Topic: The Universal Games Ranking Forum (Currently: Characters/Weapons/etc. You Hate Playing Against)

This is now my number 4 tbh. Good choice.

Taking a slight tangent here, but I just wanted to add that I always felt that GoldenEye's Oddjob was - despite being labelled as 'overpowered' or 'cheating' - actually the weakest multiplayer character in the N64 classic! ..his head was at the average 'arm height' of most other characters, so it always seems to me that that made him far more vulnerable to headshots - his weakspot was pretty much aligned with your line of site - fairly small target, sure, but one spray of bullets would usually land you a lucky headshot! ..I always felt that the taller Jaws was the real 'cheat character' because his extra height made his weak spot (the head) more challenging to hit...but, yeah, I've always found that to be some kind of 'common myth' that isn't actually true, so thought it was worth mentioning

My favorite tool in zelda ALttP/LA/Oracle/PH is the shovel. Not being ironic either, it really is.

In Harvest Moon DS I prefer to leave the rucksack without space upgrades.

Dunsparce, Meowth, Zigzagoon, Wrumple, etc are some of my favorite pokemon and I will often end up adding them to my team.

My favorite Hyrule Warriors character is Fi.

Etc.

I'll get this out here while I remember most of them.

Alex - Street Fighter 5 - Alex is a very strange character that seems to be designed as a jack-of-all-trades but turned out to be a master of none, similar to Season 2 Ryu. Despite this he's still a very capable character in the right hands, as SF5 is surprisingly well balanced and being low-tier doesn't mean as much as it does in less well balanced games like MKX and Smash 4. You'd think he'd be low-tier because of his slow speed, but slow and strong characters are pretty good in SF5. (Zangief is Top 5, Menard won Capcom Cup 2017 with Birdie, Abigail is a weird boy who occasionally shreds people) His main issue is his inability to threaten standing players at range, as Air Stampede can be blocked high and Head Crush is one of the most unsafe moves in the game. He's great at applying pressure up close, with a good combo game, Lariat being +3 (+4 in two days!) on block, and one of the best V-Triggers in the game. Here's to hoping Arcade Edition is kind to him.

King Dedede - Smash 4 After being one of the many tumors in the dying body that was Brawl, Dedede being nerfed from Brawl was a bit of a given. (I mean, removing the chaingrab and reducing the range would've been enough, but I guess it wasn't to be) Dedede is one of the worst characters in Smash 4, but while he was absolutely butchered balance-wise, his personally really shines in this game, and I absolutely adore it. It's adorable that he has his own little community too, the Dedede community is one of the nicest out there, and people like Girthquake and Soul Train are still finding new things. Dedede, despite his many nerfs since release, is still a blast to play, and is one of the best characters to practice pressure, fundamentals and mindgames with. It If you beat a good player with Dedede, you can rest easy knowing you outplayed them. (Unless they're like one of his 2 good MU's but you still did good.)

Bowser - Mario Kart 64 Mario Kart 64 has one of the strangest cases of character balancing I've ever seen. The general idea is that Lightweights are faster and have the ability to accelerate instantly, but spin out when hit by a Heavyweight. Heavyweights are slowest, have the worst off road, turn better, and can bash lightweights. Middleweights are the middle ground, having a balance of everything. This isn't entirely true, Toad is actually lighter than Yoshi and Peach, so much so that Bowser can make him spin out just by reversing into him. Middleweights are insanely bad, being identical to Heavyweights except even lighter, slower, and having better off road. Luigi is the worst character, as he's lighter than Mario with no compensation. Bowser is an interesting case, as not only is he heavier than Wario and DK (A good ton heavier I might add), but he can also instantly accelerate in the same way the Lightweights can. This gives him a fighting chance to keep up, and if he can, he can really do some damage, which I find quite fitting.

Spy - Team Fortress 2 It's always been debatable weither Spy or Pyro was the weakest class. Pyro has had low damage, range issues, and was designed as a counter to an already weak class. Spy on the other hand is often inferior to Sniper, who can't defend himself or escape as well as Spy, but doesn't have to put his life at risk to do his job like Spy does. Sadly, Spy got left behind in the Jungle Inferno Update, with Pyro getting much better and Spy staying almost the same bar a hefty nerf to two of his best options, the Ambassador and the Dead Ringer. Spy is one of the most fun characters to play in any game, period. There's truly nothing as satisfying as watching someone fall for your disguise before you land a backstab, watching people search for you in a panic to no avail, landing your first trickstab, 1v1ing a Heavy with your Revolver, landing headshots with the Ambassador, the list goes on. Spy is a very methodical character in a very fast-paced game, and using him effectively isn't a matter of clicking on people better than the other team, it's outsmarting your foe and striking when they expect it least. I don't care if he doesn't get buffed, he can be as bad as the TF Team wants, but he's always something special that I've never seen any character, weapon or mechanic come close to. I'll stick with Spy as long as the servers are up.

That's that for now, if I think of anything else I'll pop it in here. New poll tomorrow or the day after, so if you wanna see something there, lemme know!

