Thing is...the strongest characters in season 1 DIDN'T have a reversal that's the funny part. Nash,Chun-Li,Mika are arguably widely considered top 3 and none had a reversal like the shoto's. But like you said everyone has their opinion so it's cool.
Nash wasnt considered top 3 past the first few months of the game. A lot of people barely thought he was top 8. His dominance ended heavily after Evo when people figured him, and the game, out. I personally think he was somewhere in the top 7 or so but I cant countenance him any higher than that, at all. His success rate plummeted past the first half of season 1.. Chun has a reversal, its ex'd, but she has it, and Mika was broken for totally different reasons. You're a gief player right? I can see how Nash was a top 3 for you (I dont mean that in a shitty way at all, Im just saying that through your eyes I could see how he was one of your particular monsters)
That's the thing though, of the three examples of top-tiers who didn't have a reversal, one does have one, one, in Nash, I will absolutely give you. He was able to top-tier himself without one.. and one was impossibly broken to a pretty insane degree.. thats what it took to be top tier and not have a DP.. be ssuuppeerr broken. Chun, even aside from her DP, has IA legs, her FP and all her other complete horseshit. Nash.. Nash was more than the sum of his parts I think. His control and mobility made up for it.. and Mika of course had the most insane vortexy, mix-uppy insanity off a touch of any character in the game - and the ability to touch you whenever she wanted, from almost anywhere outside full screen. And with her insane damage and range command grabs you couldnt even block her out. She also had armor, which is by no means a DP, but it is a bit of defensive option. Mika would probably have emerged as top 1-2 if we had had more time with s1.
The point I'm getting at is just that Mika was top tier due to being silly broken, so shes not a great candidate for disproving the strength of DPs. Nash is a good candidate and I'll give you that.. And Chun has a reversal, it takes meter, but she still has one, and Ive never seen a Chun lacking meter, so she doesn't really count.
Now, to play devils advocate, Ibuki and Juri both have DPs and neither were OP. Neither were even good. Some people made a case for Ibuki being in the upper ranks of the mid tiers but I dont see it. Either way, neither were great. Rashid had an EX DP.. he was probably a better character than people thought, but he wasn't secret top or anything. Guile and Urien both had DP's/reversals and though Guile started to climb at the end of the season, he was considered mid tier most of the season. Urien was all over the place, we didnt have enough time with him before S2 to ever know how good or bad or in the middle he actually was.
Looking at it from that perspective, its close even in terms of top tiers with a DP and mid or low tiers with a DP -
Ken - Top
Ryu - Top
Cammy - Top
Chun - TOP
Necalli - Top
Rashid - Mid
Karin - Top
Guile - Upper MId
Ibuki - Low/MId
Juri - Low
Urien - We dont know
Which gives a pretty even spread of characters with reversals throughout the relative tier placements.. But that is 6 or so of the top 8 having reversals.
I dont know.. DP's are an odd subject. I realize Ive written a book here, and that wasnt my intention, just putting my thoughts down.
(im sorry to the Mika players, Im not trying to start a shit-storm. Mika was broken though, incredibly so. Was she normalized fairly? I dont know. But I am talking purely late s1 Mika)
