Characters With The Most Major Tournament Wins

Summary

• Mid-tier fighters like Olimar, Fox, and Pacman show potential in competitive play despite not being top-tier.
• Characters like Sonic, Wario, and Steve dominate with their strong tools, requiring skill and precision to succeed.
• Top players like Shuton, Light, and Miya showcase how mastering specific characters can lead to major wins in high-level play.

Super Smash Bros Ultimate is running for its 7th year of competitive play. The greatest challenge in taking major tournaments is dealing with every matchup, including the more grueling ones. While some characters have previously earned their first major wins, their journey begins with keeping consistent relevance.

Only a few characters in the previous metas are relevant in the current tournaments while other stronger challengers find consistent success. What’s more spectacular is how some middle tiers earned a decent spotlight in top-level play. These are usually achieved by the more powerful players, showing the fighter’s potential more through multiple settings. It isn’t easy when dealing with tougher fighters, even with higher-tiered characters.

12 Olimar

Plucking Wins

• Top Players: Shuton
• Major Wins: 6 (Umebura SP 5, EVO Japan 2020)
• Official Tier List Rank: B+

Olimar showcases how a mid-tier can still prosper in the tournament setting. His pikmin gives him different knockout opportunities, such as yellow pikmin for better range or blue pikmin for fatal throws. It works similarly to a stance character like Shulk, except the explorer’s attacks are only applicable.

He isn’t very popular in the competitive scenes for a reason: He relies on managing his pikmin, which is more stress-inducing than other easier character-specific features. Shuton is still the strongest Olimar representative in the current meta, though he relies on another character for Olimar’s flaws.

11 Fox

On Fire Speed

• Top Players: Light, Paseriman
• Major Wins: 6 (MomoCon 2022, Super Smash Con: Fall Fest)
• Official Tier List Rank: S-

Fox as a solo main is the more prosperous spacie than Falco and Wolf. His tools give him more than enough chance to challenge the immense roster by throwing out safe attacks that link well consistently. Despite being a tad slower than Sonic, he still feels just as relentless and non-punishable.

Light is the most dedicated Fox main who gives trouble to many strong opponents like Tweek and Sonix. He does require the player’s absolute focus and precise inputs to reveal his true competitive potential. It isn’t an easy task, but it is rewarding enough to make any harder matchups possible.

10 Pacman

Tactical Mastery

• Top Players: TEA, Beji
• Major Wins: 6 (L’Odyssée – Chant I, Kagaribi 3)
• Official Tier List Rank: A

Pacman is shown as one of the more technical fighters with his item plays. His down special and neutral special works in tangent to give the fighter whatever is needed for the current situation. They provide the most mix-ups together, confusing the opponent about the upcoming outcome. TEA is the best at revealing the 4D chess tactics with his devastating setups, especially during ledgetraps.

The character is strong, though his strengths rely on knowledge and precision with his items, including hydrant. What’s worse is players can use the items against Pacman by either reflecting, attacking, or catching them. He can’t be careless against certain opponents, especially those with good item-play skills.

9 Sonic

Speed To Win

• Top Players: Sonix, KEN
• Major Wins: 6 (Sumabato SP 6, CEO 2022, The Coinbox IRL)
• Official Tier List Rank: S+

Sonic is pretty terrifying to face for any character since he’s the best speedster in the game. His quick attacks and dash specials open up the greatest bait n’ punish plays, creating stressful mind games from across any stage. He can even challenge disjointed attacks with his cartoonishly huge attacks like forward smash and forward air.

His overwhelming might has earned him major wins from players like KEN and Sonix. They easily control the game’s momentum by being nonstop aggressive or defensively preparing a punishment. Sonic doesn’t mind help from secondaries, but top players have shown that he doesn’t need one even for more challenging fighters.

8 Min Min

Taking Up Arms

• Top Players: ProtoBanham, Doramigi
• Major Wins: 7 (Seibugeki 8, Double Down 2022)
• Official Tier List Rank: A+

Min Min encourages her players to be as merciless as possible like a distance demon. Her zoning is different than other zoners since her attacks aren’t projectile-based, nullifying reflector usage. She can even zone and move like Megaman, avoiding any risk to an opponent’s out-of-shield counterattacks.

Despite Min Min’s high tier rank, her excellent advantage state only brings her so far into tournaments. Her weak disadvantage forces the player to always stay on her toes since she’s more exposed and limited in midair. This issue diminishes her chance to be viable solo, making players like ProtoBanham rely on other characters to cover her harder matchups or increase defensive options.

7 Byleth

House of Smash

• Top Players: MkLeo, Rizeasu
• Major Wins: 7 (Mainstage 2021, GENESIS 8)
• Official Tier List Rank: B-

Byleth was the most underrated fighter to enter competitive play. He was talked down about his lackluster speed and bland moveset, appearing like a weak predictable fighter. What was greatly underestimated was his grand offensive capabilities with his ancient weapons.

