History Main / CharacterTiers

* [[http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/5529/dissidiatierlistbo9.jpg This]] ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' picture parodies the character tier system. In terms of tiers proper in Dissidia, it's [[FlameWar a subject of great debate]] (Yes, ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' fandom is arguing again. [[BrokenBase Shocking, we know]]). There is some consensus about who is generally better, but actual tier placements are far from universally accepted.

* The popular ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} 3'' map ''DefenseOfTheAncients: All-Stars'' has characters divided according to early or late game, extent of item dependency and ganker/tank/carry types, amongst others. One key type is the "pubstomper", which can do over 1000 DPS with a full compliment of items, but is dependent on "farming" heavily and thus only dominates in individualist "pub" games, being usually hunted and shut down in TournamentPlay. Competitive worthy champions vary wildly in role, to say the least.

* Arcade racing games VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage and WanganMidnightMaximumTune mostly avert this, since all full-tuned cars can compete on an equal footing. There are, however, [[JokeCharacter cars that are meant as novelties]], most notably the [=AE85=] Levin for IDAS and the Subaru [=R2=] for WMMT.

->Po Yi sat down to play ''TabletopGame/{{Talisman}}'' with his generals. He said: "At this moment, each of us has an equal chance of winning. When we choose our character cards, then we will no longer have equal chances."
-->--''[[http://www.chimeramag.com/features/tenpoints.html General Tso: The Ten Points]]''

** Everything above applies only to Single Battles. Double Battles has 4 tiers instead of 3 (Ubers, OU, UU, NU) and there's no BL. Due to how different Double Battles is compare to Single Battles, most Pokémon were on different tier. For example, Skarmory and Darkrai are in NU instead while Mega Camerupt and Politoed are in OU. Triple Battles doesn't have tiers at all and Rotation Battles aren't even playable on Pokémon Showdown!

* ''ValkyrieProfile'' has a lot of characters but they are clearly examples of Character Tiers. Partly due to a few very powerful weapons that can last until the end of the main game can be obtained early and just make the two Lancers or the heavy swordsmen extremely powerful. Many characters of course cannot be perfectly balanced due to some attacks that have varying levels of power and usability. It's clearly established that almost all the Sorcerers are worthless (Due to several coming and only one is needed) or OvershadowedByAwesome, The archers except for Janus and Valkyrie Suck, and the sword users just CantCatchUp.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first title[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]]. His ''[=GGX=]'' retool was widely considered as his weakest incarnation due to poor mobility, abysmal move recovery and a severe lack of pressure/mixup tools compared to the rest of the cast, basically painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim and earning him the derogatory nickname [[FanNickname "Axl Low Tier"]] which has stuck with some to this day. While somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] [[CycleOfHurting loop]], it took until ''[=XX=]''[[note]]''Especially'' the ''Accent Core +R'' iteration[[/note]] to truly fix his design by adding new tools for close quarters defense, footsies, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, thus elevating him into high tier. Come ''Xrd'' however, despite losing many of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's weaknesses, after which his ranking plummeted and eventually sat at around upper mid-tier.

