As an avid melee fan I wish to incite conversation about the very contentious competitive melee character rankings. I would like to express my opinions as well as uncover the other melee fans here on steemit. Due to the fact that basically all the top players have different tier lists, it is very difficult to come to a consensus within the community. For this reason I believe that a proper discussion will allow a more precise tier placing for each character. With that being said, the following tier list is my own and will be purposefully subject to change, which will arise from the aforementioned ensued discussion. Each character's placement will be based on tournament results and general knowledge of the character's quirks (frame-data, tech, high-level representation...)
-------E Tier-------
26th: Bowser
The mushroom kingdom's tyrant Bowser definitely does not live up to his title... His atrocious air and ground speeds, coupled with the exaggerated amount of ending and start up lag on his moves leaves bowser in a constant state of disadvantage in the high octane competitive melee scene.
25th: Kirby
Notoriously known as the worst melee character, Kirby has very little going for him. Laughable damage output and his literally broken throws create very little offensive prowess. His subpar air mobility does not allow Kirby to take advantage of his multiple jumps like Jigglypuff can, this is especially problematic as his Up-B is easy to intercept and edge-guard him.
24th: Ness
OKAY! Ness is unfortunately a very beloved character in the Nintendo community, as Mother has amassed a cult-like following over the years. I say unfortunate due to the fact that he is not very well suited for competitive play. Apart from his DJC aerials, short stature and having access to the deadliest kill-throw in the game; Ness is very lackluster. Having possibly the wort recovery and the worst grab range in the entire game really hinder Ness's viability.
23rd: Zelda
Hyrule's princess boasts some of the stronger aerials in the form of her Forward-Air and Back-Air, as well as a strong recovery. However, apart from those moves and maybe her Down-Tilt she simply lacks the tools to succeed. This is very true in terms of approach options, which is to be expected as she features the shortest wave-dash in the game. With all of that being said she does have a Down-B that most of the cast wish they had...
22nd: Link
Right above the Hyrulian princess is the hero of Hyrule himself, Link. Possibly one of the most popular characters in casual play, Link is hardly ever represented in any form of competitive melee. He shares many of the same problems that other low-tier characters face: exploitable recovery, low aerial drift and ground speed, laggy moves and so on and so forth. His tether grab makes it really difficult for Link to use as an option since if he misses he will be punished hard. This unfavourable risk:reward ratio really exemplifies Link as a character in competitive melee.
-------D Tier-------
21st: Pichu
Commonly recognized as a joke character due to his own moves damaging himself, Pichu is unfairly placed at the very bottom of many tier lists. His Neutral-Air, Up-Air and chaingrab on fast-falling characters renders Pichu a much more viable option than other characters in the roster. However his light weight, lack of range and self damaging moves create weaknesses that his positives do not outweigh.
20th: Roy
Our boy Roy does not have it too great to say the least. Mainly due to the fact that his fellow Fire Emblem counterpart character outclasses him in every possible way. His sword's hits are stronger near the hilt, meaning that Roy really struggles when spacing since his sword is reduced to a wet noodle when he hits with the tip. Along with his other weaknesses of fall speed and weak recovery are more than enough to outweigh Roy's Down-Tilt, dash-dance and grab. Clutching a victory screen with Roy is very rare, no matter how skilled the Roy is... (At least he is a high-tier meme!)
19th: Mewtwo
Being among one of the most beloved and iconic Pokemon, Mewtwo would have surely seen a lot of high end representation if he were a high-tier character. Recently Mewtwo has gained some attention due to his Marth-like grab combos on spacies. However, Mewtwo has some fundamental flaws that prevent him from being a viable character, most notably his large hurtbox and extreme light weight make him a very easy character to decimate stocks from.
18th: Ganondorf
Many players believe that Ganondorf has enough things going for him that he can be rated as a decent mid-tier. While he does have a lot of killing power and ability to style on your opponent, he, unlike other low-tier characters is not a an extremely niche pick. This means that opponents will know how to edge-guard and combo him, making him a much less suprising opponent than the other weak characters above him.
17th: Mr Game&Watch
Tied for the lightest character in the game, Game&Watch is very easy to finish off at early percents. He does have a quite good combo game, which definitely bumps him up a few places. But similarly to Mewtwo, his combos are not enough to counteract his terrible survivability at the highest level of play. His taunt is easily one of the most high-tier taunts due to how incredibly annoying the sound is, too bad Game&Watch players will not have many chances to use it...
-------C Tier-------
16th: Donkey Kong
DING DONG! ITS DONKEY KONG!! DK's game plan is grab to win. He boasts an incredibly deadly kill confirm in addition to some high damaging combos all thanks to his throw. Many players who face DK will not take him seriously and find themselves losing due to his great punish game. He is a solid mid-tier pick, which has a shot at beating characters who are better than him.
