Game of the Decade: 2010-2019 Contest Analysis Crew - Part 5

"X is going to win because of logic, but I like Y, so fuck everything Y wins" are the best writeups

transcience posted...

man i have no memory of that

or what a “face mcshooty” is

Borderlands 2 humor didn't age very well

KamikazePotato posted...

"X is going to win because of logic, but I like Y, so fuck everything Y wins" are the best writeups

Borderlands 2 humor didn't age very well

this statement would have been just as accurate in September 2012

actually nevermind maybe a 2013 speed round because lol this contest (part 1)

Lopen’s Analysis

I originally had Bayonetta in this match without much issue. 45-35-20 affair or so. Fodder brawl favors the one with the best pic and who has the most household name all other things being equal.

Then I saw the match pic. Bayonetta when she arguably has the worst pic and one of her opponents is freakin Wander is a recipe for disaster. I figure Bayonetta's fanbase vs Pokemon Black/White fanbase's proportion that gives a crap about N would be a push on this site and then Bayonetta's name value + pic advantage would give her the edge.

Now she's reduced to name value and N has the pic advantage (and looks very "Pokemon" meaning even some people who haven't played B/W may vote him). What's worse is that I think she also loses most of the B/W players who are apathetic towards N to N without her pic advantage. This is not good for her. Nayonetta Bayonetta. I'd love to see her win but yeah I gotta jump ship here.

Someone needs to slap who submitted that pic upside the head. Just showing your ass does not a good pic make.

Lopen's prediction:
N - 43.20%
Bayonetta - 35.40%
Wander - 21.40%
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Transience’s Analysis

RED BIRD. This stupid goddamn thing is the antithesis of what GameFAQs likes. RED BIRD. It's a casual phone game character that was released in the last few years. Talk about things that GameFAQs hates! RED BIRD. Jill is going to godstomp this stupid mascot into oblivion. Haggar probably does too. Screw you, RED BIRD. Want to know what your defining characteristic is? You're red. You're a bird. Red Bird! **** you, Red Bird.

transience's prediction: Jill with 54%, Haggar with 28%, RED BIRD with 18%

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KP's Analysis

Peacock vs. Captain Viridian.

Peacock vs. Captain Viridian.

Really?
Big Boss - 76%
Peacock - 14%
Captain Viridian - 10%

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Lopen’s Analysis

Hey guys remember you need to vote CHESTER here or else you're not a real member of the b8 community. HE MUST WIN THOSE OPENING SECONDS, GUYS. DO IT.

0999 vs Chester will be interesting, maybe. If people get a hankering for some cheesy snacks the second guy might actually get some non b8 votes.

Mewtwo can learn any TM I wonder if there's a trash compactor move he can use to get this crap off the front page. Hold on this Mewtwo only knows String Shot and Tackle? Eh, he'll manage.

Lopen's prediction:
Mewtwo - 78.66%
0999 - 17.03%
I might vote for this if it was a cheetah - 4.31%
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Fabulous Guest Analysis - Korayashi

Time for me to get involved with this year's analysis crew, and with the perfect match too! Yes, the Decade of Dancin' has all come down to this. I COULDN'T BE MORE PUMPED UP!

TALE OF THE TAPE

(8) SPRING BREEZE DANCIN'

Dancin' comes to us from the N64 cult classic 'Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon'. He is the result of a nomination rally that I've been running since I originally joined the board in 2004. Upon hearing the field of this contest would be so large the DECADE OF DANCIN' took flight, largely due to the tireless efforts of XIII_Rocks. SBD's place in the bracket still baffles people. He is a very obscure character from a very obscure game. How will he do?!

STRENGTH IN CHESTERS: 3

Names hold a grand value, and I personally hope he gets some form of monumental joke rally and ruins all the brackets, but even at 3 Chesters I'm probably overrating him.

vs.

(11) ZIDANE TRIBAL

Zidane is the lead for Final Fantasy IX. He's been in four prior contests and he's done very bad in some of them, most notably the time he was absolutely embarrassed in 2007. Still, he managed to perform better in later years, even winning a one-on-one affair during the 2010 CB8. Still, he's nothing to write home about...yet probably the favorite in this match.

STRENGTH IN CHESTERS: I DUNNO, 11?

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2882 (Zidane, 2007, sucking it up)
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3803 (Zidane, 2010, almost winning in the second round.)

So, yeah. He'll probably pull this off. But there's also...

vs.

(20) RIDLEY

That's right, it's Ridley! From Metroid! On three seperate occassions has the villain managed to make the field, including the villains contest of 2005! But even in that format it fell before Diablo. Since then it's placed third in a four way while maybe suffering from some kinda dragon SFF. Because Ridley is a dragon, right? Anyway, it's not been smooth sailing. Most recently it fell to Cloud, though looked okay in the process.

STRENGTH IN CHESTERS: 7

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2000 (Ridley, losing to Diablo badly in TEH MATCH OF TEH CONTEST!)
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3770 (Ridley, overperforming by a lot while still getting blown out.)

Ridley is probably not going to win this match, but it might be a lot closer then the numbers would indicate. Because my numbers are made up and based on next to nothing. So who will win?

Korayashi's Bracket: Zidane > Ridley > Dancin'

Korayashi's Vote: Spring Breeze Dancin'. I want to be wrong, and I would take great joy in being wrong.

Korayashi's Prediction: ZIDANE 48%, RIDLEY 41%, DANCIN' 11%
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Transience’s Analysis

I HAD NO IDEA LAHARL AND RAZ WERE IN THIS CONTEST UNTIL TODAY

TRANSIENCE'S PREDICTION: DANTE WITH 68%, LAHARL WITH 22%, RAZ WITH 10%
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Kleenex’s Analysis

A horse is a horse, of course, of course.
And no one would vote for a horse, of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is from OoT.

Kleenex's Prediction
Epona with 38.00%
Mordin with 35.00%
Niko with 27.00%

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Transience’s Analysis

IT'S A HORSE. A HORSE! A GODDAMN HORSE!

LOOK AT THE PICTURE! IT'S A JOKE! IT'S MEANT TO INSPIRE STUPID PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR IT! WE'RE SERIOUSLY TO THE POINT OF PUTTING ZELDA ANIMALS INTO A CONTEST MATCH. WE'VE HAD A LONG-RUNNING JOKE THAT A RANDOM PIECE OF FF7 FURNITURE WOULD BEAT HALF THE CHARACTERS IN THE BRACKET. THIS IS THAT STUPID ARGUMENT PERSONIFIED INTO A HORSE.

