We've had the game since launch, and while I am not speaking for everyone in our group, I can say that this is a rough compilation of our thoughts on the characters so far. We could be wrong on everything since it is early, but this is a start.
Brawl Tier, New Thoughts
Marth – I still feel that he is the best character in the game. When you split up his moves and don’t use them repeatedly you get such good knockback, and his range is really great. Damage is good, recovery is good…he’s just good.
Fox – No reason to drop him, but haven’t played him since last evaluation. Saw enough from Jeff playing him to think that he’ll be top again.
Game and Watch – fsmash may be the best move in the game, quick and I’d be hard-pressed to name a better launch move outside of Zelda toe, Dedede fsmash, and Ike fsmash. Neutral B rocks. Everything else is great too, he’s just good.
Pikmin/Olimar –Even the moves that use his body are generally high priority and with Pikmin they are ridiculous, he is hard enough to hit being small, and the pikmin are one of the best projectiles, cover multiple attack angles, can’t be blocked, and are fast to pluck. His weaknesses include a serious weakness to edgehogging. All tether recoveries in the game are horrible, as hitting someone with your Up-B during an edgehog still won’t get you the edge.
Pokemon Trainer – Because it literally forces you to use all three for parts of the match, the necessity of learning three characters makes for a high learning curve. It’ll be awhile until we really get a good grasp on these characters. I’m still trying to learn more about how stamina works.
Charizard – I like his moveset. There is a lot of diversity here, and while he is slow I think he will be able to still be played quickly. I’m not fully convinced that we won’t see a lot of PT players bypassing him entirely.
Ivysaur – Still like him but I can’t do anything against a CPU with him. We’ll see this weekend if I can play him better. (now) yes, he’s good. He’s probably my favorite, though I now think Squirtle may be better.
Squirtle – Better than I originally thought, but it’s going to take some technique to play this character well. He has a nice combination of combo moves and kill moves, but it’s hard to use them all in these early stages. Seems really light, it would make sense if he was. He’s really good.
Toon Link –a quick character with decent kill moves, and at least the option of projectiles, though they aren’t great.
Zamus – Is now showing the Sheik like capacity that many thought she’d have from the start. Has awesome combos, some nice edgeguarding tricks, and good kill moves. Tether recovery is the negative.
Pikachu – Still seems great, but playtime is limited. Those of us that have played him are in disagreement.
Mario – Cape no longer edgeguards. <_< Still seems very solid, but don’t know anyone who is playing him much. One of the closest to his Melee counterpart.
Luigi – Nice priority and power on everything. King Joshu really likes him. Up-B is still too good, and Down-B has been vastly improved for recovery.
Lucario – (Pre-tournament) I love the idea that his power increases as damage increases, could make for a great power/combo duality. Playing against him (CPU/human both) is very difficult. (Post-tournament) Ok, he’s going to be one of the most stressful characters to play as. You will rarely be able to get a huge lead, and even if you do the mechanics of damage are going to give the other players chances to get back in it. If you get behind by a stock, you are in serious trouble. Still, someone will make him a good character.
Diddy Kong – I hate monkeys. Bananas are really good. Don’t know anything else, but everyone else says he’s awesome.
Lucas – Moves have great power and range. I really like him as a backup character.
Bowser – Suicide plunge too good, but not even close to broken. Even the potential to trade a 150% stock for a 0% stock is nice. It also can’t be blocked and does 19% damage. Everything else seems decent, and up-B out of shield still makes for an awesome defensive move. He’s still getting abused by some characters.
Zelda – Still love what they’ve done with her. Many of her tilts kill as well. Recovery is still bad, but she is a great character overall. Showing some of the same problems that plagued her in the last game, but she is still significantly better.
Wolf – His running speed is so slow, but his moveset is pretty decent. He has a lot of priority sometimes.
Sheik – nothing new to add, still not convinced that she’s as good as Zelda
Kirby – Completely improved from the old game yet can be played largely the same, it seems like this is a character with great potential for all those Kirby SSBM masters.
