Stage Builders Guide Part VI - sections M-N

(M) Suggestions for New Features

(1-M) External Saving: The ability to save stages to an external device, such as a USB or SD card. Why this feature wasn’t here from the beginning baffles me. Since we are so limited in the number of stages we can make, we should be able to save onto memory cards or USB sticks. This limitation is the most limiting in my opinion; it really destroys the stage builder appeal for me. I had over 400 stages in Brawl, and my system memory still wasn’t full. But now I can only have about 50 or so, and if I want to make a new one I cannot do so unless I tear down an old one. If I delete an old stage and try to start a new one, it will tell me that there is not enough memory, even though I just deleted one. I have to erase all pieces of an existing stage and start from scratch, meaning that I am limited to the layout of the stage that I am most willing to get rid of. This is absolutely ridiculous.

(2-M) Larger Weight Limits: This is so needed.

(3-M) Breakable Walls/Floors: Speaks for itself. I would like to adjust how many hits it can take before breaking.

(4-M) Water: I’d love to see water that can be drowned in if it’s too deep, or walked in if it’s shallow enough.

(5-M) Ice: I’d love to see this return from Brawl. It would be really cool to be able to melt these ice blocks with fire attacks!

(6-M) All Skins Available For All Layouts: I understand that there are probably size limitations that keep this from happening, but maybe there could be a limit of 5 skins used on each stage, but you could pick which ones you use from all available skins.

(7-M) Falling Blocks: Another thing I’d like to see return from Brawl, except that you could pass through them, from the underside only; that way they could no longer trap you inside something. I would suggest that you could only pass through them if they are set in place, not if they are falling. I also think that they need to have a longer time limit to standing on them before they begin to fall, and maybe they could have grab-able edges.

(8-M) Lighting Effects: Being able to add torches or light fixtures would go a very long way to increasing the realism of these stages.

(9-M) Warp Points/Pipes: These would be great for some interesting game play mechanics, and they would also go a long way in adding to the freedom to create for the builders, allowing new modes to be created.

(10-M) More Hazards: I think that stationary guns that fired at people who came too close would be cool; perhaps they could even be set to teams, so that each team could have their home base area of sorts. Not really sure what that would look like or how it would play, but I think some cool stuff could be done with stationary guns, even if the teams thing doesn’t work. Other hazards could include things specific to games, like Chain Chomps, Petey Piranha’s; or more general items like spikes. Having Warp pipes that Petey Piranha’s were in, where you have to defeat them before you could use the pipe would be awesome; maybe they re-spawn every so often.

(11-M) More Options for Moving Platforms: Perhaps a circular movement pattern, and also an elevator type with a never-ending series of platforms that all go one way (the player chooses the direction), like you see at the end of the first underground level in Super Mario Bros.

(12-M) Stage Shifting Options: I would like to be able to highlight a portion or all of a stage and pick it up to adjust its location on the map, without having to redraw the whole thing.

(13-M) Line Adjustment: Before finalizing a piece, when it is still a green line, I would like to be able to adjust its position, at least the end of the last segment, before finalizing it.

(14-M) Stairs: It would be great to add stairs that do not hinder movement for any character, and that can be adjusted in terms of the horizontal size of the individual steps, and to be able to choose from each available skin design.

(15-M) Item Testing in Stage Editor: I hate having to back out through menus and load up a training session just to test items on my stages. I would really love to see the ability to do this right from the editor.

(16-M) Opponent Action Options From Stage Editor: The same options for opponent movements in training mode should also be available in the editor.

(17-M) No Limits on Grab-Able Edges: I would like to have the option of a grab-able ledge no matter how close it is to something else, or if there is ground under it.

(18-M) Grab-Able Edgs o Soft Platforms: I would also love to have this option on regular platforms and Moving Platforms.

(19-M) Pass Through Walls: Or the ability to create a solid mass that is hollow so that characters could pass through them. I would think that it should become transparent when someone is inside, as with Luigi’s Mansion. I would like the ability to choose the open side and potentially have a box with only one entrance/exit, even from the top or bottom. Hopefully these could be drawn to any shape we want, but if predetermined boxes are necessary for this to be a reality, then please offer multiple shapes and multiple sizes to each shape.

(20-M) The ability to “Yeah” stages from Smash without having to log in to miiverse: When viewing stages from Smash’s online service, you have to load up miiverse (which takes a minute and sometimes fails) in order to give the stage a “yeah”. This means that it is too cumbersome for most to do, leaving many to ignore showing support in this way. Commenting from Smash would also be great.

(21-M) Stage Info Automatic for Miiverse Posts: I would like for the size and song info to be automatically added to any stage post, so that we do not have to spend time writing that up for each and every post, since typing on the game pad is slow and tedious.

(22-M) Solid/Soft (Pass Through) Toggle for Soft and Moving Platforms: I would like the ability to make thin platforms solid, as well as for Moving Platforms.

(N) Making Stairs

(1-N) The Bend Method: I had actually intended not to add a section on stairs because they are so annoying and difficult to get right, and because there are so many ways to do them, but since I have finally developed a staple method for myself, I decided I would add this to the guide. This requires you understand the Bend Method from section (5-B), so you may need to refresh yourself on that. In short, when changing direction, in this case going from horizontal (surface of step) to vertical (rise of step), and vice versa, you simply change directions without lifting your stylus, this allows for a shorter line segment; that I call Microns.

The concept is really simple, but the execution is tedious, it requires lots of concentration, and it will probably take several failed attempts before achieving it. Essentially I draw a two Micron segment for the surface of each step, and then a one Micron segment down, and continue until I have all the stairs I need. Of course you can choose the number of Microns that you want the top surface of each step to be, but the longer they are, the harder it will be to get it right. Also, the more steps you make the harder it will be. I recommend limiting yourself to 2-4 steps, that’s about my personal threshold of pain for trying to get this right.

In (A) below you can see a single Micron, which is just a bit longer than half a grid block. In (B) you see the horizontal portion of one step, which is two Microns long, and the rise, which is one Micron tall.

In (C) and (D) you can see three steps completed. It took about 15-20 tries at least, to get this right, so you can see that this is not an easy method, but it looks really nice. In (C) and (D) you’ll also notice that the third step doesn’t quite come down to the grid line that it is near. I’m not sure how many steps you’d need to create in order to end on a grid line, but it’s definitely too many. I’ll leave it to you guys to find creative ways to deal with this. I simply start my stairs in a place that allows me to end on a grid line, or else I compensate the area below the stairs to reach the bottom in a functional way.

What I would like to see is a tighter grid that could be toggled off and on, that goes over the current grid. This one could divide each grid block into four tiny squares, allowing steps to be made much more easily, that can also be fought on by most of the cast. I would also like for the characters to be able to walk down these steps, instead of going into a very brief free fall animation when attempting to walk down, as is the case with most stair constructions.

(2-N) The Insert Method: In this method you start out with a main base made up of stairs using the grid, but you add inserts with the grid off. In (A) below you see the main structure, and the starting point of the first insert.

In (B) above you can see the insert partially drawn. Note that the vertical line was drawn with the bend method.

The picture below shows two ways of drawing inserts. The first insert is the one we drew above. Notice that the length of the trim (the walking surface) isn’t even with each step. For the second insert I brought the left side of it halfway into the step above it, which makes an even trim length among all stairs.

I left the Bending example under the Insert example, just so that you can see the difference. As you probably noticed, it is really difficult to get even spacing between steps. Notice how the first insert is closer to the step below it, than it is to the one above it? The second insert has the same problem. It is possible, but WAY harder than it should be to get an even spacing. This is one reason that I like the Bending Method better. The Insert method, when spaced evenly, makes for shorter rises, meaning fewer problems for fighters, but sometimes I find it nearly impossible to get the spacing correct. It can be really quite maddening. Of course the Insert Method takes up more weight as well.

One option is to have two inserts per grid step, but it is literally impossible to space each step evenly. It’s the best to fight on, but it’s wonky looking, and it takes up even more weight.

The bottom line is, steps are WAY too difficult to make. I feel that this is one of the biggest problems with the editor, and that it needs to be fixed.

(99-N) Put A Spring In Your Step: This one is numbered as (99-N) just in case I end up posting info on other stair strategies, so that I won’t have to keep shifting things around. This little trick actually makes stairs useful in a very specific way. Let’s say you have a tall object on your stage, and you want to place a spring at the base of it to make it easier to navigate. While making my stage Mystery Box, I stumbled onto a way of hiding a spring so that you only hit it while walking up the stairs, but when landing on the top stair, you avoid being bounced back up. Below is an image of the full construction, along with an image that shows the soft platforms and the spring missing, to give you an idea of how the solid structure looks.

Tefilla Wings

My Smash Brothers stage called Tefilla Wings, is dedicated to my mother. The word tefilla is a liberal spelling and transliteration of the Hebrew word for prayer. My mother resides in a nursing home due to her dementia or Alzheimer’s, both of which are basically identicle, and neither of which can be faithfully diagnosed until after death with an autopsy, so we won’t know for sure until after she’s gone. She’s only 62, which is really young to be so far gone into this disease. She’s actually had it since she was about 45, which is crazy young to have this.

Coming from a Christian family, of people who know the power of prayer and of God, you’d think that we’d all be expecting her to be healed. Unfortunately I am probably the only one who still believes that hope is not lost for her.

If you’re wondering how I could still have faith, well that’s a perfectly valid question, but the answer is made up of several parts. First of all, I have several prophetic dreams and supernatural experiences where God has proven how faithful He is, so my faith remains; not because of my own abilities or strength, but because of God’s Grace to personally show me just how faithful He is. Jesus did not perform any miracles where there was no faith present, even in His hometown of Nazareth, they did not believe, so He did very few works there, and the few that were done were done before faithful eyes, and far from the faithless. So you can probably see why my family’s lack of faith is so frustrating to me. I want my mother back.

To hear about some of the more brief stories of my own experiences, read the following links. These are all my own personal experiences and dreams.

