Published in · 5 min read · Feb 24, 2023
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Welcome to the first UltRank Tier List! Shortly after the first PGRU season, PGStats announced a tier list made by the top 100 of the Spring 2019 PGRU, but this wasn’t followed up on. In early 2020, Jaaahsh released a tier list produced by a survey of 35 out of the top 50 on the Fall 2019 PGRU. Though it wasn’t considered official, it does provide a window into how 3 years of patches and meta developments have changed top player opinions about the game.
As someone who a decade ago would point to the Smashboards Back Room tier lists in arguments with my sisters about characters in Brawl, working with top players and the other excellent statisticians on the UltRank team to produce this first official tier list for Ultimate has been a surreal and thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Make sure to check out the methodology, analysis, and full list of panelists after the list! A huge thank you to everyone who helped out! Without further ado, here is the first official UltRank Tier List!
Top Tier:
S+: Steve, Pyra & Mythra, Joker
S: Sonic, Fox, R.O.B., Kazuya, Roy, Peach / Daisy
S-: Cloud, Wolf, Diddy Kong, Pikachu, Pac-Man, Snake, Min Min, Palutena, Mr. Game & Watch, Shulk
High Tier:
A+: Yoshi, Mario, Lucina, Pokémon Trainer, Wario, Samus / Dark Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Sephiroth
A-: Olimar, Young Link, Terry, Sora, Byleth, Greninja, Ken, Sheik, Ryu, Mii Brawler, Mega Man
Upper Mid Tier:
B+: Captain Falcon, Ness, Falco, Corrin, Chrom, Hero, Bayonetta, Inkling, Luigi
B-: Rosalina & Luma, Toon Link, Bowser, Meta Knight, Pit / Dark Pit, Link, Marth, Pichu, Ice Climbers
Lower Mid Tier:
C+: Wii Fit Trainer, Lucas, Jigglypuff, Ridley, Mii Gunner, Robin, Mewtwo, Incineroar
C-: Ike, Banjo & Kazooie, Duck Hunt, Simon / Richter, Villager, Donkey Kong, Lucario, Bowser Jr.
Low Tier:
D+: Isabelle, King K. Rool, Zelda, Kirby, Piranha Plant, Mii Swordfighter, Dr. Mario, King Dedede
D-: Little Mac, Ganondorf
Methodology
Any player within the top 101 on any of six global rankings covering a majority of 2022 were eligible to be part of the panel for the tier list: UltRank 2022, OrionRank 2022, EchoRank 2022, ΩRank 2022, 1000Rank 2022, and RaccRank 2022. Out of a total of 155 eligible players, ballots were filled out by 71. Panelists were asked to rate each character they formed an opinion on from 1–10, with 10 being highest and 1 being lowest. They were also asked to provide an ordered top 5 characters in the game. Almost 94% of panelists evaluated at least three quarters of the cast, with 73% of panelists evaluating every character in the game. Steve was the only character to be evaluated by every panelist, while Mii Swordfighter was evaluated by the fewest, with only 65 panelists weighing in on them. Panelist responses were normalized, with their top 5 scored as 10.x (e.g. their #1 was scored as a 10.5, while their #5 was scored as a 10.1). The highest and lowest 3 responses for each character were removed, and the remaining responses were then weighted by region according to each region’s representation on OrionRank 2022, to avoid higher or lower response rates in different regions from biasing the list. Tiers were then determined via K-Means Clustering.
Analysis
- Steve was by far the consensus #1 character, being ranked in the #1 spot by 41 out of 71 panelists and by every region except Europe (where he ranked 5th). Sonic had the 2nd most panelists putting him as #1, with 11.
- Pyra & Mythra were the most common pick for 2nd, with 16 panelists putting them there, but slightly more (17) each put them 3rd or 4th. They were also the character with the most agreement among panelists, with a standard deviation of 0.401
- On the opposite end of the spectrum, 54 out of 68 panelists evaluating the character gave Ganondorf the lowest score they gave anyone, with 18 panelists giving every other character they evaluated a higher score. The gap between Ganondorf and Little Mac was the highest on the entire list, with every single region putting the character at the bottom.
