Godlike:
Rolf Landale (PS2) vs Sage (FF3NES): EDIT: I fail at reading! Unlike the DQ3 Sage which gets overhyped cause people conveniently ignore all its issues, FF3NES Sage is absurd. Still, I give Rolf the nod on grounds that Rolf is a crutch practically the entire game, while the Sage is only available for Sylx and the World of Darkness; while incredibly useful there, I can only give someone around for such a brief period so much credit.
Lich (OB) vs Serph (DDS1): Serph is good in that "Game best PC" kind of way, but isn't overpowered or anything. A Lich, meanwhile, is single handedly more powerful than entire OB units, which says something. One of these guys and your unit never has an excuse to lose fights ever. Not to mention it can recruit higher class Undead, which is a nice bonus.
Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT) vs Lady Blackpearl (LoM): In the end, FFT is a harder game than LoM, and Orlandu is good fall back character if you have poorly raised PCs; I had an ultra basic PC in LoM, so not only was the AUTO TECH thing kind of meaningless for me, but the game's utter failure of difficulty made me not care and I mostly chose Blackpearl cause her AI wasn't totally trash like half the PCs <_<
Deis (BoF2) vs Zerase (S5): Good fight, but Deis can join ridiculously early with a ridiculous level edge and that awesome spellset, gotta give it to her.
Heavy:
Lilka Eleniak (WA2) vs Arnaud G. Vasquez (WA4): Lilka honestly I enver found THAT impressive, where as Arnaud would be the game MVP if Raquel wasn't so disgusting.
Jerin (Lufia 1) vs Hiro (Lunar:EBC): Jerin fails to stand out for most of the game, being "Just another Mage", and Magic was pretty meh for damage in Lufia 1. Hiro was a consistent source of cheap damage, and had good durability and speed on top of that.
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Rufus (VP2): Primary Healer with few shortcomings > Pure Fighter, if an effective, niche one.
Ephraim (FE8) vs Tidus (FFX): Tidus is good, but not AMAZING. Ephraim, meanwhile, should be in Godlike for In Game use.
Middle:
Rei (BoF3) vs Sabin Rene Figaro (FF6): Sabin's offense is often overstated, for all that its never BAD (Floating Continent aside where he's...actually one of your lower damaging PCs) Rei's one of your best boss fighters in the 2nd half, Chain Formation makes his speed matter that much more, and he's got Pilfer which can get you a lot of nice things like Wisdom Fruits/Seeds.
Ziggy (XS1) vs Arche Klein (ToP): IN the end, I compared the other options available in both games; Ziggy is more replacable since all he really had was durability. Arche...in original, her competition involved basically Chester (assuming Klarth/Mint were used) who really sucks for 95% of the time, let alone is underleveled, and in remake, the Improved Chester and Suzu, the latter is fail, former is...actually not bad! Still, one PC who rivals her for that slot (or 2 PCs for one of two Slots, i should say, since Klarth isn't a given) is better than being replacable by most of the cast, so...
Aika (SoA) vs Bow (BoF2): I will note, however, that hyping AIka based on MP HEALING is one of the most laughable, failure things I can see. You never run out of MP in SoA, and using MP actually hurts Aika's use, not helps, since suddenly Fina can do what Aika can do only better (Aika failed to OHKO things with stuff like Pyres, Fina did not, so no, the Higher Speed is not an advantage here) Combine this with how deep your MP resources are and how easy it is to heal MP normally, that's gotta be one of the most laughable reasons to hype Aika. no, Aika's use is Delta Shield, plain and simple, which while only really good on bosses and a few specific randoms, does place her above Bow.
Luc (S2) vs Jochaim Valentine (SH2): Joachim's good but generic, Luc's one of the best mages in S2 which stands out quite a bit, especially in a cast that size.
Light:
Spar (BoF2) vs Moulder (FE8): Spar's entirely replacable by either Deis, Medicates or Medusa Shields, since Attack Up is quite literally the only thing he has going for him...and he joins underleveled and has no damage unless you give him Missile! Moulder at least is a healer and has the Bishop form for late game.
Gilder (SoA) vs Karyl Sheeden (ToD): Karyl fails, Gilder at least has Gunslinger which is cool stuff for randoms, and is a forced PC at times, meaning he takes the role of "Warm Body" which is certainly better than a Blank Space. Karyl is always in competition with at least 3 other PCs, meaning he pretty much is never being used.
Emma Hetfeld (ACF) vs Massimo (MMXCM): Really, this was said by everyone else. Massimo acts as a Warm Body at first who happens to have excellent HP, then becomes an extra HP Tank with a good Action Trigger. Emma joins late, has game worst stats across the board and is a genuine liability because of this...and her only real noteworthy move is Great Booster.
Cielo (DDS1) vs Junpei Iori (Pers3): Can't vote.: Can't vote.
Onix:- Vote for the worst of the two in this division.
Kongol (LoD) vs Ornan (S4): Kongol is usable, Ornan practically is not.
Dragon Master (OB) vs Bilcock (Brig): Being useless in Brig means at worst "You're quest bait", so they're still contributing in that manner. Dragon Master...yeah, super more or less covered this.
Clive (RS) vs Koroku (S3): Clive is your first PC to join, and has the early game forced section; that's enough to put him above a useless Suikodog.
Edward Damcyan (FF4o) vs Umaro (FF6): Umaro, if nothing else, has NMG Fanatics Tower uses, and is a quick gain whose immune to the big 3 elements, and lets you use Swordtechs a little easier!!! Edward has no skillset but random Status, during the EASIEST SECTION OF THE GAME (Cecil's absurdedly overpowered here, both defensively and offensively), and has lower HP than Rydia, so he's not even good as a warmbody. But wait, that's not all! He also has AUTO HIDE, which means his HP, in practice is even lower, cause Auto Hide = He never acts if he's in Near Fatal = YOU'RE FUCKED IF EVERYONE ELSE SOMEHOW DIES.
...oh yeah, Umaro's also better than Relm in an NMG, meaning he'll make the Kefka's Tower cut if you let Shadow die or something <.< (you could make a case for him beating out Cyan too for that matter.)