Time for another rant. Tier Lists

There is one thing in competitive gaming that infuriates me to no end, the concept of Tier lists.

For the uninitiated, what is a tier list? A tier list is, most of the time, a fan made list of characters in a game that's sorted in a way that shows how powerful they are. I'm only going to be sticking with Pokémon and Super Smash Brothers as those are the games I play competitively every now and then.

For Pokémon, the tier lists are based on the Pokémon's stats and useability. For example, most legendary Pokémon (Mewtwo, Arceus, Darkrai ect) are in the Uber tier, these Pokémon being banned in competitive play. The next tier down are the Over Used tier, these being the strongest, legal Pokémon and are seen ALL THE DAMM TIME!!! I have respect for players who use the Pokémon that they like, not just for power. A team that I use often are Blaziken with Speed Boost and Blazikenite (legal in Nintendo run tournaments) Lucario (Uber in Mega form, OU normal), Weavile (Borderline), Gardevoir (Borderline in Mega form, Under used without), Hydreigon (Under used) and Foretress (Underused), yes there are some that are Over used and Uber tier, but there are more under used and borderline Pokémon. I don't care about Tier lists, I like using my favourites. My main complaint with the Tier list for Pokémon is the people who only use over used Pokémon because they are the strongest in the game. I'm getting sick of the people who go "I use "Insert Pokémon here" because he's powerful. I hate it but I like its brute strength". It takes away one of the core parts of the game, using your favourite Pokémon. No team is unbeatable and when you use the over used, everyone has a counter, its actually hinders your chances more then it helps.

My complaint stands with the Smash bros players, and tier lists in general. I learned how to play Brawl by playing as Meta Knight, did I know the tier lists existed? No, did I like being over powered? Yes, I'm power hungry in games like Smash bros, with my other main charactes being Luigi, Peach, Kirby, Samus (not Zero Suit), Captain Falcon and Sonic (with Lucario and R.O.B being the runners up). The reason why is because they fit my play style. Fast, can deal a hit, but also funny. I always laugh when I get the chance to yell "ZA WARLDO", when I get the chance to land a Falcon Punch, zipping around as Super Sonic and getting everyone into Kirby's Pot. I don't like people that take Smash bros seriously as it is intended to be fun. Smash bros isn't Street Fighter, its not Tekken. It shouldn't be taken seriously because of the source. How can you take a game that has Mario fighting Sonic in a Animal Crossing village? You can't, and the people who try are the reason why "Final Destination only, no items, Fox only" memes exist. I can play competitive and I do so every now and then, but I still like having fun in my games. For Fun or For Glory? For fun, but every now and then For Glory for me at least.

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