Experiences:

The Spider Queen - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicholighkun/20150605/1433535260

Learning Hebrew - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicholighkun/20100526/1274906546

The Anointing - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicholighkun/20100105/1262710066

The Curse and the Temptation - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicholighkun/20100105/1262709422

Dreams:

Two Glasses - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicholighkun/20100526/1274906901

Deborah Beth-El - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicholighkun/20100130/1264899553

Honey Comb - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicholighkun/20100930/1285875362

Topical Grouping:

And here’s a link to a post called Topical Grouping that has links to each of my Biblically related writings, some more dreams and experiences, and loads of in depth doctrinal studies that I’ve done, just in case you’d like to learn more - http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicholighkun/20120320/1332275332

So as you can see, God has been very active in my life. I don’t question His power, but the lack of faith in my family might be hindering my mother’s deliverance.

In the stage Tefilla Wings, the wings represent prayer. On the left you have the natural rock, representing God, on the right you have the broken masonry bridges representing man’s failed attempts to reach God. The bridge that successfully reaches from man to God is made of the same material that the prayer is made of, and this is intentional; it represents the role of Christ as the bridge between God and man, which is the very reason those who have bowed their knee to Christ as their Lord and Savior and who have also confessed such with their mouth, can also pray to God and be heard. The masonry lip that holds the left side of the bridge and is attached to the Rock also represents Christ since He was a man, which He had to be in order to pay for the sins of man. He is also God, because no man could live a sinless life. He had to be man to die for men; He had to be sinless to pay for the sins of others, or else he could only pay for His own; and he had to be God, because no man can live a sinless life, thereby atoning for all of mankind (those who accept his free gift that is).

This stage means a lot to me, and I just wanted to share its meaning, just in case it happens to encourage anyone else. If you have faith, then please pray for my mother and my family, that a strong faith would be grown in all of us. I want my mother back.

Thank you,

nicholas

Here's the link to the original stage - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkOUZnNWQ

And the altered version - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkOX_ApcA

A very brief message

Tolerance: newly defined, "affirm me, or else I hate you for hating me, and you are intolerant, but I am not."

I don't have to affirm someone to tolerate them, and just because I don't waver on how God defines sin, doesn't mean that I hate you. And 2 + 2 doesn't = 5.

Christian, stop focusing on any one sin, because you are being bated to do so. Our role isn't that of morality police, it is that of Gospel messengers. Do you get angry and red faced when you hear someone gossiping, or a family member lying? Then why does the gay marriage thing offend you so bad? Maybe it's time to start looking in the mirror and comparing ourselves to the one who walked and talked with sinners, instead of burying our heads in the sand, or going on a rampage when sin gets a victory.

Or, you know, you could continue working harm if you really think it's best.

Smah 4 Stage Builders Guide Part VIII - sections Y-Z

(Y) Item Notes

(1-Y) Item Specific:

Hothead: If a structure goes all the way to the blast zone, then a hothead will no longer make it’s way around, but will instead be eaten by the blast zone. If you want to allow for this item to be used for its intended purpose, you will have to bring your stage edges in from the BZ by at least 2 blocks. This will be enough for an uncharged, or charged Hothead to make it’s way around the structure. Also, lava doesn’t seem to affect the Hothead.

I also noticed that the HH will not cling to a soft platform, it will simply fall off the side straight down, even if the platform is laying right on top of a solid structure, as with a G-Stack. If the soft platform doesn’t go quite all the way to the edge of the solid it’s lying on top of, the HH should be okay.

The picture below shows the kind of situation that will cause a HH to become stuck. When a sliver of a ledge sticks out from a wall, the HH will get stuck and will go back and forth rapidly. Extending the ledge, or flushing that edge with the wall should eliminate this problem.

I’ll be honest, testing this item is much more complicated, and so many things can cause problems for it that I still have to go back and forth between training and stage builder several times before a HH can travel all over my stage with no problems. I know of no other item that is so easily halted by constructions that should pose no problems for it, but at the same time, I personally would be incredibly annoyed to see this item getting stuck during a match, so I take the time to do what I can, within my limits of patience.

Bombchu: The Bombchu has the same problem of being eaten by the blast zone as the Hothead does, except that your edges only need to be one block away from the BZ to stop this from happening. Of course I recommend going two away, just to allow both items to function properly.

Incidentally, lava will set off the Bombchu. If you wanted to keep your stages lava from detonating a Bombchu, you could create a channel underneath the lava for the item to travel. Below are some set ups I tested with.

(1-a) and (1-b) are essentially the same, but the Bombchu exploded when hitting the lava, so I eliminated it from the bottom of the diamond shape. Bombchu would go under (1-b) one time, but the second time around it would explode just before going down the slope.

Beginning with (2) I flattened the top of the lava because the Hothead was getting stuck, but with the squared off top it doesn’t seem to have that problem. In construction (2) everything worked fine for Bombchu’s and Hotheads, but I had a feeling that there might be reasons to want to discourage people from going under there, if for instance only the top of the upper piece had lava, similar to (1-b) so I constructed (3). If the tops of the spikes on (3) were one block higher, the Bombchu would actually latch on to the lava piece on the second pass around. This “second pass” phenomenon may be indicative of some size increase as the Bombchu picks up speed, but its speed definitely seems to affect things on some level.

Pitfall: One set up I’ve been doing since Brawl is to make a common feature of my stages to be a soft platform over a void, so that players could throw a Pitfall down, to catch unsuspecting opponents off guard, and send them hurtling into the abyss. This is not a guaranteed KO, since some set-ups and some characters can still have a fighting chance of survival. I still do this quite a bit, but another; more merciless strategy for this item I’ve developed in 4 is pictured below. It’s basically the same idea, except the player has no hope of escaping, wall jumping or making it back to the stage at all.

Beetle: This item, as well as the Boss Galaga both grab your opponent and take them straight upward to their death, unless they break free. However, if a cannon is in the path of the Beetle (or Boss Galaga) as it flies up, the character will enter the cannon and be safe from certain doom, unless that cannon is pointed toward the BZ of course!

Crates and Rolling Barrels: Thanks to miiverse user Conner: TransPM, and his description of the stage linked below, I have learned that Rolling Crates and Barrels will actually travel up a wall if that wall is low enough.

Conner’s Barrel buster stage inspired by: Street Fighter - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkLZPVX2w

To test this I tried both items on a one block high wall and a 2 block high wall. Both could travel up 1 block and neither could travel up 2. To get a more accurate picture I made the following structures. (1) Is about one platforms width taller than one block, (2) is right in between one and two blocks, and (3) is about one platform shy of being two blocks tall.

Both items went up (1), only the Rolling Crate went up (2), and neither went up (3).

(2-Y) Item Suggestions:

Freezie: It would be cool if a Freezie made a temporary (fairly large) ice platform when thrown onto lava (or maybe even on any ground). It should have slippery properties of course.

(Z) Final Words

(1-Z) Be creative and Give credit: Again I remind you to be creative, don’t straight jacket yourself by believing that there is only one way to accomplish an interesting and fun stage. But also, don’t be afraid to emulate the work of others, as long as you give them credit. For instance you might start with one little piece, or even an entire stage modeled after someone else’s work, but then you can take the time to alter it to suit your play style, and your design taste. Sometimes you’ll start with strong inspiration from someone else, and by the time you’re finished working, the new version is completely different from the original. Even still, give credit for your inspiration when it comes from someone else. I recommend that you link their miiverse profile, or the specific stage that inspired you. This is the cross-promotion among the “guild” that will go a long way to showcase good work, since the sharing community doesn’t allow such things as ratings, or a “best builds” list of sorts. Since exposure is limited, and stages are deleted after 30 days, promoting builders that you like is practically necessary.

It’s best for you and others if you view the stage building community as a guild of artisans. All of our work is a collective pool of creative insight. Others inspire us, and we can even take from them, as long as we are upfront about it. Give credit where credit is due, because only you will regret passing off the work and toil of others as your own, when someone finds out what you’ve done.

(2-Z) Please Feel Free To Contribute To This Guide: I would like to officially extend an invitation for you guys to add your own observations in the comments here, or on any forum where this guide is posted. Please link your miiverse account if you have one. If you do not, then please give the user name you’d like me to give you credit by. If your page contains anything that I perceive to be inappropriate, then I will still give you credit, but I will not link your page.

(3-Z) Stage Builders That I Like: Below is a list of builders that I find to be great. They are in no particular order, and if you are not represented in this list, then please do not take offense, and please do not ask to be added if you are going to get offended when you are not included. If you want to be on this list then you will need to do more than take 20-30 minutes to throw your stages together; they will need to be well thought out creations. The creators on this list put care into their works and it shows. This is not a list of all stage builders everywhere; it is a list of the ones that I feel stand out.

01 Jughead

NNID: Rich Petty: Jughead870. Jughead is one of my personal favorites. Not only are his stages well designed, but the presentation of them is out of this world. He has created a fantasy destination called Smash islands, where each one of his stages represents an actual place on the islands.

Here's the first of his Smash Islands stage showcase videos. The video for stages 26-30 has a really nice Sonic the Hedgehog stage complete with a very impressive loop.

And here's his miiverse profile - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Jughead870/posts

02 Rifick

NNID: Rifick: TheThunderPunch. Rifick is one of the most polished and well-balanced stage builders out there. His stages have a perfect blend of aesthetically pleasing designs and details, and a construction that is fun to play on (which is all too often neglected by builders).

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/TheThunderPunch/posts

03 RetroStu

NNID: RetroStu: RetroStu. His work usually has a simple elegance in terms of construction which makes them much more fun to play on, but they are still loaded with tons of aesthetic details that make them truly beautiful as well. His work stands out in that his stages all feel like they are actual destinations, as opposed to just some random structures thrown together.

Recently he has begun a new series of youtube videos that feature a time laps video for the making of a stage request. It's really interesting to watch, and it can teach you some of his technique just by watching what he does. Here's the first video in this new series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t45bIzmXEwg

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/RetroStu/posts

04 MEGABLUR

Another one of the greats. His stages usually boarder on genius. Apparently his profile is hidden (not sure if it’s just hidden from me or from all) so this link may or may not work for you guys.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/MEGABLUR/posts

05 Mordecai

NNID: Mordecai: vandeneynden. A great stage builder who has done a lot of work based on Shovel Knight stages, usually complete with a statue of the boss for that stage; though not all of his stages are SK. I'm not too familiar with that game, so I don't know how accurate they are, but his stages look like a lot of fun to play on. He also knows how to blend form and function, which is the main thing that makes a good stage builder in my opinion, and his stages also feel like real places.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/vandeneynden/posts

06 caque

NNID: caque: kurmatron is another great builder. His stages are divided (in terms of quantity) by artistic stages and those that are more play friendly. His artistic stages are still fun to play on though, which is something that is usually missing on these types. Definitely check out his stage called "Toxic Piscine".