15th: Mario
Good old Mario, Nintendo's iconic mascot has some decent tech and is represented by a high-end player called A Rookie. Alongside his spammable Forward-Smash Mario has some decent aerials to space around in neutral but has a lot of trouble landing and recovering. This makes him very susceptible to juggling combos, which quickly rack up percentage. Another decent mid-tier character who is just not complete enough to compete with the high-tiers.
14th: Yoshi
The strangest character to play and face, Yoshi is guaranteed to hype up the crowd. Featuring the only shield that is immune to shield poking Yoshi certainly has some unique quirks. This works in his advantage due to his relative obscurity within the meta game, meaning that opponents will not be familiar with the match-up at all. Since Yoshi is so quirky and weird its extremely important to know what kind of threat he poses. For this reason of match-up unfamiliarity Yoshi seems much better than he actually is and if he would ever become a mainstream pick he would drop some places.
13th: Young Link
Hyrule's hero younger self is quite an unexplored character. Small, nimble and featuring a plethora of projectiles, Young Link is a character that can be played passively with great success. For this reason he is able to box out characters who do not have fast and reliable approach options. Armada has used Young Link in the past against Jigglypuff for this reason, and similarly to what the swedish monster has used Young Link for, he is a solid counter-pick for specific match-ups. Young Link is a very technical character that can hold his own against high-tier opponents, granting him the title of character with the most unexplored potential.
12th: Doctor Mario
Doc's representation has swindled enormously after top player Shroomed dropped him for Sheik. Interestingly Shroomed's placements at events have not greatly improved after the switch, leading some to believe that Doc is just as viable as some of the top tiers. This belief is untrue. Whilst Doc has deadly combos, including throw combos, a strong projectile and a cape; his subpar recovery really hurts his viability. In order for a character to scale the high ends of the tier list he must have an at least decent recovery method, which Doc severely lacks.
11th: Luigi
Packing the undisputed best wave-dash in the game, Luigi is just as fun to play as he is to watch. Like Young Link, Luigi definitely has some unexplored potential. However, due to his relatively greater representation, more of the character's potential has been uncovered. His quick aerials and massive wave-dash pose a great threat on-stage, which counteracts his weak off-stage game. Luigi remains a viable character since he has reached top 8 placements before, but should be paired with another character to cover his weak match-ups.
-------B Tier-------
10th: Pikachu
Out of the top ten best melee characters, Pikachu is undoubtably the least common. This gives Pikachu players the match-up unfamiliarity advantage, a very valuable advantage especially against less skillful players. Boasting a fantastic recovery, edge-guards and a stronger Up-Smash than Fox, Pikachu definitely has things going for him. With that being said, often referred as a "poor man's Fox" most players would rather play the more rounded and powerful Fox, especially since he has a very hard match-up against Sheik due to her down throw chain-grab. Pikachu's tools do have a place in competitive melee, for example he has a favourable match-up versus top-tiers such as Marth.
9th: Samus
Leffen's ultimate weakness, Samus is a strong zoning character who can threaten opponents from across the stage with her charge-shot and missiles. When in closer quarter situations, she heavily relies on her wave-dash to approach, causing her to become linear. Just like every other character in this tier she has some very weak match-ups. She specifically struggles against characters who are fast and can cover space well, such as a Captain Falcon using a retreating Neutral-Air. She does have a very nice match-up against the Ice Climbers and due to her fantastic survivability, floatiness and power she has cemented herself as a high-tier pick.
8th: Captain Falcon
Falcon's raw speed and brutal power allow him to threaten opponents anywhere on the stage despite not having a projectile. His linear recovery and fast fall speed are glaring weaknesses that Falcon players must work around. In the last year or so Wizzrobe's tech-chase heavy Falcon has explored a less high-octane game plan for Falcon, combined with Wizzrobe's meticulously optimized edge-guarding has taken Falcon to new heights. Falcon players will have to learn to adapt to the evolving meta game and stop going crazy, as Falcon pays dearly when it does not work out.
-------A Tier-------
7th: Ice Climbers
There are not many competitive fighting games that allow death grabs like Wobbling, unfortunately for many players the salt-inducing technique is deemed legal in competitive play. This drastically shoots the Ice Climber duo up the tier list, as their infinite works on every character at any percent. Ice Climbers' success really depends on the player's ability to read and condition their opponent to set up for the Wobble. Keeping Nana alive is also paramount to an Ice Climber's victory since Sopo lacks the same fear inducing presence of the duo. For this reason match-ups such as Peach, Samus and Fox are really difficult for the duo as those characters can easily separate Nana and Popo or box them out, preventing the Wobble.
