What the hell is S rank, anyway?

[SimuLord]

Perhaps the Japanophiles can riddle me this:

What's with the use of the letter S in ranking systems in Japanese games? Every time I've played one it's always seemed to be E, D, C, B, A, S for letter-grade rankings, and I JUST DUN GEDDIT!

At least Mario Kart makes a measure of sense, where if you do better than A, you get up to three stars, and It Is Always Stars. But S? The hell?

 

[Corven]

Maybe it stands for super or Supreme.

 

[Hazy]

I always though of it as "Super."

Granted, I could easily be wrong.

 

[The Eggplant]

Superb? Dunno...although given that these are Japanese games, we'd probably be better off not thinking in English.

 

[Sir Kemper]

I have no clue... always figured it was a gimmicky way of saying "above average"

 

[LightspeedJack]

I first saw this is Sonic games so I assumed S just stood for "Sonic" but I've noticed it elsewhere too...maybe instead of A+ (or A* here in England) japanese schools grade excellent work with an S?

 

[A random person]

Maybe it stands for super or Supreme.

I think you just solved the thread.

To add content, I don't see why this is an issue, though the OP likely meant it as a small question.

 

[Sauceboss]

It stand for Superior or Special from what I've seen, but I'm not entirely sure. Any S word for how awesome you are probably works though.

 

[SimuLord]

I always though of it as "Super."

Granted, I could easily be wrong.

I always thought of it as Engrish: The Japanese saw the S on the front of Superman's outfit and thought "OK, gaijin like S. We give them S."

But I know there's got to be more to it than that.

 

[Fightgarr]

Well maybe not in the context of video games, but I think:

Spoiler: The S is for Sucks.

 

[child of lileth]

I used to actually know this, but I fear gaining a neck-beard by answering correctly. lol

If I can remember what it actually is, I'll come back. And no, it's not 'super' or anything so far.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Maybe it stands for super or Supreme.

Yep.

It stands for Supreme or Superior.


A good example is the Fire Emblem series, the more a character uses a certain type of weapon the better he or she gets at it.
And the skill Level goes from E,to D, C, B, A,and then S.

With each rank letting you use better weapons.
Once you get to S rank you have mastered that type of weapon and can use the best ones.

 

[Idlemessiah]

Going with the 'Special' theme here, I first saw this in the 2nd Gran Turismo racing game on PS1, where the top racing licence you can earn is the 'S Licence', subtitled as Special Licence.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't know. The first time I ever saw that was when I was playing a Japanese imported game with a friend of mine. Frankly I never really gave it much thought. Consider the source, it's a Japanese game. Go figure. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, it's just that the whole S Rank thing probably makes sense the them. All you need to concern yourself with is the fact that's it's a goal to strive towards.

 

[Lullabye]

I always assumed it stood for "Shut in". As in, you need to get out more.

 

[Sleekgiant]

I always assumed it stood for "Shut in". As in, you need to get out more.

>_> Damn ninja I was gonna say "S" for Sad, seriously put down this racing game now.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

It probably something pertaining to "Super" but in japanese.

 

[Brotherofwill]

S for Sayonara to your chance of getting laid.