Ideal Stages for Our Plumber

[NotEvenAmatueR]

Hello fellow Mario players. I have noticed that there is no thread on Mario's stage selection, so I have took it upon myself to make said thread.This thread is intended to inform Mario players on what stages they should go to, as to avoid picking the wrong stage that could cost them the game. What are our ideal stages for Mario? For reference, here is the usual stage selection for tournaments. I will add a general consensus for each stage as we go.

Color checklist:

Green- This is a stage that Mario can depend on and will almost always be a good stage choice for optimal play.

Yellow- This is a stage that is neutral for Mario but it can sometimes benefit him depending on the matchup.

White- This is a stage is absolutely neutral for Mario. You are most likely banning this stage because it is your opponent's best stage. (Or, it is the filler color for stages not fully discussed yet.)

Orange- This stage is sometimes bad for Mario but can be neutral depending on the matchup. You may want to ban these stages.

Red- This stage is bad for Mario in most to all matchups, and it is reccomended that you ban these stages.

Stagelist:

Starter:
Battlefield/Miiverse
Final Destination
Smashville

Starter or CounterPick (usually starter):
Town and City
Lylat Cruise

CounterPick:
Dreamland 64
Duck Hunt

CounterPick or Banned (usually banned):
Delfino
Halberd
Castle Seige

I have a poll created for which stage we will discuss first. The choices you have currently are Battlefield, Smashville, and Final Destination since they are practically guranteed to be starter stages. For the next week, feel free to talk about your opinion on any of the legal stages before we decide which starter stage we will discuss. Enjoy the discussion folks!

 

[CaliforniaSoul]

Bump........

 

[DunnoBro]

Really depends on the situation.

If mario needs to play the "Get in game" then he wants the smaller stages which make that easier(BF, Dreamland). If he needs to play the "stay away from me game" he wants the bigger ones(FD, T&C).

In general, I find smashville a rather poor stage for him unless they're fox or sheik so they'll give you more respect on the ledge so your bthrow won't kill them at 80.

It screws up his edgeguards, his fair punishes, and doesn't really offer him anything but better bthrow kills. He doesn't even combo off grabs on the platform very well. I only like taking fox/sheik there because I need to play "Get in" but it's hard to kill them without bthrow.

Lylat's pretty good because it lets fireball cover more ledge options at times (depending on the slants) and in general be awkward to avoid. It also doesn't really hinder him in anyway way.

Duck hunt's good vs recovery weak or otherwise slow and fluddable characters because fludding them towards the top left platforms makes it really hard for them to avoid SJP/Dair. Good Bthrow stage too. Essentially FD with some platforms, lower ceiling, and walljumps. (And dthrowing atop the dog can be stock pretty easily )

 

[Smoking_Hot_BBQ]

Battlefield is a tight stage for Mario with little distance between him and his opponents, so aggro Marios do well here. He can also up air enemies into oblivion thanks to the platforms meaning he can land and do more up airs. In addition, the low vertical ceilings, especially from the top platform also give him good vertical kill opportunities with up b and upsmash.

 

[KenMeister]

Battlefield is a great stage for mixing up Mario's otherwise linear approach options and expands his combo potential. Great for limiting zoners or characters who rely on space (Pika, Sonic, Yoshi) not great against characters who play stage control better or trap our landings super hard (Falcon, DK)

 

[Skeeter Mania]

Literally the only person I've ever heard say that BF is a bad stage for Mario is A2ZOMG , and honestly it isn't even that effective.

I agree with everyone here, though.

 

[A2ZOMG]

BF is absolutely horrible if you're trying to come back from behind or against any other character that does super well with Rage or actually has good juggle KO options, given several of Mario's most practical KO options basically become noticeably less viable. You don't have a reason to fear jumping out of shield vs a Mario tomahawk on a platform at high percents, and having the option to choose to not get hit by his U-smash when landing is a pretty massive deal.

It's a little better against characters that have poor Rage synergy such as Sheik where chipping at her repeatedly with weak aerials isn't as likely to give her stupid comeback potential, really bad against characters like Link, Fox, Falcon and ZSS. Link and Falcon for instance are ridiculous threats with Rage, and bad landing options are much harder to abuse when there are platforms to mix up options, while Fox and ZSS as well as Falcon not only can outmaneuver Mario but they abuse platform juggles better than him. Frankly in most cases, I can't see why you would want to give up free U-smashes on landings on a character that doesn't exactly have any guaranteed early KO confirms.

 

[KenMeister]

BF is absolutely horrible if you're trying to come back from behind or against any other character that does super well with Rage or actually has good juggle KO options, given several of Mario's most practical KO options basically become noticeably less viable. You don't have a reason to fear a Mario tomahawk on a platform at high percents, and having the option to choose to not get hit by his U-smash when landing is a pretty massive deal.

It's a little better against characters that have poor Rage synergy such as Sheik where chipping at her repeatedly with weak aerials isn't as likely to give her stupid comeback potential, really bad against characters like Link, Fox, Falcon and ZSS. Link and Falcon for instance are ridiculous threats with Rage, and bad landing options are much harder to abuse when there are platforms to mix up options, while Fox and ZSS as well as Falcon not only can outmaneuver Mario but they abuse platform juggles better than him. Frankly in most cases, I can't see why you would want to give up free U-smashes on landings on a character that doesn't exactly have any guaranteed early KO confirms.

I mean, you pretty much hit the nail on the head on who I wouldn't use BF against: characters who benefit from platforms more and make landing for us even more of a chore. But I'll gladly use it against characters like Pika, Yoshi and Sonic where they rely on space to set up their traps and move around freely to bait opponents. Platforms limit alot of their options in neutral.