Hmmm an interesting topic indeed.
Pokemon - Heliolisk and Houndoom. There's probably a bunch more, but both of these pokemon are near useless in competitive play, but that didn't stop me from using both in a team to try and pull off Sun insanity.
Smash Bros. - Jigglypuff. I can't believe Jigglypuff still hasn't been cut, but they're such a fun character, if near useless.
League of Legends - While that games balance is constantly shifting, I'd say Rammus typically falls into that category.
Splatoon 2 - Tri-Slosher (post-nerf) It's such a fun set. Even if it unfortunately got nerfed into the ground, I'll probably never take it out of my rotation.
TWEWY - Shiki is easily the least powerful of the three partners, but she's a lot of fun to have with you. I'll still play with her post-game just for the extra challenge.

Butterfree is always on my Pokémon team. Holdover from loving the character so much in the anime as a kid. On the same note I avoid charizard and pikachu for the same reason.

I’m still a Zelda or Sheik player in smash. She has been my main since Melee. I’m a bread and butter gamer.

Oh right in smash Jigglypuff is one of favorite characters too.

Though in smash 4 my main-main is now Bowser Jr. But the jiggs still gets used whenever I feel like being even more annoying.

Beedrill and Ledian(Pokemon): There's a lot to like with both of these mons. Easy to catch and easy to evolve early on, IMO both have cool designs, but both are just terrible. At least Mega Beedrill is usable in competitive play.

Yoshi(Smash Bros Wii U) Ranked pretty low according the tier list. Yoshi was my main in Melee, and has been my top three characters ever since Brawl.

Ness and Lucas(Smash Bros. Wii U) I never gave these dudes a fair chance before Smash 4 but they really fun to use.

I'll admit, I've had some crazy fun with the shovel in those games.

I think Amy in Sonic Advance is a special case, it's not that she's a weak character. She was pretty much designed to make the game extra challenging. Playing as Amy is pretty much playing Sonic Advance in hardcore mode.

Kinda like Tails and Knuckles, who make the game considerably easier compared to Sonic.

Not sure if it's more of an item or a power up, but I love the boot on SMB3.
The electric shield in Sonic 3 feels great to use too, too bad it doesn't work underwater...

Here's that new poll, sorry I was off a few days, I was an ill boy.
Poll: http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5a62931de4b03ace7d818933

Mario Oddessy Kingdoms is a returning topic from last poll, the rest are new or returning from a while back.

Quick warning that I'll close the poll in about 90 minutes, so if you haven't voted here's your chance.

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5a62931de4b03ace7d818933

The poll is now closed! Here are the results and new topic this time round.

1st - Best/Worst Track in Each Mario Kart (5 Votes/42%)
2nd - Mario Oddessy Kingdoms (4 Votes/33%)
3rd- Best Character Redesigns (2 Votes/17%)
4th- Characters You Love That People Dislike (1 Vote/8%)
5th - Best DLC/Updates (Genuinely Unloved)

So that's that, Best/Worst Track in each Mario Kart is our new topic! Now there's something I'd like to request on this topic, and that's No First Tracks as the Worst Option. This is because this is more focused on the design of tracks, and the purpose of these tracks is to be simple to introduce a player. Personally, I think it's more interesting to examine tracks with flawed design rather than tracks with boring design. I'm aware there are some first tracks that are really good like Luigi Circuit and Mario Kart Stadium, so you can put one as your best track in a game if you really feel it deserves it. Now you can ignore this if you want, it's your list, not mine, but I'll say it now so we can get it over with...

Figure-8 Circuit is garbage and has no purpose other than practising Snaking.

Worst: Baby Park
Best: (Wii) Music Park (I'm totally biased as I got really good at that on both the 3ds and wiiu/switch) so yeah.

For Mario Kart 8/Deluxe...
Worst: SNES Rainbow Road - Nothing to look at, no rails, no interesting features or gimmicks, just a boring platform hanging in empty space.

Best: Cloudtop Cruise - Creative track design with some challenging-to-hit shortcuts, wonderful music (especially the bit of Mario Galaxy music in there!), lightning adds a fun risk-reward element to certain sections of the track, and, overall, it's just gorgeous!

Of the new tracks in 8/Deluxe, I think my least favorite is the new Rainbow Road. Unless you're moving at a crawl, the place is misery personified, as you're constantly flying off the side of the track.

Oh, and Sweet Sweet Canyon, which isn't terribly fun, and seems like a total rip-off of that kart racing game in Wreck-It Ralph.

I'll leave out Super Circuit and SMK, just because I haven't really spent enough time with either to form an opinion I'd be happy with.

Mario Kart 64
Best - Mario Raceway
MK64 has a lot of tracks that either are too long, too large or too boring, but I think Mario Raceway is an exception. There's a lot of small off-road cuts, nice scenery, a good balance of turns and straightaways, and it always gives good races. I'd argue it's even better in MKWii.
Worst - Rainbow Road
Couldn't agree more with @CreamyDream on this. Big letdown for the final track, not challenging or engaging at all. The MK8 remake is a favourite of mine however.

