Compiled Tier Lists for Fighting Games (w/Discussion)

[Cedric]

I thought this may interest the some of our fighting game fans. For entertainment purposes, this thread is dedicated for the various Tier Lists of many different fighting games that have been released.


~



***Compiled Fighting Game Tier Lists***


Capcom vs. SNK 2


Top Tier:

C-Sagat
A-Sakura
P-Cammy
A-Bison
A-Blanka
C/N-Chun
C-Guile
C-Honda


High-Mid Tier:

A-Hibiki
C-Rolento
N-Iori
K-Geese
K-Rock
P-Kyo
A-Vega
C-Ken


Mid Tier:

A-Todo
N-Maki
N-Vice
C-Rugal
C-Kim
C-Yamazaki
C-Dhalsim
C/A-Eagle
N-Akuma
N-Mai
K-Nakoruru
C-Yun
A-Joe
C/N-Ryu
N-Morrigan
K-Chang
A-Athena


Low-Mid Tier:

A-Yuri
A-Terry
A-Benimaru
K-Zangief
C-Balrog
K-Raiden
A-Dan
K-Ryo
C-Kyosuke
A-Haohmaru


Low Tier:

A/N-King





Killer Instinct 1 Tier List

~God Tier~
Eyedol


~Top Tier~
Cinder
Glacius
Orchid


~Middle Tier~
T.J. Combo
Spinal
Riptor
Fulgore


~Low Tier~
Sabrewulf
Jago


~Bottom Tier~
Thunder





King of Fighters 2001


S Tier:
Foxy


A Tier:
Lin, Heidern, Benimaru


B Tier:
Seth, Ryo, Yuri, Kim, K', Kensou, Whip


C Tier:
Iori, Kyo, Robert, May Lee, Takuma, K9999





Marvel vs Capcom 2 Tier List


~God Tier~
Sentinel
Storm
Cable
Magneto


~Top Tier~
Cyclops
Iron Man
Blackheart
Dr. Doom
Spiral
Strider (with Dr. Doom)


~Top Assists~
Tronne Bonne
Psylocke
Captain Commando


~Next Tier~
Dhalsim
Omega Red
Rogue
Juggernaut
War Machine
Strider (without Dr. Doom)
Anakaris
Megaman
Venom
Morrigan
Silver Samurai
Son Son
Colossus
Ruby Heart
Hulk
Cammy
Ice Man


~Next Tier~
Marrow
M. Bison
B.B. Hood
Wolverine/Bonerine
Charlie
Spiderman
Jill
Hayato
Chun Li
Shuma Gorath
Amingo
Sabretooth
Gambit
Captain America
Sakura
Guile
Akuma
Ken
Ryu
Thanos


~Bottom Tier~
Zangief
Jin
Dan
Roll
Servbot





Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter


Top Tier:
Wolverine


Second Tier:
Omega Red
Blackheart/Mephisto
Spider-Man


Third Tier:
Cyclops
Hulk
Captain America
Akuma
Ken
Ryu
Shuma Gorath
Bison
Dhalsim


Bottom Tier:
Sakura
Dark Sakura
Dan
Shadow












Smash Brothers Melee:


Top Tier:
Fox
Falco


High Tier:
Sheik
Marth
Peach


Middle Tier:
Captain Falcon
Ice Climbers
Samus
Doctor Mario
Jigglypuff
Mario
Ganondorf


Low Tier:
Link
Luigi
Donkey Kong
Roy
Young Link
Pikachu


Bottom Tier:
Yoshi
Zelda
Mr. Game and Watch
Ness
Bowser
Kirby
Pichu
Mewtwo





Soul Blade Tier List


~Tier 1~
Cervantés, Li Long


~Tier 2~
Hwang, Taki, Siegfried, Mitsurugi, Voldo


~Tier 3~
Sophitia, Seung Mina, Rock




Soul Calibur II Tier List


~S Tier~
Cervantés, Yoshimitsu


~A Tier~
Mitsurugi, Xianghua, Kilik, Taki, Ivy


~B Tier~
Seung Mina, Cassandra, Sophitia, Voldo


~C Tier~
Nightmare, Talim


~D Tier~
Astaroth, Maxi, Raphael


~F Tier~
Yun Sung





Soul Calibur 3 Tier List (Not necessarily in order)