* ''{{Suikoden}}'' is in the same boat as ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' in that the huge roster of characters (technically 108, but only about half of that can be used in battle) has greatly encouraged the use of tiers. Typically, physical fighters come up above magic users and weak fighters with several rune slots (and thus, plenty of customization potential) are far more valued that strong fighters with few or no rune slots.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first title[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]]. His ''[=GGX=]'' retool saw him becoming widely considered to be a weak character due to poor mobility, abysmal move recovery and a severe lack of pressure/mixup tools compared to the rest of the cast, basically painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim and earning him the derogatory nickname [[FanNickname "Axl Low Tier"]] which has stuck with some to this day. While somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] [[CycleOfHurting loop]], it took until ''[=XX=]''[[note]]''Especially'' the ''Accent Core +R'' iteration[[/note]] to truly fix his design by adding new tools for close quarters defense, footsies, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, thus elevating him into high tier. Come ''Xrd'' however, despite losing many of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's weaknesses, after which his ranking plummeted and eventually sat at around upper mid-tier.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first title[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]]. His [=GGX=] retool saw him becoming widely considered among [[JustForPun the lowest of the low]] due to having poor mobility, abysmal move recovery and a severe lack of pressure/mixup tools compared to the rest of the cast, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim and earning him the derogatory nickname [[FanNickname "Axl Low Tier"]] which has stuck with some to this day. While somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] loop, it took until [=XX=][[note]]''Especially'' the ''Accent Core'' iteration, and to a smaller degree the lesser-known [[UpdatedRerelease GGX Plus]][[/note]] to truly fix his design by adding new tools for close quarters defense, footsies, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, thus elevating him into high tier. Come ''Xrd'' however, despite losing many of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's weaknesses, after which his ranking plummeted and eventually sat at around upper mid-tier.

* The campaign modes in ''EuropaUniversalis'' and its sequel, being based on and seeking to emulate late medieval to modern European history, do not pretend to create balanced factions in any way: various nations are more economically and militarily well-off from the very beginning, and scripted historical events affect gameplay in such a way that make it more difficult even for successful nations to continue dominating if history says that they cannot, effectively altering tiers based on the length of the game. Skilled players can take advantage of game mechanics to turn the tiers on their heads, but non-Christian, non-Western European nations have a much harder time at it.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first ''Guilty Gear''[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]]. During his [=GGX=] retool he was widely considered among [[JustForPun the lowest of the low]] due to having poor mobility/recovery and a severe lack of pressure/mixup tools compared to the rest of the cast, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] loop, but it took [=XX=][[note]]''Especially'' the ''Accent Core'' iteration, and to a lesser degree the lesser-known [[UpdatedRerelease GGX Plus]][[/note]] to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting him into the high tier group. Come ''Xrd'' however, despite losing many of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's weaknesses, after which his ranking plummeted and eventually sat at around upper mid-tier.

** ''Guilty Gear Xrd'', having been openly described to be based off of #Reload, once again places Zato at the top due to unblockable setups and disjointed hitboxes, followed closely by Faust, Johnny, Raven and newcomer Elphelt Valentine who also possesses her own brand of unblockable mixups. However, it also returns to having a slightly more unbalanced tier selection, with the high/top tiers possessing significant advantages over other characters in terms of zoning, pressure, mobility and damage output. In fact, three out of the top 8 players at [=EVO=] 2016 ''[[ComplacentGamingSyndrome all had Zato as their main]]''. Often, however, these matchups depend largely on player skill, and any competitor worth their salt can still find a way to dominate with their favorite character no matter the odds.
** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first ''Guilty Gear''[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]]. During his [=GGX=] retool he was widely considered among [[JustForPun the lowest of the low]] due to having poor mobility/recovery and a severe lack of pressure/mixup tools compared to the rest of the cast, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] loop, but it took [=XX=] to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting him into the high tier group. Come ''Xrd'' however, despite losing some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's weaknesses, after which his ranking plummeted and eventually sat at around upper mid-tier.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first ''Guilty Gear''[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]]. During his [=GGX=] retool he was widely considered among [[JustForPun the lowest of the low]] due to having poor mobility and a severe lack of pressure/mixup tools compared to the rest of the cast, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] loop, but it took [=XX=] to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting him into the high tier group. Come ''Xrd'' however, despite losing some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's weaknesses, after which his ranking plummeted and eventually sat at around upper mid-tier after a few patches.

