Looking back on it now, I guess you could say that I’m fortunate to have some of my favorite Melee stages in the “neutral” or random stages in tournament play. Yoshi’s Story and Pokemon Stadium. It’s hard to deny Yoshi’s Story’s visual appeal with it’s crisp clean cardboard style. The occasional shy guy parade offers a cloud of cover or confusion subtly adding to the chaos of battle. The slanted ends on either side of the stage provides an even lower point to duck away from danger especially for small characters like Kirby. And the short boundaries of the stage can make even weak attacks seem strong when even heavy characters die more quickly than expected. And if all of this weren’t enough, there’s the cloud. The cloud seems to have a personality of it’s own. It saves life, and it takes life all without betraying its frozen smile.
<a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/yoshis.gif" title="Yoshi’s Seasons"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/yoshis.gif" alt="Yoshi’s Seasons" /></a>
<!--more-->
It amazes me that a stage with so much character is continually supported as a neutral stage in competitive smash. We all know that Melee included some of the stages from the N64 smash bros, and we have to assume that Brawl can do the same with the Melee stages. The original Corneria from the N64 game was refurbished with a new look, a more compact size, and other small tweaks. This was a smart decision. Though Melee carries the same spirit as the original smash, the strength and balance of the game has drastically changed. In the “old days”, all the throws could send characters careening across the stage even at low damage. For this reason, most of the N64 stages were huge. Simply importing a stage from any previous game comes at a price. All three past stages in Melee have very high ceilings and sides. Even with adjustments to their sizes, the past stages are still too big. On average, the percent that a character dies at on those stages is significantly higher than Melee’s original stages. In the same way that Hyrule Temple gives the players the unnatural ability to survive, the past stages in Melee do the same but to a lesser degree.
This is why I was intrigued upon seeing the new Yoshi stage both in the brawl trailer and in the Dojo update today. This new stage features slanted edges and the occasional shy guy parade. The cloud seems to be replaced with a ghost. This stage also has a single platform. The only other stage like it is the middle section of Jungle Japes. Still, this new stage is even more unique. The stage has a dip in the middle, and the platform can tilt to at least three different angles.
The art style for this new stage is reminiscent of the new style from Yoshi’s Island DS. The stage even goes through the four seasons. The new stage looks promising. Even if it comes at a sacrifice to any of the other three Yoshi stages for the Brawl stage roster, I think it’s time for a change.
“It certainly has its own distinct air.
Change is sometimes good.” -Sakarai
On an ending note, I think it’s clear to say that the competitive smashers don’t ban a level because it’s dynamic, and they don’t favor a level because it’s plain and predictable. We want to have fun just like anyone else. But when two players refuse to fight each other because one player finds a spot that gives him an advantage refusing to move from it, and the other player refuses to attack, the game and the fun stalls.
I used to wonder if the game could somehow figure out if the players were camping and morph the level accordingly. If this happened, we could have a lot more levels in regular tournament play. Then I realized that there is a level like that already. It may not sense when there is camping, but it does transform to initiate and get rid of camping on a timer. And this level is in the tournament neutral stages. That’s right. If you haven’t guess it, it’s Pokemon Stadium. One of my favorite levels in the game, and it changes often.
Change is definitely good.
<a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/yoshis.gif" title="Yoshi’s Seasons"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/yoshis.gif" alt="Yoshi’s Seasons" /></a>
<!--more-->
It amazes me that a stage with so much character is continually supported as a neutral stage in competitive smash. We all know that Melee included some of the stages from the N64 smash bros, and we have to assume that Brawl can do the same with the Melee stages. The original Corneria from the N64 game was refurbished with a new look, a more compact size, and other small tweaks. This was a smart decision. Though Melee carries the same spirit as the original smash, the strength and balance of the game has drastically changed. In the “old days”, all the throws could send characters careening across the stage even at low damage. For this reason, most of the N64 stages were huge. Simply importing a stage from any previous game comes at a price. All three past stages in Melee have very high ceilings and sides. Even with adjustments to their sizes, the past stages are still too big. On average, the percent that a character dies at on those stages is significantly higher than Melee’s original stages. In the same way that Hyrule Temple gives the players the unnatural ability to survive, the past stages in Melee do the same but to a lesser degree.
This is why I was intrigued upon seeing the new Yoshi stage both in the brawl trailer and in the Dojo update today. This new stage features slanted edges and the occasional shy guy parade. The cloud seems to be replaced with a ghost. This stage also has a single platform. The only other stage like it is the middle section of Jungle Japes. Still, this new stage is even more unique. The stage has a dip in the middle, and the platform can tilt to at least three different angles.
The art style for this new stage is reminiscent of the new style from Yoshi’s Island DS. The stage even goes through the four seasons. The new stage looks promising. Even if it comes at a sacrifice to any of the other three Yoshi stages for the Brawl stage roster, I think it’s time for a change.
“It certainly has its own distinct air.
Change is sometimes good.” -Sakarai
On an ending note, I think it’s clear to say that the competitive smashers don’t ban a level because it’s dynamic, and they don’t favor a level because it’s plain and predictable. We want to have fun just like anyone else. But when two players refuse to fight each other because one player finds a spot that gives him an advantage refusing to move from it, and the other player refuses to attack, the game and the fun stalls.
I used to wonder if the game could somehow figure out if the players were camping and morph the level accordingly. If this happened, we could have a lot more levels in regular tournament play. Then I realized that there is a level like that already. It may not sense when there is camping, but it does transform to initiate and get rid of camping on a timer. And this level is in the tournament neutral stages. That’s right. If you haven’t guess it, it’s Pokemon Stadium. One of my favorite levels in the game, and it changes often.
Change is definitely good.