Vlade
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Falco Stage Discussion
Objectives:
-To discuss falco's pros and cons on specific stages
-Analyse the behaviour of the stage
-Determine counterpicks and bans (even though there already is a list) and why
-Give the stages ratings out of 10 as to how good it is for falco
-Discuss tips and tricks to take note of when playing on each stage
Please try and post a quality, well-thought-out analysis to contribute to this discussion. It doesn't have to be a massive essay - a small paragraph with neat tips and tricks for the stage will also be useful. I'll be quoting the most informative posts about each stage, so do your best to contribute and get recognised!
I'll be updating this discussion weekly-ish
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Week 1: Halberd
-To discuss falco's pros and cons on specific stages
Pros:
Low ceiling, early kills
Hazards strengthened by a good grab game
Flying stage part promotes lasers
Cons:
You have to sweetspot ledge to recover, else you fall.
Can get stalked from below (multi-jump characters)
Flying stage part demotes lasers
-Analyse the behaviour of the stage
First you start on a Final Destination-like stage, however after a few seconds a platform rises above it and you are shot into the skies. This part of the stage is nothing special. The shape is odd, but no surprising behaviors. After that you land on another stage, this is a flat stage with a platform in the middle. This is where things get strange. There are 3 hazards:
The claw:
The claw is a strong mechanical object located in the background, when you get targeted you can shield or spotdodge it. Grabbing someone is smart if they're in kill percentages as he will be hit by it. Kills at ??
The laser:
The laser is no threat at all. It will identify itself by a targeting visor and will follow the (lowest/highest) percentage target on the screen. You can let it follow the opponent by hitting him (like a game of tag). IF you get hit, smash/tap DI out of it. Don't stay to close because the final hit has extra range. Kills at ??
The cannon:
This one is probably easily avoided. It fires a cannonball that very slowly goes up and disappears, only to very slowly fall down on the stage. It kills bat**** early and DONT GET GRABBED or some characters might've just killed you. Kills at ??
-Give the stages ratings out of 10 as to how good it is for falco
7/10. It doesn't give real advantages beside your grab game but you can use it if you feel comfortable on it.
-Discuss 'workarounds' where possible for bad aspects of a stage
Sweetspot the ledge.
Week 2: Delfino Plaza
I don't really like Delfino, falco is average here, but we should never counterpick here because it may make our opponent change his character to something like MK who ***** here.
imo Falco can fight well here but it's a stage that should be avoided against a lot of match-ups and it's only effective against some.
we could add this to every stage. for delfino imo:
characters we should NOT bring here: MK, Snake, ROB, Pika,Marth,Ike,Jigglypuff,Ness,DK,Yoshi, Kirby, DDD,G&W...
characters that we could take here: Olimar, ICs...
5/10
Week 3: Brinstar
Stage weakens Falco's laser camping game with the strange pillar at the sides that the opponent can hide behind. The stage being really small and the non-flat surface takes away his ability to IAP or even use side b as an attack at all.
You have to be very precise when using your side b on this stage, if you overshoot your side b you could go through the stage and die. The lava and platforms makes this not as bad, plus there are platforms that add your recovery options.
One of the things that this stage does for Falco that no other stage does is strengthen his offstage game. If there is lava and your opponent is offstage you can be more risky without having fear that you'll lose a stock if you make a mistake. If someone wants to counter pick you here that loves to play offstage a lot, it may not be a bad idea to let them take you there (unless they're MK :D).
We can make sure our Bair is almost never staled. Lasers count as our attack gauge and hitting them against the pillars while pseudo-camping with SHL/SHDL basically refreshes our entire moveset.
Week 4: Lylat Cruise
Lylats not a terrible stage for Falco imo.
Recovering, I have no issues I wouldn't have on any other stage. Edgeguards remain the same. The only reason you'll be getting 'gayed' by the ledge is if you screw up. It is VERY easy to space your phantasm right to grab the ledge, and it doesn't hurt firebird at all imo. Why? Because firebirds already trash, and if you're ever forced to use it even on a normal stage you should be dead. I don't think it tilts enough to hurt us.
Onstage, the characters people are suggesting we ban this on won't escape the chaingrab because of the slants. The characters that are good on this stage (MK, Snake) both fall fast enough, or are big enough to be chaingrabbed down a small slant. Lylats slants aren't huge by any means.
The slants HELP your camping game providing you know where to go. Go to the lower side, and SHDL from the lower side to the higher side. By doing this, both lasers shoot across the ground level of Lylat, making approaching difficult for opponents when combined with the 'umbrella' effect of the platforms, that additionally we can platform cancel on. I don't think the ceiling here is overly high either. It's average, meaning our kill options are still intact. Upsmash will still kill at reasonable percents and our other kill options uair/bair remain unphased seeing as most of the time our bair will kill an enemy that's already offstage anyway.
I don't find our phantasm game onstage to be hurt much. We can use it in slightly different ways here, by jumping a little higher and as a GTFO move from a short hop or full hop. The platforms are at good heights for this. In any case, if you're abusing phantasm so much onstage as to be affected by Lylats slants a great deal,l you should consider using your phantasm less because it's overrated.
Week 5: Pokemon Stadium 1
The only thing I absolutely HATE about this stage is the edge, it has to be sweet spotted or it gives you a handful of frustration.
Neutral transformation I love for falco, great for his camping game. Grass transformation I like too, doesn't hurt you much and the little gaps can prove helpful in many situations.
Fire is good for stalling/pseudo infinite's although it hurts you against certain characters that have really good close distance game against falco.
Water... Windmill sucks, platforms are meh.
I'd say 6/10
Week 6: Frigate Orpheon
Week 7: Final Destination
Week 7: Final Destination
Week 8: Pokemon Stadium 2
Week 9: Rainbow Cruise