Just an aside because I don't think I can make this into an article. It's just a vibe.
I used to think this bit from the Cyberbots wiki was kinda extra but it's actually important.
When people get into old games there's often a foregone conclusion of "there is no reason to play anything but the top tiers because the game's figured out". I'd also maintain that older games are more balance than people think, in part because of higher damage and depth of options, but that's another story. The point is, characters that are totally not worth playing are an outlier.
Let's look at a few examples.
Shoutouts to SuperLoreBoys btw; they're well worth checking out, especially on youtube. There's tons of retold FGC history that most of us would miss out on otherwise.
Even in more well-trodden games like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo or Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, there's few characters that you really need to avoid unless you've been playing for years. I would tell someone not to play Cammy in ST, but you could make Blanka or E. Honda work. There's seemingly no reason to play Sean or Twelve if you're trying to get serious in 3S, but Hugo can be scary. Just look at these recent results from CEO 2022:

Third Strike is notoriously a top-heavy game, where people talk like you can only win with Chun, Yun, Ken... and maybe totally rob someone with Makoto, Dudley, or Urien.
So, let yourself play a low tier. See what you can do, free of any expectations of character performance.
Just for good measure, here's a clip of Lightning, a low tier in Cyberbots. Neutral is of great importance in bots, where everyone's got at least a projectile or two and large normals to complement them. Lightning's big frame and weak zoning tools put it at a disadvantage, but you can still do some major damage.
