Snakeee
Smash Master
My opinion on ZSS on each stage as of now. I've put plenty of tournament experience into my assesments and I believe this is pretty on point now.
Note: On the good/great/neutral sections the stages are ordered from Best to Worst
On the Bad stages section it's from Worst to Best.
Great Stages
1. Pokemon Stadium 1 - Great size, main part is pretty flat, and almost all obstacles provide great camping opportunites such as forward Bing through the obstacles and D smashing. I see this as ZSS' best all around stage, and it's even better in teams.
2. Rainbow Cruise - This is the one that I'm going to get the most "WTF" responses about. Of course people are going to say things like "she's a tether character, she'll get gimped there" However even when there is no ledge, ZSS' extremely high jumps (especially while boosting them with Up-B) and down B will still recover her almost as well if you're careful enough. This stage makes great use of both ZSS' aerial game and camping ablility. A lot of characters will have trouble moving when the stage requires them too when they have Forward B's in their faces
. Don't use this stage against characters that have a lot of jumps (except DDD)/can fly/can float.
3. Battlefield - I'd say this is overall the "saftest" stage to play on and its good against a lot of characters. You have enough room, and can utilize the platforms well. Certain characters are actually better here than ZSS is though, and you should avoid them.
Good Stages
1. Brinstar - You can make great use of the platforms, attack from under the stage, sometimes the lava saves you from a gimp, and if the stage gets destroyed you can down B wall jump on the broken sides. The sides are small so you can kill pretty early with B-air and F-air. The shape of the stage messes ZSS' attacks up a bit though.
2. Norfair - You really can't get gimped on this stage, you can do plenty of mindgames between platforms, the lava is easily avoided by ZSS by jumping high or using her down B. Also, Forward B can reach the enemy nicely on this stage and through platforms, and it's easy to hit people on the platform below you with D smash. ZSS can stall with down B excessively here. If you instantly down B backwards from one ledge, you will grab the next highest one.
3. Luigi's Mansion (don't take certain characters that make better use of the ceiling there) - you can combo really well here if you make use of the bottom part of the stage, can Up B from the bottom to the very top platform. Biggest problem is it's hard to get a kill here, though it is harder for you to die as well.
4. Delphino Plaza - The parts where you're moving on the platform is about neutral because the platforms are somewhat helpful, yet it's a bit small. Attacks through the stage are nice, but a bit risky. You can also sometimes spike people under the stage like with my signature D-smash to D-air through the stage.
The island part is nice because you can d-smash to down B spike characters through the water.
The part with several platforms is good because you can d-air people in the water over and over. And the walk off parts I'd say are very slightly a disadvantage because they sort of put you in a bad position sometimes and force you to camp.
5. Pictochat - The flat plane of the stage itself is good, and the obstacles mostly help ZSS. Some let you throw enemies into hazards and some you can abuse your forward b going through obstacles.
Neutral Stages
1. Final Destination - Completely flat and great against characters that have no projectiles. This goes from a very good stage to a bad one when against a character that out-camps ZSS however.
2. Halberd - Platforms are decent on the moving part, and you can attack through the stage.The initial section is kind of annoying, and you'll often end up leaving your armor parts there. The part with the canon is more on the negative side too for ZSS.
3. Corneria - you can die pretty early here. However, you can camp Up B's and Up Smash from under the fin. Also, you can easily kill with up air at the top or a B-air at the edges of the stage. This stage is generally better for teams especially with a G&W partner.
4. Smashville - It's a bit small, and there's nothing really beneficial to ZSS here. The platform usually hurts more than it helps. It gives other characters extra recovery options and messes up your edge-guarding a bit. The stage is perfectly flat however, making ZSS on point with her attacks. The amount of this space becomes a bigger problem in teams, and if I were to classify it for 2 vs.2 it's a bad stage.
Bad Stages
1. Jungle Japes - Your Forward B...it...well you'll see... It's also hard to get kills here, though it's harder for ZSS to be killed upwards too. The one thing I like is that she can down smash- Down B spike if she catches someone in between platforms.
2. Pirate Ship - The shape of the stage is probably the most annoying part. Stay out of the water against characters with good spikes, which are probably the ones that will counterpick here. ZSS' Down B spike can come in handy at times here though.
3. Yoshi's Story - Another stage with a bad shape. The shape causes your attacks to lag and messes up your side B and paralyzer shots. The platform doesn't help too much either because of it's size. It's harder to catch someone on a platform when there's so much room on it.
3. Frigate Orpheon - the platforms on this stage aren't the best, and there's no ledge on one side of the first part. It's still a bit rare to have the missing ledge kill you though, but it definitely can limit your options if you have to recover there. Besides that there isn't too much that hinders ZSS, and it's become a bit laughable how almost everyone seems to counterpick this stage on me.