A HORSE! NEIGH NEIGH MOTHER****ERS I'M A HORSE VOTE EPONA

I bet most of the other analyses say something like "this is stupid, but who is going to beat it? Mordin? Niko? I have faith in Nintendo fans to rally around their stupid horse." They might even mention how it'll get joke votes as well as Nintendo votes, meaning that this stupid horse is worth like 247 Chesters which translates to like 134% on Link. Are they right? Yeah, probably. Am I picking it? NO

DEATH TO HORSEFAQS

transience's prediction: Mordin with 43%, HorseFAQs with 39%, Niko with 18%

oh man horsefaqs just made me break out laughing

Take out Draven and Epona becomes the true dark spot of 2013

truly a shame random piece of ff7 furniture never got its chance to shine

I still remember when we debated who would win between Epona and a random piece of FFVII furniture.

Also if we're taking 4-way requests let's do Snake/Zero/Vivi from 2008 because that was the prediction where BT said he'd leave the board if it happened...!

here's the threeway we should have gotten



Aeris is even asking what place Cloud's gonna come in

Wow I didn't realize you were into that sort of thing

part 2

Moltar’s Analysis

Gordon
Remember when he never won?

Hades
With a name that generic, he could be from like 10 different games

Simon
Can he follow in the footsteps of Dracula and Alucard?

Gordon is a midcarder, Simon's high fodder, Hades will be beneath both. Not much else to say here.

something something

CAPS

another line to make this seem longer

and post

Moltar’s Prediction: Gordon: 47% - Hades: 17% - Simon: 36%

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Transience’s Analysis

GROOSE

WHAT IS A GROOSE

IS IT BETTER THAN A LU BU

SCREW YOU, GIVE ME YOSHIMITSU (this contest is stupid)

TRANSIENCE'S PREDICTION: YOSHIMITSU WITH 41%, LU BU WITH 30%, GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE WITH 29%

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Lopen’s Analysis

I'm not sure any match has ever had so much suck converge in one place. Given that Rinoa is just Aeris but worse I have to think she gets SFFed into the dirt here. Dunno if DQ5 Hero can pick up the scraps to get 2nd given somewhere around 3-5 hund-- dozen Americans have played his game. I'm going to guess no, but this one should be nasty and make Aeris look better than she has any right to.

I'd kill someone at the end of the first disc to see DQV Hero win this just because he presumably isn't awful.

Lopen's prediction:
Aeris (hold the lithp) - 55.78%
Rinoa - 24.02%
DQV Hero - 20.20%

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Transience’s Analysis

I spent five minutes trying to come up with something witty to say about this match, because god knows there isn't anything else to say about it. I failed.

let's try a haiku, for old times sake

zelda beats sackboy
john marston comes in last place
gamefaqs with bad taste

transience's prediction: zelda with 52%, sackboy with 28%, marston with 20%

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Kleenex’s Analysis

Terra, Terra, Terra, that's a name you might know.
Terra, Terra, Terra, FF6 characters blow.
She's weaker than you think, this poll's way too pink, Kirby Kirby Kirby has won.

Kleenex's Prediction
Kirby with 46.00%
Terra with 33.00%
Peach with 21.00%

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Leonhart’s Analysis

Kratos wins this one easily. That much is obvious. Not sure what to make of the battle for second place though since both characters ought to be pretty weak. We already know Travis is weak from his previous contest appearances, although 30% on Zelda isn’t TOO terrible. Recette has a pretty high chance of being really bad though, I think. Hard to say and hard to care! First round’s almost over!

Leonhart’s Vote: Kratos

Leonhart’s Prediction:

Kratos – 62.00%
Travis Touchdown – 23.00%
Recette Lemongrass – 15.00%

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Transience’s Analysis

How the hell am I supposed to write a serious analysis of Lara Croft vs. a slime, with special guest Yuri Hyuga? I can't even write a joke one because there's nothing funny there.

It's like.. Lara Croft should win, unless the slime is as ubiquitous as it should be. Hold this match in Japan and slime probably gets 80%, but it's not as universal here. Although I don't think people care about Lara that much. Although her new game came out. Although Yuri Hyuga should win this god damn match. Maybe I should just post lots of Yuri Hyuga youtube videos and tell people to play his games.

let's uh

transience's prediction: Lara Croft with 55%, Slime with 34%, Yuri Hyuga with 11%

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KP's Analysis

Barret probably comes out of this match looking like a godslayer. The Touhou characters could all round out the bottom of the X-stats, and Layton's contest history includes getting more than doubled by Isaac. The Midgar Zolom would legitimately beat those two.

Barret - 68%
Layton - 24%
Reimu - 8%

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Leonhart’s Analysis

This match is dumb and there’s no point to analyzing it because who knows what’s going to happen, so let’s just listen to the lovely Ali Hillis say stuff instead:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7dOOy8kBJY 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAcfTFWUPk8 (click to expand) 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZZQt4x3xaY 

Leonhart’s Vote: Ali Hillis

Leonhart’s Prediction:

L-Block – 41.00%
Teemo – 39.00%
Palutena – 20.00%

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Lopen’s Analysis

Whoops forgot about this.

WCC wins. Taking Lenneth for surprise upset because I think WCC SFFs Claptrap. They're both quirky box looking things and from weird FPSes

Look into your heart you know it to be true.

Lopen's prediction:
WCC - 49.85%
Lenneth - 26.30%
Claptrap - 23.85%

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KP's Analysis

I'm voting for Tidus. I'm rooting for Tidus. But Tidus is the most screwed character in contest history, and Tidus is going to lose in Round 1 yet again.

