User blog:PeaVZ108/IaLR: Tier Lists - Retro Characters!

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(Music Plays )

"Quoted from Cuboy and the Nitro Maniacs"

''Cuboy quickly gets up and flies towards Starcade, before punching her so hard that she drops the Champion's Cup. Cuboy grabs the Champion's Cup, but not long before Starcade grabs onto it too, resulting in a tug-of-war among them. He proceeds to fly around, as both fighters continue to struggle in fighting for the Champion's Cup.'' ''The gang watches as the fight between Cuboy and Starcade slowly becomes more intense. The fight continues until Cuboy and Starcade begin to pull the Champion's Cup towards their sides so hard, that it causes the Champion's Cup to glow rapidly and emit electric sparks out of it.'' However, before Green Shadow can do anything, the Champion's Cup begins to vibrate violently as it glows even more and emits even more electric sparks. ''As Cuboy and Starcade continue fighting, the Champion's Cup eventually explodes, creating a massive explosion that sends both Cuboy and Starcade flying in opposite directions. Cuboy crashes into Test Subject Green, defeating the latter in his fight against Boom, while Starcade crash lands into a wall.''
 * Toby Topaz: What is going on with them?
 * Diana Diamond: Looks like Cuboy's trying to take the Champion's Cup back from Starcade, but Starcade's fighting back.
 * Toby Topaz: Oh.
 * Blue Ocean: Need help, Starcade?
 * Starcade: No thanks, I can handle this.
 * Cuboy: Not for long. The cup is mine!
 * Starcade: Not for long, I suppose.
 * Amelia Amethyst: Hey, something's happening to that cup! (points at the Champion's Cup glowing and emitting electric sparks) Is it...malfunctioning?
 * Blue Ocean: Guys, stop! I think you're damaging the Champion's Cup!
 * Green Shadow: Don't worry, I'll stop them.
 * Starcade and Cuboy: (to each other) Give it to me! No!

Introduction
Yeah, that quote was pretty long. But anyway, where were we? Oh yes.

Retro-themed characters, or characters from video games, might be possibly one of the most controversial classes in IaLR, as although they are everywhere across IaLR, not all of them are well-known. In fact, they have been around since Season 1, but not much has been talked about them in the episodes, until they've had some spotlight ever since the Heroes of Echo Creek expansion patch. To describe each of these characters, some like them, some hate them, some are neutral about them. To each his own.

What's interesting is that most of these characters are completely different from each other, in their species, personalities, fighting styles and more, providing a wide range of options to choose the best retro character to tackle a certain situation. There will always be situations where a retro character would shine, and where he or she would fall. Even with their own unique strengths and weaknesses, the retro characters are different in terms of power levels too, so today we'll be talking about them, to find out where in the tier list does each belong.

Before we begin, this list is only going to be for retro-themed characters in my roster, for now at least. There are just so many to cover, so if you're expecting characters like Mario, Sonic or Kirby, don't fret yet. For this list, I will be allowing requests if you think certain of such characters should be up here. Remember, those characters can only be either retro-themed or come from a certain video game. I'll also be sticking to the relevant and more interesting retro-themed characters from my roster, or those who will become more significant in the future. Requests are still open though.

Anyway, you know the drill, let the games begin! I mean, let's begin the tier list!

F Tier
Starting with F Tier, we have the cute but deadly hot air balloon driver, Hot Air. He's a member of the Retro Rebels who takes control of a blue hot air balloon with a smiling face, being able to throw explosives like Red Ruby and Gary Guppy can, throw boomerfans (also known as boomerang fans) in a similar fashion to how Rosewell would be able to do and fight off any other aerial enemies with a sword. And his balloon even serves as a storage for his possessions! With such a wide range of abilities, you might think Hot Air deserves a tier better than F. But with further evaluation, you will soon realize that he is already one of the weakest retro characters from the get-go. I'll explain.

Hot Air's main weapon is a hot air BALLOON. Yes, you heard that right. While that makes him the air support of the Retro Rebels, his balloon is pretty weak, being able to pop easily with just a sharp object, causing him to be a poor matchup against characters who use blades such as Blade and Captain Red Shell. And naturally, hot air balloons are pretty slow in movement so that proves Hot Air incapable of avoiding incoming attacks from characters who are well-known for their speed such as Rainbow Dash and Sonic. And while his other abilities sound promising, Hot Air is unable to utilize them as well as other characters with similar abilities. For example, his explosives do not deal as much damage as those used by Red Ruby and Gary Guppy, and he cannot sword-fight nearly as well as Kyoji or Captain Red Shell. In conclusion, Hot Air may be a versatile fighter, but with his poor matchups and his rather large range of weaknesses, he'll be placed at F Tier. Sure, he's cute and deadly, but maybe not deadly enough.