4. Castle Siege - The first part of the stage is kind of bad and doesn't give you much room. And the walk off part and lava part are about neutral because they're long and flat which gives you mostly the same position as FD. The statues in the walk off part are a hinderance for your projectile, yet can also protect you from other projectiles. The platforms there can be useful if you happen to hit someone onto them as you can get a quick kill off the side with a b-air. There's nothing here that particularly helps ZSS, but there's a few negatives, so this is a bit of a bad stage.
4. Lylat Cruise - Again, it's the shape. This is a problem for the same reasons I said in Yoshi's, and the tilting makes that even worse. Still, this stage is useful against certain characters that you don't want to give much room against, including DDD. You can also D-smash a lot of characters while standing on top of the edge platforms.
The next stages have been banned in most of the tourney's I've been to or heard about. But, here's the descriptions for other stages that (God forbid) may be a counterpick at a tourney, courtesy of Ph00tbag.
Note: On the good/great/neutral sections the stages are ordered from Best to Worst
On the Bad stages section it's from Worst to Best.
Great Stages
1. Pokemon Stadium 1 - Great size, main part is pretty flat, and almost all obstacles provide great camping opportunites such as forward Bing through the obstacles and D smashing. I see this as ZSS' best all around stage, and it's even better in teams.
2. Rainbow Cruise - This is the one that I'm going to get the most "WTF" responses about. Of course people are going to say things like "she's a tether character, she'll get gimped there" However even when there is no ledge, ZSS' extremely high jumps (especially while boosting them with Up-B) and down B will still recover her almost as well if you're careful enough. This stage makes great use of both ZSS' aerial game and camping ablility. A lot of characters will have trouble moving when the stage requires them too when they have Forward B's in their faces
. Don't use this stage against characters that have a lot of jumps (except DDD)/can fly/can float.3. Battlefield - I'd say this is overall the "saftest" stage to play on and its good against a lot of characters. You have enough room, and can utilize the platforms well. Certain characters are actually better here than ZSS is though, and you should avoid them.
Good Stages
1. Brinstar - You can make great use of the platforms, attack from under the stage, sometimes the lava saves you from a gimp, and if the stage gets destroyed you can down B wall jump on the broken sides. The sides are small so you can kill pretty early with B-air and F-air. The shape of the stage messes ZSS' attacks up a bit though.
2. Norfair - You really can't get gimped on this stage, you can do plenty of mindgames between platforms, the lava is easily avoided by ZSS by jumping high or using her down B. Also, Forward B can reach the enemy nicely on this stage and through platforms, and it's easy to hit people on the platform below you with D smash. ZSS can stall with down B excessively here. If you instantly down B backwards from one ledge, you will grab the next highest one.
3. Luigi's Mansion (don't take certain characters that make better use of the ceiling there) - you can combo really well here if you make use of the bottom part of the stage, can Up B from the bottom to the very top platform. Biggest problem is it's hard to get a kill here, though it is harder for you to die as well.
4. Delphino Plaza - The parts where you're moving on the platform is about neutral because the platforms are somewhat helpful, yet it's a bit small. Attacks through the stage are nice, but a bit risky. You can also sometimes spike people under the stage like with my signature D-smash to D-air through the stage.
The island part is nice because you can d-smash to down B spike characters through the water.
The part with several platforms is good because you can d-air people in the water over and over. And the walk off parts I'd say are very slightly a disadvantage because they sort of put you in a bad position sometimes and force you to camp.
5. Pictochat - The flat plane of the stage itself is good, and the obstacles mostly help ZSS. Some let you throw enemies into hazards and some you can abuse your forward b going through obstacles.
Neutral Stages
1. Final Destination - Completely flat and great against characters that have no projectiles. This goes from a very good stage to a bad one when against a character that out-camps ZSS however.
2. Halberd - Platforms are decent on the moving part, and you can attack through the stage.The initial section is kind of annoying, and you'll often end up leaving your armor parts there
. The part with the canon is more on the negative side too for ZSS.3. Corneria - you can die pretty early here. However, you can camp Up B's and Up Smash from under the fin. Also, you can easily kill with up air at the top or a B-air at the edges of the stage. This stage is generally better for teams especially with a G&W partner.
4. Smashville - It's a bit small, and there's nothing really beneficial to ZSS here. The platform usually hurts more than it helps. It gives other characters extra recovery options and messes up your edge-guarding a bit. The stage is perfectly flat however, making ZSS on point with her attacks. The amount of this space becomes a bigger problem in teams, and if I were to classify it for 2 vs.2 it's a bad stage.
