The most broken characters in (competitive) fighting games

#1

Hi guys, I’ve been in the Street Fighter scene since 2008, and recently became a writer for Original-Gamer.com back in April, starting with a Super Street Fighter IV review for the site.

Anyways, we tend to put up Top 5 or Top 10 lists every now and then.

original-gamer.com - Top 5 Missing Characters From Super Street Fighter IV

Right now I’m looking to compile a top 5 list for the most broken characters in fighting games.

While there’s a huge range of games we can pick from, I’d rather stick to fighting games that have or at least used to have a strong community and a tournament scene. So characters like Ivan Ooze from MMPR are out.

So let’s hear everyone’s thoughts. Some needed things:

Character Name
The specific game they are broken in (i.e. KoF 2003, not just KoF)
Relation to other characters on the tier list and in matchups
Reasons why they are broken (certain moves, high damage, certain tactics, etc)

#2

In before Ivan Ooze.

#3

Well its “competitive” fighting games, so I haven’t see any Mighty Morphin tourneys recently.

My best bet for this era of competitive games would be Carl in Blazblue, cause he has an infinite.

#4

…Sentinel?

#5

I personally think that making an article based on a list of “broken characters” in competitive fighting games would deter would-be newbies from picking up fighting games. It just doesn’t seem like the right thing to focus on, especially considering that 99% of fighting games that are played on the competitive level don’t have any “broken” characters, at least in the traditional sense of the word. Sure, some games have top tier characters, but great fighting games don’t have “broken” ones.

#6

You have an awkward way of asking for strange things. How can something be broken and competitive at the same time? It was either DOAU or DOA4 but Tengu was a cheap character when use-able online.

#7

Read the title again.

#8

Oh this is an easy one:

Petshop from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

God tier, only character who comes close is Kakyoin iirc. No bad matchups if I’m not mistaken. Might go even with somebody but I’m not 100% sure.

Best pokes in the game, easy lockdown, stupid mixups, high damage combos, qcf+AA super is basically AHVB, and he can fucking fly in a more ground-based game. Some characters cant even touch him. He’s banned in (most) tournaments.

#9

Petshop and 03’ Duo Lon are the only non-secret/boss characters I know of that have actually been banned from tournaments.

#10

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close enough…

and his name is carl

#11

You can’t put Carl from Blazblue, he was no where near as broken as the top three in Blazblue.

Putting the Blazblue holy trinity on your list might be a good idea. They outclassed the rest of the cast by a huge margin.

I don’t know enough about MvC2, but certainly a member needs to be on there.

Eddie from Guilty Gear XX: Slash is pretty crazy too.

Oh, and that new chick from Soul Calibur IV too.

#12

A lot of people would call Storm or Sentinel broken, and I’ve even heard a few people call Chun Li in SF3:3s broken, although I’d disagree with that one… and both are generally considered excellent fighting games.

Gill in 3s is pretty broken though, and he is playable in one of the versions.

Having an infinite doesn’t make you broken, or at least noteworthily broken, Carl is only mid tier… Heck El Fuerte in SSF4 is mid tier and he has an infinite.

#13

Agree 100%. You aren’t doing Marvel or 3s players any favors by beating the long dead horse of 4 gods/Yun/Chun being overpowered.

Then again, what can you expect from someone whose previous article is top 5 missing characters from SSF4? I see that same article written 3-4 times a day by random posters. I kind of wish they’d just cut to the chase and add every past and present SF character to the SF4 series so I don’t have to suffer anymore articles/posts/comments about who else needs to be added.

#14

Sentinel is pretty high up there. Its mostly because of him that a lot of the lower tier characters aren’t playable in MvC2 since his keep away is so strong, in addition to his massive damage with everything he does and his speed. Cable as well. Magneto and Storm are a bit more manageable since they can’t chip you to death as easily, but Storm is still massively frustrating to play against with a low tier unless you’re packing a godly AAA like Cammy or Capcom. But against Sentinel, even with those assists you’re not getting anywhere if you’re using someone that doesn’t have some sort of extra air mobility. MvC2 still manages to be a good game despite this, but I personally think that’s because everyone that’s good would be broken in any other fighting game, and it just happens to balance itself out in the end.

Hilde is pretty darn broken in SCIV. She hits you with her level 3 B, you’re taking half your health in damage and being carried half way across the screen to a potential ring out.

The top 3 in BB:CT are quite strong, but I don’t think they quite manage to reach broken tier. Nu deserves special mention though because of how blindingly simple it is to do decently with her. Rachel and Arakune are at least somewhat difficult to use.

These characters are actually banned:
There’s Akuma from SSFIIT. Can’t be dizzied, air fireballs, infinite block string with red fireball in corner, and probably some more stuff I don’t know.

There are several bosses that are probably broken tier along with Akuma, like Gill (SFIII) as well as Justice and Kliff (Guilty Gear series).

Archetype Earth from Melty Blood: Actress Again has an attack that OHKOs the entire cast (except one character for storyline reasons), has a special super meter that is constantly regenerating meter, has like 5x the damage output of everyone else naturally (including off of a throw), extremely fast, and extremely good range.

#15

then you’d get articles/posts/comments about who shouldn’t have been added.

#16

Yeah, I kind of had those two games in mind, haha. Although I play 3S, but I don’t play Marvel. Regardless though, it’s just not good publicity for fighting game fans.

Also, I don’t know if you remember me, John, but I hope you’re doin’ well! I miss Denjin!

#17

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#18

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Not saying he’s the worst, but he’s gotta be up there.

#19

Clark is in Blazblue now? Fuck yeah, best DLC ever!

EDIT: Wait, did Anemone say Eddie from Slash when Slash Eddie was D tier? LOLOLOLOLOL.

#20

hahaha of course I remember.

I was just thinking the other day, I wonder if I can still get those goofy pictures from when you visited Denjin, I reformatted lololol