Every Smash Ultimate Stage and Why It's Banned #1 (Analysis)

so stages it's something we can never really seem to agree on as with any new smash game the stage debate is as hot as ever and there is still a a lot of talk over what stages we should play on do we want one platform two platforms three platforms four platforms no platforms janky stage with platforms it's just basically a lot of platforms but there are always little stages we all unanimously agree should always be banned but why is that exactly to someone who is not in loop when it comes to the competitive side of smash they might be curious as to why we play on such a small variety of stages and that's what we're going to be exploring here today I'll be looking at every single stage in smash ultimate and try to explain why we don't play on it in a competitive environment but before we begin I just want to explain some of the biggest reasons for why we went ages number one hazards in a competitive environment random factors such as stage hazards is something we try to avoid sure you can memorize and know how the hazards of a stage work but often the hazards are too volatile and give way too big of an advantage to whoever gets to capitalize on them but you can turn stage hazards off in specialty notes I hear you say and that isn't it correct but what ultimate considers hazards and what the community considers hazards varies quite a bit this does make most stages a lot more playable but they still have a lot of other issues that make them non optimal for competitive play which we'll get into later number two walls and ceilings walls and ceilings caused a lot of problems for one they can let you live for a very long time through teching there's also a lot of shenanigans and even some really broken combos that you get access to when walls are present having your back to the wall or a ceiling over your head basically means you can't get Kay out in that direction given that you know what you're doing which most competitive players do number three camping potential when playing competitively we use a time limit even though we play stock battles this is to ensure that the battle eventually comes to an end which is mostly just to make sure that term ends run smoothly and we don't have to wait forever however this also means that timing so an out is a viable win condition this brings a lot of issue when it comes to stages because some stages are great for camping in some of these cases you can just pick a character with good mobility get the lead and run away until the time runs out and that's not really fun for anyone which is why it's important that we only have stages where this is not possible those are the three biggest reasons why stages get banned but there are obviously some exceptions with different reasons I'll be doing my best to explain those as they come up so let's get into the stage list itself I'll be assuming that hazards are turned off because with hazards on there are even fewer legal stages also keep in mind that this is just my opinion but I will try to argue in a mostly objective way in any case it packing under yourself as we take a look at every single stage in smash ultimate battlefield metal field is a very good stage it's symmetrical giving no edge to any player starting position as they test platform switch keep some layered variety and allows for different types of neutral advantage or a disadvantage player there is a reason why this stage has always been legal and is always a starter state in basically all tournaments for any smash game ever it's a great and balanced stage there isn't a lot to say about it since it's just a solid stage it'll probably stay illegal for as long as smash will exist big battlefield okay so battlefield is all well and good but what if you took battlefield and just scaled it up a bit that should be fine to you right well no for one the stage is just too huge the blast stones are a way to be making stocks last for too long now blast stone size is also one of the determining factors in what makes a stage legal granted it's not as important as the other three factors but it is certainly a contributor there's also just too much space around these platforms you can certainly just camp the platforms against characters that have bad range or movement also we have normal battlefield which is just better final this nation what can I say about final destination it's flat and well sized it doesn't have any platforms but not every stage needs to there is pretty much nothing going on here which is a good thing it's about as simple as they just come the stage has been around since melee n it's probably one of the most iconic stages in all of smash it's simple but great nonetheless there's no stage I would rather play no items fox only on then file this nation Peach's castle this stage might not look so bad at first and it is not really that bad but it does have some aspects that make it less than suitable for competitive play there are some walls here granted they're not really that much in the way but they're still there there's also these triangles which can make for some good janky Ness but the main problem are the ledge when on the ledge depending on the stage you can either be in a very advantageous position or a very disadvantageous one let just generally create a lot of problems and is something that we need to take into account in this case the wall makes the position on state even stronger and the one on the ledge has very limited options even more so than they do on other stages which is mostly why it is bent Congo jungle this is yet another stage that might not look so bad and in reality it's not really that bad either the stage has slants which is a pretty interesting topic there are some other legal stages at the moment which have slants obviously the degree and the direction of the slant is very important there are stages with slants that are basically walls because of how steep they are while some others are tamer personally I'm not a big fan of slams in competitive