PrestonStarry Ranks The Super Smash Bros. Brawl Stages

- Coming in dead last on my countdown is the Mario Bros. stage. There are a few major reasons why this game is ranked at the bottom of the bucket list. IMO, this stage goes down as the worst Mario stage in the Smash Bros. series and makes The Top 5 of the worst Smash Bros. stages I have ever played. (Yes, I have played all 3 SSB games in the series.)
 * 31: Mario Bros.:

There are a few BIG reasons why this stage is ranked at the bottom of the list.

For one big reason is that, I have never been a fan of small stages in the Smash Bros. series because, small stages give off little to no game-play action in them.

The Mario Bros. stage has next to zero stage action room to move around in. The entire level was blocked by a near worthless POW block, worthless green pipes and low ceiling unbreakable blue blocks. This causes little to no battle action in the stage. Heck, there was hardly any room to jump around in for this stage, especially for 4-way battles.

For a level that has a narrow amount of space to battle in, let alone even jump in, causes the level to become very bland and boring to battle in, IMO. Even with items.

The second biggest reason why I HATE and have this stage at the bottom of my countdown is that is very easy to get yourself KO' ed in. If you are not checking your surroundings, you can accidentally get yourself killed by the stupid crab enemies. Even if you are low on your damage meter, you can can get yourself randomly and easily killed by the stupid crabs.

Overall, I rank this stage to be very terrible. This stage is good for nostalgic here and there as it does have some okay music in it but, for a stage where there is a lack of game-play in it such as having even little to no jump room in it makes it very terrible.

Even when I plan on hitting the RANDOM button with friends and I wound up getting this stage, I would go back to the main menu and find another stage to play on.

- On the Smash DOJO! website, the site claimed New Pork City to be " The scale is, say about as the same as the Temple stage" When I read this, I was expecting New Pork City to be one of my favorite Smash Bros. stages in Brawl as back in Melee, Temple was one of my favorite stages, if not my FAVORITE stage back in Melee and I do have a passion and love for big stages.
 * 30: New Pork City:

However, when I first played this stage a few times when Brawl came out, I was left with a unhappy disappointing face while playing this stage.

This stage probably has the worst camera control in the Smash Bros. series. If you were doing a 4-way battle and your opponents kept on going higher and higher in the stage and running away from you, the camera would zoom out in random places inside the stage trying to get hold of all characters battling each other. This causes combat action to be very bland and boring.

Also, It is very hard to score a KO in this stage. While you could go after your opponent and chase after him/her, the stage has way too much stage area/room where your opponent can easily run away from you and jump on the platforms.

Speaking of which, the platforms in New Pork City are some of the worst I have seen in the Smash Bros. series. Most if not, almost all of the platforms were out of place and shape. If you kept on jumping higher and higher in the stage, the platforms would get smaller and smaller, leaving you hoping you can perform a combo move in the air just to do damage to your opponent.

For one last flaw with the stage is the crappy music. The only decent song I found for this stage was "Mother 3 Love Theme" every other song for this stage, was terrible. especially, "Porky 's Theme" where it had a heavy beat that did not fit the stage at all.

The only reason why I have New Pork City ranked higher then Mario Bros. is that New Pork City at least does have some decent animation inside this stage with some of bright and shiny billboards to look at now and then but, aside for that minor compliment, the stage has no fun in it whatsoever. Well, IMO.

Even so, animation does not save this stage sinking at the bottom of my countdown at #30.

Before I go let me just say that...

Gameplay and Music > Animation

- Back in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Icicle Mountain was of my least favorite stages in the game. For one good reason. I have HATED the idea of having a scrolling up stage since day one when I first played Melee with Icicle Mountain.
 * 29: Rumble Falls:

The idea sounded fun on paper but in reality, it was of the worst ideas I have seen anybody think of for a stage in the Smash Bros. series. Icicle Mountain was a stage where luck played way too much of role in to win a match, a stage with scrolling up would cause a lack of fighting action going on and the scrolling up speed would range to slow to lighting fast. If you weren't careful enough, you would get yourself accidentally KO' ed.