- Little Mac was very nearly the unanimous second worst character between regions, but Latin America put Dr. Mario slightly lower.
- The five characters with the lowest standard deviations were Pyra & Mythra (0.401), Steve (0.490), Joker (0.512), Ryu (0.782), and Captain Falcon (0.845)
- The five characters with the greatest standard deviations were Pikachu (1.639), Mii Swordfighter (1.613), Piranha Plant (1.504), Luigi (1.502), and Lucario (1.441)
- Wolf was the highest ranked character to have no panelists put them in the top 5.
- Bayonetta was the lowest ranked character to have any panelists put them in the top 5, with two panelists doing so.
- Most panelists had an above average opinion of their main, with 69% being above average to 31% below average. However, only ten panelists rated their main within the character’s outlier range, and two of these were Steve mains who agreed with the majority of panelists about the character being #1. No panelists were a lower outlier on a character they actively mained, though the same could not be said for ex-mains.
Regional Differences
Different regions sometimes had wildly divergent opinions on specific characters. The characters each region disagreed on the most were as follows.
U.S. & Canada were high on:
Marth (+10), Mega Man (+9), Ness (+8)
and were low on:
Diddy Kong (-10)
Latin America was high on:
Marth (+13–14), Pichu (+11–12), Luigi (+8), Min Min (+8), Pikachu (+8)
and was low on:
Sora (-12), Banjo & Kazooie (-10), Hero (-10), Ridley (-9), Cloud (-9), R.O.B. (-9), Toon Link (-8), Shulk (-8)
Europe was high on:
Bayonetta (+18), Pichu (+16–17), Shulk (+13), Luigi (+11), Mii Brawler (+9), Wario (+9), Donkey Kong (+8)
and was low on:
Hero (-10–11), Snake (-9), Cloud (-9)
Japan was high on:
Banjo & Kazooie (+15), Sora (+13), Yoshi (+13), Piranha Plant (+11), Greninja (+11), Pit/Dark Pit (+10), Toon Link (+10), Sheik (+10), Hero (+9), Dr. Mario (+8), Kirby (+8), Lucario (+8), Link (+8), Sephiroth (+8), Mr. Game & Watch (+8)
and was low on:
Wario (-16), Terry (-14), Incineroar (-13), Pikachu (-13), Zero Suit Samus (-11), Ness (-10), Lucina (-10), Luigi (-9), Kazuya (-9), Mega Man (-8)
Pikachu was notably in the top 5 in Latin America and in the top 10 in the US and Canada, but not even top 25 in Japan. Conversely, Yoshi was in the top 10 in Japan, but not top 25 in the US and Canada.
Spreadsheet with summary data for each character
Panelists
US & Canada:
Anathema
ATATA
Axiom XL
BassMage
Big D
Candle
Chronos
ChunkyKong
Dabuz
DDee
Desmona
Epic_Gabriel
ESAM
IcyMist
Ikan
Jahzz0
Jake
Jonhy
Ling
Monte
MPg
Mugen
MVD
Myran
Niko
Onin
Ouch!?
Peabnut
Puppeh
Quandale Dinglelingleton
Regalo
SamteaSilver
SHADIC
Syrup
T3 DOM
Zomba
Latin America:
AlanDiss
Andrik
Chag
MkLeo
ShinyMark
Sonix
WaKa
Yei
Europe:
Bloom4Eva
Luugi
Mezcaul
Mr.R
NaetorU
Oryon
Space
Supahsemmie
Tarik
Japan:
acola / あcola
Akakikusu / アカキクス
Asimo / あしも
Futari no Kiwami Ah~! / ふたりのきわみアー！
Hero / へろー
Kameme
Neo
Repo / れぽ
Rido / りど
Sigma
sssr
takera
Toura / トウラ
Tsubaki / ツバキ
Yamanaction / ヤマナクション
Yaura / ヤウラ
ZAKI
Australia:
Jdizzle
-Written by Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth, edited by Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig & Brian Buckley