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/kurmatron/posts

07 Aaron

NNID: Aaron: Aron0000 has made lots of stages based on the character specific target tests from Melee. I'm not sure how they play, but I'd love to give them a try.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Aaron0000/posts

08 vaanrose

NNID: vaanrose: vaanrose. Not only does he do some simple yet very well designed stages, that could be used in tournament play, but he also draws some amazing pictures for the text box of each stage, depicting a character associated with it. Very awesome stuff.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/vaanrose/posts

09 TANtheMAN

NNID: TANtheMAN: Zeldafan01. The two ‘A’s in TANtheMAN are actually upside down V’s, but I can’t simulate that as far as I know. His stages are well balanced between aesthetics and playability, as are most on this list. Definitely check out his Megaman helmet stage, it's pretty rad. The first link below is his profile, and the second is a great snapshot of the Megaman helmet stage.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Zeldafan01/posts

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHjtpWTTkA

10 Pucas

NNID: Pucas: Pucastendo is a very awesome builder. His stages are well designed for play, and also very beautiful. He's definitely a must see, although he hasn't been very active lately.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Pucastendo/posts

11 Benjay

NNID: Benjay: Benjwurm. A really great builder, he has a balanced mix of tournament friendly stages, as well as those that are not so much, but that are still super well designed and beautiful to look at. He has a great Tourian stage, as well as a fantastic Chemical Plant Zone stage.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Benjwurm/posts

12 FoxMcLovin

NNID: Skips: FoxMcLovin AKA Lorulean. Skips exclusively makes tournament friendly stages, and they are fantastic. One of the things that stand out about his presentation is the use of his YouTube channel to share videos of his stages that showcase Blast Zone comparisons to known tournament friendly stages, as well as a general overview of the stage. The video below is for one of my favorite stages of his called “Lazy Afternoon”, which served as inspiration for a design element in two of my stages (Hand Of Seven Stars, and Lighted Hill).

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/FoxMcLovin/posts

13 Ethan-Sarik

Ethan is generally a competitive stage maker, and his work is always well designed aesthetically, and well thought out in terms of its playability. I definitely recommend him, especially if you prefer competitive style stages.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Ethan-Sarik/posts

Smash 4 Stage Builders Guide Part VII - section X

(X) Character Notes

The character list will be in the order of the roster, but not all characters will be represented; just the ones I have insight on. This is the section that I really hope others will be contributing to the most over time; I feel it has the most potential to refine and revolutionize stage building.

(1-X) Character specific Notes: For these, the Special attacks will be listed in the same order as they are presented in the Customs menu (Neutral, Side, Up and Down), and all other attacks will be presented in the same order.

Little Mac: Mac is known for having one of, if not the worst recovery in the game (although I personally don’t agree, I think that Ness is the worst), so you may want to keep him in mind when designing your stage. Most notably, if you have a lower area, making sure that all edges are grab-able will help out characters with poor recovery.

Also, he has the ability to wall jump, so making walls below the lowest edges of your stage will help as well. What I mean is try making lower structures like (1) in the picture below, as opposed to example (2). While (2) is fine, it will make recovery for Mac and lots of others much more difficult.

And finally, his side special the haymaker is notorious for causing SD’s among Mac users, so you may want to have little safety net edges in some places just for him (and Ness). This of course is one of the least necessary concessions to make, since anyone who knows the character should know the right and wrong times to use this move.

Link Neutral Special, Arrows: One thing I used on the current version of Jungle Jitters (the 6/20/15 version) is a hole in the wall that link can shoot arrows through, to hit opponents on the other side. I call this a window. Obviously a window of the right size and height will allow lots of projectiles to be used, so play around with it.

Link Side Special, Boomerang: I’ve already covered Link’s boomerang, but for the sake of keeping this section a one stop shop for this information, I’ll recap briefly.

When the boomerang hits an angled surface, it will bounce off in various trajectories depending on the angle of the surface, and the direction it was moving when it hits. Having slopes strategically placed can give Link some interesting options of play.

GreninjaSide Specal, Shadow Sneak: His side special sends a shadow in the direction that you choose, and it continues traveling along the ground until it auto initiates, or until you let go of the B-button, at which point Greninja disappears and reappears wherever the shadow is located and he does a kick in either direction. The shadow will be stopped by any slope that is 45-degrees or more (that’s a slope where both numbers are the same, as in 8 / 8, or 3 / 3), so keep this in mind. Also, it can be interrupted by bad ground connections, so try to make this move a staple that you try during stage testing.

See the image below. In case it’s hard to tell, there is a tiny gap between piece (a) and (b), but they are perfectly level with one another; while (c) is about one pixel above (b) and (a). Greninja can stand on (c) and do his side special to the left with no problems, but when standing on (a) or (b), and performing it to the right, his shadow will hit the raised edge of (c) and stop, unless you hop or jump. There are a couple of options to fix this. One is to lay a soft platform over all three, to make an even surface, but if you want topside that has multiple terrains showing, then you will have to try something else.

But first let me show you what seems to be causing this. The short answer is that Grid Shifting is occurring, but I want to point out a few specific things. Apparently, when two objects have edges that run parallel to one another and the sides that are parallel also share a grid line, a gap is created, but they can still be level. The second piece has been shifted to the right by about one pixel. If you then try drawing a 3rd shape, this new piece will be shifted to the right and up one pixel. Try doing the same thing again and the 4th piece will be shifted to the right, but not up; it will be back down to level with the original 2 pieces.

In the image below there are six shapes of identical mass, each one is 4 X 1; they were drawn in succession from the left to the right; and they are butted up against one another. The blue top occupies the exact grid space, the purple tops were shifted over one pixel, and the green tops were shifted to the right one and up one.

Interestingly enough, the pattern is different when drawn from right to left. The picture below shows the same number of the same sized pieces that have been drawn from right to left. The green top pieces are the ones that have been grid shifted, and they are shifted up and to the right one pixel, but the blue tops have not been shifted at all.

See below for an illustration of option number 2. Start by drawing your first two shapes with the grid on. Then, before turning the grid off, draw the furthest wall of your third shape, so that you can get an accurate height for the block, see diagram (a). Now turn the grid off and draw one of the horizontal lines so that it is not quite touching the already drawn shape, and then draw the other vertical line. And finally turn the grid back on and finalize the shape. Note that just as the first two blocks have a gap and are level, so it is with this new block. Now Greninja’s shadow will not be hindered at all. You can do this with as many blocks as you like. Of course, the more complicated your shape, the more difficult it will be to draw the sections where the grid is turned off. You will also probably not need this technique very often, but I included it just in case you do.

Another thing to note is that if you lay a platform over the top of a playing area (soft or solid), as if it is actually lying on top of it (see below), then Greninja can drop to the lower surface and perform his Shadow Sneak without his opponent being able to tell where the shadow is. Of course this means that the one playing Greninja will need to have a good idea of how fast the shadow travels, but any Greninja main should be able to easily utilize this nice little stage benefit. I’m naming this technique the Ground Stack, or G-Stack.

Greninja Up Special, Hydro Pump: Greninja’s Up Special sends him flying in the direction of your choice, by means of a water jet that shoots in the opposite direction. If you initiate the Up B and immediately tilt your control stick straight down into the ground, he will not move, but a large water bubble will be sent straight up (the opposite direction that you are holding). If you aim to the right, he will be sent that way and a jet will shoot out to the left. If you hit a wall during this move he will bounce off of it and land on his back on the ground, being open to attack. You can tech this by pressing the shield button just before you land but you will still be open while flying through the air. However, if he hits even the slightest slope, his momentum will be stopped, but the water jet will still come out and push your opponent.

With this in mind, if you have a wall coming right up out of the ground, you may want to give the ground beneath the wall a slight slope, to allow Greninja mains to utilize this important technique without hitting the wall and being left vulnerable.

Ness Up Special, PK Thunder: This move shoots out a blue orb of electricity that can be directed. A common technique used since his very first appearance in Smash Bros, is to send it out, angle it back around to hit himself, causing Ness to be launched like a rocket to do major damage. It’s one of his best, if not the best of all of his kill moves. If you have an underground area, or an area with lots of platforms, try to leave room for Ness mains to utilize this important technique.

Below is a box I made to measure the space requirements for this tech. I could perform the move in this box, but it was very, very difficult. A Ness main might be able to do it in a tighter space, but I’d be surprised to see it. The box is 8 high and 7 wide, but try to leave at least a 10 X 10 space (minimum) or larger to make it comfortable; I’d suggest making it even roomier than that if you can.

Also, this move is a major tool for the stage recovery of this character; so try not to have the grab-able edges of your stage obscured by being too close to other objects or too close to the Sight Zone edges in the stage builder. For structures with wall edges below the ledge, I recommend construction (b) below, or some variation of it, as opposed to (a). There is more room beneath the ledge for Ness to perform his PK Thunder and maneuver it back around to hit himself. Incidentally, the limit of space between two structures to allow both to have grab-able edges is 6 blocks (as seen below) but grid shifting will affect this. If the piece on the left had been affected by grid shifting, you would now need seven blocks, since that piece would have been shifted to the right by about one pixel, which would be enough to eliminate the ledge grab option.

Megaman: Megaman’s side smash is the buster Shot which travels about 20 grid blocks. This move cannot clear a slope that is one or more blocks high, unless the slope is 21 blocks horizontally or longer. Most moves that get eaten by a slope can simply be done by jumping, in order to clear the obstruction, but since this is a smash attack, it cannot be done from the air. I implore you to consider this with every stage you build. One thing you can do is to draw the slope by hand with the grid off, and make sure that it is just a little shy of one block tall. Or you could lay a platform on top of the lower area below the slope (see below), allowing just enough of a boost for this move to clear; Greninja can also utilize this!

