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

god bravely default crushing FFXV would have been the funniest upset

I'm honestly not sure what bearing today has on Xenoblade

The real question is how well 2017 does in Best Year in Gaming imo

(not really)

WarThaNemesis2 posted...

god bravely default crushing FFXV would have been the funniest upset

imagine Ni no Kuni > FFXV lawl

To the suprise of nobody, BOTW is crushing.
I try not to talk about that game, but I hate it so much, that this has admittedly made me immature and butthurt. At least I can admit it.

Stuff like Ni no Kuni/FF15 is why I'm skeptical about this result. As fun as it is to make fun of FF15 there's no way it drops that. Bravely Default I can see.

KamikazePotato posted...

Stuff like Ni no Kuni/FF15 is why I'm skeptical about this result. As fun as it is to make fun of FF15 there's no way it drops that. Bravely Default I can see.

I think Zelda rises quite a bit from here and normalizes the result somewhat

it's just fun to laugh at it for now

if we did best year in gaming 2 how well would 2017 do?

how crazy would a FE Awakening/RE7 result be based on this

division 2 is so weird

Obviously now that Cloud is in Smash Zelda/FF follows the LAW.

This also explains how Cloud barely outdid Zelda on Link directly, imho.

transcience posted...

how crazy would a FE Awakening/RE7 result be based on this

division 2 is so weird

Currently Awakening wins with 52.06%

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/4081-northeast-division-round-1-tales-of-symphonia-vs-resident

There might just not be a mainline RE game that does down without a fight in a 1 v 1 setting, even the ones that people don't care about as much.

I’ve been telling you all that Fire Emblem is bad !

Xenoblade’s not gonna lose tomorrow but I think it’s overrated a bit especially when you take the result vs. Three Houses into account.

I think most people have Xenoblade around 55% on Persona which doesn't seem like an overration unless you think Red Dead Redemption is really good suddenly.

RE2 vs Persona 4 Golden who you got?

it might not be totally representative but what do our numbers say if Awakening = Three Houses? Xenoblade/ME2 has been a debate for a while and I bet that suggests a good one

transience posted...

it might not be totally representative but what do our numbers say if Awakening = Three Houses? Xenoblade/ME2 has been a debate for a while and I bet that suggests a good one

Currently a 52.65% win for ME2

I'd wager Three Houses is stronger but it's also possible Xenoblade applied some light SFF to balance that out

transience posted...

it might not be totally representative but what do our numbers say if Awakening = Three Houses? Xenoblade/ME2 has been a debate for a while and I bet that suggests a good one

I'll do you one better

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7840-best-of-2019-game-of-the-year-final-vote

Currently Three Houses gets 42.27% on RE2.

yeah I guess we should use that one instead, though it doesn't seem like it'd change it too much

transience posted...

yeah I guess we should use that one instead, though it doesn't seem like it'd change it too much

well it would flip the result in Xenoblade's favor if you assume no SFF

There was probably SFF. After today I'd take ME2 with a fair degree of confidence.

I do think the Fire Emblems are being undersold though. I think once the contest wraps up, Awakening will be static from 2015 and Three Houses will be pretty much where it's proportion to RE2 was. They just ran into competition that had boosted massively - I still think Three Houses could potentially take the left side of Division 4, depending on how badly Xenoblade may have SFFd it.

_Saint_Boot_ posted...

To the suprise of nobody, BOTW is crushing.
I try not to talk about that game, but I hate it so much, that this has admittedly made me immature and butthurt. At least I can admit it.

I don't know what you were expecting, but most of us are laughing at BotW for its low %!

this BoTW match might be the biggest underperformance of the tournament. i think people were thinking anything under 75% was already pretty bad

everyone had it over 70% (and most people even went over 75%) including myself

Dragon Quest 11 is definitely more legit than I thought.

I would guess that BOTW overperformed on FFXV for whatever the reason. That feels like the easier explanation than FFXV loses cleanly to Ni no Kuni.

alternatively BOTW causes rSFF on switch games instead of the inverse

You could argue that the juxtaposition of Zelda's modern magnum opus vs yet another massively disappointing Final Fantasy game on a site that loves both series might have caused Zelda to overperform

Then again (and I said this a while ago), on paper a lot of the games in DQXI's half of the Division are pretty legit. Sekiro and Monster Hunter especially have reason to be pretty decent.