Falco – Lasers are still super annoying, even if fired from the ground. Upsmash now kills better, as well as fsmash. Finally starting to get the hang of him in a decent way.
Dedede – Meh…still can’t decide if he’s that great outside of his chain grab, and now some people say they can get out of it. I’m not convinced yet that he is great. Update: We’ve tried everything that people say to get out of the chain grab. It doesn’t work. Now some characters can’t be chain grabbed, Jigglypuff in particular falls on the ground.
Metaknight – Haven’t played him since, still don’t see him killing well, has very limited kill moves. His insane priority may make him an extremely strong counter in certain situations
Pit – Still has awesome combos and priority. Even with my enhanced understanding of game mechanics, I’m having extreme difficulties killing, along with another friend who mains him. Combined with the relatively low damage that his moves seem to do, this may be a huge problem that will force Pit down the tier list. I know I’m in disagreement with a lot of people, so he’s one to watch.
Wario – He destroys pikmin when I try to throw them at him. That’s all I know. Everyone seems to think he’s ok, but I think that Wario is almost universally hated as a character so no one wants to play as him.
Peach – Very low landing lag regardless of the loss of float cancel. May allow her to do more in the air than other characters. Really like the new uptilt. Zombies don’t kill nearly as fast. dsmash does soooo much less damage (about 6% per hit), keeps them on top of you, has low range, and still has lag afterwards. fair and nair still seem extremely nerfed to me, thus causing her to have killing problems, but I’m not a Peach player so I could be wrong.
Snake – Could be the Ganon of this game, slow but has some very strong moves. The ranged attacks help him significantly. Jab combo is fast and kills, which is truly awesome. Mines are too fun, but they keep backfiring on me.
Aerial moves are incredible.
Jigglypuff – All of her moves have good priority, and now fair kills pretty well. I’m still not sure she’ll ever be a tournament winner this time around.
Ganondorf – I really don’t like him. I may still just be playing him like I do in Melee, but I feel like he spends so much time in cooldown whether on ground moves or landing lag. As we find ways to do moves to reduce landing lag, he may get better. (post-tournament) Seen some better things now…hm.
Ike – Man, his value will be purely determined on how fast the game gets in advanced play. Yes they kill nice, but his moves come out realllllllly slow. He has a couple decent, quick (relative to himself) moves, which still kill at times(!) but I’m not sure he can win with bairs, nairs, and ftilts alone. Up-B could actually be a decent anti-air move. I still think he will end up in the ability range that Roy is in now.
R.O.B. – Good character overall, trades speed for power and range, almost everything is disjointed. Not completely sure if he’ll make it this high as the list develops
Ice Climbers – now that desync is possible, I’m seeing way more potential for them. Still seems like a lot of kill moves have been nerfed too hard for them to be as good as they were in Melee. Fair is an awesomely powerful spike
Link – Many of his kill moves seem overly difficult to hit with. His Up-B out of shield has been nerfed so bad, it is no longer anything that will kill. His boomerang seems nearly useless, though I’m not sure if the gust can be used for anything yet. His air moves are very easy for the CPU to dodge, and then they really punish my lag. I don’t know, I’m really down on him from my first play. His jumps are surprisingly short.
Sonic – I’ve seen him played better than I’m playing him (especially by the CPU), but I still can’t find a way to consistently kill. Bugs me to death, I really wanted to play as him. Jeff plays him about as well as I’ve seen, and we still agree he just seems like a weak character.
Captain Falcon – no idea. Some people say uair redeems him as a character. I still can’t play him well, and pretty much everyone in my group is in agreement.
Samus – Even the computer isn’t good with her. I just can’t figure out what she’s supposed to do aside from switch to Zero Suit Samus.
Ness – Just didn’t gain anything from the transition to Brawl and lost a lot with the removal of double jump cancel. EDIT: Apparently I was wrong, and everyone is telling me so.
