GameFAQs Contests

Round 1 – 1994 vs. 2004

Moltar’s Analysis

FF6 vs MGS3

Super Metroid vs San Andreas

MMX vs. Half-Life

S&K vs ToS

1994 is a strong year with a lot of depth, but 2004 is no slouch either. On GameFAQs, 1994 looks good in all those matches, but none of them would be blowouts.

A blowout here would make 1994 look really impressive going into its inevitable match with 1991 later, but 2004 has a lot more bite than 1988. Mid or high 70s would look crazy against a solid year like 2004, but I’m hesitant to say this is under a doubling with all the blowouts we’ve already had.

Moltar’s Bracket: 1994

Moltar’s Prediction: 1994 - 71%



transience’s Analysis

This is probably our first matchup between two legit years! 1994 is the sweet spot of the SNES with a fantastic one-two of Super Metroid and Final Fantasy VI and some okay depth behind it in Donkey Kong Country, Mega Man X and Sonic 3. Chances are that we get a little more, um, diverse than that and end up getting a PC game like Doom 2 or an arcade fighter like Tekken. Best case scenario though has 1994 with two killers and two great action platformers. 1994 could make a case for being a top 5 year.

2004 is also a monster. Take this poll outside of GameFAQs and 04 probably is a big favourite. Half-Life 2, Halo 2, San Andreas, Metal Gear Solid 3, Prime 2, World of Warcraft, etc. Unfortunately, most of those games have fallen from grace a little bit and the others are kinda weak from a GameFAQs perspective. 2004 is notable as being the first year where western games really dominated and this site isn't so crazy about them there guns.

What's the best case scenario for 2004? Probably MGS3/Half-Life 2/San Andreas/Tales of Symphonia. World of Warcraft could theoretically pull in a rally but that's never happened in the ten years that we've teased it out and WOW is as small-time as ever. Let's match up the top games of the year:

FF6 vs. MGS3 - edge Super Metroid. if Mario RPG can beat MGS3, FF6 can do it worse.

Super Metroid vs. Half-Life 2 - edge Super Metroid. Metroid Prime beat HL2 58/42 last contest after losing narrowly in 2009. HL2 gets bonus points for historical impact but Super Metroid literally has a genre named after it.

Mega Man X vs. San Andreas - edge MMX, MMX got 45% on FFX. San Andreas got 45% on Chrono Cross.

Sonic 3 vs. Tales of Symphonia - tough one. Sonic did well against Uncharted while Tales put up a decent fight with Paper Mario. I'll go Sonic but could go either way.

So yeah, unless 1994 gets gimped by a bad game lineup or 2004 gets a historical edge (which it deserves), I'll go with 1994.

transience's prediction: 1994 with 64.32%




Leonhart’s Analysis

Man, I really wish 2004 had a chance, or that it had been put somewhere else in the bracket. It’s got a bunch of games I love a lot, especially MGS3, which has been my #3 favorite game for years now. It’s probably 2004’s strongest representative at this point, too. It’s just a step below elite level, which doesn’t help considering 1994 has two elite level games in Super Metroid and Final Fantasy VI. I’m good with 1994 winning, too, because it’s got a great lineup and props to Allen for finally giving Sonic & Knuckles some love! I think 2004 will hold up decently well (at least as far as this contest is concerned) and might make some people second-guess their 1994 > 1991 pic, but it’s still gonna get rocked, sadly.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2004

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1994 with 73.66%

Kleenex’s Analysis

2004 reminds me a lot of 2010 - a lot of highly respected games that should be strong on paper (the very same paper from yesterday, in fact!), but on GameFAQs that's not the case. World of Warcraft, San Andreas, Halo 2 - these are not the games that make waves in our contests. Metal Gear Solid 3 is the one exception here, though you can probably count Tales of Symphonia to a lesser extent as well. Given the troubles MGS had last time around, that's not enough to stand up to something like 1994. As long as 1994 doesn't get pic screwed (more on that in the next writeup!), I expect this to go similar to the 2002/2010 match from yesterday.

