History Main / CharacterTiers

*** You can select the old ''Super Street Fighter II'' versions of the characters in ''Super Turbo'' by quickly inputting a code after selecting them. Old Sagat is considered top tier, and is "soft-banned" in some tournaments (meaning that there is a tacit agreement not to use him, but he can be used anyway), not because he is so overpowering (Balrog and Dhalsim are better characters overall), but because the players agree that the inclusion of Old Sagat makes the game less interesting as a whole.

** Despite having over 800 Pokémon of varying balance (as well as mons with alternate forms and Mega Evolutions), the series has taken to heart its preaching of using your favorite Pokémon. The most well-known tier system, Website/{{Smogon}}'s, organizes all Pokémon into 6 tiers. It is also continuously changing, with Pokémon changing tiers based on usage, and even implementation or removal of [[HouseRules clauses]]. In the most popular format, Overused, or OU, acts as Top Tier and is considered "standard", while Ubers falls under God Tier since it functions as a banlist tier (though it has a metagame in itself). Beneath that, there was initially just Underused for everything not in OU, but as the list of Pokémon grew, [[RankInflation more tiers were added to encompass the Pokémon with low usage in UU]], and then the Pokémon with low usage in that tier as well. The current metagame as of the eighth generation boasts, in descending order, AG (Anything Goes, for Pokémon [[BrokeTheRatingScale too overpowered for Uber]]), Uber, OU, UU, RU (Rarely Used), NU (Never Used), PU (no common meaning; [[PermanentPlaceholder the name was a bad pun that ended up sticking]]), and Untiered, also known as ZU (Zero Used). Since the tiers are usage-based, the viability ranking thread does contain quite a number of Pokémon that's residing in a lower tier. Additionally, each tier besides Ubers has their own banlist, which is for Pokémon that are banned from a lower tier, but doesn't have enough usage to rise to a higher tier. As for Doubles, it has 3 tiers, Doubles Ubers, Doubles OU, and Doubles UU.

** Despite having over 800 Pokémon of varying balance (as well as mons with alternate forms and Mega Evolutions), the series has taken to heart its preaching of using your favorite Pokémon. The most well-known tier system, Website/{{Smogon}}'s, organizes all Pokémon into 6 tiers. It is also continuously changing, with Pokémon changing tiers based on usage, and even implementation or removal of [[HouseRules clauses]]. In the most popular format, Overused, or OU, acts as Top Tier and is considered "standard", while Ubers falls under God Tier since it functions as a banlist tier (though it has a metagame in itself). Beneath that, there was initially just Underused for everything not in OU, but as the list of Pokémon grew, [[RankInflation more tiers were added to encompass the Pokémon with low usage in UU]], and then the Pokémon with low usage in that tier as well. The current metagame as of the eighth generation boasts, in descending order, AG (Anything Goes, for Pokémon [[BrokeTheRatingsScale too overpowered for Uber]]), Uber, OU, UU, RU (Rarely Used), NU (Never Used), PU (no common meaning; [[PermanentPlaceholder the name was a bad pun that ended up sticking]]), and Untiered, also known as ZU (Zero Used). Since the tiers are usage-based, the viability ranking thread does contain quite a number of Pokémon that's residing in a lower tier. Additionally, each tier besides Ubers has their own banlist, which is for Pokémon that are banned from a lower tier, but doesn't have enough usage to rise to a higher tier. As for Doubles, it has 3 tiers, Doubles Ubers, Doubles OU, and Doubles UU.

** Despite having over 800 Pokémon of varying balance (as well as mons with alternate forms and Mega Evolutions), the series has taken to heart its preaching of using your favorite Pokémon. The most well-known tier system, Website/{{Smogon}}'s, organizes all Pokémon into 6 tiers. It is also continuously changing, with Pokémon changing tiers based on usage, and even implementation or removal of [[HouseRules clauses]]. In the most popular format, Overused, or OU, acts as Top Tier and is considered "standard", while Ubers falls under God Tier since it functions as a banlist tier (though it has a metagame in itself). Beneath that, there was initially just Underused for everything not in OU, but as the list of Pokémon grew, [[RankInflation more tiers were added to encompass the Pokémon with low usage in UU]], and then the Pokémon with low usage in that tier as well. The current metagame as of the seventh generation boasts, in descending order, Uber, OU, UU, RU (Rarely Used), NU (Never Used), and PU (no common meaning; [[PermanentPlaceholder the name was a bad pun that ended up sticking]]). Everything too bad to be commonly used in even PU (often struggling to find a niche even on a casual playthrough) is regarded as "Untiered", though as that still leaves over a hundred fully-evolved Pokémon, the community eventually managed to form a competitive tier out of even ''that'', ZU (Zero Used). Since the tiers are usage-based, the viability ranking thread does contain quite a number of Pokémon that's residing in a lower tier. Additionally, each tier besides Ubers has their own banlist, which is for Pokémon that are banned from a lower tier, but doesn't have enough usage to rise to a higher tier. As for Doubles, it has 3 tiers, Doubles Ubers, Doubles OU, and Doubles UU.