I mean I can believe Monster Hunter and Sekiro are decent

just not "doubles FFXV" decent...!

That idea that the contest will be decided by whoever gets the Zelda matches seems great now!

Sharinnegan posted...

this BoTW match might be the biggest underperformance of the tournament. i think people were thinking anything under 75% was already pretty bad

It's doing ok. I still think Undertale was the biggest flop of the tournament

I think I feel more comfortable with this 52/48ish result from ME2 than when it was trending towards 55%+. it's just a few votes but this feels more in range with expectations given this crazy division.

I'm really excited to see who the crew backs tomorrow.

more guest sign-ups are open in that other topic

also if you're a fan of words get hyped for ssbu/smo write-ups because oh boy

Man I should have taken Zelda/DQ and the accuracy point would be mine.

Master Moltar posted...

more guest sign-ups are open in that other topic

also if you're a fan of words get hyped for ssbu/smo write-ups because oh boy

I guess it wasn't just me?

Sharinnegan posted...

this BoTW match might be the biggest underperformance of the tournament. i think people were thinking anything under 75% was already pretty bad

People were naive to believe BotW would get 75% on DQ11. It's like they don't visit other boards

Stooge1969 posted...

People were naive to believe BotW would get 75% on DQ11. It's like they don't visit other boards

How is it that you weren't here to impart that wisdom to us before today's match?

better post those writeups early, it's gonna take a while for people to get through them!

I can't believe ME is winning with such an awful picture against RE2's

The moment I saw that pic I thought it was game over. Apparently not

Mass Effect 2's picture looked fine to me.

it’s funny, I haven’t really seen a picture complaint all contest until the very first day we get user submissions

honestly I've never liked the official art from the initial trailer

the characters look nothing like they do in the final game

Round 4 – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate vs. Super Mario Odyssey

Moltar’s Analysis

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Round 1 – 82.98% vs. Tekken 7
Round 2 – 64.06% vs. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Round 3 – 63.61% vs. Marvel’s Spider-Man

Super Mario Odyssey
Round 1 – 85.97% vs. Mortal Kombat 11
Round 2 – 71.31% vs. Devil May Cry 5
Round 3 – 72.81% vs. Shovel Knight

oh god

You can’t use stats and stuff here to pick who wins this, because as we’ve seen time and time again, the Nintendo hierarchy doesn’t care for stats or logic. I’m usually bad at picking these kinds of matches because they seem to go against logic. Samus looked better than Mario in the contest, but Mario wins head-to-head. Kirby looked better than Bowser in the contest, but Bowser wins head-to-head. Yoshi, Luigi, etc. Odyssey has looked better than Ultimate in the contest…

There seems to be a trend that whenever Nintendo faces each other, the more casual option wins even if it goes against contest logic. Melee/Brawl is a good example of that. Nintendo fans love both games, but I think Smash just has more of that casual audience to pull from, on the site and in general. Individual Smash games look to hold up against Nintendo better than Mario games as well. Zelda > Smash > Mario how’s that hierarchy looking.

now of course this is going to be the time when contest logic prevails and mario odyssey takes this ugh

Moltar’s Bracket: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Moltar’s Prediction: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 51%

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transience’s Analysis

It's time!

I think of Smash Bros. like I think about Pokemon. People think of Pokemon Red/Blue and Gold/Silver as being on a completely different level than the modern games. Red/Blue wrecks Melee while Diamond/Pearl gets blown the hell up by Brawl. It's easy to forget with a weak contest like this one how big the gap is between a Gold/Silver and a Heartgold/Soulsilver. It's huge. Pokemon games are largely the same between generations and that same-ness results in marginally weaker games. Those Pokemon games were never quite as strong as the originals because they just couldn't make the same impact on its players.

Smash is in a similar boat. It was a HUGE deal in the pre-Brawl era, in 2006-2008, where it stood up to the Mario series legitimately as basically a two-game series. Brawl may have been the single most hyped game that has come out since we started doing contests here, and for a good while it was the biggest thing on the block. It really only lost GOTD because of the backlash after it beat Melee. It was pretty clearly the strongest game up until the Fallout 3 match.

