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The Wild Ride: Smash 64 Tiers Analysis


Once upon a time, a game with no balance patches, and yet an unstable tier list. That time was 17 years ago, and that game is Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 (from now on “Smash 64”).

Although this game didn’t have any balance patches, there were changes made between the Japanese version and the American and European versions, like Smash DI distance, language settings, character stats, damage percents, and mobility, among others.

The lack of patches made for a more stable metagame, and yet the tier lists changed radically between each other. We are here to review the ups and downs in Smash 64 between tier lists.

Let’s start from the top, the commonly unchanged characters: the top tiers.

Pikachu
The undisputed number one character, Pikachu has never been outside of the first spot. He has good recovery and tools along with amazing mobility and offstage game. Maybe it is hismobility-orientedstats or his amazing combo and aerial game that keep him at the top of the tier list.

Kirby
Another undisputed top tier; he has only been surpassed by Fox once and since then has been a solid top tier. Despite having similar recovery ability to Pikachu, his is more predictable and vulnerable. Kirby is a bit more versatile than Pikachu because of his Inhale and Copy Ability, and his Inhale Kirbycide is far more effective in Smash 64 than in other installments because of his amazing fall speed while having someone inhaled and the relatively shallow lower blast zones Dream Land has (this stage being the only legal stage competitively). His rather slow mobility separates him fromPikachu, but he makes up for it with his amazing offstage game, combo potential, and kill potential.

Captain Falcon
Although he may not be the best in the air, Falcon excels on the ground, having the fastest dash speed, a rather easy dash-dance, amazing ability to tech chase, and combo power, and heranks third in the current tier list. His mediocre recovery, alongside his incredible fall speed, make him rather susceptible to offstage play. However, he is good at grounded edgeguarding, with his relatively good up tilt and one of the strongest down air spikes in the game. He also has a good aerial game, with his low-knockback forward throw as a good combo starter, which can be followed by practically any aerial and can even lead to zero-to-deaths, and his up smash, which can set up vertically for, you guessed it, practically any aerial.

His flux through the lists has been positive, only going upwards as other fell; his only drawbacks in comparison to the top two characters are his recovery ability and his lack of a projectile move.

Fox
Overall amazing onstage, but overly dependent on his good moves like up smash and up air, which are good finishers but normallyend up staled. His fast-falling nature makes him subject to long strings and combos by other characters with a combo-heavy game like Kirby. His weaknesses are overshadowed by his ground game, with amazing combo tools and easy stringing to his reliable finishers, thus landing him in the fourth spot in the tiers.

In the beginning he was in this spot, but after a short leap to the second spot and overcoming Kirby, he fell back down to his original position.

Yoshi
Yoshi has many tactical advantages, like his shieldstab-proof shield and his super armor during his second jump. However, his lack of a proper recovery special move makes his recovery very limited, which is also affected by the fact that performing a move while doublejumping cancels his momentum, something known as double jump cancel, a technique exclusive to Yoshi and Ness.

He was widely affected by the regional changes, ranking 10th in the Japanese version and 5th in the American version. Much like Falcon, Yoshi has risen from the 8th spot in the NTSC version toreachthe 5th spot he sports today.

Jigglypuff
Often referred to as the “joke character”, even by Sakurai himself, she has some cleardisadvantages, such as an extremely light body, no recovery special move, and a special property to her shield: if it breaks, Jigglypuff will be launched upwards, instantly killing her. However, she can make up for these disadvantages with a total of five midair jumps and a larger, stronger-than-usual shield, allowing for less shieldstab potential.

Jigglypuff started at the sixth place in the tiers and thenfell to 9th before returning to the 6th spot on last year’s tier list. Her rollercoaster ride through the tiers is due to her ever-growing popularity and tourney appearances, although not always taking an extremely high spot.

Mario
Although he is normally considered a well-balanced character, he is below the middle of the tier list because of a huge decline in his usage. He has an average recovery, good combo game, and goodedgeguarding, including his down special, which can spike on the last hit.

Mario’s trajectory in the tiers has been more parabolic, with a brief jump out of the seventh spot before returning back down. However,these changes significantly differed from start to finish. In the first tier list, Mario was in the “Middle” tier, two tiers above and two below the extremes; however, Mariois currently in the second-to-lasttier and placed last within this tier. In addition, his surroundings in the tiers have changed; although he was commonly placed immediately above Yoshi, the latter has risen while Mario has fallen.