6th: Sheik
One of the more common characters due to her well rounded tool set, Sheik has a very strong off-stage game in particular. Her gimping ability and down throw alone place most of the cast at a grave disadvantage, rewarding her with the title of "low-tier slayer". She can hold her own against the best of the cast too, just like the rest of the characters in this tier due to her aforemetioned down throw tech-chase/chain-grab, edge-guarding, combos, needles and long limbs used to space around her opponents moves. Her main weakness lies in her very linear recovery, which features nearly two seconds of lag if landed on-stage. This allows the opponents to send her back off-stage or preform extreme punishes. She is also notoriously bad against crouch canceling strategies, really limiting her low percentage game.
5th: Peach
The mushroom kingdom's chronically captured princess is more than capable of holding her own in the competitive melee scene. Obviously made apparent by the fact that Armada, the greatest player of all time has pretty much mained her for his entire career. Her float mechanic allows for a great edge-guarding prowess as well as a strong recovery. It even allows for float canceling her aerials, which is even better than L-canceling as only the jump lag is accounted for. She is a character that is difficult to approach and that can punish mistakes very hard. Her match-up spread is very solid barring Jigglypuff and Fox, which both counter Peach despite Armada's consistency.
4th: Jigglypuff
Possibly the most hated character in the game alongside the Ice Climbers, Jigglypuff's rest can liquidate stocks at very early percents. Her touch of death is extremely laggy is missed and is also balanced out by her being the lightest character in the game. This forces Jigglypuff players to play very safe spacing aerials to avoid dying at very low percentages. This can often seem impossible to get through, especially if Jigglypuff is planking on the ledge, making her a salt-inducing defensive character who can end your stocks with one touch. The only thing that really holds her back from jumping over to the next tier is her terrible match-up against Fox, the most common character at a competitive level.
-------S Tier-------
3rd: Falco
The best projectile in the game, filthy zero to death pillar combos, a varied recovery and the best spike in the game spell out top-tier. Alongside Marth and Fox, Falco is one of the few characters to have a close to fair match-up against Fox. To some he even wins the matchup versus his fellow space animal. Commonly perceived as the second best character I have placed Marth above Falco due to the fact that they both have a similarly unforgiving punish game but Marth demands much less technical ability, making him more consistent than the tech heavy Falco. Also similarly to Marth, Falco can find it hard to kill his opponents at higher percentages forcing him to space Back-Airs and Up-Tilts. This is problematic as Falco can be easily comboed and edge-guarded at any percent. It has been said that at the highest level of play Falco spawns at death percent, which reflects his fragility against the rest of the cast. Overall Falco, like all the other characters in the top tier can make a case for being the very best in the game, even top players such as Mew2King have stated that Falco is the best.
2nd: Marth
Placing Marth above Falco may seem controversial but top level Marths have been placing much more consistently than top Falcos in recent times, meaning that the current meta is more suited for Marth's spacing heavy gameplay. Having the longest regular grab in the game allows for relentless close quarter pressure always threatening shielding opponents. The best grab in the game combined with the fourth longest wave-dash and the second longest dash-dance lets Marth players create dizzying ground movement, leading PPMD to say that Marth straight up beats Fox on the ground. His tipper mechanic rewards spacing and allows for stupidly early kills. Marth does notably well against the space animals, but has some problem match-ups such as Pikachu, Sheik and even Samus. Despite that Marth has continuously ruled the top of tournament placings, especially in the earlier years of melee history. For this reason many Marth players are using the same strategies and tech from years ago, which still obviously works, but it has halted Marth's development. I believe that Marth has much more optimization to be fulfilled compared to the other top tiers, meaning that even he could scale the top of the tier list.
1st: Fox
You all expected it, the iconic Fox McCloud tops yet another tier list. Fox is the complete package for competitive melee, he has reliable kill set ups on all characters, a projectile that resets move staleness, the best move in the game in his shine, unique full hop angle, frame one jump squat animation, invincible ledge-dash and maybe most importantly he has the highest theoretical inputs per second of any character. This relentless speed grants fox amazing combos and shield pressure allowing the player to properly express himself when playing. He also has a very varied and far reaching recovery and his fast falling status lets him survive to high percents when attempting to kill him off the top of the stage. His fast fall speed does allow him to be comboed very easily too, coupled with his light weight and lack of range make up the principal criticisms of the space animal. But when all is said and done Fox simply has the greatest amount of viable options at any given moment, which is currently the most important factor in deciding how good a character is.