Missingno - 49%
Tidus - 34%
Banjo - 17%

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Transience’s Analysis

Lee Everett is awesome. He's probably my favourite character of this generation. Unfortunately for his chances, he is also a black man, trying to overcome a ten year history of black men underperforming like hell in GameFAQs contests. Carl Johnson is the pinup for this category and Barret Wallace is the most recent casualty, not even doubling Professor Layton even though Vincent Valentine would have taken a gigantic white man dump on his face. NOT TO MENTION THAT HE'S OPTIONAL WHY STOP VOTING VINCENT

Anyway, Lee's got history against him so he probably doesn't win. His opponent is Mr. G-

Mr. Ga-

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120802010813/ssb/images/8/87/Mr._Game_%26_Watch%28Clear%29.png

Mr. Game a-

http://th06.deviantart.net/fs51/200H/f/2009/334/5/3/Mr_Game_and_Watch_by_CollegeMisfits.png

OH MY GOD IT'S LITERALLY NOTHING BUT BLACK

HE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE EYEBALLS TO OFFSET ANY OF HIS BLACKNESS

WHAT DO WE DO? VOTE FOR THE THIRD CHARACTER? OH GOD HE'S FROM AN XBLA/INDIE PC GAME! THOSE NEVER WIN EITHER!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

transience's prediction: Lee Everett with 2%, Mr. Game and Watch with 1%, Meat Boy with 0%

KamikazePotato posted...

Take out Draven and Epona becomes the true dark spot of 2013

or perhaps the dark... horse?

Man, 2013 really brought out the "best" in us. 243 characters was way too many.

Speaking as someone who only experienced it years later through secondhand accounts - 2013 was simultaneously the funniest and saddest contest ever.

Oh god that last write-up had me rolling.

Also, I forgot just how badly both Sackboy and Teemo got fodderized that contest.

I was on fucking fire in 2013 let me tell you

I was very happy Layton actually got to beat someone in a poll

part 3 (and last for now at least)

Kleenex’s Analysis

Yeesh. This is Tharja/Juliet/Tina part 2. All three of these characters suck. Real bad. The only truly tested character of the bunch is Neku and he lost to Laharl. Vaas is from a game that came out last year, and it's not even close the kind of game GameFAQs enjoys, so I doubt he's worth much of anything. Catherine is from a game that came out within the last two years, but it is from the kind of game that this likes. Sort of.

In situations like this, I'm inclined to side with the known quantity, and we know that Neku is only slightly weaker than Laharl. And I'd probably take Laharl to beat these other two, so I'll stick with Neku.

Neku Sakuraba.

Winning a match.

Yeah.

Kleenex's Prediction
Neku with 39.00%
Vaas with 25.00%
Catherine with 36.00%

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MYSTERIOUS GUEST'S analysis:

Lloyd channels his inner Wesker killer and wins. Two swords means twice the votes. Dwarven Vow #17 Upsets And Love Always Win

I'm taking my upset pick and you can't stop me, Daddy!

Lope-- MYSTERIOUS GUEST'S PREDICTION:
Lloyd Irving - 40.45%
Pikachu - 30.60%
Big Daddy - 28.95%

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Guest’s Analysis - th3l3fty

Welcome to the first (and possibly only) edition of...

Great Moments in Wrestling Performed By The Participants Of Character Battle IX

The first thing I want to be done, is get that piece of crap out of my match. Don't just get him out of my match, get him out of these contests. Because I proved son, without a shadow of a doubt, that you don't got what it takes anymore! You sit there and you thump your bible and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about psalms, talk about Palutena 3:16, Cecil 3:16 says I just won this match!

Cecil: 40.00%
Pit: 31.16%
Wrex: 28.84%

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KP's Analysis

Red without Brawl pics had better godstomp this s***.

Red - 65%
Corvo - 23%
Sissel - 12%

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Kleenex’s Analysis

I have a bad feeling about this match. Do you feel it, Zach? My coffee warned me about it.

Okay Zach, I've been thinking about who I want to pick to win this match, and I've finally made a decision. It's always hard to narrow it down to just one winner, but I've put a lot of thought into this, and I'm sure you'll agree with me.

2000. Directed by Satoshi Tajiri himself. The grandfather of Game Freak. Set in a land just west of the original. That game made me stay away from RPGs for years. I was always afraid that random battles would come popping up. You know who I'm talking about, right? Yep, it's Lugia.

To recap, the other entrant just had his 4th sequel in the series that started in 2002. That's right, Zach, it was Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Sly Cooper was back, that alone made it must for fans. I don't remember much more about it though. I'm sure there was more trivia about. Still, forget Sly.

Let's just hope for a good showing. If not, they'll think we're weak. Don't what that, do we Zach?

Kleenex's Prediction
Sly with 36.00%
Agent Francis York Morgan with 16.00%
Lugia with 48.00%

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Lopen’s Analysis

I really wanted to spend this write-up beaming about how great Tharja is but since it's debatable I guess I'll keep myself in check.

Anyway I guess a lot of people are calling for Tharja's head because of the match pic. If that was the case for you, you should've went Juliet regardless and the only thing the pic should be doing here is making you a bit more confident. For as much as goth chicks are more pop in fashion these days than they were say 10 years ago, cheerleaders are gonna beat em all the time in terms of mainstream appeal.

That being said, while Juliet "pops" more than Tharja I don't really think the picture is super flattering. Her face is kinda weird looking and her cleavage isn't overwhelming. I mean, I actually think Juliet has an attractive design and all, but I think people are projecting their conceptions of the character onto the pic here, which isn't actually much to look at all things considered!

Long story short, I think the pic factor is being a bit overrated here, and it's going to come down to the games more than anything. No one played Lollipop Chainsaw, but between Borderlands 2 and Fire Emblem Awakening (underrated in terms of GameFAQs exposure by the way-- http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/4981) I think most voters will have played one of the games. Tharja is a fan favorite yet somewhat minor character from a recent game that's right up GameFAQs alley. Tiny Tina's game wins the mainstream appeal but she's really minor in the game, much moreso than Tharja, even, which will hurt her more than any pic disadvantage I think.

Were this a day match I might consider taking Tina, were I unbiased. Night match Tharja wins as she's going to crush Japan and win most foreign countries comfortably I think.

Lopen's prediction:
~*~<3~*~Tharja~*~<3~*~ - 41.13%
Tiny Tina - 32.20%
Juliet - 26.67%

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Guest’s Analysis - AKJ

Finally, SBAllen gives the people what they want. Almost. I mean it's obvious Fighting Games are the one true genre of video games, and we ALMOST have a match between three fighting game characters here. Oh well, I think we can still analyze it as such.

Chun-Li is the girl that gets beat up at the beginning of Double Dragon, and Ryu and Ken spend the game trying to rescue her. I was never sure whose girlfriend she was. If it was just Ryu, then why does Ken do so much to help his bro? But maybe it's both of them? I'm not gonna judge!

