Please note that my tier list is based on what I have perceived in the past 2 years in terms of results and consistency. I do take character ability into consideration but my tier list is primarily based on what has been done and the capabilities of the characters already being shown in the past two years.
S-Tier: Characters with the absolute ability to win a national
1: Fox 
- Definitive best character due to his excessively good moves and his overwhelming representation in the current meta. His shine is his definitive best most because of its many uses including using to combo (i.e: waveshining) and gimp. Really flexible recovery methods as well as deadly combo ability. Only character in the game that can hit an opponent while recovering and kill off of it. When the character is pushed to its limits he becomes a menace to deal with.
2: Marth - We've seen numerous examples of Marth succeeding well in this meta moreso than the characters below him. With stellar performances by PPMD, PPU, and other top Marths, being able to handle Fox and Falco extremely well, and deadly punish games and amazingly flexible movement. He could use more representation but from what I've seen from really good Marths is a lot of consistency, and that's ultimately what matters.
3: Falco - With PPMD playing his Marth more recently than his Falco, and players like Westballz and Zhu struggling to be consistent in the current meta, it's hard for me to place Falco any higher. Mango is definitely the saving grace of this character as he shows he can consistently do very well vs Fox, putting him at #3.
4: Sheik - Until recently, Sheik wasn't represented too well and it seemed she was dying off, but now we have some recent and new changes from the Sheik meta, but they are not enough. I believe that Sheik could very well rise above Falco if there are more Sheiks that continue to push the character's meta into the future, but as for right now this is where I feel she belongs.
A Tier: Extremely solid characters that are on the cusp of winning a national
5: Peach - I'm putting Peach above Puff on my tier list simply because the players who have represented her have a much better time beating Foxes than Puff does. Because Peach has a better time vs Fox (as Evidenced by Armada still being able to keep toe-to-toe with Mango) and Puff has a harder time vs Fox (Hungrybox is often losing to Foxes that are ranked below him on MIOM top 100, as well as losing many games to other significantly lower-level Foxes). Peach and Puff do have one thing in common though and that is they deal with all of the
other top tier characters very well. I am starting to see more Marths do well vs Peach but it is a very uphil battle for the Marth usually.
6: Jigglypuff - Extremely solid character with amazing recovery ability and punish game. If it weren't for Fox having such a solid matchup on this character, she would probably be higher.
7: Captain Falcon - This character hasn't changed too much in the past 2 years. The arguable best Falcon in the world left the character for Fox back in late 2013, though there are numerous efforts to make this character to be more developed in the current meta (i.e: 20GX). Falcon is staying where he is because there hasn't been a breakthrough performance from a Falcon or numerous Falcons yet. He still does very solidly but there hasn't been anything outstanding from what I've seen. He is likely to be more developed and possibly higher in the future, hell even as high as above Peach if there can be consistent results to back it up.
B Tier: Solid mid-tier characters that tend to do very well at nationals, but not necessarily win them
8: Ice Climbers - This character has really solid representation in the meta and with wobbling being a huge threat to many of the higher tiered characters, I thoroughly believe that ICs should be here on the tier list. Wobbles' performance at EVO 2013 was extremely stellar for the character, even if Wobbles himself has dropped off a bit from that performance. There are still many other ICs like Fly Amanita, Nintendude, DizzKidBoogie, etc. that do very well at almost any tournament they go to. ICs are not higher on the list because even though they do really well vs certain top tiers, they also do pretty badly vs Peach, Puff, Falcon (to a degree), and even Ganondorf. Because of the strength and weaknesses of the character colliding like this, I see the number 8 spot as a right place for this character.
