ive had a lil more time than you guys to experiment a bit, so even though we're still in the early days of the meta here's what im thinking:

S Tier
- Meta Knight
Really fast, really powerful, small hurt animation, good recovery, and really good combos. Not much else to say. He can kill really early too which is pretty sick.
- Falco
Do I need to explain? Pressure is unparallelled. Great combos. Completely shuts down a huge portion of the cast.
- Luffy
Combos, combos, combos. Not a character in any Smash game with this many confirms. If you can't DI, airdodge, and spotdodge you're going to get absolutely bodied. And yes, while he has tons of endlag on his best moves if he misses, and you can hit his extended limbs to start combos, he's surprisingly resilient due to his downB recovery. He also has some pretty great hitboxes.
- Bowser
If I told you a heavy character could still be slow and rank this high without super armor before Beta came out, you'd probably slap me. Bowser is entirely up to the main, he has tools for every matchup but you need to use them appropriately. I don't think anyone shuts him completely down except maaaaaybe Luffy.
- Sandbag
Watch. I know I'm gonna catch some flack for this...but watch. He's weird but someone is going to destroy worlds with him. UpB is scary and confirms off down throw so you can kamikaze if your stock is meaningless (>30% difference w your foe's). He can recover from almost anywhere as long as he keeps damage in mind. Depending on ruleset he may even be able to generate items. Probably the best aerials in the game. You should be scared.
- Marth
I tried to remove his shdfair but no one in testers would let me. Look what you did. You can just spam aerials basically and half the cast can't touch you. And, since his tippers are stronger...yeah.
- Mega Man
I don't think anyone knows how good he is yet. DownB is crazy. Nair is crazy. Dash attack is crazy. He has soooo much priority and is super fast and all the while can KO and has awesome projectiles.

A Tier
- Zelda
Once everyone stops complaining about her baby nerfs you're gonna realize she's basically still just as good as before just less annoying. Unfortunately the overall power level has gone up though so she can't sit on her throne anymore.
- Zero Suit Samus
See Zelda. She actually got some pretty big buffs to go with her baby nerfs though, usmash and nair are awesome and definitely make up for the need to charge your nspec/dsmash for specific followups.
- Goku
UpB ground canceling is sick. Kaioken is still impressive as always just without the silly dair stuff. Bthrow shenanigans are ridiculous. Favorable matchups on most but held back by being the perfect weight to be comboed and by his huge hurt animation.
- Wario
I really don't think people ranked him correctly in 9b, hopefully now that he's pretty we can all be on the same page. Great weaving ability and combos, good KO power, and good survivability.
- Sheik
Worse than Zelda still, but very good. Not much to say here, she plays the same as last update she just is a little worse at early % KOs. You do have bouncing fish to go in deep with though which also makes her recovery better ironically.
- Luigi
His momentum techs are going to save him I think. So much fun, and very strong.
- Pac-Man
His special move techs are going to keep him relevant, and his nair is so good for finishing combos close to the boundaries. Shuts down a lot of characters just from having so many potent projectiles but then also just is very powerful in general.
- Ness
Huge buffs to his combo game, range, and KO power keep him relevant. Tipper bat is crazy, can kill Kirby at like 60%. Also PKT technology to counter people hitting him will be interesting
- Lloyd
He needs some labbing. DownB is crazy powerful, he's got great movement and a good projectile, and that should keep some people happy that are google searching for a main.
- Fox
Still very good but the tier list around him has shifted and he doesn't have any buffs really to show for it
- Captain Falcon
He's fallen quite a bit. Some 1 or 2 frame endlag additions have pretty much done him in. It's silly, but I don't see his metagame advancing much from what I've seen so far b/c people won't get over him not playing identical to 9b. Still very potent, though, just more prone in his weaker categories such as characters w/ disjoints.

