History of Melty Tiers

I'm mainly making this post because there's no page on the Internet out there that documents all of the "official" or accepted tier lists of the game, so hopefully the search engines will pick this up so that more misinformation doesn't get spread. But it's also interesting because it shows which characters have historically been favored by the designers.

I don't think there were any tiers in the very early versions of Melty Blood, because the game was full of so much broken stuff that no one really bothered. The earlist semblance of tiers I remember were in ReACT, a bit before Final Tuned 2.501b. Akiha was undisputed #1, as her high damage output, clash frames on 2c, high/low mixup, and best defense modifier made her easily the most complete character in the game. I remember watching tournament replays during this time and seeing that half of all vids were Akiha mirrors. Warc, Shiki Tohno, and the maid part were also considered pretty good during this time.

Now comes the main games, where MB was no longer a doujin game anywhere and became an arcade game.

Melty Blood Act Cadenza Version A
The only tier list made during this time was from Arcadia... forgot which issue it was from.
S: Warc Shiki
A: Sion Satsuki VAkiha
B: Arc Wara Nero Akiha Maids Nanaya
C: Aoko Kouma Mech Len Ciel VSion Miyako Kohaku Hisui
D: Neco

Pretty similar to the ReACT list... the main difference is Akiha moving down to B. Warc was S because of ease of use, very high damage, and unbeatable normals. Her j.b throughout the entire MB series is arguably the best, or one of the best air normals in the game, and it was at its peak in this version, with the fastest startup and containing clash frames. Shiki was also rated high because of high damage, ease of use, good normals, good defensive options(easily the best backdash in the game), and good defense modifier. Sion was interesting because she wasn't considered S tier, but was the only character in the game to have a reliable infinite. Satsuki was really silly in this version, as her normals had very little proration, so her damage potential was through the roof. She got minimum 4K damage from her antiair 5a mash into EX Tornado Grab. Finally, there's VAkiha, who had unparalleled rushdown, movement, and damage/lifeleech potential with her EX pits and throw.

Melty Blood Act Cadenza Version B
There were no official tierlists done for this version of this game as it was rather short lived. However, Sion and Kouma were undisputedly top tier because of an oversight by the game developers in superarmor properties. Specifically Sion 2c and Kouma 236 specials had superarmor that pretty much lasted the entire duration and started up immediately.

Melty Blood Act Cadenza Version B2
This version has several tierlists done for it, as the game lasted a long time and is the final game in the Act Cadenza series. Earliest list comes from Tougeki Damashii Volume 5.
A: Sion Akiha VAkiha Kouma Ciel Len
B: Hisui Mech
C: Everybody else
D: Necos

Main interesting thing to note here is Ciel and Len rising to top tier. Ciel in this version was pretty much the most well rounded character: she had an answer to everything. Len was a different case, as she gained some very strong tools in VerB2 and her gameplay was getting a lot of development(she was one of the more underused chars in previous versions).

The Japanese MBAC BBS eventually agreed upon another tier list some time later, which is:
S: Sion Len Ciel Warc Miyako Akiha
A: Hisui Kouma VSion Mech
B: VAkiha Arc Aoko Nanaya Shiki Nero Satsuki Maids
C: Kohaku Wara WLen
D: Necos

Main thing to note is Miyako rising to S. She gained some very good tools in VerB2, and people were finally beginning to understand how to play her.

Later on, around January of 2008 Tougeki Damashii published a matchup chart created by 46 top Japanese players. It can be viewed here.

The final official tier list for this game was made around May of 2008. Since I actually have the original text I thought I'd post it:
参加者　20人

かんな、すずめ、にく、ぶぶ、はぎ、ぼぶ、ゆとり、芳乃、SAT、スシ、ひでぶ、かいまーと、洋、レオ、はと、千神、あげは、丸やん、ねむとら、レイ

方式は前と同じで適当にS、A、B、Cで分けて貰ってSが4点、Aが3点、Bが2点、Cが1点といった感じでランク分けは四捨五入で

Ｓ:シエル(79)、レン(77)、シオン(74)、ワルク(73)
Ａ:都古(66)、秋葉 (64)、メカ翡翠(63)、軋間(57)、翡翠(55)、ネロ(51)
Ｂ:Vシオン(45)、七夜(42)、アルク(42)、さつき(39)、青子(37)、赤主(34)
Ｃ:ヒスコハ(25)、志貴(25)、ワラキア(23)、白レン(22)、琥珀(22)

Basically what happened is that top Japanese Miyako player Kanna asked 20 top japanese players to rank every character, and he averaged those results to make a tier list. Characters were rated from S(4 points) to C(1 point). The top JP players that participated were:
Kanna, Surume, Niku, Bubu, Hagi, Bobu, Yutori, Yoshino, SAT, Sushi, Hidebu, Kaimaato, You, Leo, Hato, Chikami, Ageha, Maruyan, Nemutora, Rei

S: Ciel(79) Len(77) Sion(74) Warc(73)
A: Miyako(66) Akiha(64) Mech(63) Kouma(57) Hisui(55) Nero(51)
B: VSion(45) Nanaya(42) Arc(42) Satsuki(39) Aoko(37) VAkiha(34)
C: Maids(25) Shiki(25) Wara(23) WLen(22) Kohaku(22)

Main point of interest is that throughout most of VerB2's lifespan, Sion was undisputed #1 for her unrivalled damage, strong pressure, good normals, and defensive options. Only in the final year of the game(when this list was released) was she considered lower than Ciel and Len.

Moving on to Actress Again...

