My personal Smash 4 tier list

So, here’s my personal Super Smash Bros. 4 tier list. This was originally posted on Smash Amino, which is why I say things like, “What’s up Amino” and such.

G tier
What’s up Amino? It’s Matt, and today I’m going to begin to go over my personal tier list for Smash 4. I ranked all 58 characters, which means I am including Lucina, Dark Pit, and the Mii Fighters. I say this because I’ve noticed that people are leaving them out of their tier lists for various reasons. I’m ranking them because I feel like it. With that out of the way, let’s get started.

#58: JIGGLYPUFF
Without a doubt in my mind, Jigglypuff is the worst character in Smash 4. In Melee, Jigglypuff’s moves all chained very nicely into each other. But enough comparing apples to oranges. Now, Jiggs has too much knockback on some moves and not enough on others (Cough) Rest (Cough). She also has almost no range on any of her attacks. Her grab and throws are basically useless. Rest was heavily nerfed from Melee to Brawl, and only slightly buffed in Smash 4. Jiggs is the lightest character in the game (she is the Balloon Pokemon after all), which means her survivability is trash. Rest can kill around 70% (as early as 40% on another Jigglypuff), but that’s pretty much only useful on the last stock on stage, because otherwise you’ll either fall to your death if you do it offstage or you’ll get punished if your opponent gets a Blast KO and they have a stock left. And if you’re Jigglypuff, you get punished and you die. Jiggs hasn’t been buffed or changed at all since the release of Smash 4, leaving many people to wonder what their priorities are when it comes to balancing. Oh wait. They’re too busy nerfing the top tiers. Can we talk about that for a second? Characters like Jiggs and Dedede have been sitting there waiting for a buff, but instead they decide to nerf characters like Sheik and Diddy Kong. Why don’t you buff the low tiers and give them better tools instead of taking away top tiers’ tools? Honestly I’d rather play a game with 58 characters with good tools rather than 58 characters with tools that are just... meh. I’ll give credit where credit is due though. Jigglypuff is fun as heck to play with friends. Especially when you and two other friends play Jigglypuff in the same match. Rest is still pretty powerful. It’s just really risky now.

Oh yeah, did I mention you die from a shield break?

#57: MII SWORDFIGHTER
The Mii Swordfighter has very short range compared to all other swordfighters in the game. Their kill moves are pretty laggy, and is just a slow character overall. I don’t know much about Mii Swordfighter, but it seems like they’re pretty bad.

#56: MII GUNNER
Like the Mii Swordfighter, Mii Gunner has pretty bad mobility. Bottom 10 run speed, bottom 20 walking speed, bottom 25 in fall speed. Mii Gunner has a variety of projectiles, meaning they’re countered pretty hard by characters like Rosalina and Villager. Their close range attacks have good knockback but a lot of endlag, which, when coupled with their run speed makes Mii Gunner a hard character to approach with.

#55: GANONDORF
My friend thinks that just because he’s good with Ganondorf, he’s low-mid tier. Well, I’m pretty decent with Ganondorf and Jigglypuff, but they’re just as bottom tier as they would be if I was bad with them. Every character has players that are really good with them. Just some are better than others, and some characters have better tools than others. Generally, superheavyweights have strong attacks that are super slow, and they are also slow themselves. Ganondorf is no exception. Moves like Warlock Punch and up tilt are some of the strongest kill moves in the game, but if you hit your opponent with them, that’s pretty much the end of their career. If you get hit by these moves, there is something verrrry wrong with your play. Since Ganondorf is so heavy and slow, he gets comboed really easily. Characters like Mario and Sheik can take him from 0 to infinity real quick.

#54: ZELDA
On the other side of the spectrum of The Legend of You Know Who characters, we have Zelda. Zelda has laggy moves, but if you’re good at making reads, you can actually pull off some really long combo strings. Zelda is one of the lightest characters in the game (um.... what’s her weight again?) which means she doesn’t get comboed as hard, but she dies pretty early. However, moves like Farore’s Wind, fair, and bair can finish off stocks with ease... Ok, scratch that. Moves like Farore’s Wind can finish off stocks with ease, and it’s a pretty good option out of shield from my experience. You have to hit the sweetspots of fair and bair for them to be any good. Kind of like Falcon’s knee. But Zelda’s frame data is pretty poor. Her jab is the slowest in the game, coming out on frame 11. Her frame data is why you need to rely on reads to start to string moves together. I would imagine because of this, Zelda takes a lot of work to master, because you need to learn every character’s options to start racking up damage.

#53: KING DEDEDE
King Dedede. Pretty bad character (relatively speaking), but fun as heck to play. Dedede’s Gordo acts as a kind of double-edged sword. On the one hand, if Dedede can catch his opponent off guard and prevent them from being able to dodge or hit it in time, it’ll do quite a bit of damage. On the other hand, it can be reflected right back at him. Like.... Really easily. Some safer ways to rack up damage are jab, forward tilt, neutral air, and forward air. Because of his hammer, his forward tilt especially has a lot of range and does respectable damage. Dedede can also string forward airs offstage to edgeguard his opponent to death. Jet Hammer kind of sucks because of how slow it is. Also recoil. Dedede’s recovery covers a lot of distance, what with him having 5 jumps and Super Dedede Jump at his disposal. Unfortunately, it’s pretty predictable, making it easy to gimp him. Dedede also suffers from the super heavyweight problems Ganondorf faces. Really easy to combo and slow moves. His forward smash is I think the slowest in the whole game. Bonus points though for having the best taunt in the game. (Crouch)

And that’ll do it for this part of my tier list series. Feel free to leave a comment telling me what I didn't cover about these characters and I’ll update this in the future. Alright, this is already 1100 words long... Holy crud. This is Matt, signing off.

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F tier
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to my tier list. Today we’re going to go over the F tier, which contains seven characters. Keep in mind, tier lists are partially opinion based, so my placements of characters may be slightly different from yours, but at the end of the day, tier lists are made to predict which character will do the best in tournament. So this can’t be entirely opinion based. I do need to look at some facts. I couldn’t put, say, Bayonetta or Cloud in the low tier, since they have very solid tools and results. Spoilers, but... Not really. So last time we left off with King Dedede, and today we’re going to pick up with another of his kind.