(2-X) Character Common Notes:

(2-X [a]) Slopes That Eat Projectiles: One common problem among several characters is the fact that certain grades of slopes can eat some projectiles, or even stop certain physical moves completely. See the picture below. Do you see the green platform? This is a slope that only goes up by one grid block.

Unfortunately, if you want a slope that hinders no one, even this is too steep, as we’ve already seen with Megaman’s Buster Shot. Can you see in the picture above how the blue surface is just a hairsbreadth taller than the flat, bottom area of the green platform? Well, if Mega is standing on this blue surface the Buster Shot is no longer hindered. This tiny height is the difference between a slope that will eat the Buster Shot and one that will not.

I don’t suggest that you never use steeper slopes, I only suggest that you are aware of just how gimped certain characters can be even by the slightest rise. Try to limit slopes, and try to make efforts to give concessions to characters that need a flat or mostly flat surface to fight on. Perhaps if you have a sloped platform, you could have a flat one next to it for certain characters who might need it. Distant Planet from brawl and Smash 4 3DS is a good example of this. There is not much room at the bottom of the slope to hide from people firing from the flat leafy area.

One thing to consider is the grade of the slope. A slope that is 2 / 1 may stop a certain move, but one that goes just as high, and whose length is longer than that same move travels, might not stop it. For instance Peach’s hip bump (side-special) cannot go up a slope that is 3 blocks high, but that move only travels about 10 blocks without holding the control stick in the direction she is traveling, or about 14 if you do. Let’s take the maximum distance of 14. If you have a slope that is 3 blocks high it will stop the hip bump, but if that slope is 15 blocks long (one longer than the distance that her move can travel), then she will not be hindered.

Below is a list of moves and the lowest slope height that will eat those moves. I have also done my best to measure the distance of each move listed. If a character or move is not listed then that means that the move is not eaten no matter what the height of a slope (as long as the slope can be walked on); however, I may have missed some as well. Moves that have a reflect property (such as Luigi’s neutral special fireball) will not be listed, because no matter the angle they will simply bounce off the slope at varying trajectories; custom moves were not tested. Also projectiles that stick to surfaces (like Megaman’s neutral and side specials) will not be listed. With moves that can be angled up or down (such as Pit’s arrow) the slope height represents one that doesn’t allow for the move to come out long enough for you to angle it up. To be clear, we are only testing for slopes that stop a move, not those that cause another change, such as trajectory or speed. All testing was done with the patch that came with Mewtwo, except for Lucas, Roy and Ryu, who were tested with their accompanying patch.

Here is the formula I used to test this. The picture below shows (1) the lowest and (2) the highest angles possible to walk on, with a slope length of 8 blocks. The green area at the bottom is flat for testing certain moves: some need to be tested while standing on the slope, and some while standing at the base of the slope on flat ground. Moves that can be angled up or down had to be performed on the slope itself. Obviously moves like Link’s bowshot and Diddy’s peanuts, which have a gradual decline in verticality, will have varying results in terms of the slope height that they can clear; depending on where you stand; how much you charge and the length of the ramp.

The small platform at the top is just there to mark the height limit, making things much quicker for me.

And here’s the build I used to measure the distance of moves. In the stage below I had each character stand on the edge of the right most raised block, until they started their wobbling animation (you can see Mario wobbling below), and then I measured where the move stopped. Each segment of the floor is 2 grid blocks, and the stage went out a total of 56 blocks from where the character stands. A couple of moves went past my stage, and I gave my best estimation of how much further out they went; so any move that is listed as longer than 56 blocks is an estimate. Any move that has a charged up version has been measured uncharged and charged. Of course these measurements may be off by a small amount, but I did my very best to make this accurate.

Remember, the horizontal distance of each slope was 8, so this number will be the same for all. To clarify here’s an example: Mario: neutral special (21) (travels a distance of 21 grid blocks unhindered): 8 / 8 (A slope that is 8 high and 8 long will eat his fireball, but a slope that is 8 long but only 7 tall, or lower will not).

Mario: neutral special (21): 8 / 8
Luigi: side special (14-24): 8 / 3
Peach: side special (10-14): 8 / 3
Rosalina: neutral special (8-25): 8 / 2
Rosalina: side special: 8 / 5 This one is unique. On a grade of 8 / 5 or steeper, Luma will move behind Rosalina, causing the range of the side special to be shortened. So, while it is technically not eaten, it is greatly hindered.
Bowser Jr.: neutral special (15-31): 8 / 4 The cannon ball bounces off of any slope lower than 8 / 4, I believe it will still cause damage after it bounces off of these lower slopes, but its horizontal distance will be halted. It will be eaten by an 8 / 4 slope.
Diddy Kong: side special (14): 8 / 3
Diddy Kong: neutral special (14-56-or longer): 8 / 4 uncharged (depending on where you stand) and 8 / 2 charged
Link: neutral special (13-55): 8 / 3
Zelda: side special (7-20): 8 / 6
Sheik: neutral special (?-20) (really hard to test for): 8 / 2
Sheik: down special Bouncing Fish (short 6, medium 11, long 15): what I tested with this one is at what grade could the kick no longer be initiated after launch, even if the attack button is pressed instantly. The kick can be performed after a short Bouncing Fish on any grade; a medium Bouncing Fish will be stopped by 8 / 7, and a long by 8 / 5
Toon Link: neutral special (18-55): he cannot clear 8 / 2 if standing at the base of the slope, but he can when standing just a bit away. The arrow will not clear 8 / 3 at any distance.
Toon Link: down special (8-11): 8 / 3 This one is a bit unique. With adult Link, you can throw your bomb on any grade of slope and it will simply land instead of exploding, if you throw it softly by pressing just the A button without using the control stick. With Toon Link however, the bomb will explode no matter how softly you throw it. On anything below 8 / 3 the bomb will still be triggered, but it will explode far enough away from Link to cause no damage. On an 8/ 3 or steeper it will explode close enough to Link to cause him damage.
Samus: neutral special (26-44): 8 / 2
Samus: smash version of side special (34): 8 / 2
Samus: tilt version of side special (24): 8 / 3 For this move I made a ramp that was twice as long, put player two on the ramp, at the top, and Samus on the ramp at the bottom, and fired the seeker missile. If the seeker changed course to follow the target before being eaten by the hill, then that slope will not eat the move. 8 / 3 will eat it, before the missile locks on and changes course. Obviously the position of the enemy can cause even flat ground, or a downward slope to eat this projectile.
Zero Suit Samus: neutral special (12-16): 8 / 2
Pit: neutral special (32-60): 8 / 3
Robin: All versions of neutral special (12, 22, 26, 66): 8 / 3
Duck Hunt: Down Special (?): 8 / 8 When performing this move on an 8 / 8 slope, while standing on the slope, the gunmen will spawn inside the hill and fall through. Any slope that is lower, the gunmen will stand properly, and the steeper the grade of the hill, the closer he will have to be to the opponent for the hill not to eat the bullet.
Kirby: up special (specifically the air slice that travels the ground after landing): 8 / 5 The slice will not be eaten by any slope, except for an 8 / 5 or higher, and then it's only if you land right at the base of the slope. Doing the move a little ways away, or on the hill itself will not stop the air slice from traveling the ground at any grade, it is only eaten if you land right at the base of an 8 / 5 to an 8 / 9 hill.
King Dedede: down special: 8 / 8 This move doesn’t technically get eaten, but even when standing below and right up against an opponent on an 8 / 8 or an 8 / 9 hill, his hammer will swing right under them, causing no damage. This is likely the case with a large number of moves that I have not tested for.
Fox: neutral special (30): 8 / 2
Falco: neutral special (29): 8 / 2
Charizard: side special (30): 8 / 7 This is the slope that he will collide with, as opposed to anything lower where he will follow the ground and continue the move. This is important to remember because Charizard takes a lot of damage if he hits a wall or a steep slope with this move.
Lucario: neutral special (15-32): 8 / 3 (tests were done with 0% damage, results may vary with higher damage)
Lucario: side special 8 / 4 You can grab an opponent with your side special on any grade, but they will auto break from it immediately on a slope that is 8 / 4 or steeper.
Greninja: neutral special (18-15) (not a typo, the charged version doesn’t travel as far): 8 / 1
Greninja: side special (15): 8 / 8 (or any 45-degree angle)
R.O.B.: neutral special (40): 8 / 2, 8 / 8 & 8 / 9 will stop the beam, but 8 / 3 to 8 / 7 will cause the beam to reflect
Ness: side special (11): 8 / 2 This move doesn’t appear to be eaten by the ramp, but it won’t hit your opponent on a slope that is 8 / 2 or higher, even if you are bumping right up against the opponent. This move was tested with the Ryu patch.
Villager: down special: on an 8 / 5 the tree cannot be planted uphill or downhill, 8 / 4 can be planted uphill (watering is nearly impossible), but it cannot be planted downhill. 8 / 3 can be planted in either direction, but watering is still nearly impossible.
Olimar: side special (red 17, yellow 14, blue 14, white 16, purple 10): 8 / 2 for purple and white, 8 / 3 for blue and red, 8 / 4 for yellow
Wii Fit Trainer: neutral special (22-36): 8 / 2
Dark Pit: neutral special (32-55): 8 / 2
PAC-MAN: neutral special (cherries 12, strawberry 18, orange 23, apple 22, lime 28, ship 39, jello 11, key 31): ship and key 8 / 1, cherries, strawberries and lime 8 / 2, orange 8 / 6, (apple and jello will bounce off of any slope).
PAC-MAN: down special: 8 / 5 The hydrant will tumble instead of landing properly on an 8 / 5 slope or steeper.
Megaman: side smash (20): 8 / 1
Mewtwo: neutral special (28-40): 8 / 2
Mewtwo: down special: 8 / 9 This move was tested with Robin, and results will depend largely on the height of the character. This will hit on any slope if Robin is uphill and you are right next to him/her, but downhill will not work no matter how close you are on an 8 / 9 slope.
Lucas: side special (10): 8 / 4
Ryu: neutral special (tap-15, hold-20, directional input-20, red Hadouken-20): 8 / 3

Below is the number of moves that each slope height will eat, based on the moves that I tested for. These numbers are cumulative, meaning that the number of moves eaten by an 8 / 2 slope includes the number that an 8 / 1 will eat, since an 8 / 2 will obviously eat those moves as well. Due to R.O.B.’s unusual results, one was subtracted from each slopes number of moves eaten from 8 / 3 to 8 / 7, since his neutral special was only eaten by 8 / 2, 8 / 8 and 8 / 9, but reflected by 8 / 3 to 8 / 7. One major thing to note is that a 45-degree angle (8 / 8) will eat all but two moves that I tested for; I point this out because it is a commonly used slope that you may want to retire or greatly limit. Also, the number of moves that even an 8 / 2 slope can eliminate should show you how much impact a ramp can actually have in battle.