Rumble Falls is pretty much a clone of Icicle Mountain expect taken in DK's world with a waterfall and some trees.

Like I stated why I hated Icicle Mountain, Rumble Falls suffers from mostly the same problems Icicle Mountain had.

Again, pretty much most of the same problems can already be said that I already said before. The biggest problem with Rumble Falls is that a very big lack of gameplay takes place in this stage. Every single time when I play in this stage, I was spending over half of time on the stage trying not to get myself killed by jumping up and up on the platforms rather then attacking my opponents on the stage.

Luck just overall killed the fun out of this stage. While you were jumping trying to not get yourself killed, the scrolling up speed can range to slow as a Snail to nearly impossible to avoid not getting yourself killed.

The only positive thing I can think for this stage is that, there are some cool animations in the level. The jungle-water animation looks solid in this level. I really like the waterfall. It's beautiful.

But, again. Animation DOES NOT make a stage very fun. It's the gameplay that makes a stage arena fun and in this case, the gameplay fighting in this level, is ruined by the awful up scrolling in the level leaving this stage near the bottom at #29.

- To be honest, I have not played a single great DK stage in the Smash Bros. series at all and 75m is no different.
 * 28: 75m:

75m suffers from mostly the same problems from New Pork City. If you are one side of the stage and your opponent goes to the other side, the camera would randomly cut you off for no reason whatsoever. The camera was an overall complete mess in this stage.

Another major problem with this stage I had was that, every-time you could do your recovery/Up B move near the ladders, you have yourself locked on to the ladders and you would have yourself locked on to the ladders, until you finished climbing it. I don't think you could even get yourself jumped off the ladders. (I rarely if ever play this stage) This is completely unfair as your opponent could come next to you and do a cheap combo move while you were climbing the ladder and/or you could also get yourself accidentally hit by the moving fireballs that move all around in the stage.

Making matters worse, the platforms in this stage are extremely small. Even small characters like Kirby nearly take up the entire area for one platform.

The fireballs that move during this stage are annoying and hard to dodge as, the fireballs move extremely fast on this stage and it's easy for your opponents to do a cheap move combo on you smacking you into the fireballs as the fireballs can do a good chunk of damage to you.

On the positive side for 75m, is that at least it looks decent. It's look extremely like the classic DK arcade version stage and the music isn't half bad on this stage.

For 4 stages in a row for this countdown, the gameplay is hardly seen as fun in these stages and the only positive thing about the bottom 4 stages in the countdown is the animation. I am going to let you guys on a secret... Once I get done with Numbers # 31 to Numbers #26 in the countdown, the stages go from bad to okay. Stay tune in the countdown.

- Another day, another terrible scrolling stage from the Smash Bros. series. I already said it once and I will say it again, I HATE scrolling stages and Mushroomy Kingdom is no different and hardly that much better then Rumble Falls from Brawl and Icicle Mountain from Smash Bros. Melee.
 * 27: Mushroomy Kingdom

The only real difference with Rumble Falls and Mushroomy Kingdom is that Mushroomy Kingdom moves sideways rather then up. Moving in a different direction, may seem like a fun idea for a scrolling stage but, it hardly makes the gameplay for the stage any better.

The biggest problem I had with for Mushroomy Kingdom, was it was a stage where you could get yourself easily and cheaply killed in. Since the stage is moving sideways at all times, your opponents can easily go after you and push you into the left direction of the stage causing you to get KO' ed.

Making matters worse for stage, In the underground portion of the stage, objects such as blocks and pipes would block your way from moving forward in the stage while the stage was scrolling and you can easily get yourself unfairly KO' ed. If you had yourself a slow character like Bowser or King Dedede, you would likely wound up having a hard time getting past the objects underground as the objects underground, are an annoyance and would often break up the fighting going on in the stage as you pay attention on trying not to die underground rather then attacking your opponents.

The only positive I can think for this stage is that thankfully unlike Rumble Falls, the scrolling stage moves slow rather then fast in Rumble Falls. This is a good thing for a stage...well for a scrolling stage anyways as you can SOMETIMES take your time in the stage and battle with your opponents and that's really all I got to say for this stage.

