Why do you, personally, play a high-/top-tier?

Dan Salvato · Apr 30, 2012

Everybody has a reason to be playing his/her specific character, but it's obvious to everybody that high tiers dominate character preference. Usually when asking somebody "Why do you play X?" the response will be something like "I like how X can do _____" or "I arbitrarily liked X's _____ when starting out". But, when asking a player who plays a low-tier character why he/she plays that character, you will get a much different - and possibly more lengthy - response. By asking a player why he plays DK, or Kirby, or Link, or Ness, you're largely also asking "Why do you play a low-tier character?" and the player will respond as such.

But, we never really hear the other perspective. Why do you play a high-tier character? We all get something different out of Melee, and not all of us expect ourselves to one day be bringing home serious cash from tournaments. Do you feel the low tiers would hold you back as a player and frustrate you with their limited options? Are you not as invested in Melee to put in the extra effort it may take to become proficient with a low-tier? I think there is a deeper answer than the simple "high tiers are better".

My theory is that people who play to win feel like they have an extra edge with the high tiers, and people who play for fun feel more "free" with the high tiers due to many options and little lag. What do you think about this?

Character popularity in tournaments (data from ssbpd.com):

Fox: 282
Falco: 240

^^About 30% of ALL players use either Fox or Falco.

Sheik: 194
Marth: 184
Peach: 179
Captain Falcon: 165

^^About 70% of ALL players use one of the above six characters - less than 1/4 of the cast.

Jigglypuff: 85
Ganondorf: 79
Samus: 76

^^About 82% of ALL players use one of the above nine characters.

Ice Climbers: 49
Dr. Mario: 46
Luigi: 43

^^About 90% of ALL players use one of the above twelve characters - less than half the cast.

Link: 30

Pikachu: 20
Yoshi: 20
Mario: 18
Zelda: 18

Donkey Kong: 13
Ness: 12
Mr. Game & Watch: 11
Young Link: 10

Roy: 8
Kirby: 8
Bowser: 6
Mewtwo: 4
Pichu: 4

Juggleguy · Apr 30, 2012

I like the aerial speed/mobility that Falcon offers. Draw a diagonal line between two points on a stage and Falcon is probably the character who can move between the endpoints the fastest.

tarheeljks · Apr 30, 2012

Are you not as invested in Melee to put in the extra effort it may take to become proficient with a low-tier?

don't like the presumptions of this question

and to answer the question i agree w/what juggleguy said wrt falcon

choknater · Apr 30, 2012

does ic's count? they are b tier.

i play them cuz they are cheap and require very few actual reads. its just a lot of bait and punish. i dont have to tech chase because people die when i grab them. so i fight with tactics and remove the other person's luck (guessing) from the game, while i still have nana who hits people with luck alll dayyyyy.

#HBC | Red Ryu · Apr 30, 2012

Peach transcended from Brawl to Melee very easily for me.

Dan Salvato · Apr 30, 2012

tarheeljks said:
don't like the presumptions of this question

Ah, I didn't mean any presumptions. I've heard one or two people say that to me before. But I do think that playing a lower tier may require more effort to fare well against higher tiers. For example, I've heard people pick Marth or Sheik because they're "easy to get started with", if that makes sense.

edit: See above:

choknater said:
i play them (Ice Climbers) cuz they are cheap and require very few actual reads. its just a lot of bait and punish. i dont have to tech chase because people die when i grab them.

MasterShake · Apr 30, 2012

Marth gives me more options to work with than roy and I can still do **** that looks cool at the same time. I can basically do more with him without using as much effort.

Beat! · Apr 30, 2012

I find low tiers to be ****ing boring to play (and play against) for more than like, two games in a row. Mid tiers are pretty legit, but still not as fun as the actual good characters.

Also, can't speak for anyone else, but it's absolutely not effort-related for me. I'm aiming for the top and put in a lot of effort into my character, probably more than a lot of low tier players. I just happen to like a lot of the traits that make a character in this game good.

Lovage · Apr 30, 2012

EDIT: nvm

Linguini · Apr 30, 2012

because they're easy as **** and winning is quite enjoyable as well

Kal · Apr 30, 2012

For me, it's about finding a healthy balance between playing a character I enjoy and one who can actually win. My favorite character is Pichu, followed by Roy, but I acknowledge that there is no amount of effort I can put in that will have me winning large-scale tournaments with these characters. To force myself to main these characters because they're fun, despite them being quite terrible, is scrubby.