8 / 1 = 3 (eats 3 moves)
8 / 2 = 17
8 / 3 = 27
8 / 4 = 32
8 / 5 = 37
8 / 6 = 39
8 / 7 = 41
8 / 8 = 48
8 / 9 = 50

Every surface doesn’t need to accommodate every character, but having this information can allow you to make sure that at least your mains will not be hindered by your stages. Again, all of these moves can be done from the air except for the Buster Shot, so Megaman is the only one who is truly hindered by any slope that is drawn using the grid.

(2-X [b]) Grapple Point:

What I mean by a grapple point is a construction that allows any character with a tether recovery to use that tether from a distance, and be launched high up into the air. I did not discover this myself, that credit goes (as far as I know) to a Japanese youtuber named RED - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMDud9iuhkxiDsZJVa-pVA
And it was brought to my attention by a Reddit user named Latiomany - https://www.reddit.com/user/Latiomany

Here’s the video.

Here are the basics of his construction. I guess we’ll call this the REDVERT method since the creator was RED and the dividing line between pieces is vertical. If the method is REDVERT, then let’s call the result, a VGP, for Vertical Grapple Point. You will want to start with the left piece. If you start with the piece on the right, then the one on the left will be shifted up and they will not be level. You don’t want to make them any larger than this.

This design has several problems. First of all, Samus and Zero Suit Samus have exceptionally difficult times taking advantage of this as a GP. Their momentum and position has to be just right. Also, it is really hard to send your character flying with much accuracy in their distance or trajectory. I’ve found an alternate construction that is extremely easy for all characters with a tether to utilize, and that allows for a much more accurate trajectory and launch speed.

(2-X [b-1]) HGP: Here’s what I’ve developed; we’ll just call this an HGP, since the dividing line between the two pieces will be horizontal.

For step (1) you’ll need to draw a wedge like the one below, followed by a temporary platform underneath it to get rid of the ledge grab icon. In step (2) turn the grid off and place a single point exactly where you see the one below. Note that the bottom of the green triangle is level with the top of our wedge, but that it is also slightly further out to the left. Try and get it exactly this far out. For step (3) tap a second point for this shape, just past the other side of the wedge. This one should be ever so slightly closer to the corner of the wedge than the left side is, because this piece will shift a bit to the right when it’s finalized, and this slight off set from center will accommodate for that. Then tap another point creating a very sharp angle. This piece will be a Wafer (5-K) when it’s done.

In step (4) you’ll need to tap the final line that ends exactly at the distance of the top line of this shape. The piece will auto finalize once you lift your stylus. (5) Shows an example of how it should look when it’s complete. For step (6) you need to erase the temporary platform and turn the grab-ability off for the bottom two edges.

This construction will allow a ton more control over your launch. The first step (assuming that you are playing a character with a tether recovery option) is to press the grab button while in the air, and in range of the edge. Once attached, there are two ways that I know of to get a launch. One is to jump, and the other is to press the grab button. Pressing grab seems to launch you further.

(2-X [b-2]) PGP: Now, here’s how to make a GP attached to the underside of a soft platform; I guess you could call this a PGP (Platform Grapple Point). It is important that the platform is drawn first, and that there is no grid shifting at play (make sure that the platform was not touching any other pieces when it was originally drawn); after we construct our GP you can have other pieces touching the platform. In the examples below, the grid will always be on, just to show you placement. For step (1) draw a 3-toothed guide to help you see where the vertical grid lines are. Now turn the grid OFF and place a single point in line with the central tooth, and have the bottom of the green pointer triangle resting on the top of your platform. In step (2) with the grid still OFF, tap where you see in the picture below to form the bottom of a squat pyramid. Try to hit right in line with the outer teeth, and have your line follow the top of the platform, resting just above it. Then finalize by re-tapping your first point while the grid is still OFF. In example (3) you can see how this should look. You need two grab-able edges. If there are no blue crosses, try again. Sometimes you will get the error message that says, “Sections that cannot be used as the ground have been deleted”, even when you did everything correct, just keep re-trying until you get it right. As you can see, it is possible. The reason for this shape and placement is because when smaller characters grab the ledge normally and do a pop up or a get up attack, they need to end up above the surface of the soft platform; otherwise, if the GP is too low, they will walk off the GP instead of walking onto the platform, or they will only be able to dodge roll to the edge of the GP, meaning playability will be greatly hindered for some characters.

In step (4), with the grid OFF, draw a line that is two grid blocks across, but that is also directly in the center of your platform, horizontally speaking. In (5) turn the grid ON and tap the point you see above, then turn the grid OFF again and finalize the shape. Example (6) is the final product. Erase the temporary platform and the teeth guide, and then turn off the grab-ability of the two lower edges. You could make a flat piece for the bottom, but your character will commonly hit it during their ascent and get stuck, but the angled bottom will cause your character to continue upward. If you prefer an even easier to use GP then make a steeper angle by bringing the bottom point in step (5) further down. The construction above will cause less trouble for projectiles that happen to be passing by, but may still result in characters getting stuck on their ascent since the angle of the bottom of the GP isn’t very steep. However, getting used to the timing for your release will allow you to avoid this. If you want more room for item play, go with the construction above. If you want a GP that is easier to use, make the bottom point extend further down.

(2-X [b-3] ADGP: This is an Auto Detaching Grapple Point, meaning that if you do not release on your own, it will automatically do it for you at the bottom of your swing. The way to get one of these is to make the edges of both the top and bottom portions of the GP the same length. Getting this shouldn’t need a real explanation, but below is a picture example of how it looks. I placed a platform under it to get rid of the grab icons just to show that both pieces have the same length. It needs to have the lower 2 grab icons turned off, just like with all GP’s. You could use two wafers, making the appearance of an equal sign, but that doesn’t look as nice as the set up below, in my opinion. Of course with an equal sign setup it will be a little less likely to eat projectiles and to interfere with items, but not by much, and only in rare circumstances.

(2-X [b-4]) Using Grapple Points:

The characters that can take advantage of this feature are Link, Toon Link, Samus, Zero Suit Samus and Lucas.

There are several ways to release from a GP that will give you a launch, but first let me talk about 2 specific ways. (1) Pressing the jump button will ‘usually’ launch you just above the GP, no matter the length of your tether, or your position when releasing from your tether. I say ‘usually’ because sometimes using jump will launch you very high, but it seems to be really rare. I can’t quite figure out what causes this, but I think it has more to do with the timing of your release than any other possible factor. And (2) Pressing the Grab button to release can launch you way past the sight zone at the top of the screen, sometimes making you wait several seconds to see your character again.

Using (1) Jump is usually the most effective method during a serious match, because using (2) Grab for release and thereby floating through the air from a high launch will leave most characters pretty vulnerable. But, using Grab also allows for a lot more control over launch distance. Here are the factors that seem to affect your launch: (A) fast falling just before you initially grab the ledge with your tether can dramatically increase your height. (B) Tether length; with a short tether length, using grab to release can launch you lower than the GP height, but releasing from a longer tether will launch you higher. (C) Character position during initial attachment; if your character is higher than the GP when they initially grab the ledge, this will give you a higher launch than if you attach from a point below the GP. (D) Character position during the swinging animation; this requires experimentation, but it feels pretty natural, the fastest part of your swing seems to be the point where you want to release in order to get a higher launch. Also, releasing almost immediately after attaching seems to be a really good time to get the most height.

One more thing about releasing with grab is that I have recently realized that if you tap grab you will do an air dodge upon release, and if you hold the grab button you will perform a ZAIR.

All in all it seems that anything that increases your momentum at the time of your release will increase your launch height. Fast falling at a maximum tether distance and attaching from above the GP, then releasing with grab almost immediately after tethering will launch you into the stratosphere.

As for the other ways to release your tether for a launch, you can also do an up Air and a Neutral Air or any special attack. Your launch distance with these methods will depend on tether length and falling speed, so don’t fast fall or get a super long tether if you want a modest boost. The thing about Up Air is that you have to press up on the joystick after you attach, other wise a Neutral Air will come out. And as for down specials, since pressing down on the joystick releases you from a tether without launching, you will need to press down on the joystick before you attach to the ledge.

You can also B reverse a Neutral Special, by pressing the opposite direction you are facing IMMEDIATELY after launching with a Neutral B.

One more thing about releasing with jump; if you release instantly after tethering, you will end up just above the GP on the side that you grabbed, but by waiting a split second before releasing you will end up on the opposite side that you grabbed. This can really come in handy in battle.

PS Zero Suit Samus’ Side special actually acts as a tether when in range of a ledge while airborne. This means that you can aim your tether in the direction that your back is facing, which cannot be done with any other character. She can do some tricky stuff by launching from a tether with a Side B in the opposite direction! ; )

For an example of a PGP and to see all of this information in pictorial form, see the link to my stage All Terrain - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkY3Wj6sQ

In the extremely rare case that Sakurai or his team read this and consider implementing it somehow, I would suggest that all characters with a tether could use it in either direction while airborne, like with the side B, and that only tethers could attach to the GP’s, so that normal play wasn’t hindered by accidentally snapping to the ledge of the GP when in range of it. If the ZAIR was allowed in both directions while airborne, maybe ZSS’s side B no longer acted as a tether and could now be used normally when in range of a GP, instead of tethering.

Smash 4 Stage Builders Guide Part V - sections I - L

(I) Avoiding Bad Glitches

Clipping is not always your friend. Making a solid structure with an open center can only be done by using two separate pieces, and you can make some really cool structures this way. However, if you’re not careful, you can unintentionally make something that players can get trapped inside of, with no means of escape. This is a good time to remind you that if there are any places where people may get stuck, you will need to test that stage with a 4-player match, to see where the initial spawning points are for all four players to make sure that no one is trapped just from their initial spawn.

