Ah hell why not, I've always wanted to do a tier list just for fun and this seems like a good time to take a shot at it, eh? I'll be basing my tier off data here on the Boards as well as what I've seen going on in local tournaments and tournaments aquaintences have run at some cons. Feel free to tear it apart. Come on it will be fun, you know you want to!
God Tier
Snake- Well, duh. Snake's biggest weakness seems to be, he doesn't adapt well to some stages, which is a pretty ull point as most tournament stages are perfect for him. Allowing to him to effective shut off platforms with mines and C4, and Snake Slide for great position and approach at ease. His recovery can get gimped by the stage itself (especially on FD, and in some tournaments around here, has actually cost him victory) but that doesn't seem to matter as it also has some of the most insane Super Armor in the game as well.
Metaknight- Excellent priority and approach. His Downsmash comes out instantly, and hits both sides allowing him to easily pick up kills after racking up damage with his great speed and multiple hitting moves. I don't see his popularity waning anytime soon, though in my local scene he isn't very popular. Those who do use him, tend to do very well.
High Tier
Mr. Game & Watch- Oh how far you have come. **** Yeah. One of my Melee mains returns and in a big way. I'm very happy to see him so vastly improved in just about every department (You may have noticed lvl 9 Hammer even comes up an almost ludicrously common amount now but maybe that's just me). The only thing he seems to have lost is the ability to pick off easy kills with Dtilt. Oh well. Having a favorable machup with almost every character in the game now doesnt hurt and zero lag touchdown on his Dair combos allows for great follow ups
R.O.B.- My Brawl main since it came out, I was generally surprised to find he didn't suck. Even more surprised when other people -agreed- with me for once. Even when not charged ROBlaser is great for poking and just generally stopping moves with nice priority. his Air moves are powerful with disjointed hit boxes, a trait he shares with Game and watch but his Dair has far too much windup lag. On the other hand, the ability to create your own temporary item can come in handy as well. I expect to see much more of ROB in tournament play, especially as a counterpick to Snake, which may necessatite his use even more with Snake's popularity.
Marth- As a youtube video put it: Yep. Still gay. Tipping seems to be easier than ever now and exceedingly more brutal to your opposition. Fun Fact: DIing back out of Pit's Forward B puts Pit in exact tipping range for FSmash. Catching opponents under the stage ledge with dolphin slash is proving quite effective for lower damage KOs as well. Throw in the fact he has favorable matchups with the rest of his tier for the most part and makes a great counter pick to Meta-knight and you have a great character. His real weakness lies in a vulnerability to projectile spam.
Falco-I really wanted to bump him as he has won most of the tournaments in my city., but the data just doesn't agree. He will probably never be as popular as the above two mentioned fighters though and does seem to be having some trouble performing nationwide. Still I'm leaving him in high tier for having a great projectile, and the ability to shut off most ground aproaches with his Shine.
King Dedede- Chain grab is amazingly good against quite a few characters, with infinites on a few as well. Even luigi gets infinite grabbed despite his slide. Poor guy. Downside? So freaking huge. Dedede wouls see a lot more play if he could get around the stage anymore. Instead, he'll be rounding out the bottom of the high tier. But Swallow is always great for suicide and Waddle Dee's actually gimp some character's recoveries (especially the ever Popular Ike's Side B) And Even make for a nice projectile shield since he can't duck. He's very vulenerable to short hop approaches from fast characters, falling back on powershielding into grabs to protect himself.
Mid-tier
Wario- It's crowded in mid-tier. Where to start? Wario's bike is very nice. In Doubles play it makes for a great way to break up a gang **** on your buddy and a well-timed wheeling can protect him from moves that would otherwise knock him off. Bite has great priority and damage, forcing characters to rethink a frontal assault. Up B can be very powerful when landed correctly and Uair is just fantastic. Downside, his Smash moves are pretty terrible for rang, and DSmash is lagtastic, putting him just barely down a tier on my list.