~S Tier~
Sophitia, Xianghua


~A Tier~
Taki, Cassandra, Mitsurugi, Ivy, Astaroth


~B Tier~
Setsuka, Cervantes, Hwang, Kilik, Yoshimitsu


~C Tier~
Lizardman, Zasalamel, Voldo, Maxi, Seong Mina, Nightmare, Yun Seong


~D Tier~
Raphael, Siegfried, Tira, Talim


~F Tier~
Rock





Street Fighter Alpha 3


Top Tier:
Akuma (V, A)
Dhalsim (A)
Zangief (A, V)
Sakura (V)
Charlie (V)


Second Tier:
Ryu (V, A)
Vega (A, V)
Karin (V, A)
Sodom (V)
Rolento (A, X)


Third Tier:
Adon (X)
Cody (V)
Juni (A, V)
Cammy (A, V)
Gen (A)
Chun Li (A, X)
Sagat
Ken
R.Mika
Balrog (A, X)
M.Bison
Blanka
E. Honda
Birdie


Bottom Tier:
Juli
Rose
Dan






Street Fighter 3 — Third Strike


Top Tier:
Yun
Chun Li
Ken


Upper:
Makoto
Dudley
Yang


Middle:
Akuma
Ryu
Urien
Oro
Ibuki
Elena


Lower:
Necro
Alex
Remy


Bottom
Q
Hugo
Twelve
Sean





Tekken 1 Tier List


~Tier 1~
Nina, Heihachi, Armor King, Kazuya, King


~Tier 2~
Law, Yoshimitsu, Paul, Michelle, Lee


~Tier 3~
JACK





Tekken 2 Tier List


~Tier 1~
Kazuya, Heihachi, Bruce Irvin, Paul, Devil


~Tier 2~
Yoshimitsu, Lei Wulong, Michelle, Baek, Jun Kazama, Lee Chaolan, Law, Nina Williams, Armor King


~Tier 3~
Kunimitsu, JACK-2, Anna Williams, Kuma, Prototype Jack, Wang Jinrei, Roger