Here’s what little I know. Below you can see how the above structure is constructed.

The trouble seems to be largely, if not solely related to slopes. When a character does a move that propels them upward with force, like Mario’s up B, and they hit a sloped surface with that move, then they seem to be able to move through any solid object that should be impeding them; see below. At least that’s how it seems to me. Another miiverse user pointed that out, but I didn’t think at the time to take down their name to give them credit. I believe it was Caque, Mordecai or TANtheMAN but I can’t recall for sure so I’ll just link to all three.

Caque – https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/kurmatron

Mordecai - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/vandeneynden

TANtheMAN - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Zeldafan01

I’m no expert on this subject and it really requires it’s own guide, which I am not qualified to make. The trick is to look closely at any structures that seem to be causing players to get trapped, and don’t just change it until the problem is gone, but try to figure out why this is happening, so that you can avoid it a little easier in the future. And don’t forget to share your findings with the rest of us.

One solution is to create a one-way exit, like the one seen below.

With the above construction it is almost impossible for a character to enter the box using the slight gap at the top center, but if they happen to clip into the box, they can easily jump out thanks to this one-way exit that is similar to our Pie Slice Glitch in terms of function.

(J) Cannons

Ah cannons, one of the most obnoxiously overused items in the stage builder. If you get online to check out stages submitted by others, you will inevitably find dozens of stages that look like cannon fields. Cannons can be fun, but man are they over used, and so often are they poorly thought out.

(1-J) Each Character Fires Differently: The size and weight of each character is different, so their trajectories when fired from a cannon will vary as well.

I’ve done some testing, and from what I can tell, Villager might be the lightest in terms of how far he is fired from cannons, but Captain Falcon is unquestionably the heaviest. In order to test this I fired each character from the following set-up to measure their vertical height using a small cannon.

Each square tooth on the vertical measuring stick is two blocks and each tooth on the furthest right wall is 10 blocks, to make measuring easier. Since the characters are spinning in a ball when fired, I used the center of their mass as a measuring point. See Mario below. If two characters of vastly different sizes end up going the same distance, the larger one will appear to have gone further, just because of the larger mass, so I thought that measuring the centerline would be more accurate.

The center of Mario’s mass is right at the top of the 22nd block so he gets a measured height of 22. The range for all fighters was 20 to 23, no one scored higher or lower than that. The measurements aren’t terribly accurate since one grid block is a fairly large unit to try and get an accurate measurement with, but really what we’re looking for is the lightest and the heaviest character to see who should be test fired from cannons during stage testing.

For the Horizontal distance I used the following set up.

For this one I waited until after the character had landed, and was lying still on the ground, to measure their centerline. For humans, or human-like characters I measured right at the waistline, and for ball types like Kirby or strange shapes like R.O.B. I just tried to measure their halfway point from top to bottom.

All but one character traveled approximately 31 blocks with only the slightest variation in distance. Here’s a close up of the cannons positioning.

The arrow in the picture above is pointing to the place where Captain Falcon was shot. I then raised the cannon by one pixel and he was fired onto the upper surface, but he only traveled about 30 blocks. Not only does this show him to be the heaviest without rival (since no other character need the cannon raised in order to hit the main floor, and since he traveled a full block shorter than all the others), but it also shows that the heavier a character is, the lower they fire from the barrel, at least when it’s positioned to fire horizontally.

After testing an early version of the cannon setup in my stage Mystery Box, only one character landed on top of the pedestal after being fired from the right cannon, and that was Jigglypuff, leading me to believe that Jiggs is the lightest. So instead of using Villager try testing with Jigglypuff to represent the lightest character possible.

Mystery Box - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkPIGeVsw

(2-J) Cannons and Walls: A common technique is to place a cannon sticking out of a wall, to shoot you through to the other side, (or sometimes to shoot you into a solid mass as an alternative means of clipping). This can be troublesome due to character sizes and weights causing them to not fire through, or to get stuck in some instances, with no means of escaping. I did some testing to try and find out what works, and what doesn’t.

Ceilings and Floors: For this and the vertical wall tests I used the small cannons. I may end up testing these same setups with the large cannons one day, but this took SO long, I just can’t imagine doing it again any time soon.

It is important to note that Grid Shifting can affect your results if you attempt to re-create this. This setup was done on a structure that occupies the true grid space; Grid Shifting has not affected it. I fired every character (including the June 2015 DLC released fighters) from the top and bottom of each cannon. Cannons (1), (2), (4) and (5) were placed with the grid on, while (3) and (6) were placed with the grid on and then shifted up and down one pixel respectively with the grid off. Cannon (3) is the same as (2) except that it was shifted up one pixel, and (5) and (6) are the same except that (6) has been shifted down one pixel. To be clear, we are looking for a cannon position that hinders no one. Below is an image of the setup I used to test for this.

Cannon (1) left 34 characters unable to shoot through from the bottom; Peach was the only fighter to actually get stuck indefinitely, this is because she is so floaty that she doesn’t fall fast enough to avoid reentering the cannon automatically. Cannon (2) left 11 characters unable to shoot through after entering the bottom, and 13 characters would end up at the bottom when entering from the top; that means that two characters (Samus and Zero Suit Samus) could enter from the bottom and be fired through the floor, but if they entered from the top they would end up at the bottom and fall to the ground. Cannon (3) was not usable by anyone from the bottom, and Captain Falcon ended up at the bottom when entering from the top, further solidifying him as the far-and-away heaviest character. Cannon (4) and (5) posed no problems for any character from either direction. Cannon (6) posed no problems for anyone when being entered from below, but no one could enter it from above.

These results show that there is no way to place a small cannon facing up into a ceiling or floor without causing problems for some members of the cast; never do this unless you put a break in the wall for the fighters to go through. And this also shows that small downward facing cannons placed with at least one grid block’s worth of the cannon protruding from either the ceiling or the floor will not be troublesome for anyone.

Vertical Walls: For vertical walls I used the setup below. Again, Grid Shifting is not present in the setup below, but if you have any shifting in your stage you will want to accommodate for that.

No one could enter cannon (1) from the right side of the wall, since it was not protruding and only R.O.B. could be shot through the wall from the left side of cannon (1). All characters could enter (2) and (3) from either side.

These results show that having a small cannon sticking out from a wall by one grid block on either side should be enough for all characters to use the cannon without issue.

If you need to angle a horizontally facing cannon at all, then you will either need to test fire it with all characters, or else put a break in the wall to be safe.

Below is a shot of the wall above without the cannons, to illustrate what I mean.

The down side to this is that using two or more pieces to form a wall will take up more of your stage weight. If you need the weight, you can put them in a solid wall, but you will need to test fire it with each and every character. And, if you’ve tested it with all but one fighter and the very last person gets stuck, you need to adjust it and go back through all the other fighters again. It’s outrageously tedious. Testing with Villager and Captain Falcon might be enough (and maybe Peach for good measure), but I really can’t say for sure.

(3-J) Cannon Respite: Cannons can also be a safe haven from certain swarming items like bees or chickens and probably lots of other hazards such as Pokemon and Assist Trophies. Just enter and don’t press the launch button, so you can stay in a little longer. If a character initiates their Final Smash however, you will no longer be able to enter a cannon, so try jumping in just before they do so! You could place cannons that don’t seem to be of any use, which would actually be for safe haven. ; )

(K) Random Notes

(1-K) Sudden Death Bomb Drops: During sudden death, the bombs that spawn to end the stalemate will not spawn in a space that is only 5 grid blocks high. You might want to create at least one of these 5 high areas to allow sudden death participants a place to hide or fight without fear of being bombed, or you could intentionally raise structures to 6 blocks or higher to allow bombs to spawn anywhere; the choice is yours!

(2-K) Checklist For Stage Testing: Here are a few things to test each stage with.

(1) Are there areas that could trap people? If so, try at least one 4-player match to check for spawning points, and do testing for unwanted clipping on that structure as best you can.

(2) Be sure that your edges are at least 2 blocks away from the Blast Zone if you want Hotheads and Bombchu’s to function properly. Also, test these two items on all surfaces, as some constructions can hinder their movement, especially Hotheads.

(3) Test Cannons with Villager and Captain Falcon (and maybe Peach) at least.

(4) Make sure that bottom solids have enough space within the sight zone, and away from other solids for Ness’ PK thunder recovery.

(5) Test Greninja’s Shadow Sneak ability all over the stage, anywhere that you have slopes and conjoined pieces.

(6) Test Megaman’s Buster Shot on any slopes that you want him to be able to clear.

(7) Check for areas where Sudden death bombs will not be able to drop and alter to suit your playstyle. These will not drop in a space that is 5 blocks tall or less.

(3-K) Miiverse Presentation: Simply posting a stage to miiverse is nice but it is also very lacking in details. The name, size and music should be automatically posted with your stages, but they’re not so you’ll have to type it into the post yourself, or into a comment of that post. I always include the name, and if I was inspired by someone else or if it is a remake of someone else’s stage, I’ll include their info in this initial post, as well as the size of the stage, the soundtrack, and I will also post the following “If you see the phrase “Show all comments (_)” below this post, click it to see the details from the beginning.” This is because when a post receives more than 20 comments, the earliest are hidden from view unless that button is pressed, meaning that many could potentially miss some of the info about your stage, if they happen not to see that button.

Also, the image shown in a standard miiverse stage post is a pulled back full view from the side, which will not show off your work properly. You may want to take one or more screen shots of your stage and post them in the comments. I’ll walk you through how to do that in just a second, but first I want to also suggest that you may want to take snapshots of specific features of your stage to post along with an explanation of how to use those features, when necessary.

To write a comment with a snapshot, onto an existing post, simply press pause during a normal match or while testing in stage builder (does not work in Training mode) and set up your snapshot how you like it. Then click the Home button in the center of the bottom of your Wii-U game pad. In the bottom of the menu that comes up, tap the miiverse icon in the lower left (the three green people silhouettes; you will need to set up a miiverse account first). Once that screen has loaded click the User Page in the top left, and from that menu the Activities button in the center of the screen. Now find the post for the stage you’re trying to write a comment on, and click it (be sure to click the text body and not the picture). Then click the Comment button in the lower right. In the upper right you will see an icon that looks like a simple illustration of a mountain range with a sun, and a circled + icon; click it to add your pic, but don’t forget to type in a description!