Samus
With Samus, we start to see characters that have more trouble in the metagame. Samus relies mostly on reads or baits to connect herreally powerful moves like ChargeShot and needs even more good plays to rack up damage since she doesn’t have much combo potential. However, her grab has a lot of range, being a tether, and her up special move can rack up damage easily, although it can be countered by smash DI.

Samus’ tier trip has not been very positive; in fact, she has been the lowest character a couple of times, and second-lowest one time. However, she is currently ranked 8th, mostly because other characters have fallen even lower.

Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong has among the worst recovery abilities in the game. Keep in mind that the only legal stage is Dream Land, with very wide lateral blast zones, a rather high ceiling, and a somehow shallower lower blast zone, and DK’s ability to recover is mostly horizontal, making him very vulnerable to a successful edgeguard. However, he is a considerably heavy character with fearsome KO power but not much combo potential. DK is not normally seen in high-level play because he suffers a lot against higher characters, who have better recoveriesand edgeguarding potential.

DK’s recovery abilities are metaphorical to his tier placements, never being able to climb higher than the seventh spot and currently placing ninth.

Ness
Ness’s case is very notable because it is the most radical fall in the tier list in the game’s history, beginning as the third-best and currentlythe third-worst. He also possesses the ability to cancel his second jump with an attack, making him a force to be reckoned with onstage,along with amazing edgeguardingability, with his double jump cancel technique helping with positioning and spacing offstage.

He’s the only character with the ability to heal without items, and he has legendary throws and great coverage with his wide-ranging smashattacks. However, his biggest weakness is his recovery, which is widely predictable and exploitable, thus making him very vulnerable toedgeguarding.

Link
Link’s problems are very clear: unfavorable weight and falling speed, not many combos, and poor recovery, similar to DK’s.

He is very defensive, depending on his bombs and his boomerang, which is actually a very versatile projectile, with three different shooting angles and the ability to stop approaching enemiesand shieldstab. These attributes make him a very camping-dependent character who requires too much effort for an effective approach.

He has very poor edgeguarding ability because his recovery methods are not very effective, and he has poor combo potential. Theseproperties have kept him in a low position on the tier list, currently eleventh, the second-lowest character.

Luigi
His considerable inferiority to his brother has cost him his viability; this is why Luigi has always been low in the tiers.

His moves are considerably inferior to his brother’s. Most of his tilts deal less damage or don’t have combo potential. His up special, despite having a great first-frame sweetspot, has less power in the rest of the move, dealing only 1% damage and no knockback.

His mobility is his weakest aspect, with his floaty and light nature making him very vulnerable to high-knockbackmoves. His signature difference from his brother, his higher jump, diminishes his spacing and combo ability in the neutral game.

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Despite having a relatively small roster, it seems like the Smash 64 meta has been one of the most unstable, having amazing descents like Ness’ from third-best to third-worst or low rises like Captain Falcon’s.

So what do you think? Do you have an uncommon opinion about a character? How do you think the tier list should be? Let us know!

The next part in this series will be about Melee. Is there a special case that draws your attention? A high leap? A sharp fall? Please comment about it; it may get featured in the next article!
 
Mario "Diosdi" Osuna

Comments

The tier lists are not relevant in this game, there are certain characters with best overall matchups, but the counterpick matchups for certain characters are widely determined by the players and situation meaning mindgames.

Smash64 is competitive scene is heavily correlated with predictability in the game. Unlike the other smash games where certain characters are literally impossible for any serious competitive player to focus on, this game has all 12 available for competitive play.

When these tier lists are made, they are based on the community. There is no fundamentally better characters in this game aside from specifics competitive play mechanics such as recovery, edgeguard and combos. Certain characters like pikachu have high punishment game due to their large hitboxes, with a variety of long lasting hitboxes (dair) and fast ones (uair). There are a lot of reasons why pikachu is the top tier but other characters including ness have extreme statistics in areas of the game just like pikachu does overall, but all things considered yes Pikachu would at "top level" overall just like Kirby and Fox "top tier". The implication involved is pikachu can easily be punished just like kirby and fox. Jigglypuff can rest pikachu at 30% to death on dreamland under side platforms. At 25-45% she she can simply fthrow to uair pika, fox and falcon no di possible.

