Tier list
Template:FA-articleA tier list is a ranking of each character's metagame, based on tournament settings. It indicates how professional smashers expect each character to be able to perform under tournament conditions. Tiers thus measure the potential of each character based on all currently known techniques and strategies that have been shown to be useful in tournaments. Tier lists are common in fighting games as well as many other competitive games involving a large selection of characters, such as Pokémon.
Individual match-ups affect but do not entirely determine a character's ranking. Sometimes a character carries an advantage over a higher-ranked character — such a match-up is known as a counter. For example, if Pichu held a winning match-up against Fox but suffered from worse matchups than Fox against every other character in the game, Pichu would be considered to counter Fox but still be ranked lower than him on the tier list. If two players at the height of the known metagame fought Fox vs. Pichu, the tier list alone could not predict the average outcome of the match.
See also
- List of previous NTSC tier lists
- Smash Back Room
- Tires don exits
- PAL Tier List
- Brazilian Tier List
- The Last Tier War