For an example of how I do this you can see the original version of my stage Dragon Slayer.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHj8MME9PQ

(4-K) Spawn Algorithm by Ethan Sarik: For this one I am just going to link his imgur post, and the reddit post. Both have the same images and information, but I recommend the imgur version, because you can see the images while you read.

Here’s the imgur version - http://imgur.com/a/63SGv#0

And here’s the reddit version - https://www.reddit.com/r/SmashBrosStages/comments/3d36o0/testing_the_spawn_algorithm/

For his profile link and a description of his work, see (3-Z) 13.

(5-K) Wafer: A wafer is what I call the thinnest solid platform possible. You start by drawing one straight line with the grid on or off; it doesn’t matter, just as long as it is straight. It can have slopes and angle changes, but that will make things much more difficult. For my example I’ll be making a straight, 2 block long wafer starting with the grid on. In step (1) I draw my first line with the grid on. In step (2) I tap a point that creates a very sharp angle under the first line, drawing this angle above your first line will not create a wafer.

In step (3) I have tapped out a straight line that ends at exactly the same distance that my top line does. As soon as you lift your stylus the shape will auto finalize. In (4) you can see that the sharp angle is gone and you have a nice looking wafer that is solid. If the angle in step (2) is not sharp enough, the angle will remain, and you will not get a wafer.

(L) Anomalies

(1-L) Phantom Grab: I noticed on my stage Ricochet Rocket in the area that I call the box, that while standing on a moving platform, and grabbing someone within grab range who is standing on another mover; if they start to drift away from you while they’re stuck in your grasp, the grab will not be broken, but the characters will be separated. In the picture below you have Mario holding Gannondorf.

The picture below shows the distance that they were separated when the grab finally auto broke. I was controlling both characters, so Ganon wasn’t struggling to break free, he was just sitting there.

And finally we see Mario pummeling thin air (Ganon takes no damage).

If you initiate a throw before the grab breaks, the opponent will auto snap to you, and the throw will be performed normally.

Smash 4 Stage Builders Guide Part IV - sections G and H

(G) Layering

What I mean by layering is when two or more pieces over lap, or when they are used to create a multipart structure, where one piece is at least partially overlapping another. But first I want to talk about . . .

(1-G) Naming Layouts and Skins: I wanted a one-syllable name that describes each layout; this may not prove useful but I like naming things. The layouts in order of appearance when choosing from the start menu are (1) Sky, (2) Fire, (3) Isle, (4) Star and (5) Play. Each layout has five different skins to draw with. While it may not be necessary to name the skins, I do want to point out certain properties of each. But, we will end up giving names to the few we examine. The first two skins are the same with all layouts. Below is a pick of the skins for Isle.

(3-1) Earth, (3-2) Masonry (3-3) Mossy Rock (3-4) Topped Clay and (3-5) Board. The bottom row of the skins in the picture above shows off all three types of edging, and these edges definitely need to be named. With (3-3) you have a beveled edge around the entire block, let’s just call this a Bevel. (3-4) Features a beveled edge around just the sides and bottom, and the side bevels taper to a fine point at the top, where they vanish into a flat top. We’ll call this a Flat Top. And in (3-5) we have a squared edge block, with no bevels; we’ll call this a Square. Only counting Earth and Masonry once, even though they appear in each layout, you have a total of 4 bevels, 10 Flat Tops and 3 Squares in all.

When drawing a bevel or Flat Top over another piece, the beveled edges will recess into the first piece, obscuring its edges. Below is a picture of all three of these skins being drawn on top of a larger piece. Each of the three smaller pieces are a 4 x 4 square, but notice how the beveled edges make the pieces look like they are different sizes and shapes, even though they are all exactly the same size and shape. Bevels will appear smaller all the way around, Flat Tops will have sides that taper in toward the bottom, and Squares will appear true to their actual size. Keep this in mind when drawing layers.

Making Torches using the LaW trick and a Flat Top Skin: I’ll skip the explanation and just get right to the step by step.

(1) Place a solid mass of any size or shape. (2) Draw a torch sized mass using a flat top skin. The bevels of the Flat top will cause the sides to angle to a point, giving a torch handle look. (3) Draw a new shape to the design of the flame. (4) Paint lava over the flame. (5) Use the eraser to delete the lava on all pieces except the flame. (6) Is how the final, in-game result will look.

(2-G) Sharing Edges: You can use the beveled edges to your advantage. The topside bevel of a beveled piece is brighter since the light source hits it more directly, while the sides are a bit darker, and the bottom bevel is the darkest, being the most obscured from light. The light differences of these bevels can add a lot of depth to a stage when used properly.

Below are two practically identical drawings. The first (1) is done with a large Masonry base and stairs drawn over it with Topped Clay, while (2) is the same basic design, except that the bottom edge of the Masonry follows the top edge of the stairs, creating depth with the shadows of the bottom bevels on the Masonry. Try and use this to your advantage. Of course (2) takes up a bit more weight due to the larger amount of directional changes in its edges, so be aware of that.

(3-G) Problems with Layering: The way the layering works is strange and it can be frustrating. For example, in (1) above I can draw as many shapes as I want on top of the stairs and the new pieces will overlap the last, so that you can see each new drawing; example below.

But, if I were to delete the Masonry (the first piece drawn), then any new drawing on top of the stairs will now end up behind them, unseen. The trim along the top can still be seen during a match, but it will not look the same as it does above. This can present problems, so be aware of it while building your stages.

(4-G) Bevels and Platforms: Since the topside of Bevels are angled, they will not line up with platforms properly, see picture below. This won’t affect game-play, but it does look a little funny, so you might want to try to find a way to avoid this.

(5-G) Optical Illusion: This is just a trick I found while making my stage called “Mined The Moon”. See the image below.

In (1) above you see the final result. It looks as though the blue octagonal piece is a hollow ring instead of a solid piece. In (2) you can see that the blue shape is indeed a solid piece. The center cut-out-looking portion in (1) is actually just a hexagon drawn with the moon skin over the blue piece. In (3) you can see why in this particular build it was best to use a Bevel rather than a Flat Top or Square, although they could come in handy in some scenarios. (4) shows the in-game appearance of (3).

Mined The Moon - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkNx1s_Lg

(6-G) Background Layering: Another technique I found while working on my stage Tefilla Wings is one I’m calling Background Layering. In (1) I’ve made a shape that will soon be deleted. It must occupy at least some of the space that your permanent shape will soon occupy, and it must extend past it a bit so that the temporary one can be deleted, once the permanent one is drawn. In this case I made my first piece (1) the exact same size and shape as the one I’ll be keeping, and I’ve added a small tab on the bottom left that will extend past the permanent shape. In (2) the green line shows you that I’m about to finalize the second piece, the one I’ll be keeping.

In (3) the temporary shape that we drew first has been deleted, and now I’m drawing a random shape over the permanent block. Once it’s finalized, you will not be able to see it while you are in the stage builder, but as you can see in (4), while playing a match only the trim of the ground that can be walked on is showing. This can be helpful if you only want that portion to show through.

Here’s an example from Tefilla Wings.

The white line near the top of the masonry is a solid shape (the wooden plank skin) but none of the wood is showing through.

Tefilla Wings - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkOUZnNWQ

(7-G) Changing Normal Layering to Background Layering: Let’s say you have a piece that has normal layering but you want to change it to the BGL style, well here’s one way to do that. Below is a before and after shot of my Tefilla Wings stage. The picture on the left is the before. Notice that under the white trim, which makes up the detail in the wings, you can see the wood planks and the shadows they create? This isn’t exactly ugly or messy, but the BGL version is noticeably cleaner, and depending on what skins you are using, this change may even be necessary. I did alter the lines slightly on the right side picture, but that only affected the line design, not the layering style.

Here’s how I did it. First I erased the main background piece. I redrew it hoping that it would now be on top and the detail lines in the back, but that didn’t happen; it was the same as it was originally. So, I erased it again and drew a temporary piece that crossed over where the main chunk would eventually be. I learned that this temporary piece can’t also cross over the detail bits, or else they too will be sent to the background, too far for even the trim to show through. Below is a diagram showing exactly what I mean.

In (1-a) you see the original from the builder’s menu. In (1-b) I have deleted the main piece that was in the background, added the temporary piece that crosses over where the redrawn main piece will be, and I’m one step away from finalizing the new main piece. In (1-c) you can see the way the new piece looks in the builder’s menu; the detail pieces are now hidden. While playing a match, you will be able to see just the white trim of the detail pieces, as you do in the right picture above.

In the picture below, you can see the results if I had allowed the temporary piece to overlap the detail pieces. As you can see, one of the detail pieces is totally obscured. I’m not sure why only one piece is affected, but I assume that it was the furthest back among the detail pieces.

(8-G) Deep Layering: First let me talk about something I call Jumping. Below is an illustration of this phenomenon. In (1-a) you see me about to finalize an octagon that will fill in the empty space within the other shape. In (1-b) you can see that when finalized, the octagon has jumped over 2 grid blocks.

The way I found to get around this is illustrated in (2-a) and (2-b). I started by erasing the first shape, and drawing another, then redrawing the box with the octagon hole in the center. Now, illustrated by (2-b) the octagon will stay where it is supposed to, with a normal amount of grid shifting.

While making my stage Concert of Three, I began with the stage SkyTrain: Engine, attempting to solve the problem of Jumping that occurred when I tried to draw the trains’ octagonal wheels. While doing this I found a technique that I call deep layering. What I found is that when grid shifting occurs the pieces are actually moving toward the builder. The more temporary pieces you stack over the first permanent piece, before you place the second permanent one, the more depth there will be between the two.

Below are two, essentially identical structures. Notice how much more recessed the dark skin on the left is, and how the purple trim isn’t showing through?