#52: CHARIZARD
Another superheavyweight, Charizard struggles with many of the same problems Ganondorf and King Dedede do. But at the same time, because of how heavy he is, he's more difficult to kill, which I realize I forgot to mention in the last blog with the others. Now I’m a huge fan of IntroSpecktive, and he’s shown me and thousands of others like me what the Zard can do. Unfortunately, the same can be said for almost every character in the game (aside from I suppose the Mii Fighters, because a lot of people were probably discouraged from maining them after they and customs were banned). One glaring weakness of Charizard’s is the fact that one of, if not his strongest move, Flare Blitz, has recoil. 5% if it misses or you’re just using it to recover, and a whopping 10% if it hits, which is even more than it would deal in Pokemon compared to how much damage it deals. Flare Blitz does 19%. You know what else deals 19%? Cross Slash. Pretty much a completely safe move with few to no drawbacks. Sure, you could use your midair jumps and Fly to recover high instead of going straight for the ledge with Flare Blitz, but that leaves you open to a punish. What if they had Fire Blast as his side special, and as he uses it, he gains horizontal momentum in midair? That wouldn’t have any recoil, and I don’t think Sakurai and the Smash crew are afraid to change up moves a little bit. For example, Rest doesn’t even do damage in Pokemon, instead healing the user fully and healing status conditions, but they sleep for two turns. You could take advantage and put Sleep Talk on your Pokemon as well, but then you have a chance of getting Rest and it failing as a result, making Rest a risky move in both... Ok, this is getting off topic. Anyways, my point is I think if Rest can do damage in Smash, Fire Blast can give a horizontal momentum boost in midair. I think that would be a great buff for Charizard in the next Smash game. Anyways, Charizard does have some good combos to rack up damage at low percents. Down throw can combo into nair or fair at low percents. Up throw became a kill throw when he got buffed. Maybe in a game where only low tiers existed and Fire Blast was his side special, Charizard would fare a lot better. Let’s see if a Japanese Charizard main comes out of nowhere, travels to the US, and comes in top 3 at a major. Kinda like Abadango and Kamemushi... er... Kameme. Threw me off when I found out he changed his tag.

#51: DUCK HUNT
There aren’t many Duck Hunt mains, and none that I know of. Duck Hunt is the kind of character who will build a wall by using all of their special moves, namely neutral, down, and side specials. So now you have an explosive can, a frisbee, and a gunman hunting you down. Unfortunately, outside of the can, Duck Hunt can’t really kill. Their smash attacks are laggy, and I don’t think they have a kill throw. OK, real question. If Villager pockets Duck Hunt’s can, does that mean they can’t use it until the Pocket empties itself or Villager releases it like Diddy Kong’s banana? Let me know down in the comments below.

I’m sorry. This is kind of badly researched.

#50: SAMUS
Samus is an... odd mix of attributes. She’s a heavyweight, yet she’s a floaty character. So that means that combos like [[Mario and Zero Suit Samus’s up air to up B strings are especially effective, because they don’t have to work as hard to get her high enough to kill her.... at least that’s what I think her weight and fall speed mean on paper. Someone please let me know in the comments. Samus is another character that relies on projectiles, but not quite as much as Duck Hunt. Samus has the longest grab range in the game, and she can get a few follow-ups out of her down throw.

#49: LITTLE MAC
If we were basing this off of For Glory results, Little Mac would be much higher than this. This is because of For Glory’s rules and how much he benefits from them. Little Mac does best on Final Destination and omega form stages, because he doesn’t have to worry about his opponent retreating to platforms and him having to chase them down. Because as soon as Little Mac leaves the ground in center stage, he’s in for a bad time. His ground movement and frame data are amazing, and coupled with the lag For Glory often has, he’s going to rack up a lot of wins. His jab comes out on frame 1, forward smash on frame 10, the list goes on. But as soon as you use a tournament ruleset, you can ban Final Destination and you’re pretty much all set. And that’s Little Mac’s biggest weakness. Smash characters are designed to be based off of how they were in their home games. Little Mac is a boxer, so there’s not much reason for him to be jumping all over the ring. This tremendously hurts Little Mac’s competitive viability, because of how much time characters spend in the air. Honestly with how bad his air game is, I think it would have been a smart move to somewhat nerf his ground game but buff his air game to make him a well-rounded fighter, even though that would go against the whole... Y’know, boxing thing. Oh yeah and his recovery is garbage.

#48: PALUTENA
So when Prince Ramen beat ZeRo at CEO 2016, I was legitimately surprised and impressed. And it definitely made me think much more highly of Palutena. Honestly I would have put Palutena in the bottom tier if you asked me about this before CEO. But I can’t put her much higher than this, because when you play Palutena, the B button is pretty much useless... Until you have to teleport. Other than that, Autoreticle and Counter are pretty bad moves. Her normal attacks are pretty good, and she has a few follow-ups out of grabs. But then again, so does almost everyone else in this game. Her up smash has amazing vertical range, the best in the entire game for an up smash (Villager’s forward smash has more vertical range, which is infinite). Her up air (due to having a knockback growth of 152) can also be used to kill. Who knows, maybe we’ll see Palutena’s metagame evolve and she’ll rise through the ranks, but as for right now, I don’t see her being much higher than this.

#47: ROY
Of the swordfighters that are actually legal in tournaments, Roy is considered among the worst. His biggest weakness is that he needs to get dangerously close to his opponent to land the sweetspots of his attacks, unlike Marth, who, of course, has the tipper. Marth’s tipper greatly benefits him because of how far away the disjoint from the sword is. With the way Roy’s sword works, they might as well have made the sweetspots his hands. However, Roy has some very powerful moves up his sleeve if he can get close enough. His forward smash is among the strongest in the game when it hits at the hilt. Roy also has one of the strongest counters in the game. Unfortunately, counters are a risky move to use in competitive play, because a good opponent will wait out the counter, then punish. This means Roy rarely gets a chance to take advantage of one of his stronger tools. Roy also has some combos off of forward and down throws. When he was released as DLC, Roy was considered to be possibly one of the best characters in the game, and ZeRo said that he may even pull him out in a tournament. As time went on, it became more and more clear that it would be a bad move to do so, especially against characters with good spacing tools.

#46: BOWSER JR.
So Tweek dropped Bowser Jr. upon the release of Cloud, but I do think he’s a pretty decent character. He has a ton of combos and kill setups using moves like Mechakoopa and Abandon Ship! Generally, I really like characters with items for down specials, which is why I main Toon Link. Bowser Jr. has above average aerial mobility for a heavyweight, and he can get around on the ground using Clown Kart Dash. Unfortunately, when used to recover, Abandon Ship can be easily gimped. He also doesn’t have all that many options, so he is pretty predictable. Who knows, maybe Junior can climb up the list as this game goes on.

Ok... now I sound like I don’t know what I’m talking about. Any answers to the questions I ask in this series are greatly appreciated. Next time I get around to doing a tier list, I’ll be sure to take them into consideration and make more informed decisions on where each character should be placed and why. Well, thanks for checking out part 2 of my tier list. I’ll be trying to get all 8 parts out by the end of next week.