So I choose a character that is, I guess, my favorite "viable" character. Initially, this was Marth, just because I had no idea who to play and it was the suggestion my friend made. However, as time progressed, I became bored of Marth (realizing I played him far too aggressively, which just didn't work) and decided to switch to a more aggressive character. Fox is nice in this regard, but his movement speed and laser also allow you to dynamically switch up playstyles pretty well, which is pretty fun.

I actually have a pretty solid Pichu and Roy, and I think investing all of my time in either one would drain my energy. I typically win (or get second place) at local events in Austin. One tournament, I went straight Pichu and got last place. It was a round robin, and I recall winning only one set. Sadly, your opponents do not need to be terribly good to outplay Pichu; most of them just took advantage of his glaring weaknesses. Roy is definitely better, but similar issues come up.

However, to many people, the high-tier characters being better gives them more options, which makes them more fun. If you've ever played Bowser, Kirby, or Zelda for more than two matches, you realize how unbearably boring they can be. At the same time, most people don't want to pick a character they plainly have no shot at winning with, which is probably the reason high-tiers are picked more often.

Rockenos · Apr 30, 2012

I just like to do awesome combos and stuff that looks cool and feels cool to do
So at first, I picked Jiggs, because her rest combos were easy, now I play more Fox and Falcon for their more complex, yet generally cooler combos.

oukd · Apr 30, 2012

because apm

KrIsP! · Apr 30, 2012

I thought jiggs was a low tier whne I played her but I loved the multiple jumps and aerial mobility. I tried kirby too but it didn't feel right, this is back when jiggs was tied with falcon.

And she's so damn cute, uairing while the screen on PS is doing a close up is the second best taunt in the game.

Massive · Apr 30, 2012

I play Jigglypuff because I'm far better at strategy/reads than tech skill.

Low tiers can be fun, but they're usually pretty pidgeon-holed as far as strategies go. Once your opponent recognizes your strategy/gimmick, the low-tier vs. high tier matchup can get pretty hopeless (unless your gimmick is winning that match, lol).

Besides, winning is fun. It's also easier to segue talent acquired with high tier characters into low tiers than the other way around.

Fregadero · Apr 30, 2012

I play marth because he was a dude with a sword and I was ten. And then I mained him on and off for 10 years. And then I started playing competitively and I hear hes seems like a pretty cool guy.

Honestly though, I only play him because I've been playing him and I like how he plays.

Grape Ape · Apr 30, 2012

I like Fox!
He's comfy and easy to wear!

Violence · Apr 30, 2012

Rather than a clear, "best" option all of the time, I really enjoy Samus's breadth of unclear options, both for punishing, moving around, edgeguarding, and recovering.

She has points in her gameplay where she can be played slowly, and she has points in her gameplay where she's a lot faster than you'd expect. It helps me because there are times I have to think about what I want to do, and times where I can just go as fast as I can.

Warhawk · Apr 30, 2012

I picked up Falco before I even was aware of the competitive smash seen around 2005 because I just like the way he felt. As I learned about competitive smash I switched around a bit every so often as I would learn new things and my style would change, but I always would go back to Falco. I just like the way his comboing works, his general physics, variety of options, his ability to be played either aggressively or defensively and his ability to switch between the two, and the way he can manipulate platforms to his advantage. It also helped that he was my favorite character in Star Fox 64.

While I would agree winning does help with wanting to play certain characters, I can definitely say for me its more the above factors than the factor of winning. As someone who has been a low tier main before I know what its like to struggle to win even when you outplay your opponent and while it could indeed be frustrating, in some ways for me I found it could be very rewarding and challenging. The problem with low tiers is that they can be so one-dimensional in the limited number of strategies and techniques you can learn and use with them that they become pretty boring after awhile. I generally just have more fun with any high tier character than any low tier character because of the above mentioned variety of techniques and strategies that are fun to execute that high tiers have over low tiers. For me that factors more into playing a high tier than winning.

Geenareeno · Apr 30, 2012

I play Ganon but I learned Fox and Falco to some extent because they are fun to paly against people worse than you, and are fun to play in general because they are so good.