Chun is known for being cosplayed by people of all body types

Tifa is from a the hit fighting game Ergheiz. You may have seen the intense finals at Evo 2013? I did not expect that comeback at all! Anyway, Tifa is the main character and is most well known for having some enormous plot on her. Everywhere she goes you can't help but watch that plot. I really don't understand why a character designed for fisticuffs needs so much plot but hey, whatever!

Cirno is not from any of the four Touhou Fighting Games. She's from a funny youtube video where she says baka baka baka and I think I've seriously watched it over 50 times over the years. Her whole gimmick is she's dumb so she will clearly resonate with the average gamefaqs voter.

Anyway this obviously comes down to fighting game heirarchy.

Ergheiz > Double Dragon > Hisotensoku

Tifa 63%
Chun Li 28%
Cirno 6%

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Transience’s Analysis

RAYMAN MIGHT BE MY LEAST FAVOURITE VIDEO GAME CHARACTER IN THE WORLD. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HIS LIMBS? EVERY TIME I SEE HIM I BLINK TO SEE IF MAYBE MY EYES ARE SCREWED UP. NOPE! HE'S JUST NATURALLY IDIOTIC. NICE JOB, ANCEL.

STILL BEATS COMMANDER VIDEO

TRANSIENCE'S PREDICTION: SQUALL WITH 63%, RAYMAN WITH 28%, VIDEO WITH 9%

Heck yeah Squall

You are now remembering that Lugia was a Guru pick

KamikazePotato posted...

You are now remembering that Lugia was a Guru pick

And somehow only the second worst Guru pick ever!

I thought he switched his Guru pick from Lugia to Yuri Lowell.

hylianknight3 posted...

I thought he switched his Guru pick from Lugia to Yuri Lowell.

It happened so late in the process that a lot of people didn't realize he changed it.

~*Posts from the Crew Archive*~

Division 5: Round 2 - Match 42 – Ryu Hayabusa vs. Zero vs. Solid Snake vs. Vivi Ornitier

Moltar’s Analysis

Ryu H.
Round 1 - 36.53% vs. Zero, Pit and King Dedede

So now the guy is beating Zero? Dude just keeps getting stronger.

Zero
Round 1 - 35.44% vs. Ryu H., Pit and King Dedede

Doing the Mega Man series no favors here.

Snake
Round 1 - 51.60% vs. Vivi, Wesker and Sackboy

See Snake win that day vote? yeahhhhhhhhh baby

Vivi
Round 1 - 25.96% vs. Snake, Wesker and Sackboy

The Black Mage holds up well against Snake.

At first, everyone was like “Snake > Zero good day gents”, but now…well things have changed a bit for this match. One thing that hasn’t changed is that Snake will still take first by a wide margin. He looked fine in Round 1, although most people expected more because he has had Brawl and MGS4.

The battle for second is hot though. Ryu beat Zero in Round 1, but remember what happened to Ryu last year in Round 2 when Snake was put in the poll? He died and lost to Riku, who he defeated with ease the round before. I think the same thing will happen here, where Ryu’s support will get swallowed up by Snake more so than the others. Therefore, he takes last.

As for Zero, last round it can be argued that Dedede and Pit hurt his chances at beating Ryu. Considering Zero only lost by a percent, that could very well be the case. He also should not suffer as much as Ryu with Snake here. He’ll hold up fairly well with that old-school Nintendo vote.

Vivi has a great shot to take second, but something about his R1 performance worries me. Yes, he held up very well against a (potentially) boosted Snake, and he does stand out well against the three other “badasses”, but I’m not feeling good about the mage.

I have a feeling this is another Vincent/Falco/Gordon/Scorpion situation. Vivi over performed last round due to weak competition and Snake underperforming a bit. Vivi also stands out in the match like Falco did, but I don’t think it will help much. The Mage should capitalize off Ryu’s suffering though, so I don’t see him taking last.

Anyway, the match should go something like last year’s Round 2 match with Snake and Ryu went, with Zero edging out Vivi.

Moltar’s Bracket Says: Snake > Zero

Moltar’s Prediction is: Snake: 37% - Zero: 23% - Vivi: 21% - Ryu H.: 19%

____________________________________________________________________________

Heroic Mario’s Analysis

Time for some Snake redemption.

After Snake looked suprisingly 'normal' last round, I'm expecting him to shine like much of the Noble Nine have this round. For whatever reason, most of them have looked better this round against tougher competition. Snake's got a much tougher pack this time, but he should still be able to put up some big numbers - at the least, he should out do Mega Man's 36% performance today, although if he doesn't there's not much need to sound the alarms for next round, with this group being much stronger than Cube/Tidus/(lol) Nero.

This match is all about second place, though. Any of the three here could end up stealing second. Most would have considered Zero an easy choice pre-contest, but after losing to Hayabusa last round and Vivi putting up some great numbers, it's up in the air what happens. If anyone's going to be hurt in this match, it'll probably be Hayabusa. There's not a big connection between the two, but when it comes to vying for that 'badass' vote, you're always gonna lose it if you're up against Snake.

That leaves Vivi and Zero - tough choice. Zero's been the stronger of the two for years, but he hasn't looked all that impressive as of late. When it comes to competing in the low-20s, I think Vivi's the better choice of the two. He managed to put up those numbers with Tidus hanging around in the poll, only barely losing to Pikachu last year. I don't doubt Zero has the dedicated fanbase he needs, but once again, I can't put too much trust in Mega Man to do well - all things from the series seems to disappoint whenever it gets the chance.

That said, with how much stronger Zero has shown to be than Vivi, I wouldn't be surprised if Zero wins here - and he should be considered the favorite. But Vivi's impressive first round, his ability to net low 20s and bracket bias (woo) makes me take him here. We'll see how it goes. Besides this match is all about Snake putting on up some big numberz !

Prediction: Solid Snake - 40% ; Vivi - 22% ; Zero - 20% ; Ryu H - 18%
Vote: Snake

Yoblazer’s Analysis

What was once a relatively safe second round match has been flip-turned upside down by even more first round hijinks! As such, this match between Ryu Hayabusa, Zero, Solid Snake, and Vivi is much more interesting, and Zero's path into Round 3 is equally more perilous.