** Despite having over 800 Pokémon of varying balance (as well as mons with alternate forms and Mega Evolutions), the series has taken to heart its preaching of using your favorite Pokémon. The most well-known tier system, Website/{{Smogon}}'s, organizes all Pokémon into 6 tiers. It is also continuously changing, with Pokémon changing tiers based on usage, and even implementation or removal of [[HouseRules clauses]]. In the most popular format, Overused, or OU, acts as Top Tier and is considered "standard", while Ubers falls under God Tier since it functions as a banlist tier (though it has a metagame in itself). Beneath that, there was initially just Underused for everything not in OU, but as the list of Pokémon grew, [[RankInflation more tiers were added to encompass the Pokémon with low usage in UU]], and then the Pokémon with low usage in that tier as well. The current metagame as of the seventh generation boasts, in descending order, Uber, OU, UU, RU (Rarely Used), NU (Never Used), and PU (no common meaning; [[PermanentPlaceholder the name was a bad pun that ended up sticking]]). Everything too bad to be commonly used in even PU (often struggling to find a niche even on a casual playthrough) is regarded as "Untiered", though as that still leaves over a hundred fully-evolved Pokémon, there are communities trying to make a competitive tier out of even that, which generally favor ZU (Zero Used) or occasionally FU (for the pun) as a name. Since the tiers are usage-based, the viability ranking thread does contain quite a number of Pokémon that's residing in a lower tier. Additionally, each tier besides Ubers has their own banlist, which is for Pokémon that are banned from a lower tier, but doesn't have enough usage to rise to a higher tier. As for Doubles, it has 3 tiers, Doubles Ubers, Doubles OU, and Doubles UU.

** It's the same story with ''[[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Zero and Azure Series]]'' where physical attacks are still terrible but not as bad as the ones in Sky, though because you only have up to 4-6 characters by the endgame, the tier list isn't as varied though Randy usually gets benched in favor of Wazy due to his powerful S-Craft. Lloyd is usually kept in the field thanks to [[StatusBuff Burning Heart]] plus his evasion stat and Elie and Tio are there to cast buffs. Lloyd sometimes gets swapped out with Rixia mainly thanks to the range of her weapon.

** LethalJokeCharacter Rufus from vanilla ''Franchise/StreetFighterIV'' is considered nearly godly, to the point that he was commonly placed in the game's Top 5 along with Sagat, Ryu, and Balrog.
* David Sirlin (who did balancing for ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' and ''Puzzle Fighter HD Remix'') accepts that perfect balance is impossible, as characters with differing abilities will always have advantages and disadvantages over each other, but believes that the God Tier and Garbage Tier should be empty, and that no specific character-versus-character matchup should give more than a 6-4 advantage (meaning that if equally-skilled players play ten matches, the character with the advantage should at most win six and lose four). His own games (Kongai, and especially the tabletop games Puzzle Strike, Flash Duel, and Yomi) go through ''years'' of playtesting and tweaking in search of this.

** In contrast, the Top 3 in ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift CS]]'' were Bang Shishigami, Litchi Faye-Ling, and Ragna the Bloodedge -- all of whom are combo-oriented characters instead of zoning characters. Litchi has numerous combos which can lead into resets. During one of her combos, she will inevitably (and it WILL always happen) get enough heat to end her combo with a knockdown and follow with her Great Wheel Distortion Drive, which is used to trick the opponent when they get up, repeating the process. [[CycleOfHurting If played correctly, she can trap you in a corner and shred you to pieces.]] Bang went from bottom tier to top due to several of his hitboxes being altered, and many of his moves come out much faster. His basic combos can also deal around 4000-5000 damage. Ragna is like Litchi and Bang combined: he has a large amount of reset opportunities with his new Belial Edge and oki game, but utilizing this takes the simplicity of using Bang.

** New system mechanics in ''VideoGame/BlazblueChronophantasma'' changed up the listing a bit. The ''CSEX'' tops were still pretty up there, and a few mids went up a bit. Newcomers like Azrael became top due to their damage potential and all around good movepools. The other newcomers ranged from mid to low tier, with the sole exception of Kokonoe. The first two iterations of the game had her as the undisputed god tier due to having tools that fucked over the entire cast, including being the only character to have a truly unblockable setup.

* Note that TournamentPlay will shake tiers up. Sometimes a victor discovers an overlooked technique with a low-ranked character that the upper tier characters have no counter for. Also, some characters are fantastic counters against half the cast but get mopped by the other half, instead of being above or below-average consistently.