smash and it is generally something that tends to be avoided when finding legal stages but for reasons I'll get into later some stages with slants are currently legal now with that said slants are not nearly as bad as walls and ceilings but still something we tried to avoid when possible now as for this stage itself the platform's are very tall and to reach them you'll need to use two jumps for most characters which does lead to it being a prime camping position in a lot of these cases it's not that stage is inherently unplayable but we just have better alternatives without the bad aspects of a stage Hyrule Castle this stage is just too huge and make you live for way too long the left side has I have massive slant which is not optimal the right side however is the biggest offender here there's both a ceiling and a wall here and it just makes for a lot of pit fighting you also can't really see what is happening most of the time when fighting here which is really not fun aside from that the layout is not terrible but the points from earlier make it pretty bad super happy tree yes and other stage that is just too big I guess this is a good time to elaborate on the topic of ledges when talking about stages with lettuce and slants you really have to assess them on a case-by-case basis some stages are not nearly as bad as others but generally speaking Lich's can cause a lot of problems mainly if there are more or less than two of them their positioning is also important if there are more or less than two it will most likely make one side of the stage better than the other I guess in that sense this stage does fulfill that requirement only having two and have it been just this middle section it even a man consider for a potential account break stage well had it not been for the heavily slanted ground but the big problem is the clouds on the sides which make for excellent camping positions these clouds for some reason don't have ledges making them very difficult to get onto if there is another person guarding it yes now I suddenly want more ledges I just can't seem to make up my mind though it's not like the state would be fine even with the ledges sitting out this stage is still way too close the blast zone dreamland dreamland is pretty much dispelled filled with slightly different platforms and a different stage bottom that's basically it obviously the stage is perfectly fine for a competitive play but either it will be lumped together with battlefield lists one stage ban or will just not bother with it at all since they're too similar saffron city there are too many pieces of unconnected land here that as well as they're being tons of walls or lower place this perhaps a better example of there being too many ledges I mean it's obviously better that there are ledges that an otherwise but it's still far less than optimal to have this many if you can place yourself in a position where your opponent has to approach you and either has to jump and try to land next to you or grab the ledge then you're already in an advantageous position which again is something we try to avoid Mushroom Kingdom alright finally I get to talk about walk-offs walk ups are a big no-no when it comes to competitive smash for those who are unaware walk-off is a term for stages where the ground reaches all the way into the side blast zones they allow for some seriously cheesy kills if these stages work to be legal you'd see a ton of waiting on the sides for one player to make a mistake and then the other played ice rate almost regardless of the present there are a lot of combos that might not kill but are able to carry a bonus to the edge of stage but when there is no edge they just kind of die it also in most cases entirely invalidates the recovery process giving characters with bad recoveries a huge edge there are also ceilings and walls ears so it's pretty obvious why the stages banned it's basically going to be the same story when it comes to any stage with walk-offs Princess Peach's castle but then we all redo the stage so sorry my bad that was Peach's castle this is Princess Peach's castle I guess she built this one before becoming a princess which I kind of thought was a birth title but I'm getting sidetracked here the big wall section in the middle here is where most of the problems with this case come from and that's mainly it Walter and fun man rainbow cruise again we have a here and some pesky slants as I'm that the platforms are fine but the wall is what kills the stage Congo Falls this stage could actually been a pre good country big stage I did not burn for the rock on the right side it's kind of the same issue with saffron city except here it's even more amplified if you decide to camp on the rock the Clare there can cover basically every get up option besides jump which doesn't exactly get you onto the rock in the first place the rock is also really close to the blast zone so yeah the rock ruins the stage jungle japes okay so the part here in the middle is fine it looks kind of identical to hassle as Smashville though the two side flat forms are a different story nobody should ever be able to retreat and end up in a more advantageous position than before unless it's melee we're talking about point is that you can force your opponent to have to approach you on a platform with ledges and these platforms can be accessed just by running away that's not exactly a very good stage there is of course also the rapids running under the stage which is just a big no for me great bay water it's just not a great thing in general I would personally classify water as an assert then I guess a lot of these stages would not really work without the water the turtle on the right side here doesn't really help either lots of strange lands and ceilings you can also kind of camp under the turtle and there's also a way you can make it so you don't drown just by staying under there meaning you can stay under there for as long as you'd like which can make it really hard for some characters to hit you and you really don't