Tier list

The tier list is a widely controversial list that ranks all characters in order of their potential to win under tournament conditions, assuming equal skill on the part of each player, based on analysis of the metagame. Tier lists are commonly made for competitive fighting games and high level play, as well as strategy games that involve a selection of usable characters.

Characters individual matchups with other characters also affects their placement on the list. However, they do not truly determine a character's tier list ranking due to characters who are higher on the tier list have a even or disadvantageous match up with certain characters who are lower then them. For instance, on the current tier list may have a good or even matchup against. However, Bomberman's matchups with rest of the cast may be more positive then Fox's matchups with the rest of the cast. Character matchups can also affect their ranking on the tier list can be contributed to how well they do against characters who are higher than them. An example of this can be seen on the current tier list where is at the top. Characters who are slightly lower then he is are at least able to hold their own against him better than characters who are lower on the list. In contrast characters who counter other characters who are borderline or lower on the list impact is actually lower. Examples of this are Sheik in Melee and King Dedede in Brawl who counter the majority of the cast below them on the tier list.

The first Super Smash Flash will likely never have a tier list, as the metagame is extremely hard, if not impossible, to measure. The game has insane physics flaws that greatly differ from the normal Smash Bros. physics; most characters' only have five moves, most of which semi-spike enemies ridiculously far distances, and no character has a recovery other than their midair jump. There are also no regulations on random stage switching, stage banning, or turning off items, making the game completely unplayable competitively. Its reboot, Super Smash Flash 2, on the other hand, ensures better physics that encompasses techniques and strategies that have proven useful during tournament matches; thus, the tier list for each game ranks and measures the expected competitive performance of every character, based upon analysis of these techniques and strategies, but only from the view of the current demo. The tier list is produced by the Smash Flash Back Room, a small subforum in the McLeodGaming Forums.

Super Smash Flash 2 Tier list
This is the tier list from demo v0.9a made by the SFBR that corresponds to November 7, 2013:

According to SFBR lead Void, the process to formulate this tier was that each member of had a chance to submit a rankings list, with the characters ranked from best to worst. Each character's rank was then averaged, with the top and bottom rankings for each character excluded to control for outliers. A vote was held to break any ties in score.

He makes notion that the average rankings were not used for tier breaks. This is because the gaps in these numbers indicate the degree of certainty in placing, which isn't what tier divisions measure. All that gap indicates is that everyone agrees on where the character is ranked, not how far away he is from the characters above him.

The last tier is titled K tier for Kirby tier as a callback to the series of demos where Kirby was the worst character in the game.

Controversies and misconceptions
Tier lists have been made universally for all Smash Bros. games able to be played at the competitive level, ranging from the original Super Smash Bros. to Brawl and even to spin-offs such as Smash Flash 2. The tier list's intended function is to predict which characters, when played at the highest level allowed for all given characters, will win under tournament conditions. Despite this, there are still misconceptions about the tier list, which lead to sometimes unwarranted criticism of it. There are many people in the Smash Bros. communities, including the Smash Flash 2 community, who disagree with the idea of tier lists. They commonly see the tier list as a "popularity contest," where the creators just put their personal best characters at the top, or think the list is written to deter players from choosing low-tiered characters. In the latter case, these people, known as "anti-tiers," argue that each characters' individual strengths and weaknesses balance them out. They state that tier lists shouldn't exist because all characters can be played equally. More inexperienced anti-tierists will often boast that they can beat a level 9 AI with a character on the bottom of the list, and use that as a reason why tier lists are inaccurate.

To counter these claims, competitive players have created some counterarguments to the issue. A common counterargument against anti-tierism is that it is extremely difficult to perfectly balance a cast as diverse as that in Super Smash Flash 2 for competitive play, and even if measures had been taken to balance the game, the variables included would still cause the game to become skewed, even if slightly, towards characters whose strengths overwhelm their weaknesses. Another counterargument is that since the tier list only predicts which characters would win if they were played at the top level under tournament rules, it should not affect any player who do not play in these conditions, thus many players should not care too much about the tier list if they're playing just for fun. Citing that one can defeat an AI with a low tier character is a weak claim because the AI in Smash games, including Super Smash Flash 2, have poor habits and do not properly utilize advanced techniques or mindgames, forcing players to learn the AI's specific flaws to defeat them, which can actually deter them from performing well against real players and reinforcing cerebral ability. Finally, even the lowest tier characters have professionals dedicated to using them, constantly finding new things about those characters that make them strong. With all these factors weighed in, tier lists are controversial and some players see it in a negative light, but they do exist.

External link

 * Actual revision for SSF2 tier list in the SFBR.