Not so sure about tiers… but here are the popularity results based on the SBO Japan qualifiers.
Sagat- 33
Blanka- 19
Bison- 16
Cammy- 12
Sakura - 9
Chun- 8
Geese, Hibiki, Kyo, Rolento- 7
Ken- 6
Iori - 5
Guile, Ryu, Vega- 4
Athena, Maki, Rock, Rugal, Yamazaki - 3
Akuma, Joe, Kim- 2
Dhalsim, Eagle, Honda, King, Mai, Morrigan, Nakoruru, Ryo, Terry, Todo, Zangief - 1
Balrog, Benimaru, Chang, Dan, Haohmaru, Kyosuke, Raiden, Vice, Yun, Yuri - 0
This is true in most cases. In CvS2 there are a LOT of cases of characters who would be good if their damage ratio was tweaked so they actually gave as good as they got. Yuri, Benimaru, Maki and Yun, and to a lesser extent Kyosuke and King, are all examples of characters that have good tools, good ways to get hits, but just can’t do enough damage for the damage they’ll sustain over time. Shitty.
i concur…vice would be so good if she could actually hurt people and take damage…oh well.
Alright my tier list… first off I agree with whoever (i can’t remember who said it) about I think tier’s depend a bit on the person and definately what groove makes a huge difference. Secondly my list is probably going to look a bit different because I don’t use any grooves with roll. Here’s my list and after I’ll try and explain all as much as possible
1. Nakoruru
2. E Honda
3. Sagat (only if extremely good user or ratio 2)
4. Athena
5. Todo
6. Zangief
7. King
8. Morrigan
9. Guile
10. Rugal
Additionals that should probably be included but I’ve yet to play any really good users (these are not in order):
Blanka, Sakura, Kyo, Yamazaki, Rolento, Balrog/Vega, Cammy, Vice
On to my explanations:
1. Nakoruru: Anyone like myself that uses P Groove or K Groove knows how much a pain this girl is. I’ve seen her tear up A groove users as well which put her over the top for me. Her low/high game is just to good against P and K groove and then to see her put up a fight against an A groove was just scary.
2. E. Honda (Blanka): Okay maybe I’m a little biased since he’s one of my favorite characters. I do think he’s top tier though. In this I’ll also explain why perhaps Blanka didn’t make my top tier list. It could be because I almost always have E. Honda on my team in P Groove and either the Blanka user just wasn’t good enough or E. Honda can tear Blanka up. E. Honda can tear almost anyone up in fact. The only people he has any trouble with is shotos and in P groove you can just sit it out and let them come to you eliminating that threat. Blanka I think could be next to E. Honda but I haven’t seen a good enough Blanka player. I would say if anything the two are very much equal.
3. Sagat: Okay probably the reason I’m going to get flamed… In P Groove I rarely loose to him as a ratio one unless the person is incredible with him… the reason he made the list besides to avoid getting entirely flamed is because he’s usually the ratio 2 if he’s on the squad. I only use P and K and the occasional S and it really makes Sagat less a threat. As the ratio 2 though unless I get lucky and its my Honda against him (who I use as a ratio 2) he can typically beat me with about half his life left.
4. Athena: For me at least Athena is definately top tier. She’s hard to parry and between her teleport, command throw, and dragon punch she’s very hard. It could be because I don’t use any really long range people nor do I use C,A, or N grooves to move in with roll but I think she’s top tier.
5. Todo: At first I thought my friend (who taught me how to play) was joking when he said Todo was great. I’m pretty sure at the time he was too. Now we know his power and in K-Groove Todo is a dominating force against anyone except perhaps Nakoruru (since she can hop on her bird to avoid his super). This was then confirmed when Todo appeared time and time again at the Showdown in the South Tournament.
6. Zangief: Okay I know I’m biased her because after E. Honda and Zangief is my favorite character but he really is good. In P and K groove like someone mentioned he’s a definite threat. Eliminating long range attacks means it is going to be a close range battle against one of the most powerful close range characters in the game with both supers doing devastating damage and the second one is an anti air… that’s big red for you.
7. King: She is weak yes but her combos easily make up for it. She can definately play with the top players.
8. Morrigan: I hate fighting Morrigan she scares me. She can just change a fight so quickly if you slip up. She’s kinda like the hybrid of Athena and Sakura (IMO)
9. Guile: With some of the strongest and most varied regular attacks in the game he’s powerful. He’s also got great air throws and ground throws to stop most rollers. Then he has his two specials which are wonderful for zoning people out. He can once zone people out do insane combos. Also his level 3 super does an insane amount of damage. Even when blocked it takes about 25% of most characters life.
10. Rugal: One reason… style. No really its his command throw… it does great damage and most don’t know how to stop it so you can do it two or three times. Then his supers are great. Granted his kick one is just decent but his punch one particularly at level 3 is incredible. It can change a fight instantly taking about 50% of a character’s life even if Ratio 2.
Characters I don’t know enough about to call top tier but probably should be:
Sakura: I’ve only played her once and it was an even fight but I’ve heard so much about her I’m guessing the person wasn’t trying (since I’m not that good)
Kyo: From what I hear his A-Groove is insane although I’ve never once seen anyone use it. I hear he has the most powerful CCs in the game.
Yamazaki: I’ve only used him like twice and have never fought against him. His moves are incredibly strong and if I had a chance to see some fights I’d probably put him in the list somewhere.
