I'm starting to realize how much I actually like Duck Hunt and dislike Halberd as of late.
I stopped counterpicking Halberd like two weeks after the release of Smash Wii U. It's just not super great for Ness. I would say only like a fourth of my KOs are done with uair, and that's our only way to kill vertically.
Though lately I have been thinking about counterpicking it more often. The fact that you can pk thunder through the stage on the first transformation is really useful and it's a good stage for Ness if you can exploit that.
But yeah it's one of the few stages I stay away from.
I love Duck Hunt. My favorite stage to take Luigi to. The ceiling is large, and there is lots of space to run around. This means it's easier to run away from Luigi or any other slow character if you're feeling pressured. Plus the walls are so easy to thunderbounce off of. I love it a lot.
I haven't posted in this thread actually.
So almost every stage is good for Ness. It just depends on the matchup. There are some general trends to help pick stages though.
Longer stages are nice against characters that Ness is more mobile than. And if you want to play a matchup defensively against a slower character you should go to a shorter stage.
Vice versa if you're playing against a fast character. I prefer shorter stages against characters that are faster than Ness. It gives them less room to take advantage of the fact that they can travel across the stage faster than me.
Platforms are on a case by case basis.
Stages with low ceilings don't help Ness that much. I know I don't get most of my kills with uair. I rely very heavilly on bthrow, bair, and dsmash to KO. So many of the other top tier characters have superior vertical KO options than us, so I tend to stay away from low ceilings. But if you're playing against a character with no vertical kill options, go for it!
Stages with transformations are wonderful for Ness. They remove the bottom blast zone so during transformations Ness's biggest weakness, his recovery, is removed! Plus transformation stages tend to have walk offs and walk offs are amazing for Ness. His fthrow and bthrow are so threatening and you can get a very early kill off of a read.
So keeping all of that in mind lets go through the stages.
In terms of length the longest ones are
Duck Hunt, Final Destination, Town and City, Halberd 2nd transformation
Shortest ones are
Smashville, Castle Siege 1st transformation
The other ones are pretty medium length I find. Only these stages really stick out to me in how their length matters.
Low ceilings:
Halberd, and then Town and City
For specifics about each stage:
FD: Because there are no platforms it's easier to land pkt2s in the middle of a pk thunder juggle. This stage is better against characters that have trouble getting juggled. If you catch them without a double jump in the middle of a juggle, you can kill them easily with pkt2. Also because there are no platforms, it is harder to get back on stage from the ledge. So against characters or players that are good at ledge guarding, avoid this stage.
Battlefield: This stage has a slightly higher ceiling than FD. Barely worth mentioning but it's there. On this stage you can usually pk thunder juggle more safely. You can cancel your pk thunder on platforms if you miss, and if opponents air dodge through your pk thunder they might land on a platform instead of the stage. It is harder to land pkt2 on this stage however because you have to pk thunder around the platforms. The platforms are nice for dthrow combos and stuff. And they help us get back on stage while we're on the ledge.
Smashville: The platform can lead to killing very early on our side and theirs. Rage fthrow, or just killing with bthrow earlier. You can also do a dthrow to triple fair right into the blast zone. It's a very good platform for Ness to get kills. It's also an amazing platform to get out of juggles and ledge guards. It helps a lot when you're recovering too. So this stage depends on the matchup. If you find that you're usually in advantage, and most of the match you're edgeguarding them, and juggling them, stay away from this map. If it's vice versa, then stick to this map. It can be harder to pk thunder juggle cause opponents can land on the platform and just shield while they're recovering offstage.
Lylat Cruise: It's not mega awful but it is Ness's worst stage. Recovering here is not as problematic thanks to the patch, but can be annoying due to tilting. It's very difficult to abuse the platforms. This stage is not good for Ness. It's one of your default bans, but sometimes other stages are a higher priority depending on the character. If you're not sure though, just ban this stage.
Town and City: I honestly don't really notice the platforms too much on this stage. I don't have much to say about them. It has the second shortest ceiling, and is one of the longer stages.
Castle Siege: probably Ness's best stage. The first transformation is really useful for combos cause it's so small and you can bait people into airdodging and landing on the platforms with landing lag. Plus walls are nice for thunderbouncing. The second stage is great for early kill throws. And the statues can create walls of pk fire in the neutral which is very interesting in useful. Love the second transformation! The third transformation is whatever.
Delfino: Another great Ness stage. No recovering, walkoffs, all great! The water is really great for spiking people, and you can take that chance with Ness. It can be very dangerous against other characters that have spikes though. I don't have much to say about the default layout.
Halberd: Shortest ceiling in the game and it shows. The first transformation allows you to use pk thunder through the stage, so this can allow for creative pk thunder juggling and pkt2s. Very nice aspect of this stage. The second transformation is incredibly long, and everything that usually comes into play with long stages is true here. I barely notice the hazards when I play here. I don't pick this stage much just cause ness only has uair.
Duck Hunt: High ceiling, long stage. Walls allow for good bouncing. The platforms aren't super mega useful or important at this point. But perhaps in a couple years the intricacy of the platforms will be explored.
So every stage is useful except for Lylat. Though I don't pick Town and City or Halberd often at all. I love Siege and Delfino the most, though I counterpick all of the other stages depending on the matchup.
I also go for Halberd and both AC stages for their music and looks as well.