** ''Soulcalibur IV'' tiers generally class Hilde as god tier. This is mainly due to her "Doom Combo" that can ring out from pretty much anywhere, though there are other characters agreed to be just as dangerous though without as dominating a ring out/corner carry game. Other generally good characters to use include Sophitia, Amy, Voldo, Setsuka, and Kilik, whereas Rock in particular is awful.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', despite having over 800 Pokémon of varying balance (as well as mons with alternate forms and Mega Evolutions), has taken to heart the game's preaching of using your favorite Pokémon. The most well-known tier system, Website/{{Smogon}}'s, organizes all Pokémon into 6 tiers. It is also continuously changing, with Pokémon changing tiers based on usage, and even implementation or removal of [[HouseRules clauses]]. In the most popular format, Overused, or OU, acts as Top Tier and is considered "standard", while Ubers falls under God Tier since it functions as a banlist tier (though it has a metagame in itself). Beneath that, there was initially just Underused for everything not in OU, but as the list of Pokémon grew, [[RankInflation more tiers were added to encompass the Pokémon with low usage in UU]], and then the Pokémon with low usage in that tier as well. The current metagame as of the seventh generation boasts, in descending order, Uber, OU, UU, RU (Rarely Used), NU (Never Used), and PU (no common meaning; [[PermanentPlaceholder the name was a bad pun that ended up sticking]]). Everything too bad to be commonly used in even PU (often struggling to find a niche even on a casual playthrough) is regarded as "Untiered", though as that still leaves over a hundred fully-evolved Pokémon, there are communities trying to make a competitive tier out of even that, which generally favor ZU (Zero Used) or occasionally FU (for the pun) as a name. Since the tiers are usage-based, the viability ranking thread does contain quite a number of Pokémon that's residing in a lower tier. Additionally, each tier besides Ubers has their own banlist, which is for Pokémon that are banned from a lower tier, but doesn't have enough usage to rise to a higher tier. As for Doubles, it has 3 tiers, Doubles Ubers, Doubles OU, and Doubles UU.
** Additionally, there exist "ingame tiers", which try to rank Pokémon in terms of how good they are at finishing the game efficiently rather than at competitive battles. This can result in some suddenly becoming very useful, while typical competitive standbys become AwesomeButImpractical, due to factors like ease of catching, LevelGrinding, the areas they're found in, and evolution methods suddenly becoming very important, while things like egg and TM moves or specific items that can normally be counted on suddenly often fall into "too tricky to be worth it." For a good example, the original generation's ingame tiers have JokeCharacter Farfetch'd placing highly, while InfinityMinusOneSword Dratini ends up at the bottom: one only requires trading away a common Spearow and is immediately effective, while the other requires either lots of gambling or getting lucky in the Safari Zone, not to mention so much grind it won't be fully-evolved until the endgame.
* A big thing in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' fandom, where the participants don't stop simply at unit performance. They also take into account joining time, joining level, starting stats, stat growths, weapon options, support options, elemental affinity, promotion requirements, and other, additional abilities in their quest to accurately rank the characters. Due to [[{{Cap}} the way]] [[RandomNumberGod the system works]] in ''Fire Emblem'', the vast majority of characters are at least usable if you really want to play them, and so the tier lists are mostly arranged by merit of which characters are most helpful for Ranked or low-turn playthroughs. The ''Fire Emblem'' community's mantra in these debates is "personal experience means nothing"; just because a character worked out for you does not make that character good; you may have simply gotten lucky with the {{Random Number God}}dess. Hence, the community judges a character's stats based on averages for their level progression. Generally, judging characters based on higher difficulties is preferred as well, since that tends to exacerbate differences between units: simply cranking things down to the lowest difficulty, and, in post-''New Mystery'' games, switching on Casual Mode, will make pretty much any character somewhat viable at base and overpowered when raised, which turns tiering into a simple question of "who can effortlessly kill everything on the map first?"

** Character who sit in God Tiers are generally those who influence the game to a much bigger extent than the rest of the cast, such as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Caeda and Lena]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Sigurd]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 Safy]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Melady and Rutger]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Marcus]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Seth]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Titania, Jill, and Marcia]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Haar]], and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Robin]]. The exact parameters and reasoning varies from character to character--some are high-level, others are low, some are purely combat, others are mostly utility--but they are generally seen as units where not making use of them makes the game much harder, or at the very least, much more tedious. This is also partly why MagikarpPower characters tend to perform poorly; rather than making the game easier for the player, raising them pretty much forces the player to spend dozens of turns bringing them up to par.

* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' has a lot of characters but they are clearly examples of Character Tiers. The two lancers[[note]]Lawfer and Aelia[[/note]] tend to rank at the top because of their god-tier like weapons which are available starting in Chapter 2, and can be purchased. The heavy swordsmen rank just below them, also due to weapons. The swordsmen are under that, and they fall under CantCatchUp. Janus and Valkyrie are extremely useful as archers, but Llewellyn and Badrach are useless. The sorcerers are fairly interchangeable. While there are tiers of them based on starting magic power[[note]]High tier are Gandar and Lyseria, mid-tier are Lorenta and Mystina, while the bottom is everyone else[[/note]], the difference is minimal, and only one sorcerer is needed.
** But this changes in the Seraphic Gate where swords just ridiculously overpower everything.

** There really are no truly best or worst characters when playing a full 5v5 game. Under other conditions this may not be true. 1v1 matchups favor dps characters, early-game harassers, and single-target stuns. Only-middle-lane games favor AreaOfEffect spells and pushers. Even "pubstomper" characters aren't necessarily overpowered in pub games - if the opposing team is poor, those character can most quickly become unstoppable, but if its own team is poor then those characters can also most quickly become useless.
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has some degree of tiers; other then the in-game tiers (unlocked by levelling up their "lower tier" units), some classes have definite advantages over other; until you realise that [[GameBreaker Divine Majins]] beat ''everything'' except ''maybe'' Flonne in a ''single'' stat. They are very time-consuming, though.

* In addition to the competitive tiers described above, ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' can also be judged by "in-game tiers", which judge them by how useful they are in the single player campaign. Unlike the competitive tiers, factors such as how early and easily they can be acquired and made to evolve are taken into account, as well as how they match up against that game's gym battles and other bosses.

* ''Capcom vs. SNK'' actually codified its tiers in-game, and based the number of characters one could select for their team on what tier each character was; this didn't go over very well with gamers, and was dropped for the sequel. (In the sequel, the player splits 4 "Ratio" amongst up to three characters, giving the player some input as to the character's tier.)
** The problem with ''Capcom vs. SNK'' was that how the tiers were codified had nothing to do with how strong the characters actually were in competitive play. Nakoruru was the strongest character in the game bar none, yet she was only Ratio 2.

** The ''[[VideoGame/DragonballZBudokaiTenkaichi Tenkaichi]]'' and ''Raging Blast'' series are notorious for their tiers (which is somewhat expected with over 100 characters).