** ''Guilty Gear Xrd'', having been openly described to be based off of #Reload, once again places Zato at the top due to unblockable setups and disjointed hitboxes, a position he now shares with Faust, Johnny, Raven and newcomer Elphelt Valentine who also possesses her own brand of unblockable mixups. However, it also returns to having a slightly more unbalanced tier selection, with the high/top tiers possessing significant advantages over other characters in terms of space control, pressure mobility and damage output. In fact, three out of the top 8 players at [=EVO=] 2016 ''[[ComplacentGamingSyndrome all had Zato as their main]]''. Often, however, these matchups depend largely on player skill, and any competitor worth his salt can still find a way to dominate with his or her favorite character no matter the odds.
** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first ''Guilty Gear''[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]]. During his [=GGX=] retool he was widely considered among [[JustForPun the lowest of the low]] due to having poor mobility and a severe lack of pressure/mixup tools compared to the rest of the cast, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] loop, but it took [=XX=] to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting him into the high tier group. In ''Xrd'' however, despite losing some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's flaws, which quickly caused his ranking to plummet back to the ground and subsequently sit at around upper mid-tier after a few patches.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first ''Guilty Gear''[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]]. During his [=GGX=] retool he was widely considered among [[JustForPun the lowest of the low]] due to having poor mobility and a severe lack of pressure/mixup tools compared to the rest of the cast, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] loop, but it took [=XX=] to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting him into the high tier group. In ''Xrd'' however, despite losing some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's flaws, which quickly caused his ranking to plummet and remain at around upper mid-tier.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a quirky if lackluster character in the first ''Guilty Gear''[[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick[[/note]]. During his [=GGX=] retool he was widely considered among [[JustForPun the lowest of the low]] due to his poor mobility, lack of pressure/mixup tools and extended hurtboxes, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage Axl Bomber loop, but it took [=XX=] to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting him into the high tier group. In ''Xrd'' however, despite losing some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's flaws, which quickly caused his ranking to plummet and remain at around upper mid-tier.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low. In [=GGX=] he was widely considered among the lowest of the low due to his poor mobility, lack of pressure/mixup tools and extended hurtboxes, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage Axl Bomber loop, but it took the sequel to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting him from low tier in ''X'' to mid-high tier in ''[=XX=]''. In ''Xrd'' however, despite losing some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's flaws, which quickly caused his ranking to plummet and remain at around the upper mid-tier range.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low. In [=GGX=] he was widely considered among the lowest of the low due to his poor mobility, lack of pressure/mixup tools and extended hurtboxes, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage Axl Bomber loop, but it took the sequel to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting him from low tier in ''X'' to mid-high tier in ''[=XX=]''. In ''Xrd'' however, despite losing some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of the [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned the weaknesses of Sparrowhawk, which quickly caused his ranking to plummet and remain at around the upper mid-tier range.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low. In [=GGX=] he was widely considered among the lowest of the low due to his poor mobility, lack of pressure/mixup tools and extended hurtboxes, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage Axl Bomber loop, but it took the sequel to truly fix his character by adding new tools for close quarters defense, zoning, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, shifting hi, from low tier in ''X'' to mid-high tier in ''[=XX=]''. In ''Xrd'' however, despite losing some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' he was originally considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of his new [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which allows him to pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned the weaknesses of Sparrowhawk, which quickly caused his ranking to plummet and caused him to remain at around the upper mid-tier range.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low. In [=GGX=] he was widely considered among the lowest of the low due to his poor mobility, lack of tools to pressure the opponent with and extended hurtboxes, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous Axl Bomber loop which is capable of dealing incredible damage, but it took the sequel to truly fix his character by adding new options for close quarters defense, new methods to more effectively control space with his ranged attacks and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves. As a result he went from low tier in ''X'' to mid-high tier in ''[=XX=]'', and is currently sitting at around mid-tier in ''Xrd'' due to having some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' removed. And concerning ''Xrd'', he was actually originally considered to be ''the'' absolute God Tier character on day one due to the addition of his new [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which allows him to pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This only lasted until players learned the weaknesses of Sparrowhawk, which quickly caused his ranking to plummet and somewhat heaped upon him the minor stigma of being a [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome one-trick pony]] who only relies on Sparrowhawk to do any significant damage.