On one final note, scrolling stages need to stop being made. All what scrolling stages do for people, are to annoy people and ruin the balance of gameplay in them and instead of fun gameplay in scrolling stages, luck plays the entire role for a scrolling stage. Nintendo needs to stop wasting time making scrolling stages in the Smash Bros. series. They are just simply a waste of stage development and overall just not that fun.

- With the bottom 5 worst stages out of the countdown, the stages start up in quality and improving on the countdown from "BAD" to "OKAY" on the countdown and Skyworld is the first stage on the countdown where the stages are getting slightly better. I personally do not think Skyworld is not THAT bad for a stage but, there are still some problems within this stage.
 * 26: Skyworld

The biggest negative I had with for Skyworld was, the breakable platforms in the stage. The platforms are fairly easy to break and most of the time, the platforms would usually only take about 4 to 5 hits to knock out. Once the platforms move away from the stage, clouds would appear causing the stage to become less fun. Overall, the platforms ruin the balance in this stage.

On paper this doesn't seem like much of a problem but, in reality it is. Whenever someone broke one of the platforms in the stage, the clouds would appear and your opponent can easily and unfairly do a down smash power combo on you on the bottom part of the stage, causing you to go through the clouds as result, almost all of the time would result for your opponent doing a cheap KO on you. No matter what cloud it was on, your opponent could easily KO you through the clouds and this plays totally unfair for players in the game, especially to newcomers to the series.

The breakable platforms also played a major problem for recovery. While you were trying to do your recovery move near one of the edges in the stage, you may accidentally cause yourself to break one of the edge's platforms causing the clouds to appear. Since you cannot grab hold of the clouds for recovery this usually results in for a another cheap KO in this stage.

On the plus side for Skyworld, is that Skyworld has some pretty sweet music in the stage such as the classic NES tune from Kid Icarus and re-edit Wii version of it in this stage. On top of that, the stage Greece like style fits the stage very well.

Overall, I rank Skyworld as a "not bad" stage in the game. I just think the stage is just ruined by the unbalanced gameplay for the platforms in the stage.

- Coming in as #25 on the countdown, is Hanenbow, a stage based off of Electroplankton.
 * 25: Hanenbow

I know there are some people stating that they HATE this stage but, for me personally I think this stage is a "decent" stage in the game.

As always for the start for a stage in my countdown are the negatives. The biggest problem I had with for Hanenbow is the unbalanced gameplay for the water in this level.

It was fairly easy to knock your opponent into the water and if you had yourself in the water, it was almost always guaranteed that you would lose a life as if you accidentally use your recovery move at the wrong time while you were in the water, it would be game over for you.

Making matters worse, you COULD NOT SWIM into the water in this stage and if you had a character that had a terrible recovery move to get out of the water like Jigglypuff or Yoshi, you are going to have a hard time to survive in this level. Not to mention, if your character was in the water for more then 3 seconds and didn't use your recovery move at the right time, you were a goner. It would of been nice if timing didn't play a major role for a stage.

On the positive side for Hanenbow, The leafs are fairly well balanced in this level, for my opinion at least. Even though the leafs would move in different directions every time you hit them giving you a hard time to attack your opponent, you rarely if ever had to worry about dying on the leafs as the leafs shift up and down rather then left and right for the leafs. This is a good thing as if the leafs shifted left and right, it was easy for your opponent to knock you into the water and lose a life.

As for the music, THERE ARE ZERO music choices to choose from for this stage. The only music that would happen in this stage, let alone any sound effects in this stage were the effects for the leafs in this level every time you hit a leaf. This is neither a good or a bad thing as this makes Hanenbow unique because no other stage does this but, this isn't either a good thing either as some Nintendo DS or Wii game tracks would of been nice for this level but, All and all, the music for this stage is a mixed bag.

Overall, Hanenbow is a decent stage in Brawl for my opinion. My own major complaint is that I wished the water effects were fixed to be more balanced for this level but, overall Hanenbow is one stage that shows something different for the stages in Brawl. It may not be the most balanced and fun stage in the game but, it's one of the most unique stages in the game.