Kleenex's Prediction: 1994 with 68%



Guest’s Analysis - Tsunami

So this was, in my mind, the toughest match of Round 1. I had 2004 up until just minutes before the lockdown, when I realized how ridiculous that was, and am in fact kind of regretting 1991 > 1994 in Round 3, because 1994 is just too deep and as we saw in 1985 vs. 1987, that matters. That said, 2004 deserves better than a Round 1 rolling; it could be a contender for the Elite Eight elsewhere in the bracket. Like, I don't know, up at the top?

Yeah, I said it: 2004 would crush 1995. Crush it. Look at how stacked 2004 is! I can't stop looking at it; the more I look, the more I'm convinced that I might've been making a mistake sending 1991 to the semis even if I hadn't switched to 1994 being its Elite Eight opponent. I still think 1991 would beat 2004, but it'd be close. But it's up against 1994, not 1995, so...

1994 with 60% of the vote



Crew Consensus: 199 4 the win

huh I've got the highest 1994 prediction

didn't expect that

huh, a lot of 2004 disrespect here!

2004 gonna get dunked on

The Mana Sword posted...

2004 gonna get dunked on

As it should.

2004 a great gaming year

1994 also a great one

Round 1 – 2011 vs. 2006

Moltar’s Analysis

Have faith everyone, this could be our closest match yet! These are two solid years that don’t have any killers in them and are close to evenly matched when you break it down. Both years have a Zelda game and Elder Scrolls game, with 2006 having the stronger Twilight Princess, but 2011 having the stronger Skyrim. 2006 has some solid back-up too with Okami, KH2 and FF12, but 2011 is no slouch either with Portal 2, Arkham Asylum, and Dark Souls.

2006 looks to be the safe pick here, especially knowing how the site leans more towards Japanese games over western games, and that the site also skews more towards older games than newer. There has also been no sign of a significant shift towards more recent and western games that I’ve seen this contest. If anything, the voters seem smarter (and lower) than ever, so I doubt even the picture advantage that 2011 has will matter here.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2006

Moltar’s Prediction: 2006 - 60%



transience’s Analysis

UGH. I hate this match! 2006 should win - it's got the stronger games, probably, but it's missing Square representation in the last year Square really mattered. The TP/KH2/Oblivion trio was supposed to make 06 one of the best post-01 years - it's basically a better version of 2002 and that year is whipping 2010 as I write this.

2011 is a good year by modern standards. Skyrim is the current GOTD until Breath of the Wild gets a big enough player base to dethrone it. It's got Dark Souls and Skyward Sword backing it up. Skyward Sword is pathetic compared to Twilight Princess but Oblivion is in a similar spot.

Let's say, theoretically, that Skyrim and Skyward Sword cancel out TP and Oblivion. It seems rational. That leaves us with Gears of War/Okami vs., let's say Dark Souls and Portal 2. That's a scary thought. If it were KH2 then no problem, but Gears of War isn't gonna carry too many votes.

That's the worst case scenario. I obviously haven't seen the picture yet here but I get the feeling that 2011 will be gimped in some way. I have a feeling Skyward Sword will skip the match because really, who cares about Skyward Sword? If that happens, 2006 carries it. If it doesn't happen.. I think 2006 can carry it anyway. But it'll be our closest match.

transience's prediction: 2006 with 56.55%



Leonhart’s Analysis

This match has suddenly become debatable, thanks to the match pics. 2006 gets the same pic it had in the wild card round, where TP is last and KHII isn’t there at all. 2011 gets a great pic, with Zelda leading off, even if it’s Skyward Sword, and it’s got great representation with Skyrim, Dark Souls, and Mortal Kombat. I picked 2006 before the contest, but I wasn’t completely sold on it. I always felt like 2011 had a good shot at it, and that feeling only grows stronger the closer this match gets.

