Is there a more OP SSB character than Pikachu?

[McFerguson]

I’ve never went to a SSB tournaments, never really been a guy to engage in forums (I made this account yesterday) so I don’t have much of a “community opinion”.  Only played SSB with friends or at game parties. Only played the original and Melee so I have no experience with any SSB games after.

But imo Pikachu is head and shoulders better than anyone else in the original game. Captain Falcon is my second favorite character behind Pikachu and his Smash + A attack is a kick that goes over Pikachu’s freaking head. Mario is a solid character that’s balanced, I find Fox in the right hands a top tier character as well (even though I never cared for him much). But I just find it easiest to dominate with Pikachu

Pikachu is trash in Melee, maybe they did that on purpose because of the original?? 

 

In Melee I found the top tier to be a little more competitive. I feel Marth/Fox/Captain Falcon were all great characters and all had the ability to dominate just about equally.

Comments? Opinions? 

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Probably Brawl's Meta Knight given how it's banned from tournament play.

 

[Jedi]

14 minutes ago, Dr. Tarrasque said:

Probably Brawl's Meta Knight given how it's banned from tournament play.

 

That ban was lifted a few months after it happened. 

[Florete]

It may be in part due to the game being older and less played competitively, but I never heard nearly as many complaints about 64 Pikachu as I did Brawl Meta Knight or Smash 4 Bayonetta.

Also, isn't Pikachu considered high/mid tier in Melee? That's not bad. Pikachu's never been bad in any Smash game as far as I've seen.

[Shadow Mir]

Brawl Meta Knight or Smash 4 Bayonetta, off the top of my head.

[McFerguson]

57 minutes ago, Florete said:

It may be in part due to the game being older and less played competitively, but I never heard nearly as many complaints about 64 Pikachu as I did Brawl Meta Knight or Smash 4 Bayonetta.

Also, isn't Pikachu considered high/mid tier in Melee? That's not bad. Pikachu's never been bad in any Smash game as far as I've seen.

Yeah you’re right, part of the imba probably stems from it being the first game. 

 

And Pikachu MIGHT be mid tier but not too, (imo anyways) I used to play that game a lot and I played not to have fun but to win. I tried most of the characters out and never felt that Pikachu was a winner lol. Pichu was slightly better because of his speed but he’s also suicidal ?

 

in SSB1 Pikachus speed/power/jump is like 5/5 

In melee those same stats are like 3/5

on a side note is Brawl and 4 better than Melee? I haven’t owned a Nintendo console since the GC and dearly miss SSB and Zelda games but I can’t buy a console for two games 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Rat's great in the original. He has few weaknesses to exploit and insane offstage play for early kills. There's definitely plenty of reasons why he's ranked as the best character in the game. But I wouldn't consider him the best in series history. That title definitely goes to Metaknight in Brawl. Metaknight's moves are top of the line in terms of speed and safety. His recovery is great. Tornado is spammable. And nobody can approach him from the air. Brawl is definitely a game in which your matchup against Metaknight means more than anything for character viability.

[Florete]

30 minutes ago, McFerguson said:

And Pikachu MIGHT be mid tier but not too, (imo anyways) I used to play that game a lot and I played not to have fun but to win. I tried most of the characters out and never felt that Pikachu was a winner lol. Pichu was slightly better because of his speed but he’s also suicidal ?

Well, just looking at the most recent tier list, Pikachu is top 10 (and Pichu bottom 3). I haven't watched competitive Melee for a while now but when I did I saw Pikachu a decent amount. Perhaps your experience with Pikachu was more about the differences between 64 and Melee since you seem used to the 64 version.

32 minutes ago, McFerguson said:

on a side note is Brawl and 4 better than Melee? I haven’t owned a Nintendo console since the GC and dearly miss SSB and Zelda games but I can’t buy a console for two games 

Depends on who you ask and what you value. They have more content and better graphics than Melee, but just about any die hard Melee fan will tell they prefer Melee for its faster gameplay. Ultimate attracted a nice chunk of the Melee crowd, though.

[Shoblongoo]

Gen 1 "competitive" games usually tend to be super imbalanced compared to their sequels. As Gen 1 is always the Gen where there's no prior point-of-reference for whats overpowered + whats unviable, and what needs to be buffed or nerfed. 

Gen 1 Pokemon is a good example of this. Competitive Red/Blue/Yellow is hilariously dumb compared to later games, with shit like psychics having no real weaknesses. Amnesia doubling damage + tanking capacity. Blizzard having 90% accuracy + 30% chance to freeze.

SSB was no different.
_______


That being said original N64 Kirby was the dumbest and most hilariously broken thing ever to be playable in an SSB game. 

There's been high tiers / low tiers and imbalance between them in later games, but nothing ever again approaching that level of the game designers really didn't know what was OP

Edited March 14, 2019 by Shoblongoo

[TheGoodHoms]

Pikachu is really good in every Smash Bros. game when you think about it, but I believe that it's an intentional choice so that the younger players who are attracted to the game by familiar faces like Mario and Pokemon can have a fighting chance when they're just starting out. I won't say that's a fact because I don't work for Nintendo, but I do think it's a possibility.