Kirby, Stages, & You
Instead of adding a new section to The Competitive Kirby, I decided to make this new thread for Stage analysis. This should make things easier to find, read, and disscus.
Updates:
2007-06-13: Added Final Destination
2007-02-09: Added Jungle Japes
Random Select stages
Kirby is not fast, doesn't have any projectiles to spam, and is far from being seen as a "combo" character. So what's a Kirby player to do? Well, you have to know what to expect from your opponent, and then find something to do against it.
For instance, it's likely - expected, even - that Fox and Falco will start Short Hopping Lasers at you right from "Go". Your options here are to crouch under them as you approach... or I suppose you could just Power Shield all of them. Seeing as crouching is much easier than 100% Power Shielding, I suppose that's a good way to start. If they shoot lasers low enough to hit a crouching Kirby, (power) shield it and continue onward.
Other forms of spammy projectiles are much easier to deal with. Turnips, pills, boomarangs, etc., take time to execute, can be caught, knocked away with an attack, and/or have lag in their use. Making your way toward these characters is much easier than against Fox and Falco. The exception perhaps being Shiek because her needles can be shot downward from the air and land-canceled like Fox and Falco's. Unlike Fox and Falco, though, she can't hit a crouching Kirby from far off. This just means that she's more limited in how to hit Kirby, so you'll know she'll have to jump into the air before using Needle Storm as you get close, which is a good time to move in for an attack.
Mobility is another problem for Kirby on Final Destination. Fast characters can take advantage of the wide space so much better than Kirby can. Captain Falcon, for instance, can run from one side of the stage to the other before Kirby can get his fat butt into gear. On top of it, other characters who aren't fast, but have a long slide, can use that in place of their dashes - I'm talking about Ice Climbers and Luigi specifically.
The best way to deal with these charactes is to be patient and to keep them guessing. Fast characters - aside from the "spammy" ones mentioned earlier - aren't especially adept at camping from a distance. Captain Falcon will have to move in for the attack at some point, Ice Climbers can't shoot blocks of ice at you forever, and Luigi's fireball is pretty lame. Keep your distance, and keep your guard up. You have to know what they'll approach with, and when they'll do it. Most of the time, fast characters will dash dance and then move in for a quick aerial attack - Ice Climbers will probably slide back and forth before coming in with a d-smash, jab, or grab usually accompanied by a desynch'd Ice Shot or Blizzard. You just have to know what to do in each of these situations and for each character.
Characters who are neither fast, nor spammy, are much easier to deal with on Final Destination. Specifically this includes Ganondorf, Donkey Kong, Roy,Yoshi, Ness, Game & Watch, Zelda, Bowser, and Mewtwo. These are about as "fair" of a fight as you'll find on FD.
Counter Pick Stages
It's important for you to know what your options are when counterpicking a stage. This is, of course, dependant of the rules of the tournament. It wouldn't, for instance, be very helpful to know a banned stage is a good counterpick. You're in luck, though, because Kirby's best stage is commonly allowed for a counter-pick. Jungle Japes!
The first question that you want answered is probably "Why Jungle Japes?" Or maybe it's "Which stage is that"? The answer to the later is "it's the Donkey Kong level with the river - not the waterfall - and the blue claptrap that jumps up and kills people." (the claptrap is affectionally nicknamed "Skill").
As for why, well, there are a number of reasons. First of all, Jungle Japes has an amazingly tall ceiling (tallest in the game), which does well for keeping floaty Kirby alive. Secondly, the whole stage in itself is a mindgame. Many people rarely play on this stage, and even if they do it still holds many advantages for Kirby, which I will now talk about.
The river adds an major obstacle to recovery. No longer can people expect to drop down safely and return to the top. This goes along with Kirby's D-air meteor exceptionally well. In addition, fast fallers such as Fox and Falco (banes of Kirby) have some of the most difficult of times recovering out of the river. Kirby, on the other hand, is floaty and actually benefits from the river's current allowing him to move horizontally under the wooden planks and recover at leisure. (just watch out for Skill!)
What's more is that the stage design helps making Kirbycides all that much easier! Two small platforms and a smallish main platform means lots of ledges, and we all know how much Kirby loves ledges! Backdrops, Forward Suplexes, and Swallowcides are all within easy reach now. But wait, there's more! Each and every ledge allows Kirby to U-throw Kirbycide quickly and easily. If you catch someone at the edge of one of the platforms, don't bother with damage, just do a U-throw and kill them mercilessly! In fact, players completely unfamilar with this level will often times SD by their own actions (Do It Yourself Kirbycide).
Edge Guarding is amplified as well. Dsmashes work great on an opponent who has to maneuver around your Edge Guarding, the river's current, and Skill's jaws. What's more, the platforms are so thin that they're hard to wall-tech from, and wall-grapplers like Samus and Link will find it exceptionally difficult to latch onto.
There are other advantages Kirby has on this level, which I will go into detail at a later time. For now, here are some videos of Kirby on Jungle Japes to show how Kirby can use this stage to his advantage.
Kirby vs Pikachu
Jungle Japes (Teams)
Upcoming Stage Discussion:
Instead of adding a new section to The Competitive Kirby, I decided to make this new thread for Stage analysis. This should make things easier to find, read, and disscus.
Updates:
2007-06-13: Added Final Destination
2007-02-09: Added Jungle Japes
Random Select stages
- Final Destination - Special Stages
Kirby is not fast, doesn't have any projectiles to spam, and is far from being seen as a "combo" character. So what's a Kirby player to do? Well, you have to know what to expect from your opponent, and then find something to do against it.