However, we’ve talked about how the vote totals have gone down, but the ones who are still here are pretty smart and “get” how the contests work. This situation sort of reminds me of 2001/2014’s match pic, where 2014 had Smash 4 in the lead spot up against Halo 1 in 2001. Some people worried that 2014 might overperform, but if it did, you’d never know it! No KH2 in the match pic at all is much more worrisome to me than TP being last because at least it’s there. I don’t know how many people are looking at that little ? thing to see what else came out in a given year. I’m going to stick with 2006 because I still think its potential ceiling is higher, but I don’t have much confidence in it and we might actually be in store for a close match!

Leonhart’s Vote: 2006

Leonhart’s Prediction: 2006 with 57.11%

Kleenex’s Analysis

Hoo boy. If there was ever a 'pic matters' match this contest, this is it. 2011 has Skyrim - probably the strongest game on the site released in the past 10 years. It's got Dark Souls, its got Batman, its got Portal 2. There's a lot of good stuff here, but under normal circumstances this should be an easy win for 2006. 2011 is up against a Zelda game, a Final Fantasy game, a Kingdom Hearts game - 2006 has all the heavy hitters (and it's also closer to 1998).

HOWEVER. Two of those are conspicuously missing from the match picture. The headliners are Okami and Oblivion. Zelda is the LAST picture in the rotation. It's definitely not a favorable look for 2006. Now, I'm writing this before I've seen the picture for 2011, so that could be equally bad, I suppose.

This is a tough one, but I think I'm going to stick with my bracket and trust in voters to know what else came out and/or click on that stupid question mark to find out. I do think this will probably be our first "close" match of the contest, one way or another.

Kleenex's Prediction: 2006 with 55%



Guest’s Analysis - DpOblivion

Well, expectedly, this contest has been a snooze fest so far. There could be some slightly interesting matches coming up, though. Then again, maybe not. Either way, 2011 and 2006. Both are, once again, years. And some games and even platforms came out in those years. One of these years, 2006, we’ve even seen already when it beat 1981, another year, in the Wildcard round.

The first thought would be that a wildcard year probably shouldn’t beat a year that went straight into the round of 32. And 2011 has some solid releases with the highly loved Portal 2 and Batman: Arkham City, neither of which are in the match pic. But that’s okay, because the match pics don’t work on my browser anyway. There is, however, a Legend of Zelda game. There’s also Skyrim and Gears of War 3. And apparently a Mortal Kombat game came out that year, which I’m not sure is that noteworthy.

On the other hand, we have 2006. That also has a Legend of Zelda game. And an Elder Scrolls game, and the original Gears of War. In the area of non-overlap, there’s Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Okami. Significantly though, this year also saw the release of the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii.

Now, whether or not consoles are going to have much bearing on these matches, I still don’t really know. I don’t think consoles on their own are going to win, but in a match that features two solid lists of games, I think it should definitely help tip the scales. It ended up being the Guru favorite so it’s not really an “upset,” but this wildcard year of 2006 should move on to the round of 16, and perhaps even beyond.

Dp’s bracket says: 2006

Dp’s prediction is: 2006 wins 68%-32%



Crew Consensus: 2006 first year to win twice

I'd like to adjust my prediction from 68% to 62%. 62% was the first thing to pop in my head and I figured I'd just bump that up a bunch like I did with the first match of the contest, but I was pretty clueless then. 62% apparently is still plenty high.

sorry, guru champ, you can't adjust your prediction once it's been posted! that's a paddlin'

lordjers posted...

The Mana Sword posted...

2004 gonna get dunked on

As it should.

get out

first crew curse of the season

get hyped for a 75% win for 2006

I take back everything I said

voters are dumb again

2006 is a clear winner for me, while a lot of people missed out on Okami those that have played it realize how damn good it is.

We also have one of the most loathed Zelda's in Skyward Sword vs. one that most people like in Twilight Princess. I am surprised how close this match-up is despite what I consider stronger games overall on the 2006 side.

