Planet Zebes
General
Info
Background
Layout
Hazards
Item Appearance Spots
Character Appearance Spots
Strategies
-Luigi
-Mario
-Donkey Kong
-Link
-Samus
-Captain Falcon
-Ness
-Yoshi
-Kirby
-Fox
-Pikachu
-Jigglypuff
My Opinion
General Info
Planet Zebes is the home to Samus. This stage takes place on the surface of Planet Zebes. It is a medium sized stage. Planet Zebes is probably one of the most hated stages of all time, and for good reason...
Background
The background to this stage is pretty plain. It's mostly some dark coloured stuff with some bright lights. If you wait for a while, some times you can see Samus' enemies will fly by in the background.
Layout
Okay, first things first, you got a crooked main stage(1) on the bottom there with a lot of elevation changes. It is semi-solid for a reason you'll figure out later. On top the main stage are three platforms (3, 4 and 5). On the right of everything is a small platforms that moves up and down from time to time. Under the stage lies not a pit, but a sea of weird liquid that gives off an ominous yellow glow...
Hazards
There is an active hazard on this stage, and just this hazard is enough to make most people hate this stage. This hazard can drive people nuts and give them headaches. You want to know what it is? You guessed it. The hazard is that yellowish liquid on the bottom of the screen. You know what that is? That's some really hot scorching acid, my friend. Planet Zebes is covered with this stuff. Lets look into the acid with a bit more details.
Active Hazards
Acid
Damage: 16%
Flight Path: Straight up
Description: If your character happens to fall off the stage, chances
are your character won't die instantly by crossing over the south boundary,
but instead he/she will get burned and sent flying upwards by the acid
below. The sea of acid is extremely unstable. Sometimes the acid level
is so low that a person can actually far past the south boundary and
die of an explosion kill, but sometimes the acid will rises far enough
to cover all but the highest platform. The unstable surface of the planet
will make the whole stage shake once in a while, and you'll know that
the acid is starting to move when the stage shakes. The acid is unblockable
(yeah, you are going to block a few billion litres of acid) and is quite
strong. It will star finish light characters at around 70 to 80%. Because
of the acid, players will not only have to worry about their opponents,
but they have to worry about their own survival as well since the acid
gets a lot of KOs. If you knock someone into the acid and the person
gets killed by the acid, you do get a point for the kill, which is about
the only plus side the acid has. The acid can make your life miserable,
steal your kills and also kill you too. When the acid starts rising,
jump to the highest platform. By now you should have figured out why
the main stage is semi-solid. It's because the acid will send people
upwards, so the designers don't want players to get trapped between
the acid and the main stage, so the characters can fly through the main
stage after getting burned by the acid. Get it yet? Good. I knew you
could do it.
Item Appearance Spots
Items drop from the sky on to the all of the platforms. Items will also appear on the left edge, centre and right edge of the main stage.
Character Appearance Spots
All four players start on the main level of the stage. The order is 1P, 2P, 3P, 4P, from left to right. The reappearance spot is above the top platform.
Strategies
Here are some strategies I can think of for this stage.
-Try to stay on the higher platforms since there is less chance of getting
burned.
-Since the main stage is semi-solid, if your character has a good vertical
recovery move, then you can go through the stage to avoid an edge guarder.
-Try and knock people into the acid to damage them or kill them. Remember
that you do get a point if you knocked somone into the acid and the
acid kills the person.
-There is an interesting thing that cpu players will do on this stage.
Sometime they will stay on the bottom platform and hold their shields
for a long time for no apparent reason. It's not like anybody can actually
block the acid. You could go a grab them if you want, but the acid might
come up right at that time to burn you, so do it at your own risk. They
will also be attracted to items that are submerged under the acid when
the acid tide is high and will hop on and off the platforms while doing
little else, so it's a good opportunity to attack them at that point.
Luigi
Luigi is okay on this stage. Luigi can jump quite well so he wouldn't have much trouble getting on to the upper levels of the stage. He can also jump punch through the main stage during recovery.
Mario
Mario is fares about he same as his brother. Both of them are middleweights so the acid will kill them at around 90-100% or so.
Donkey Kong
DK has a distinct advantage here because he is the heaviest character in the game, so he can take more burns than anybody else. DK can also spike on this stage, even though it's hard to send people over the south boundary, but DK can send people down into the acid for some crazy rebound action.
Link
Link is okay on this stage. He's a heavyweight so he can take a few burns without dying, but he is also easily knocked off into the acid and will take damage very quickly if that happens. Try to stay in the middle of the stage with Link.
Samus
Samus is okay on her own stage. It's big enough so that she can get some room to charge her shot and use it against people. She's also a pretty good jumper so take advantage of the platforms to use against her opponents and to escape from the acid.
Captain Falcon
Captain Falcon is like Link, which means he's okay on this stage. He is heavy and therefore can take more hits from the acid but he also falls off the stage pretty easily, so try to stay in the middle of the stage.
Ness
Ness is doesn't fare to well on this stage, because his recovery move takes some time to do and his jump is slow, so he has a harder time escaping from the acid. The added fact that he is lightweight doesn't help his situation at all. He can send people down here but he can't get those early kills since the acid will send the victims back up again.
Yoshi
Yoshi is okay on this stage. He's heavy, which is a plus on Planet Zebes. He can also jump quite well, so he should be able to escape from the acid on most occasions.
Kirby
Kirby is not that good on this stage since his jumps are slow and he is a lightweight, so the acid will kill him pretty quickly. Try to stay on the upper parts of the stage to prevent Kirby from becoming a piece of fried marshmellow.
Fox
Fox is not too bad, but not too good on this stage either. He can juggle and peg people here, and his conventional jumps are pretty quick, which helps him scale platforms quickly. Unfortunately Fox's recovery move is slow, so it probably won't be able to save him from the rising acid tide.
Pikachu
Pikachu is like Kirby, so he better stay on upper levels to prevent a burning death. He can easily use his quick attack to go through the main stage during recovery, which is good. His thunder jolts can also transverse the uneven terrain of the main level, which enable Pikachu to attack from a distance, but if I were Pikachu, I would stay near the top. Acid is bad for Pikachu's looks, and health.
Jigglypuff
Like all lightweights, Jigglypuff better stay on the upper parts of the stage, since he'll get killed by the acid at a bit over 60%. You might as well just keep him on the top platforms so he won't die.
My Opinion
Most people hate this stage, and for good reason. This stage is probably more likely to kill you than your opponents killing you. This is a tough stage to fight on for any character, especially the lightweights. Even though most people dislike it, you should still use this stage because it's a unique stage in Smash and you should try it out a few times before judging.