** ''Guilty Gear Xrd'', having been openly described to be based off of #Reload, once again places Zato at the top due to unblockable setups and disjointed hitboxes, a position he now shares with Faust, Johnny, Raven and newcomer Elphelt Valentine who also possesses her own brand of unblockable mixups. However, it also returns to having a slightly more unbalanced tier selection, with the high/top tiers possessing significant advantages over other characters in terms of space control, pressure mobility and damage output. In fact Jam and Slayer--who used to place moderately high in the previous game's tier lists--now join Potemkin at the lowest rung. Often, however, these matchups depend largely on player skill, and any competitor worth his salt can still find a way to dominate with his or her favorite character no matter the odds.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low. In [=GGX=] he was widely considered among the lowest of the low due to his poor mobility, lack of tools to pressure the opponent with and extended hurtboxes, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous Axl Bomber loop which is capable of dealing incredible damage, but it took the sequel to truly fix his character by adding new options for close quarters defense, new methods to more effectively control space with his long range attacks and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, giving him more options to pressure the opponent. As a result he went from low tier in ''X'' to mid-high tier in ''[=XX=]'', and is currently sitting at around mid-tier in ''Xrd'' due to having some of his tools from ''Accent Core'' removed. And concerning ''Xrd'', he was actually originally considered to be ''the'' absolute top tier character on Day One due to the addition of his new Sparrowhawk Stance, a SpamAttack which allows him to hit his opponent with chains from across the screen at the cost of losing his mobility until the stance is canceled. This only lasted until players learned the weaknesses of Sparrowhawk, which quickly caused his ranking to plummet and somewhat heaped upon him the minor stigma of being a [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome one-trick pony]] who only relies on Sparrowhawk to do any significant damage.

** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low. In [=GGX=] he was widely considered among the lowest of the low due to his poor mobility, lack of tools to pressure the opponent and extended hurtboxes, essentially painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim. This was somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his now-famous Axl Bomber loop which is capable of dealing incredible damage, but it took the sequel to truly fix his character by adding new options for close quarters defense, new methods to more effectively control space with his long range attacks and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, giving him more options to pressure the opponent. As a result he went from low tier in ''X'' to mid-high tier in ''[=XX=]'', and is currently sitting at around mid-tier in ''Xrd''.

* Due to the ''massive'' changes that occurred between the original 'VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' and its sequels, it can be quite hard to pinpoint exact tiers at times. However, beginning in ''Guilty Gear X'' the tiers have become more or less well-defined due to the series' mechanics becoming more and more polished over time, which in turn affects the balance of power for better or worse. Of note is that, like Capcom's Versus Series, much of the combat in ''Guilty Gear'' favors a fast-paced and technical approach, with characters that possess incredible mobility, mixups and disjointed hitboxes constantly being at the top.

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear XX'' had a very unusual tier setup -- partially because the game is so well-balanced that tiers rarely affect a match significantly, but unusual in that the top tier consisted of only ONE character -- Eddie. Mainly because of his ability to destroy you on wake-up due to unblockables. Eddie was crippled somewhat in ''Slash'', but he recovered in ''Accent Core'' (with a triple unblockable sequence) and now shares his spot with Testament. The catch? All of the characters have a ''steep'' learning curve, and it can take several months (or even ''years'') of practice to use them effectively in TournamentPlay.

