Why do you, personally, play a high-/top-tier?

[Level9Chao]

In Melee I first mained Kirby in 4th grade because hell, everyone did and he has 5 jumps you guys! Down B! Nobody ever saw it coming.

Then I moved to Roy because the meta of my friends and I was "roll dodge a lot and spam charged Fsmash." When we learned not to suck, I played spacies.

However, a year or two with Brawl and screwing around with Puff eventually led me to learn her the best in all 3 games. Her being high tier in Melee is a coincidence for me; I would play her anyway because her style is just simple and fun. That's why I main her in 64 and Brawl too, where she's far worse but the playstyle is close enough.


Also I'm bad and can't actually use spacies.

 

[Jasou]

I enjoy playing falco and fox because they are more exciting to play and have more options.

I also like that they take more skill to play then most other characters. (as in their techniques, they are definitely easier to win with) Their playstyle also reminds me of games I used to play that were my favorite of all time. I mean, i'm definitely not "technical" yet, but I still find them very fun to play.

However I do also enjoy playing some low tiers like Ness, Link, Roy and Bowser. I just don't expect to be using them in tournament settings.

 

[Lukingordex]

In Melee I first mained Kirby in 4th grade because hell, everyone did and he has 5 jumps you guys! Down B! Nobody ever saw it coming.

Then I moved to Roy because the meta of my friends and I was "roll dodge a lot and spam charged Fsmash." When we learned not to suck, I played spacies.

However, a year or two with Brawl and screwing around with Puff eventually led me to learn her the best in all 3 games. Her being high tier in Melee is a coincidence for me; I would play her anyway because her style is just simple and fun. That's why I main her in 64 and Brawl too, where she's far worse but the playstyle is close enough.


Also I'm bad and can't actually use spacies.

Actually,I think Jigglypuff is the char who I have more fun when I play brawl,she can become to bad on the tier list,but on the fun list,she is top.

 

[Maximillion]

I usually play the higher tiers (Fox, Falco, Falcon) and middle tiers (Dr. Mario, Samus) to practice skills for my main, Luigi, and usually when it's a bo3 set, to test how my opponent moves and their strategy.

 

[---]

It's all about the "feel" of certain characters for me. It's tough to explain, but sometimes you just know when a character's playstyle is right for you.

I often use Pika (a high tier) and Ike (low tier), so I play a mixed bag.

 

[rm88]

Particularly with Smash, I play with my characters from my favorite games. I have never learned a character in any fighting game because of tier positions, that's not how it works for me, I can't play at my best if I'm not having fun with the character I'm playing.

64- Luigi, Jiggs
Melee - Kirby, Dr. Mario, Jiggs
Brawl - Jiggs, Kirby, Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach

 

[Bing]

Why does Brawl keep getting brought into this?

 

[Wizzrobe]

Why does Brawl keep getting brought into this?

Because this is one of the featured threads on the smash news now.

under smash news it shows some links and one of them is top tier discussion. So everyone is joining in and not just Melee players.

 

[Jigglymaster]

I most definatly pick characters that I like, whether it's the character itself or how they play.

I play Jigglypuff in all 3 smashes regardless of where she is on the tier list.

I also play Diddy Kong because I have a hidden love for items and I know how to use them well.

This goes the same for other fighting games, like Marvel where I play as Rocket Raccon and Chris because I like the characters. The only instance where I play to win is when I use Wesker as my 3rd character, because he helps my team out so much more than most other characters could.

 

[EPsilon933]

Peach requires no (technical) skill (not even l canceling). I can make bad choices and get away with it (better than compared to other characters in the top 8 aside from Jigglypuff). Her punish game is like crouch cancel down smash. I can always have a shield pressure habit of float fair > jab > down smash and pretty much get away with it unscathed because it's so safe. She doesn't have comboes. She doesn't need them to be 3rd - 6th best material. All she is is space stuff

I tried to convert to Marth, Fox, and Sheik since they're better but Peach just won't let go of me

 

[Warhawk]

She doesn't have comboes.

Anyone who has played Armada begs to differ I bet lol

 

[Wake]

Peach requires all of those things, and she gets punished for bad decisions hard. Pretty much every character requires a lot of tech skill if you plan to beat (good) people. If you're getting away with bad decisions, that says more about your opponents than it says about Peach. That shield pressure is punishable. In fact we were just talking about that in the Peach discussion haha. Her punishment game is also much more than dsmash. Also, She has ridiculous combos. You don't really know what you're talking about/you're trolling.

