OFFICIAL GAME & WATCH STAGE DISCUSSION INDEX!
New Announcements!
- We will be re summarizing all of G&W's common stages again. There is no wrong answer here
,feel free to share any thoughts you may have on the selected stage.
- After we've completed a number of stages, I will make a counterpicks chart showing all of G&W good and bad stages and most importantly,which characters they're best against.
- If you disagree with anything, or if you want to revisit a stage, please tell me and I'll add it to the list. .
- I'd appreciate if you used the format below so it's more organized and easier to read though you don't have to.
This thread will include a summary on how G&W performs on all the tournament viable stages. I will give a rating from 1-10 with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. A 5 is a neutral stage that offers no advantage or disadvantage towards G&W. I will also include characters that have a huge advantage or disadvantage against G&W on the stage and a brief explanation, so you will know which stages to Counterpick/Ban. Feel free to go to any of the stage discussions threads if you think something is incorrect or if you just have something to add. In order for this to work, I need your help! Contribute to the stage discussions! Feel free to add info (to the respective thread) on stages labeled "completed". "Completed" means I have completed the summary, but if you need to say something important, I'll will edit the summary and add whatever you have to say.
Format:
Summary -A short summary about how G&W performs on the stage and any particularly useful techniques/tactics on the stage. Also highlight a general strategy for this stage.
Rating - see below
Character -List any characters that does really well or really bad on this stage, to alert you of which stages to ban or counterpick.
Rating System:
1-4: Terrible stage for G&W. These stages should definately be avoided and banned.
5-6: Fairly neutral stage. No terrible advantages or disadvantages. G&W can fight on these stages, but for counterpicking purposes, there are definatly better options. There is no reason to shy away from these stages.
7-8: G&W does very well on these stages. He can utilize his tactics very effectively on these stages. Not a bad choice for counterpicking purposes, if G&W's best stages are banned.
9-10: G&W
excels on these stages. These should be your first counterpick options if they are not banned by your opponent.
Final Destination
Summary: Final Destination is the best stage for projectile users for camping and spamming. Game and Watch may not have any projectiles but he is not helpless, he has many ways to get around it. Crouch,bucket, or simply air camp and it is pretty easy to avoid most projectiles. FD's open space allows G&W to freely camp in the air and juggle his opponents better. The size of the stage also allows him to live to high percentages. It is also a great counter pick against metaknight because of how easy it is to punish his freefall if you uair any of his B moves. Overall the stage does not offer any solid advantages for G&W but it's not a bad stage for him either. I would still recommend avoiding this stage unless you have a good amount of experience on it. Though I highly recommend this stage for teams as it is great for living long and landing smashes.
Rating:5/10
Characters: I'm going to list the more common match ups only
Even to Slight advantage 
Avoid :ice:
Note:
is not on there because it really is not THAT bad for G&W.
I didn't list Snake as a problem character. I feel once you learn how to dodge his grenade then Snake camping you isn't a real problem any more. Maybe we just have this mentality "Oh jeez it's FD against Snake, I'm screwed"
At any rate, I'd ALWAYS ban Halberd first against Snake over FD.
Helpful Quotes
I personally think this is about 6/10.
The stage isn't as bad as we all used to think, obviously don't go there vs Falco, Diddy, ICs.
Honestly this stage is a good MK CP, especially those MKs that spam nado and such, since you can up-B pretty easily and punish the free fall lag.
Hm. I don't think it's terribad for Game and Watch. I think a lot of GnW players don't have enough experience on it or when they have played on it they've played characters like Icies and Diddy and begins to think, "Oh snap. I'm bad on this stage. I need platforms!" They feel more safer with platforms. Which makes sense. I think it has some perks, though. It's a good MK CP. I think all in all Game and Watchers lack experience from Final Destination because they figured they'll never go on it or use it. So they just never really know what to do which is why they do bad. I say about 6/10 for FD. Just learn the stage, honestly! Shouldn't be worse than that.
Some characters really hate FD, while G&W doesn't care much about which stage he's on for the most part. Against Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Ike for example, they just kinda sit around and get owned by their limitations on this stage lol.
BattleField
Summary
One of G&W's best stages for 1 reason,PLATFORMS:D. Nair is your best friend on this stage as it's great for hitting your opponent through the platforms and overall great for when your opponent is in the air. They also allow more set ups for Fairs, bairs , uairs and smashes if you pressure your opponent. The top platform allows G&W to safely camp against most projectile users and the side platforms positioned right near the edge can be effectively used for pressuring your opponent when they are offstage or on the edge. Dropping down from platforms with Fair,bair, or nair is also great and unexpected for some free damage or even K.Os. In addition, Dair's hitbox can go through the platforms and hit your opponent if they're close enough(more effective against big characters). The spacing between the platform and the ground also allows dtilt to be more effective on this stage. Overall with the three platforms and the size of the stage, G&W can easily control the stage with his many tools.
Rating: 9/10
Characters:
I will only list the more common match ups.
Advantage: 
even to slight advantage:
Avoid:
Quotes
You have soooooo many dumb options against DDD to poke him into oblivion.
On BF, sit on a platform and D-tilt. Walls the hell out of 95% of his options, and it's a great edgeguard. Keep in mind, if you edgeguard with this, his <100% getup attack DOES reach the platform.
Chef is awesome against D3, especially if he's on the edge and you space it correctly.
I'd say about 8/10!
I like take most characters here! Personally I don't like taking Olimar, Snake, and Marth here.
