“Not all characters are created equal” is a classic saying in the fighting game community. It’s easy to see this phrase is fact-based on results from major tournaments. Consistency and powerful tools give top tier characters a better chance of victory.

Some of the best characters weren’t just broken before balance patches, they shaped the entire meta. Top tiers still heavily influence the competition today but to a lesser extent. Let’s review some of the most broken, game-molding top tiers in the history of fighting games.

Sentinel is literally the god of Marvel vs Capcom 2

MvC2 is one of the most celebrated broken fighting games. Busted characters like Sentinel are almost essential to survive in tournaments. His iconic delayed hyper combo (DHC), fast fly, refly, and unfly tech defined the meta.

Hyper Sentinel Force DHC

Sentinel has amazing projectiles, chip block damage on every normal, and one of the best supers in the game. Hyper Sentinel Force is great for a safe delayed hyper combo (A mechanic in most team fighters where you perform a super with one character, then switch to another for a second super). This DHC can give Sentinel a free turn to perform a full combo on hit. There’s even an unblockable setup to counter opponents familiar with the timing.

Flight mode is possibly his most broken mechanic. He can move quickly across the screen with instant access to great air normals. More importantly, Sentinel has access to three powerful, unintended mechanics: fast fly, refly, and unfly.

Fast fly

Instantly attack or defend after canceling into flight. This means instant high-low mixups and crazy chip scenarios.

Refly

Cancel out of flight right back into it for crazy, almost endless pressure.

Unfly

Attack on the way down after canceling flight. You can use this after being hit by any non-knockdown attacks. It only goes away after you normal jump or use it 5-7 times.

Each of these techniques used in conjunction with the fact that Sentinel can fly to super jump height and still access assists for borderline invisible attacks makes him arguably the best character in the game.

Pet Shop of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is so broken he’s banned

While Sentinel’s broken features require a bit of explanation, Pet Shop is the opposite. In fact, Pet Shop’s speed, size, flight, and attacks culminate in probably one of the most braindead, broken characters in any fighting game.

Pet Shop wasn't the fiercest enemy in the original manga, but his abilities in the Capcom fighting game, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future are far more powerful.

Pet Shop plays an entirely different game from the rest of the cast

• Thanks to his constant flight he rarely has to block low. In some matchups, there’s no need to block low at all.
• Quick mobility and a small hurtbox make him hard to hit compared to the rest of the cast.
• He has easy unblockables and crazy high damage output, giving new meaning to the phrase pick up and play.

It’s no surprise Pet Shop was banned in tournaments and even frowned upon in casual play, despite his low health and inability to block while flying.

Power Rangers’ Ivan Ooze may be the biggest rulebreaker in fighting game history

Ivan Ooze is an extremely broken boss similar to characters like Capcom vs SNK’s Shin Akuma and The King of Fighters’ Orochi. However, this surprisingly legal fighter has easier access to broken tools such as automatically dodging specific moves, unparalleled fullscreen pressure, and the ability to attack while in hitstun.

Another overpowered character, another unique flight mechanic. Ivan Ooze is always in the air. He can move freely anywhere on the screen and dodges low moves without blocking.

His attacks are even more lethal. Not only does Ivan Ooze have a hard knockdown normal on hit, but he also has a multi-hit, high priority, combo-starting, fireball. Plus, his fire column reaches the top of the screen, then moves forward. Talk about literal cornering.

His specials might be the best, or worst, part depending on your perspective. One is a homing fireball barrage. The other is a forcefield with no startup. This attack unleashes homing fireballs and can even be performed when Ooze is being hit. Who cares about not being able to block when you’re a swiss army knife with tools to tackle every situation?

Top tier doesn’t mean broken

There are tons of other borderline demonic characters in fighting games like Toki from Fist of the North Star, Yoda of Soul Calibur 4, Chun-Li in Street Fighter 3, and now Sol in Guilty Gear Strive. However, compared to these broken tier characters from older games, these guys are fair and balanced. Newer characters only have strong tools instead of a (sometimes unintended) technique that truly breaks the entire game.

Many stay away from these characters to avoid getting called meta-slaves but think about it this way. If you aren’t picking them, then someone else will. Breaking the rules every now and then is fun. Unless that character is banned. Then you should move down from SSS tier to S tier.