E Tier
Now we're on to the E Tier, and in this tier, we have Owl. Intelligence, mobility and speed, Owl has them. Heck, he's even able to shoot lasers from his eyes and see in the dark with night vision. However, he lacks both strength and defense, which are both important in a combat. Compared to the other Retro Rebels, Owl has one of the lowest healths and damage outputs amongst them all, being vulnerable to flame attacks that can take him down quickly. His IQ isn't even nearly as high as characters like Blue Ocean and Gary Garnet, being unable to use technology just like Starcade can. That doesn't stop him from putting up a good fight though, which saves him from F Tier.

Pink Angel is also in the E Tier. It is able to shoot all kinds of arrows - fire arrows, bomb arrows, love arrows, you name it, Pink Angel's got it. Just like Owl, Pink Angel has mobility, speed, weak stats and the ability to fly, but it lacks the intelligence that Owl has. It too only shines in ranged combat, being helpless against enemies that can do a lot of damage up close to it. At first, this might seem as if Pink Angel is less powerful than Owl is and it deserves to be in the F Tier, but remember that Pink Angel's bow had an upgrade that allows it to shoot arrows faster and more accurately thanks to Metalshoe Jet. Which thus saves him from F Tier as well.

D Tier
More characters! And they're in the D Rank! First up we have Licorice and Smokey Bacon.

Licorice and Smokey Bacon may have opposite personalities, but they do have a similar fighting style. Being able to freeze enemies as large as Galaximus herself, these two ice-cream scoops are able to give quite a serving against most enemies that they encounter. While they have rather decent damage outputs, they are rather vulnerable to damage themselves and have poor matchups against characters who use firepower, such as Akasha, Red Ruby and Scorch, who can melt them down pretty easily. Additionally, they are easily intimidated by characters who use intimidation to frighten others such as Dark Shadow, as well as characters with quite an appetite such as Red Fork, which renders them unable to fight those characters off. Licorice and Smokey Bacon are what we call "glass cannons", due to their low defense and high damage output, and they are best used with tankier characters such as Test Subject Blue and Viking.

Fat Cat is also in the D Tier, with the highest damage output among the Retro Rebels and a rather decent amount of durability. He has a huge appetite, eating almost as much as Red Fork or Chomper does, allowing him to be an indirect intimidation to food characters. With his huge appetite comes his huge size, despite his ability to float in the air. He is even able to shoot out a mega laser whenever he burps, which can pierce through even the toughest of armors. Unfortunately, brawn is only where Fat Cat shines at, as he crumbles when it comes to brains which was evident when he mistook a robotic mouse for an actual mouse in Nitro Mania and started chasing it. Due to this unintelligence, he has to rely on the guidance of Owl in order to know what to do next, and even so, he is only able to communicate in cat language which only Owl is able to understand. Even more so, Fat Cat has a very short attention span and will ignore his surroundings when it comes to food. Despite his versatility and high stats, his lack of intelligence, unpredictability of actions and weakness to food makes him a rather unreliable choice in battle which ultimately lands him in the D Tier.

C Tier
Moving on to the mid-tiers, we have...

First up is Test Subject Blue, a laboratory enzyme injected into a prototype suit for experimental purposes according to his media of origin, as well as Starcade's second-in-command. Test Subject Blue's prototype suit, the Rex209, has many abilities and weapons in store - proton cannon, super strength and durability, suction feet, neutron bombs and more. His weapons have a moderate damage output, which makes his attacks slightly weaker than those of Licorice and Smokey Bacon, but he is able to make it up with the high durability of his armored suit, which unfortunately makes it heavy as well, hindering his movement. He also has a good matchup against characters who use electricity such as Electra, but is rather vulnerable to magnets, tools that most scientist characters carry with them. Test Subject Blue is best used as a tank, a shield for allies who can dish out more damage than him.

Viking is next on this tier. He has good strength and defense, as well as being able to perform well in the ocean, making him a good matchup against pirates such as Captain Red Shell and Sean Sapphire. Intimidation has no effect on Viking, as he has a heart for war and an undying courage that keeps him strong. He also wields a battle hammer that allows him to cause tremor and smash almost all kinds of materials with very high damage output and knockback, able to take down the weaker characters as well. However, he has a weakness to electricity due to his metallic armor and helmet, as well as a dimunitive size which makes him rather lightweight, not including the weight of his battle hammer. Viking is best used for ground control, but he's helpless against characters who use an aerial approach and are able to stay out of his range.

Warlock, not to be confused with the Warlord, is a dark magician who uses potent dark magic against his foes. He can only move by teleporting, and his dark magic is superior to many other magic users, such as Amelia Amethyst, with advanced magic spells that can change the tide of battle. He relies a lot on dark magic, however, and while he is able to put up a good fight against many characters, he can quickly get overwhelmed by huge numbers. While Warlock is proficient in dark magic, he cannot utilize the power of darkness nearly as well as characters like the Warlord can. Overall, Warlock is versatile but his dependency on dark magic is his downfall, earning him a C Tier.