ElloEddy · Apr 30, 2012

low tier's forever

kyaputenfarukon07 · Apr 30, 2012

Because everyone in my area plays falco

JesiahTEG · Apr 30, 2012

Linguini said:
because they're easy as **** and winning is quite enjoyable as well

lollllll

Ken inspired me the first time I ever watched a SSBM video on Youtube. Messed around with other chars over the years, settled on Marth. I think he's good enough to win nationals, and as long as he has that I get to rep my fav char and do good.

Bing · Apr 30, 2012

I began playing Fox as a way of building tech skill, then he just became my best character. I also have/prefer to use an aggressive style, so Fox fit that moreso then my last main Marth.

One day when I feel my tech skill is enough I want to go low tier though...

FoxLisk · Apr 30, 2012

i only play high tiers because slow characters are boring. all of my even remotely useful secondaries are high tiers because they're fast. the only fun low tier is roy because he's fast.

not just running speed or whatever, i really mean something more like "agile." like pikachu is kinda fun because he's kinda fast but it's awkward to get him to go where you want so it's mostly just frustrating and boring.

Shiny Mewtwo aka Jigglysir · Apr 30, 2012

I play Ganon because I like Captain Falcon in Brawl, and Ganon feels more like Brawl Captain Falcon than Melee Captain Falcon does.

also Stomp

SUNG666 · Apr 30, 2012

I main Falco because of bombsoldier, the first character I practiced ATs with. I don't think my style really fits a falco main but because I've been using him for so long I can't really switch now

JOS.fm · Apr 30, 2012

i play falco because i don't like to think while playing smash. i like to keep reads and decisions like that to feeling, and not leave it to any sort of benefit/risk assessment mid-match. getting too into a competitive mindset ruins the game for me, especially the sense of spontaneity that no other game offers (i mean the spontaneity that can be found within the confines of the metagame).

i got a marth on the side that i only practice reverse fair->dairs with, and a fox to nairplane.

Wizzrobe · Apr 30, 2012

I always played high tiers not because they were good but because I loved their playstyle. I main Falcon and I absolutely love his playstyle and him as a character.

It's me Q · Apr 30, 2012

BlackGold said:
I play Ganon because I like Captain Falcon in Brawl, and Ganon feels more like Brawl Captain Falcon than Melee Captain Falcon does.

*chokes on food*

odinNJ · Apr 30, 2012

Just noticed that^^ laughed till I cried

Shiny Mewtwo aka Jigglysir · Apr 30, 2012

It's me said:
*chokes on food*

*administers Heimlich maneuver*

Fly_Amanita · Apr 30, 2012

Having options is fun. I've also always been sufficiently results-oriented to not want to extremely severely handicap my potential.

I still like playing low tiers and am not completely atrocious with a few of them, but barring extraordinary circumstances, I don't see any reason to every bust one out in any high-stakes match.

Morin0 · Apr 30, 2012

I first started playing Marth because of Ken. Nothing much other than that.

I also have a ton of fun playing C. Falcon and while he's a fun character, I'd say inspiration to continue with him is mainly s2j. Dude's Falcon is a beast.

I also like to play Peach and inspiration to continue with her is because of Armada. She also feels pretty natural to me. I have a tendancy to like DJC characters,

ajp_anton · Apr 30, 2012

What can I say, playing top tier characters is just so much easier to win with, and you don't have to get frustrated with your attacks not doing anything, so I'm just taking the easy route.
That's why I play Luigi, he's so good.

odinNJ · Apr 30, 2012

Fly_Amanita said:
Having options is fun. I've also always been sufficiently results-oriented to not want to extremely severely handicap my potential.

I still like playing low tiers and am not completely atrocious with a few of them, but barring extraordinary circumstances, I don't see any reason to every bust one out in any high-stakes match.

I play video games for fun. Don't know about you.

Fly_Amanita · Apr 30, 2012

I play single players game for fun. I generally don't play multiplayer games unless I intend on becoming good at them.

That said, I still enjoy seeing how far I can push myself.

odinNJ · Apr 30, 2012

I can respect both those points.

Bing · Apr 30, 2012

I think people play Falco because he's a shiny ball of Feathers and ****.
Just like Fox but with Fur

Jiggs is just a ball...

odinNJ · Apr 30, 2012

I immedialty regretted posting this
carry on.

Why do you, personally, play a high-/top-tier?

Why do you, personally, play a high-tier?

Play to win; whatever it takes.

I play whatever character I like.

I like playing low tier characters.

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PhD; Smash Community Studies

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