want to fight in this tiny area trust me temple a classic for sure but yeah it probably does not come as a surprise when I tell you that this stage is too big like way too big it has almost every sign of mint stage walls and ceilings platforms with ledges that are hard to approach oh and of course the section down here makes you live basically forever but the biggest reason it's been is because of circle camping on this stage you can just pick a fast character get the percent lead and run away in a circle around the stage and there is very little your opponent can do to stop you it's not really fun for anyone which is why stay just like these are band brinstar this stage is pretty alright with hazards off the stage has not changed at all but just ends up being a weirdly slanted stage with some platforms thrown in randomly the ground is also not solid which means you can do some pretty effective sharking on this stage either way I don't really think this stage is the worst I still don't really like Lance but they're not super bad in this case so the stage is fine in my opinion but not really something I would like to see in a tournament sitting Yoshi's Island mainly this stage kissed a big note for me strange wall that is also a slant can't say I like it random ceiling block that covers like half the stage not a fan top that off with walk off to the side with another wall ledge slant thing and you have yourselves a very janky stage Yoshi's Story this stage is yet another battlefield clone sure it's all little unique with the platform's being arranged a little differently and the ground having some slants but honestly is really not different enough to the point where I would say it is anything but a battlefield loan the slants are honestly purely a bad thing but they're not too much in the way but if we're going to ban Dream Land for being too similar to battlefield then I really can't see much justification for why this they should be legal fountain of Dreams again yet another stay that is basically just battlefield though the biggest difference here is that the stage can't even hold a consistent frame rate which is really important in a competitive fighting game even if they patch this frame registry in the future it's still just another battlefield with slightly different less zones green greens the two side parts of the state are very close to blast zones there's also a bit too many letters on this stage as I ran that the stage is honestly not that bad I like the mid platforms and how the other sides feel in gameplay but again too many legends generally a bad thing which is why it's banned or an area yeah this one is pretty bad I mean I like playing on it casually but competitively it's a bit of a disaster the mid part of the state is fine I guess though the right side is just a massive camp fest not only are you really close to the blast zone but there is a massive arcing wall over you but that's not even the worst part of it there's also this spot on the guns where you can now stand indefinitely since the hazards are off which let's just say makes for some janky gameplay it's not strange why this one is banned venom there is like walls everywhere on this stage the wall in the middle makes it very hard to approach since you actually have to jump to get over it every surface on this stage is slanted which makes the entire stage weird to play on you can projectile camps super easily against slower characters look do anyone even enjoy playing on this stage casually in any case it's not Lee that's a good thing pokemon stadium my personal favorite out of the two pokemon stadiums they are both almost identical with only some minor blast zone and under stage differences so I'll just talk about both here I just like the way this one looks better but from what it looks like it seems that pokemon stadium 2 is the one we are using in the future oh well this stage is apparently so great that they even play with it in melee where hazards are on which is not really great but whatever that's melee at ultimate we have hazards off which makes this an excellent stage it's simple with two platforms that are spaced out nicely it's a great stage that is probably going to be a starter for as long as smash exists on it no walk ups waltz all over the place tons of random platforms this area over here is just a prime spot for camping you have a platform over your head and a wall to your back they can only approach you from the front ad not to mention the spots where you can camp are so close to the blast zones which is just a recipe for disaster Mushroom Kingdom to this stage has it all walk-offs walls actually nevermind us about it but that is more than enough for me this stage is really small and that combined with wall cuffs makes for a lot of cheesy and early kill situations brinstar depths everything you would expect from them playable stages here so I'll just talk about the parts that make it unique this stupid platform down here it has a Ledge that doesn't even work properly like you can't do anything else except ledges jump from it and the platform itself is just so low from the rest of the stage making for an excellent fighting tips which don't last that long says it's so close to blast zone it's kind of fun with hazards on casually but competitively it would not be great big blue this stage is kind of weird the floor will drag you towards left side of the stage it isn't that punishing and you can just jump to avoid getting dragged aside from that the ground tilts along with the stage which gets a little weird sometimes but seeing how everyone loves fly light so much I guess I wouldn't really be a problem at all the stage is fun and all but not something for competitive events for side this stage has the same problems as saffron city too many walls because of the buildings and having wall pets that make for a lot of tankiness the UFO is removed enhancer list so at least that's good but it's still a very unplayable stage Delfino Plaza ah yes good although Fino Plaza somehow this stage has