Tekken 5


S Tier:
Steve
Bryan
Nina
Devil Jin
Heihachi


A Tier:
Feng Wei
Law
Raven
Kazuya
Hwoarang
Wang
Roger Jr.
Ganryu
Bruce


B Tier:
Paul
Ling
King
Lee
Baek
Christie/Eddy
Jack-5
Jin


C Tier:
Craig
Asuka
Anna
Yoshimitsu


D Tier:
Kuma/Panda
Lei





Tekken 5.1


S Tier:
Devil Jin
Heihachi
Bryan


A Tier:
Law
Kazuya
Hwoarang
King
Paul
Jack-5
Jin
Bruce
Steve


B Tier:
Lee
Wang
Roger Jr.
Xiaoyu
Raven
Christie/Eddy
Baek
Julia
Asuka


C Tier:
Yoshimitsu
Feng
Ganryu
Nina
Marduk
Kuma/Panda


D Tier:
Anna
Lei





Vampire Savior

S:
Raptor
Q-Bee
Sasquatch


A:
BB Hood
Bishamon
Talbain


B:
Demitri
Felicia
Rikou
Hsien-Ko


C:
Jedah


D:
Victor
Lilith
Morrigan
Anakaris





Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution

Top-Tier:
Akira, Sarah, Lau, Jacky, Pai, Kage


Mid-Tier:
Aoi, Lion, Shun, Lei-Fei, Vanessa


Low-Tier:
Wolf, Jeffry, Brad, Goh





Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned


God-Tier:
Kage, Jacky


Top-Tier:
Pai, Aoi


Mid-Top Tier:
Lau, Sarah


Mid-Tier:
Akira, Wolf, Lion


Low-Mid Tier:
Vanessa, Brad, Shun


Low-Tier:
Jeffry, Goh, Lei-Fei





X-Men vs. Street Fighter


Top Tier:
Magneto
Storm
Cyclops
Gambit
Juggernaut
Chun Li


Middle Tier:
Charlie
Sabretooth
Zangief
Dhalsim
Bison
Wolverine
Akuma
Ryu


Bottom Tier:
Ken
Cammy





***





For the most part, I am assured of their accuracy, but the second part of this thread is to discuss and debate (respectfully) any of these lists. But before we do that, I think we need to define what a tier list is exactly.

When most people hear the term, they automatically think it's a list of the best fighters from top to bottom. For the most part, this is true. But if you want to get truly technical about it, then this is what it really means:

Tier lists reflect a character's performance in the hands of the best players in the planet against other players of the same caliber. From there, they are grouped into a list which gauges their tanking amongst other characters. Tier lists show which characters are better than others provided that the players have the same or near equal skill. That last part is forgotten when people argue about character placement, and it's usually the argument breaker in most cases.

It's painfully obvious that a tournament caliber player will most likely beat a preschooler in a fighting game. But assuming that player levels are similar, then that's when the tier lists work. It shows the character's overall potential basically.

Of course, that list is incomplete, but these were the only lists I could get and confirm were recent and true. I found others that were out of order while other games I haven't played at all. If you have a game to add, then post the list (and the source) here.

Finally, tier list debates sometimes turn very sensitive. I hope everyone's prepared to hear people's opinions and not bash them outright.
_________________

[Amyral]

[Cedric]

Whew I think I was blind or something. You're right, Yoshimitsu isn't in Soul blade. That's supposed to be Mitsurugi. I just fixed it.

Oh good. You found the list of Capcom vs. SNK 2. For some reason, I couldn't find it but I'm sure that looks right. C-groove Sagat is broken and A-Sakura is awesome with a person that can pull of the Custom Combo and Roll Cancel. I think Blanka is the only one on that list that can go in any groove. And no surprise; there are no S-Grooves out in that list. It's just a terrible groove for anyone.

I agree with you on one thing. The only time people make the top tiers is when someone figures out how to use them. The characters' potentials never change but people's techniques do. Still though, because these lists change constantly, they're a very good indicator of a character's strengths at high levels. Some of them are just too good against many factors in their respective games. And as a result you do get people who pick no one but the top tiers in battles.

I'm into a lot of the games where the top tiers are also the hardest people to play. Tekken 5.1's Devil Jin is a prime example of this. He's hard to play, but when you get him down, you're almost unbeatable. And then there are games like Guilty-Gear XX: Midnight Carnival where the tier list gaps aren't so big. I've seen skilled players using May go up against Eddie who's at a high tier.
_________________

[Amyral]

Sagat is the only one who could very well on his own groove in that game.

As for tiers, I think they work better as a snapshot of how a game is being played. Some of them don't change a whole lot anymore (such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2), others are more or less changing all the time. Sometimes, a character just doesn't do the damage they need, or have the combo potential, to warrant great play (like capcom vs. SNK 2 King). Other times, you see people trying to go against the tiers strike gold, finding some combination or character blows people away and completely alters the tier list. I think, more often than not, characters don't get explored to that potential to properly evaluate, because in the higher levels of play you usually just see a rehash of the same characters.

Personally, my strategy tends to focus on one of two things, the overwhelm/beatdown (Mitsurugi, Haohmaru), or unpredictability/freaks (GGX Venom, Vega, Voldo). Of course, in games like GGXX, most of the characters are freaks, and the one character I would call the freak of the game scared me to death when I first fought him.

**Goes off to a corner to try to forget Zappa.**

[Artificity]

ShoShoShoShoShoShoShoShoSho~!!!

