Allright, time for the last bunch.
Blacklisted Stages:
Big Battlefield: Platforms! There's a lot of movement options here. You'll be spending a lot of time on platforms so pressing down is a potential escape option more often. The layout is good for vertical combos. However, it's just a bit too easy to circle camp on this stage (variable circling paths), so I'm afraid it should stay not legal.
Mario Galaxy: Such a boring stage. It has two platforms at awkward heights. There are permanent walk-offs, which are bad. The only interesting thing about this stage is the gravity curve; too bad it's not the fun type of interesting. Sticking with "not legal" here.
Mario Circuit Brawl: It has its good and bad points. The shy guy karts are slow and telegraphed in both directions, so I see nothing unfair about them. The platform is... semi-interesting. I think it would work better on a bigger stage. Speaking of which, this stage is tiny! With permanent walk-offs. That's such a bad combination. Bye-bye legality.
Jungle HIjinks: Now this is an interesting stage. The layout, both parts, are unique. And the whole "battle in the foreground and background simultaneously" angle is rather amusing. But therein lies its downfall - it is too easy to force no interaction with no risk. All you have to do is be on the other area as your opponent waiting by a barrel. As soon as they go into a barrel to chase you, you do the same to avoid them. The transition time is significant, making this effortless to pull off. Sure there's times when one side is just barrels and no land, but stalling is still really easy even then. Banned!
Luigi's Mansion: I don't get all the hate this stage gets. Sure there are two solid platform "caves of life", but the way the stage is laid out their tops form a secondary fighting ground. And if you don't like them, you can even destroy them! Oh and there's even a third fighting ground with the roof for variety.
The mansion won't reform if even a single piece of the mansion is left unbroken. This means that you can keep the battleground cut in half vertically, horizontally, or shrink it down to a quarter, all to suit your playstyle or tip the matchup in your favor.
Quick story - Ganondorf's f-tilt is lethal here. It sends you at the perfect angle to avoid the solid platforms, so teching cannot save you.
I can't remember if I've played tournament matches here or not, but I'd be willing to try it.
Bridge of Eldin: Such a meh stage. It's flat all the way through to the blastzone on both sides, meaning permanent walk-offs (bad!). The only interesting thing that happens is that a piece of it blows up, leaving a hole. The hole is a bit too wide - some characters have such bad recoveries that it's too much of a risk to cross it, so the battle can come to a standstill at times.
Quick story - I have thrown people into the bridge-destroying bomb for incredibly early kills.
Another quick story - I have been trapped underneath the reappearing bridge piece, leading to a quick demise.
Legality: no.
Temple: Yeesh, where to start... mostly circular cave of live, too large, circle camping... just, no.
Pyrosphere: I really like the stage design. Since the platforms are so close to the edge there are more options than usual for recovering. If only Ridley wasn't there I'd be all for this stage being legal. That being said, Ridley is there. Boss monsters are an automatic "not-legal" from me.
Port Town Aero Dive: I really like 90% of this stage. I like that it has transitions, I like the transitions, and I even like how the floor hurts (you're moving at supersonic speeds after all). At times the track is so close to the main stage that you have to choose between recovering earlier/higher or taking the hit.
The only bad thing about this stage is the cars. They come at you unreactably fast and kill early. They ruin an otherwise legal stage.
Wooly World: Too much circle camping, and walk-offs for long stretches of time. Sorry, Wooly World.
Yoshi's Island Melee: Um, what? How is this stage so poorly received it made it into this list? This stage is amazing. There are so many tactical things to do with the blocks. Sure you can tech off of them to prevent dying, but after that the blocks go inactive so you still have to avoid follow-ups. Hitting the ones on the ground affect approach options and are a good way to counter against things like MK's dash attack -> up-air -> death or Fox's dash attack -> death or even Bayonetta's side-b -> stuff -> death. This cuts both ways, meaning that you'll have to approach differently as well.
I bet people will complain about the walk-off. Unlike every other walk-off, this one is slanted upwards. How is that important? For one, tethers and projectiles will not follow the curve and thus go right over the head of anyone approaching. I think the only two exceptions are a grounded Blade Beam (Cloud) or the projectile part of Final Cutter (Kirby). If someone tries to camp in shield on the incline, pepper them with retreating aerials. Due to the height difference this is easier for the attacker to do.
You will have to watch out for attacks that slide along the ground, those will follow inclines (Ike's side-b, etc.).
Here's something you probably don't know - if someone is sitting in shield on top of the blocks and you hit the one they're standing on, they will be forced to drop shield as they'll be in mid-air. I use this to get tipper up-airs all the time.
I have had several tournament matches on this stage and they've been fine. Legal!
The Great Cave Offensive: See Temple, but worse.
Orbital Gate Assault: I have no problems with maneuvering around this stage. After three times being there I had all the events timed out. Every time I say "3...2...1...Boom!" to correspond with the exploding shields people look at me funny. It's sad. Just... learn the timing, know when you're going to be airborne, and figure out what the best aerial to hit your opponent with is. It is very easy to not die to the stage with the tiniest bit of effort. Legalize it.
