Wait, Power Zone.... you are talking about the stage where everyone gets all powerups, right? Or are you talking about one of those stages where everyone has full speed?

Nevertheless, what I'm trying to say is that full power stages are a good test of skill, but a different KIND of skill. Full power stages are more "up in your face", because everyone is racing around attacking each other throughout the whole thing, while modes with lots of soft blocks tend to go slower, as the playing field is rather small and gradually expanding, so there are different opportunities to attack in either mode. Eventually, you'll probably get a regular stage clear of most or all soft blocks, but by then most of the time at least one or two people have already been killed, and now you've got to try to defeat the other player(s) with whatever powerups you have now. Because if you're just good at playing full power stages, then if you're left with just a kick or something, or nothing at all, you can't just go around chucking, kicking, punching bombs, overusing the line bomb, and all that other stuff.