actually been legal in many tournaments in the past the stage is pretty wild all things considered but it's just the platforms it's honestly fine almost all of the different platform the outs could be considered legal in their own right although the ground not being solid would allow for some sharking which could cause problems though sadly between these platform segments there are a lot of walk offs and even some water sections which rules it pretty much out of the question mushroomy Kingdom okay so you know how walk ups are pretty much an instant ban well how bout walk offs that move yeah I'm not even sure if people enjoy playing on this stage casually the stage also has a ton of solid walls and blocks which is just lovely the stage is a mess from a competitive standpoint so let's just move on figure eight circuit pretty standard stage it has walk-off so it's pretty much out of the question and some that it it's a rather an interesting map WarioWare oh boy it's time to talk about worry we're back when the game was just released it was a lot of debate of whether or not this state should be legal and while this stage itself is fine glia is quite unique it is very different from a lot of other legal pages however the blast zones are not the stage has really slim blast sounds on the left and right side of the stage you can die at stupidly early presents from minor mistakes because of the blast zones especially in a game with rage I really don't think blast zones of this size should be a thing it's a little too crazy for my tastes but I understand why people want to play on it even if I really disagree with it being legal oh and also since we're on the subject and saying war where should be legal because if you don't like it you can just ban it it's not an argument we can say the same thing about any stage do you think should be legal like I can say I think pirate ship should be legal because if you don't like it you can just ban it believe it or not I've seen a lot of people make this argument for why some stages should be illegal so please don't do that anyways enough of that there are stages yet to be talked about bridge of Elden i actually really like this stage casually it's simple and clean and there's not a ton of stuff to get in the way though sadly it has walk-off so for competitive eights saying no no much more to say here honestly norfair there is five platforms in a strange shape here but again there is a lot of ledge so low over the place they're very easy to camp on seeing how some of them can't be pressured from below which is just norfair okay this stage sucks moving on frigates or fian frigate or Theon orphan orphan I don't know one of those probably this stage is pre alright all things considered the only thing that keeps you from being great is the platforms on the side which move despite hazards being off when it goes down not only does count as a wall but it can also make it hard to get back up against projectile characters I would not be entirely opposed to this stage being legal but I won't lose sleep over it being banned Yoshi's Island Oh Yoshi's Island we hardly knew ye well honestly I really don't miss it that much it's really not the worst thing ever but the main issue here is really just the fact that it was very slanted both on the ledges and on the center of the stage on the other end we do still have stages like lylat with a notable slant so I don't know man oh really mindless slant in the game halberd this stage has quite the history it used to be legal during different parts of brawl ends match for and well it was never a fan favorite the ceiling was extremely low during the transition part and the hazards were quite annoying and cost some weird interactions in ultimately hazards our mood but a stage yourself is not quite optimal the ceiling seems to be fixed but it still has walk-offs during the beginning and the platform part still allows for sharking from beneath it's not a bad stage overall though but I get why people don't really want to play on it lylat cruise okay I guess it's time to talk about lylat cruise look this stage is fine from a layout perspective the platform's are at least a little different than the usual Drive let's and aside from that it does seem like most of the janky ledges have been fixed from smash for at least for the most part but that's as far as my compliments go I really do not like this stage for one it does have slants which is never a great thing look slants are just janky in general and are really not a fan of them in competitive play I feel like when an aspect of a stage starts to change how the gameplay fundamentally works that is when it really should not be a legal stage to take an example a lot of the time jab just don't work on slants the whole interaction is completely changed and that is just one example there are lots of moves that change in small ways when they're used on a slant there's really no other aspect of any other stage that do something like this the closest thing being platformed but they are at least consistent with how the ground works aside from all of that at least the tilting is gone when playing on hazardous and for the most part people don't seem to be falling through the stage like they did in smash 4 though overall I really don't think it is quite different enough to warrant being its own stage the other things that make it unique like these slants are not exactly things I'm particularly fond of in the first place the platform layout being a little different is not really enough to justify it in my opinion but I know a lot of people like this stage and while I'm not a huge fan of it overall I can at least stomach it being a counter pick though I really do not believe it should be a starter stage Pokemon Stadium - it's basically the same as Pokemon Stadium one with some very minor differences I like stadium one better though poor town arrow diet I guess this stage didn't understand that hazard soft meant that hazards had to actually go away because this state is not changed at