** The ''Raging Blast'' God Tier features completely broken characters, including Kid Buu, Super Saiyan 2 Gohan, Super Gogeta, and Super Vegito. Each has ridiculous stats and can easily chain massive combos.

** The original game on the Nintendo 64 has a small cast of 12 fighters, making for a much closer gap character-balance-wise. Isai, a well known ''Smash 64'' player, is known for being the only player in the ''64'' community to be consistently good ''with all 12 characters'' in tournament play.
** ''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]]

*** The third ''Smash'' game has a single borderline god-tier character -- Meta Knight. 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.

** Thanks to the occasional balance patch and a roster that's significantly more balanced than ''Brawl''[='=]s was, the tier lists in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' has a case similar to ''Street Fighter 4''[='s=] where the bad characters aren't that much worse compared to the top tiers and even low-tier characters are capable of decent tournament placings, given some effort.
*** That said, pre 1.06 patch, Diddy Kong was seen by many as the new Meta Knight due to a frustratingly good down throw to up-air combo many came to call "Hoo-hah". [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome It got so ridiculous that at one point, it was common to see Grand Finals of Smash 4 tournaments where both players used him.]] Diddy ended up getting nerfed throughout two different patches; although initially perceived to have dropped from top to high tier, players who mained him discovered that although he was indeed less powerful in certain areas, his greatest strengths remain untouched, and he retains his top-level placement.
*** With that said, Sheik, a character who was already universally considered back in the ''Melee'' days to be top tier, has since become one of the best character in the meta game. At one point, she was the best character in the game, though patches brought her down a bit. She still solidly remains in top tier.

*** This isn't even beginning to mention how Cloud Strife affects the meta game. Wanna know how crazy he is? Players of all sorts simply discarded their mains for Cloud and ''still'' did well or started placing much higher at their weekly local tournaments. Granted he has some of the worst recovery and a very limited throw game, but that's just a small price to pay for his insane priority and being able to KO at ''70% or even less.''
*** Corrin is perceived as a solid high to top tier character because of his/her incredible frame data, disjointed attacks, good kill power, and his/her signature move, Dragon Lunge, which lets him/her pin his/her opponents into the ground.

* ''StreetFighter III: Third Strike''. It was supposed to make the game more balanced, given the complete and obvious advantages certain characters had over others, and it did so for half the characters. The others simply moved around between tiers.
** In most fighting game communities, the Chinese characters were top tier throughout all three games.
** Sean went from Godly in ''New Generation'' to ''2nd Impact/Giant Attack'' to bottom of the bottom.
** LethalJokeCharacter Rufus from ''Street Fighter IV'' is considered nearly godly.

* In ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'', the Japanese developed a different tier list for the characters (partially because unlike in the United States, the players didn't stop thinking that Anime/{{Karas}} was a broken character), using two tier lists -- one for the overall character performance being the point (combat) character and another for the character's assist. Roll isn't considered the lowest tier (she's mid), and her assist is ranked high in the tier list, upping her rank as a JokeCharacter to LethalJokeCharacter.
* 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.
** The first game would almost be counted out due to [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness how broken some of the mechanics are]], such as having ''infinite Tension meter'' when below 50% life which allows for perpetual super move spamming. Because of this, there are at least two characters considered to be quite dangerous: Millia Rage with her [[BulletHell infinite Iron Maiden projectile spam]] and Justice with her [[WaveMotionGun infinite Gamma Rays]]. And that's not getting to how easy it is to land [[OneHitKill Instant Kills]] that would end the ''entire match'' as opposed to merely ending a single round like it does in later games.
** Beginning in Guilty Gear X, however, the tiers became more defined, with the Assassin's Guild characters[[note]]Millia, Zato-1 and Venom[[/note]] consistently ranking very high on the list, if not outright at the top, while the two main characters Sol and Ky would consistently dance around the midrange area. Newcomer Johnny Sfondi also lands in the top tier due to highly tricky but incredibly strong mobility and unblockable mixups.

** ''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]]''. Still, most matchups depend largely on individual 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 [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter quirky]] 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, has an infinite ground combo consisting of ''repeatedly chaining standing P and K'' until your opponent got dizzied, 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.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has 3 characters in the Top Tier spot: Rachel, Nu, and Arakune. In that order. Rachel is extremely good, but VERY hard to use effectively unless you know how to control her wind. Nu has magical flying swords which enable ridiculously long and damaging combos, but she has very low health and defense. Arakune has '''[[BeeBeeGun BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES]]'''.
** In contrast, in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift'', the top 3 in ''CS'' are now Bang Shishigami, Litchi Faye-Ling, and Ragna the Bloodedge -- all of whom are combo-oriented characters instead of zoning characters. Litchi has numerous combos which can lead into resets. During one of her combos, she will inevitably (and it WILL always happen) get enough heat to end her combo with a knockdown and follow with her Great Wheel super, which is used to trick the opponent when they get up, repeating the process. If played correctly, she can trap you in a corner and shred you to pieces. Bang went from bottom tier to top due to several of his hitboxes being altered, and many of his moves come out much faster. His basic combos can also deal around 4000-5000 damage. Ragna is like Litchi and Bang combined: he has a large amount of reset opportunities with his new Belial Edge and oki game, but utilizing this takes the simplicity of using Bang.
** The ''Continuum Shift II'' update is considered to be very well balanced. On the top we have Makoto and Noel, and on the bottom Tager. Most characters are viable, and tournaments top 8 generally have few overlapping characters.
** ''Continuum Shift Extend'' is also considered to be very well balanced. Thanks to the damage nerf, characters that can produce high damage like Ragna, Valkenhayn, and Hakumen tend to be high in tier list.
** New system mechanics in VideoGame/BlazblueChronophantasma changed up the listing a bit. The CSEX tops were still pretty up there, and a few mids went up a bit. Newcomers like Azrael became top due to their damage potential and all around good movepools. The other newcomers ranged from Mid to low tier, with the sole exception of Kokonoe. The first two iterations of the game had her as the undisputed God Tier due to having tools that fucked over the entire cast, including being the only character to have a truly unblockable setup.
** The third iteration, "Chronophantasma Extend" saw a significant change in the list due to overall damage buffs but as well as the nerfing of many character options. Notably, Iron Tager, a character considered by many to be low tier for quite a few games, has become one of the best characters in the game. How good? Players actually conclude that he stands a significant chance of beating ''Nu'', a character he notoriously did poor against throughout the entire series and also another top tier character in this iteration.