The games since Brawl have been iterative, and they've been the single most overestimated contest entities that I can think of. They add more characters and more stages and more music but the game itself doesn't really get better. I can remember some people talking Smash 4 up as a potential FF7 killer in 2015 (looking at you, Kleenex), especially after it was given one of the greatest contest surprises of all time as Cloud was announced days into the 2015 contest. Instead, it couldn't even pull 55% on Mass Effect and got doubled by FF7.

Now, before you go all, "Smash 4 was mediocre in a contest because it was on the Wii U!", it was the big Smash game where Ryu, Cloud, Mega Man, Bayonetta and all sorts of really popular newcomers got unveiled. It was a big deal for years. Smash is big because of the spectacle, not because people want to play it all day. Very few people actually bought Smash 4 because it removed tripping and brought balance to the fighting between Melee and Brawl. They bought it because of the spectacle and that museum-like quality that makes Smash special.

Smash Ultimate is the same thing. Its big selling point is quite literally "Everyone is here", a cavalcade of everything you could possibly want from a Smash game. But it's not breaking any ground here. When you pick up Smash Ultimate and fight someone for the first time, you immediately know how to use every character because it's the same shit you've been doing in Smash for a dozen years. There are new single player modes and those are fun, but not many people are buying Smash so they can do the single player. Some exist, sure, but it's not the big draw.

As an audience here who barely plays video games, especially multiplayer ones with friends (who does that in their 30s?), Smash is less and less relevant on the gameplay side. It's more relevant because those videos they make of all the characters are so cool and it's one of the most earnest, endearing franchises that we have. That's good enough to be universally liked, but is it enough to beat other great video games that people really care about? Go look at Smash Ultimate's poll results. They're not great! It got 54% on 2018 God of War who is probably going to get worked by Witcher 3 in a couple of days. It scored 64% on Spider-Man which is probably weaker than Arkham City, and Arkham City struggled with a Xenoblade sequel that got mixed reviews. There's only so high you can boost Smash Ultimate without also boosting God of War, and the contest results from this year suggest that both games really aren't all that great.

With all that said, let's shift to Mario Odyssey. Super Mario Odyssey is easily the strongest Mario game since Mario 64. Galaxy is well liked but Odyssey was front and center on a console that the site really adores. Galaxy has the waggle and Wii to drag it down. Odyssey doesn't have the same problems. We have two polls asking for the best 3D Mario game and Odyssey is a clear second to Mario 64.

Super Mario Odyssey is an absolute delight, and it's completely up this site's alley. It had a huge hype cycle thanks to the capturing mechanic and NEW DONK CITY, and the game itself lives up to that hype. Super Mario Odyssey is pure joy. Even grizzled Nintendo fans have to admit that every square foot is packed with love. There are a few moments in Mario Odyssey that are the highest highs of any game in the series.

Of course, the reason almost nobody picked it here is because it has no good polls to its name. That's what happens when you share a poll with the consensus game of the decade! Odyssey gets some neutral matches for once and oh hey, it's actually a contender for the second strongest game of the decade. Who could have thought!

The BOTW/Mario Odyssey dynamic is almost exactly the same as Ocarina/Mario 64, where Mario 64 got absolutely worked in 2004 before coming back in 2009 and beating Chrono Trigger despite Yoshi's Island being in the poll. Mario 64 could be a top 5 game here and it got destroyed by Ocarina. It's always been that good.

In fact, I see BOTW/Odyssey/Smash Ultimate as being a modern day Nintendo renaissance akin to Ocarina/Mario 64/Melee. You could say Smash 64 to keep the dates and platforms in line but I'm more charitable than that. Nintendo has been killing it on the first party side this generation and they've made the best Mario and Zelda games since the n64. The difference here is that Mario Odyssey is a huge step forward, more than just a return to form, while Smash Ultimate is just humming along doing what Smash has done for decades now.

I would pick Mario 64 over Melee any day.

Before I wrap this up, I have to admit three factors that could shape this match.

1. This is a SFF match and strength will only matter so much. This match probably isn't close because the Nintendo fanbase is going to land on one side or the other. That can mean that the weaker game could upend the stronger one very easily. We don't talk about rSFF that much but it's a thing and it can very much happen.