all it still has the hazards that deal a lot of damage a lot of transformations are very strange and some have walls look this stage is not illegal for a reason let's just leave it at that castle siege I don't quite get how this hazards all function works since this stage does not transform while others do in any case the states mostly fine though the main issue aside from the slant is that the stage is really small and the height difference can allow for some cheesy strats with some characters like palutena and their side me not having a lot of space can be really volatile depending on the characters all around the stage is just a little too spicy for a competitive setting at least in my opinion distant planet the left side of stage has a walk off and the stage so we're all very asymmetrical at least the ball board doesn't show up even though it would honestly be kind of fun to play an actual match with the bulb over there oh well the state is not really optimal to say the least Smashville starter vilius here finally yeah the stage will probably legal until the end of time the state is as plain as plane can be although I do have to say I really missed the platform moving it added a lot more action to the stage but I don't think it being still as a bad thing either does allow for more consistent follow-ups and the platform can't be used for camping like it used to so yeah it's probably for the better though I will miss the moving platform new pork City no summit this stage is just wrong on many levels despite having had suits off it still has the hazards while transitioning and the floor has ice physics which is just why if that wasn't enough the sledded ice part here makes for a really good camping spot and aside from that store camping is really is he on the estate as well sky world not exactly the best stage there is ceilings all over the place certainly camping is also not impossible here even though the stage is not super huge the stage is also very uneven and feels very claustrophobic to play on with hazards on it's kind of fun to play on because of how chaotic it is but it has no place in a serious tournament Shadow Moses Island the holy grail of wall stages the entire left and right side blast stones are completely covered by walls and with hazards off the walls are not destructible meaning the only way to KO your opponent is by launching them up needless to say that causes some problems Luigi's Mansion yet again we have some ceilings to warrior bugs but aside from that I honestly think this could have been a pretty interesting stage had the lower platform been completely intangible and would not have been opposed to trying to play on it but as it stands the ceilings do screw things up too much pirate ship oh yeah pirate ship this has to be one of the best casual stages in all of smash I loved playing on this stage back in Brawl they must have realized I read it was since they added it as dlc for smash 4 for competitively there are a lot of red flags here though water is not exactly the best mechanic also despite houses being off the front of the ship will still hurt you and insta kill you the layout on the boat is also centered so you know I don't think we'll be seeing this in any tournaments anytime soon but a mannequin dream spear pillar this stage just pretty much devolves into reckless pit fighting in the under section of the stage because there is so much of the ceiling the only way you're getting anywhere is if you're toss our opponent out of the pit and then edgeguard them but at that point they also have the option of recovering high and landing on the top section then they could just make their way back to the pits not exactly optimal 75m no this stage is not good there's like five million ledges platforms everywhere and the stage is pretty huge all things considered when playing on it you'll probably end up doing most of your fighting on the top platform where there is both a walk-off and a very low ceiling I did discover this Tech 4 hero while playing on it you can instantly get onto a platform by grabbing one of these ledges it's not that just so exciting anyways moving on Mario Bros from creation this is certainly a wacky one it's like it's made exclusively to be the least playable competitive stage ever the stage has ceilings all over the place and walk offs on every side now if that wasn't enough these four crafts are a little weird in the sense that you can run through them and appear on the other side of the stage however if you get hit into them you die this makes the stage very easy to camp on since you can just sit on one side of the stage and run in circles indefinitely it's a super cheesy stage and not legal honinbo I have this strange affection for honinbo maybe because it's just so weird compared to the other stages I remember playing a lot on this stage back in brawl and being very confused as to what was happening but I'm getting a little sidetracked here layout wise it's not exactly the most exciting thing in the world it's an even train makes at an instant man and this leaf on left side is a pretty good camping position oddly enough the blue water on the bottom is not actually water you just kind of fall through it which is kind of weird even though I have some memories with a stage I would never want to see it legal it's kind of janky anyways I think that is going to do it for now we're about halfway through and this video is already pretty long but make sure to look out for part 2 coming later if you agree or disagree with any of my system make sure to let me know in the comments below I'm always open for feedback also I recently made a discord server so if you're interested in what I do and want to learn more about smash there we link to it in the description either way thank you for watching and stay tuned for part 2

Channel: Rekzius

Views: 937,024

Keywords: Smash ultimate, Super smash brothers ultimate, Stages, Analysis, banned

Id: KH74j3zRm3A

Length: 26min 49sec (1609 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 15 2019