I really like the platforms. It makes me feel safe. Great against bigger characters because of dair, dtilt, and dsmash. Love taking Diddy here as a neutral to escape bananas better with upb. Nair a lot when they're on top of the platforms. Keep them up using uair. Really love this neutral! Only issue is other characters can take advantage of the platforms. But it's a good GnW starter. Try and go here!
Ducking in general is one of the most underrated movement options, and just because most people don't do it (and they don't) doesn't mean it's not good (it is). Just moving lets Mr. Game & Watch do it safely; ducking lets you punish him!
Just for fun, here's the list of characters Mr. Game & Watch can key through the platform. A * will indicate those who can't duck under it.
Mario
Luigi
Peach
Bowser*
Donkey Kong
Yoshi
Link
Zelda
Sheik
Ganondorf*
Samus*
Zero Suit Samus
Pit
R.O.B.
King Dedede*
Fox
Falco
Captain Falcon
Charizard
Lucario
Marth
Ike
Snake
Sonic
Can't key through platform list (in general):
Diddy Kong
Wario (except during one of his idle animations in which he extends his hitbox up)
Toon Link
Ice Climbers
Kirby
Meta Knight
Olimar
Wolf (you can snag him during his frequent idle animations)
Pikachu
Squirtle
Ivysaur
Jigglypuff
Ness
Lucas
Mr. Game & Watch
Dsmash through platform list. Yeah, this exists against the huge guys. Everyone can duck under it, and dtilt works too if you like doing less damage.
Bowser
Donkey Kong
Ganondorf
Snake (only when his head is high)
Note: Samus and Charizard can be hit during one of their idle animations but not in general. This is different from the situation with Snake because it's not their usual bobbing up and down but one of the poses they like to go into once in a while.
Yoshis Island
Summary
Rating:5.5/10
One of G&Ws worst neutrals simply due to the size of the platform on a small stage. The size of the stage immobilizes him, making it difficult to camp and the large platform in the middle adds on to this,giving G&W only the edges to properly space. The large platform makes it difficult for G&W to approach normally and forces him to rely on his ground game and short hop aerials,which can get predictable. Almost every character with a projectile benefits on this stage because of it's tunnel like structure, making it easier to spam/camp, adding more pressure to approach. A benefit that G&W has is that your opponent can be easily forced to land on the platform when they are in the air, giving you opportunities for damage/pressure from below(The slanting of the platform adds on to this). The slanted and flatness of the ledge allows for a few tricks(quoted below) and effective planking. Overall this is one of G&W's worst stages where a number of characters can exploit his weaknesses but G&W does have his normal advantages here if we work around it.
Advantage: Most low tiers as Usual
even to slight disadvantage:
Disadvantage
Avoid:
The right side ledge of this stage is very special if G&W is under 100%. If you tap the jump button to get up from the ledge, you will instead just fall back down.
Some neat tricks you can do with this are:
- Any falling air attack.
- Weird UpB invincibility.
- While holding left, press jump then hold shield.
- While holding left, press jump then buffer a tilt or a smash.
Yeah, have fun playing with those. Getting up with shield is incredibly fast!
YI is a very meh stage. There is no reason to want to go here... The platform is large enough that our nair won't force a hit (on BF or lylat we push them far enough till they fall off the platform), and we can't realy key through to poke our opponent from above. We can't run away that well, and there is no way to approach vertically. Our linear approach is intensified, making this a pretty bad stage for us. We do have the below 100% trick on the right ledge (where instead of jumping when pressing jump on the ledge we just instantly let go/appear on the stage). I can't think of many match-ups where we'd CP here, except for maybe ness, but this stage is just bad for ness in general.
I will say however that sometimes the shy guys can really extend the duration of our smashes, making for really lulzy kills.
When you shield or get hit by a naner, 90% the banana seems to land on the platform lowering his combo ability a little. Also, Shy Guys are troll. They'll intercept naners and peanuts.
D-tilt at the edge will keep him from MFKing back to it and force him to barrel.. You could probably even f-tilt the MKF if he's in kill %.
Also, that ledge trick can be pretty useful if they're just trying to zone you out while you're on the ledge. Stand up fsmash can create some breathing room, and they can't really get over it since it'll be slanted up lol. Stand up dsmash is also good, since its hitboxes are big ****ing circles around his hammers, meaning you can hit opponents who thought they were safe.
I find this stage to be excellent against space animals, especially Fox. The only characters I don't like to face here are Oli and Marth, and although I wouldn't take a Snake here, I'm not worried since no Snake that I know of would pick YI to start or as a CP. Without MU experience I can't say much for it, but it doesn't feel that bad to me. I like it better than Lylat because I don't get stuck under the ledge here, and it's defs better than FD.
Don't like this for the same reason as halberd, the middle plat :L,makes approaching very difficult, especially against characters with projectiles and range(marth,olimar,ZSS,DK,TL,snake,etc). Still a decent stage for juggles. Also when the plat is slanted towards the edge,dtilt can be a decent edgeguard lol. Shy guys can be used to prolong smashes and we have a few tricks with the slanted ledge.
I don't really think there are any characters that we have an advantage against on this stage, in fact the flat ledge helps alot of characters with bad recoveries.
Also i feel if you control the platform and abuse prediction of the tilts it can create us pretty easy openings. If you approach when the platform is at full tilt your approach doesnt need to be as linear and in the mean time i think we have more defensive spacing ability here too. That's all ive found from experience though i guess.
depends how you play and who you play i guess.
Lylat Cruise
New Thread: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=279597
Pokemon Stadium 1
New Thread:
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=282192