2. Smash Ultimate has the clear bracket advantage and will undoubtedly come out strong to start. There aren't a lot of votes in this thing so this has been a real factor. Mario probably needs an extra 2-3% in order to overcome this.

3. If the motherfuckers who ruined Chrono Trigger's dynastic moment against Melee swarm in and fuck up Mario's big moment, I am going to swear off Smash games forever. It's absolutely a possibility. Smash Ultimate isn't Melee, but a stiff breeze could change the tide of this match with how low our vote totals are, and Smash fans, if nothing else, are very, very, very Online.

Hopefully that doesn't come to pass and Mario has his day of reckoning. As a famous man once said: "Fear those colored overalls and large nose."

transience's prediction: Super Mario Odyssey with 54.55%

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Leonhart’s Analysis

I was one of the most hardnosed proponents of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate winning this match with ease, but now? I’m not so sure! Super Mario Odyssey has generally looked better up to this point, but it hasn’t really faced an opponent of note. Beyond round 1, Smash Ultimate has had to face tougher opponents where it was harder to get a higher percentage. I’m personally a believer in Spider-Man just being legit, but I’m probably in the minority there! It’s hard to make anything of the Link Between Worlds performance because there was clearly SFF involved. I don’t think either showing was bad, but our expectations for Smash have always been overblown (Melee has never been as strong as most people think it is, for instance!).

Smash’s advantages are obvious. It is perpetually relevant as Nintendo continues to add new content to it on a regular basis, and every single Smash reveal is still a big deal, even if it’s not quite the same as the Brawl Dojo days. Smash Bros. as a whole is a bigger deal than 3-D Mario as well. The Smash Bros. game has been stronger than the Mario game of each console generation from the GameCube up until now, where it’s the closest it’s ever been. You can argue Smash has gradually been getting weaker with each generation as we get older and multiplayer just doesn’t hold the same sway over us as it once did (although I’d take Ultimate’s peak over Smash 4’s peak, at the very least). Perhaps the biggest X-Factor in Ultimate’s favor if this result is at all close is that it will be much easier to rally for, or at least it’ll be easier for the rally to catch on.

What’s Odyssey’s biggest advantage? It’s freakin’ Mario, of course. Still, that hasn’t mattered in nearly 25 years. Odyssey gained traction here in a way that neither Galaxy game did, for whatever the reason. I can’t really explain it because the Galaxy games are some of the best reviewed games ever and sold very well. I guess they just bear the brunt of our gradual souring on the Wii as a whole. I feel like Mario is the barometer for how we feel about a Nintendo console. Super Mario World is probably the strongest Mario game because it’s on the Super Nintendo, for instance. Right now, we love the Switch, and Odyssey is a big beneficiary of that.

That being said, I’m going to side with Smash Ultimate here. I think I have an obligation to go down with the ship, but I do thing the hierarchy sides with Smash over 3-D Mario in general. There are exceptions to that, of course, and maybe Odyssey is. I do think Mario benefits from forced voting, especially when we have 4 matches a day against fodder. We saw both Mario games go sky high in round 1, but Galaxy 2 came back down to earth when it had to face a real opponent. I have a sneaking suspicion the same thing might happen to Mario Odyssey, but I’ll be rooting for it regardless!

Leonhart’s Vote: Super Mario Odyssey

Leonhart’s Prediction: Super Smash Bros. with 53.53%

____________________________________________________________________________

Kleenex’s Analysis

Hot off the heels of the highly debatable ME2/RE2 match, we’ve got another one queued up. Pre-contest, I think Ultimate was a super easy pick. I haven’t checked Guru stats, but I have to imagine something like 75% of brackets have Ultimate winning this one. Then rounds 1-3 happened and now everything is super up in the air. Smash definitely didn’t look like a slouch in round 1, but those next two results leave something to be desired. It’s possible Spider-Man and ALBW are just stronger than we expected, but I have a tough time reconciling that, especially in Spider-Man’s case. Like...57% on Minecraft can’t be that good. That Spider-Man result is really the one that worries me the most.

Odyssey on the other hand, has looked great. Totally dismantling all its opponents. Now, there’s definitely a case to be made that Odyssey’s value is being inflated. MK11, while theoretically not a game that you’d think would get an 85% dropped on it, is untested. DMC5 is similar - Tropical Freeze could have just been trash. And Shovel Knight...well...you know the deal with indies at this point. There’s a very real chance that Odyssey could have just been the benefactor of a super weak 8-pack. That’s not to diminish its strength, it’s definitely good, but is it beat Smash good?