I guess we have a lot of Dark Souls fanboys voting 2011 just because it has one of the Souls games in the lineup.

2011, pretty good year

YOU DlED

Monopoman posted...

2006 is a clear winner for me, while a lot of people missed out on Okami those that have played it realize how damn good it is.

We also have one of the most loathed Zelda's in Skyward Sword vs. one that most people like in Twilight Princess. I am surprised how close this match-up is despite what I consider stronger games overall on the 2006 side.

I guess we have a lot of Dark Souls fanboys voting 2011 just because it has one of the Souls games in the lineup.

2006 appears to be hurt by the lack of KH2 and FFXII in its match picture. This match suggests the pictures appear to have a big effect on the voters outside of the early voting.

did someone say

curse

well it had to happen eventually.

About time we had a crew curse

LusterSoldier posted...

Monopoman posted...

2006 is a clear winner for me, while a lot of people missed out on Okami those that have played it realize how damn good it is.

We also have one of the most loathed Zelda's in Skyward Sword vs. one that most people like in Twilight Princess. I am surprised how close this match-up is despite what I consider stronger games overall on the 2006 side.

I guess we have a lot of Dark Souls fanboys voting 2011 just because it has one of the Souls games in the lineup.

2006 appears to be hurt by the lack of KH2 and FFXII in its match picture. This match suggests the pictures appear to have a big effect on the voters outside of the early voting.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the case. Why the hell doesn't this poll have a huge game like KHII pictured?
I don't know if it's intentional but it's things like this that will screw peoples brackets up (including mine).

tag, read first page. I forgot about this contest and just got home from vacation but apparently i have a perfect bracket so far, yay

Does the vote tracker still exist? If so, can anyone link me it?

It's kind of crazy it took me 16 matches to want to see it, btw.

I mean that site that shows vote updates.

Thanks

Our first crew curse? About time!

I was really hoping a 2011 picker would take the guest spot, but damn it, no one was showing up.

alright all caught up, i missed you all

I did seriously contemplate going with 2011 when I was doing the writeup, but I suppose I had too much faith in the voters !!

I have a feeling Allen just wanted to shake things up so he screwed with the pic for 2006

So, is 1994 underperforming, or is 2004 just way stronger than we gave it credit for? I'm leaning toward the latter - since this is "Best Year", games like World of Warcraft would be a lot stronger than whether or not the site likes it - you can't deny that it's influential.

Probably a bit of both, though I'm personally leaning more towards 1994 being a bit weaker than expected. FF6 is strong, and SM is decent but I think its kinda gotten overrated through that Majora's Mask match last contest. It didn't even break 60% on Galaxy the round before, which I don't think is some huge accomplishment.

I guess we'll see how it does against 2011. 2004 is damn legit but I didn't expect 94 to go under 60. I'll accept it if it throttles 2011.

DpObliVion posted...

I was really hoping a 2011 picker would take the guest spot, but damn it, no one was showing up.

Whoops :(

The Mana Sword posted...

I did seriously contemplate going with 2011 when I was doing the writeup, but I suppose I had too much faith in the voters !!

Yeah, I'm in the same boat.

2004's performance makes me feel great about 1991 and simultaneously upset about the raw deal 2004 got.

Wow the rig was in for 2011. Pic selection 2006 got was brutal relative to what games were actually released that year.

The Mana Sword posted...

Probably a bit of both, though I'm personally leaning more towards 1994 being a bit weaker than expected. FF6 is strong, and SM is decent but I think its kinda gotten overrated through that Majora's Mask match last contest. It didn't even break 60% on Galaxy the round before, which I don't think is some huge accomplishment.

Galaxy would beat every 1991 game other than SMW, though.

Mac Arrowny posted...

Galaxy would beat every 1991 game other than SMW, though.

