Play style is the most important thing.

[DR()BC]

So recently I've stared to dig deep into the competive side of smash and I've learned a few things about our current top tiers.
I believe that what makes a top tier are what play style is largely adopted by the people using that charcter. But what defines that charcter is largely based upon movement, Sheik is naturally a speedy rush down charcter and Rosalina isn't fast but she has great frame data and I variety of useful tools to combat that. Meaning that Sheik and Rosa in my opinion are equals, both with their own strengths.
What I want to figure out is what play styles other characters can use to futher develop them. I've started working with different charcters with the same mind set and I've had great results. Like " What If i try playing Pac-Man like Sheik?" It's really interesting and I want to see more results.
What I've found out is that charcters are picked on how well they fit your play style and that works. But some characters may require more effort with little to no pay off or... You might start drooling on the floor like I did...
My personal experience ( that sheik pac-man; agro-pac) is now my main, it's really satisfying combining his DownB and changing aerials to rack up damage.
Anyways thank you and try and play charcters differently, you may just change the meta
Leave suggestions or just try out your mains in a different mindset.
Stay Fresh!

 

[Guillaume1987]

I agree that playstyle/mindset is an important part of the success of a character. However, I feel like the playstyle is only a part of a triad of concept that make a player great. Mastery of the fundamentals is important and the choice of the character certainly bends the way you play.

I think the triforce of goodness goes as follow:
Playstyle/mindset
Mastery of fundamentals and specifics
The engine you are working with (the character)

You explained Pretty well how mindsets influence the use of a character.
Let me make an analogy with driving as I think it can help grasping the concepts discussed here.

The Mindset is the général attitude you have when driving your car. Do you think you are a tank stomping everyone on the road? Think you are the King around and people will make room for you? More willing to take things slowly, no need to rush and risk an accident? Or other cars are competitors on a race track?

See, the mindset will dictate the pace of your character. The mindset is the general approach you are using when piloting your character. Although some characters seem to have specific mindsets written all over them, note that mindsets are independant from characters. Mindset is an attribute of the player, not the character being played. Acknowledging this fact is, as you mentionned in your post, an important step to developping New gameplay for a specific character.

Mastery of the fundamentals is Essentially how experienced you are with the game mechanics and specifics is how well you know of a character inside and out. Having an agressive mindset while playing Sheik isn't going to give you a win every game if you have no knowledge of how the game works or how Sheik is used. Just like driving: to be sucessful, you must know the rules, and to be a better driver in your own car, knowing how you car handles will go a long way. It's like Mastering how to do perfect pivoting or short hops will benefit you no matter what character you play, but mastering your character's unique dthrow to upair will...oh wait...
Mastery of the fundamentals will allow you to pilot any character, and Mastery of à specific one will, well you know, makes you better at that character. Mastery of fundamentals and specifics are, like the mindset, an attribute of the player.

Finally, to complete the triforce of goodness, there is the engine you are working with. See, regardless of what you are driving, be it a Prius or a Ferrari, you can race and be agressive on the road, but one will always be more effective than the other because of the attributes of the engine you are driving.
Characters in Smash all have different attributes, maKing some more naturally effective at playing a certain mindsets than others. Wanna play campy? May I suggest Toon Link rather than Little Mac?
Much like going offroad with a F1 or driving à Hummer in an old town, some characters won't fit right with some mindset, but you can still do it. Just know that you May not be playing à character to its full strenghts.

But regardless of the engine you are piloting, knowing your fundamentals and your specifics will allow you to use every character in every scenario, and the limiting factor will be the engine you chose to pilot.

Here you go, the 3 concepts that contribute to make a player good. Yet, since you are not the only one with varying scores on each of these concepts, there is a whole other level of the game we haven't mentionned yet...
Stay Fresh.

 

[Raijinken]

Play style can also screw you over. Try playing Marth like he was played in any past game, and he's pretty terrible. Try playing Roy like former Marth with slightly different spacing, and he's pretty solid.

It's important to try to play to the character's strengths.

 

[Pazx]

If you think Sheik is best played as an aggro character I think you are mistaken.

 

[DR()BC]

If you think Sheik is best played as an aggro character I think you are mistaken.

When I mean "agro" I mean sheik or any charcter that can be played aggressively
I think you may agree, she is quite honestly one of the easiest characters to go deep with. But she also rewards a "campy" play style which makes her a top tier

Play style can also screw you over. Try playing Marth like he was played in any past game, and he's pretty terrible. Try playing Roy like former Marth with slightly different spacing, and he's pretty solid.

It's important to try to play to the character's strengths.

I agree but trying to force a charcter to play like they did in previous games isn't going to work regardless
I main Falco in Melee but in brawl I tried playing him and that didn't go well, same with smash 4
In marths case I still believe he's a fantastic charcter (hopefully everyone will see at evo) he just requires a bit more spaceing and effort in comparison to Roy who has a high pay off for little to no effort.

 

[Raijinken]

I agree but trying to force a charcter to play like they did in previous games isn't going to work regardless
I main Falco in Melee but in brawl I tried playing him and that didn't go well, same with smash 4
In marths case I still believe he's a fantastic charcter (hopefully everyone will see at evo) he just requires a bit more spaceing and effort in comparison to Roy who has a high pay off for little to no effort.

Marth's also floaty as mess and has a ton of endlag on his moves. I agree that trying to force a character to play like they did before won't work (unless it's someone like Mario who has an essentially identical playstyle).

I want to believe in Marth, but he just doesn't feel like he has anything he needs to be solid in Smash4. Shield Breaker is one of his best tools, but it's pretty easy for even a mid-skill player to perfect shield it, in which case it loses its effectiveness. He's too floaty with not enough hitstun to really have an aerial chasing strategy like in previous games, and his approach is mediocre at best. He's got excellent kill power on a tipper, but he doesn't really have the tools to convert a setup into a kill. His recovery is particularly mediocre compared to much of the cast, etc etc. I still use him, but nothing really seems to pay off as well as it should compared to what a lot of other "better" characters get.

As for Falco, he really does prefer the air now. His air game is amazing, and at least his ground game isn't bad. His laser spam is gone, for sure, but honestly, I prefer this form of him over the past versions. Then again, I found it easy to swap playstyles for him. I can't seem to do so for Marth.

 

[Gibbs]

Character styles in smash 4 are defined more by the character limitations. It's really hard to assign a single style to Pika or Shiek, they both have amazing rush down and combo game, and they can both projectile camp and control space better than most of the characters that were designed to do that primarily. Top tiers aren't defined by styles because they can do everything in the game well.

 

[Wintropy]

I think it's an interesting notion, though I wonder just how effective it is in practice.

Playing either of my mains (Pit and Palutena) in an aggro rushdown style, for example, would be...messy. Neither are equipped to fight in that style. They just don't have the tools for it. I could try, no doubt, though I wonder if it would be a useful exercise or just obstinate stubbornness.

 

[I speak Spanish too]

How a character should be played is ultimately defined by it's tool set, and they can use it to maximize their viability; to win. Brawl Ice Climbers win condition was getting the grab, so their whole neutral game was centered around using various techniques and approaches to accomplish the said goal.

I think play style varies from player to player due to the fact that everybody plays the game differently. However, some play styles don't fit some characters due to the fact that their tools are not suited for that style of play.

Since an educated player knows X character's strengths and weaknesses, utilizing mix-ups and adapting to how they play against you is one of, if not the most important part of the game.