Yoshi – We don't like him.
No idea what to think yet
Donkey Kong – I hate monkeys
Brawl Tier, New Thoughts
Marth – I still feel that he is the best character in the game. When you split up his moves and don’t use them repeatedly you get such good knockback, and his range is really great. Damage is good, recovery is good…he’s just good.
Fox – No reason to drop him, but haven’t played him since last evaluation. Saw enough from Jeff playing him to think that he’ll be top again.
Game and Watch – fsmash may be the best move in the game, quick and I’d be hard-pressed to name a better launch move outside of Zelda toe, Dedede fsmash, and Ike fsmash. Neutral B rocks. Everything else is great too, he’s just good.
Pikmin/Olimar –Even the moves that use his body are generally high priority and with Pikmin they are ridiculous, he is hard enough to hit being small, and the pikmin are one of the best projectiles, cover multiple attack angles, can’t be blocked, and are fast to pluck. His weaknesses include a serious weakness to edgehogging. All tether recoveries in the game are horrible, as hitting someone with your Up-B during an edgehog still won’t get you the edge.
Pokemon Trainer – Because it literally forces you to use all three for parts of the match, the necessity of learning three characters makes for a high learning curve. It’ll be awhile until we really get a good grasp on these characters. I’m still trying to learn more about how stamina works.
Charizard – I like his moveset. There is a lot of diversity here, and while he is slow I think he will be able to still be played quickly. I’m not fully convinced that we won’t see a lot of PT players bypassing him entirely.
Ivysaur – Still like him but I can’t do anything against a CPU with him. We’ll see this weekend if I can play him better. (now) yes, he’s good. He’s probably my favorite, though I now think Squirtle may be better.
Squirtle – Better than I originally thought, but it’s going to take some technique to play this character well. He has a nice combination of combo moves and kill moves, but it’s hard to use them all in these early stages. Seems really light, it would make sense if he was. He’s really good.
Toon Link –a quick character with decent kill moves, and at least the option of projectiles, though they aren’t great.
Zamus – Is now showing the Sheik like capacity that many thought she’d have from the start. Has awesome combos, some nice edgeguarding tricks, and good kill moves. Tether recovery is the negative.
Pikachu – Still seems great, but playtime is limited. Those of us that have played him are in disagreement.
Mario – Cape no longer edgeguards. <_< Still seems very solid, but don’t know anyone who is playing him much. One of the closest to his Melee counterpart.
Luigi – Nice priority and power on everything. King Joshu really likes him. Up-B is still too good, and Down-B has been vastly improved for recovery.
Lucario – (Pre-tournament) I love the idea that his power increases as damage increases, could make for a great power/combo duality. Playing against him (CPU/human both) is very difficult. (Post-tournament) Ok, he’s going to be one of the most stressful characters to play as. You will rarely be able to get a huge lead, and even if you do the mechanics of damage are going to give the other players chances to get back in it. If you get behind by a stock, you are in serious trouble. Still, someone will make him a good character.
Diddy Kong – I hate monkeys. Bananas are really good. Don’t know anything else, but everyone else says he’s awesome.
Lucas – Moves have great power and range. I really like him as a backup character.
Bowser – Suicide plunge too good, but not even close to broken. Even the potential to trade a 150% stock for a 0% stock is nice. It also can’t be blocked and does 19% damage. Everything else seems decent, and up-B out of shield still makes for an awesome defensive move. He’s still getting abused by some characters.
Zelda – Still love what they’ve done with her. Many of her tilts kill as well. Recovery is still bad, but she is a great character overall. Showing some of the same problems that plagued her in the last game, but she is still significantly better.
Wolf – His running speed is so slow, but his moveset is pretty decent. He has a lot of priority sometimes.
Sheik – nothing new to add, still not convinced that she’s as good as Zelda
Kirby – Completely improved from the old game yet can be played largely the same, it seems like this is a character with great potential for all those Kirby SSBM masters.
