Come on kid, you know what i mean with the "but there's a lot of room to hit and run, then hope the opponent hits the water. It's just too good." Of course there's skill involved, read between the lines man, dont take it so straighforward. I thought my posts were usually too long anyway, if i started to explain everything i meant in detail i'd go on forever. I'd expect most of the sonics on these boards to know what i mean without me explaining to the T. By the word "hope," i didn't mean leave it to luck, if that is where your confusion stems from.
As for springing, I also use the side b to jump technique!! I follow it up with a spring asap, just in case. Usually i try to spring BEFORE i hit the water tho. Sonic is left with the spring falling animation, but it's better than hitting the water on the left side. I play it extra safe on the left anyway, and ive never had a problem with water drift in this level as sonic. And ive never, ever died from klaptrap in Brawl (tho in melee, i always did, don't know why..).
As for falco, i can see how he could be broken. I give my japes experiences based off of a friend i play frequently who mains falco. And he's very skilled, boost pivot grabs and SHDLs and all that. I beat him on japes more times than hes beat me, and that's because i use the water. As soon as he's offstage, i keep him that way. Maybe it's cause i know the way he plays well enough to avoid all his falco spams, i don't know. I gave what ive seen in my experiences. Falco dies easy in japes water, esp on the left where he has to use firebird (not phantasm) to recover from a lower position (which is why he can't use phantasm). Easy gimps. But when i play as falco, i also use japes as a choice stage, chain grab --> dair is pretty amazing here and that's prob why people say he's broken here. Plus camping lasers.
Oh and as for the right side, obviously the level itself is short on the right, so easy KOs on the right (for both players, as KID would like me to say). If they go into the water, follow them and drift with them, and pop up with them, then hit them again. As long as you play it safe (don't let yourself go too far to the left) you'll be fine. It's a pretty good strategy that's worked for me in the past and it's impressive! Also, sonic is still quick enough to cover the ground and air while the opponent is drifting toward the left in the water, so you can easily catch up to him and push him further toward the left edge (gimps, or be there waiting for him when he hits the ground). Sonic's speed makes him good for the level, even without a long, flat running plane to play the dash and grab game.
Sorry for confusing anyone i confused.
Oh yea, now someone correct me if i'm wrong, but i played a friend's olimar here the other day and he got wrecked due to pikman drowning (except blue) and drifting. As soon as he hit the water, he never made it back. But that's the only time ive played oli here so i can't say for sure on that.
Never played ROB here, never played a decent DK or Lucario here, so no input on them.
I really, really like this stage. Along with poke stadium 1, it's my favorite. A good, good sonic level, even without the large running area.
Ahh, forgot to mention ice climbers. No experience with them here, but i was thinking it'd be pretty good to get them here. The water would bring out sopo cause of easy nana deaths, but someone confirm since my exp doesn't lie with icees.