9: Samus - This was a tough one. I had to think about choosing between Samus and Pikachu for this spot and I think Samus just barely comes out on top for a few good reasons: For starters, the players that represent her in the current meta are still loyal to her (the only exception being Plup). Both Hugs and Duck and other Samus mains have had really consistent results and have shown what the character has got. Samus' remarkably and arguable even matchup vs Fox surely shows with results against Leffen and other top Foxes. She's an extremely solid and unique character that with her heavy weight and amazing recovery make her awfully difficult to kill, yet she lacks a lot in the neutral, and the player playing as her has to be really smart about the decisions that they make.
10: Pikachu - Axe has absolutely shown that Pikachu is rather viable in this current meta. With rather consistent and outstanding performances like EVO 2014 and MLG 2014, he has done a lot to show the true potential of the character. However, the reasons I put Pikachu below Samus is because that there really isn't much representation besides Axe at the top level. And even Axe doesn't just purely main Pikachu anymore, often picking out his secondaries for his other matchups that he struggles with. This is one of those decisions that was made between this character and Samus purely on how well represented the character is in the current meta, because both have shown to do really well, honestly. If there was at least one more Pikachu that was Axe's level, then there would be a good chance that Pikachu could be above Samus next time.
11: Yoshi - This one should be the most obvious and the biggest leap in the tier list. We've seen in the past two years just what this character can really do thanks to aMSa. With a 9th place finish at APEX 2014, and a
stellar 5th place finish at APEX 2015, as well as numerous other incredibly high placings, there is no doubt in my mind that this is where Yoshi should be on the tier list. He has had some rough results in Japan though, and many people speculate that Yoshi simply hasn't been figured out yet in the US, but in Japan they know better. But that is only speculation and it hasn't really shown through yet in the past two years. Yoshi has an amazing punish game, his double-jump armor is extremely useful and well utilized, and he has numerous tricks up his sleeve that he could pull out at any minute. I'd really like to see this character get better representation in the future, as it is clear that this character can go to great lengths and tango with the best. Yoshi isn't higher up mostly because of his representation and the fact that people truly don't know the matchup that well. Will he go down the tier list in the future? Or will he continue to go up? That will be something interesting to see for sure.
C+ Tier: Slightly better than C Tier. Capable of performing very well at nationals and winning regional tournaments
12: Luigi - This is where things start to get hairy and become a bit more subjective, so apologies if this opinion of mine is not one you agree with. Luigi has a relatively good representation at a high level, with players like Eddy Mexico, Abate, Vudujin, Blea Gelo etc. showing that this character can still perform rather well, even at nationals. Eddy Mexico's performance at the SSS that he won should definitely not be overlooked, but it is also not the complete basis for placing this character here. Luigi at times seems like he just falls short of really breaking into top 8 at a lot of major tournaments. I feel like with more development and better representation he can get to B tier easily.
13: Dr. Mario 
- This isn't a good day for the Doc. He's dropped a bunch mostly because of Shroomed switching his main to Sheik. Without Shroomed, Doc is so under-represented in the current meta that it's not even funny. There isn't another Doc out there that has come even close to what Shroomed has done, and now that that's gone, it's looking grim for the Doctor. He's a good character for sure, it's just his representation has dramatically increased, putting him below Luigi. I know that there are some aspiring Doc mains out there but none of them are high level as of yet. This character can still do it pretty well, we just need more people to play as him (Personally I find him to be really fun, almost considering maining him in the future in hopes of representing him better.)
C Tier: Characters that just barely aren't going to make it very far at a national level. Though they can perform fairly well, there are just some matchups that are nigh impossible for them to overcome
14: Ganondorf - This character is bad, let that not be any misconception. Although in my opinion a very good character to learn fundamentals with, Ganondorf is just not going to succeed in this meta all on his own. Ganondorf has some amazing representation and dedication to him, but even the top Ganondorfs have shown to be rather inconsistent at times. Bizzarro Flame has certainly gotten better and more noted, and Kage continues to be a solid player, but neither of these players have had any spectacular results in the last two years. They have certainly taken sets off of some really notable players, but eventually the Triforce of Power's energy comes to a halt later on in a bracket, with even Kage bringing out his secondary Falcon for certain stages. A common phrase I hear when people talk about Ganon is that everything that is to discover about him has already been discovered. While that might be true in theory, there is still a lot more that the current top Ganons could be doing to advance this character. Linguini was definitely on par with this kind of development, but he retired before it really be seen as the character's ability. Ganon's got some nice tools to use and he hits really hard, but his god-awful recovery, falling speed, slow moves, and slow running speed really hold him back, and it's really hard to see him get any better.
