I was just wondering why Squirtle is at the very bottom of the tiers. Before I get into what I mean, allow me to first put out there that I have been playing for years, and I have watched MANY videos of the tournament masters.
My brother and I found out, through years of play, literally EVERY advanced technique in the game, except the wavedash, which we stumbled upon, but wrote off as simply hilarious. I was surprised to find that all the wacky observations we have encountered and adapted are actually defined in the glossary in the sticky topic in the Melee Discussion forum! Three of the particularly surprising terms that I could not believe had been widely known and utilized were the Phantom Hit (I just thought I had a glitchy game) and that effect where recovering at the right time from attacks that sent you flying results in an upward boost if you jump out/air dodge/whatever early enough (I cannot remember what it was called in the sticky), and the waveland.
Now, I have been using Squirtle against my brother lately, and he cannot seem to beat me. We think we know why, and we think it puts Squirtle at the top of the tiers. I will be brief. Squirtle has his air backward. We call it 'The Tail.' It has that special hitbox like a sword, hence it goes right through anything except an attack with that same type of hitbox. It does 12% max, is relatively fast executing, has basically instant recovery on a barrier cancel, and is quite massive, killing at rather low percentages.
If he misses, he can just do his dsmash if the opponent tries to retaliate, or shield/roll. I am telling you, Squirtle is a crazy meat mountain who crushes bones with many attacks doing 15+%, survives to insane damages thanks to his wall cling, and has ridiculous horizontal recovery (Withdraw, Double Jump, Wall Cling, Wall Jump, ANOTHER Wall Cling, ARE YOU SERIOUS, Wall Jump, Up B).
Next, check his wavedash. It goes like half screen. It makes him rather fast, nearly eliminating his speed problem on the ground, and a great character when it comes to the defensive game. It pretty much eliminates the need for his dash, which, with Squirtle, who needs to do most of his attacking from hops, is pretty much useless already unless you are looking to smash attack. Wavesmashing, however, in my opinion, is also a bad idea, because, in the time and damage it takes you to actually land a smash, you could have just used The Tail and killed you opponent by then.
Even though he has to fight mostly in the air, 3 of his 4 air attacks are pretty fast, and are quite massive. A major advantage he has is that nearly all his attacks move the opponent considerably, and can topple him from 0%, so his opponent gets little to no counterattack opportunity.
The only explanation I can find for why he is low on the tiers is that no one has used him seriously. I think he really keeps up, if not tops, the top tier characters.
I really do not like to simply shoot my mouth, and I am not one who thinks it right to shower a character in encomium, and never actually prove anything. Is there online for this somewhere, or is that simply wishful thinking? If not, please do not yell at me and stuff until you at least check out The Tail. Goes right through projectiles, goes right through attacks, goes right through faces. Please just give Squirtle another shot and tell me what you thnk.
Final Comment: People have a tendency to think that posts from newcomers to a board but veterans of its respective game are saying they are better than everyone else, regardles of what the post actually says. Please note that I did not say 'I am better than you' or 'Squirtle is better than Fox.' I said, essentially: 'Squirtle seems to be great. These are his strengths. He may top Fox. Check him out and see if you agree.' I will say, however, that I am a full master of Squirtle.
Please give Squirtle a second look before responding so you know where I am coming from!
P.S. Why is Snake 15th on that list, he is garbage, please put him 28th 
