DtJ Hilt
Little Lizard
Personally I feel this is Olimar's worst stage (excluding pokemon stadium 2). However, I'm using the word "worse" losely, as even the other stages that are bad for him aren't that bad for him. The pros for the stage are plentiful but don't have a huge impact, while the cons are few but make a huge difference in matchups. I'm starting to agree with dabuz that this is the worst stage to fight mk on, as well as many other matchups that characters will take us to when we ban RC, such as kirby.
The fact of the ledgeless side isn't just that there isn't a way for us to recover on the right. It's that it completely eliminates the right portion of the stage. Being to the right of our opponent is extremely dangerous in most matchups on the first section.
Unlike other stages, you're going to have to pay attention to what side you are as regards to your opponent, as well as the distance between them and the ledge. When on the right side of your opponent. you're going to want to focus on being about midway between them and the ledge. Not too close to them, not too close to the ledge. This goes for nomatter how close you are to the ledge. You're not going to want to be too close to the ledge as regards to distance from your opponent, because if they have a huge amount of room to close in, you're ****ed. And you don't want to be too close to your opponent because it gives them too many options to attack or grab you and... well, push you too far against the right ledge.
When to the left of your opponent, also, you're not going to want to be too close to them if they're too close to the right ledge, as a grab + bthrow could cost you a stock, and them being able to roll around you when able to could put you at a disadvantageous position. So even if you're on the left side, don't be too close to your opponent if they're close to the right side.
When the right side is up, and you're on the left portion of the stage, just consider the stage 2/3 of the size it normally was for how far/close you want to be from your opponent. Personally, I feel that this is the time that we're at the biggest disadvantage on the stage, as it limits our room and causes more gimps than usual. Even if, while recovering, the stage lowers for us, we're still landing back on the stage too close to the opponent and the ledgeless side to not get thrown off again. Being on the risen section while the opponent is on the left side is extremely disadvantageous as well, as they're able to keep pressure as we're forced to try to get back to the left side, possibly sharking us from the bottom of the section. Our best option when here is to wait for them to try to attack us from the bottom, and retreat to the left platform, falling through there, covering our landing with an aerial or going for the ledge. We have to be really defensive in this position and trying to beat out our opponent when they have terrain advantage is not fun.
When the right side is lowered, however, we have a much easier. Recovering becomes a tad easier on us, and we're able to section ourself from our opponent easier. I don't think I've made a big enough deal out if this but Olimar is amazing when there are huge alterations in terrain. Especially in situations like this. When we have the high ground, we're able to prevent our opponent from getting back up top by spacing fsmashes, making them have to come back up awkwardly. When we have the low ground, uair makes their approach extremely difficult, although, unlike other similar situations on other stages (delfino) retreating while they're doing this isn't an option, with the ledgeless side.
On to phase two. This phase isn't as good as advertised for us, but isn't terrible. The platform is too high from the center dip to make use of for punishing those above it with anything but uair. And it's extremely large so even that's hard. The slants are good for us, but not as good as they could be. There isn't much space between them and they're not very long. It's difficult for us to keep that perfect distance from the ledge because of the slants and how it would help our opponent if they're right next to us on it, and we are basically forced to either stay at the center of the stage or the far left or right side, which limits us too much.
The mercy platforms do help us in our recovery, however one thing needs to be understood.
Against characters that do well at getting us off stage and keeping us off stage while they're on stage or close to it off stage, the mercy platforms help out a lot.
Against character that do well at getting us off stage and keeping pressure on us while they're offstage, the mercy platforms don't help much at all.
They don't help us in the mk matchup too much because he's always going to be out there with us off stage. But against snake, they help a lot, as he's not going to chase us off stage but be waiting for us when we get back on.
The purple and yellow increase are great, as they're considered by most to be the best pikmin.
Characters:
MK - if you don't ban it against him, he's going to take you here, most likely.
Snake - I really don't mind the stage against him much, tbh, but he's better at pressuring you when you're on the right of him well. And the second phase is extremely good for his grenade game.
Diddy - There's good and bad for this matchup on this stage. Diddy is AMAZING at getting olimar off stage. If diddy gets you off stage on the right side there'll be two bananas and a monkey waiting for you when you return. You're going off again. However, in the same sense, diddy recovering on teh right side is extremely vulnerable and easy to punish, especially if he has to use his barrels. The second phase is great for his bananas, though. Also purple pikmin are incredible in this matchup. It's a pretty neutral stage in this matchup. Lots of bad but lots of good.
DDD - probably the worst stage for this matchup. I think it'd be my ban.
Falco - I've taken falcos here many times and it works. The right side DESTROYS his recovery and makes it really predictable, and getting falco off stage is easy. Just be wary of his spike on the right side of course. The second phase is incredible for the matchup as well, as the slant/dip messes up his laser camp and he can't keep pressure while the mercy platforms save you. Possible CP in this matchup.
Marth - I consider banning this stage against marth, but usually end up banning bf instead. Like mk he's able to keep constant ranged pressure on you and get you off stage easily. He isn't able to pressure you when on the mercy platforms as well as some characters, but can fend you off when you're getting off of them. Also, marth doesn't have a good time going from the lowered right section to the middle well when weaving through our fsmashes.
