The following lists the strategies for each board, the distinctions of each one, and who excels and who is at a disadvantage on each board.

Terms used
 

Yoshi's Island	Link's Castle of Hyrule	Pikachu's Saffron City
Sector Z (The Great Fox)	Peach's Castle	Kirby's Dream Land
Samus' Planet Zebes	Donkey Kong's Congo Jungle	Classic Mario Brothers

KO ceiling
The area on each stage "above" the screen where, if you pass through, you will die.  So, for example, if you get launched very high by Fox' flip kick, you will go off the screen, pass through the KO ceiling and die.

KO walls
Similar to KO ceiling, these barriers exist to the left and right of each stage off the screen.  The classic Mario Brothers stage has KO walls that are very close to the edges of the board.

Ledges and Platforms
A platform is anything that you can stand on which is distinguishable from the rest of the board.  A ledge is an edge of a platform that you can hang from.

Description

Yoshi's Island is a relatively small board whose distinction is the existence of clouds to the right and left of the main board.  There is one low cloud to the left of the board and two clouds--one high, one low--to the right of the board.  Obviously, these clouds can be jumped on and this adds a dimension to the strategy of the board.  Another twist is the fact that standing on a cloud for a couple of seconds will cause it to disappear; it won't reappear for a couple of seconds after that.  The rest of the board is rather simplistic with 3 platforms above a larger main platform.

Ledges?  Two: Left and right side of main platform.
Platforms?  Seven: Main platform, top, middle left, and middle right platforms, and the three clouds.
Can you jump through the bottom?  No.

Good to use

• Yoshi: When launched to the right, his high durability will keep him from hitting the right KO wall.  Also, he can land on the clouds to protect him from being attacked while in the middle of his second jump (this negates his main weakness).

Strategies

• Use the clouds to your advantage.  If you're coming back from a launch, try to land on them so you avoid using your second jump or Up + B move to get back to the main platform.  When you have to use your Up + B to get back to the main platform, you're much more vulnerable to being attacked/relaunched.
• On the other hand, here's a nasty little trick: If you or, in case of team play, your teammate launches an opponent and you know they're going to try to land on a cloud, jump onto that cloud.  If they have weak jump-in/downward moves, try to relaunch them; otherwise, stand on the cloud long enough so that it disappears right before they're about to land on it.
• Most of the fighting will concentrate around the main platform so, if you have good downward moves, fall through the top platform to initiate these attacks.
• If you have a character with low vertical comeback (e.g. Falcon, DK) and you're knocked off the main platform to the right, try to jump over to the low cloud on the right.  Very often, if you are launched to the right and you try to reach the right ledge, you won't even come close.
• Here's an obvious one:  If an opponent gets a hammer, jump to one of the clouds and keep jumping up and down (so the cloud doesn't disappear) until the hammer runs out.
• Try to put mines on the middle left and middle right platforms.  This way, your opponents are more likely to jump into them.  Or, put them on the clouds (avoid doing this in team play).  Also, don't put mines on the top platform as, more often than not, regenerates will blow them up.

Good to use

Difficult to use

Strategies

Description

Saffron City consists of a number of buildings and two moving platforms.  The lower left building is close to the KO floor and the left moving platform is close to the left KO wall.  On the other side, there is a good amount of room between the rightmost building and the right KO wall.  Periodically, Pokemon appear from the wall of the main platform.  Among the Pokemon are one that shoots lasers and one that throws out item eggs (a complete list yet to come).  The many alleys between the buildings are the biggest danger in this board because they are easy to fall into.

Platforms?  Five: The three buildings and the two moving platforms on the left half of the board.  The main building in the middle has a high and a low section.
Ledges?  Seven: The left and right of the three buildings and the wall which separates the high and low section of the main building.
Can you jump through the bottom?  No, since there is no true bottom to this board.

Good to use

• Pikachu: His Up + B move has very good vertical comeback (since he can go directly up) which will aid him greatly when he falls into alleys.  His speed will allow him to move quickly among the buildings and get off attacks.  Finally, the lower left building and the rightmost building are great places to use his electricity to get opponents coming back from a launch.

• Donkey Kong: He's slow so it's hard from him to move between the many buildings and he's got a highly horizontal Up + B move so it's tough for him to get up out of the alleys.
• Ness: He's slow as well and his second jump will keep him from moving around well.  If he falls into an alley, he'll need to get back up with his second jump because it's impossible to hit himself up with his Up + B move while in one.  This will cause him to suffer a larger number of kills than usual.