Let's start this examination with the only guy who matters. For Snake, this Round 2 encounter is strangely similar to the one he had last year. He fought the same Ryu H., a different NewSquare character (Riku) instead of Vivi, and a different badass (Nightmare) instead of Zero. Fortunately for our boy, he rocked that trio for nearly 48% last year. Unfortunately for him, there are some big reasons why he shouldn't do nearly as well this year. Zero may have lost a step, but he's still far ahead of Nightmare. Hayabusa is probably a bit stronger (Ninja Gaiden II), and Vivi is probably stronger than Riku (judging by their performances against Leon Kennedy). These factors, coupled with Snake's rather dark and dreary picture, will drill into his percentage. I think 40% is a good mark for him here.

In Round 1, Ryu Hayabusa shocked the world... sorta. He went into his opening match as an underdog against Zero, but he managed to come out on top. Granted, he won by less than one percent, but a surprising win is a surprising win. Thus, some people think that Ryu H. might be able to contend today on the heels of his impressive performance. I disagree. Last year, Ryu kicked ass in Round 1 only to succumb to Snake's badass SFF powers and lose in Round 2. I expect the same result this time around. It can easily be argued that Zero was more hampered by their first round competition (cartoony style, Nintendo affiliation), and that was just enough to let Ryu sneak through for the victory. Couple this with the opinion that Snake should hurt Hayabusa more (once again, similar design and appeal), and I think Zero will turn the tables. In fact, I expect to see him beat Ryu more comfortably than most people are assuming.

However, it's not Hayabusa who is Zero's main competition this round, but Vivi. The black mage didn't turn any heads against Snake in their last match, barely avoiding a doubling. However, he could very well be on the plus end of a favorable fanbase split. Snake, Zero, Hayabusa. What's the main thing these guys all have in common? They're action hero badasses! As the only RPG guy, Square guy, and non-badass in the field, Vivi definitely stands out, and he could ride Snake's domination over the two lesser badasses to a second place finish.

Truth be told, I actually did consider Vivi a slight favorite...before seeing the match picture. Vivi looks alright, there's no problem with his own picture. The problem for the mage is Snake's picture. It isn't even necessarily that bad (hell, I like it), but it's very dark and features Old Snake, thereby making Zero's bright, vibrant picture stand out even more. Even though Snake should still blast Hayabusa, I think he may have a bit more trouble reaching Zero with such a huge picture contrast, although Vivi will still likely benefit from the split. It's Zero's intrinsic strength advantage versus Vivi's possible fanbase split advantage, and it's more a coin flip than ever. Like Alucard/Pikachu, when it's a coin flip, I may as well go with my bracket and the guy I prefer.

Ryu Hayabusa - 17%
Zero - 22%
Solid Snake - 40%
Vivi Ornitier - 21%

____________________________________________________________________________

Lopen’s Analysis

I have a feeling Vivi will be the favorite in this one. I don't really support it, though. Take it from someone who took Ryu H > Zero in his bracket last round: Zero can lose to Hayabusa and still have a good chance to advance here. Ryu Hayabusa thrives from there being no vote sponge. I mean, he beat Riku and Roxas COMBINED and choked it away from Snake. I'm thinkin he'll be in the running for last here. Vivi in just as bad a position because Zero and Ryu H >> Sackboy and Wesker, and he only got 25% last round.

Now, I'm not sure how many of the Vivi pickers will go for him based on Vivi or based on Zero. I'm just shooting down the idea that Zero has no chance in this match due to losing to Hayabusa. Now, Vivi did okay last round... though really, in Vivi's position I think Zero could've done at least as well. I mean, look at the people in that match weren't Snake. Fodder with sunglasses and fodder (whose game hasn't even come out yet) in a bag. I'd be surprised if Zero couldn't hit 30% there pretty easily. Look at how well he did last year against Crono/Raiden/HK-47, a pack that's probably tougher. Sure, Snake > Crono, but Raiden and HK >> Sackboy and Wesker.

Or maybe Vivi isn't the favorite and I'm just preachin to the choir here.

Lopen's prediction:
Solid Snake – 35.73%
Zero – 27.04%
Ryu Hayabusa – 18.85%
Vivi – 18.54%

____________________________________________________________________________

Transience’s Analysis

today's match should be a good one - like the Freeman match, it's three dudes with differing chances to win. Snake's clearly got first, so I'll just do some pros and cons for each character:

Vivi:

+ already held up well against Snake
+ fan-favourite type role that should thrive in this environment
- didn't really have much competition as the only other non-Snake option
- Zidane did pretty much awful in round 2 - sure, Zack was there, but it eliminates any talk of a weird "FF9 boost".

Ryu Hayabusa:

+ looked GREAT in round 1, edging Zero when he got doubled a few years back
+ 360 site-shift + Ninja Gaiden 2 makes him the most relevant of the three, especially considering Zero and Vivi are fading hard
- has a weird tendency to look great in round 1 and falter against really strong competition (see: Riku last year)
- his recency may hurt him in that he doesn't have the throwback appeal that Zero and Vivi do; Snake is *the* character of the last couple of years, so I can see him being hurt by Snake more than anyone else.

Zero:

+ the most important point is his biggest strength: he's the most unique of the four with his SNES roots
+ should have a strong fanbase loyalty
- Mega Man's been dying lately, and Zero isn't unaffected
- say what you will about Hayabusa, a former top 15 character losing to him is flat-out embarrassing
- Black Turtle

Ryu's gonna choke
Vivi? shares the Playstation
Zero's the best pick

transience's prediction:

Snake - 39.01%
Zero - 21.22%
Ryu Hayabusa - 20.22%
Vivi - 19.55%

Ngamer’s Analysis

Well shoot, this match was a bit of a dud. WCC's going to lose about 2.5% off R1, but he's still doing a much better job of keeping a static fanbase than I gave him credit for, which is... troubling, to say the least. On the plus side, next up is the sprite round- surely the Cube will look awful there while MM will as always be going in with a major advantage. On top of that, we'll probably be seeing Solid *(&% which ought to allow MM to stick closer to a 50/50 with Snake than normally, further hurting the Cube's chances. The one fly in the ointment would be if Zero advanced to that match alongside MM and held him back enough to put WCC back in contention. Luckily Ryu H easily outlasted Zero back in R1, and we have no reason to bel- *looks back at the last time Snake ran into Ryu H* Oh crap!

Time to discuss what could possibly turn into the greatest fatal threeway in Contest history!