Rolento, Cammy, Balrog/Vega: Wish I have seen more of him so I can say he’s top tier but so far I’ve just heard about him and seen him in some casual play. He’s impressive much more so than the other speed demons like Cammy and Balrog/Vega in my opinion. Definately at least one of these speed demons should be in the top tier list - I just haven’t seen enough to say which.
Vice: I’ve never seen people really use her but that grab is scarry so if there was someone out there who can use her really well I could only imagine the possibilities that command grab has.
*These are all from what I’ve seen and I’m sure people will disagree and probably with good reason. All I ask is you explain or better yet show videos (particularly of some of those characters I haven’t seen much of like Yamazaki and Kyo)
But, is that solved by raising their damage, or raising their stamina? I feel the same way about Akuma as you do about the characters you mentioned. I think he is by far the best shoto (at least in A-groove) because he has great normals, has massive combo potential, and can just work a match way better than Ken or Ryu. However, I have to work so hard not to get hit while playing him that it’s not worth it unless I get so good I’m untouchable. Anyway, as I said before, is this an issue of damage, or of stamina?
Yuri, Beni, and King were all good in CVS1. I would say the reason they aren’t as good in CVS2 also has to do with the raping of good special moves.
If you notice, the characters you mentioned all have good normals. Honestly, the characters I was thinking of when I typed that were ones like Zangief, Raiden, Honda, Rugal, Haohmaru, etc. None of them are good because they can deal lots of damage. IMO, the only character that is good because he deals too much damage is Sagat. You could also argue Blanka I guess, but I won’t. The top 4 in the game have a lot of things in common, one of which is good normals. If you keep going down the list, the amount that they share in common decreases a bit. However, the thing you’ll notice is that they all have good normals. I’m not saying that is the only reason, just a main reason.
Again, I would argue that the major difference between CVS1 Vice, who was good, and CVS2 Vice is not about damage. I think she’s only worse because of the ratio system and the way Blockstun works to prevent throw ticks.
Personally if you REALLY want to run down’ tiers. The only characters that can be trully called “top tier” are the ones that are highly used \ abused.
Yama
Ryu
Sagat
Cammy
Blanka
Rolento
And not that many others. :lame:
Not that I can talk.
Vega \ Cammy \ Chun
God: Sagat/blanka/bison/cammy
Top: sakura/chun/geese/hibiki/kyo/rolento/ken/iori
middle:
Guile, Ryu, Vega, Athena, Maki, Rock, Rugal, Yamazaki, Akuma, Joe, Kim, Dhalsim, Eagle, Honda, King, Mai, Morrigan, Nakoruru, Ryo, Terry, Todo, Zangief
bottom: Balrog, Benimaru, Chang, Dan, Haohmaru, Kyosuke, Raiden, Vice, Yun, Yuri
TODO… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH (cough)… ugh
LOL Ioi, Hibiki, Kyo, and Ken Tier pppffft I dont think so they r so hella second tier… Its all About Camy, Sagat, Blanka, Vega, Bison.
2nd Geese, Balrog, Chunli…uuummmm I hellla drunk so Im sure Ill remeber sooner or later. but ha yeah I got all u all.:evil: :lol:
Todo has one of the most abuseable moves in the game and in K-Groove his level 3 ecstasy wave does more damage than almost every other move knocking any character to around 10% life.
Yo man you live in Orlando right? If that is so then you need to go to Rocky’s Reply and play a guy named Trent Van Deven in CvS2. He will show you why Cammy is top tier in CvS2.
IMO this is the top 4 characters and the grooves that makes them top tier:
#1. Blanka (C, K, N groove)- RC’ing the the blanka ball and the electricity makes him truely the best in CvS2. It’s about time he was top tier instead of being ass tier.:evil: 
#2. Cammy (A or C groove)- the best one button charater in the game- Standing Round House Kick. She walks faster than most characters runs. She can walk in and out of your attack zone making you wiff and she poking you with RH kick. Also the bitch does great damage for being a little whore like hibiki.
#3. Sagat (A, C, K, or N groove)- The second best 1 button character with great priority on all of his normal attacks “See ducking FP and standing forward kick” nuff said
#4. M. Bison (A Groove)- The 80% A groove combo from anywhere on the screen makes him top tier.
#5.
Well if your basing it off just one groove then its a whole new ball game. I mean in that case you would have to have A Groove Sakura, who is better than A Groove Bison. When you base it off one groove like you did for Bison then its totally different. There are alot of people that can do damaging cc’s from that far, including Eagle and Rugal.
Blanka is good in A Groove too.
Well, it looks like the opinion is slowly but surely changing to Blanka being more lethal than Sagat.
Here’s my top players if you include groove choices
Not really.
At SBO 33 qualifiers used sagat. 19 used Blanka.
if we get groove specific, 15 used c-sagat, 11 used a-blanka (the top groove picks for each character).
So it’s almost guaranteed that C-Sagat will best A-Blanka then in spite of roll-cancelling??
A-Ken? How is A-Ken top tier?
Also how am I the only one here who thinks Guile is top tier?
Nothing is ever 100% guaranteed. But at the moment there are more C-sagat then A-blanka players. Not that it takes away anything from A-blanka. If I picked A-groove I would definitely choose blanka over sagat.
Omega: Roll cancelling Ken’s qcf+kick is an excellent poke (great way to charge up that meter also). He’s got great easy to land customs in a-groove as well.
To true and so is Sagat, as far as Sagat and Blanka go though, I still give the edge to Sagat. He doesnt have as many hard matchups as Blanka but Blanka’s rc is better. The other problem is head to head Sagat can just stick out standing foward and it will take out alot of Blanka’s moves. Its pretty close really but I would still say Sagat is the best character.