In the final part of my tier list, I take a look at the eight characters who are definitively viable on a competitive level, while also offering a great place to start for new players.

Low tiers can be found here, mid tiers are found here.

My casual/competitive hybrid tier list of Super Smash Bros. Melee is wrapping up, as I now get into the eight best characters in the game.

While the characters in the bottom and low tiers have both limited tournament representation and little competitive viability over the game’s nearly 25-year lifespan, middle-tier characters have seen varying levels of success, with some of them undergoing a renaissance in the 2020’s.

Of the remaining characters on the tier list, all eight of them have had a player win a major or a supermajor with them on at least one occasion, while the top seven characters all feature at least one technique that can be considered among the best in the game – a tool strong enough to overwhelm the majority of characters ranked below them.

The high and top tiers of this list include the most recognizable characters of Melee and the Smash Bros. scene at-large, with many of the metagame developments within the game’s top characters helping pave the way for the series’ enduring popularity in the decades since.

This part of the list will be separated into two sections – the A tier and S tier. The former of which includes characters that are undoubtedly among the best in the game, but are still likely to run into problems and disadvantages when playing one of the S-tier characters, whose weaknesses are greatly outweighed by their strengths across the matchup chart.

While these characters differ in ease to a casual or new player, all of them have incredible upside and are great options to start with, with some even being specifically great for casual play as well.

Once again, below is a look at the most recent official Melee tier list, released in March 2021:

The characters listed below have largely been among the best in the game since the start of the competitive scene, with all eight of them being consistent competitors at tournaments since at least the 2008 release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Here’s a look at the high and top tiers:

A Tier

8. Ice Climbers

Another one of the more unique characters in the game, conventional wisdom would imply that the Ice Climbers, the only character with two fighters at once, is a good option. While the character is indeed a perennial contender, it’s certainly for other reasons.

Much of the Ice Climbers’ early competitive success revolved around an infamous technique known as “wobbling,” an infinite combo that involves alternating strikes between the two Ice Climbers before a KO – serving as the game’s lone true infinite combo.

Although allowed for most of the game’s competitive history, wobbling has largely been banned since the start of the 2020’s – though the Ice Climbers’ grab game remains absolutely devastating with hand-off combos and can still often lead to zero-to-death combos – even without the use of wobbling.

The pair certainly possess other strengths as well – a considerably long wavedash, fast attacks and the ability to surround an opponent when the two climbers are desynced. If the CPU-controlled Ice Climber is KO’d, the player can also control the lead Ice Climber on its own, often known as a “SoPo” (Solo Popo) – though SoPo’s abilities are incredibly limited outside of a solid grab.

While the pair’s great ground mobility and powerful attacks can help out new players, the Ice Climbers certainly have noticeable weaknesses, with their poor aerial mobility giving opponents plenty of opportunities to separate the two climbers, which can often lead to scenarios where only SoPo survives, giving the Ice Climbers a severe disadvantage. The two also have a poor recovery, being incredibly vulnerable to edgeguarding whenever knocked off stage.

Besides that, the Ice Climbers have been a fixture of the competitive scene for the game’s entire lifespan, initially ushered in by ChuDat, who remains the lone player to win a major tournament with the character. Fly Amanita, Nintendude and Wobbles, the namesake of the signature technique, have also achieved great tournament success with the character.

7. Peach

Though I certainly would never have imagined it as a kid, Peach is one of the most devastating characters in the game with a set of overwhelming strengths, along with a few weaknesses that keep her from being in the game’s top tier.

Featuring plenty of unique mechanics, Peach is both lightweight and floaty with an excellent recovery, making her one of the most difficult characters to kill vertically in the game. These mechanics also work very well on the offensive side, with her ability to float just above the ground opening up a wide range of possibilities for combos, aided by an excellent aerial game filled with quick, powerful moves.

Peach’s two best offensive tools come in her down special, Vegetable, and her down smash, colloquially known by many as “the blender.” Vegetable has Peach pull out a turnip that may vary in damage, with some varieties having the ability to cause above 20% damage on a single hit. This gives Peach an excellent projectile and edgeguarding game, while her down smash can land up to 60% damage on single series of hits, making it one of the most devastating moves in the game.

Though Peach has poor ground mobility and mostly limited range on her ground attacks, this is made up for with a great grab range that also opens up combo opportunities, with her forward throw serving as an extremely potent finisher.

Beyond poor ground mobility, Peach’s poor wavedash and slow falling speed put her at a disadvantage against higher-ranked characters, particularly the also-floaty Jigglypuff, who features even stronger aerial mobility and can outclass Peach at her own game.

Still, Peach has had excellent tournament representation throughout most of the game’s lifespan, with her most recognizable player in Armada being regarded by many as the greatest Melee player of all-time. Other players such as lloD and Trif have achieved notable success with the character in recent years.

6. Captain Falcon

A personally very difficult matchup for myself, Captain Falcon can appear as one of the game’s most overwhelming characters, possessing a potent combination of dizzying speed and backbreaking power.