Ban this stage against kirby and lucario.
Be ready for ZSS and DK as they both do well against you on this stage too.
Not much else is worth mention.
whew that was a lot @_@
The fact of the ledgeless side isn't just that there isn't a way for us to recover on the right. It's that it completely eliminates the right portion of the stage. Being to the right of our opponent is extremely dangerous in most matchups on the first section.
Unlike other stages, you're going to have to pay attention to what side you are as regards to your opponent, as well as the distance between them and the ledge. When on the right side of your opponent. you're going to want to focus on being about midway between them and the ledge. Not too close to them, not too close to the ledge. This goes for nomatter how close you are to the ledge. You're not going to want to be too close to the ledge as regards to distance from your opponent, because if they have a huge amount of room to close in, you're ****ed. And you don't want to be too close to your opponent because it gives them too many options to attack or grab you and... well, push you too far against the right ledge.
When to the left of your opponent, also, you're not going to want to be too close to them if they're too close to the right ledge, as a grab + bthrow could cost you a stock, and them being able to roll around you when able to could put you at a disadvantageous position. So even if you're on the left side, don't be too close to your opponent if they're close to the right side.
When the right side is up, and you're on the left portion of the stage, just consider the stage 2/3 of the size it normally was for how far/close you want to be from your opponent. Personally, I feel that this is the time that we're at the biggest disadvantage on the stage, as it limits our room and causes more gimps than usual. Even if, while recovering, the stage lowers for us, we're still landing back on the stage too close to the opponent and the ledgeless side to not get thrown off again. Being on the risen section while the opponent is on the left side is extremely disadvantageous as well, as they're able to keep pressure as we're forced to try to get back to the left side, possibly sharking us from the bottom of the section. Our best option when here is to wait for them to try to attack us from the bottom, and retreat to the left platform, falling through there, covering our landing with an aerial or going for the ledge. We have to be really defensive in this position and trying to beat out our opponent when they have terrain advantage is not fun.
When the right side is lowered, however, we have a much easier. Recovering becomes a tad easier on us, and we're able to section ourself from our opponent easier. I don't think I've made a big enough deal out if this but Olimar is amazing when there are huge alterations in terrain. Especially in situations like this. When we have the high ground, we're able to prevent our opponent from getting back up top by spacing fsmashes, making them have to come back up awkwardly. When we have the low ground, uair makes their approach extremely difficult, although, unlike other similar situations on other stages (delfino) retreating while they're doing this isn't an option, with the ledgeless side.
On to phase two. This phase isn't as good as advertised for us, but isn't terrible. The platform is too high from the center dip to make use of for punishing those above it with anything but uair. And it's extremely large so even that's hard. The slants are good for us, but not as good as they could be. There isn't much space between them and they're not very long. It's difficult for us to keep that perfect distance from the ledge because of the slants and how it would help our opponent if they're right next to us on it, and we are basically forced to either stay at the center of the stage or the far left or right side, which limits us too much.
The mercy platforms do help us in our recovery, however one thing needs to be understood.
Against characters that do well at getting us off stage and keeping us off stage while they're on stage or close to it off stage, the mercy platforms help out a lot.
Against character that do well at getting us off stage and keeping pressure on us while they're offstage, the mercy platforms don't help much at all.
They don't help us in the mk matchup too much because he's always going to be out there with us off stage. But against snake, they help a lot, as he's not going to chase us off stage but be waiting for us when we get back on.
The purple and yellow increase are great, as they're considered by most to be the best pikmin.
Characters:
MK - if you don't ban it against him, he's going to take you here, most likely.
Snake - I really don't mind the stage against him much, tbh, but he's better at pressuring you when you're on the right of him well. And the second phase is extremely good for his grenade game.
Diddy - There's good and bad for this matchup on this stage. Diddy is AMAZING at getting olimar off stage. If diddy gets you off stage on the right side there'll be two bananas and a monkey waiting for you when you return. You're going off again. However, in the same sense, diddy recovering on teh right side is extremely vulnerable and easy to punish, especially if he has to use his barrels. The second phase is great for his bananas, though. Also purple pikmin are incredible in this matchup. It's a pretty neutral stage in this matchup. Lots of bad but lots of good.
DDD - probably the worst stage for this matchup. I think it'd be my ban.
Falco - I've taken falcos here many times and it works. The right side DESTROYS his recovery and makes it really predictable, and getting falco off stage is easy. Just be wary of his spike on the right side of course. The second phase is incredible for the matchup as well, as the slant/dip messes up his laser camp and he can't keep pressure while the mercy platforms save you. Possible CP in this matchup.
Marth - I consider banning this stage against marth, but usually end up banning bf instead. Like mk he's able to keep constant ranged pressure on you and get you off stage easily. He isn't able to pressure you when on the mercy platforms as well as some characters, but can fend you off when you're getting off of them. Also, marth doesn't have a good time going from the lowered right section to the middle well when weaving through our fsmashes.
Ban this stage against kirby and lucario.
Be ready for ZSS and DK as they both do well against you on this stage too.
Not much else is worth mention.
whew that was a lot @_@
