Wario's Castle - Stage Discussion

[#HBC | Joker]

Wario's Castle!​

Let's talk stages! Here's some of my favorite stages.

Fountain of Dreams
I think this might be Wario's strongest stage. The side platforms are pretty low to the ground, so you can dsmash most characters through them. They also move out of the way to give you some room to roam every once in awhile. The side blastzones are on the smaller side, but Wario will generally survive anything that would have allowed him to make it back to the stage. Top blastzone is really high up there, to help improve Wario's survivability. Ledges also have nice big walls, which is important for recovering with sideb.

Final Destination
Not sure if this is just personal preference for me, or if it's actually a good stage for us. With all the room to roam, I just feel like it's really easy for Wario to dance and weave circles around most opponents.

Dreamland
Gives you lots of space to move, and platforms to retreat to. Depending on the character you're facing, this can be a very solid stage for Wario.

Smashville
Basically a smaller FD, but with a nifty platform floating around. If you can catch somebody with a sideb on the platform out over the edge, it's quite satisfying. Floating platform allows you to setup great gimping opportunities on most characters. Platform is about the same height as the side ones on Battlefield. This means you can only reliably dsmash Bowser through it, but you can often catch Charizard, Marth or Ganondorf. DDD can also be dsmashed, but you have to aim for the ball on his hat, which is tough.

SubSpace Emissary: Jungle
TONS of space to move about. The platforms are even spaced perfectly for zipping around with edgecancelled sidebs.If you catch someone with a sideb on the higher platforms at a reasonable %, they're toast. The lower platforms are also low enough that you can dsmash most characters through them.

Yoshi's Island: Brawl
Has those nifty walls for recovering, and if you catch somebody with the platform tilted downwards, you can dsmash most characters through it. If it's level though, you won't hit anyone, not even Bowser. If the ghost platforms pop up when your opponent is offstage, and they aren't going for it, you can jump out there and spike them with dsmash.

Yoshi's Story
This stage always nets early kills, and Wario is certainly capable of delivering on those. Platforms you can dsmash through, walls for recovery, Randall. You can spike your opponent if they are offstage, and you dsmash while standing on Randall! The only thing is one doesn't have is a lot of room for you to run, which can get you stuck in pressure more often, and opponents can get the early kills on you almost just as easily. It's a bit of a double-edged sword. Choose the right MU for this one.

Dracula's Castle
Again, nifty walls, tons of room, and lowest platforms that you can dsmash through. Nice.

Pokemon Stadium 2
It's a pretty solid neutral for Wario, because of it's open space. The platforms don't really get in the way, but they're still there in case you need them. The sides of the stage also have okay sized walls for you to sideb into.

Metal Cavern
I think this stage is pretty solid for Wario as well. It's not like the other stages where you have a ton of room to run around, but it's small size presents another opportunity for Wario. Tech chases. You can cover most of this stage with a sideb! They simply can't get away. This is pretty matchup dependent though, since there are characters out there who like this stage more than you do. Bowser, for example. In the right MU though, why not?

Overall, I think Wario tends to do good with a lot of space to move around and abuse his mobility. That's not to discount the little ones though. On stages like FoD, I think Wario can do serious work by limiting his opponent's escape options, and putting them right where he wants them.

Let's hear some other opinions! Discuss

Any info related to stages is welcome.

 

[Translucent]

Big stages are the best against any character without good projectiles. I <3 Dreamland. I dislike Yoshi's story because of it's size, but that's probably just my preference.

 

[#HBC | Joker]

The thing is, in certain MUs, if you go for the big stages, you'll just get camped with projectiles. Like, Toon Link is an insanely annoying matchup on Dreamland. On Metal Cavern, or Fountain of Dreams though? He's not getting away from you on those.

 

[Translucent]

Yeah, I like big stages against characters with no or a bad projectile. I would like small stages against characters that are bad at dealing with shield pressure, such as zss Imo. I'd probably end up going back to dreamland because I love it so much .