Falco – Lasers are still super annoying, even if fired from the ground. Upsmash now kills better, as well as fsmash. Finally starting to get the hang of him in a decent way.
Dedede – Meh…still can’t decide if he’s that great outside of his chain grab, and now some people say they can get out of it. I’m not convinced yet that he is great. Update: We’ve tried everything that people say to get out of the chain grab. It doesn’t work. Now some characters can’t be chain grabbed, Jigglypuff in particular falls on the ground.
Metaknight – Haven’t played him since, still don’t see him killing well, has very limited kill moves. His insane priority may make him an extremely strong counter in certain situations
Pit – Still has awesome combos and priority. Even with my enhanced understanding of game mechanics, I’m having extreme difficulties killing, along with another friend who mains him. Combined with the relatively low damage that his moves seem to do, this may be a huge problem that will force Pit down the tier list. I know I’m in disagreement with a lot of people, so he’s one to watch.
Wario – He destroys pikmin when I try to throw them at him. That’s all I know. Everyone seems to think he’s ok, but I think that Wario is almost universally hated as a character so no one wants to play as him.
Peach – Very low landing lag regardless of the loss of float cancel. May allow her to do more in the air than other characters. Really like the new uptilt. Zombies don’t kill nearly as fast. dsmash does soooo much less damage (about 6% per hit), keeps them on top of you, has low range, and still has lag afterwards. fair and nair still seem extremely nerfed to me, thus causing her to have killing problems, but I’m not a Peach player so I could be wrong.
Snake – Could be the Ganon of this game, slow but has some very strong moves. The ranged attacks help him significantly. Jab combo is fast and kills, which is truly awesome. Mines are too fun, but they keep backfiring on me.
Aerial moves are incredible. Jigglypuff – All of her moves have good priority, and now fair kills pretty well. I’m still not sure she’ll ever be a tournament winner this time around.
Ganondorf – I really don’t like him. I may still just be playing him like I do in Melee, but I feel like he spends so much time in cooldown whether on ground moves or landing lag. As we find ways to do moves to reduce landing lag, he may get better. (post-tournament) Seen some better things now…hm.
Ike – Man, his value will be purely determined on how fast the game gets in advanced play. Yes they kill nice, but his moves come out realllllllly slow. He has a couple decent, quick (relative to himself) moves, which still kill at times(!) but I’m not sure he can win with bairs, nairs, and ftilts alone. Up-B could actually be a decent anti-air move. I still think he will end up in the ability range that Roy is in now.
R.O.B. – Good character overall, trades speed for power and range, almost everything is disjointed. Not completely sure if he’ll make it this high as the list develops
Ice Climbers – now that desync is possible, I’m seeing way more potential for them. Still seems like a lot of kill moves have been nerfed too hard for them to be as good as they were in Melee. Fair is an awesomely powerful spike
Link – Many of his kill moves seem overly difficult to hit with. His Up-B out of shield has been nerfed so bad, it is no longer anything that will kill. His boomerang seems nearly useless, though I’m not sure if the gust can be used for anything yet. His air moves are very easy for the CPU to dodge, and then they really punish my lag. I don’t know, I’m really down on him from my first play. His jumps are surprisingly short.
Sonic – I’ve seen him played better than I’m playing him (especially by the CPU), but I still can’t find a way to consistently kill. Bugs me to death, I really wanted to play as him. Jeff plays him about as well as I’ve seen, and we still agree he just seems like a weak character.
Captain Falcon – no idea. Some people say uair redeems him as a character. I still can’t play him well, and pretty much everyone in my group is in agreement.
Samus – Even the computer isn’t good with her. I just can’t figure out what she’s supposed to do aside from switch to Zero Suit Samus.
Ness – Just didn’t gain anything from the transition to Brawl and lost a lot with the removal of double jump cancel. EDIT: Apparently I was wrong, and everyone is telling me so.
Yoshi – We don't like him.
No idea what to think yet
Donkey Kong – I hate monkeys