X-Stats from Round One
Snake - 44.98% (based on Wesker '07)
Vivi - 30.11% (based on Wesker '07)
Ryu H - 27.52% (based on Pit '07)
Zero - 27.10% (based on Pit '07)

Yes Vivi looked great, but I get the feeling that was largely anti-favoriteFAQs at work, in the same way that so many jumped off Vincent in favor of Falco back in R1. As with Vincent's match, I don't see that trend holding here for R2.

As I alluded to earlier, the last time Snake and Ryu went head to head, Solid came out of the match with 48% while Ryu couldn't even manage 19%. That was back when their competition was Riku and Nighmare; sub those two out for the stronger Zero and Vivi and Snake's percent is sure to come down, as will Ryu's... right? Well on the one hand the 360 has seemingly asserted itself and turned Ninja Gaiden into a better threat, especially with the ASV. But on the other, Snake figures to perform better than back in '07 himself, especially when drawing full MGS4 appeal with this picture, so shouldn't he more or less retain that ratio on Ryu? Not sure, but I've decided not to put much faith in the final result from round one and will be picking Hayabusa for a close last place in this one.

Zero's a bit of an odd duck. Sure he hemorrhaged up votes all through the Day and kind of embarrassed himself by giving Ryu the win, but how much of that underperformance needs to be tied back to the two Nintendo/Brawl characters who may have been holding him back? And if Ryu gets held back again by whatever killed him against Snake last time (badass SFF?), is Zero going to be immune? You'd think he'd have a larger hardcore fanbase than Ryu, since it would make sense for Hayabusa getting much of his appeal from looking like an awesome ninja. All things considered I like Zero to outlast the ninja this time around. But will it be enough for second? That all depends on...

Vivi! So cool to see him not wasted in this bracket, and sporting full-on Black Mage Factor in this pic, which is undoubtedly his biggest advantage. The more Snake dominates this match, the better Vivi's chances get I would think, as the Final Fantasy fanbase is probably the most dedicated of the three. He should also most likely do the best job of avoiding this "badass SFF" if that's really going to be a factor, as that's where Zero gets much of his appeal within the MM fanbase. All that considered... eh, I still don't feel good about backing him. Yes, he ought to have an excellent chance, but I keep coming back to that Falco result and others like it that we've seen in R2- just have this gut feeling that the bubble is going to burst against tough cookies like Ryu and Zero.

So in the end I'll say Snake with a good sized win (nothing like that '07 domination though) and then Zero just barely over Vivi just barely over Ryu. But I don't do so with much confidence! Let's stir the pot and find some numbers...

Solid Snake - 38.20%
Zero - 21.11%
Vivi Ornitier - 20.68%
Ryu Hayabusa - 20.01%

That looks... like a heck of a match!

Ngamer Says: Snake > Zero

____________________________________________________________________________

Guest’s Analysis - Leonhart

Ryu Hayabusa

In my opinion, Ryu Hayabusa pulled off one of the bigger surprises of the first round. He used a big day vote to come back and beat a guy who beat him 63/37 just three years ago in Zero. Can he impress again and move into the third round for the first time ever? Remember that the ninja was lookin’ good going into this round last year, having gotten more percentage than Riku and Roxas combined, and…he still lost somehow. Hayabusa is going to be the least established character in the poll, but none of his competitors for second place are far above him. He’s got a shot, at least, even if he’s not the favorite. Hayabusa only got 19% on Snake last year, and that probably won’t be enough here. He’ll have to get some more from somewhere to advance here.

Zero

My, how the mighty have fallen! From 48% on Sonic in 2003 and equal with Snake in 2004 to losing to a guy he beat with 63% back in 2005. That’s where Zero is now. He has no excuses for losing that match. Some people are blaming DeDeDe and Pit hindering him a bit, but I don’t buy it. Some people said Zero was being SFF’d by Mario in 2005, but he’s proven that performance was legit. I don’t think he’s as susceptible to Nintendo SFF as some have thought (I’m really starting to think Mega Man’s either an exception or a fluke). Still, Zero’s not out of it. We’ve seen several characters lose close ones in round one and then somehow blow out the same guy the next round. It’s not like Vivi is a powerhouse either, so Zero can redeem himself a bit here. Will he do it? (Kinda hopin’ he doesn’t so BT can’t weasel out of that account bet next round! Nothin’ personal, Zero!)

Solid Snake

Solid Snake didn’t look quite so solid last round, but then again, no one in the Noble Nine really did last round, and they’re lookin’ better overall this round. Perhaps Snake can rebound, though he’s got a tough fourpack. Sure, none of these guys are anywhere close to his league, but they’re three solid midcarders. Snake’s got a chance to impress greatly if he can blow this fourpack away. Zero and Hayabusa are big time casual bait, and Snake is the ultimate casual bait. He could use that to his advantage. I’d say 43-45% is a good mark of where Snake needs to get in order to look like he can actually hang with the likes of Samus and Mario like many of us think he can.

Vivi Orunitia

…Or however you want to spell his last name. Vivi looked really good last round, blowing Wesker and Sackboy out of the water and avoiding the doubling from Snake. That alone should be enough to grant him the favorite status here for second place. Of course, there’s a recurring issue that we’ve seen pop up from time to time, something I like to call the OFPF (Obvious First Place Factor). Some people think that a second place character can overperform and look better than they really are because, if first place is an obvious winner, some people might throw their votes elsewhere. We’ve seen something similar to that happen to Nightmare twice, might’ve happened to Sub-Zero against Sonic last year in round 1, seemed like it just happened to Falco recently, and chances are good it’s happening to Nero right now (writing this before that match starts)! I don’t want to damper your hopes, Vivi fans, ‘cause I’m rootin’ for the little guy, too. Just don’t be surprised if he blows this one somehow. After all, he got beaten handily by Leon Kennedy twice last year (who looks to be a step above Hayabusa and Zero at this point, but still), barely beat Tidus, and lost cleanly to Pikachu. Would you pick Zero or Hayabusa to do that?

Snake Over Hayabusa
Comes Again Here
Tired Old Act

Ryu Hayabusa – 16.90%
Zero – 19.20%
Solid Snake – 44.44%
Vivi Orunitia – 19.46%

I have almost no memory of the 2008 contest. I had to look up who even came in second (Zero, barely)

also guest leonhart bitin' my haiku

oh ha that’s a sohcahtoa thing for some stupid reason

will teach my kids that one in a few years

2008 was back when people used to think TWEWY was good

Man 4 ways impossible to predict the percentages

The Mana Sword posted...

