Tier Lists

2005image macroclassic

Tier Lists rank fighting game characters from God Tier to Shit Tier based on competitive performance, originating in early 2000s fighting game communities. The format jumped from Tekken and Smash forums to broader internet culture, where people now rank everything from anime characters to breakfast cereals using the same S, A, B, C, D grading system12.

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Overview

Tier Lists are rankings of playable characters in competitive video games, sorted by how well they perform at the highest level of tournament play3. The standard grading assumes both players have equal skill, then judges each character against the rest of the roster. Common labels include God Tier, Top Tier, Mid Tier and Shit Tier, though the S, A, B, C, D format later borrowed from Japanese school grading is just as widespread2.

The format is a running argument as much as it is a genre. Casual players tend to reject tier lists as inaccurate, while competitive players treat them as a description of how a game actually plays out at the top level3. Outside of gaming, the same ranking template gets used for anime characters, snacks, celebrities, roleplay writing styles and college majors, usually as parody or a low-stakes way to spark a fight in the comments23.

How It Spread

The template escaped the fighting game scene through anime and imageboard culture. On May 8th, 2009, an anonymous poster on 4chan's /jp/ board uploaded the "Idolmaster Tier List V.3," ranking characters from the Japanese idol game23. That version stripped the tier list of any real competitive purpose and turned it into a taste chart, which was the shape the format took everywhere afterward.

By August 28th, 2010, FunnyJunk user scrumpulate had posted a tier list of college majors, one of the first widely shared jokes that used the fighting game ranking format on a completely non-gaming subject43. From there the template splintered into roleplay communities on Kik, Discord and Amino, where "Tier" came to describe how much someone types per post, from T-6 one-word replies up through T-000 novel-length entries2.

The modern S through F ranking, borrowed from Japanese grading, took over most casual usage. Urban Dictionary entries from later years describe tier lists as a rankings format that can be "used for gaming, movies, scenes, characters, almost ANYTHING"2, which matches how the tool is used on TierMaker-style sites and in YouTube ranking videos today.

How to Use This Meme

A typical tier list is a horizontal chart with rows labeled S, A, B, C, D and sometimes F, or the older God/Top/Mid/Shit labels23. Creators drop character portraits, product photos or names into whichever row matches their opinion. The joke usually comes from the extremes, a beloved character dumped in F Tier, or a mundane item placed in God Tier, and the comment section arguing over the placements is part of the format.

Frequently Asked Questions

Tier Lists

2005image macroclassic

Tier Lists rank fighting game characters from God Tier to Shit Tier based on competitive performance, originating in early 2000s fighting game communities. The format jumped from Tekken and Smash forums to broader internet culture, where people now rank everything from anime characters to breakfast cereals using the same S, A, B, C, D grading system12.

tier ranking memes gaming smash bros memes forum era memes comparison memes

Overview

Tier Lists are rankings of playable characters in competitive video games, sorted by how well they perform at the highest level of tournament play3. The standard grading assumes both players have equal skill, then judges each character against the rest of the roster. Common labels include God Tier, Top Tier, Mid Tier and Shit Tier, though the S, A, B, C, D format later borrowed from Japanese school grading is just as widespread2.

The format is a running argument as much as it is a genre. Casual players tend to reject tier lists as inaccurate, while competitive players treat them as a description of how a game actually plays out at the top level3. Outside of gaming, the same ranking template gets used for anime characters, snacks, celebrities, roleplay writing styles and college majors, usually as parody or a low-stakes way to spark a fight in the comments23.

How It Spread

The template escaped the fighting game scene through anime and imageboard culture. On May 8th, 2009, an anonymous poster on 4chan's /jp/ board uploaded the "Idolmaster Tier List V.3," ranking characters from the Japanese idol game23. That version stripped the tier list of any real competitive purpose and turned it into a taste chart, which was the shape the format took everywhere afterward.

By August 28th, 2010, FunnyJunk user scrumpulate had posted a tier list of college majors, one of the first widely shared jokes that used the fighting game ranking format on a completely non-gaming subject43. From there the template splintered into roleplay communities on Kik, Discord and Amino, where "Tier" came to describe how much someone types per post, from T-6 one-word replies up through T-000 novel-length entries2.

The modern S through F ranking, borrowed from Japanese grading, took over most casual usage. Urban Dictionary entries from later years describe tier lists as a rankings format that can be "used for gaming, movies, scenes, characters, almost ANYTHING"2, which matches how the tool is used on TierMaker-style sites and in YouTube ranking videos today.

How to Use This Meme

A typical tier list is a horizontal chart with rows labeled S, A, B, C, D and sometimes F, or the older God/Top/Mid/Shit labels23. Creators drop character portraits, product photos or names into whichever row matches their opinion. The joke usually comes from the extremes, a beloved character dumped in F Tier, or a mundane item placed in God Tier, and the comment section arguing over the placements is part of the format.

Frequently Asked Questions