Olimar- I'll probably be chided for having him not in High tier, but my reasoning is as follows: When you can be consistently gimped by every character in the game at under 50% damage you probably arent high tier. Olimar needs to have a purple pikmin ready just in case to save his recovery. All of his strengths are very obvious, he just has one major glaring weakness that can't be overlooked. I think his poor performance in tournaments so far reflects this.
Pikachu- Ah spammy goodness. He may not be the most interesting character to fight when ninety percent of the match consists of four moves, but boy are those moves very effective (-super- effective?). It's a good thing his hard to control final smash doesn't factor into this at all. He has a decent enough projectile, Thunder is beefed up very nicely with most of the horrid lag from it removed and DSmash is his new best friend. Sweet spotting his recovery is no problem whatsoever and it's great maneuverabilitiy allows him to GTFO of the way before someone meteors him down to his death.
Pit- Mirror Shield is great for gimping Lucas as well as a few others like Squirtle, but most satisfying with Lucas. Oh so satisfying. Arrows are annoying though low damage and the Rings comes out fast while still reflecting projectiles, the lag after using the move can be a problem though. Air moves are excellent. His recovery is good, as he is rarely forced to use the gimpable Wings of Icarus to live if knocked out to sides. He shares alot of the same qualities as Meta-knight but with the problem of not having as reliable of a KO move, or as much speed.
Toon Link- Camp-o-matic 5000. He and Pit love to sit back and just spam away and Toon Link has three options to choose from. His Bombs are just light years better than Link's with increased range and help to clear the edge when coming back from the stage. He also sports a handy recovery glitch if you wish to put it to use without your opponent smacking you in the head for being an ***. His Dair stops momentum and really deals the hurt with a little bit of push to the sides to give him breathing space. He wishes his grabs were's quite so bad and his recovery went farther, but he certainly outpaces Young Link from Melee and this version's Link. FSmash is ouch.
Lucas- First off, with the ability to absorb some projectile, heal himself, and deal damage with the same move, you have to give it to Lucas for captain of multi-tasking. FSmash is strong and reflects, which is handy, and PK Thunder loves to gimp some Pit players whenever it can. His projectile spam is pretty good but a miscalculation in PK Thunder is devastating. He at least can't be gimped in the same way Ness can and USmash when it hits is brutal.
Kirby- Kirby is back with a vengeance from his old incarnation. Love his new improvements, but he's just not performing as well as I expected him to at this point in time. His poor reach is probably the cause of this. At least he can steal useful Nuetral Specials for his own. HIs approaches are fairly nice as well. A very balanced character is Kirby.
Peach- Peach loves it when she draws out a beam sword. Item creation is pretty handy at times, but can backfire on her. Her nerfed recovery hurts Peach as well, but her amazing air moves and the ability to basically use them while on the ground, keep her from being terrible by far. Her turnips add unpredictability and the rare last minute saving grace.
Zelda- Din's Fire is just amazing now. It's increased blast radius took it from gimmicky to good. The ability to juggle and chase character without physically moving is great. She has a decent shield, but it doesn't last as long as it used to, nor does it have the same knockback and priority it did in melee as a distancing attack. The Fair/Bair kick seems to have been slightly nerfed as well and Dair isn't seeing as much use as I thought it might. She seems to be very campy, but can be overwhelmed easily in close quarters at times.
Wolf- Is Fox being cloned, or is Fox the clone himself when both his other incarnations are better than him? Wolf comes with a great projectil that works wonders for extra damage at close range, and an interesting assortment of multi-hit move. His Dtilt can trip a foe up and USmash and FSmash are excellent hill moves. DSmash sweeps both sides. He seems to have it all wrapped up, but his recovery needs some help. Trying to sweetspot with Wolf Flash can be difficult and just fail sometimes. Being the fastest faller is not a plus either. Still, he continues to do well in tournaments and remains very popular, probably because he's just so cool. What's the matter, scared?
Ike- Anyone else tired of this guy yet? I can only blame his popularity on a few factors: Everyone likes big swords. Everyone likes bandanas and spikey hair. He's infinitely less gay looking than Roy. And Super Armor is awesome. Actually that appears to be the major extent of alot of Ike's strategy, to abuse his super armor. His strengths come in his nice approach with Bair as well as the armor and the ability to kill even Dedede at very low percentages. However, he has terrible recovery and is easily grabbed during the lag for most of his smashes.