Bad Stages
1. Jungle Japes - Your Forward B...it...well you'll see... It's also hard to get kills here, though it's harder for ZSS to be killed upwards too. The one thing I like is that she can down smash- Down B spike if she catches someone in between platforms.
2. Pirate Ship - The shape of the stage is probably the most annoying part. Stay out of the water against characters with good spikes, which are probably the ones that will counterpick here. ZSS' Down B spike can come in handy at times here though.
3. Yoshi's Story - Another stage with a bad shape. The shape causes your attacks to lag and messes up your side B and paralyzer shots. The platform doesn't help too much either because of it's size. It's harder to catch someone on a platform when there's so much room on it.
3. Frigate Orpheon - the platforms on this stage aren't the best, and there's no ledge on one side of the first part. It's still a bit rare to have the missing ledge kill you though, but it definitely can limit your options if you have to recover there. Besides that there isn't too much that hinders ZSS, and it's become a bit laughable how almost everyone seems to counterpick this stage on me.
4. Castle Siege - The first part of the stage is kind of bad and doesn't give you much room. And the walk off part and lava part are about neutral because they're long and flat which gives you mostly the same position as FD. The statues in the walk off part are a hinderance for your projectile, yet can also protect you from other projectiles. The platforms there can be useful if you happen to hit someone onto them as you can get a quick kill off the side with a b-air. There's nothing here that particularly helps ZSS, but there's a few negatives, so this is a bit of a bad stage.
4. Lylat Cruise - Again, it's the shape. This is a problem for the same reasons I said in Yoshi's, and the tilting makes that even worse. Still, this stage is useful against certain characters that you don't want to give much room against, including DDD. You can also D-smash a lot of characters while standing on top of the edge platforms.
The next stages have been banned in most of the tourney's I've been to or heard about. But, here's the descriptions for other stages that (God forbid) may be a counterpick at a tourney, courtesy of Ph00tbag.
Distant Planet - Bad
You can do a lot of neat ledge camping here, and can camp the underside of the main platform on the left side of the stage on many characters, but the slope on the left, low ceiling and close sides are all bad, bad news. Furthermore, the sinking platforms make platform camping nearly useless and severely hamper your ground game. Plus, if you begin the match on the slope, you lose your suit parts.
Green Hill Zone - Neutral
As long as you start near the bottom, the first stock is a lot of fun, let your suit pieces fly around the bowl. Most opponents won't even be able to touch you, and you can generally get a quick KO. Afterwords, you can generally camp the bowl with little difficulty, and can generally get easy access to the checkpoints. The main issue is that it is really hard to KO from your safe position, and to do so, you have to come out of the bowl. This telegraphs your attempt to KO and presents an opportunity for your opponent to KO you, too with those close sides. Good against characters that struggle at KOing off the top.
Yoshi's Island (Pipes) - Neutral
More suit piece fun! The progress of a match on this stage is almost exactly like one on GHZ. It's easy to gain and maintain control, but KOing is rather difficult, and your attempts to do so will often be telegraphed. The spinning boxes can be useful in improvised combos, though.
Green Greens - Neutral
This is a good stage for ZSS to camp on, and suit pieces do fairly well here. You can set off the exploding blocks at no danger to yourself, too, for easy KOs. However, the close walls and ceiling are an ever-present risk, so I'd hesitate to put it at good.
Mario Circuit - Good
This match is actually a very FD-like match. Generally, you'll do well against characters that have trouble camping you, and an even better against characters that you can combo. The close walk-off edges make Paralyzer -> grab combos really effective. Be careful against good campers, though. You can also generally get time to void two of your suit pieces here, if that's your thing, since it's hard for most characters to pressure you on this stage. This allows you to be more aggressive with the one left over.
Onett - Bad
This stage would probably be neutral if it weren't for those **** cars. They boosted the frequency with which cars drive by from Melee, so maintaining control of the bowl is much harder than with Pipes and GHZ. Thus, you often have to give up your advantage, and your opponent can capitalize on your concession.
Port Town - Horribly Horrendous (if it's legal at your tourney, ban it every time)
Few grabable ledges, cars that KO do 20% and KO at 40%, close walls and ceiling... There really is nothing that can make this stage good for you. Basically, you cannot win on this stage unless your opponent is horrible. Ban this stage in every match if your TO is allowing it.
Skyworld - Bad
Although there are plenty of opportunities for improv combos and platform mindgames, as well as out of nowhere lucky recoveries from the moving platform, this stage presents ZSS with several difficulties. For one thing, the fact that your ledges can be taken from you, the finnicky platforms that can only sometimes be passed through, and the fact that you don't have very many easy to pull off spikes make this a difficult stage to use well.