15: Link - Link has a lot of tools that he has at his disposal that make him a really unique and often difficult character to deal with if you don't know how to fight him. He's definitely the much better represented of the two Links in this current meta, and even has the ability to perform well in certain high tier matchups like Marth, Peach, Puff, and possibly others. He's got a really good recovery, being flexible and more often that not very hard to deal with or overcome or outspace. He's slow, but his projectiles are often his saving grace. H'es a very unique character that has to put in a lot of hard work in order to succeed, and we've seen certain cases of Link beating some notable players, but definitely not really any high placing at nationals. He often really falls short there.
16: Mario - Although much better represented than his PhD counterpart, he still falls short of his ability as a character, rather than his representation. He does have a better recovery than Doc though, but his killing ability is a huge setback for him. I honestly don't know whether to put Mario above Link or not, but because I'm basing this off of what has happened, I think Mario goes below. As far as I'm concerned, there are solid Mario players out there, but they haven't taken too many sets off of really notable players. Again, this is really subjective and I'm still not super sure, so if you want to debate this placement with me I can understand fully.
17: Donkey Kong - I've seen a few of the top DK mains have some notable success vs high level players. He's got long hitboxes, a great combo game on spacies and even other characters, a tricky recovery, and some other gimmicks that he has at his disposal. You're definitely going to have to keep on your toes vs a really solid DK player, but sadly many of DK's defensive options are poor, as well as having numerous moves that are very slow to come out. He's a rather fun character that can catch you off guard if you underestimate him.
18: Young Link - This character's placement has been controversial in the past because of what people believe is his ability as a character. Armada definitely made him look rather viable with his runs vs Hungrybox, but as of last year that is no longer the case, as Young Link has out-stayed his welcome. Sadly, this character also suffers from being very under-represented much like Dr. Mario, and his tier list placement suffers as a result. Yes, he is faster and has better projectiles than his older counterpart, but what he really lacks in is killing power, and the days of bomb to dair combos being deadly are likely to be no more, or at least until someone really gives this character a go again. Yes, I do believe the character itself has a lot of potential, it's just no one is maining him right now (Axe uses him from time to time but I'm not sure about YL development in general. Feel free to enlighten me if you know more).
D Tier: These characters are relatively bad but have some redeeming qualities or gimmicks about them that can make them hard to deal with. Very hard to win a regional, if not impossible.
19: Mr. Game & Watch - This character is at the top of this tier simply because of his representation and his rather decent offensive ability. Notorious for having the worst shield in the game, G&W has some redemption when it comes to his combo ability and disjointed hitboxes. He's also got a heck of a recovery, allowing him to go far off stage and still make it back. His biggest weaknesses are his light weight and falling speed, as well as his horrendous shield, not to mention that certain aerials of his cannot be l-canceled. It's cool that there are players like Qerb who try to keep this character alive and find some success with him. And because of that, I'm putting him at #19.
20: Zelda - She has some decent representation, but not enough activity in my opinion to warrant her above G&W. If Cosmo would still enter Melee tournaments regularly with this character then I would have reconsidered, but that isn't really the case at the moment. There have been some tricky things that Zelda has done over the past but nothing too extraordinary. She's a real defensive character with a deadly fair and bair, which is sadly her only real redeeming quality. Her terrible recovery makes it really easy to edgeguard her, not to mention that she is light and dies easily. She has really poor defensive options aside from spacing her moves right. She's got a lot of gimmicks that can definitely catch you off guard, and a smart Zelda player can make you afraid of her bair/fair, but unfortunately she just isn't really going to do very well, and I don't see her getting much better either.