• Downward launchers are a huge help in this board because of the many alleys between buildings.  Try to stand near the ledges and launch your opponents down into the alleys.  Or, better yet, if you see someone coming up out of an alley, try to launch them back down.
• Learn to anticipate the Pokemon who appear in the wall of the main building; when you see one coming out, jump onto the right moving platform or the upper section of the main building.
• Avoid the Pokemon bomb at all costs as it will launch you at relatively low damage levels.  Also, don't stand on the upper section when you see the bomb come out because you're apt to get by the explosion if you're there.
• The best place to put mines is probably on the rightmost building.  Since it is easier to come back when launched to the right, your opponents will likely come back to that building.  When they do, it will be difficult for them to land on the building without setting off the mine.
• If there is a player with high damage on the lower left building, throw an item at them (preferably a star wand) or go down there and knock them to the left.  It is very difficult to come back and reach the left ledge of the lower building when you are knocked that way and, more often than not, the left moving platform will be too high to reach.
• If you see a box or barrel on the rightmost platform, don't try to pick it up unless you are DK or you are planning on throwing it at someone who has been launched to the right.  If you pick it up with the intention of getting the item(s) inside, you will have nowhere to throw it so that you can get them.  You do have the option of just attacking the box/barrel to open it up; just hope that a bomb's not inside.

Description

The Great Fox is probably the largest board from left to right.  There is a long upper level and smaller lower level.  At the very right of the upper level is the top of what we will call the fin.  Periodically, Arwings will fly by and shoot lasers at you--these are very deadly and, though they can be blocked, can really only be blocked once because then, either your block shield will be destroyed or it will be so small that it won't block a second shot anyway.

Ledges?  Three: Far left, top of fin, far right.
Platforms?  Just the huge Great Fox itself.
Can you jump through the bottom?  No.

Good to use

• Yoshi -- His great second jump will allow him to come back again and again especially if he's being launched to the side.  Remember to grab the ledge when coming back.
• Fox -- His good upward attacks (esp. the flip kick) serve him well with the low KO ceiling. Fox also has his deflector shield (Down + B) which can be used to deflect those very deadly Arwing lasers. However, you'll have to master the timing with a heck of a lot of practice.
• Samus, Ness -- Both of these characters have great forward and back throws which are great when you are fighting on the smaller lower level of the Great Fox, since the right KO wall is very close to the Great Fox. It is important to have two good throws because that way you can always get a KO if you grab your opponent by just pressing press after pressing R. It doesn't matter if you're on the left or right of your opponent when doing this.

• Falcon -- His low comeback means he will have to avoid the edges and stay in the middle.  This will keep his kills down as his best launchers launch to the side allowing opponents a better chance to come back.
• Donkey Kong -- Too slow to stay around the action on such a large board, his opponent(s) will easily be able to keep their distance from him.  His highly horizontal Up + B move will hurt his comeback ability and make it difficult for him to get back up to the upper level.

• When you are on the lower level, knock an opponent with high damage into the wall/fin and they will fly back to the right over the edge.  This will usually result in a kill.
• On the upper level, if you see an Arwing flying to the left or right, try to knock your opponent into the air.  A KO is almost certain if he gets shot by the Arwing.
• When the Arwings shoot directly at you, don't try to block as it doesn't really do you much good; jump out of the way. However, if the Arwings from the background shoot at you, jump into the air and stay there. Since the laser shots from the background Arwings only hit the Great Fox, you'll be safe if you remain in the air.
• If you jump on an Arwing, be careful not to stay on too long.  If the Arwing takes off upward or to the side with you on it, you will go through the KO ceiling/wall and get a suicide. Therefore, if an Arwing takes off upward with you on it, press Down quickly as that is the best way to get off. If you try to jump while going up, you may land on the Arwing a second time and way too late to save yourself afterwards. However, if an Arwing takes off to the left with you on it, simply jump because, if you are off of the left edge, jumping will give you an easier time getting back to the platform than falling down.
• Team play: If one of your opponents is the only one on the lower level, tag up on your other opponent.  And, if you can find a Pokeball or motion sensor bomb, throw it at the top of the fin to slow his teammate's return to the upper level.
• If you are trying to get back onto the Great Fox after a launch and there is an Arwing below you, it is probably to your best interest to jump on top of it. Not only will it sometimes get you back onto the level, but it may serve another purpose. If you are being double teamed on an edge, it is very possible that by jumping on an Arwing, you can get over your opponents and also avoid their upward attacks. And, if you are on the right side of the Great Fox, you'll probably be able to jump up to the upper left onto the fin to totally avoid them.
• If a Hammer appears on the lower right level, it is probably best that you don't pick it up. If you do pick it up, you won't be able to get up to the upper left area of the ship. Thus, if your opponents get up there, you'll just be wasting time. However, there is also the more dangerous prospect that your teammate, if you have one, will end up on the upper left all alone and get pounded into the ground by a double team.
• Positioning is a very powerful ally on this stage because of where the KO walls are. The right KO wall is MUCH closer to the Great Fox than the left KO wall. Therefore, if you are in the middle of the stage and your opponent has high damage, launch that opponent over to the bottom right so that you can try to finish him off. Or, you can simply attempt to move the fight down there by going there. However, if you have high damage and are on the bottom right, quickly jump out of there before you get killed.
• If you are launched to the far left side of the board and you have over 100% damage, and then you get hit by a laser shot of an Arwing which proceeds to kill you, don't get too mad. Just remember that, since the Arwing just happened to hit you with a laser to kill you, that it will count as a suicide and so your opponent will not get a kill.