This game is a lot different from every other smash game. The tiers in this game do not accurately represent the abilities or capabilities of any single player. I've witness samus and dk players get insanely good just over 1 year. LD and wizzrobe helped make Fox and Yoshi higher tier simply by participating at decent level with those characters in major tournament. A reflection of how the community is based off anecdotal incapability instead of specific character abilities.

Before you judge any character, realize you may be better with the bottom tier than the rest and do better with that character simply because of how you play.

This isn't brawl.
 
I miss the old Link from N64 and Melee.
About Link, can he recover back to the stage by using bombs?
About Luigi, I know despite of all the cons he has, even with his chance of a up B critical hit, it wouldn't be higher right?
 
The tier lists are not relevant in this game, there are certain characters with best overall matchups, but the counterpick matchups for certain characters are widely determined by the players and situation meaning mindgames.

Smash64 is competitive scene is heavily correlated with predictability in the game. Unlike the other smash games where certain characters are literally impossible for any serious competitive player to focus on, this game has all 12 available for competitive play.

When these tier lists are made, they are based on the community. There is no fundamentally better characters in this game aside from specifics competitive play mechanics such as recovery, edgeguard and combos. Certain characters like pikachu have high punishment game due to their large hitboxes, with a variety of long lasting hitboxes (dair) and fast ones (uair). There are a lot of reasons why pikachu is the top tier but other characters including ness have extreme statistics in areas of the game just like pikachu does overall, but all things considered yes Pikachu would at "top level" overall just like Kirby and Fox "top tier". The implication involved is pikachu can easily be punished just like kirby and fox. Jigglypuff can rest pikachu at 30% to death on dreamland under side platforms. At 25-45% she she can simply fthrow to uair pika, fox and falcon no di possible.

This game is a lot different from every other smash game. The tiers in this game do not accurately represent the abilities or capabilities of any single player. I've witness samus and dk players get insanely good just over 1 year. LD and wizzrobe helped make Fox and Yoshi higher tier simply by participating at decent level with those characters in major tournament. A reflection of how the community is based off anecdotal incapability instead of specific character abilities.

Before you judge any character, realize you may be better with the bottom tier than the rest and do better with that character simply because of how you play.

This isn't brawl.
So you do understand the point of a tier list and a MU. MU's are made assuming that both players have the same skill level. That is why ALWAYS ditto MUs are 50-50; cuz the players are equally skillful. And tier lists ARE important. You cant say that Link is as viable as Pikachu, when Link is easily killed by a strong throw + one gimp.
 
I really like your articles, Diosdi, but in this article in particular, it felt like you missed a lot of spaces. Also, the opening sentence to the article seems a bit... weird.
 
So you do understand the point of a tier list and a MU. MU's are made assuming that both players have the same skill level. That is why ALWAYS ditto MUs are 50-50; cuz the players are equally skillful. And tier lists ARE important. You cant say that Link is as viable as Pikachu, when Link is easily killed by a strong throw + one gimp.
I'm not going to sit here and argue with people who don't play the game in the way I have. Pikachu can be thrown then gimped, just like any other character. There is no viable character over other characters, even the worst counter picks like Luigi on Jiggly are up in the air. Tier lists do not define smash64 as much as they do other smash games.

again, not going to argue this. This'll be my last post on this thread. The OP didn't even discuss this with the community, just went based off what he saw previously with no insight into the community.
 
I really like your articles, Diosdi, but in this article in particular, it felt like you missed a lot of spaces. Also, the opening sentence to the article seems a bit... weird.
it is not just this article, i noticed the lack of proofreading in multiple articles he has posted.
 
I might come across as a **** for saying this but what is honestly the intent of this nonfactual article other than starting more misinformed debates about 64's tier list and tier lists in general?

I love to see 64 make news but lets get the word out in a positive and accurate way please.
 
Link can't be such low tier, he has item strategy, i'm not saying he's better than Kirby or Pikachu but... he can be pretty usefull when know how to make use of him.
 
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