E Tier
What’s going on Amino, it’s Matt, and welcome back to my tier list series. So over the past few days I’ve been pumping out a ton of words onto Google Docs, but I realize that I forgot to cover some things. So let’s see if this part will be any better. Today we’re going to go over my E tier, which contains seven characters, just like the F tier. Without further ado, let’s begin.

#45: DR. MARIO
Now even though I have Doc as a low tier (and 90% of people see Mario Classic as a top tier, you’ll find out whether I’m part of that 90% in a few days), I still think he’s a darn good character. Almost every character in this game can be amazing when you put them in the right hands (like Nairo’s). I don’t remember what video I saw this on or who said it, but someone in some comment section on some shelf of the YouTube library said not to think of Dr. Mario as a WEAKER Mario, but as a weaker MARIO. In other words, don’t think of him as a weak character, but think of him as a slightly toned down Mario. A slightly toned down Mario is still going to be a pretty good fighter. Dr. Mario’s attacks are stronger than Mario’s, but to compensate, he’s a bit slower. Which apparently is because his medical degree weighs him down.... Yeah, I’m not buying that. What I would buy is that Mario spent so much time in the doctor’s office, he didn’t have enough time to make sure he was able to run as fast as he could before, since he had to focus on... Y’know, doctor things. I don’t know what I’m talking about. But enough theorization, let’s look at some cold hard facts. Doc has significantly fewer combos than Mario since all his moves do more damage and knockback. Mario’s moves do just enough that his moves are easy to string together and hard to escape, such as his long up tilt strings. Doc also has lower jumps than Mario, and his Super Jump Punch doesn’t go as high. Sure, he has Dr. Tornado too, but if you don’t train your tricep muscles to mash fast enough, you’ll be in for a bad time. Plus that move is pretty slow, which makes it easy to gimp and/or punish. They also nerfed Mario’s cape (as far as aerial momentum goes, but its damage was buffed), changed its color, and gave it a different name. I present to you.... the Super Sheet. It’s every bit as good for edgeguarding as Mario’s cape, but you’d better stay close to the stage, otherwise you’re going to have a bad time making it back. Because of the damage and knockback buffs Dr. Mario has, he has more kill power, but because of his lack of combos compared to Mario, he has a harder time getting to kill percents. And depending on where you are on the stage, the knockback angle on up smash can actually make it kill later than Mario’s. If Doc players can stay on stage and not play too close to the edge, he can be a force to be reckoned with.

#44: LINK
Since I main Toon Link, I’m mostly going to compare Big Link to him and see why Link will probably be overshadowed by someone half his size for a long time. First, bombs. Both characters can use their bombs to set up grabs. Only thing is, Toon Link can do a lot more out of bombs than Big Link, because of his speed and ability to use jump cancel tossing to lead into a variety of combos, including bomb to fair, which is a kill confirm. If Link was faster, he could do things like this and more. Next up, boomerangs. Link’s Gale Boomerang loses its hitbox on the way back to him, leaving only a windbox. Toon Link’s Boomerang on the other hand has a hitbox during the entire move, so when the boomerang comes back to him and it hits his opponent, he can lead into a variety of things, including bombs and aerials. Link’s arrows travel further than Toon Link’s, and do... I think the same damage, I’m not sure. Someone please tell me in the comments. So arrows can be used for a little chip damage if Link can’t set up a grab. Grabs is one place where Link and Toon Link go about even. Toon Link has absolutely no combos out of his grab, but Link can do down throw into up tilt, and then potentially go for more follow ups if he can read his opponent and what they’re going to do. I say they go even, however, because Toon Link has a kill throw in back throw. Link has more multi-hitting moves than Toon Link, which makes it easier to rack up damage. But since he’s so slow, it’s a bit more of a drag. Toon Link can run in with a bomb, get a follow up, and retreat rather quickly. Overall, I see Toon Link as a much better version of Big Link, but don’t get me wrong, Link can do some pretty neat things.

#43: SHULK
Let’s address the elephant in the room first of all. Shulk’s frame data sucks. His fastest attack comes out on frame 5. One time, my friend said he watched... I think it was SwordofSeals, a Mario Kart Wii player, play Smash 4 on stream and he played Shulk. He said he used a lot of back airs, and the move seemed to come out pretty fast. Then I told said friend that back air comes out on frame 18. Pretty much all of Shulk’s aerials also have a lot of landing lag. If only there was a Monado Art that could improve frame data. Let’s actually talk about Monado Arts for a second. Other than speeding up his frame data, Shulk has an art for almost every purpose. Jump is good for recovery, Speed allows for quicker, more aggressive play, Shield vastly improves his defense, Buster allows him to rack up damage real quick, and Smash can net him the kill. Unfortunately all of these are double-edged swords. With Smash active, for example, Shulk doesn’t only deal more knockback, but he also takes more himself. Use with caution. Regardless, the Monado Arts are a great tool when used properly. Shulk mains are extremely dedicated to the character, and they’ve come up with techs like the MALLC and MADC, which stand for Monado Art Landing Lag Cancel and Monado Art Dash Cancel respectively. If this dedication keeps up, I bet Shulk will climb up the tier list just like Mega Man and Mewtwo did. Shulk also has the longest range out of any character in the game, thanks to his Monado, so if spaced properly, Shulk’s moves can be safe even though they’re slow as a superheavy’s.

#42: ROBIN
Now I don’t know too much about Robin, but what I do know is that he/she is a highly rewarding character to master. I also know that most Robin mains would complete that last sentence with the word she. What is it with Smash players always choosing the female variant of a character over the male? Oh well. Honestly I can’t really say much about this character, because I don’t know all the math behind tomes and the Levin and Bronze Swords, but for right now, Imma keep Robin right here. Maybe as I learn more about them, they’ll be higher on future tier lists of mine.

#41: OLIMAR
Olimar mains are few and far between, and almost all of his play style revolves around Pikmin. Unfortunately, he can only carry 3 at a time now, down from 6 in Brawl. He uses his Pikmin for his grab, side special, smash attacks, and some aerials, and they count as projectiles, so I’d imagine characters with reflectors and other means of dealing with projectiles give Olimar a hard time. I’d imagine Olimar has a somewhat steep difficulty curve and high skill ceiling because of all the different possible combinations of Pikmin... er... permutations of Pikmin, and which ones are the best for Olimar to have on deck.

#40: R.O.B.
R.O.B. is another character I don’t know too much about. I know that he’s a heavy so he suffers from general heavyweight problems, but isn’t killed easily to compensate. He can use down throw into up air as a kill confirm or to rack up damage at low percents. Beep. Boop. He’s pretty mobile for a heavyweight, which is definitely a good thing. Robo Beam and Gyro are pretty good projectiles, and he has a kil throw in up throw. Like other heavies, R.O.B. has some mains that are doing great things with him, but there are a lot of characters who can do a lot more things than him.