Much of Falcon’s success revolves around his “best move of the game” contender in the “Knee of Justice,” an incredibly powerful aerial technique that serves as an elite edgeguarder that can deal up to 18% damage in a single hit.

The Knee is just one of Falcon’s many tools – his incredibly fast dashing speed gives him some of the best ground movement in the game, while his other aerial techniques also dually serve as combo extenders and edgeguarders, giving Falcon some of the best stage coverage in the entire game.

While his grab range is short, plenty can be done after landing a grab, with Falcon’s throw moves helping to extend combos and start chaingrabs, both of which can be ended with a Knee to finish the stock.

Falcon certainly has his weaknesses, however. Beyond his fast speed and pinpoint moves being difficult to land for some newer players, his extremely poor and predictable horizontal recovery is the character’s biggest weakness. Especially against characters ranked above him, Falcon’s recovery can be easily exploited by some of the game’s better edgeguarding techniques.

Beyond having a high learning curve and a few weaknesses, Captain Falcon remains a great option for both casual and competitive players. Isai is known to have been a pioneer of the character’s metagame during “The Golden Age” of Melee, while S2J, Wizzrobe, n0ne and Salt are among the character’s best players today.

5. Sheik

Often viewed as the game’s best character in the very early years of Melee‘s competitive scene, Sheik has dropped off a bit since then while remaining one of the game’s most formidable options.

As a casual option, Sheik is a bit of a mixed bag due to her powerful but slower forward smash, while her quick speed and excellent aerial game make her easy to keep up with other players for those who are new to the game.

Competitively, Sheik has many of the game’s best tools. Her grab game is universally regarded as among the most dangerous in Melee, with her down throw move being notorious for starting essentially inescapable combos, especially against characters with a high falling speed.

Sheik’s Needle Storm also serves as an excellent projectile and edgeguarding tool, which helps make up for her relative lack of offstage play that can be attributed to her biggest weakness, a very poor recovery.

Her biggest strength arguably comes with her forward aerial, a ridiculously effective move that acts as a semi-spike, allowing it to kill at very low percentages while being very difficult to recover from.

In addition to a lackluster recovery, Sheik’s slow air speed puts her at a disadvantage when compared to the four characters ranked above her in the game’s top tier, who are all able to outclass Sheik in the air to some degree.

With that said, Sheik has been a competitive stalwart since the game’s 2001 release, with Mew2King, Plup and Jmook serving as the character’s greatest players over the course of the game’s lifespan.

S Tier

4. Jigglypuff

The most infamous and controversial character in not just Melee, but possibly all of Smash Bros., Jigglypuff is unlike any other character in the game – something that greatly irritates most players that fall victim to it in a competitive match.

It is far from obvious to a new player that Jigglypuff is the juggernaut that it is, and it was certainly something that surprised me quite a bit when initially learning about the game’s competitive scene. In a game where fast movement in the air and on the ground is seemingly everything, Jigglypuff is the polar opposite.

A very light and extremely floaty character with five extra jumps to act as its recovery, Jigglypuff’s strengths seem to be a product of how Melee is played competitively by everyone else – while still having more than enough tools to be a juggernaut in casual play for those who don’t mind the slower pace.

Easily the game’s best defensive character, Jigglypuff has the ability to extend matches by simply staying in the air and evading, while possessing one of the game’s most powerful aerial movesets that serves as both a combo starter and edgeguarder, the latter affectionately known as the Wall of Pain.

Its biggest strength comes with the technique many consider to be the best in Melee and potentially the entire series with Rest, its down special. When connecting on a Rest, Jigglypuff will fall asleep while catapulting the character miles off the stage, with kill potential at damages as low as 25%. Though extremely punishable when whiffed, this makes Jigglypuff perhaps the most difficult character in the game to approach, a fact that is taken advantage of against other top characters.

The Rest is especially potent as a combo finisher, particularly against fastfalling characters like Fox and Falco after an up throw.

Despite these overwhelming strengths, Jigglypuff’s weaknesses are also quite clear. Its extremely low weight and floatiness makes it one of the easiest vertical KOs at the game, with Jigglypuff often dying below 80% when hit by a powerful up aerial move such as Fox’s. Its slow ground movement also makes Jigglypuff heavily reliant on connecting with aerials, which can still be difficult against those with high dashing speeds.

Still, Jigglypuff is universally regarded as one of the game’s best characters, with all-time great Hungrybox being associated with the character’s success for nearly 20 years. Hungrybox’s success with Jigglypuff came immediately after fellow all-time great Mang0 established much of the metagame with the character before switching to Falco and Fox, while SDJ, 2saint and Prince Abu have also achieved notable success in tournaments with it.

3. Falco

Quick and powerful with a wide range of unforgiving moves, Falco has long been regarded as a top-tier character in Melee, with no metagame developments ever being enough to erase the bird from the top level of competitive play.