Lucario- I've got him pretty low on this list I know, even though he's very popular in tournaments and has been performing well. However, I just see his lack in speed being a major determining facotr in his long term success. Extreme Speed, is neither very extreme, nor speedy for recovery. His Aura powers allow him to shine in longer matches, making him wish he could camp back and only absorb poke damage twer it not for the time limits. I ximply expect to see less of Lucario in the future, but still find him to be fairly powerful with good priority.
Zero Suit Samus- She does spawn with a nice advatage of a few projectile to throw. But letting the opponent gain control of those armor pieces can be a real problem. He recovery gets gimped and tryingto use DownB to jump can cause her to innitiate a wall jump off the edge of the stage limp to her death sometimes. Still, she has great air moves and plenty of nice combos. He main problem is lack of KOing power, leaving her at a disadvantage in longer fights considering she is pretty light.
Diddy Kong- Dance little Monkey Dance! Diddy can be a powerful opponent once he gets going, chaining bananas into some serious hurting. Break his chain up however and he tends to have trouble getting started immediately back up which leaves him in real trouble uder continue pressure. His recovery is pretty god awful, needing to be charge and capable of being gimped if he is tossed back off the stage after losing his rockets. His projectile has a bad arc and a chance of healing the opponent. For such a small and fast character though he has great KO power.
Low Tier
Luigi- Luigi has some serious improvements in his recovery and needs to take full advantage of that. He can still be edgeguarded almost too easily though. His prjectile has a poor range and speed, but Luigi Tornado has been buffed incredibly, making it a great approach. His air moves still pack that insane punch as well. And stop trying to spam the UpB you noobs for that perfect KO. You probably could have killed them a thousand times over by then with something else.
Ice Climbers- Ice Climbers can reflect projectiles now. Yay. Uptilt isnt quite as great as it used to be and Nana's lag in shielding and dodging leaves her on the recieving end of many a buttrape. Grabs are still excellent, and the fact Nana can't edge guard you like a ***** is a great improvement as well. Ice Climbers probably won't be seeing much play in tournaments in the future though. Dair is rather slow and lack luster as well, though they can sweet spot the edge and recover from just about any distance away on any stage.
Sonic- Most hyped character but probably one of the least impressive. Reallies on alot of mind games to be fully effective in switching up his specials.His approach is good but very predictable as it gets spammed constantly. Throws are pretty good as well and air attacks are excellent. The spring can gimp some character's recoveries hilariously. Biiiig lag though in his attacks really hurts him. Trying to actually nail those KO moves can be a real problem. His recovery is good but wholly predictable as well and occasionally he SDs off of Dair.
Shiek- Shiek still has her uses but her days of ruling the crop are over. Improvements to only a few moves, with nerfs to almost everything else, really hurt her beyond repair. She desperately wants her KO power back. Still, she has a great speed and manueverability and punishes mistakes hard. Tether recovery is mostly gimmicky, but kind of fun to watch I guess. Improved blast radius on her Vanish helps out her kill moves, but unlike Zelda she doesn't damage on reappearing. Requires some precise timing, but usable.
Mario- The Capse just isn't as good as it was, and FLUDD is a poor replacement for the Tornado. It can lead to funny gimps on some characters with a mostly straight up recovery, notably Snake and Ike and Kirby who can be killed by it while on the ground if using his UpB. Mario has some good air moves, nice priority a balanced speed, and is all around easy to handle. He makes a good character for beginners of course, but in the long run can't keep up in competitive play like others. Hes just -too- balanced.
Donkey Kong- Added because somebody actually noticed he was missing, ****. Um, let's see, Donkey's got him some nice reach Super Armor on his punch now but only when fully charged. Has an overabundance of meteor smashes that all have the same problem of being very slow except his Dair which has an awkward range to it. His Kong Copter or whatever they call it, has him pratfalling now if he lands from too high, leaving extra lag time an already terrible move. On the up side, DK can KO like a beast and his excellent reach allows him to pul off some nice surprise kills.
