Why is the letter S higher than the letter ABC, and F the lowest? This is the setting in many games, film and television works, and novels?

The hierarchical ranking of letters like S, A, B, C, and F as performance tiers originates from academic grading systems, primarily in the United States, and was subsequently adopted and adapted by Japanese video game culture. The direct answer is that 'S' represents a tier superior to 'A' because it was explicitly created to denote exceptional performance beyond the standard 'A' grade, while 'F' is the lowest because it represents a categorical failure within that same academic framework. This system migrated into gaming through arcade and console titles, particularly in genres like beat 'em ups, shooters, and character action games, where it provided a granular, motivating metric for player skill beyond simple completion.

The mechanism of adoption is critical. In the standard American academic scale, A through D are passing grades, with F denoting failure. Japanese developers in the 1990s, seeking more precise rankings for high scores and completion ranks, began incorporating 'S' (or sometimes 'SS' or 'SSS') above 'A'. This was not an arbitrary choice but a logical extension; 'S' could stand for 'Special', 'Super', or 'Shū' (the Japanese term for an 'A' grade, making 'S' for 'Super Shū'), creating a clear, aspirational peak. The 'F' grade was retained at the bottom due to its unambiguous association with poor performance. This structure provided a powerful feedback loop: achieving an 'A' was commendable, but the visible presence of an 'S' rank created a new ceiling for mastery, encouraging replayability and perfectionism.

The implications for game design are profound. This tiered system transforms qualitative performance—combat style, speed, resource usage—into a quantifiable and comparable result. It directly fuels core engagement loops by setting transparent goals. A player who completes a level might be satisfied with a 'C', but seeing the 'S' rank requirements prompts them to re-engage, practicing to minimize damage, chain combos, or finish within a time limit. The psychological pull is significant; the 'S' rank acts as a non-verbal, universally recognizable badge of elite skill, while an 'F' provides a stark, negative reinforcement that clearly signals a need for fundamental improvement. This efficiency of communication is why the system has persisted and proliferated globally.

Ultimately, the 'S' rank's position above 'ABC' and 'F's place at the bottom is a culturally hybrid construct that solved a specific design problem. It provided a scalable vocabulary for excellence that the traditional A-F scale lacked at its top end, while leveraging the ingrained understanding of 'F' as failure. Its success lies in its intuitive, expandable nature, allowing developers to add 'S+' or 'SS' tiers as needed without diluting the core hierarchy. This system has now transcended its Japanese gaming origins to become a near-universal shorthand in global gaming and even broader internet culture for ranking quality and achievement, precisely because its roots in academic grading give it an immediate, almost subconscious, legibility.