 

[#HBC | Joker]

So after watching a match of Reflex's, I saw him do something that I thought was pretty sweet, and I figured it was counterpick worthy material. On the ghost platforms that pop up on Yoshi's Island: Brawl, you can attempt to spike your opponent with dsmash if they are recovering. I imagine this would also be really useful on Yoshi's Story, using Randall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OSUJjSDghus#t=800s

 

[DMG]

He's pretty versatile on the stage list, tends to boil down to specific MU threats/traits that he wants to avoid. Like Marth on Battlefield is asking for trouble, camper on big stage bad, etc.

 

[TheReflexWonder]

I agree with DMG, though I'm not sure what to make of those specific matchups, because I have little stage knowledge and usually just play things by ear.

 

[Bobz]

Thanks guys! Going into tournaments for Project M and loving Wario I still had no idea what stages to go for.

I read this thread a while back and in two of the Xanadu tournaments so far I've been picking Fountain of Dreams and it has worked like a charm. I think I am wary of picking the low platform stages for fear of a marth or big character, but the moving platforms on this stage seemed to throw everyone off and give a lot of fun down smash options.

In both tournaments I had a set where I lost the first match to someone within my skill range, countered Fountain and solidly three stocked them. Granted this might be people not used to this stage, but it does seem to play well to Wario's strengths. Now I just need another good pick for when people start banning this stage.

 

[#HBC | Joker]

Glad to hear it helped ya out! FoD is a good stage for Wario for a lot of the same reasons it's good for Shiek. It's great for limiting your opponent's ability to tech, and Wario getting a solid tech read with shoulder bash can mean a stock. The moving platforms definitely mess with people because they aren't used to them, but Wario's mobility is so good that he doesn't care.

You just gotta figure out what stages work for your style. Play a bunch of friendlies, and figure out where you win more often. I didn't even initially think FoD was that good until I started making this thread. Once I started thinking about the stages I did well on, I started to realize the kinds of attributes that made a stage good for Wario, and FoD has a lot of them.

 

[DMG]

FoD gives him really tricky edge cancels for Nair.

 

[0RLY]

Landing stage edge cancels with SB is much easier than landing platform edge cancels. I just do a sh immediate SB and I'll land it 99% of the time. It's faster than running, so it's a useful trick to have.

 

[TheReflexWonder]

I'm not sure that it is faster than his run...

 

[AbstractLogic]

I may be alone in this, but I am really surprised nobody has mentioned Norfair. It allows you shark effectively with U-air through the platforms, the stage is very horizontal-oriented and seems as if it's designed for the Shoulder Bash. The middle platforms encourage going offstage because they give wario an easier time getting back on stage.

 

[MegaGuy]

I've gotten some stupid DSmash stuff on YI Brawl on the angled edges of the stage. Like, spiking people who are SH-ing at me out of the air. Not something to rely on of course, but could be useful in a pinch if you're backed up in a corner

 

[\Apples]

The smaller the stage, the better for Wario IMO. I don't like characters being able to get away from me because I can stay on them so well as Wario.

 

[#HBC | Joker]

Everyone likes big stages with wario because they have room to run away, and have complete control over when they engage an opponent. I do agree that small stages are good for him, because he's able to weave around people no matter what.

 

[\Apples]

Everyone likes big stages with wario because they have room to run away, and have complete control over when they engage an opponent. I do agree that small stages are good for him, because he's able to weave around people no matter what.

I just can't imagine why you'd want to run away as a character with such good offensive melee abilities and with no zoning ability or fast dash/run speed. Sounds like everyone is doing Wario wrong.

 

[#HBC | Joker]

I just can't imagine why you'd want to run away as a character with such good offensive melee abilities and with no zoning ability or fast dash/run speed. Sounds like everyone is doing Wario wrong.

I dunno, maybe people wanna play him like Brawl Wario, which is difficult with no bike. His ability to weave just outside the opponent's space and poke, or just muscle his way in on them is a much better asset than his ability to run away, in this game.

 

[\Apples]

I dunno, maybe people wanna play him like Brawl Wario, which is difficult with no bike. His ability to weave just outside the opponent's space and poke, or just muscle his way in on them is a much better asset than his ability to run away, in this game.

Absolutely. When I'm in the neutral game with him, that's what I do. Wario's neutral game is much stronger in the air than on the ground. Crouch slide is really useful though, but he's still better weaving around.