In (1) below I have drawn the dark inner part of the cave design, and then 10 identical, temporary pieces that were actually drawn within the same grid space (you can see how disjointed things can get with so many layers). In (2) I have drawn the outer cave, and in (3) I have erased the temporary pieces. I only included (3) to show you just how shifted that last piece is. Notice the upper right corner of the cave. It was drawn to the grid lines, but has shifted that much. Also, even though you can’t really tell by the photo, the left and lower edges of the cave are hugging their grid lines perfectly.

Along with the ground that lies under the outer portion of the cave but over the inner portion, you have quite a nice looking sense of depth.

(H) Good Tricks and Glitches

(1-H) SIG (Sloping Intersection Glitch): This glitch allows you to clip inside of a structure by means of one sloping mass that intersects with another. The concept is simple, but making it efficient requires a little more finesse.

I believe this can happen with any type of terrain, but for the sake of making this easy to understand, I’ll be specifically referring to the terrain used in the pictures above and below.

Notice how the slope of the grass meets the dark stone incline? What seems to happen is that running down the stone slope, causes you to occasionally (not always) walk right through the grass portion. If there is no ground to walk on inside the wall, you will simply either fall to your doom, or until you hit a surface. The thin green line inside the dirt portion is a platform that is there to allow you to walk around inside the ground. I haven’t experimented much with this, but it seems to me that the higher up on the stone slope that it met the grass; the more frequently I would clip into the grass when running toward the right.

Here are some pictures demonstrating this. In the first one Dedede is walking down the stone slope, and beginning to clip into the grass.

And here he is playing around in there. By the way, this glitch works on a slope that faces either direction.

(2-H) RAGS (The Right Angled Gap Slide) Glitch: This glitch happens with any space between two solid objects, provided the gap is a slide that angles down and to the right. As with the platform problem, simply landing precisely on the space between the two pieces will cause you to fall into the gap, but I’m going to show you a way to construct things that makes for an easy entrance.

The key is to create a slide that goes down to the right. I’ve tried and tried to clip into the stage using a slope going the opposite direction, but I could not get it to work.

You are going to need a grid formula for your slide. For our example, we’ll use 1R / 2D. I believe you can pretty much use any formula, as long as the slope is a slide.

(1) Draw a slide (1R / 2D), and then double its length, which for this example would be 2R / 4D.

(2) Now draw the ground and wall to any shape or angles you like, as long as the ground of the bottom surface can be walked on. This works with a 45-degree angle, but the example below is going to be a straight horizontal line.

(3) Make a line parallel to the current slope that is also half it’s size. We need both edges of the gap to be parallel to one another; this is why we doubled the first number, so that we could get the second gap wall to be perfectly parallel, but shorter than the left wall.

(4) Then finalize the second shape.

Notice the gap between the two pieces? This is what we need. Sometimes two pieces will fit together with no gap, so either redraw the shapes, or you can draw the first shape with the grid on, to get the correct angle for the gap, and then draw the second shape with no grid, allowing you more control over the gap size. Drawing with the grid off will likely require a few attempts, but this way you can make a space that is wide enough for anyone to fall into, without trapping the smaller characters. You’ll have to experiment with what size truly fits all. I recommend Charizard to test for the biggest and Pikachu for the smallest, and I’ll explain why in just a bit.

Now then, simply walk into the gap (the walk off method), or land on the slope from the air and slide down into the gap (the slide method), and your character will slide to the bottom, hopefully clipping into the wall, ready to cause some trouble!

Making a gap that is compatible with all characters is the tricky part. In making my stage Jurassic Park, I tested each gap with every character to make sure that no one would get stuck, and that all characters could use all of the gaps. There was one gap (labeled (1) in the picture below) that all characters could get into, except for Charizard, leading me to believe that he is the largest of all the characters, at least in relation to this glitch. In the same gap, Pikachu and Lucario would get stuck inside, without clipping into the wall leading me to believe that one or both of them are the smallest characters. The current version posted online should not have those two getting stuck, but Charizard still can’t seem to make it in. My point is that these three characters may be enough to test your gaps, since they seem to be the biggest and smallest in terms of gap interaction and clipping ability using the RAGS method.

If you are having trouble clipping in, once inside the gap, here are some ways I have found useful to get troublesome characters into the walls: (1) walk off the lower mass into the gap; do not run. Some can run full speed, others will just bump into the wall without falling or fall into the gap without clipping into the wall, unless you walk instead of run. (2) From inside the gap if you are not clipping in, a short hop NAIR (neutral air), with some characters will help. If NAIR doesn’t work, try some other aerials after a short hop. (3) Short hop fast fall into a crouch. It seems that this method works best if your back is facing the wall that you want to clip into.

Wall clingers will stick to the sloped wall if you do the walk off method, so just press down on the control stick to dislodge them; any other direction will cause them to jump out of the gap.

One thing to note is that when a character has a buddy, like Olimar with his Pikmin, and Rosalina with Luma; the buddies don’t seem to want to come with you. Olimar can whistle and the Pikmin will come in, but it can sometimes take two or more whistles to get them inside with you. Luma doesn’t seem to be able to enter at all, but this can actually lead to some interesting simultaneous attacks both inside and outside of the walls.

Jurassic Park - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHj_XNRlhg

Alternate RAGS Construction: The walking surface of each piece that makes up your gap can be close to level with one another (as opposed to the left piece being twice as tall, the way we did it earlier), as long as you have a slight downward slope on top of one of them. See below. In this case, running and dodge rolling during normal play are not hindered, they can be done from the grass to the wood and back, but getting in the gap is a little trickier.

In Smash 4, landing on a sloped surface will cause your character to slide down the slope. If it is angled toward your gap, then the character will fall in. Fast falling will cause you to slide right over the gap.

This is a little trickier to get right, and to get into, but it has its benefits in that it can be played on top of, without interruption, if you’re looking for a somewhat level playing field.

I can’t figure out exactly what makes RAGS work, but here are a couple of experiments where I could get into the gap, but I couldn’t seem to clip into the stage. And like I said before, a leftward facing slope (not pictured below) also will not allow you to clip into the stage.

Danger: I found another means of getting into a solid structure that can lead to you getting permanently stuck. See below.

In trying to recreate RAGS during my early experiments, I ended up making the structure above. From a hanging position like where Mario is in the picture, you cannot clip into the stage by a pop up or a jump; but with a dodge roll or get up attack you can, with just one problem. Once inside, you can roll left and right, and you can attack, but pressing the jump button while inside the stage will cause you to become stuck, and nothing will get you free. Not rolling, not attacking, not jumping. Based on what I’ve seen, it appears that the character is actually stuck in a freefall state, but pressing down doesn’t break them out of it. I waited for quite some time with no changes, but it is possible that they could eventually “land” if they are indeed in freefall.

I tested the typical RAGS method for clipping, just to make sure it wasn’t a problem with this particular build or gap size, compared to the original one, but the RAGS method worked just fine here. It’s just the ledge hang approach that gets you stuck. You could turn ledge grab off if you wanted to have a structure like the one above that didn’t cause people to get stuck. I’d assume that someone could possibly clip in by hitting the lower edge with an up-B or similar move, which might lead to the same problem, but I’ve tested this as best I could and it seems to be safe, at least with Mario.

Strangely enough, when trying to recreate the above shape, I couldn’t get it to trap me in the same manner. It was done on the same updated version of the game but on a different layout (Sky instead of Isle). This time, I could get it to a point where I couldn’t attack or dodge roll into the stage from a hang, but I could do a pop up to get in. This is the opposite means of entering as the design above. Once up, I couldn’t jump up through the stage as with the RAGS method, but I could initiate a jump without getting stuck (unlike the above shape), and I could move around and attack. Perhaps each stage layout has slightly different properties, or perhaps it can be attributed to something else.

(3-H) UMPS (Uphill Moving Platform Stack) Glitch: Another means of clipping into the stage that I’ve found is by having a stack of moving platforms traveling up a hill. The picture below shows the shallowest hill that I could get this to work on, but it tends to work better with a steeper grade. The side of the movers that is nearest the slope needs to be at least partially inside the hill for this to work.

You can either run uphill past the movers as they are traveling up, or you can ride them, and drop down to one of the lower platforms and run uphill from there. It appeared to me that there is a sweet spot for the number of platforms in the stack, which seemed to be 4-5. This was discovered accidentally while making my stage Picasso Escalate. This can also be performed on a slope facing the opposite direction.

As a reminder, here is the formula for creating a stack.

1 The first one is laid down and needs no adjustment.
2 The second is laid down (grid on), and then with the grid off each end is shifted up by 2 pixels. Be sure that it doesn’t shift left or right.
3 The next is only shifted Down 1 pixel.
4 Up 1 pixel.
5 Down 2 pixels.

Picasso Escalate -
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkId4SJbA

(5-H) Pie Slice Glitch: This is where there is a crack in the ceiling that allows you to jump up in between the two pieces and clip in. See an example below from my stage Skygarden.

This glitch is comprised of a normal sliver gap, with a pie slice shaped, wide mouthed bottom that tapers in before it reaches the surface. This wide bottom is to allow your characters to easily make their way into the tiny sliver portion; the result will be that they clip into the stage. The trick to making this glitch work is placing the platform that will be stood on while inside the wall, at or very near the top of the slice. The side of the wall that the gap is on makes no difference, the mirror version of the construction above will function the same as this one does.

Skygarden - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkKMGBSuw

(6-H) Clipping Anomalies: There are two more scenarios I’ve noticed where clipping can happen. One of them I’ll call the Footstool Glitch. This happens when a fighters head is protruding through a thin solid wall (see Bowser in (1) below), and another fighter is in a position above the characters head for a footstool (see Mario in (1), and for some reason the one doing the footstool clips right through the object (see Mario in (2). This glitch works on anything other than flat ground as long as one player’s head is protruding through the solid mass.

I couldn’t even footstool on the set up below, let alone clip though the floor.

But even on a vertical wall, as long as it is thin enough, it can be done. I managed to do it with the setup below.

The other anomaly is even more strange and unexplainable. I’ll just call it Ghosting. In my stage Jurassic park, there was one gap where Sheik and Pikachu would pass right through the solid piece at the bottom of a gap, but only occasionally, and I can’t be sure why this happens. Below is a picture where the gap in question is circled. The tiny ledge underneath that gap was specifically put there to catch them.