Description

Peach's Castle is a pretty big board that likes to steal a lot of launches from you. There are three platforms. The main platform is the bridge where you start every game. Then there is a smaller platform centered below the bridge. Finally, inside of the lower platform is a platform that slides all the way to the left, then all the way to the right, and repeats this cycle throughout the duration of the battle.  Above the bridge is a bumper that remains constantly during the battle as well. It bounces you around in much the same fashion that a bumper item does. Finally, there are two triangular solids on each side above the bridge facing towards the center of the stage. They usually deflect outgoing characters after a launching maneuver.

Ledges?  None: There's nowhere to hang from.
Platforms?  Three: The bridge, the lower platform, and the moving platform that slides through the lower platform.
Can you jump through the bottom?  Yes and no: You can jump through the bottom of the moving platform but not through the bottom of the lower platform.

Good to use

• DK, Ness, Jigglypuff -- The quirk with this stage is that you're never sure where the moving platform is going to be or in which direction it's going to be moving when you're coming back from a launch. Not unless you're anticipating yourself getting launched, and you know that's probably not a good thing. Therefore, you usually need a character with great horizontal range after getting launched to get back, just in case. DK and Ness are two such characters with Up + B moves that can both be utilized in a very horizontal fashion. Meanwhile, Jigglypuff, who really needs a nice large horizontal board to avoid getting destroyed, has his five jumps (Jump, B, Jump, B, etc.) combined with his B move to make him the most horizontally adept character.
• Fox -- You'll often notice when playing on this board that you'll literally whack the heck out of your opponent with an attack. He'll start flying off to the side and then ram into one of the triangular solids on the side and just bounce off very lightly allowing him to get back to the stage rather easily. Therefore, what you need on this stage is a character who has a number of strictly vertical launchers. Fox has his flip kick and double flip kick which work very well on this stage. Note that DK and Jigglypuff fit this description too and so they make even better choices for this stage.

• Link, Falcon -- Link and Falcon are basically the antithesis of the two points discussed above in the "Good to use" section. First of all, both Link and Falcon have poor horizontal range and, so, if they get launched to the side and miss the triangular solids, they might have a lot of trouble getting back. If the moving platform is moving away from them or is just all the way on the other side of them, they're pretty much done for. However, Link and Falcon's problems are multiplied on this board by the fact that they both are strictly horizontal launcher characters. Thus, they'll often lose out on kills just because those darn triangular solids get in the way.

• When you see that a character has a lot of damage, pay special attention to the moving platform below you. And then, what you obviously want to do is launch your opponents in the opposite direction that the platform is moving. This strategy will work especially well with characters who have two good throws such as Ness. Since you can wait a second before throwing someone after pressing R and grabbing him, after you do so, quickly look down after you grab someone and then press in the opposite direction as the platform is moving.
• The following is an inadvertent consequence but it is nonetheless a strategy. Since you should be using a character with good vertical launchers anyway, remember to use them wherever you are on the board. If you are on the moving platform when you do so, you might just get lucky enough to have your opponent hit the bottom of a triangular solid and then bounce straight down off of it into the KO floor to earn you an automatic kill.

Description

Good to use

Difficult to use

Strategies

Description

Good to use

Difficult to use

Strategies

Description

Congo Jungle is a very symmetric board with a few twists: a floating barrel below the main platform which you can jump into and blast yourself out of (a la Donkey Kong Country) and two platforms above the main platform that move around in a circle.  The board is small so it's easy to lose yourself especially with four players duking it out.  Pay close attention because, sometimes, you won't see yourself falling to your death as so much is going on.

Platforms?  Five: The main platform, the two moving platforms, and the stationary platforms above the left and right edges of the main platform.
Ledges?
Can you jump through the bottom?  Yes.

Good to use

• Donkey Kong: He has four great locations to do downward launchers.  The board is small so he won't have a hard time getting around and the moving platforms aid upward attacks.  Finally, because DK's Up + B move has great horizontal range, he'll have a good shot at reaching the barrel anytime he's launched.