Ness- Oh look, it's Lucas' older, not quite as good as him in almost anything, cousin Ness. Ness likes to attack with his high power and priority air moves, using his floaty nature to his advantage. His Shield "pushes" opponents a laughably short distance away making the feature pretty much useless for preventing much nor does it heal as much as Lucas' shield. His FSmash is much slower to land, and USmash and Dsmash lack the power, of Lucas' but rather need sweetspotting. Ness's worst problem is being gimp by anyone who jumps off the sage and leaps in front of PK Thunder before it can it himself, watching him then laughably fall to his doom.
Pokemon Trainer- You can't main three characters unfortunately. In my opinion Pokemon Trainer needs to work on balancing his team out a little more. The recovery on all three pokemon is rather awkward with Charizard getting very little lift ith his multiple jump and Fly not taking him all that high. He needs to use Gliding to return. He also has odd hit boxes and Rock Smash while powerful can be very difficult to hit on anyone not as big as Bowser. Squirle is fast, but has little else going for him inthe way of KO'ing power and Withdraw can be reverse by many strong attacks, sending him to his doom sometimes. Ivysaur seems to actually be the best of the three with a good projectile, a Fence of Pain and excellent FSmash as well as good air moves. However Tether recovery is his bain and the fatigue system wears on all three.
Samus- She got nerfed...so very bad...Missile aren't as good as they used to be and neither is the Charge beam. Samus has increased combo potential though and the ability to camp decently if she needs to. She just wishes she had more KOing strength. The tether deals damage in the air though which is nice and chaining the missiles together is a bit simpler than it was before. Still, I don't expect her to improve much in the tournament scene at all.
Bowser- Good tilts, with lots of improvements. Bowserside is fun, too bad the claw doesn't reach as far forward or even work the same as it used to but it's still an improvement in its own ways. Bowser's real main problem just lies in being a fat ******* who can't get the hell out of the way. He's seeing way more use now than before and I expect he may actually become much more popular. Shielding into Fortress or Bowser Bomb work wonders. He doesn't like being chain grabbed so easily though, nor being ***** by projectiles.
Captain Falcon- Ouch. Falcon Punch is improved, but everything else took a severe hit it seems. The knee o doom ust doesn't pack the same punch it used to, appearig to have a much smaller sweet spot on the move than previously. his power priority on his other specials and terrible recovery just don't help things at all. He still has decent smash attacks and his short hop approaching is rather good.
Bottom Tier
Link- Predictable as all hell, with inferior projectiles to Toom Link. Boomerang only hits one way and pulling the opponents towards him can lead to him eating a powerful smash attack in the process. His bombs have good power but poor range and the arrows now travel in an odd arc not allowing him to drop them off the edge of platforms on stages like battlefield anymore. Poor guy just doesn't deserve to be this way in my oppinion, but at least he got a few cool new costumes.
Yoshi- A good Yoshi player can really control the stage with the egg toss which is beefed up greatly especially for his recovery. However, the lag time during the egg throws leaves him vulnerable during any tiny miscalculaton during the throw and YOshi bomb doesn't pack the same punch it used to. His somewhat awkward smash attacks seem to be easily dodged or powershielded as well. The Egg Roll is completely shut down by some moves, or at least clashes for no Damage with a million others, not to mention the SD capabilities of it.
Ganondorf- You are old and slow and you should have brought your sword. He saw no real improvements this generation other than the ability to suivide which at least looks really freaking awesome. He did gain one combo as well, and the incredibly terrible UTilt is now and incredibly terrible Utilt that slightly pulls the opponent toward you if they are kind enough to stand still and not hit you.
Jigglypuff- The fact they nerfed Rest stuns me. It really does. The poisoning just isn't as cool as getting straight up KOs all the time. Sing is still pretty bad and only useful against the edge when used just right and only against idiots who don't jump to take advanateg of the no sleeping inthe air clause. Jiggly's air attacks are still great and it still has a master's stalling game under the stage with its multiple jumps and rising pound. However it has terrible range, extra attack lag on most smashes and is extremely light.
just telling it like it is.