#39: MR. GAME AND WATCH
Or is it Mr. Game & Watch? I forget. Oh well. Game and Watch is one of the characters who exemplifies what Smash Bros. is about the best. And that’s because of one iconic move, Judge. As soon as you land that game-winning 9, you feel like the king of the world. Unfortunately, you’ll only get that 1 in 9 times, and you have the same chance of getting an awesome game winning kill as you do taking 12% recoil, which may discourage some from using the move. This recoil especially hurts Game and Watch because of how light he is. He’s the 3rd lightest character in the game, so he’s going to go down pretty early. Sometimes I wonder why some of the things in Smash have been designed the way they are. Charizard takes 10% recoil at the maximum with Flare Blitz. He can actually benefit from this because of how much rage helps him. Game and Watch takes 2% more and that hurts him much more than it helps. He does have other useful tools, like up air for a windbox, down throw to set up combos, and more.

Aaaand that’s going to do it for part 3 of my tier list series. Leave a comment if I left something you feel is important out and I’ll put it in next time I make a tier list. This is Matt, signing off.

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D Tier
Wow, my document with all my tier list talk is on its 9th page.... Hello everyone, it’s Matt, and welcome back to my tier list series. Today we’re going to be taking a look at the D tier, which, once again, has seven characters. Don’t worry, the next two tiers have ten each, so this won’t be just a series where I go over seven characters at a time. Without further ado, let’s get into #38.

#38: WII FIT TRAINER
So one time on the Speedsolving forum, I met a Wii Fit main, and we played some games. He showed me the wonderful things Wii Fit Trainer can do. Cancelling Header] so the [[soccer ball appears but you don’t headbutt it is a good tool. Wii Fit’s offstage game is amazing if you play him/her right. Now the guy I played didn’t use a lot of neutral airs, but after some experimenting with the character afterwards, I found that it can be really useful for combos at mid percents. And of course, there’s the death combo that My Smash Corner showed off. Sun Salutation is one of the better chargeable projectiles in the game, because you heal 2% every time you fully charge and use one, which could be the difference between life and death. Plus you also have Deep Breathing at your disposal. I think Wii Fit is the only character in the game with multiple healing moves. Don’t quote me on that. Unfortunately, Wii Fit’s hitboxes are kind of... off, and they also don’t have much range. Plus, unless you can get Deep Breathing, Wii Fit struggles to get a kill. Wii Fit is tied with Bowser Jr. for 46th place on the official tier list, but I think that he/she is a bit higher and could continue to climb, maybe into top 30.

#37: MII BRAWLER
OK, so I cheated a bit here because I have good experiences with a Mii Brawler I made of a favorite YouTuber of mine named DGCubes. I gave him custom equipment to increase his attack and speed, and it was amazing using that Brawler. But even without equipment, the small Mii Brawler can be amazing with the right custom moves. Check out ESAM’s video about the best character in Smash 4 and you’ll see what I mean. I’m going to try that build sometime and see how I do with them. Offline of course, unfortunately, because you can’t take Mii Fighters to For Glory or anything. Anyways, the Mii Brawler, when set up correctly, has good combos, good mobility, and good kill power. Unfortunately, they don’t have too much range outside of Shot Put, and many people probably dropped Mii Fighters after they were banned.

#36: PAC-MAN
Whenever I see someone put Pac-Man into the bottom tier, I just... don’t get it. Just because you don’t understand how a character works doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bottom tier. Tier lists aren’t made to represent how well you do with a character and how biased you are towards or against a certain character. They’re made to represent a character’s viability in a tournament setting under a certain rule set. Unfortunately for Pac-Man, Abadango dropped him in favor of Mewtwo, which is a pretty huge blow. Pac-Man relies heavily on projectiles in his Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant. But like some other things I’ve mentioned, these can be double-edged swords if Pac-Man isn’t careful. Bonus Fruits can be caught like Link’s bombs or Peach’s turnips, then used against him. His hydrant can be knocked out of the ground by either him or his opponent, so when he drops one, he’ll probably want to stay as close to it as possible, attack it a bit so it goes flying, and hit his opponent, potentially killing them. Pac-Man’s recovery is one of the easiest to gimp, because you can simply wait for him to jump off his trampoline twice, you go down and hit it for a third time, and then Pac-Man will just fall through to his death. Also his grab sucks.

#35: KIRBY
Honestly I think Kirby is a lot better than people give him credit for. He has a strong combo game with starters like down air and forward throw (which can true combo into a forward air then a forward tilt on heavyweights like DK), and depending on his opponent, he can gain new combos by copying their neutral special. Some especially good ones are Villager’s pocket, Shulk’s Monado Arts, and Pac-Man’s Bonus Fruits. Kirby’s cons, however, include that he doesn’t have much range, due to him not having very long limbs.... HOW IS THIS PINK PUFFBALL A SOMEWHAT DECENT FIGHTER? He does have 6 jumps, but if you catch him with none left offstage, he’s probably not going to recover. Kirby is also a lightweight, so he’ll be killed early, but he has an easier time escaping combos. He does have some pretty good matchups against certain top tiers, which is definitely a plus. Kirby seems to appeal to a younger audience for some reason, and casual players think he’s overpowered, but in the grand scheme of things, he’s just around average.

#34: FALCO
Here’s another character I think is much better than people say he is. Falco has a nice combo game, a reflector, and some quick moves. Jab comes out on frame 2 and nair on frame 3, giving him a nice escape option out of combos while he’s airborne and grounded. This is especially useful because he has one of the fastest fall speeds in the game, which means it’s easier to string hits together on him. However, Falco is seen as a worse version of Fox for some good reasons. Fire Bird doesn’t cover as much distance as Fire Fox, Falco is considerably slower than Fox, and his lasers have been considerably nerfed, pretty much destroying his neutral game. Falco’s combo game is easier to pull off in my opinion, so he’s my preferred space.

#33: WARIO
Wario has some interesting attributes and tricks up his sleeve. There are many ways to set up a Wario Waft, which is one of the strongest kill moves in the game. At the ledge, there are several ways to get a quick stage spike, and on stage, Wario has his ways. My Smash Corner has two videos about the Waft if you want to learn all the setups. Wario is a heavyweight, yet he has air mobility that rivals that of Jigglypuff. Wario has two moves that have a 100% chance of making the opponent trip: the late hit of dash attack and an uncharged Waft. Late dash attack is especially useful, because Wario can follow up with almost anything he wants. His neutral air has two hitboxes... for some reason. Since Wario doesn’t have much range or a projectile, he must first find an opening before he can start to deal damage, and this can be difficult to do.

