Coming in at #19 is Norfair, the second Metroid stage in a row to appear on the countdown. Metroid stages have not been the best stages to play on in the Smash Bros. series as Planet Zebes from the orginal Smash Bros. and Brinstar from Melee, were not very good stages to play on. Thankfully, the Brawl Metroid stages are the best stages from the Metroid series to fight on in the Smash series with Norfair being the best of bunch and one decent stage to play on for Brawl.
As always, the negatives. The biggest negative I with for Norfair is, the unbalanced gameplay action for the lava in the stage as this is what made Brinstar and Planet Zebes bad stages in the past games.
Thankfully, unlike past stages in the series for the Metroid stages, Norfair rarely has rising lava in the stage. However, what makes Norfair bad is the lava flow attacking you and your opponents ON ALL SIDES in the stage. Lava flow attacks can happen and attack you and your opponents from the left, right, down and even up directions in the stage. There is even one section in the stage where the entire stage can be covered by lava with the only way to dodge it is by entering a capsule on of the sides in the stage and if you do not enter the capsule in time after it closes, it it atomic that you lose a life/stock.
The only other problem I had with for Norfair, is that the platforms are fairly small to fight on in this stage with aerial characters like Pit able to avoid most of the fighting action in the stage and big characters like Bowser, could cover up room for one platform alone.
On the plus side for Norfair like Frigate Orpheon, the soundtrack in this stage is pretty good. Norfair has one of the best music selections in Brawl with a heavy rock beat that fits the style of the Metroid series and the stage well.
Yes, there are better to play on in Brawl but, if you are looking for the best Metroid stage to fight on, look no further then Norfair.