MkLeo was the first to show Byleth’s true strength, bewildering other players with the character’s techniques. It only takes a few hits to catch up during the match, especially with his spaced aerials and smash attacks. This makes him almost solo viable, though still needs assistance with handling rushdown or zoners.

6 Aegis

Core To Victory

• Top Players: Cosmos, Shuton
• Major Wins: 11 (Wave 4, COLOSSEL 2022, Glitch Infinite)
• Official Tier List Rank: A

Aegis is the most popular choice among the top players due to her accessible, rewarding toolkit. Her mechanics allow her to face any fighter with little issues, making her one of the best secondaries to handle any main’s weaknesses. In fact, she doesn’t need a secondary herself since she’s two fighters in one similar to Strider in Street Fighter 5.

This doesn’t make her overwhelmingly present in competitive play. Her options open any playstyle, letting her be aggressive like Cosmos or bait-punishing like Shuton. Players still have to take time to learn how every matchup works for each fighter during any scenario.

5 Wario

Scent of Victory

• Top Players: Gluttony, Tweek, Crêpe Salée
• Major Wins: 12 (UltCore Second, Tera, Frostbite 2019)
• Official Tier List Rank: A

Wario has surprisingly excellent stats for a wacky, cartoony fighter. His aerial drift works in tangent with his attacks, widening his options for offense and defense. His unique mechanics also grow more effective during longer matches, giving him more chances to use his side-special and down-special.

Normally, players would use him with secondaries like Wolf and Palutena for better neutral games. Gluttony shows how the character can perform without any secondary needs with his merciless combo game and tactical neutral. Wario can easily make a comeback from a severely losing scenario with one good attack and a whiff of momentum.

4 Cloud

Push To The Limit

• Top Players: Spargo, Kola, Enhancedpv
• Major Wins: 16 (The Throne II, Collision 2024, Smash Ultimate Summit 4)
• Official Tier List Rank: A+

Cloud is one of the most accessible sword users that greatly rewards. His attacks are large, letting him throw attacks at low risk when spaced properly. He’s good at both offense and defense with his damaging out-of-shield options, but his attacks launch too far for combo opportunities.

Spargo is the best representative for the fighter in tournaments. His large disjoints choke the opponents into a corner, giving them little legroom. What’s worse is his filled limit bar, giving him limited time for better pressure and enhanced damage for a special move. The character’s obvious flaws force Spargo to rely on secondaries like Aegis, though Cloud still has a menacing presence in the current meta.

3 Joker

Rebellious Nature

• Top Players: MKLeo, Zachray, Omega
• Major Wins: 18 (EVO 2019, Kagaribi 6, 2GG: Kongo Saga)
• Official Tier List Rank: S-

Joker was one of the most hyped characters to enter Super Smash Bros. That hype manifested when players like MkLeo picked him up for tournaments, showing his intricate combos and pressure. His utility grants him the freedom for any playstyle, including zoning or rushdown for any situation.

The character is still presented as one of the stronger additions to the roster, but not as overwhelming in the current version. The depths of Joker’s potential are demanding, requiring more devoted time for players to stay consistent. He’s still decent to be a solo fighter, but Joker isn’t new at working with teammates.

2 Mr. Game N Watch

Falling Flat On Top

• Top Players: Miya, Maister
• Major Wins: 24 (KOWLOON 9 with Sumabato, Maesuma TOP 11)
• Official Tier List Rank: S

Mr. Game N Watch plays the best with racking up damage. He can use his wide aerials to contest attacks without trading, letting him gain momentum. Since many of his attacks launch in the air, he can perform ladder combos while keeping opponents off the ground. His attacks aren’t damaging, but they link consistently and build over time for him to land a fatal blow.

What makes him scary to fight against is his strong defense game. Few fighters can poke his shield without getting hit by his devastating reversal options like Guile in Street Fighter. What’s worse is that he’s one of few characters that can link any attack with his up-special for true combos. Miya is the best at showing the character’s capabilities without too much need for secondaries.

1 Steve

Crafting Mastery

• Top Players: Acola, Onin, Miya, Raki
• Major Wins: 26 (Super Smash Con 2023, Let’s Make Moves Miami, Sumabato SP 53)
• Official Tier List Rank: S+

Steve is undoubtedly one of the best fighters with his strong neutral game. His specials offer low risk to throw out while giving Steve greater rewards with higher attack power and coverage. Each move does have limited use with durability and reliance on resources, but his damage output lowers his needs for multiple combos, unlike Sheik.

Not only is he dangerous in the offense, but also in the defensive. Players like Acola can use his buffed damage to switch bad situations like running low on materials. He only needs one parry to KO opponents at very early percents by using his buffed smash attacks, anvil, or minecart. The character can fit anywhere as a lone main or secondary, but he still has his weaknesses to hide like his lighter weight and reliance on materials.