Onett: Permanent walk-offs, bad! And I don't like how the vehicles have transitioned. They used to be a threat, now they're a joke. Gone are the days when I can grab and pummel to stall for a car kill. I miss that. *sniff*
Gamer: Ok. So. This stage. This reception level. How? No. No! This is possibly my most favorite stage in the game. First, you have the semi-random layouts. That means you have to adapt to the layout, which I like. And none of the pieces are excessive. People like to complain about the wooden block, but it's not bad. It's only ever on the left end, so even if they tech a few times just hit/throw left for a kill. It's not like it's on the middle of the stage where they could survive a hit in either (horizontal) direction.
And then there's Mom. She's amazing. Her mere presence multiplies the pressure you put on your opponent, so the player with the cooler head comes out on top. She shows up in so many different ways that you have to have situational awareness (in case you couldn't tell by now, I value a lot of different traits in players). Some of her appearances are pretty funny. The best one, though, starts off with ominous music. She'll then walk the length of the stage, then back, then... well, a couple of things.... basically she acts like a survival-horror monster.
Did you know that Mom will break a full shield? Most likely. Did you know that you could counter Mom's gaze attack? Probably not. Did you know that said counter-attack can kill at 30%? Very doubtful. It's nearly impossible to land but yes, it is a thing.
This stage should be legalized. I wouldn't mind if it was the only legal stage. I have played a lot of tournament matches here and they were amazing.
Pilotwings: Did you know that the two bottom things of the yellow plane have edges that can't be grabbed? I didn't, until I tried to recover to them. Whoops! Anyway, the tilting makes this stage hell for Robin. A less specific observation is that the solid wall cockpit makes a nice little hidey-hole that's really hard/annoying to approach from some angles, and leads to semicircle-camping for the other angles.
The cons outweigh the pros here, but it's close. Keep it not legal.
Coliseum: Permanent walk-offs, so... banned! Although if the shifting stage thing was done on the omega form's base instead this would make for a great stage.
Flat Zone X: Ugh, so many things wrong here... There are permanent walk-offs, so it's out already. Then there's the plethora of stage hazards, which by sheer number would disqualify the stage. Which is made worse by how some hazards basically teleport, meaning they're unreactable, meaning yet another disqualification. And what multiplies everything above is how small the stage is.
Palutena's Temple: Way too big. See Temple, but larger.
Skyworld: I'm surprised this isn't in the red list instead. Sure, the stage is basically a giant cave of life, but you can destroy the walls. Or your recovery move can destroy the floor you were going to grab onto. Or the floor can respawn as you were recovering through the hole. ...look, I never said I'd have it legal, just that I was surprised how poorly it was received.
Garden of Hope: Another stage I really like on this list. You can get some nice follow-ups from the stick, but since it's so short it's harder to kill with than real walls. Hitting someone into the crab (has a telegraphed appearance) is always entertaining.
There's only one real roadblock to this being legal, and that's the scales. You can stall indefinitely there, and if you keep it at the blastzone there are many characters that cannot make it back to the main stage, meaning it's suicide to even try to reach you. This can be solved with a simple "no scale stalling" rule. It's not like there haven't been anti-stalling rules in previous games.
Legalize it! With the anti-stalling rule.
Wii Fit Studio: Permanent walk-offs, bad. Otherwise the platforms could've made it a decent stage.
Boxing Ring: Permanent walk-offs, bad. Bouncing on the rope is fun, at least.
Gaur Plain: A combination of too big and a boss monster. Tsk tsk.
75M: It looked really fun at first, but the lack of a long segment of solid ground is really disruptive. Most of the time it devolves into a series of aerial potshots. Also, Donkey Kong and the springs hit way too hard. The flames are alright though. Then there's too much circle camping potential. Sorry 75M, you're out.
The ladders are magic. You can cancel anything with them.
Wrecking Crew: Seriously? This is one of the more unique stages in the game. Despite the several layers of platforms most of the fighting takes place near/at the bottom. At worst, the bombs are just temporary projectile blockers. Getting caught in the barrels never happens. I assume the ladders are also magic. I see no reason not to legalize this stage.
Willy's Castle: Curse you, Yellow Devil!! If it weren't for you this stage would be legal. Having moving platforms outside the main fighting area is a unique gimmick. Plus, MegaMan stage!
Suzaku Castle: Permanent walk-off, bad. The side without it isn't fun to fight on, either. Too much air.
PAC-LAND: Of all the things that could be said about this stage, this is what really gets me - you cannot grab any ledges. Given how platformer-y some segments are this is unacceptable. Not legal.
Hyrule Castle 64: This was a great stage in 64, and it's a great stage now. Deal with the tower like you would the Duck Hunt tree. The whirlwind is slow and easily avoidable. I see no reason not to have this stage legal.
Midgar: It's Battlefield with particle effects. Leviathan affects both players equally. Same with Odin (just avoid the super telegraphed, super thin attack, that I've never once seen anyone be hit with). Bahamut Zero is telegraphed with several seconds of warning, making it very easy to avoid. Ramuh changes the platform layout while only one of them is electrocuted at a time. Ifrit is the most disruptive, and even then... meh. I see no reason not to have this stage legal.
Ugh, why did I think it would be a good idea to do this? These posts took forever. I'm going back to one-liners.
-PoptartLord