At the end of the day, I’m leaning towards no. It’s a tough call, but I feel a bit more comfortable believing the top half of this division was a bit stronger. I’ll take slightly underperforming on a Zelda game over beating up on games that could only barely sneak past freaking Octopath Traveler.

Kleenex’s Prediction: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with 52%

Guest’s Analysis – ZeldaTPLink

I have Mario in my original bracket, and since the beginning, that has been my upset special to win the contest. The blue shell that will kill all other brackets even if I'm behind. Now, allow me to explain why.

6 Reasons Why Super Mario Odyssey Will Beat Smash

#1 GameFAQs doesn't care about multiplayer anymore

Check this poll:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7872-do-you-play-more-single-player-or-multiplayer-games

80% of the site doesn't play multiplayer. That is a lot. It's also a change of 10% from the previous version of this poll (2013). Let's be real, we don't have time to get a bunch of friends in our house to play smash anymore. Or if we do, most of our friends don't, even they are even living in the same city as we are. I have Brawl in my home and I've touched it maybe twice because, when I finally got Brawl, all the people I could play Smash with like in the old Melee times were living in other places. Online Ultimate is also kind of bad from what I hear, because Nintendo doesn't know how to make online multiplayer. Now, Smash single player is fun, but you know what is also fun? MARIO single player. I have a feeling Ultimate is this game everyone got excited about, maybe played a little of its single player, but then went back to MARIO, or ZELDA.

#2 People just really like this game

This is 100% anedoctical evidence, but I really feel like this game has passion going for it. A few years ago I said in some thread that A Hat in Time was the best 3D platformer of the generation and somebody came to me and said "No, that is Super Mario Odyssey!". People get defensive about this game. I've also seen at least 3 different people tell me they "don't think Mario beats Smash, but wish it did". Well, if a lot of people wish Mario beats Smash, what do you think happens?

Point is, it feels like this is more than just another 3D Mario. It's a thing people feel passionate about. Which brings me to...

#3 I don't buy that Smash will SFF Mario

A lot of people are saying Smash will historically beat Mario in 1v1. I don't see it that way. I believe individual Smash games have usually been stronger than indiviual Mario games, but not because of hierarchy, just in terms of normal contest strength. The Mario series just hasn't been the same since SM64, while Smash was one of the series that carried Nintendo in the 2000s, but we have to look at it game by game. And this strength difference isn't clear cut either: Smash 4 actually ties with Galaxy in 2015 stats.

Meanwhile, direct matches between the two series are quite rare. Brawl SFF'd Galaxy in a 4-way poll back in 2009, when Brawl was a Top 5 game in this site. And Super Mario Bros beat Smash in the series contest back in 2006. That's it. Mario and Smash haven't met in a contest poll in 11 years (Mario Kart DS doesn't count).

The point I'm trying to make is that, when you put the Mario game people have liked the most since the 90s, versus a Smash that isn't quite as monstrous as Brawl was at its peak, it's unclear what the hierarchy is. Mario could actually be the one to flex its SFF muscles, especially if my theory about people not playing multiplayer is correct. I mean, Mario has one hell of a history of dealing SFF beatdowns on anything not named Zelda. He could do it here too.

#4 I don't buy the GOTY poll results, either

Before the contest, a big argument in Smash's favor were these three polls:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7638-which-was-the-best-of-the-3d-super-mario-bros-games
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7757-whats-your-all-time-favorite-3d-super-mario-game
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7577-what-is-the-best-all-time-super-smash-bros-game

So Ultimate is stronger than Melee? I doubt it. First, this is a very loaded question. Because the Smash series is such that each game is a direct improvement over the previous one. If you line the 5 of them and ask someone which is the best one, of course the newest one will win, unless the game actually dropped the ball, and it hasn't. An evidence that it's loaded is if you compare the two Mario polls: Odyssey does a lot better if you ask which one is the best Mario game rather than the favorite one. Next, it's a multi-way SFF poll and those are basically trash in terms of stats precision.