* ''Super VideoGame/StreetFighterII Turbo''
** You can select the old ''Super Street Fighter II'' versions of the characters by quickly inputting a code after selecting them. Old Sagat is considered top tier, and is "soft-banned" in some tournaments (meaning that there is a tacit agreement not to use him, but he can be used anyway), not because he is so overpowering (Balrog and Dhalsim are better characters overall), but because the players agree that the inclusion of Old Sagat makes the game less interesting as a whole.
** Akuma is considered God Tier in ST for a variety of reasons, such as his ability to lock down opponents in inescapable blockstun with repeated red fireballs (they can even let go of the joystick and are still stuck blocking until they die). Akuma was toned down a lot in SF HD Remix, but due to bugs such as his Raging Demon super being inescapable from blockstun 75% of the time, he was banned from tournaments.
* ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur 4'' tiers generally class Hilde as god tier due to her "Doom Combo" that can ring out from pretty much anywhere. Other generally good characters to use include Sophitia and Kilik, whereas Rock in particular is awful.
** ''[=SoulCalibur=] 5'' currently has no "concrete" tier list, but matchup charts so far have placed Cervantes and Alpha Patroklos very high on the lists. Raphael and Z.W.E.I. are considered the weakest characters, while Dampierre gets his own placement below them for being a JokeCharacter. That being said, the game is very well-balanced and considered an improvement from ''4'' in that department.

* Saltybet has five tiers based on how powerful a character is. If a character wins 15 times in a row, it can ascend to the next tier, but if it loses 15 times in a row, it will be demoted to the lower tier. It's not uncommon to see characters who are too good for one tier, only to be completely annihilated by the next tier up. Some characters may even be untiered because of factors such as AI breaking super armor, regularly cause problems such as slowdown, have an unusual gimmick that most normal characters can't deal with, or are just so confusing, not even the creators know how they work.
** '''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 {{One Hit Kill}}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).
** '''S Tier''': The high to top tier and the highest a character can ascend without being X tier. It consists of standard {{SNKBoss}}es, characters with professional level AI, characters that have absurd damage output from regular attacks, and powerful and diverse movesets.
** '''A Tier''': The upper tier. Consists of characters who have solid AI and decent movesets or strong characters who have at least one weakness keeping them from being true S tiers (such as [[MightyGlacier lack of agility]] or [[GlassCannon health]]).
** '''B Tier''': The low to average tier. Consists of regular characters with okay AI and movesets but [[{{Jobber}} have a tendency to throw fights]]. May even consist of P Tiers who were freed.
** '''P Tier''': The bottom (Potato) tier. Consists of characters who [[ArtificialStupidity have no AI]], very poorly made characters, {{JokeCharacter}}s, and those that [[CantCatchUp just can't keep up with the more modern B Tier fighters]]. With good reason, it has been DemotedToExtra due to how boring the fights can get. Even though P Tier tourneys have been discontinued and matches rarely show up in matchmaking, Gold members can free just about ''any'' of them for an in-game price and request them in exhibitions (either to see if there are any promising characters unfairly put in or just to troll the viewers).

** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' has been surprisingly durable to the concept of CharacterTiers, due to the mix of an extremely large roster and relatively good balance in that roster, along with BalanceBuff patches to help or hinder certain characters. That said, most players seem to agree that Joker, Pikachu, Peach/Daisy, and Snake are near the top, while Bowser Junior, Kirby, and Little Mac languish behind the rest of the cast.

* A big thing in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' fandom, where the participants don't stop simply at unit performance. They also take into account joining time, joining requirements, joining level, starting stats, stat growths, weapon options, support options, elemental affinity, promotion requirements, and other, additional abilities in their quest to accurately rank the characters. Due to [[{{Cap}} the way]] [[RandomNumberGod the system works]] in ''Fire Emblem'', the vast majority of characters are at least usable if you really want to play them, and so the tier lists are mostly arranged by merit of which characters are most helpful for Ranked or low-turn playthroughs. The ''Fire Emblem'' community's mantra in these debates is "personal experience means nothing"; just because a character worked out for you does not make that character good; you may have simply gotten lucky with the {{Random Number God}}dess. The community judges a character's stats based on averages for their level progression.
** As a general rule, the top tiers of a ''Fire Emblem'' tier list are mostly dominated by mounted units. This is largely thanks to the how poorly balanced mounted units are compared to foot units, who have better movement, solid stats for combat, immediate access to 2 weapons, and the rescue/drop system which allow them to excel for both combat and utility. Fliers are usually put in the same category thanks to their ability to ignore terrain which allows fast clears of a lot of maps when used correctly. For everyone else, unless they have a utility that matches the mounted units (ex. healers and dancers) or have a really good combat, they will not be as high as units with mounts. Additionally, CrutchCharacter units tend to outdo MagikarpPower units, due to the former being seen as more reliable and efficient - after all, would you rather work your butt off for an overpowered unit, or spend little to no effort for a serviceable one?
** Character who sit in God Tiers are generally those who influence the game to a much bigger extent than the rest of the cast, such as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Caeda and Lena]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Sigurd]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Melady and Rutger]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Marcus]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Seth]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Titania, Jill, and Marcia]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Haar]], and then there's [[GameBreaker Robin]] -- the PlayerCharacter from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]''.