Mario Kart: Double Dash
Best - Wario Colussium
Fun to drive on, chaotic, challenging, and doesn't drag on. This track fits Double Dash's mechanics perfectly, which is probably why it hasn't been remade.
Worst - Dry Dry Desert
And here's a course that doesn't fit the mechanics of Double Dash. Avoiding the off-road is annoying, and the hazards get in the way quite a lot for a Mushroom Cup track. Not fun for me, but I quite like the MK8 remake.

Mario Kart DS
Best - Bowser Castle
Hands down, my favourite Bowser Castle track. There's tons of variety, and there's never a dull moment while racing on this track. My only issue is the shortcut being too low-risk. In 99% of situations there is zero reason to take the main route. If I could've picked one retro track for DLC in MK8, it would've been this one.
Worst - Desert Hills/Yoshi Falls
To be honest, these tracks aren't awful at all, MKDS is consistently good when it comes to track design. (Other that one track everyone h'8's) I just found these two pretty underwhelming. Desert Hills is rather dull, and Yoshi Falls is too simple and has those dumb waterfalls that I feel are way stronger than they should be.

Mario Kart Wii
Best - Maple Treeway/Grumble Volcano/Rainbow Road
I just can't make my mind up, MKWii is my favourite Mario Kart, and I've really fond memories of these three courses especially. Maple Treeway gives great races and is marvellous aesthetically. Grumble Volcano has huge shortcut potential and has some of the most difficult and useful in the game. MKWii's Rainbow Road is an excellent challenge and while it's far from my favourite aesthetically, it's my favourite track to race on period.
Worst - Mario Circuit
It's a fatter Figure-8 Circuit with some make-up on plus a single ramp and Chain Chomp to make it feel special.

Mario Kart 7
Best - Rosalina's Ice World/Rainbow Road
I've been harsh on Mario Kart 7, but I recently picked up the game again for a second chance when I got my New 2DS XL, and I've had a much better experience than 6 years ago. These two tracks are the two I find myself picking the most in online, as they give awesome races with skilled players. Ice World is tricky to drive on but it feels very natural and it has a decent amount of variety in driving and aesthetics. My favourite part is the shortcut across the gap at the beginning, easy to pull off but hard to get perfect. MK7's Rainbow Road is probably the best from an objective view. It's got tons of small shortcuts that are fun to perform, is constantly bombarding you with awesome new ideas and is the perfect length for a real adrenaline rush of a race.
Worst - Bowser Castle
I don't know what it is, but this course just doesn't click with me. I don't find it all that fun, and I'm almost never happy to see it come up online. Not a fan, but I can't put my finger on exactly why.

Mario Kart 8
Best - Big Blue
Big Blue in MK8 is like MK7 Rainbow Road's slightly cooler older brother. Everything I love about that course is here, but somehow even better. This course is just exhilarating and an absolute blast to play, I honestly don't think I've ever had a bad race here. Also this and 200cc are a match made in heaven.
Worst - Mario Circuit
It's just MKWii Mario Circuit but it lost it's Chain Chomp and slipped a disc looking for it. It's not that bad honestly, but just has the same issue as MKWii circuit in that it's too plain to be interesting or give good races. The MKDS one was awesome, they've never been that great since.

Super Mario Kart:
Best - Koopa Beach 1
Worst - Mario Circuit 4

Mario Kart 64
Best - Block Fort - I don't care if it's not a "race course", this battle stage is one of the most memorable locations on the entire N64. It's simple graphics and setting disguise one of the most insane places to battle, always keeping you on the edge of your seat.
Worst - Sherbet Land - Those darn penguins.

Mario Kart: Double Dash
Best - Yoshi Circuit - With plenty of shortcuts and great scenery, this course is a blast to play over and over again.
Worst - Wario Colleseum - So long... and so boring. Always hated hitting this one in all-cup tour.

Mario Kart Wii -
Best - Coconut Mall - The course I'll always associate with the Wii version, I'm not too sure why I like it so much, but I do.
Worst - Wario's Gold Mine - The other course I'll always associate with this game, and probably my least favorite of all.

Mario Kart 7
Best - Piranha Plant Slide - Just a fun level overall
Worst - Cheep Cheep Lagoon - Not... a bad level, but this game doesn't have any really bad levels. I guess that makes Cheep Cheep Lagoon the worst by default.

Mario Kart 8 (DX)
Best - Cloudtop Cruise - Simple isn't always bad, and I think this course pretty well exemplifies that.
Worst - Sweet Sweet Canyon - Not very mario feeling, and a boring course to boot.
Best DLC - Big Blue - Unsurprisingly, F-Zero merged perfectly with Mario Kart to make a sublime track.
Worst DLC - Hyrule Circuit - How do you take one of Nintendo's greatest franchises and make a course based on it so... boring? It's beyond me.

I only really got into Mario Kart big time from the Wii onwards. I had a Megadrive when the original came out and wasn't a fan of 64 or Double Dash.

MK Wii
Favourite - Peach's Garden
Least favourite - Grumble Volcano

MK8/MK8D
Favourite - Wario's Gold Mine (didn't like it on Wii for some reason.
Least favourite - Cheese Land (worse than Grumble Volcano by a country mile.)