#32: BOWSER
Bowser received a bevy of buffs in the transition from Brawl to Smash 4. He’s now an overall much faster character with good frame data for a heavyweight. However, being the heaviest character in the game, Bowser will get comboed harder than almost everyone else. Bowser does have some delicious combos out of up throw, and forward air can be used repeatedly to push his opponents off stage. Bowser Bomb breaks shields in one hit. Flying Slam is a great kill move to make your opponent want to smash their controller. Sacrificial KOs are like that. These factors make Bowser one of the best heavyweights in the game.

And that’ll do it for part 4 of my tier list. Next time we’ll be looking at the C tier, where we have ten characters to look at. This is Matt, signing off.

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Welcome back, gentlepeople, to my personal tier list series. This is going to be a long one, because we’re going to be looking at 10 characters, where before we looked at 6-7 per blog. So this is going to be a long one. Without further ado, welcome to part 5 of my tier list.

#31: PEACH
Peach is a very technical character. She has a very unique attribute in her float, which can be combined with aerial attacks. If you cancel her float, you can also throw her turnips in midair. Her combo game relies heavily on her turnips, as they can lead into many true follow-ups. I’ve never tried to pull this off in an actual match, but one example is throwing a turnip up while you’re close to your opponent, down tilt, and then up tilt. The turnip will hit them on its way down as they’re in hitstun from the up tilt, and you’ve got yourself 20% damage. This works at low percents, but I haven’t tested it on anyone other than Donkey Kong. Anyone willing to test this? Peach’s counter, Toad, is one of the worst in the game, but really you shouldn’t be throwing out counters all the time because of how punishable they are, so this isn’t too bad of a flaw. Peach has some nice kill moves in up B, back air, and forward smash (of which there are 3 variations, each with different properties). But again, since Peach relies on projectiles for combos, she can get countered by characters like Villager, Mario, and Rosalina.

#30: DONKEY KONG
Of the five superheavyweights in this game, I think DK is the best, with Bowser being a close second. Donkey Kong and Bowser both received speed buffs for Smash 4, and both have solid combos and kill moves. I’m giving DK the slight edge though, because his cargo throw has amazing combo and kill potential. Cargo up throw can lead into moves like neutral air, up air, and Giant Punch, and cargo down throw can be used offstage for a stage spike. As a superheavyweight, DK’s moves obviously deal above average damage and knockback. But since he’s one of the faster heavyweights, he can rack up some serious damage using combos. Players like DKWill and Larry Lurr have shown what DK can do. For once, a game where the heavies aren’t complete trash! Smash 4 is awesome.

#29: LUCARIO
Lucario is another character Smash Bros. is really all about. His aura mechanic makes him one of the most unique characters in the game. The more damage he’s taken, the more damage and knockback his moves do. At 0%, Lucario is pretty bad, but if Lucario were at max power the whole time, he would easily be top tier. ZeRo thinks he’s top tier as is, but I wouldn’t go that far yet. When you play Lucario, you have to know when to stop letting your opponent get in free hits and start playing it safe. If Lucario doesn’t take any damage, he’s going to have a bit of trouble killing. With rage on top of aura, Lucario’s attacks can potentially do 3.75x more damage and knockback at max power compared to 0%. Honestly I think because Lucario can be amazing at high percents but horrible at low percents, this is the point on the tier list where he’s going to stay for a while in my mind.

#28, #27: DARK PIT, PIT
Let’s just talk about both of these characters at the same time. Dark Pit and Pit have almost identical movesets, with just three differences between the two. Dark Pit’s forward tilt has higher knockback growth and his side special, Electroshock Arm has more kill power than Pit’s Upperdash Arm. However, Pit’s arrows have more maneuverability than Dark Pit’s by a long shot, but Dark Pit’s do marginally more damage. For now, I think if arrows are used properly, Pit has the slight edge over his clone. Pit’s Upperdash Arm is also a pretty decent kill option. Outside of their side specials, both characters have good kill options, like forward and up smash. They also both have good combo games, and are two of the most well-rounded characters overall in the game. So like Lucario, I do think they belong in the middle of the cast.

#26: IKE
We all have our opinions, and mine include that Ike is a somewhat underrated character. The official tier list ranks him as 35th best in the game, but here we are, nine spots higher. Ike is one of the strongest characters in the game, and also has a decent combo game. Sure, his moves come out slow, so he has to rely on reads in order to get a kill. Thing is, almost all of his moves can net a kill. Down air and Aether can spike, Eruption can be used to edgeguard, and forward and up smashes can be used on stage. Counter and Quick Draw are also solid options. Rushdown characters can give Ike a hard time because of his weight and fall speed though, so I don’t think he’s quite high tier.

#25: YOSHI
Yoshi mains are a really skilled group of players. You can’t fight a Yoshi by normal means because of all the tools he has. He has a command grab in Egg Lay, a great projectile in Egg Throw, super armor on his double jump, moves that destroy shields in Yoshi Bomb and down air, and a very solid combo game. Unfortunately, he’s pretty difficult to master, which means that you won’t come across many Yoshi mains. I feel like difficulty curve is one reason certain characters are as low as they are. Who knows, maybe he’ll break top 20 in the future.

#24: LUCAS
Seems like the middle tiers are full of really good characters who could make their way into high tier later down the line. We saw that happen with characters like Toon Link and Mewtwo (emphasis on Mewtwo), so why not Lucas? He has an amazing combo game, pretty much all of his throws can kill, his back air is a strong meteor smash, and he has good projectiles in PK Thunder, PK Freeze, and PK Fire. Unfortunately, his recovery is easy to intercept unless he uses his Rope Snake instead of PK Thunder 2, which isn’t always possible, especially if he has to recover low. PK Thunder 2 can be punished using things like counters, Gravitational Pull, Pocket, reflectors, or even taking the hit, teching off the stage, and punishing him. At the same time though, the move covers a lot more distance than Ness’s version. But if Lucas can stay on stage, he’s a force to be reckoned with.

#23: LUIGI
Luigi is a silly character. Before he got nerfed, his down throw combos were the best in the game. They’re still pretty darn good, but he doesn’t have any kill confirms off of down throw anymore. You can still get a lot of damage off of a grab regardless. Luigi also has some good kill moves in up smash and Super Jump Punch, the latter of which has a really small sweetspot and a ton of ending lag, making it a high risk high reward move. If Green Missile misfires, it can be a good kill move as well, but that’s a 1 in 10 chance. Luigi Cyclone can also be used to gimp opponents offstage. Luigi’s weaknesses include his really low traction and lack of aerial mobility. His recovery can also be intercepted pretty easily.

#22: LUCINA
For the most part, I just see Lucina as a character to cover a few matchups for Marth. Her lack of a tipper means she doesn’t need to worry about spacing, which can be good for some matchups and bad for others. Lucina does more damage than Marth’s sourspotted attacks, but less than his sweetspotted attacks, which makes her a better all-around character, but also gives her somewhat less kill power. More about her moveset when we talk about Marth, because they do play very similarly.