** As a general rule, the top tiers of a ''Fire Emblem'' tier list are mostly dominated by mounted units. This is largely thanks to the how poorly balanced mounted units are compared to foot units, who have better movement, solid stats for combat, immediate access to 2 weapons, and the rescue/drop system which allow them to excel for both combat and utility. Fliers are usually put in the same category thanks to their ability to ignore terrain which allows fast clears of a lot of maps when used correctly. For everyone else, unless they have a utility that matches the mounted units (ex. healers and dancers) or have a really good combat, they will not be as high as units with mounts. Additionally, CrutchCharacter units tend to outdo MagikarpPower units, due to the former being seen as more reliable and efficient - after all, would you rather work your butt off for an overpowered unit, or spend no effort for a serviceable one?
** Character who sit in God Tiers are generally those who influence the game to a much bigger extent than the rest of the cast, such as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Caeda and Lena]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Sigurd]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Marcus]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Seth]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Titania, Jill, and Marcia]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Haar]], and then there's [[GameBreaker Robin]] -- the PlayerCharacter from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]''.

* TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}, D&D 3.5e's SpiritualSuccessor, strives to make all characters much more balanced, with limited success. All classes received upgrades, but low tier 3.5 classes received more extensive rewrites while powerful 3.5 classes only received minor enhancements to make them more fun to play along with some nerfs to the most well-known exploits. A good example is that the Wizard, a top tier character, received new abilities which are hardly worth a mention and had many metamagic feats nerfed, while the Paladin, a tier 5, had its trademark Smite Evil boosted into a permanent buff against the designated target, its Lay on Hands ability was boosted to be far more useful as a source of healing and status removal, and its other abilities were generally enhanced, pushing it up into Tier 4. The overall balance of the game is unchanged, however, and competent casters can still break the universe in half while fighter-type characters still tend to lack any versatility outside combat.

* 3.5e successor TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} strives to make all characters much more balanced, with limited success. All classes received upgrades, but low tier 3.5 classes received more extensive rewrites while powerful 3.5 classes only received minor enhancements to make them more fun to play along with some nerfs to the most well-known exploits. A good example is that the Wizard, a top tier character, received new abilities which are hardly worth a mention and had many metamagic feats nerfed, while the Paladin, a tier 5, had its trademark Smite Evil boosted into a permanent buff against the designated target, its Lay on Hands ability was boosted to be far more useful as a source of healing and status removal, and its other abilities were generally enhanced, pushing it up into Tier 4. The overall balance of the game is unchanged, however, and competent casters can still break the universe in half while fighter-type characters still tend to lack any versatility outside combat.

** The arcade mode in the first three games had an explicit series of tiers. They were Class C for compact sedans, Class B high-power sedans, Class A sports cars, and [[RankInflation Class S]] supercars (in GT2) or racing cars (in GT3).

* '''Mid Tier''': The "[[TheRedMage middle of]] [[JackOfAllTrades the road" guys. They are usually here because they have an advantage over at least one Top or God Tier character, but have too many flaws to be used effectively elsewhere. Alternately, [[JackOfAllStats they have no glaring weaknesses compared to the lower tiers or any solid advantages over the higher ones]].

Sometimes the tiers get shaken up due to metagame shifts, and characters that were once below-average can become more useful. However, the chances of this phenomenon occurring diminish if no new content is added to the game. Said new content usually came in the form of [[CapcomSequelStagnation numerous]] {{Updated Re-release}}s (the most (in)famous of which being the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' series of games), game updates, and straight up sequels.

Sometimes the tiers get shaken up due to metagame shifts, and characters that were once below-average can become more useful. However, the chances of this phenomenon occurring diminish if no new content is added to the game. Said new content usually came in the form of [[CapcomSequelStagnation numerous]] {{UpdatedRerelease}}s (the most (in)famous of which being the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' series of games), game updates, and straight up sequels.

* '''God Tier''': Characters that are ridiculously good, to the point that [[GameBreaker it is almost unfair to use them]]. Most likely some sort of [[SecretCharacter secret]] [[ThatOneBoss boss character]] that was [[PurposefullyOverpowered not meant to be used in normal competitive play]]. There have been very few games with characters that could be truly considered to belong in this tier, and they are probably banned due to over-centralizing the {{metagame}}. These tiers can even have affectionate ([[TierInducedScrappy or not-so-affectionate]]) [[FanNickname nicknames for one or more specific characters belonging in this tier]], such as "[[MarvelVsCapcom2 The Four Gods]]" for example.

