The 'Shroom:Issue LXXIII/Brawl Tactics

Brawl Tactics by

Welcome, Brawlers, to this month's edition of Brawl Tactics! This month, I will be covering the Earthbound/Mother stage New Pork City!

An obvious spin-off of New York City, this stage's size makes all the others seem like a DS screenshot, with the exception of Melee's Temple. One big disadvantage of this is the risk of losing your character in all the chaos. If you do not keep an eye on them, you will lose track of where they are, and if you walk off of certain platforms, there is really no hope of recovery. So be careful. The sides, ceiling, and floor of this stage are all fairly shallow due to it's size, so if you do fall, you don't have very long to try to get back up.

First off, advantages of this stage can easily turn into disadvantages if you aren't careful. One of them is the amount of distracting details in the background. They hide items. Really well. So, if you're looking to excel on this stage, learn the layout of the background. If you can recognize your surroundings and know what to look for, you will be able to find items quickly and outwit your opponents!

Second is the amount of space to run around. If you are hurt and want to stay away from your opponent, this is the stage to do it on. You can run around everywhere and you'll get a big lead on them. Another use for this is in timed brawls. Once you KO your opponent once, run around and waste time to keep your win intact. Thirdly, avoiding Final Smashes is a snap with this massive stage. Characters like Link, Zelda, and Lucario are basically screwed here because their Final Smashes can be avoided easily here. My personal Choice for a Final Smash here? Diddy Kong, for the ability to move around and fire; Kirby, if you get lucky and all your opponents crowd you; Snake, definitely, because of the mobility and aim, or Luigi, but he's pushing it a bit, because the radius of the Negative Zone is nowhere near the size you need to cover sufficient ground to intimidate your opponents.

Third is the presence of the Ultimate Chimera. If you haven't experienced it and you think it's cute with the tail and the Pepto-Bismol pink fur, THINK AGAIN! The thing will bite, and it will do 100% damage to you. What's worse is that coupled with the amount of damage this bite will launch you off the side of the stage so fast you might not have time to recover. If you have more than 100% damage before the bite, you're pretty much screwed. Sorry. There's not much I can tell you. It's just too much damage, too fast. If you're feeling adventurous, the platform that the chimera stands on is able to be destroyed. Just toss a Smart Bomb or any of your favorite explosives under it, and it will fall, problem solved! Pat yourself on the bat, Indiana Jones, and keep fighting.

That's all for me this month, Brawlers! See you next month on BRAWL TACTICS!