Major luffage for A-Sakura. <3

For the most part, the lists are correct. Maybe there are points where you can argue who goes where especially when it comes to the lower portions, but for now I can't really nitpick. I'm amazed though that you even bothered to post the tier list for T1/T2 because, man, talk about really old unplayable games. XD

Tekken 5.1 Devil Jin being hard to play? YOU LIE. Seeing as that most of his moves have been recycled since TTT (and improved upon, mind you) and since the EWGF is more or less easier to perform for him than with Kaz or Hei, I think he isn't THAT hard to use. At least he isn't solid top tier in Dark Resurrection, which makes my Anna (WTF? She's High to top tier now? AWESOME) really happy.

I like the new GGXX Slash because Anji is no longer a bottom feeder (Rin and improved autoguard is just godly) and that Eddie has finally been knocked down a peg or two to just mid-high tier. Unfortunately, Sol is broke as hell now and I don't care if you say he no longer has a dust loop and his Sidewinder loop is crap, Volcanic Viper is STUPID STRONG and its uber-top priority annoys every fiber of my existence. .

An interesting thing to note about Venom is that I have yet to see two high level Venom players play exactly alike. That's probably what makes him so unpredictable because he's a surprisingly diverse character. I used to think that he leans more towards screen control but when I saw rushdown, turtle and zoning Venom, I was really ticked off. I can't solidly state how he's supposed to be played and this makes it harder for me to play against a variety of them. Oh well. The game's still awesome as all hell.

I use too many parentheses. Kill me plz.
_________________

[Cedric]

That must have sucked Amyral. I haven't played a good Zappa yet. Then again, I don't mess around with Guilty Gear too much. Too many people I know are much better at it than I am.

[Artificity]

Maybe I'm just a scrub with T5DR but I still think that Steve's too cheap even with all the tone downs he got, but part of this is me complaining because none of Anna's moves have tracking (she's got like, ff+2 and qcf+4 and nothing else to deal with sidewalks. Namco hates me.) and Steve just auto sidesteps everything I throw at him because Steve is a jerk. Hmmph.

The thing with GGXX Slash is that EVERYONE got beefed up, even Eddie actually. The thing is, everyone else got heaps of improvement (Some more than others. See Anji. <3) especially when it comes to frames and some property changes to old moves that make the tiers even that much closer. I don't play Jam, and no one in the immediate area provides decent competition using her, so i don't know for certain what's changed. I've noticed that she has some tone downs in regards to invincibility frames with her 214K and 263K but her charge is a bit faster so she can offset these problems. But yeah, I'm not even sure about that either.

I swear to god, Sol's VV will just eat through EVERYTHING that isn't an overdrive, and even then there's still a chance that he'll just trade hits instead of losing completely. The hitbox on the damned thing is larger than before and it's untechable point is longer. WTF? Totally safe to spam now.

I really wish that the arcade culture never dies out. Fighters are the only real thing that I enjoy playing nowadays since there haven't been any RPG's that really impress me.
_________________

[Amyral]

[Locke]

No wonder I struggle beating people in the Soul Calibur and Super Smash Bros. Melee. I almost always use no higher than mid tier. Unless I transform into Sheik, the highest I use in that game is Samus. As for Soul Calibur I always use Maxi.
_________________
Legendary Locke


3 Time Suikox WWE Fantasy Champion

[Artificity]

I played Tekken 5.1 again earlier because the arcade I dropped by had no Tekken 5 DR.

DAMNIT. HUGE TIER GAP IS HUUUUGE. This one Steve player that wasn't particularly impressive was making me think uber hard on how to outpoke him. I have to be practically psychic and low parry everything he throws at Anna, none of my DR combos connect, (df+3,2 will force sidestep and the following df+3,1,4 will instead throw out SS+3? LOL I SUCK.) and Steve just rapes me there and then.

T5.1 and it's tier gaps are too big. How cruel.
_________________