21: Pichu - It's almost a meme when you think of how many times you hear people say that Pichu should be higher on the tier list, it's about time that I put that into consideration. Pichu admittedly is pretty bad but I don't believe he is god awful. His biggest weaknesses are that he hurts himself when he uses certain moves and that he's one of the lightest characters in the game, often dying at ungodly low percents. But people often forget that Pichu is basically the worse-off little brother of of Pikachu, and has some tools to do at least somewhat decently. Pichu is fast and actually has some decent aerials. He has a terrible tech roll, but his small size at times makes him hard to hit. Pichu can definitely get away with causing damage to himself if you use the right moves. I'm not a huge advocate for this character but I do feel like people give this character very little credit. Less credit than what is due.
22: Mewtwo - This character isn't really too bad. At first I was going to put him in F Tier, but then I thought for a minute about some of his redeeming qualities. He actually has some decent range on his attacks. He has an excellent recovery. He has a few powerful moves, albeit slow, and his movement is pretty decent as well. Sure he dies relatively early cause of his light weight, but I don't really see
too much wrong with him. If there could be another Mewtwo like Taj then that would probably move him up by a significant margin, but that is not the case right now. I don't know too much about this character but it seems like to me that he isn't too bad. Oh wait. His tech animations are horrendous. He has hurtboxes on his freaking tail. Hmmmm. A hard one to call. Would like to see more exploration or representation of this character.
23: Bowser - This character has some neat tools and gimmicks that can keep him afloat, but he won't be lasting long. Bowser's Up-B out of shield is honestly one of his saving graces that make people think twice about attacking his shield. Sure, he is very slow and a huge target to hit, but a good Bowser player can have some pretty interesting tricks up their sleeve, and not to mention that Bowser is
really heavy and can take a long time to die. He's got some combos here and there and his recovery isn't too bad, but again he's very gimmicky and isn't really going to get very far.
F Tier: These characters are completely trash. There is almost no hope for these characters in this meta and it is probably best that you play someone else
24: Ness - Poor guy. Terrible range. Arguably worst recovery in the game. Has only so few redeeming qualities. Ness is a weird character in which people claim that he really isn't as bad as he is, yet I'm having a hard time seeing it to be honest. He does have some cool Yo-Yo Glitch tricks that can potentially advance him as a character, but I haven't really seen these developments but put into application just yet. Ness should definitely go up if someone can really apply all the technology that has been found by him over the years.
25: Roy - God awful character. Truly one of the worst. He is pretty much the polar opposite of his Fire Emblem comrade, having his strong hits be at the center of his sword. He might as well be using a dagger for crying out loud. Wet Noodle is damn right, Roy hardly has hitstun on a lot of his aerials and he only manages to get a few hits at times. His weight is okay but his falling speed makes his aerial mobility off-stage pretty much non-existent. Sure, his recovery can be angled a bit better but it's still pretty damn bad. He's got some strong hits and whatnot but he's so susceptible to CC it's not even funny. Roy can definitely mess up some low level players but you're generally not gonna find many people even of mid-level losing to a Roy, that is unless it's Sethlon. Hell, even Sethlon doesn't want to give this character one final go for EVO this year anymore because he just doesn't enjoy him in any capacity. I don't know where people get off saying that Roy has untapped potential because I'm pretty sure Sethlon, Neo, and maybe some other Roys really gave it their best shot. I don't know. Maybe Roy has some small things that help him, like his counter maybe? Please enlighten me if there's something I'm forgetting here.
26: Kirby - This should be obvious. All around terrible character with virtually no redeemable qualities. He has some dumb suicide gimmicks that will only work on complete numbskulls. He has some other gimmicks but they just aren't enough to get him even remotely going anywhere. Bair is really his only good move. What more do I need to say?
