List of SSB tier lists (NTSC)

The tier list of Super Smash Bros. has gone through 5 different lists as of 2026, mainly due to there being a smaller competitive community for the game and since the Smash 64 community is split between long-distance regions such as Peru, Mexico, and Chile. The following is a list of the known tier lists.

First tier list (March 11, 2008)

Super Smash Bros. Tier List #1
Top			High		Middle			Low		Bottom
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12

The first list was created by the Super Smash Bros. community on GameFAQs, unlike the tier lists of other games, which were created on Smashboards by the Smash Back Room.

Second tier list (September 28, 2009)

Super Smash Bros. Tier List #2
S		A			B				C
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12

The second SSB tier list was created by the N64 community on SmashBoards.

In this tier list, Fox went from 4th place to 2nd, and it is so far the only tier list to place him higher than Kirby (along with Yoshi). Ness severely dropped from 3rd place to 8th, mainly due to how prominent and exploitable his terrible recovery had become. Captain Falcon went up one place. Mario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong each went up two places. Jigglypuff dropped three places, and Link jumped up one place, leaving Samus at the bottom of the list.

Third tier list (September 20, 2011)

Super Smash Bros. Tier List #3
S	A		B		C				D
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10-11		12
1	2.36	2.64	4.14	4.86	6.21	7.57	8.07	8.64	10.36		11.79

The third SSB tier list was created by the Smash Back Room.

Little changed from the previous tier list. In this list, Kirby went from 3rd place to 2nd, making Fox drop one place. Link and Luigi are now tied at the second-to-last spot. Ness dropped one place, making Jigglypuff 8th place. Pikachu stayed at the top of the list, where it has gained its own tier. This was the last 64 Tier List where Hyrule was the main stage and online play was the norm over tournaments.

Fourth tier list (May 12, 2015)

Super Smash Bros. Tier List #4
S		A			B		C
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1.10	2.18	3.42	3.75	4.85	6.46	6.49	9.28	9.49	10.02	10.33	11.67

The fourth SSB tier list was created and discussed by the Smashboards N64 Community. A total of 86 people voted on the tier list, but there were a few notable smashers who didn't vote such as SuPeRbOoMfAn, JaimeHR, and Mariguas, mostly due to laziness.

Many changes advanced the Smash 64 metagame after nearly four years since the last tier list, including Hyrule Castle being banned and Dream Land becoming the sole neutral.

Samus made an outstanding leap from dead last to eighth, by far the biggest gain in the transition between Super Smash Bros. tier lists. Pikachu no longer keeps a tier for itself when Kirby joined it in the highest tier, while they kept their positions at 1st and 2nd, respectively. Captain Falcon switched with Fox for 3rd, favoring the former, as with the banning of Hyrule Castle, Fox becomes weaker overall on Dream Land, mostly due to weaker matchups vs. the top tiers. Yoshi rose to 5th place in A tier, the second-highest tier, with many dedicated players placing Top 8 in tournaments with him. Jigglypuff rose two places. Mario, on the other hand, lost two places due to several Mario mains dropping him within this four year period. Luigi is now put last on the tier list. A large number of these changes, though, in particular in the bottom 5, were highly contested, as many of the low tiers had similarly few placements. Also in subsequent years, Yoshi was seen as also being undervalued and was considered by most to be above Fox, with the list considered inaccurate.

All discussion of the tier list was delegated to this thread while all voting occurred in this thread, run by KoRoBeNiKi, Pidgezero one, and BananaBolts with Madao and others moderating. The tiers were officially ranked into median ratings and not groups, but it can be inferred that S is the top tier, A is high tier, B is mid tier, and C is low tier.

Fifth tier list (September 6, 2026)

Super Smash Bros. Tier List #5
S		A		B			C			D
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1.11	2.45	3.01	3.55	5.20	6.14	6.92	9.01	9.18	9.78	10.47	11.20

The fifth SSB tier list was created by the 64 League, a large and respected group within the SSB competitive scene and "the governing body of the 64 community." The list was done by a vote from players ranked in 2024 and 2025.

For the first time since the second tier list, Kirby was not ranked 2nd, though numerous voters still voted him 2nd. This was due to a rise in Yoshi's playerbase between the fourth and fifth tier lists, thanks to players such as Kurabba, Wizzrobe, and many others throughout North America, Peru, Mexico, and Chile. Conversely, Kirby's results have stagnated in the early 2020s, due to the reduced presence of his best players such as kysk (who is the only Kirby player to win a major during this time), and most Kirby results coming from co-mains instead of solo-mains. This was also the first 64 tier list where Ness rose, rising two spots to the top of C tier, due to the performances of players such as Fray and due to having a good Yoshi/Falcon matchup, but as per the old lists, the bottom 5 characters are all seen as having similar viability.

Tier list chart

This table shows the ranks of each character through all of the tier lists, as well as a numbered description of their change in rank each time. "Change" lists how much a character's position changed between the two tier lists it is in between. "Highest" represents a character's highest position, "Lowest" represents their lowest position, and "Range" lists the difference between the highest and lowest position. "Overall change" represents a character's change between the first tier list and the current tier list. Changes of three places or more will be bolded. In case of a tie (Link and Luigi from the third tier list), the higher number is stated first.

Character	1st tier list	Change	2nd tier list	Ch.	3rd tier list	Ch.	4th tier list	Ch.	5th tier list	Highest	Lowest	Range	Overall change
Pikachu	1	±0	1	±0	1	±0	1	±0	1	1	1	0	±0
Yoshi	8	+2	6	±0	6	+1	5	+3	2	2	8	6	+6
Kirby	2	-1	3	+1	2	±0	2	-1	3	2	3	1	-1
Captain Falcon	5	+1	4	±0	4	+1	3	-1	4	3	5	2	+1
Fox	4	+2	2	-1	3	-1	4	-1	5	2	5	3	-1
Jigglypuff	6	-3	9	+1	8	+2	6	0	6	6	9	3	±0
Mario	7	+2	5	±0	5	-2	7	±0	7	5	7	2	±0
Ness	3	-5	8	-1	9	-1	10	+2	8	3	10	7	-5
Donkey Kong	9	+2	7	±0	7	-2	9	±0	9	7	9	2	±0
Samus	11	-1	12	±0	12	+4	8	-2	10	8	12	4	+1
Link	12	+1	11	±0 (,+1*)	10 (,11*)	±0 (,-1*)	11	±0	11	10 (,11*)	12	1 (,2*)	+1
Luigi	10	±0	10	±0 (,-1*)	10 (,11*)	-1 (,2*)	12	±0	12	10	12	2	-2

* = tie

See also

• List of SSBM tier lists (NTSC)
• List of SSBB tier lists (NTSC)
• List of SSB4 tier lists
• List of SSBU tier lists
• Metagame

External links

• Current and Fourth SSB Tier List