ban against: DDD if this stage is legal
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: None
Distant Planet
Rating: 3/10
Legal? Sometimes
Discussion:
This stage is awful in a lot of ways, though it has a few redeeming qualities. We'll go from left to right. The walkoff edge is an awful thing for Ganon. Beware DDD on this stage. On the bright side, if you choke someone up the slope then the followups are guaranteed on every character. Just don't miss the choke and get thrown to death by anyone. The bottom of the slope is a great spot for camping for pretty much any character, Snake most of all. You can SH Uair from that spot until the rain comes and you will never get punished, it is so safe. Unfortunately, the rain sucks. Ganon does not have a good enough recovery to fight it at all. Get off the slope when it starts to rain.
Next, the plant area. The leaves suck, period. They mess up autocanceling and generally are not good for a big, bulky character like Ganon. On the other hand, the flower pills are awesome. They can force a normal getup, which means a free Fsmash to the face. Having a projectile to throw is always good for Ganon, since it gives him a new option. Wizkick is very effective on this stage because it basically attacks the entire plant area and the cancels. The bulb-orb follows a consistent pattern. Be smart and you won't get eaten.
Ban against: Snake
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: None
Lylat Cruise
Rating: 6/10
Legal? Always
Discussion:
This stage is ALL about your awareness of your surroundings. If you aren't good at focusing on things besides you and the opponent, you will fail here. This stage is known for one thing: tilting. It tilts back and forth, meaning you are almost always on a slope. It also means that the stage can tilt away from you while you try to recover, thus gimping you. Awareness won't make that particular issue go away, sorry.
Normally, I don't recommend stages with slopes, because it messes with your autocancels. However, since this stage is so consistent compared to a stage like Yoshi's Island (Brawl) you can build a strategy around it here. Don't try to autocancel an aerial uphill. While going downhill, however, you can AC full jump aerials by landing on the platforms. The platforms are perfect for Uair spam. Of course, the platforms are also great for the Utilts and Uairs of many other characters, so stay off the platforms whenever possible.
Choking on a slope is greatly advantageous, unless every followup was already guaranteed on the opponent on a flat surface. If Choke>Dtilt and Choke>iDA are normally not guaranteed, they will be when the enemy is below you on the slope, because it takes them an extra frame or two to reach the ground and access their options. On the flip side, if jab is normally not guaranteed, it will be if the enemy is above you on the choke, because they are now within its range vertically. This greatly expands are choke game against Lucario, Marth, and Falco. Note that none of this paragraph applies to Wario or Squirtle because they can DI behind you after a choke, making them always immune.
Gimping is very easy here, and so of course recovering for you is more difficult as well. The tilting can block projectiles for you, which is nice.
Ban against: None
CP against: None
If Norfair and Pirate Ship are banned, CP against: Lucario, Marth, Falco, Wolf
Norfair
