SpellcasterNeos, I used to think similarly to you a few years ago. Tiers are a load of bull, how can anyone say one character is better than another, right? All characters are different, with their own strengths and weaknesses, but remain on an equal level because it all evens out, right? Just because Falco has great speed, can pillar, short hop lasers, shine, and just plain combo Bowser crazy, doesn't mean that he's better than Bowser, right?
Wrong. End of story, just wrong. Tiers are not a load of bull, Smash is one of the most unbalanced fighting games out there probably. Better and worse characters most certainly exist. There's no question about it. Each character DOES have their own strengths and weaknesses, absolutely. But these seperate them, not equal them out. Bowser is strong, but slow and laggy. The problem here is the slowness and lagginess makes him an easy target, which is all one needs to obliterate someone often enough. An easy target. An opening breaks the game open. An opening gets you grabbed and chainthrowed by Sheik, ending up in a forward air to throw you way off the stage. Then, if you lived through that, you have to make it back on the stage. Which is often easier said than done.
That's, of course, only one extremely specific example. It's a lot more general than it sounds. This game is built on the openings of others. Whether they trip up themselves or you provoke them into it through mindgames or such, the basis of competetive play is often to make an opening and take advantage of it. In the end, Bowser sucks at not being taken advantage of. Most of his moves lag. He doesn't hit very consistantly. Against most of the 'better' characters, he is abused.
He has some advantages, yes. Extremely good power and a good edge game among a few other things. But his weaknesses outweigh his advantages, and one of his weaknesses is being slow and laggy. One of the most fatal weaknesses to have in this game. Compared to a character like Fox, who has good recovery, amazing speed, the ability to abuse his laser, the shine, good throws, infinite combos, and multiple other things I'm sure I missed, there's no contest. Fox, like everyone, has problems. Predictable recovery is one of his bigger weaknesses, and he is easily edgeguarded by some characters like Sheik. But his advantages far outweight his weaknesses. Therefore, he is one of the best, and arguably the best character.
In a nutshell, what I'm trying to say is that you're thinking is flawed on this matter. No offense to you meant, but it is. Bowser sucks. The best Bowser players say Bowser sucks. Everyone says Bowser sucks. He just does. Take the above into consideration. I'm by no means a professional Bowser player. I'm by absolutely no means a professional Sheik player, and Sheik is my best. I'm not amazing. I'm not well-known. But you have to understand these things in order to get anywhere in this game. Even though I'm not the greatest player out there, and I'm probably not in the top 500 even, I see these things. It's important to understand these concepts.
The word often used for people with your mindset is scrub. You would be considered in a scrub frame of mind. Someone who believes, against all proof and plausibility, that all characters are equal and that the only thing that makes one character better is a cheap thing that should never be used for the sake of the game. I may be assuming, and the last part may or may not apply to you, but it's there. The game of Smash is not even close to balanced or fair. It's broken WIDE open.