* '''Bottom Tier''': {{Joke Character}}s, and those who are just bad. They ''may'' have an advantage over someone in Top or even Mid Tier, but outside of [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman that specific situation]], be prepared to have extreme difficulty using a Bottom Tier character in high-level play. Like God Tier, these tiers can also have affectionate ([[TierInducedScrappy or not-so-affectionate]]) [[FanNickname nicknames for one or more specific characters belonging in this tier]], such as "[[MarvelVsCapcom2 Roll Tier]]" for example.

So the game's been out for a while. It's been beaten and [[NewGamePlus re-beaten]]. The secrets have all been discovered, the items have all been [[HundredPercentCompletion collected]], the EasterEgg has been unearthed, and the [[UrbanLegendOfZelda ridiculous rumors]] have been debunked. For all intents and purposes, the game is solved. That means there's only one thing left to do...

...That's right. It's time to get on the Internet and argue about which characters are the best.

It seems inevitable when you've got a game with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: the time will come when the only thing left is to try and figure out whether [[VideoGame/FireEmblem Lowen's]] early joining time on Eliwood/Hector mode and slighty higher base stats make up compared to a Lyn mode trained Paladin!Sain or Kent. It can be a polite discussion or a FlameWar; a debate of logic and reason or a contest to see who can stick their fingers in their ears the longest. It usually gives birth to legions of {{Scrub}}s and StopHavingFunGuys. If the game happens to have a competitive scene, expect even more of this.

The characters are usually divided into rough levels of ability or "tiers", from which the trope takes its name. Those tiers frequently look something like this:
* '''God Tier''': Characters that are ridiculously good, to the point that [[GameBreaker it is almost unfair to use them]]. Most likely some sort of secret boss character that was not meant to be used in normal competitive play. There have been very few games with characters that could be considered to be in this tier, and they are probably banned due to overcentralizing the metagame.
* '''Top Tier''': Incredibly good characters that are still overpowered, but less so than those in God Tier, and not overpowered enough that they warrant a ban. When God tier is banned, these are the characters to choose. They are generally better than most non-God Tier characters, counter-picks notwithstanding.
* '''High Tier''': All-around good choices. Usually, they are here because they have advantages over Top or God tier characters and beat a lot of lower-tier characters. They have only a few weaknesses.
* '''Mid Tier''': The "[[TheRedMage average]]" guys. They are usually here because they have an advantage over at least one Top or God tier character, but have too many flaws to be used effectively elsewhere. Alternately, [[JackOfAllStats they have no glaring weaknesses compared to the lower tiers or any solid advantages over the higher ones.]]
* '''Low Tier''': You probably don't want to choose these. They could theoretically be useful, but choosing such a character is a suboptimal choice; take only if you need to fill space. Sometimes, these characters find a niche for their shock value, or because they work well against [[DidntSeeThatComing unprepared or surprised opponents]]. This sort of usage stops working once your opponents get wise, at which point you should return to a higher tier.
* '''Bottom Tier''': {{Joke Character}}s, and those who are just bad. They may have an advantage over someone in top tier, but outside of [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman that specific situation]], be prepared to have extreme difficulty using a Bottom Tier character in high-level play.
* '''No Tier''': Occasionally, a character is so poorly or unusually-designed that they BrokeTheRatingScale. This may be due to [[ConfusionFu highly variable]] or [[GoodBadBugs buggy]] skillsets, requiring strategies outside of the traditional metagame, having [[SituationalSword very strange matchups]], [[LuckBasedMission relying on luck]], or changing their focus and level of power heavily depending on certain factors. These characters tend to solidify into one of the above as the metagame evolves, or simply get banned for their potential GameplayDerailment.

Sometimes a lower-tier character has a strangely favorable matchup against a much higher-tier character; we know this as the AntiMetagameCharacter. When players choose this type of character in response to their opponent's choice (often after they lose, since tournaments commonly have the winner pick first), it's called a '''counterpick'''.

Sometimes the tiers get shaken up due to {{Metagame}} shifts, and characters that were once below-average can become more useful. However, the chances of this phenomenon occurring diminish if no new content is added to the game.

Depending on the game, tiers may not be as pivotal as they seem or are portrayed to be (indeed, some games are closely balanced enough that the tiers are only rated as a formality, ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' being one such example); most often, they exist, but are generally less important than than the skill/advantages of a particular playstyle or adaptive player. Which, of course, leads to discussion for which playstyle is best.