For instance, it's likely - expected, even - that Fox and Falco will start Short Hopping Lasers at you right from "Go". Your options here are to crouch under them as you approach... or I suppose you could just Power Shield all of them. Seeing as crouching is much easier than 100% Power Shielding, I suppose that's a good way to start. If they shoot lasers low enough to hit a crouching Kirby, (power) shield it and continue onward.
Other forms of spammy projectiles are much easier to deal with. Turnips, pills, boomarangs, etc., take time to execute, can be caught, knocked away with an attack, and/or have lag in their use. Making your way toward these characters is much easier than against Fox and Falco. The exception perhaps being Shiek because her needles can be shot downward from the air and land-canceled like Fox and Falco's. Unlike Fox and Falco, though, she can't hit a crouching Kirby from far off. This just means that she's more limited in how to hit Kirby, so you'll know she'll have to jump into the air before using Needle Storm as you get close, which is a good time to move in for an attack.
Mobility is another problem for Kirby on Final Destination. Fast characters can take advantage of the wide space so much better than Kirby can. Captain Falcon, for instance, can run from one side of the stage to the other before Kirby can get his fat butt into gear. On top of it, other characters who aren't fast, but have a long slide, can use that in place of their dashes - I'm talking about Ice Climbers and Luigi specifically.
The best way to deal with these charactes is to be patient and to keep them guessing. Fast characters - aside from the "spammy" ones mentioned earlier - aren't especially adept at camping from a distance. Captain Falcon will have to move in for the attack at some point, Ice Climbers can't shoot blocks of ice at you forever, and Luigi's fireball is pretty lame. Keep your distance, and keep your guard up. You have to know what they'll approach with, and when they'll do it. Most of the time, fast characters will dash dance and then move in for a quick aerial attack - Ice Climbers will probably slide back and forth before coming in with a d-smash, jab, or grab usually accompanied by a desynch'd Ice Shot or Blizzard. You just have to know what to do in each of these situations and for each character.
Characters who are neither fast, nor spammy, are much easier to deal with on Final Destination. Specifically this includes Ganondorf, Donkey Kong, Roy,Yoshi, Ness, Game & Watch, Zelda, Bowser, and Mewtwo. These are about as "fair" of a fight as you'll find on FD.
Counter Pick Stages
- Jungle Japes - DK Island
It's important for you to know what your options are when counterpicking a stage. This is, of course, dependant of the rules of the tournament. It wouldn't, for instance, be very helpful to know a banned stage is a good counterpick. You're in luck, though, because Kirby's best stage is commonly allowed for a counter-pick. Jungle Japes!
The first question that you want answered is probably "Why Jungle Japes?" Or maybe it's "Which stage is that"? The answer to the later is "it's the Donkey Kong level with the river - not the waterfall - and the blue claptrap that jumps up and kills people." (the claptrap is affectionally nicknamed "Skill").
As for why, well, there are a number of reasons. First of all, Jungle Japes has an amazingly tall ceiling (tallest in the game), which does well for keeping floaty Kirby alive. Secondly, the whole stage in itself is a mindgame. Many people rarely play on this stage, and even if they do it still holds many advantages for Kirby, which I will now talk about.
The river adds an major obstacle to recovery. No longer can people expect to drop down safely and return to the top. This goes along with Kirby's D-air meteor exceptionally well. In addition, fast fallers such as Fox and Falco (banes of Kirby) have some of the most difficult of times recovering out of the river. Kirby, on the other hand, is floaty and actually benefits from the river's current allowing him to move horizontally under the wooden planks and recover at leisure. (just watch out for Skill!)
What's more is that the stage design helps making Kirbycides all that much easier! Two small platforms and a smallish main platform means lots of ledges, and we all know how much Kirby loves ledges! Backdrops, Forward Suplexes, and Swallowcides are all within easy reach now. But wait, there's more! Each and every ledge allows Kirby to U-throw Kirbycide quickly and easily. If you catch someone at the edge of one of the platforms, don't bother with damage, just do a U-throw and kill them mercilessly! In fact, players completely unfamilar with this level will often times SD by their own actions (Do It Yourself Kirbycide).
Edge Guarding is amplified as well. Dsmashes work great on an opponent who has to maneuver around your Edge Guarding, the river's current, and Skill's jaws. What's more, the platforms are so thin that they're hard to wall-tech from, and wall-grapplers like Samus and Link will find it exceptionally difficult to latch onto.
There are other advantages Kirby has on this level, which I will go into detail at a later time. For now, here are some videos of Kirby on Jungle Japes to show how Kirby can use this stage to his advantage.
Kirby vs Pikachu
Jungle Japes (Teams)
Upcoming Stage Discussion:
- Battlefield - Special Stages
- Yoshi's Story - Yoshi's Island
- Fountain of Dreams - Dream Land
- Dreamland - Past Stages
- Pokemon Stadium - Kanto
- Rainbow Cruise - Mushroom Kingdom
- Green Greens - Dream Land
- Brinstar - Planet Zebes
- Mute City, F-Zero Grand Prix
- Poke Floats - Kanto Skies
- Kongo Jungle - Past Stages
- Flatzone - Superflat World
- Icicle Mountain - Infinite Glacier
- Temple - Hyrule
- Great Bay - Termina
- Fourside, Eagleland
- Yoshi’s Island - Yoshi's Island
- Brinstar Depths - Planet Zebes
- Big Blue - F-Zero Grand Prix
- Mushroom Kingdom
- Mushroom Kingdom II
- Venom - Lylat System
- Corneria - Lylat System
- Yoshi's Island - Past Stages
- Princess Peach's Castle - Mushroom Kingdom
- Kongo Jungle - DK Island
- Onett - Eagleland
