Greninja is top-tier
According to Zero, the winner of the E3 2014 Smash invitational, Greninja has no clear-cut weakness since he has strong combos, good edge guarding, and decent poke. And anyone thats fought him online knows his aerial down attack should not be taken lightly. Those factors make him a rising star among the newcomers.
Zero's expert analysis on most of the characters in Smash 3DS is worth checking out if youre planning to attend any Smash tourneys in the near future. You can see many of the observations right here.
Smash 3DS signals the end of Super Smash Fox: Meta Knight
Melee is infamous for how outmatched most characters are against an experienced Fox McCloud fighter. Meanwhile, Meta Knight ruled the roost among Brawls elite players. It would seem that both characters imbalances have finally been taken into account for Smash 3DS/Wii U.
According to SHI-gaming and other Smash theorists, Fox has dropped several tiers in Smash 4. The same can be said for Meta Knight, with both depowered to some degree. Typically, when Fox drops a few tiers, his buddy Falco carries the torch at tourneys, but not so this time. In Smash for 3DSs current state, Falco is getting a lot of negative heat--but again, its too early to make a definitive call.
All-in-all, tier lists are less relevant this time around
SHI-Gaming says there arent any S-tier (aka insanely overpowered) characters included in their current tier lists for 3DS. At the moment, no character in Smash 4 is in a class above the rest. Take this with a grain of salt, but some recall that Meta Knight was already seen as overpowered during Brawls beta phases. Its a good sign when the tier list can get by without concrete mention of a particularly powerful character.
SHI-Gaming mentions that the game's tiers are quite close this time around. Seemingly any character from the A to C tiers could potentially take the winning spot in a tournament. I await the day I can say 90% of the roster is viable in tournament play, but lets wait and see if that actually happens this time around.
The maps arent competitive
Dont hold your breath on seeing a lot of stage variety at any upcoming tournaments. As far as stages go, most of them are not at all viable for tournament play unfortunately. Well have to stick to Battlefield and Final Destination for the most part, Chillindude told me.
Most levels with random, terrain-based obstacles pose a threat to the competitive merit of any eSports game, and thats true once more on 3DS. Smash is a fun party game that comes to life because of its sheer unpredictability, and that includes any sort of aggressive Arwing thats out to blast you from the other side of the screen. Chillindudes response is no surprise, given his competitive background. The rest of us can enjoy the occasional free kill via ground spike while the pros can stick to the many variations on Final Destination.
Smash Bros. Wii U: The same fundamentals, but with a controller
Fundamentally, [Smash 4 Wii U] is supposed to be the same game as the 3DS version, so Im not sure how much will change at that point, says Chillindude. Being able to use the GameCube controller will be a huge control difference of course, but Im not sure how much it'll affect the metagame.
Most of the competitive scene mentions the Wii Us overall fundamentals will be similar to that of the 3DS. That means most of what people are feeling now should stay the same once the future edition is released. And expect it to become the dominant version in the pro scene. Nintendos flagship console will get more love solely for the ability to play Smash with a GameCube controller--which for some is the only way to play the game.
Enjoy Smash the way you want to
There you have it, folks! Pro opinions on Smash Bros. for 3DS. The game is still young, and theres no way to accurately measure where 40 characters stand in the tier-lists. What the pros say is merely what they see as good from their many hours of experience. For the rest of us, we shall enjoy playing every character and bashing our friends faces in with hammers. Perhaps you can use this data on top-tier characters to play try-hard with your friends... but remember, its never too late to consider the competitive scene.
And if you're looking for more, check out Super Smash Bros. Wii U and 3DS roster and 12 amazing things Super Smash Bros. will teach you about Nintendo.