2008 was back when people used to think TWEWY was good

Good times

Crunch! I'll add it to the pile.

My gut picks for 2015 had DKC2 and Super Metroid in Round 3, then I ended up changing (though still with DKC2 over Xenoblade). That being said, that top 100 list from 2014 was the main reason I even considered those picks to begin with.

Lugia is awesome

IIRC Sly/Francis/Lugia of all things was the match that lost us the last perfect bracket, with Kefka/Zack/Ryu H being the one to reduce it to 1.

As we all know, there is so much more to the Contest Analysis Crew than just the match write-ups. Each contest also has its own story to tell, and it's always about the journey, not the destination.

In 2010, a tale was told about a group of witches playing a game. That game was to determine the truth behind the results of Character Battle 8.

Come and re-experience the magical tale of Crewmineko here - https://pastebin.com/erbdqWJL

I remember Crewmineko! That's definitely my favorite Crew story, and that was before I ever actually played the real Umineko.

it's definitely one of my favorites as well

and now six of these timeless tales have finally been complied and archived on the crew website!

http://thecrew.speedrunwiki.com/

man those last 48 hours of the previous GotD were wild

~*Posts from the Crew Archive*~

Finals: Round 7 - Match 127 – (2) Super Smash Bros. Brawl vs. (1) Final Fantasy X or (1) The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Moltar’s Analysis

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Round 1 - 83.26% on Mario Kart DS
Round 2 - 76.44% on Valkyria Chronicles
Round 3 - 72.90% on Pokemon DPP
Round 4 - 51.08% on Super Smash Bros. Melee
Round 5 - 52.75% on Twilight Princess
Round 6 - 54.43% on Fallout 3

lol brawl, Fallout with a very big overperformance

Final Fantasy X
Round 1 - 77.46% on Viewtiful Joe
Round 2 - 70.83% on Borderlands
Round 3 - 65.66% on Golden Sun
Round 4 - 63.07% on Final Fantasy IX
Round 5 - 56.81% on Resident Evil 4
Round 6 - ~50.00% on Majora’s Mask

or

Majora’s Mask
Round 1 - 83.40% on Wii Sports
Round 2 - 67.10% on Chrono Cross
Round 3 - 55.95% on Pokemon GSC
Round 4 - 56.79% on Wind Waker
Round 5 - 57.70% on Metal Gear Solid 3
Round 6 - ~50.00% on Final Fantasy X

I don’t even know what this is or what’s going on anymore

Where do I begin? Right now, FFX and MM are in a bloodbath. MM surged into the lead in the afternoon, but now FFX looks to be making a comeback. As you can see, we’re definitely in “Final week of the contest” mode where nothing makes sense. Fallout breaking 45% on Brawl makes no sense, and Majora’s Mask doing this well on FFX is just as screwy.

That makes this final match very hard to analyze. Brawl did manage to beat TP by a small margin, but it’s still getting anti-voted like mad. This means that an FFX victory (assuming FFX is stronger than TP) or even a MM victory (if TP and MM are around the same strength and MM being boosted because it is the last remaining ZELDA or whatever) is very possible. If a strong, but not TOO strong game like Fallout 3 can come close to Brawl, then games with real strength like FFX and MM can beat it.

Still, in terms of plain strength, Brawl is the favorite to win this contest. I guess I’ll roll with it for now, but at this point, I’m expecting screwy things to happen, no matter which game wins the FFX/Zelda MM match today.

ps - Majora’s Mask > Brawl > FFX

Moltar’s Bracket: Brawl wins

Moltar’s Prediction: Brawl - 50%

____________________________________________________________________________

Lopen’s Analysis

Well I figure may as well account for both possibilities cause as I write this I'm not sure who'll win and I won't have time to write it later. Also as you've noticed I'm quite burnt out on this contest-- not even really getting into this "epic showdown" between FFX and Majora's Mask.

But anyway I figure if I analyze for two matches it'll all work out.

Case one is that Final Fantasy X comes back. In that case, thinkin that either the so called Brawl backlash takes effect (uncertain) or that FFX is just straight up stronger than Brawl. 55% on Fallout 3 just isn't very impressive, and something I think FFX could top pretty easily, so Brawl should be exposed as a fraud that just beats on its Nintendo brethren very efficiently.

Now the second case is that Majora's Mask wins. In that case, Brawl SFFs the bastard like it did Twilight Princess and any "Brawl backlash" factor would easily be countered by the "ZELDA ALWAYS WINS" factor. In which case Brawl wins. It inexplicably ends up closer due to being a final match but it's still kinda clear cut.

Man that still wasn't very long, and probably biased (FIGHT THE POWER). Oh well! See you guys next contest! Or... not. We'll see. Sorry if I was a downer or not as crazy as usual but it's harder for me to pull random factors out of my ass to hype random upsets for game contests cause we have less data-- also my "stupid fanboy factor" is lower for games in general... ahem enough farewells, BURY, STEADY SWORD.

Lopen's prediction:
Final Fantasy X over Brawl with 50.82%
OR
Brawl over Majora's Mask with 51.14%

____________________________________________________________________________

Transience’s Analysis

FFX/Brawl

Okay, so I'm writing this when FFX is slowly coming back from a 400 vote lead. I don't expect this match to happen but just in case, here it is!

If FFX wins this there is no way the Zelda fans let it survive. They will want blood. Brawl with strike it down with great vengeance and fuuuuuuuuuurious anger. Brawl's antivoters have nothing on a Final Fantasy game killing the suddenly beloved Majora's Mask.

Stat-wise, Brawl looks to be worth about 52% on FFX. The only outlier is that Fallout 3 match but I think we can ignore that one a little. I dunno, the ends of contests are always weird. Brawl takes this though, it's stronger than FFX and I refuse to bet on Square over Nintendo in a final. (Ironically, I picked FFX to win the contest. oops.)

transience's prediction: Super Smash Bros. Brawl with 52.74%

FFX/Majora’s Mask

Did you see how fast Majora's Mask came back today?

It went from 1400 votes down to winning in four hours. 4chan apparently got behind it. It passed FFX without blinking and then just stopped gaining, as if to say that it didn't really matter how much it won by. If FFX tries to make a push back here, Majora will just counter with however many votes are needed. Without outside intervention, FFX probably takes this.

