For any game played competitively, there are tier lists. That doesn’t only apply to fighting games; Mario Kart 8 has a specific weight, car and wheel customization that’s considered the best. Shooting games have guns that are considered to be better than others. But let’s focus on fighting game tier lists. For those who don’t know, a tier list is essentially a list in a fighting game that lists the best characters to the worst character. Assuming the players are at the same level of skill, the player with the better character should have the advantage. Professional gamers for fighting games establish the metagame for fighters and generally get the sense of which characters are the best. Then from there certain characters become viable and most competitive players start using the best characters in the game because it gives them the best chance of winning. Let’s dive in a bit more. All the pictures that will be posted are just the characters I main (meaning the characters I use most) in various fighting games. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like explaining the specifics mechanics of individual fighting games and fighting game jargon so Iook them up.
There’s always controversy surrounding tier lists because some people believe in tier lists and some people don’t. Common arguments used for those who don’t think tier lists are really sensible say that the game comes down to skill and mind games. The better player can win with any character. If you’re good enough, ideally you could use the game’s worst character and beat the game’s best character. This isn’t completely false but the player with the worse character has to work that much harder to win. In any competitive fighting game, once a meta is established, that’s primarily what you’ll see. The same high tier characters versus other high tier characters. Another reason this happens is because everyone starts playing the same characters and discovering new tricks and techniques with them while no one really does that for the bad characters. Once the idea that certain characters are bad are implanted in players head, they are that much less likely to even give them a chance. Competitive players play for money and some for a living so they don’t waste time with low tiers.
The thing that makes certain characters top tier are usually characters that are created with tools to effectively neutralize or deal with every situation. For example, Sheik in Super Smash Bros 4 can deal with any type of character. Fast, powerful, zoning, she has a great neutral game and can play essentially lag free. Sheik racks up damage quickly, has a good recovery and can gimp lots of characters offstage. Superman in Injustice also has everything. An air dash, a great anti-air, a good projectile, mobility and even awesome damage output. Kratos in Playstation Allstars had a physical counter, one for projectiles, the ability to build AP quickly and great combos making him the best character in that game. As you can see, all these characters were given way too much to make them balanced. But is it a bad thing? I don’t think so. One of the cool things about fighting games is coming up with techniques and strategies in order to beat top tiers. And if you beat a top tier character with a low tier one, the victory is that much more sweeter.
Are low tier characters useable? The advantages with coming out with a completely underused character is the element of surprise. Assuming you mastered some unknown tech and skills with said character, you can completely put your opponent in situations they are unaccustomed to dealing with. It’s called not knowing the match up. At a Mortal Kombat X tournament, I was able to get decently far in bracket for a game I don’t own due to people being unaccustomed to fighting Cassie Cage (Hollywood & Brawler Variation). There’s nothing wrong with maining a character that’s not top tier as long as you put in the work to make your character the biggest threat they can be.
A lot of characters that are high tier have steep learning curves while others are pick up and play types. For example Mitsuru Kirijo from Persona 4 Areana Ultimax. She's so good, but very hard to use. I think its fair for a character to be really good if mastering them takes time and practice. Sometimes unfortunately, a character is high tier and easy to pick up. Diddy Kong and Luigi are characters that take next to no skill to learn and are top 6 in the game.
Ultimately I think you should play a fighting game the way it’s most fun to you. I don’t like using characters I don’t like whether they're low, mid or top tier. I pick characters I like, master them and try to win matches. Whether you adhere to tier lists and play with the best character (or don’t) doesn’t matter. Just win and have fun.