List of SSBM tier lists (NTSC)

The Smash Back Room tier list has changed many times since its inception. Previous versions of the list are as follows. In later tier lists, characters are broadly ranked by their tier, and further ranked by the order in which characters are listed within the tier list. For instance, Falco is ranked above Samus in the fourth Melee tier list. Earlier tier lists use numerical rankings, and characters with the same numerical value are listed alphabetically.

First tier list (October 8, 2002)

Melee Tier List #1
	1	2/3	2/3	4	5	6/7/8	6/7/8	6/7/8	9	10	11/12	11/12
	4.9	4.8	4.8	4.4	4.1	4.0	4.0	4.0	3.9	3.8	3.5	3.5
13/14	13/14	15/16	15/16	17/18	17/18	19/20	19/20	21	22	23	24/25	24/25	26
3.4	3.4	3.2	3.2	3.1	3.1	2.9	2.9	2.8	2.1	1.8	1.6	1.6	1.3

Though this was the first tier list, Smash World Forums was rife with discussion about tiers long before the Melee Back Room released its "MBR Tier Averages." The term "F/F/S" (short for "Falco, Fox and Sheik") was popular as a quick reference to Melee's top tier. Members on Smashboards, perhaps in backlash against novice sentiment towards Roy and Link, generally disdained those characters, and generally favored the game's fastest characters.

Members on Smashboards largely contested this tier list's placement of Mewtwo, which they felt to be too low. Many Smashboarders considered Mewtwo a low or even middle tier character and were bothered that it, despite its great recovery and powerful throws, was placed at the bottom of the tier list, where most people believed Bowser belonged.

Second tier list (December 19, 2002)

Melee Tier List #2 (Mean)
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10/11	10/11	12/13	12/13
2.2	2.3	3.9	4.4	4.7	8.5	8.8	9.6	10.0	11.0	11.0	13.0	13.0
14/15/16	14/15/16	14/15/16	17	18/19	18/19	20/21	20/21	22/23/24	22/23/24	22/23/24	25	26
15.0	15.0	15.0	16.0	17.0	17.0	20.0	20.0	21.0	21.0	21.0	23.0	24.0

Melee Tier List #2 (Mode)
1	2	3	4	5/6	5/6	7	8	9	10/11	10/11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21/22	21/22	23/24	23/24	25	26

For the second tier list, the Melee Back Room created two tier lists: one made from the average (mean) of votes, and another from the mode.

Third tier list (June 23, 2003)

Melee Tier List #3
	Top					Upper
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Middle									Bottom
13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

This tier list was released soon after Ken Hoang won Tournament Go 4. Before Ken, Marth strategy largely encompassed rolling and C-stick smashing symptomatic of low-level play today, but Ken introduced to the community the uses of dash-dancing, chain throwing and aerial attacks, all techniques that largely improved Marth's metagame and moved him to top tier for years to come.

This is the first tier list that officially ranks characters into tiers.

Fourth tier list (July 1, 2003)

Melee Tier List #4
	Top				Upper
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Middle								Low			Bottom
13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

Fifth tier list (September 29, 2003)

Melee Tier List #5
	Top		Upper			High
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Middle							Low				Bottom
13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

April Fools Sixth tier list (March 31, 2004)

Melee Tier List #6 (April Fools)
		Top		Upper				High
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
Middle							Low					Bottom
12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

This tier list doubled as an April Fools joke and a lesson to the community to not blindly swallow the Melee Back Room tier list as the truth. Though most people suspected this tier list was a hoax, it set a precedent to criticizing the tier list that had not existed before.

To "defend" this hoax during the two tumultuous days it was the official tier list, Melee Back Room members argued that Marth was too slow to remain in the top two tiers, that Link had untapped aerial prowess, and that Jigglypuff, through speed and the Wall of Pain, ruled the air to the point of domination. Ironically, the latter prediction would come true in the post-Brawl metagame.

The Melee Back Room forgot to include Yoshi in this tier list; once people realized he was missing (six hours after the list was posted), the MBR put him in.

Sixth tier list (April 2, 2004)

Melee Tier List #6
	Top			Upper					High
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Middle							Low					Bottom
13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

Seventh tier list (March 19, 2005)

Melee Tier List #7
	Top			Upper				High
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Middle						Low						Bottom
13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

Eighth tier list (July 8, 2006)

Melee Tier List #8
	Top		High			Middle
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Low						Bottom
13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

The names of these tiers were originally called God Tier, Top Tier, High Tier, Middle Tier, and Low Tier; these names were changed to the ones shown above on July 10, two days after the tier list was released.

This tier list marks the first time Sheik was not in top tier, and contains the biggest bottom tier of any Melee tier list thus far. The balance of the tier list was a point of contention amongst many Smashers, who felt that it was too bottom-heavy and that the lower tiers should themselves be split, or the high tiers merged (particularly the top two).

Ninth tier list (October 14, 2008)

Melee Tier List #9
Top				High				Middle
1	2	3	4	5	6/7	6/7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
9.88	9.85	9.69	9.15	8.35	8.00	8.00	7.88	6.77	6.23	6.04	5.81	5.38	5.34
	Low						Bottom
	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
	4.69	4.31	4.15	3.60	3.04	3.00	2.50	2.46	2.17	1.77	1.50	1.15

For the first time since June 2003, the Smash Back Room published each character's numerical scores.

Beta tenth tier list (September 14, 2010)

Beta Melee Tier List #10
		Top			High		Upper		Middle
		1/2/3			4	5	6	7	8	9/10		11
Low					Bottom					Negligible
12/13		14/15		16	17	18	19/20		21	22/23/24/25/26

This is the removed version of the 10th Melee tier list. At the time, many people criticized it for not being an official list, due to having many ties. The SBR also included a "Gengar" tier in the list, where "Master Hand and other glitches" are placed. This was also originally Kirby Kaze's Tier list idea, but was improved and fixed by the MBR. Mewtwo and Jigglypuff have risen significantly from the previous tier lists. This is the only tier list to include a tier below the Bottom tier. This is also the tier list with the most ties, as well as the one with the largest tie (the entire negligible tier is considered tied, or at least close enough to be considered tied).

Tenth tier list (December 31, 2010)

Melee Tier List #10
		S				A			B	C
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
		1.47	2.50	3.03	3.47	4.86	5.92	6.77	8.12	9.65	9.96	10.57
D				E		F					G
12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25/26
12.94	13.00	13.25	14.81	16.03	17.45	19.42	19.76	19.85	20.59	20.73	22.94	23.67	25.02	25.02

This is the current SSBM tier list.

External links

• First Melee tier list
• Second Melee tier list
• Third Melee tier list
• Fourth Melee tier list
• Fifth Melee tier list
• Sixth Melee tier list (April Fools)
• Sixth Melee tier list (real version)
• Seventh Melee tier list
• Eighth Melee tier list
• Ninth Melee tier list
• Tenth Melee tier list