 

[Deleted member]

This seems a little contradictory to me. You think Zelda is your best shot at victory, but you acknowledge that a player does not really need to out-think you in order to win. But, if you use Fox, Sheik or Marth, you can beat your opponent as long as you can out-think them. So why do you think Zelda is your best shot at winning?

Sorry if this seems confrontational. I'm just curious.

There's 2 parts to it. The players have to both pass Zelda's technical limitations, and more importantly, be willing to play that way. Better players tend to respect my character in some regards, which is a worse strategy against Zelda than "hey look at my buttons". As soon as the player actually plays the game with me, I can compete with that player, and I have no problem fighting "smart" foxes even though I acknowledge that they are much better overall than tech spammy foxes. But I'm fully aware that the opponent never really has to actually play me if they don't want to.

Secondly, I can play fox decently well myself, and I tend to trash stupid players with my high tiers. Generally, the better my opponent is, the better my Zelda is against them. I scale to my opponent I guess, to a limit of course.

The same goes for teams, I can pretty much match my teammate in terms of goodness no matter who they are. If I team with someone amazing, I also perform amazing. If I team with someone awful, I also play awful. I haven't yet figured out why, but my guess so far is that I can handle my own character fine but I can't carry in a teams match just because Zelda is horribly slow.

 

[Spyro]

I play Pikachu as my main but I secondary Fox to cover the Sheik matchup. Pikachu vs Sheik is such a bad matchup for Pikachu .-.

I also really like being technical.

EDIT: I've also been thinking about picking up Falco and Falcon as secondaries.

 

[Baskerville]

I usually play characters who are the most fun for me.
64: Falcon, Mario, Fox
Melee: Mewtwo, Falcon, Falco
Brawl: Nearly half the cast. =P

 

[EPsilon933]

You don't really know what you're talking about/you're trolling.

I am! I like to over-simply it to scrub level

 

[Grimmz]

I don't think a lot of people were honest about this because most of them DO play as high or top tiers to win; whatever it takes. Its obvious because of the character usage, tourney results, videos etc. But at least the ones who voted on the first poll were honest about it :I

I most definitely play as someone i like no matter what rank that character has. Even on different competitive fighting games like Street Fighter and ultimate Marvel vs capcom 3

 

[Muhti]

I like Luigi due to his aerial, his moves are great too. Ike has some powerful oves as well.

 

[Wizzrobe]

Since this isn't as much of strictly a Melee higher tier discussion anymore, I will put my 64 and Brawl high tier on here as well.

I main Yoshi in 64 because I love his model in that game and mario 64 so much. Plus, I love his moveset and his DJC stuff.

I main Marth in Brawl because he is a higher tier lol. But I mostly play him because I played him a lot in Melee and I enjoy playing him in Brawl as well.

 

[Grimmz]

I'm going to talk about my history. My first system was a nintendo 64 and the only games I had were superman, waverace and SSB64. I played SSB64 the most with my brother because it was the most entertaining but I didn't have a main character I just used random for fun. This happened a really long time ago. As time went by I got a gamecube and PS2(They were the next generation of gaming systems) I soon got melee and my main became fox. I then unlocked falco and then he became my new main, then one day I played as captain falcon for the hell of it and I loved his gameplay a lot. So then in the summer of 2008 I got brawl but didn't play the game competitive, that was around mid 2010 when I first saw Knee of The North Star(Rebaz's cv) and I got inspired by it. And finally that was another reason why I chose falcon to be my main

 

[arcane9211]

Before I ever knew the competitive scene existed, I played Roy. I picked up Marth because he's so similar and found myself doing better against my friends, so I dropped Roy. I then started playing Falco and Fox because I found them fun to play...and then I found out about the tourney scene and tier lists. At that point I was already using Marth/Falco/Fox, so it was cool to see they didn't suck lol

 

[n1n10do]

I main Captain Falcon because he's Awesome, but in my opinion every character is good in their own way. All characters have at least one or two good moves

 

[odinNJ]

but in my opinion every character is good in their own way.

wat is this i dont even

 

[KrIsP!]

I main Captain Falcon because he's Awesome, but in my opinion every character is good in their own way. All characters have at least one or two good moves

Not kirby

 

[Wizzrobe]

Not kirby

What about Kirby sucking you in his mouth?