All of the above notwithstanding, some players simply don't give a damn about this trope and will simply use whichever characters they want. It can also be a sort of SelfImposedChallenge. After all, anybody can probably beat the game with enough practice if they're using a God-tier character. Beating it while using a Low- or Bottom-Tier character is a BraggingRightsReward in and of itself.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Driving Game]]
* Although the ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'' games don't explicitly use Car Tiers, their cars can be pretty much divided into snail-slow subcompacts, slow sedans, medium sports cars, fast supercars, super-fast JGTC racing cars, lightning-fast Le Mans racers, and the [[TitleDrop Polyphony Formula Gran Turismo]].
** The arcade mode in the first three games had an explicit series of tiers. They were Class C for compact sedans, Class B high-power sedans, Class A sports cars, and [[RankInflation Class S]] supercars (in GT2) or racing cars (in GT3).
* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: Carbon''
** The game divides its cars into three tiers. The first tier is made of cars such as the Mazdaspeed 3 or the Chrysler 300C, the second tier includes the Dodge Charger and the Lotus Europa, while the third tier includes ''the Dodge Viper and the Lamborghini Murciélago''
** The game also actively enforces the tiers by denying lower-tiered cars performance upgrades that would put them on par with higher-tiered cars, a sharp contrast from the ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground Underground]]'' games and ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' which allowed the likes of the Chevrolet Cobalt to, once upgraded, compete with (and even surpass) a Porsche Carerra GT.
** In ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed Hot Pursuit 2'', the PC version has classes, in [=PS2=] you can tell the tier by the police car that chases you, though the corvette tier, featuring cars from the Corvette Z06 all the way to the Ferrari F50 was wider than the actual tier wherein players of a similar ability would have a decent chance to win (excluding unlucky mishaps).
** ''Need for Speed: Rivals'' has a subtle tier system based on the heat level they start off when leaving a hideout as racer or the max level of pursuit tech they can mount. An early game 2015 Mustang starts at heat 1 and only mounts level 1 pursuit tech while an end game Ferrari Enzo starts at heat level 4 and can mount any pursuit tech at level 4. This is more apparent in friends only or offline play.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Forza}}'' series simultaneously adheres to this trope and subverts it: every car is designated a "performance index", complete with a corresponding tier denoted by a letter grade, but most low-tier cars can be upgraded enough to compete with higher tiers. The Performance Index is calculated from an algorithm that rates the average flying lap time of the vehicle on an imaginary track; so it's possible for cars with a low PI (but tuned to a specific track type) to beat cars with a much higher PI.
* ''VideoGame/MarioKart''
** ''Mario Kart: Wii'' gives each character has a subtle boost in certain stats like Speed and Drift. Players have already begun to make a tier list based on who has the biggest Speed bonus, etc. While the differences do not really make much of a difference in a VS race, some people will still use the top rated characters anyway.
** This tier system is much more apparent in ''VideoGame/MarioKart DS'', because of the drift system. Characters like Yoshi got huge boosts off drifts and would be relentlessly used online by anyone who could snake well. Drifting in Mario Kart Wii was toned down because of general dislike of the system.
** ''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.
** In ''Mario Kart 8'', the super-heavyweights (Bowser, Dry Bowser, Morton, Wario, and large Miis) have the highest speed stat of any racers in the game, and you'll rarely find a world record time that doesn't use one of those five.
* Arcade racing games VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage and VideoGame/WanganMidnight 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.
* ''VideoGame/{{Blur}}'' has (from slowest to fastest) classes D, C, B, and A. Differently-tuned versions of the same car can appear in different tiers; for example, the Nissan 350Z (D- and C-Class), Chevrolet Camaro (D-, C-, and A-Class), and Dodge Challenger [=SRT8=] (D-, B-, and A-Class).

[[folder:Role Playing Games]]

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has spawned lots of tier lists, the most popular can be found [[http://www.reignofgaming.net/tier-lists/solo-tier-list here]]. They're constantly being changed, cause every patch brings nerfs and buffs to certain characters. As such posting a tier list here would be kinda useless. Once in a while, low tier characters get "discovered" and end up in top tiers. Many agree that characters in lower tiers can still be effective, [[OvershadowedByAwesome maybe being less allrounder than the top tiers]].

[[folder:Non-gaming examples]]

* The counselors in ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th'' are easily divided up in terms of utility, and the game rewards ''speed'' over every other trait they might have. That, by itself, puts Mark and Crissy right at the top of the list, with Laura trailing behind them since she can't jump as high. George, Paul and Debbie will count themselves fortunate to be used by any players who aren't specifically making a point to actually use each counselor's individual strengths, or who aren't playing a SelfImposedChallenge.

* With the numerous amounts of characters players have access to in the ''VideoGame/KisekiSeries'', chances are that this trope comes into play.

Many {{Driving Game}}s have their cars divided into slow, medium, fast, and lightning fast, with the last one usually being a secret tier.

* '''God Tier''': Characters that are ridiculously good, to the point that it is almost unfair to use them. Most likely some sort of secret boss character that was not meant to be used in normal competitive play. There have been very few games with characters that could be considered to be in this tier, and they are probably [[GameBreaker banned.]]

* '''High Tier''': All around good choices. Usually, they are here because they have advantages over Top or God tier characters and beat a lot of lower-tier characters. They have only a few weaknesses.

* '''Low Tier''': You probably don't want to choose these. They could theoretically be useful, but choosing such a character is a suboptimal choice; take only if you need to fill space. Sometimes, these characters find a niche for their shock value, or because they work well against unprepared or surprised opponents. This sort of usage stops working once your opponents get wise, at which point you should return to a higher tier.

** The problem with ''Capcom vs. SNK'' was that how the tier were codified had nothing to do with how strong the characters actually were in competitive play. Nakoruru was the strongest character in the game bar none, yet she was only Ratio 2.
* Tiers are completely evident in nearly every single Anime/DragonBallZ game.
** The [[VideoGame/DragonballZBudokaiTenkaichi Tenkaichi]] and Raging Blast series are notorious for their tiers (which is somewhat expected with over 100 characters).

** The Raging Blast God Tier features completely broken characters, including Kid Buu, Super Saiyan 2 Gohan, Super Gogeta, and Super Vegito. Each has ridiculous stats and can easily chain massive combos.

** ''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]]

* The ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' series tends to have fairly atypical tier rankings. It's generally agreed that the "bottom-tier" characters in the game come off more as balanced mid-tiers (Andy, Olaf), with the next step up being characters who feel noticeably stronger than those (Sami, Eagle), then characters who are [[GameBreaker pretty much broken]] (Colin, Kanbei), and then characters [[PurposefullyOverpowered who might be fair in a two-on-one game]] (Sturm, Hachi). The exceptions are Flak and Jugger, who are basically {{Joke Character}}s.