FFX is an easy game to rally against. Final Fantasy in general is a series that's pretty easy to hate on. You know what else is easy to hate on? Super Smash Bros. Brawl. That game redefined hype (you must recover, etc) and ended up letting a ton of people down. It also pleased a lot of people but the people involved here are the hardcore types. Those people push back against stupid amounts of hype like that.

If Majora's Mask -- a game that's gotten tons of buzz over the last year -- can be on the good side of a rally against an equal (or stronger) game, why can't it beat Brawl? It's going to absolutely crush Brawl early on and it probably won't ever let up. This isn't quite on the level of L-Block but I know a bandwagon when I see it. Majora's Mask has gotten that level of buzz over the last week. Check out the leaderboard standings and tell me who the cool game to rally behind is.

Congratulations, GameFAQs, for going against the grain and pushing a Zelda game to victory.

transience's prediction: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask with 53.78%

Kleenex’s Analysis

Well, here we are. The end of the road. Its been a long two months - for some reason this contest has felt longer than other ones to me for some reason. But that's not important. What's important is the finals.

As I write this, it is currently 8:11pm EST. Majora's Mask has a lead of 353.

Here's how I see the end of this match (and tomorrow's match) going down. Right now, Final Fantasy X is the "bad guy". Final Fantasy always wins, blah blah, all that jazz. I don't think it stands a chance against Brawl tomorrow if it pulls out a win. Many will see it as fishy and blame fanboys and Brawl will roll all over it. If Zelda wins however, it's going to have a lot of momentum going into tomorrow. This is huge, because it'll stymie the early Brawl vote and I'm pretty sure it'll push it to victory. I'm equating this to how Cloud/Snake ended up in back in 2008. Difference here is that the gap between Brawl and Majora's Mask is far less than that between Link and Snake, so I don't think Majora will fizzle out after 8 hours.

This is, of course, a gut feeling and I have no legitimate way to back it up. But I think I'm right. Brawl seems to have enough dissenters that the voters will allow Zelda to win, if the chance is given. Final Fantasy has too big of a stigma attached to it, for better or worse, to allow that to happen.

UPDATE: It is now 8:17pm EST and Majora's Mask has a lead of 340. OH MAN.

The long story short is this - if Zelda beats FFX, Zelda wins the contest. If FFX beats Zelda, Brawl wins the contest. I don't think FFX has much of a chance here either way (sorry Leon).

So, in a Super Smash Bros. Brawl vs. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask match:

Kleenex's Prediction: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask with 52.17%

In a Super Smash Bros. Brawl vs. Final Fantasy X match:

Kleenex's Prediction: Super Smash Bros. Brawl with 52.77%

____________________________________________________________________________

Applekidjosh’s Analysis

And after all this, we've got the lamest final possible imo. At the point I'm writing this I still don't know if Majora or FFX won that semifinal match, but it doesn't matter. Neither of them have the strength to beat Brawl. Smash Brothers Brawl is the champion. Like we all expected, Brawl vs Melee was the "true championship" way back then. Thanks to the rest of the crew and especially Moltar, I had a lot of fun with this.

AKJ says Brawl wins against whoever, 53.00%

____________________________________________________________________________

Guest’s Analysis - TsunamiXXVIII

RAR ZELDAFEAR!

Seriously, I think we're dealing with a severe nostalgia filter here. In retrospect, the idea that an N64 game would win it makes perfect sense, especially due to the fact that the PS1 was almost completely defunct already by the start of the period that this contest deals with. Let's review:

2004 Games Contest: Final Fantasy VII, a PS1 game, wins
2009 Games Contest: Ocarina of Time, an N64 game, wins

Both of these systems are from the same generation, which clearly resonates as the Golden Age of Video Gaming in voters' minds.

Majora's Mask with 52% of the vote

____________________________________________________________________________

Crew Consensus: Is...is there even a consensus here?

the wound is still fresh a decade later

speaking of wounds who wants to see CT/Melee lmao

Melee's run in 2015 is, in a way, impressive. I think it's the only rally that literally everyone on B8 dislikes. Even Draven has a couple people who still go 'lol randomness is fun' but Melee pissed off basically everybody.

except for Ulti who believes Melee/Undertale was the greatest match of all time lawl

I'm afraid to even see CT/Melee

but my CT/FFX writeup is pretty good!

The Mana Sword posted...

2008 was back when people used to think TWEWY was good

It still is, though.

KamikazePotato posted...

Melee's run in 2015 is, in a way, impressive. I think it's the only rally that literally everyone on B8 dislikes. Even Draven has a couple people who still go 'lol randomness is fun' but Melee pissed off basically everybody.

I'm very curious about what level of anti-voting Melee gets the next time it's in a contest. Especially after seeing what Draven/Undertale/Sans have gotten.

Wait Brawl won back then? I thought Melee was the best Smash game of all time?

Honestly I think Melee just drew two opponents in Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII that would be easy to rally against. This site is perceived as an old RPG fansite, and thus Melee fans saw it as a way to tear down the establishment.

Also honestly, outside of those rallies, Melee has never really done that much of note in contests beyond proving it's in the upper echelon of strength in games contests. It never broke 60% once in 2004, and its crowning achievement that contest was probably exposing StarCraft as a cheater. It failed to double Wind Waker in 2009 when you'd think an elite game would be able to apply the SFF hammer on something so polarizing, and then got completely murdered by Ocarina of Time when it got out of its division. Even Melee winning its division looks a little dubious given how FFX has been thoroughly exposed these past few contests. Then in 2010 it failed to break 70% on a Call of Duty game before losing to Brawl.

That's the truly unfortunate part. Chrono Trigger is perceived to be a game for this site, while Melee is perceived as a game with significant popularity elsewhere. Albeit that sentiment probably only became prevalent when Melee established itself as a favorite of fighting game tournaments. We at this board may have perceived CT/Melee as a debatable match, but most on the outside just thought CT would crush it and felt like overturning the "status quo". CT murdering FFX the round before probably didn't help.

I picked Chrono Trigger to win its division in 2015 on the rationale that it looked better in 2009 than Melee and FFX did in 2010. I still think that was good logic even if it wasn't right.

Safer_777 posted...

Wait Brawl won back then? I thought Melee was the best Smash game of all time?

To be fair Brawl not even three years old at the time. It was kind of the hot new thing.

Eh guess it makes sense.