Did you pick them because of their fighting style? Did you pick them because of the way they look? Or maybe just because of their place on the tiers?

I picked my characters if I actually like them and know who they are. For example, I picked up the Ice Climbers because I played their game long ago. And at first I didn't like their fighting style, but as I decided to stick with them and then soon enough I found out they could do all sorts of cool (aka cheap) tricks and I then really started to enjoy them!

Other examples are characters like Olimar, Sonic, Kirby, Pikachu, Dedede, Meta Knight, Pokemon Trainer who I picked up just because they come from my favorite games. Whenever I go to tourneys though I tend to stay away from the high tier characters though, that every one in the entire damn tournament is using, to give people a glimps of those characters that don't get a chance to shine as often as characters such as Snake and MK. =P Although I noticed I never get past the 1st or 2nd round if I don't use Meta Knight or Dedede, BUT THATS NOT THE POINT! The point is that its worth it to get a crowd of people gathering around you saying "Wow a PT player? Never seen that before in public..."

So....any one else wanna share their reasons? ^_^

Because this is a game, and the point is to have fun. R.O.B. is fun for me. Also, do not mention ICs and cheap together...... unless there is a "not" somewhere in there.

Pokemon Trainer is cool.
Ice Climbers because Pokemon Trainer is cool.

Because Ness has a Bee Suit.

I chose Ike because I've always liked the "OMG hax giant sword" fighting style, Mario because caping is fun, Lucas because he's so amazing, and DeDeDe because when he's in a match, it's "hammertime".

My friend banned C.Falcon at his house for a month as part of me losing a bet... With the acceptance on Ganon, I needed to find a new character to play as.

Donkey Kong man. It was soon after than I got the hang of his cargo throw > spike.

Right off the bat, I run up to him and grab him as he JUST starts charging the water gun as Mario. Toss and spike, followed by a disgraceful footstool. I've never seen a controller bounce off the floor that hard. It went all the way back up to his hands. I was kicked out of the house, and there was nothing I could do about it, because I was laughing too hard.

 He's letting me be the Falcon again, though I have the feeling he's just going to punch me across the face one day. Worth it.

Well, on the dojo, I saw Lucario's moveset, and I must say, I have quite a thing for blue-colored energy based attacks. I mained this guy before the game even came out.

Yoshi is a freaking dinosaur. Awesome. Also, I used him back in my Melee days. Simply put, I found him quite adorable and fun to use in both games.

Lucas is just... PEE KAY FIYAH PEE KAY THUNDER PEE KAY FREEEEEEEEEEEZE. I also liked the Mother series shortly before the game's release, so...

I main Ganon because I love his playstyle: mindgame and massive punishment. And he's heavy. And I love his boots.

I main Marth because I like his playstyle: fast, consistent pressure from a sword. And his walk is funny.

I like Bowser because he is a badass. Spiked shell and flame breath.

I like G&W because he is sexy.

Mostly because i like speed in my characters. To be more specific:
Falco - because he was my main in melee
Marth - I saw vids of NEO in brawl and M2K and Ken in melee and lets just say i was converted lol.
Sheik - she's got speed, projectiles, the most combo potential in brawl and looks slick.
Peach - i only picked her up recently but i did it because it was really fun to play as her. Not the kind of fun you can have mucking around with falcon/fox/ZSS but more perminant.

In every smash game, I always picked the powerful sword character. For 64, it was Link(Mostly because he was the ONLY sword user), in Melee it was Roy for his awesome Fsmash(and I couldn't tip with Marth for crap), and for Brawl I used Ike. Later on, I decided to main Falcon in all 3 games too, for his combination of speed, power, and move showing.

I picked Falco and MK up because of their Tier placement.
I picked Yoshi up because I gained a ton of experience as him on Subspace Emmisary, and completing Boss Battles on Intense as him.
I picked up Captain Falcon because he was low on the tier list.
I picked up DK due to a cool poll.
I picked up Ness because I'm good as him.
I picked up Luigi, and R.O.B. because I used to play as them (I dropped them previously), and they're fun.

I main Sonic because he's too good!

why choose a character based on tier position?

Because.  Why can't I?  And they're fun to play as. 

I picked Wario because i saw his potential. I didnt even know about the tier list when i was looking for a main. I had a okay marth at the time but he still didnt fit my play style. Then I came across a Wario. I always thought he sucked because i hardly ever saw anyone pick him EVER. But when i was playing the Wario i noticed how he had an answer for everything. Spotdodgers? Bite Edgeguarding move? fart combos? use tires and dair. All his air moves were great and for the most part i was raped by that Wario. Thats what made me move to him and start training him. It wasnt until some time ago (maybe 6 months) that i knew about the tier list. Then i found out that wario was A tier. I had no idea he was that good. So it made me train him even more. Now i can take on my old second with him even though Wario is at a disadvantage. Plus he fits my style perfectly. Wario is the best

Maybe he wants to win? Lol.

When I first played Melee I picked Kirby because I was really in to him at the time(still am).I was a really **** when I started,just spamming his hammer(told you I was ****).I eventually learned how to actually play with him.

So when Brawl came out and realized how much better Kirby had become I just stuck with him.Plus Kirbycide=Rape.

When I played Melee, I had no idea of tiers, tournaments, etc. I usually played as Pichu and Roy because I thought they were the most fun and coolest. In Brawl I choose Olimar because I've played all of his games and he is very fun to throw your pikmin at people. I also choose Mario,Lucas,Ganondorf, and Ike for the same reasons. They are all very fun to play with and I've seen them in their own games before.

Also tiers can't affect which character is better than the other. It only affects how we think which is better. Meta Knight may be the best in the game, but he can be beaten.

I main ike coz he has a huge sword, and i wanted a challenge and that was shown in ikes Inability to get back to the freakin ledge