Maybe, although I don't think FFIV is a guaranteed win for it. Galaxy is a pretty good midcarder, but Super Metroid did as well on it as TP did, which is pretty good but I'm still a little skeptical of how strong it actually is. Same with Majora's Mask. There's a big jumble of games in the 10-30 range where I don't think there's a lot of separation.

Well sure. I'm just saying that, although 1991 is pretty good, it's not an unbeatable monster. 1994 doesn't have to be *that* strong to beat it.

I think 1991 is a situation where the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. I don't think determining who wins is as simple as adding the games together and seeing who has the higher X-Stat value.

true enough, but 1991 isn't unique in this regard and everyone seems to treat it that way.

I'll be honest, I think when I made my bracket I thought LttP was 1991.

transience posted...

true enough, but 1991 isn't unique in this regard and everyone seems to treat it that way.

Well, 1991 has more intangibles working in its favor than most years, but you're right that it's not the only one like that.

Just wait for my 1992 v 2016 analysis

Round 1 – 1998 vs. 1993

Moltar’s Analysis

well today certainly was a day

This match should be a return to normalcy. You know, obvious result, huge blowout, etc. That’s because the heavy favorite to win the entire contest is 1998. You know, the OoT/RBY/MGS year. It’s up against a year that’s got nothing in 1993. If this isn’t blowout of the contest, that’ll be a disappointment.

Moltar’s Bracket: 1998

Moltar’s Prediction: 1998 - 90%



transience’s Analysis

We're back to peace and quiet after a day of upheaval. Damn you, 2006 picture! I hate that I'm blaming you and not the year because the year probably would have lost anyway! Anyway. 1998 is a monster. I don't think people know just how big 1998 is. I'm looking forward to the final rounds where 98 puts a doubling on the next best contender.

1993 is a weirdly vacant year for video game releases, at least on the console side. 91 is Mario World, 92 is LTTP, 94 is Super Metroid and FF6.. 93's biggest Nintendo game is Star Fox and probably Secret of Mana on the Square side.The real game of the year is Doom, a game that deserves props no matter what website we are on. Unfortunately it's up against the god year.

Strengthwise, I think this is a 90/10 or worse. But, I kind of feel like everyone knows how gigantic a favorite 1998 is and some pity votes will be thrown. Given how small our sample size is, just a few votes can swing several percentage points. I'll be.. conservative? As conservative as you can be with a septupling.

transience's prediction: 1998 with 87.87%



Leonhart’s Analysis

We’ve seen the rest (almost), and now it’s time for the best. 1998 got a great opponent to flex its muscles against, too. Doom and Myst are both very respected, but this site has never really embraced those kinds of games. The other two games in the match pic are Star Fox and Shining Force, so…yeah. This is gonna get ugly. If we’re going to see a 90%+ performance this contest, this is the last best shot at it.

Leonhart’s Vote: 1998

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1998 with 91.05%



Kleenex’s Analysis

Wow, talk about pic screwed. 1993 was the odds-on favorite to win the whole contest, but with the omission of Secret of Mana from the picture it doesn't stand a chance. This should have been an easy win for '93 but I guess 1998 got lucky - or Allen has some vendetta here. Unbelievable. Enjoy your stolen victory.

Kleenex's Prediction: 1998 with 89%



Guest’s Analysis - tennisboy213

We finally get to see the overall favorite in action! 1998 is the only year boasting two top 10 (they are top 5 and may be the top 2!) games on this site in Ocarina of Time and Pokemon RBY. It did get Panzer Dragoon Saga in its match pic instead of Half-Life or Starcraft or FFT, but it got its big 2 and that's all it really needs to put up a massive number against one of the worst years from the 90s. No Link's Awakening in 1993's match pic either, but that shouldn't really matter. Nothing much to say about this one. It could be the biggest blowout so far (and that's saying something).

1998 with 91%



Crew Consensus: 98 ez

I'll take the odds here!

aw yeah Price is Right'd the guest