Strategies

• Downward launchers can be a huge help on this board.  There are four great locations to try them: the left edge and right edges of the main platform, the left edge of the left platform and the right edge of the right platform.  You can try to launch someone downward if they're coming back from below the main platform or from above it.
• The existence of the left and right platforms is good for characters with high vertical comeback and it gives them more choice as where to land.  Mix it up to make yourself less predictable: land on the high platform, then the main platform, then in the barrel, etc.  This will help keep down relaunching.
• The moving platforms will interfere with many downward attacks because, if you're intending to do such an attack to someone on the main platform, you most likely will land on one of the moving platforms instead.  For this reason, don't start downward attacks above the moving platforms but land on them first and fall through to initiate a downward attack.
• Because the barrel's sole purpose is to increase the chances of coming back from a launch, try to launch your opponents in the opposite direction that the barrel is moving.
• When someone shoots themselves out of the barrel and back onto the board, they are very vulnerable to attack.  Take advantage of this fact by going after barrel ejectees.
• If your opponent gets a hammer, your best bet may be to jump in the barrel and hide there for a few seconds.  Remember not to stay in there too long though because, after a couple of seconds, the barrel will automatically eject you.

Description

This stage consists of two sections: the left side has a large platform with a pipe on the top right; the right side has three platforms (one above the other) with a pipe on level ground.  In the middle are two platforms that hang as if from a scale; if you stand on one while the other is empty, it will plummet into the hole below.  Stand with someone on the other and it won't move.  You can warp from one pipe to the other but you must be careful as, occasionally, you will pop out halfway down the hole in the middle.  Finally, POW blocks periodically appear in three different areas on the board: above the left warp pipe, directly in the middle of the board, and above the second platform on the right side of the screen. They can be hit to send everyone on the ground flying.

Ledges?  Three: Two, one above the other on the left and one on the right.

Platforms?  Four: The two in the middle that balance off one another and two more on the right side of the level.

Can you jump through the bottom? No.

Good to use

• Ness, Fox, Samus, Link, Mario, Luigi, Pikachu -- This is probably the ultimate throw board. Since it is very easy to get very close to the KO walls, you'll definitely want a character with two good throws to get very easy, quick kills. All these characters have two throws that are powerful and very horizontal which will result in great kills. Samus also has the added bonus of being able to grab people over the right pipe with her throw. If you do so while Samus is on the right of the pipe and then throw your opponent backwards, it's almost a guaranteed kill.

• Donkey Kong -- Donkey Kong will fail again on this board because he is very slow. Therefore, if there's a race for a POW block, you gotta figure that DK is going to lose that race unless it appears right next to him. That will make him lose out on some easy kills. The fact that he's slow will also hinder him if he gets a DK Hammer for example. This will be damaging since he will have an impossible time keeping up with someone who keeps warping back and forth between warp pipes to avoid him. Finally, it will hurt, especially with his large body size, if he ends up near a KO wall. You can bet he'll have a very difficult time getting away from a KO wall if he gets pinned on one and, thus, will most likely end up dead before anything else. Finally, because of his rather horizontal Up + B move, he will have a hard time getting back up if he falls down the hole in the middle of the board.
• Jigglypuff -- This character is one of the, if not the, most easily tossed around characters in the game. He is launched so often and travels very far when hit with smash attacks. Therefore, he will often die unnecessary deaths just because he gets hit so far and happens to be near a KO wall.

• Keep the fight in the center of the board. If you don't, you're bound to end up getting whacked into or walking into the KO walls and dying.
• Warp from pipe to pipe to avoid those with a hammer or invincibility.  Be careful though as occasionally you will be placed halfway down the hole and, if you don't jump out, you will get a suicide.
• Be discreet when you are using the POW blocks making sure that your opponents are on the ground and that any of your teammates aren't on the ground when you hit it.  Also, don't hit it when your opponents are under the platform on the left (they will merely hit their heads on the bottom of the platform and won't be launched). The logic therefore follows that, if you see an opponent waiting on hitting a POW block and you're fighting over on the left side, position yourself under the ledge until after they hit it. Otherwise, just get into the air. And, if you happen to kill your teammate, that's ok...at least you'll get the kill instead of your opponents.
• If you have a good throw, stay towards the edges and try to throw as many people through the KO walls as you can.  On the right side, stand right next to the pipe on either side; if someone appears on the other side of the pipe, grab them over the pipe and throw them to the right. Works amazingly (annoyingly) well with Samus.
• If a barrel or box appears on one of the middle platforms that balances each other, don't grab it. If you do, you're going to plunge to your death very quickly. And, if you try to get a teammate to balance you on the other side, you'll both just be sitting ducks. So, just forget about the barrels and boxes on the middle platforms.
• Be careful about using your Up + B moves near the center of the board. At any moment, the platforms in the center might fall off of the board with you following them. However, the other problem is that, though it doesn't look like it, there is a little space in between the platforms that you can fall through. It's instant death unless someone is stupid enough to hit you as you're falling down that hole.