Melty Blood Actress Again
Only one tier list for this game as it was incredibly broken and very much an incomplete game. This list made by Yukinose, and published in either Arcadia or Tougeki Damashii, I don't remember which.
S: H-Akiha H-Shiki H-Nero H-Wara H-Ries H-Aoko
A: C-Ciel C-Mech C-WLen F-Kouma H-Roa H-Sion H-VSion C-Arc H-Nanaya C-Warc H-VAkiha C-Kohaku
B: H-Hisui C-Maids C-Miyako H-Len C-Satsuki

It's very obvious that Half Moon is broken in vanilla MBAA. Instant life regen on autoheat and ridiculous meter gain on all 6aa combos made them way too strong.

Melty Blood Actress Again Version A
There are numerous official and accepted tier lists for this game, as it's been out for a while. The first one was made in February of 2009, and the process was very similar to the final tier list of MBAC. I also have the original text, so here goes:
キャラランク（そのキャラの1番強いと思うスタイルでのランク）
猫アルクは強い弱い関係なしに欄外
A、B、Cで分ける（個人的にVER.Bよりも差がないと感じるので）
Aを3点、Bを2点、Cを1点として加算。

A:Vシオン（59）、メカ翡翠（58）、志貴（54）、ネロ（54）、七夜（53）、琥珀（53）
B:都古（49）、ワルク（41）、ヒスコハ（40）、アルク（40）、白レン（38）、翡翠（38）、シエル（37）、軋間（36）、青子（36）、リーズ（35）、さつき（35）、赤主（34）、シオン（32）、ロア（31）、秋葉（30）、ワラキア（30）
C:レン（23）

参加者（敬称略）:かんな、レイ、かいまーと、うどんげ、丸やん、SAT、芳乃、がる、シュウ、めっしい、ジン、キリト、ぶぶ、平田、ぼぶ、するめ、にく、新屋、深空、洋

聞いてない人に会った際にランクを聞いてまた更新する可能性もありますが、おそらく更新はしないと思われます。

Compiled by 20 top jp players, characters were rated from A(3 points) to C(1 point)
Players: Kanna, Rei, Kaimaato, Udonge, Maruyan, SAT, Yoshino, Garu, Shuu, Messhii, Jin, Kirito, Bubu, Hirata, Bobu, Surume, Niku, Niiya, Misora, You

A: VSion(59) Mech(58) Shiki(54) Nero(54) Nanaya(53) Kohaku(53)
B: Miyako(49) Warc(41) Maids(40) Arc(40) White Ren(38) Hisui(38) Ciel(37) Kouma(36) Aoko(36) Ries(35) Satsuki(35) VAkiha(34) Sion(32) Roa(31) Akiha(30) Wara(30)
C: Ren(23)

Those characters in the top 7-8 would remain very consistent throughout the game's lifespan, the main exception being Nanaya who would eventually start moving down about a year later. Also notable is Akiha's extremely low ranking.

A month later, the first tier list that actually separated all the moon phase versions of the characters was made. I forgot who actually wrote it, though.
S: H-VSion C-Mech H/C-Shiki F-Nero H-Kohaku F-Miyako
A+: C-Nanaya C-Warc
A: F/C-Kouma C/H-Nero C/F-Kohaku F-Mech
A-: F-Maids C/H-Miyako F-Warc F-WLen H-Nanaya C-Ciel C-Aoko F-Arc F-VAkiha H-Roa C-Satsuki F-Shiki H/F-Sion C-Hisui
B+: Akiha C/H-Maids H/F-Ries F/C-VSion H-VAkiha F-Nanaya
B: H-Warc H-Hisui C/F-Wara H/C-Arc F/H-Ciel H-Mech C-Sion H-Kouma C/H-WLen F-Aoko
B-: H-Wara H/F-Ren C-Ries F-Roa H-Satsuki F-Hisui H-Aoko C-VAkiha
C+: F-Satsuki C-Ren C-Roa

Later on, Arcadia published a tier list made by MBAC top VAkiha/MBAA top Shiki player Hato in their August issue.
God: H-VSion
S: C-Mech
A: F/H-Nero H/C-Shiki C/H-Kohaku C/F-Miyako C-Nanaya C/F-Maids
B: F/H-Aoko C-Warc F-VAkiha H-Hisui F-WLen C-Satsuki C-Sion F-Arc
C: C-Ciel F-Kouma F-Ries C-Wara C/H-Akiha H/F-Roa H-Len C-Neco

There hasn't been an official tier list made after this, but the metagame has changed considerably. Most notably, H-VSion isn't undisputed #1 anymore, as there's a bit of debate as to whether H-Kohaku and H-Shiki should be ranked higher than her. The top 7 chars(VSion, Shiki, Mech, Kohaku, Miyako, Nero, Warc) are pretty much agreed upon by everyone, they just get shuffled around a bit sometimes. Akiha's ranking has also changed pretty dramatically: in the first few months of the game's release, she was often ranked as one of the worst characters or pretty low on the lists, but nowadays she's always considered mid-high at worst. Finally, there's also VAkiha, who was generally considered very good at first with her full moon style, but then went down. However, she is rising back up again as more people are playing her half moon style.

One thing to note from all these tier lists is that it becomes very obvious as to which character is consistently strong in every version. And that character is Warc. In nearly every single version of the game, she is either top or high tier. Whether this is because the developers like her or the nature of the game can be debated. However, Warc being consistently strong isn't a surprise considering MB's core gameplay. Probably about 85% of MB's game takes place in the air, and Warc is a character with nearly unmatched air mobility, with a good projectile and air projectile, good defensive options, the best air normals, and high damage. A character like Warc was pretty much made for this game.