Stage spike
A stage spike is a type of Guard Break KO that refers to when one is knocked against part of the stage and falls straight down in a similar fashion to a meteor smash. One example is Marth using his Dolphin Slash below the stage to knock a recovering opponent into the stage and kill them. This can be teched out of, but it's very difficult to do so. A stage spike can also be performed by some moves on opponents who edgehog.
Applications
Stage spikes are most useful for characters with no true meteor smashes (for instance, Meta Knight, Sonic, and Pit). However, they are great for all characters. For instance, Marth has only one meteor smash, which only works when the opponent is a certain distance below him. In the above example, the opponent would almost certainly be above or to the side of Marth, so his Down aerial is useless as a meteor smash. By using the Dolphin Slash, he knocks the opponent up and into the bottom of the stage, causing them to bounce off and die as if they were meteor smashed, as well as allowing Marth to recover.
Self Stage Spiking
Self stage spiking is basically an unfortunate, failed recovery move. It's when the player tries to recover, but misses the ledge, and instead ends up hitting part of the stage, bouncing off, and then falling down as if they were spiked. Ness and Lucas' PK Thunder 2 are examples of self stage spiking.
Stages that Stage Spike
Mostly all stages have some part that may stage spike. A few of them are:
- The lips of Final Destination.
- The lips of Battlefield.
- The lips of Smashville.
- The lowest platform of Temple if hit underneath. Also, the ceiling of the area entirely beneath the Temple.
- The bottom of the wing on the bottom right of Lylat System: Corneria.
- Occasionally, underneath Frigate Orpheon's symmetrical side.