Port Town Aero Dive Analysis

Kirk said:

Alright here we go:

Screenshots

First, screenshots of the stage transformations. There are 7 of them:

#1

Cars appear? - YES
Safe Zones: - Edges of the stage.

#2

Cars appear? - YES
Safe Zones: - Edges of the stage.
Note: - The cars CAN hit you on the platforms, though it is rare.

#3

Cars appear? - NO
Safe Zones: - Anywhere.
Note: - This transformation is off of the track, so no cars will ever pass by.

#3.5

Note: - Not a transformation, but the wall of the track ALWAYS appears between transformations 3 and 4. Just wanted to make a note of it.

#4

Cars appear? - NO
Safe Zones: - Anywhere.
Note: - Again, this transformation is off to the side of the track.

#5

Cars appear? - YES
Safe Zones: - Edges of the stage.
Note: - The cars CAN hit you on the platforms. Also, the cars can be passing by BEFORE you get to this transformation.

#6

Cars appear? - YES
Safe Zones: - Edges of the stage.
Note: - Behind the 3rd vertical lines on each side are the general boundaries for being safe.

#7

Cars appear? - YES
Safe Zones: - Top platform.
Note: - The cars CAN hit you on the bottom two platforms. Also, the cars do not have hitboxes for the first second or so that they appear.

General Stage Information

Transformations last anywhere from 6-9 seconds, depending on the transformation(timed from when the moving platform stops to when the blinking indicator arrow first appears). If Cars pass during one of the transformations, the stage will wait for them to pass before continuing on. The time the cars are visible(time depends on which transformation you are on) gets added to the original stage transformation time(6-9 seconds).

Cars passing appears to be random, since the cars are following the same loop of the racetrack the entire time. They don't always appear at the same time during any given transformation(I.E. They can appear right as you arrive at a transformation or appear 4 seconds into the transformation).

I did a 20 minute loop of the stage, taking note of which transformations were stopped at and when the cars appeared.

Results, separated by lap:

(Stage started passing through the Start Line, transformation #1)
2 - Cars
5 - No Cars
6 - Cars

3 - No Cars
4 - No Cars
--- Cars pass underneath on the way
5 - Cars(the last of the pack)
6 - No Cars

3 - No Cars
4 - No Cars
6 - Cars

2 - Cars
5 - No Cars
6 - Cars
7 - No Cars

4 - No Cars
---Small amount of Cars seen passing underneath
5 - No Cars
7 - Cars

1 - No Cars
2 - Cars
3 - No Cars
5 - No Cars
6 - Cars

2 - Cars
4 - No Cars
5 - No Cars
6 - Cars

3 - No Cars
---Cars Pass Underneath on the way
5 - Cars Finish
6 - No Cars
7 - Cars

2 - Cars
6 - Cars

1 - Cars
---Cars can be seen passing around 4, finish before 5.
5 - No Cars
6 - No Cars
7 - Cars

1 - No Cars
3 - No Cars
---Cars can be seen passing by.
4 - No Cars
5 - No Cars

2 - Cars
3 - No Cars
4 - No Cars
7 - Cars

1 - No Cars

Occurrence of each transformation:

Transformation 1 --- 4 times, 1 Cars / 3 No Cars
Transformation 2 --- 6 times, 6 Cars / 0 No Cars
Transformation 3 --- 6 times, 0 Cars / 6 No Cars
Transformation 4 --- 6 times, 0 Cars / 6 No Cars
Transformation 5 --- 9 times, 2 Cars / 7 No Cars
Transformation 6 --- 9 times, 6 Cars / 3 No Cars
Transformation 7 --- 5 times, 4 Cars / 1 No Cars

That should do it methinks.

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g-regulate said:

this stage sucks for tourney play

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<3 said:

Port town is the same thing as melee's mute city. It's the same concept.

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Amazing Ampharos said:

There are obviously some character biases. Diddy Kong is pretty fantastic here as the classic example, and at least in my opinion (I don't know if anyone else thinks this), it's a well above average stage for Mr. Game & Watch. I really don't think I'd want to use Marth here, to go the other way.

Still, the character bias is definitely well within counterpick range. Most of the arguments to ban this stage center around how powerful the cars are and, I can only presume, a claim that they add too much variance to matchups. I used to think this stage was pretty bad, but after playing on it a lot I've concluded (as this analysis supports) that the cars are very predictable and avoidable.

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Commander_Beef said:

But seriously, when is this stage ever a counterpick anymore?

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Eternal Yoshi said:

I REALLY wished that the cars weren't so strong. I can already imagine Kirbicides and Dededecides on this stage: just eat and don't move.

Then again, that can work for anyone with high damage.

Other than the cars, I think this could be a good CP.

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xLeafybug =D said:

If the cars weren't so overpowered, this stage would be a legal CP everywhere. Oh well.

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Commander_Beef said:

Good job Sherlock Holmes! You solved yet another mysterious case.
I wouldn't say any character has a stage advantage on Port Town Aero Dive.

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