* Similarly, Koei designed VideoGame/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms and VideoGame/NobunagasAmbition to be historically accurate. As a result, both games are unbalanced, and both have at least one scenario where Cao Cao and OdaNobunaga (respectively) are at least twice as powerful as the second strongest force.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' has this for the countries rather than characters. When playing multiplayer with the expansion, Yuri's side is Top Tier and can border on God Tier. For the Allies, Korea and the USA are Top Tier since their special units/abilities don't cost anything extra (USA gets free paradrops, Korea gets about a 50% upgrade to Harriers without a corresponding cost increase), Great Britian is slightly lower on the Top Tier, and Germany and France are Mid Tier - useful, but rarely worth skipping out on either free stuff or long-range instant protection against enemy special infantry units. For the Soviets, Iraq is Top Tier, Cuba is Mid Tier, and Russia and Libya are Low Tier. When facing an Allied player, Cuba drops to Low Tier and Russia & Libya drop to Bottom Tier because often only Iraq can stop hordes of Mirages Tanks (especially in vanilla [=RA2=], without the expansion) if the Allies survive the early game.
* VideoGame/ShiningForce 1 and its subsequent games had this is spades. It made somewhat sense, since there's always going to be those who excel, and those who don't. The problem was that many characters always had decent stat gains, if you're ''lucky'' every five levels. The most notorious bad character that wasn't even a JokeCharacter(but might as well have been) is poor Hanz.
** Even worse is the only person's response to this is; "Use better characters". Yep, that's right. Now imagine if everybody did that. The game would get pretty stale pretty fast, then. That's why they give you 29 different characters to choose from, so you can try something new.

* Advancements in {{pinball}}, both in technology and in competition, has resulted in some games having its own tier lists too:

*** Melee tournaments often feature both Star Fox reps, Sheik, Marth, Jigglypuff, Princess Peach, Captain Falcon, and the occasional use of the Ice Climbers, Pikachu, Yoshi, Dr. Mario, etc. Special note goes to Fox and Falco, who are considered the best and second best characters in the ''Melee'' metagame respectively due to being good at just about everything. The former has [[SomeDexterityRequired a high learning curve]], but when properly played, is a sight to behold. In fact, Fox is so good that a community meme known as 20xx was spawned as a result. [[labelnote:Explanation]]20xx is a hypothetical year in which the meta game has been pushed as far as it can go, making Fox the only character worth playing anymore. Of course, every Fox is played to perfection, and as a result, rock paper scissor matches are held for port priority. Whoever wins that wins the actual match.[[/labelnote]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' has a single borderline god-tier character -- Met Kknight. Universally considered the best character in the game, he dominates most of the cast with extremely fast and safe attacks, excellent recovery and edgeguarding capabilities, and unrivaled ledge game. He has one or two matchups against other top tiers that ''might'' be considered 50-50, but many are skeptical. He was been dominant enough in the competitive scene for many fans, and some tournaments, to support banning him.
*** After Meta Knight are the Ice Climbers, who some would argue are better than Meta Knight in some ways due to being too good with chaingrabs.
** ''Brawl'' also has the odd case of King Dedede, who isn't generically overpowered, but is so strong against a small number of characters that those characters are essentially non-viable in tournaments.

* VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureHeritageForTheFuture: One thing certain is that Kakyoin is very much high tier due to his Mystic Trap setups. Oh, and Petshop? He's so broken he's tourney banned.

** '''X Tier''': The god tier. Reserved for the [[GameBreaker most broken and overpowered characters]], such as Rare Akuma. These can typically overwhelm normal fighters in a few seconds, liberally spam {{OneHitKill}}s, and have [[ArtificialBrilliance TAS level AI]]. Some characters even have alternate palettes that make them powerful enough to fit in. Unlike most tiers, characters have to be manually put into this tier, and the fights are best two out of three with no tourneys in rotation. Sometimes nicknamed eXhibition Tier because these characters tend to be requested in exhibitions often (ironically enough, several of them have been banned from being requested due to causing problems such as crashes and freezing the game so long, the match skips automatically).

** Mario Kart 7 basically mirrors what Mario Kart Wii did. Not only are people only using Metal Mario for his extra top speed, but kart parts used online and in time trials seem to be only the B Dasher and Mushroom Wheels (or Gold Tires), because this combo gives the best top speed possible without sacrificing too much in acceleration or steering.