B Tier
- Jigglypuff
So weird putting her this low when she bops a lot of characters but unfortunately she has some wicked bad MUs.
- Chibi-Robo
Up air has improved him so much within itself, but I still feel like he will be a sleeper character for a while. He's ridiculously fast, small, and has high damage output and good kill moves so don't sleep on him too hard!
- Sonic
Fair saved him, god bless America... unfortunately even with all of his buffs though, the power level overall has shifted upwards around him. rip
- Isaac
Overestimated. Combo game is pretty much just strings and nspec -> somethings. Uair and smashes are fantastic for KOs but where he's gonna struggle is getting damage up because of his clunky hitboxes.
- Bomberman
Don't sleep on him, and make sure to pay attention to how disruptive bomb kick is. Watch.
- Bandana Dee
Overestimated too. He's cute and has a good spacing game but if you have a decent projectile or a disjoint his weaknesses will start being more apparent. He's cute tho and still very good
- Donkey Kong
Unfortunately outclassed by Bowser, he probably will fade into irrelevancy now that he doesn't have cheeky upB stuff.
- Naruto
Everything that made him good in 9b is still there, just less annoying. One key thing though - Rasenshuriken is more reliable and I think a little stronger.

C Tier
- Pikachu
UpB is the glue keeping him together, you can do some crazy stuff. His combos though are 1-dimensional like in 9b and no spiking thunder...so idk. At least his aerials are pretty good.
- Pit
Also overestimated. SDI makes him sad. Low damage output. Perfect weight and size for being comboed. His nice projectile and ground speed help him to be fun to play but I don't think at high levels he's worth writing a book about
- Peach
Honestly not 100% on this one, but she seems well rounded with her usual weaknesses (disjoints).
- Samus
Huge hitboxes and speed improvements go a long way here, I think she finally is gonna be relevant for more than 2 matchups without using gamebreaking bugs!
- Ichigo
Great hitboxes, decent combos, bad recovery - just like 9b. He's just faster.

D Tier
- Black Mage
Yuck. Completely bopped in the head from 9b. Still not a bad character, but just not anything special, which in this game is low tier.
- Mr. G&W
His combos are poopy, but he has a really good recovery and great hitboxes basically. Not much to say here. Bland.
- Kirby
Just unremarkable outside of some niche MU's like Luffy. Nothing to write home about, but not a bad character. I think he'd be a great pocket character to have.
- Mario
Honestly I don't feel like he's a real bad character but there's nothing to set him apart from the characters above him, kinda like 9b chibi. The power level rose and left him behind. He has too many even or slightly losing MU's versus MU's that he wrecks in.

F Tier
- Sora
A lot better, but still not good. All the places he lacked before he still does. He feels kinda bland tbh in the MU department, like I can't imagine him being a character you pull out of your arsenal because they're good in a specific MU.
- Link
Honestly his combination of clunky combos and slow projectiles doesn't really work in his favor. SideB and full-momentum dair were the most remarkable things about him and both suck now. Suffers from everything-you-can-do-I-can-do-worse syndrome like Sora and Mario
- Tails
I really don't think he's any good because of his clunky hitboxes and weird heavily-DI-dependent combos, but feel free to prove me wrong.

Yuck Tier
- Yoshi
*puking noises* fricken rip. So slow, poopy hitboxes, bad recovery...

I agree wholeheartedly with 50% of that tier list
And 50% I think should move up or down a tier at most

Like Sandbag should go A tier
Luigi switching places with Fox
And maybe put Yoshi in F tier

But that's just my opinion

Also, was expecting a decent MK nerf since Mid and High tiers did get nerfs (BM and Naruto... Tails, Pika, and Yoshi too apparently) but nah... Even ZSS and Zelda got worse, but I'm fine. Megaman is greater anyway

And...
You forgot Link.