Next, it's King Virus. Although King Virus started off as a minor villain in Android-pocalypse, he's going to play a huge role in Season 6 and beyond. But enough about upcoming content, we're here to actually talk about how strong King Virus is. Despite his microscopic size, he proves to be very powerful in virtual environments such as the interiors of a microchip, being able to use a contagious paralysis "virus" to paralyze opponents and summon smaller viruses to aid him in battle. The rest of his abilities are yet to be known, but for now, he'll be placed in the C Tier.

Finally, we have Dark Starcade, who is the strongest among the C Tiers. Now this might seem confusing at first because before Cuboy and the Nitro Maniacs, Dark Starcade has always been able to overpower Starcade on her own. However, times change and so does the game, and Dark Starcade hasn't exactly changed much since her debut. Still, she's a pretty solid fighter on her own, with great strength, agility and intelligence, as well as a couple of laser pistols and hacking skills, which would almost make her worthy of the B Tier.

B Tier
Speaking of the B Tier, we have two characters on the list.

First, it's Billy Parker. I mean, Cuboy. By himself, he's pretty much just like pre-Powered Up Tommy with stats nowhere near as powerful as Starcade's, which hence requires him to create a suit so that he can put up a fight on his own. Interestingly, Cuboy's suit grants Cuboy his very own abilities instead of copying Starcade's abilities, ranging from electricity and lasers to glowing pink cubes that can encapsulate any object upon impact. Cuboy has also gained half of the Champion's Cup's energy ever since it was destroyed, which adds even more power and versatility for Cuboy. Thanks to these advantages, Cuboy does not have many known weaknesses, although his temper can explode pretty easily and stronger characters like Red Fork are still able to overpower him on their own.

His wide range of abilities combined with his intelligence and knowledge of video games and technology makes him just like Hot Air - cute and deadly. Only this time, truly deadly. Cuboy may be an anti-hero now but what he becomes in the future remains to be seen.

Second on the B Tier is the Champion of Eitbit and leader of the Retro Rebels herself, Starcade. High intelligence, mastery at hacking and video games, laser pistols, retro-style powers and good looks, she has them all, which also are a few reasons for her mass popularity in Eitbit. If you're looking for a character with versatility and a range of playing styles, Starcade is your best bet. For a female character, Starcade's melee attacks have an above average strength, though she cannot dish out as much damage as powerhouses such as Boulder and Red Fork. While her defense isn't as good as her damage output, Starcade fares off quite well in terms of speed, mobility and agility, which are slightly above average amongst the gang. However, the one trait that stands out from the rest is intelligence, which changes the game for Starcade as she is able to outsmart many characters easily, such as Electra and Bonk Choy. With above average stats and great versatility, Starcade has very few weaknesses, although she can sometimes get overconfident on her opponents to the point that she's treating her battles as a regular day at an arcade.

A Tier
We're now moving on to the A Tier, with Starcade's archenemy on the list - Olympus! Even though Starcade is able to defeat Olympus on her own, Olympus is at a higher tier because he ultimately stands a better chance at winning at a fight than Starcade, due to what he is capable of. He has a very high intelligence stat, even higher than Starcade's, being able to come up with plans to manipulate the gang into falling for his traps. He owns a super computer which he uses to summon digital items from various videogames, taking versatility to a whole new level as this ability allows him to control his own fighting styles depending on the situation. What makes Olympus even more powerful and threatening is that he does not need to fully rely on technology and intelligence to fight his opponents, as at times, Olympus will resort to utilizing his other stats through adopting traditional fighting methods, or rather his in-game abilities, ranging from swordfighting to shapeshifting and especially creating illusions. He can even combine both smart and traditional methods of fighting if he sees fit, which is applied in the maze he used to trap the gang in Nitro Mania 2.0, making use of his illusion-creation powers to manipulate the minds of most gang members. While he is intelligent enough to think on his own two feet, Olympus can act rashly and in haste if he is insulted, teased or if he feels undermined by his opponents, which leads to his downfall. This has been shown in Nitro Mania 2.0 when Olympus turned down Starcade's challenge to an arcade duel, until he decides to take on her after the latter teased him. In conclusion, Olympus is a solid fighter with diversity to his versatility who does not rely on the same stats every time to put up a good fight, which makes him A Tier.

S Tier
Unfortunately, there aren't any S Tiers as of now unless we're talking about Galeem and Dharkon, although I'm introducing an S Tier retro-themed character in the upcoming seasons of Heroes of Echo Creek. However, this tier is still open for additions, just like all others.

Conclusion
And that's all for today! I hope you enjoyed this episode of IaLR: Tier Lists. Remember to stay alert for new entries in the series. If there's any set of characters or any aspect of the game you'd like us to analyze, or any requests for additions to this list, feel free to request it in the comment section below. Until next time, buh-bye!