A great choice for both casual and competitive play, Falco offers a great mix of power and relative ease for new players while simultaneously featuring a very high technical learning curve to play at the highest level.

Falco’s most noticeable strengths are ones that any player can get down with – unbelievably powerful smash, a helpful projectile in Blaster and a down aerial with a massive hitbox that acts as a true spike, serving as an excellent combo starter, finisher and edgeguarder.

For the more advanced players, Falco’s down special, Reflector, can be utilized in a wide variety of ways, with Falco’s infamous “pillar combos” involving a Reflector immediately after a wavedash chained into his aerial moves.

Beyond his wide range of powerful moves and excellent mobility both on the air and ground, Falco still has weaknesses that keep him from being the game’s best character. Falco’s light weight, high falling speed and rather poor recovery make him quite vulnerable when off-stage, while his wavedash and dash-dance aren’t quite as mobile as his counterpart in Fox.

Still, Falco is in many ways Melee personified with a single character – high-risk, high-reward play in a fast-paced environment with a slew of powerful techniques.

Falco has achieved considerable tournament success for the length of the game’s lifespan, with PC Chris, PPMD, Magi, Westballz and Ginger being among the characters’ most notable players over the years, while Mang0 is widely considered to be the best Falco player of all-time.

2. Fox

I will preface this section by saying this: the official tier lists are correct – from a purely competitive standpoint, Fox is absolutely the best character in the game. But from a standpoint of considering both casual/new players and competitive players, he falls just a bit behind the best.

It should be made clear that Fox is still an excellent choice in casual play – his incredibly fast ground and aerial speed are ideally complemented by a range of powerful, quick moves that new players can easily pick up. His smash attacks are extremely potent, his Blaster serves as a great projectile that fires faster than Falco’s, while his recovery is not just better than Falco’s, but among the best in the game.

Of course, these are all tools that are revered and used by competitive players as well. But for those who are willing to take on the game’s most technically demanding character, there is plenty to gain on the other side.

Much of the advanced play, like Falco’s, centers around the waveshine to start combos, many of which can be more technically demanding and more rewarding to hit than those of his counterpart. Fox’s fast ground speed is also combined with an extremely fast falling speed and volatile side-special, which can make his play incredibly high risk.

Additionally, while Fox’s recovery travels a very long distance and is an outstanding option for casual players, competitive players are often able to interrupt or punish Fox’s recovery by either traveling off-stage or reading a landing spot, which can give opponents opportunities to kill at a low percentage.

While Fox’s playstayle is even more high-risk, high-reward than that of Falco’s on a competitive level, Fox’s long-distance recovery and faster-firing Blaster make him the lower-risk option of the two space animals for casual play.

Fox is the most represented character on the top level of competitive play, with many of the game’s greatest players either maining him or using him as a secondary main or counterpick character. Leffen, Cody Schwab, SFAT and Chillin are among the most notable solo Fox mains in the game’s history, while Mang0, Armada, Fiction and Mew2King have all either mained the character or used him as a secondary at some point.

1. Marth

The second-best character from a competitive standpoint and the best/easiest character to pick up for a new or casual player, Marth features the best of both worlds for those looking to get into Melee.

While I’m a Marth main myself, I’d like to include the caveat that I simply don’t have the skill to play Falco or Fox, my two other preferred top-tier characters, at the level I’m able to play Marth at (still merely in the Bronze, the lowest level online, for those keeping track at home).

Marth’s tools are obvious and plentiful – he features excellent ground mobility, ridiculously long grab range and similarly incredible range with his sword, which features its strongest point at the tip, allowing Marth to put up considerable damage at a relatively safe distance away from the character.

This alone is what makes Marth the best option in casual play, with his forward smash having the most power and range of any similar move in the game – although its strength in competitive play is greatly hampered by the move’s significant endlag – among Marth’s weaknesses.

Marth’s other strengths are simply byproducts of his main assets – the range of his sword creates seemingly endless combo opportunities, with his aerial moves easily among the best in the game. Marth’s forward aerial in particular is a potent combo extender that can serve as an ideal juggling move alongside his up aerial or up tilt moves.

Both techniques can lead to what is perhaps Marth’s finest move, his down aerial, which features a true spike if connected on the sweetspot of the sword, making it an incredibly edgeguarder and combo finisher, the latter being the trademark finisher of the Ken Combo.

Beyond many of his moves being easily punishable if whiffed, Marth also has an unremarkable recovery that can be edgeguarded by many characters, despite its decent range. Due to the first problem, Marth can also have difficulty finishing stocks as a result of the inherent risk involved in utilizing his most powerful moves.

Despite this, Marth is both an extremely common pick in low-level online play and at the highest levels of the game, with many of the game’s greatest players of all-time using the character to some degree, similarly to Fox.

Ken, Mew2King and Zain are widely regarded as the greatest Marth players of all-time in representation of separate eras, while PPMD, KoDoRiN, Azen and KoreanDJ have also achieved notable success with the character.