Some random thoughts from me:

Megaman: Amazing character, almost a little too good. Pellets and d-spec are hard to get around and his combos and recovery are way better. Possibly top 5.
Wario: Definitely not the worst anymore, improved in most areas.
Sonic: Also much better. U-air has a nice hitbox and Fair is great.
Peach: Lower float speed, but ground tech chase game is amazing. D-smash is better, and turnips go way further with smash throws.
Falco: Amazing combo/followup game, lasers aren't as polarizing as melee. Tough to get kills sometimes.
Pit: Amazing combo/edgeguard game. Recovering is awkward, but arrows are pretty good.
Game and Watch: Amazing ground game, U-air is a great anti air cuz it pushes opponents back up. Fair is his main kill move, so its hard to get kills. Bacon can help force certain recoveries so that you can get Fair reliably.

(fixed link missing)

So wrong here is how it should go:

S Tier:

Sandbag

Yuck Tier:

Literally Everyone Else

Note: The characters are NOT sorted in any particular order, and are only placed in A or A- tiers. Both of these tiers are separated by only a few MU points(I'm guessing here), for I believe the cast skill level will be fairly even. They are grouped the way they are because of: move-sets, recovery, tech, percieved MU advantages, general potential, people's opinions, other tier lists, labing, and frame data.

Note Note: This is a reasonable guess in the future with how Beta's final competitive meta characters will be grouped. Becuase beta developers have options to adjust the game at any time, variations in characters move sets may be subject to change in future updates, thus jeopardizing the validity of this current tier grouping.

Note Note Note: Even if just 50% of this tier grouping was accurate to what this game's final meta would be like, it would be considered a success in my eyes. For the game has been released to the public for not even a week and very few have any mastery of any characters whatsoever. However, updated group tier lists will be made periodically during the games meta development, eventually leading up to the final tier list. Also, the making of this is more of a personal guesstimation and prediction than anything else, so criticization of the tier grouping is criticizing my guess as to how I think the characters will be grouped in a competitive setting.

Note Note Note Note: This is assuming that all the characters are played to their max potential, are played by seasoned players, are using tournament legal settings/stages, and have reached the climax of the MU knowledge/meta development.

Note Note Note Note Note: The colors red and orange are used to distinguish each tier grouping because traditionally those were the colors chosen. Another thing to consider is that there is no objective way to group characters by their proper ranking letters because it's subjective. For I might be wrong and am supposed to have the characters in a letter grouping of A & A-, A+ & A-, S & A+, A & B-, etc...

Note Note Note Note Note Note: It has been noted that it's impossible to have a perfect scenario and have everybody master every character and use that character to its max potential. Meaning, when a 'final' meta development has been reached, there is still room for improvement for those characters, no matter what. So, using what information was collected over the years of playing those characters, a mild guess will have to be made to make the final tier list as accurate as possible, making it a paradox in and of itself.

Note Note Note Note Note Note Note: Once a 'final' decision has been reached in the making of Beta's tier list, this prediction will be final and most likely obsolete. Treat it like it's a catalyst to speed up the time it takes to 'finalize' the tier list for this game. But to speed up to something that will never be final is pointless and futile, right? What's the point of even typing all this out in my spare time when I could be doing MUCH more productive things in my life than this? You'll all forget everything about this at some point in your life, and the server for this website is not indefinite. Please, consider the following: NOte here.




A Tier

-Falco

-Peach

-Lloyd

-Isaac

-Jiggly Puff

-Bomberman

-Bowser

-Ness

-Sonic

-Pacman

-Mega man

-MK

-Marth

-Fox

-Sandbag

-Mario

-Luigi

-Samus

-Goku

-Naruto

-Zelda

-Chibi Robo

-Wario

A- Tier

-Link

-Zero Suit Samus

-Sheik

-Yoshi

-Pikachu

-Sora

-Pit

-Donkey Kong

-Mr. Game & Watch

-Ichigo

-Tails

-Bandana Dee

-Captain Falcon

-Black Mage

-Luffy

-Kirby

https://justpaste.it/17f2l

I've use meta knight A LOT and he is really really good. I just really hope he doesn't get nerfed plz lol.