 

[Twinkles]

What about Kirby sucking you in his mouth?

that move sucks too
ROFLSAFMSALFKANFOIJAE

i usually play high tiers instead of low tiers because having more options in more situations and being overall more smooth to play, they are many times more fun than low tiers

i like playing some low tiers though for lols

 

[odinNJ]

I like figuring things out with roy that no one has messed around with before. Ive yet to divulge my devious secrets though. Also, all characters are fun in my opinion.

 

[Wizzrobe]

that move sucks too
ROFLSAFMSALFKANFOIJAE

i usually play high tiers instead of low tiers because having more options in more situations and being overall more smooth to play, they are many times more fun than low tiers

i like playing some low tiers though for lols

[glow]We have a player in Florida who is top 10 in Florida now I'm pretty sure (PR just haven't been updated yet) and he mains lower tiers, I think Kirby is who he mains the most though. I'm sure he could come up with some good moves with Kirby.[/glow]

 

[Blu]

I am not OK with the hierarchy given to high tiers; we put far too much stress on character ability. Who, in the end, is truly considered the best? The character used, or the player who controls them?

 

[Wizzrobe]

I am not OK with the hierarchy given to high tiers; we put far too much stress on character ability. Who, in the end, is truly considered the best? The character used, or the player who controls them?

Well when you use a low tier vs a higher tier, no matter how good you are you only have so many options before the high tier wrecks you.

 

[Spyro]

that move sucks too
ROFLSAFMSALFKANFOIJAE

i usually play high tiers instead of low tiers because having more options in more situations and being overall more smooth to play, they are many times more fun than low tiers

i like playing some low tiers though for lols

Here in Tennessee, we have someone who goes by the tag ,"Yoshiiscool". As his tag would suggest, he mains Yoshi, and he does very well with him, I would say he is within the top four players in TN, so yeah.

Player > character.

 

[Wizzrobe]

Here in Tennessee, we have someone who goes by the tag ,"Yoshiiscool". As his tag would suggest, he mains Yoshi, and he does very well with him, I would say he is within the top four players in TN, so yeah.

Player > character.

Player does matter the most obviously, but there is still so much you can do with that character before you get wrecked by a skilled high tier player.

 

[Blu]

Well when you use a low tier vs a higher tier, no matter how good you are you only have so many options before the high tier wrecks you.

Player does matter the most obviously, but there is still so much you can do with that character before you get wrecked by a skilled high tier player.

In the beginning of a match, you have every option available to you. >The End<

 

[Wizzrobe]

In the beginning of a match, you have every option available to you. >The End<

I don't see a low tier main making it into bracket at Apex.

 

[Spyro]

Player does matter the most obviously, but there is still so much you can do with that character before you get wrecked by a skilled high tier player.

Of course someone who has a big match up advantage is going to win over someone who is at the same skill level. I'm just saying that you can still win a match even if it's 95-5. You just have to be a lot better than your opponent.

 

[Blu]

I don't see a low tier main making it into bracket at Apex.

You're basing your argument off of the current tier list, which fluctuates to begin with. That aside, Vudujin, Leffen, and Sol all made it to bracket. That's all the way down to 14th, 21st, and 24th from the top. (Tbh, I have no idea if these players used their low-tier characters at this point.)

TL;DR

Yet.

 

[odinNJ]

plus, when it comes to viability, ive seen a ness come close to beating hax, and i watched ripple come close to beating tang, plus many more wins between all the low tier mains. Top tiers are just more popular among skilled players. If all characters were equally played, there would be a lot more low tiers making bracket.

 

[Blu]

That Ness main you referred to, MoFo, actually was the one who indirectly introduced me to Melee. If my cousin hadn't gone up to Boston for college and met that low-tier player, I wouldn't even be here.

 

[Wizzrobe]

You're basing your argument off of the current tier list, which fluctuates to begin with. That aside, Vudujin, Leffen, and Sol all made it to bracket. That's all the way down to 14th, 21st, and 24th from the top. (Tbh, I have no idea if these players used their low-tier characters at this point.)

TL;DR

Yet.

They are all high tier mains, probably didn't even go low tier during tournament anyway.

So they don't count

 

[odinNJ]

That Ness main you referred to, MoFo, actually was the one who indirectly introduced me to Melee. If my cousin hadn't gone up to Boston for college and met that low-tier player, I wouldn't even be here.

My best friend started maining ness when he saw mofo do those two yyg's