Video games are more popular than ever, as there are a plethora of companies making as many new products as possible to fill the bottom line. People are playing competitive games like sports, commonly referred to as Esports. But while most people like to bring up first-person shooting games, I want to bring up less talked about games, relatively speaking that is. While Mortal Kombat or Pokemon are popular franchises, they are not quite as popular as Call of Duty, Halo, and Fortnite.
Pokemon may seem like an innocuous game, but there is a fiercely competitive scene. For single battles, Smogon is used, while the more official format uses double battles, meaning two Pokemon are used at once. Smogon has a tier list for Pokemon, and their viability, OU or overused, UU or underused, RU or rarely used, NU or never used, and PU or poorly used. ZU is a burgeoning format, and it is for Pokemon that cannot be used in PU, which is the lowest of the low in terms of viability. Finally, there is untiered Pokemon, which are not recommended for any use in any format. Sometimes Pokemon that seem useless in singles can be a monster in doubles, notably with Pachirisu.
Pachirisu was introduced in generation four and was the region's electric rodent, similar to a Pikaclone or a Pokemon, which is very similar to the series mascot, Pikachu. In singles, Pachirisu is awful, as it cannot evolve, has abysmal stats in everything except for speed, and is untiered in any format you can think of. Despite its shortcomings, this little squirrel has several qualities that led to a VGC championship. A player by the name of Se-jun Park used the Pachirisus super fang, which enables the player to cut their opponent's hp in half or nuzzle to paralyze opponents through taunting. This exceptional use of the Pachirisus abilities earned Park to win a gold medal in the world championship.
Mortal Kombat is a fighting game franchise that has existed since the 90s, but the first seriously competitive fighting scene began in the ninth game. Mortal Kombat 9 was a reboot for the series and had every character from the first three games, alongside some guests and additional characters. The most infamous character in the game was Cyrax, the yellow cyborg ninja.
While a mixed bag in other games, Cyrax's move-set in Mortal Kombat 9 made it so that his qualities turned him into a death machine for the opponent. If Cyrax lands an attack, say your prayers because he will juggle you until you are defeated. Despite his arguably overpowered abilities, Cyrax was not banned and was top tier in that game, second only to Kabal. He was so overpowered, that when the tenth installment added Triborg, a character whose move-sets were based on all three/four cyborgs. Cyrax's moveset had a failsafe that caused his net to jam, preventing the combo from becoming as crazy. Despite this, he is still top tier in this game and as the game is receiving tournament use, expect to see Triborg and Cyrax alongside characters like Tremor, Alien, or Tanya.