His combos are amazing and It's sometimes a little hard for at-least me to try the uair uair uair to up b combo.

His edge guarding is great too.

Down b is such a great escape move too.

His side b tho can sometimes get himself to SD near a cliff tho LOL.

He's really good competitive and really fun to use in general.

He seems like a really balanced character imo.

I'd honestly be surprised if ppl don't think he's at-least top 10 right now or even top 5.

I may sound a little bias but yeah lol.

Mercy on the Marth players tson ;~;

Mercy for Marth

Marth

One of the best characters in the game

How about us Sora mains, going from one of the best to one of the worst and having to dig our way out from that

Pffffft, spoiled high tier mains

Click to expand thumbnail

Took SSF2 to one of my local weekly get togethers and let some of the peeps in my area (including top players) try the game out and we formed a small tier list based on our day 1 opinions. I'm sure this will change over time, but a lot of the feedback that I aqcuired was saying that Marth feels like a combination of Melee/Brawl Marth with Smash 4 Yoshi's air speed... that's just dangerous o.o

TSON, stop trolling these kids. They're going to auto-believe you 'cause you're a dev.

There's no way this game went from being "balanced, but over-polarizing" to "refined, but demolished meta," when the mechanics, physics, and core playstyles of characters have not changed enough to warrant such a drastic tier alteration (S-tier to G-tier/independent character bottom-tier!? Lmao, get the f*** outta here.)

____________________
Also, all the people I've heard saying Mario is low-tier/bottom-30 this demo already, allow me to nig.ga-rant for just a moment:

I get that twerking on the keyboard doesn't make good things automatically happen in matches for Mario; like it does for Falco, Marth, and Luffy. But how are so many of you so bad at this game that you think Mario is (somehow) lower-tier than v0.9b...

I can't put it politely. It's not about thinking other characters are better; it's not acknowledging Mario was barely weaker than most of the cast in match-ups and they all got worse, when he only got better in nearly every way. Everyone else above Mario in the previous tier-list got nerfs (except a handful: Falcon, Lloyd [rebalanced], Peach, Mega Man [rebalanced]).

This character was one of the most honest out of a crowd of rule-breakers. And he still went solidly even to small disadvantages with much of the cast. Do to his impressive movement, one of the highest damage outputs in the game, and very reliable powerful, he held up against the janky and abusive tactics of v0.9b. His biggest weaknesses were: a predictable recovery with landing lag no other character had, short phyical range, a mobility that was still a bit below average that couldn't make up for his short range, and just badly drawn hit-boxes that made combo execution a flip of coin most times. All of those issues have been fixed, and everyone else around him are forced to play fair to the functions of the game that Mario's already been playing at. Other characters have just now entered a realm he's been developed under for years.

As a reminded: he went close to even with Marth in v0.9b. Marth was, and still is, perfect combo weight & fall-speed for Mario. Marth got nerf, Mario got buffed; Mario definitely wins the MU now in his favor. Shoot, I think the case could be made of him damn near countering Marth now due to Marth's range being shrunked, cheap punish-setups like chain-throws across the stage are removed, and lagless abuse of Dolphin-Slash and Dancing-Blade is gone.

So with that: practice fundamentals, cleanup your combo execution, enjoy the growth of Beta's meta as it's way to early to jugde.

And if y'all hit me with this nonsense again, and I might have to drill your a** until you love it...

The existence of 10 new characters and like 5 reworked characters and the entire cast having their hitboxes redrawn and jump speeds +traction edited absolutely shakes the meta up in a big way rofl. plus the removal of dash boosting... yea

I didn't know ppl put mario low on the tier list, I just saw him there just now too lol.

People might be thinking he's not high tier because he can't down up tilt 3-4 times into a follow up like he can in ssb4 and doesn't have fludd.

That's just what I think ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

First impressions. Discuss.