Chances are Ultimate is weaker than Melee, and weaker than peak Brawl, even if it's the 2nd strongest today. Meanwhile, Odyssey is clearly the most popular one since 64. There's a match here.

#5 Mario has just looked more impressive all contest

Round 1, Mario laid the 2nd biggest blowout of the round, onto an actual non-indie game, while Smash made a more normal blowout against a fighting game from a less popular series. Then Round 2 saw Smash with an inconclusive SFF result on Zelda, while Mario did okay on DMC5. But then Round 3 saw Smash do a very unimpressive result on Spider-Man, while Mario kept going above 70% against SK.

Sure, none of those results are conclusive. We don't know how strong Spider-Man is, and I'm not sure if we can measure it through Minecraft it may have gotten stronger since 2015. SK probably grew too, but I'm not sure by how much. Depending on what assumptions you make, you can justify either game winning this through stats.

But there is a thing that is the writing on the wall. The direction the wind blows. One game keeps looking good over and over again, while the one keeps underperforming. This feels like when we kept holding onto reasons Three Houses could still beat Xenoblade. Slowly, the fog of denial disappears and we grow to accept Mario actually looks stronger. A match most people said was a cakewalk before the contest is now the coinflip of Round 4. Well, it's time to finally flip that coin to the other side.

#6 Hmm... RevengeFAQs?

This is a very long shot, and I almost feel dumb by saying it, but it's worth considering.

We saw it happen 3 times already. GameFAQs got its sweet, sweet revenge against Draven, Sans and Undertale, for daring to rally against us and denying us of our great match-ups. The other game that did that? Melee. And there is a grudge here too, let me tell you. The Smash fandom is almost universally despised in Board 8, for denying poor Crono of an epic run. I have no doubt Melee gets anti-voted if it appears in a contest again. And I know B8 is not GameFAQs, but that didn't stop the other revenge results from happening either. GameFAQs remembers. And GameFAQs does not forgive.
But this is Ultimate, not Melee, right? Sure, but I feel there is a small possibility this grudge could transfer to the Smash fandom in general, since we don't like those people that much. And hell, the fandom itself could help with that: what if they try to rally? The Mario counter-rally that would ensue could get huge, and the site could get behind Mario. To fend those competitive gamer invaders away, and defend the Quintessential Single Player Nintendo Experience.

And it seems we are now back to the first point.

HEEEEEEEEERE WE GO!

Freaking MARIO 55%
____________________________________________________________________________

Crew Consensus: Of course this match is a split! SSBU is the slight favorite.

Master Moltar posted...

Like...57% on Minecraft can’t be that good.

no one remembers that Spider-Man was hovering around 60-61% before the Octopath/Shovel Knight rally fest started...!

Whatever wins here is probably going to do so by more than a point or two, that much I'm comfortable saying. I have Mario winning 57% in my Second Chance bracket and that was me being conservative.

This very much feels like the lead-up to Xenoblade vs 3H where XBC was clearly putting up better numbers but it still felt like 3H should win because of the pecking order and maybe its opponents were better!. Turned into a 60-40 match.

I did not remember! But that doesn’t change my thought process all that much!

Eh, I can buy Minecraft being pretty decent. I've thought all along that it was underrated in 2015 because of FFVII/Halo.

The whole rumble about Mario Odyssey having a chance to upset Smash is giving me FFX/RE4 vibes, what with FFX looking "off" the whole contest and people saying they wished RE4 would win. But then RE4 didn't even break 45%.

Furthermore, most of the crew overestimated Odyssey in Round 2 IIRC. I guess we all took it to be DMC5 being strong, but I kind of get the feeling DMC5 might be as weak as we thought pre-contest. I don't have a hard time imagining Spidey breaking 60% on DMC5, if only because Spidey was a better-reviewed and higher-profile release. DMC is not exactly something this site tends to take to!

I guess people have a psychological barrier regarding Smash not even being worth 70% on Minecraft, but from what I gather the last time we saw the latter it was during an all-time low in the game's popularity. Plus maybe the title of the contest gave Minecraft as a boost. It has a number of reasons to be stronger now than in 2015 is what I'm saying.

I'm not saying Mario > Smash is a bad pick (in my Second Chance bracket I have Smash winning with only like 53% after all), but there's a possibility that Smash keeps "underperforming" against strong competition while Mario just rolls over garbage.