Alright, that’ll do it for part 5 of my tier list series. I’m thinking I may combine parts 7 and 8, because my A tier only has 5 characters. I’ll think about that. This is Matt, signing off.

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B Tier
24 Ok, I’m about to head off to see The Color Purple with my school, so let’s get some more tier list content ready for publishing. What’s up guys, it’s Matt, and welcome to part 6 of my tier list series. Today we’re going to look at another ten characters. So let’s get started with....

#21: MEGA MAN
After Kamemushi... er... Kameme, came in 2nd at EVO 2016 with Mega Man, people’s impressions of him vastly improved. He popularized a powerful footstool kill setup that Mega Man mains use all the time now. Mega Man has a ton of projectiles, and they can be amazing if used properly. He also has a pretty good grab game. His jab, forward tilt, neutral air, up air, down air, neutral special, down special, side special, and forward smash are all projectiles, making him a really good zoning character. But of course, projectile characters struggle against characters with reflectors and the likes. Maybe Mega Man can become even better as people study Kameme’s play and learn from it.

#20: GRENINJA
Greninja is a very difficult character to master, but is very rewarding when you do. Greninja is really fast, has a good neutral game, high jumps, and a really technical combo game. His combos are difficult to pull off, but can deal a ton of damage and lead to easy kills once you master them. If more Greninja players come about, I could see him easily breaking top 15.

#19: NESS
Lucas suffers from being a DLC character, which means he hasn’t had much time for his metagame to evolve, but he has gotten his fair share of buffs, and I think with time Lucas can catch up with Ness. But as for right now, I do think Ness is a superior character. His down throw can lead into long and damaging combos, his back throw can kill, his aerial game is amazing, and PK Fire, unlike Lucas’s, traps the opponent instead of dealing knockback. Ness has some pretty annoyingly good tools like PK Fire and forward air combos. PK Thunder can be used as a juggling tool, a kill move, and some mindgames. Because of how long it stays out, you can catch your opponent off guard by using PK Thunder, not looking like you’re going to do anything with it, then BAM, dead. As a recovery move, PK Thunder 2 is pretty bad. It covers less distance than Lucas’s and can be intercepted even more easily. Because of how easy it is to intercept, and Ness’s poor matchups against most characters above him, he’s probably going to stay a high tier for quite a while. And the less said about Ness’s struggles against Rosalina, the better. Moving on.

#18: CAPTAIN FALCON
Like Ness, Captain Falcon also struggles pretty hard against top tiers, keeping him from being much higher on the tier list. Regardless, Falcon is a pretty solid character. Good combo game, powerful kill moves, and style. A whole lot of style. Unfortunately, Captain Falcon’s weaknesses are pretty noticeable. For one, he’s a heavyweight and also a fast faller, which means he gets comboed REALLY easily. Mario, Sheik, Bayonetta, pretty much any top tier with good combos will destroy this guy. I give Falcon the edge over Ness mainly because he doesn’t have a PROJECTILE as a RECOVERY. Sure, Falcon’s recovery isn’t fantastic, but it’s harder to intercept, because again, it’s not a projectile. Plus Falcon is a good deal faster than Ness, allowing him to get in and out of the fray easily.

#17: MARTH
So as promised in my last part, we’re going to go more in depth on Marth and Lucina’s moves. First of all, Marth’s forward smash, when spaced properly, is much stronger than Lucina’s, due to his iconic tipper. Almost all of Marth’s attacks are stronger than Lucina’s at the tip, but weaker everywhere else, forcing Marth players to learn how to space tippers to play him optimally. Dancing Blade is a good way to rack up damage for both characters. Forward air can, like Bowser and Sheik, be used multiple times to rack up damage while carrying your opponent towards the edge of the stage. Up tilt can be used to set up aerial combo strings. While Crescent Slash covers mediocre distance as a recovery move, it comes out fast, which allows Marth and Lucina to use it to escape combos themselves. If used properly, not only can Marth’s forward smash be used for killing, but a tippered forward air, carefully timed down air, and a risky counter can also finish off stocks.

#16: META KNIGHT
If Meta Knight was the best character two games in a row, that would be kind of a huge problem because it would show that Sakurai and co. don’t know where their priorities should be. Yes, I said you should buff low tiers instead of nerfing high tiers, but when you’re as high as Brawl Meta Knight, you should probably nerf him. Smash 4 doesn’t really have any overpowered characters, and everyone has at least a few bad matchups. Meta Knight’s up air was nerfed from Brawl to Smash 4 and even more in patches. In the early days of Smash 4, you could string up air after up air into a Shuttle Loop once you were close enough to the blast zone. Now you can’t go as high with the up air strings, meaning this combo is better for racking up damage and getting to kill percents. Meta Knight has a variety of other combos as well. Moves like down throw, up air, back air, forward air, and down tilt can be used to rack up damage as part of a combo. Not only did MK get nerfed, but he also suffers from lightweight problems. Getting killed earlier than the rest of the cast is definitely a downside, but at least he gets out of combos easier. One of Meta Knight’s biggest strengths is his recovery. Not only does he have six jumps, but any of his four special moves can help him recover as well. Granted, he can only use one of them before becoming helpless, but he still gets back to the stage with ease most of the time.

#15: CORRIN
So I’ve been trying out Corrin lately, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how good his tools are. Yes, I use the male costume. Deal with it. Corrin has a pretty bad grab game, with no true follow-ups out of any of his throws. Fortunately, he is able to get some nice combos with some of his other moves, like up tilt, neutral air, Dragon Fang Shot (which can lead into some nice kill confirms), Dragon Lunge, and forward air. Unfortunately, his recovery is pretty subpar, with Draconic Ascent covering only mediocre distance. But Corrin’s specials are really good tools, and are some of the best in the game. Dragon Fang Shot deals damage with some kind of water ball projectile that paralyzes the opponent (imagine that as a Pokemon move. A water type move that can paralyze.), followed by a bite that can be charged separately from the shot. The two parts to this move, when put together, are a very good tool. Corrin is also the only character to have a hitbox on a charging forward smash, which doesn’t true combo into the last hit, but is pretty hard to dodge. Dragon Lunge can also be used for combos and kills. Counter Surge was thankfully nerfed, but is still a great move if you see that your opponent is being a bit too aggressive.

