After some experience with the patch, my opinions have changed. A lot of people, including myself, saw this patch to change major mechanics of the game, when it's only changed minor things, and voted based on assumptions rather than experience. Now that a lot of us are more experienced with the patch, we can vote for placements more accurately.

+1 Pikachu in my opinion is the best character in the game now. The new shield mechanics are enough to make Quick Attack unpunishable unless you're a god and can power shield all hits. Pikachu now has better approach with fair, dair, and spaced f-smash. Luigi is no longer a threat to Pikachu due to his nerfs. Sheik, the only competitor for best in the game, now has a harder time because Sheik can't punish some of Pikachu's approaches, such as Quick Attack, and her needles have less shieldstun, due to the change in shield mechanics. It's a good day for Pikachu mains.

+1 Way too low for Game & Watch. Great disjointed normals that can apply pressure, almost lagless dash attack that is a great zone breaker, great punish game with combos at nearly all percents, fast smash attacks with little cooldown and great knockback, super armor on up smash, good disjointed jab that can apply pressure up close and force options from the opponent, great ledge guard game with fair, bair, and up special, projectile absorber with bucket which unleashes a projectile with a huge hitbox that can instakill, 9 judge hammer hax that can turn the tides of a battle instantly, etc. Game & Watch only struggles against strong camp game from campy characters such as Villager and Link. With the new shield mechanics, Game & Watch can apply pressure without worrying about being punished for a spaced fair, etc. Game & Watch needs more representation.

-1 Bowser is the worst character in the game, in my opinion, and the only people who lose to Bowser are those who either don't know the matchup, or make really stupid mistakes. Bowser has an abysmal neutral that makes characters like Donkey Kong laugh at him. Bowser can be punished for doing almost any move, including tilt attacks, which makes it nearly impossible for Bowser to apply any sort of pressure on the opponent. Bowser's only option against pressure is up special on the ground, which is punishable on sheild; it's easy to bait Bowser into an up special. Bowser's neutral special is really easy to DI out of, and can be punished if the opponent shields the neutral special. Bowser's only redeeming values are whiffing a forward smash or an up smash, getting the side special, or breaking the opponents shield with a down special. All of the options mentioned are easy to spot and dodge, and if you can dodge all of them, Bowser will never win. So why is Bowser not in bottom tier?