#14: VILLAGER
Villager. He’s got one of the most unique movesets in all of Smash 4. Villager relies heavily on projectiles. His forward and back air are a slingshot. Back air can be used to kill, and both are pretty annoying to deal with. His forward smash is him dropping a bowling ball, which, unsurprisingly, is one of the strongest smash attacks in the game. His dash attack is even a projectile, where he runs forward and drops a pot. His side special is Lloid Rocket, which is a good zoning tool in the neutral. Villager’s projectile game can be strengthened even more with his neutral special, Pocket. Like reflectors, Pocket has a damage and knockback multiplier. Unlike reflectors, however, Villager can decide when he wants to throw the projectile back. Pocket is especially potent in dittos, because if Villager pockets another Villager’s tree, he has himself a one-hit KO up his.... I want to say sleeve, but I’ve never seen a pocket on a sleeve. At low percents, down throw can true combo into a tree that Villager pocketed... I think. From my testing it’s true. Outside of dittos, the tree is a great kill option, especially at the ledge, because Villager can cover all the getup options by having a tree out and charging up a bowling ball. Villager’s grab game is also pretty good. Down throw can lead into a flurry of slingshots, and backs throw can kill. Overall, Villager is a pretty good character, but is countered pretty hard by his own tools.

#13: TOON LINK
Main bias? Maybe, but I do think Toon Link is a very solid character. Like Villager, Toon Link has several good projectiles up his sleeve. Boomerangs and bombs can be used to set up combos and kills. A jump canceled bomb or a downward thrown bomb can lead into pretty much anything. Forward air, up B, down air, neutral air, up air, back air, up smash, grab... He has many kill moves, including back throw, forward smash, up smash, forward air, up air, and up B. Like I said before, Toon Link doesn’t get much mileage off of his throws as far as combos go, but at least he has a kill throw. Toon Link is on the lighter side of middleweights, but being a middleweight is overall a pretty good thing, because you don’t die too early but don’t get comboed too hard. Outside of projectiles, Toon Link does have a few other combos. Up tilt can combo into itself at low percents and into an up air at higher percents, potentially leading to a kill. He’s rather small, which comes with its benefits and drawbacks. He’s harder to hit, but he has less range than other fellow swordfighters. Since he’s lighter than average as well as floaty, be sure to watch out for them up smashes. Toon Link can actually be pretty good without doing anything, because his Hylian... or is it Hero’s Shield... can block projectiles, including strong ones like Thoron and Charge Shot. Toon Link is a pretty solid character, but can struggle against top tiers, which is what keeps a lot of high tiers from going any higher. To name names, Toon Link especially struggles against Rosalina and Cloud. So I do think that Toon Link is going to stay as just a solid high tier for a long time to come.

#12: PIKACHU
First of all, no ESAM, Pikachu isn’t top 5. Alright, with that out of the way, one of Pikachu’s biggest strengths is edgeguarding. If you watch tournament highlights of ESAM, you know that if you go off stage with a Pikachu, you’re going to be in for a bad time. Want a stage spike? A meteor smash? Want to get your opponent far away and recover afterwards? Pikachu has all these tools, which makes him a force to be reckoned with if he is able to get you towards the ledge. On stage, Pikachu has a strong combo game. Low percent damage racking, jab lock kill setups, and more. Quick Attack is one of the best recovery moves in the game. Thunder Jolt is a good projectile to use in the neutral. He’s a rather agile character as well, and his small hurtbox allows him to do things like crouch under Fox’s lasers. Pikachu’s up smash is one of the fastest in the game, as well as one of his best kill moves. Despite all these strengths, like many lightweights, his survivability is rather poor. Rage also works against Pikachu, because his opponents can survive until pretty high percents against him. He also has pretty short range, which makes it a bit more difficult to actually hit his opponents.

Alright, that’s going to do it for part 6 of my tier list. I have decided to combine parts 7 and 8 and release them both at the same time. I’ve also decided that as soon as this list is complete, I’m going to start it over completely. More research, more style, and overall better. This will probably take a while, because I do want to do a lot more research and collect a lot more information than I did for this list. So in the next part, we’re going to look at the top 11 characters in the game.

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A and S tiers
YEEEOOOOOO, what’s up guys, it’s Matt, and we’re back with part 7 of my tier list, where I’m going to go over the top tiers. If you missed the last part, Imma tell you what you missed. I’ve realized that this series hasn’t been as good as it could have been. So I’m going to restart this whole series and do more research for every character, add more style to it, and just make it... Better. Without further ado, here’s my top 11.

#11: MEWTWO
After Abadango won Pound 2016, Mewtwo was seen as a much better character than before, moving up 27 spots from the first tier list to the second. Mewtwo is a tall, lightweight glass cannon. Moves like up throw, Shadow Ball and up smash can finish off stocks pretty easily, but because Mewtwo is a balloonweight and has a big hurtbox, it can get killed just as easily. Confusion is a reflector and a command grab... what? This move can be used to set up kills or send powerful projectiles back where they came from. Fortunately, Mewtwo doesn’t get comboed as hard as other tall characters because of how light it is. But why is Mewtwo so light? It’s heavier than the average human in Pokemon.

#10: RYU
The biggest thing keeping Ryu from top 5 is probably his difficulty curve. Ryu requires extremely precise button inputs to get the desired results. Don’t hold A for too long on that up tilt, otherwise, good luck following up. But for those people who have managed to master Ryu, good on you. You now have access to some of the best tools in the game. True Shoryuken is a powerful kill move, and Ryu can lead into it rather easily. Tatsumaki Senpukyaku.... Let’s just call it Tatsu... that was a mouthful... can be used to end off combos at low percents. Almost all of Ryu’s moves link really well into one another once you know what to do and how to do it. Some people say Ryu has a ton of untapped potential that could potentially make him the best character in the game (myself included), and others say that this is about as far as we can go with the character and he’s going to hit a plateau pretty soon. We’ll just have to wait and see.

#9: SONIC
Sonic is fast. Like... Really fast. Okay, common knowledge. His special moves are spammable and all pretty much the same. Other than Spring Jump. But hey, if it works, it works. His air speed is very solid, allowing him to link his side B into various aerials. Forward air can edgeguard or combo into itself at low percents by autocanceling it. He doesn’t have many kill options, especially with back throw getting nerfed. His most reliable options are forward smash and up smash, but they aren’t useful until pretty high percents because of their low base knockback. Plus they’re pretty laggy, so if they miss, you’re in for a bad time. Sonic also has trouble landing because of the insane landing lag of his aerials. Pretty much any projectile will stop Sonic dead in his tracks. Regardless, he can be a pretty annoying character to fight, and definitely is top 10.

#8: ROSALINA
If Rosalina was a solo character and didn’t have Luma by her side, she would be a mid tier at best. But since she does, she’s amazing. With Luma next to her, Rosalina’s attacks become stronger, and when Luma is further away, she can potentially knock her opponent into Luma then follow up from there. Luma can also take hits for Rosalina, and kill with up air at ridiculously low percents. Luma has 50 HP, and he can be killed fairly easily if the opponent knows how. But if Rosalina’s shield breaks, Luma can still attack. Kind of broken if you ask me. Because of Luma, Rosalina and Luma tend to be played more defensively than offensively, but they definitely have offensive tools up their sleeves.Since Rosalina’s recovery doesn’t have a hitbox, Luma dies if he’s hit offstage, and Luma doesn’t get invincibility frames when Rosalina grabs the ledge, if she’s offstage, she’s in for a bit of trouble. She’s also a tall lightweight, which means she suffers from some of the same problems as Mewtwo.

#7: FOX
Fox has a superb combo game with moves like down air, forward air, up air, and up tilt, among others. He’s one of the fastest characters in the game on the ground, must not so much in the air. He also has very good frame data, with moves like up smash coming out very quickly, yet being very powerful. His lasers are solid projectiles, and his shine is a solid reflector. Because of his lasers and poking ability with his tilts, Fox has a very good neutral game. Fox’s recovery and edgeguarding are pretty mediocre, however, with Fox Illusion being linear and less versatile than before, and Fire Fox being very slow. It’s also rather easy to come back and win a match that may have originally seemed to be in Fox’s favor, because he’s one of the lightest characters in the game, and he is also the fastest faller, meaning not only does he get comboed like there’s no tomorrow, but he also gets killed very quickly, especially off the sides.

#6: ZERO SUIT SAMUS
Personally, Zero Suit Samus prefers the air. Seriously, her ground game is terrible. Other than a frame 1 jab and two paralyzing moves at her disposal, she doesn’t really have much to work with. But once she gets a grab, you’re in for a bad time. She can lead into up airs into an up B for the kill, forward airs for damage, and more. Her Flip Jump is one of the best moves in the game. It can bury, meteor smash, and help her recover. ZSS also has a pretty bad neutral game. Regardless, players like Nairo and Marss have done great things with her.

#5: SHEIK
Sheik is just one of those characters whose moves just link perfectly into one another. Forward tilt, forward air, up air, down throw, forward throw, down tilt, up tilt, she has a lot of combo options. Needles and well spaced forward airs are good tools in the neutral. Her recovery is among the best in the game, with Bouncing Fish and Vanish being able to cover a lot of distance when used in tandem with each other. Bouncing Fish can also be used to edgeguard and potentially set up a kill. However, Sheik is a fast faller and a lightweight, so she gets comboed easily and then gets killed early. She also has trouble killing, with her only options being a well timed Vanish, sweetspotted up smash, up air close to the top blast zone, and offstage Bouncing Fish. Her forward smash isn’t all that good for killing.

#4: CLOUD
Cloud has so many tools that when he was released, he turned out to be easier to pick up and play than Mario. His neutral air is a good tool for spacing in the neutral game. Forward air and down air can meteor smash, and can also lead into follow-ups. Up air is one of the best juggling tools in the game, because of how fast it comes out and stays out, as well as how big the hitbox is. Cloud doesn’t really get anything out of his grabs, so let’s not talk about those. Cloud’s down tilt can lead into up airs, and once Cloud starts using up air, you’re going to be in for a bad time. Cloud’s best special move by far is Cross Slash. It does 19% and comes out on... I think frame 10. Once he has his Limit Break charged, Cross Slash becomes probably his best kill move. Finishing Touch’s hitboxes are just... weird. But you can combo into Finishing Touch regardless. Cross Slash is just a better option. Cloud also has incredible range because of how big his sword is. Many people don’t like fighting Cloud, but one of the best ways to deal with him is try to win the neutral, obtain stage control, and edgeguard him like there’s no tomorrow, since his recovery is pretty bad. So to counter Cloud, pick a character with a good neutral and edgeguarding tools. Maybe Pikachu wins the matchup, maybe not. I don’t know. I’m not good at matchups. :P

#3: MARIO
With all the tools Mario has, I could see him even being the best or second best in the game. With players like Ally, ANTi, and Zenyou doing amazing things with Mario, and Ally even winning EVO, he’s definitely in a good spot right now. Mario’s neutral is pretty good. Fireball is a nice projectile, and his grab game is superb. At low percents, you can do a down throw into up tilts, or you can do the Ally Combo. At mid percents, you can down throw into several up airs, and if you’re high enough, finish off with a Super Jump Punch for the kill. At high percents, it’s possible to combo down throw into forward air at the ledge for a meteor and a kill. Mario can also use his down air, Mario Tornado, to approach. His up smash is quick and strong, and overall a very good kill move. Neutral air and Super Jump Punch come out on frame 3, so they can be used to escape combos. Back air can be used to kill when edgeguarding, as can forward air. Speaking of edgeguarding, Mario has two more amazing edgeguarding tools in his cape and F.L.U.D.D. Cape is especially good against Ness and Lucas, because their recoveries are projectiles. Mario is an all-around character, which means he doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses or glaring strengths. OK, maybe he has some glaring strengths... WHAT DOES ALL-AROUND MEAN ANYMORE? And probably his biggest weakness is his range. Mario is rather small compared to other characters, which means the hitboxes on his attacks aren’t very big.

#2: BAYONETTA
Even after the nerf, Bayonetta is still an amazing character. And the reason behind that is all her combos. Sure, she can’t 0-death you anymore, but she can rack up hefty damage regardless. If she gets a down tilt, she’ll probably take you from 0 to 30 or 40% real quick. Unfortunately, it can be hard for her to get in to get a down tilt because her neutral game sucks. But if she finds an opening, she will combo you. Hard. I guess I should talk about Witch Time. HOLY CRUD, THIS MOVE. If Witch Time connects at high percents, you can follow up with a fully charged smash attack, or you could get creative. Do a stylish combo or a down air at the ledge. Witch Time opens up a ton of opportunities if used correctly. But if you miss, Witch Time becomes less effective when it does hit. Her down smash is a meteor as well, so good luck recovering high against her. ESAM has said on multiple occasions that if you take all the best Bayonetta players (Salem, Pink Fresh, Captain Zack, etc.) and combine their play styles into one, you would have the best character in the game by far.

#1: DIDDY KONG
Honestly, I feel like you could rank my top 10 in any order and I would agree with you, but as of right now, I do think Diddy Kong is the best character in Smash 4. I’ve heard cases for Rosalina, Ryu, Mario, and Bayonetta being the best characters in the game, and I bet someone out there would make a case for the rest of the top tiers. Diddy Kong boasts an amazing neutral game with tools like his banana, peanuts, and down tilt. Down tilt can lead to kills with an up smash, bananas can lead to a grab and throw combos at low percents and kills at high percents, and his Peanut Popgun is a pretty good projectile. Down throw and up throw can lead to several follow ups. Diddy is one of the most agile characters in the whole game.

Aaaand that’s going to do it for my tier list. Look out for a better version of this series in the future. You know what? Imma just release the entire rest of the list today. This is Matt, signing off.