Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1372 - The Last Hurrah?

We've currently gone the longest period in this site's entire history without a contest being announced, including the time frame from the launch of the message boards until the first contest. Currently there is no poll of the day (there wasn't one uploaded and nothing replaced it, which has never happened before), the polls we do get have few voters, the site itself has been sold multiple times which is a poor sign by itself, and there are a lot of things going on with prolific contributors that don't indicate good things either. It's been well over a year since any "Blank of the Month" winners have been awarded, among other things I won't get into.

What that means for us is that there's an above zero chance we never see another contest. I'm sure most people feel this way without actually admitting to it out loud. I hope I'm wrong, but it's not looking good. Either way, this is the last stats topic I'll ever make. Will more happen after this one hits 500? Of course. Is it possible we get another contest eventually? Maybe. I'm sure Game of the Decade 3 where Tears of the Kingdom beats Elden Ring 2 in the finals by a score of 1850 - 1600 will be awesome.

But there's the old line about not being sad things are gone and being happy they happened and all that. I would like this topic to be a celebration of our favorite things from contests over the years, in case it is the end days. I plan on doing a top 25 in here, and my hope is other people post some of their favorite memories as well. It'll be good to have for TRE's archive, plus if we're going out it might as well be on a positive note. I love you guys, truly! <3

~*creativename's contest site*~
http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/

~*The Board 8 Wiki (lots of useful contest and board information, including all past Post-Contest Analyses*~
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page

~*List of All Polls (a search bar is at the bottom)*~
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll

~*NGamer64's Archive Sites (good stuff!) and (LOL) X-Stats Sim*~
http://www.thengamer.com/
http://thengamer.com/xstats

~*GameFAQs Contests Hall of Fame*~
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/GameFAQs_Contests_Hall_of_Fame
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/GameFAQs_Contests_Match_Hall_of_Fame

~*Closest Wire-To-Wire Matches*~
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Closest_Wire-to-Wire_Matches

~*All-Time Guru List*~
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/All_Time_Guru_Rankings

~*Most Surprising Results*~
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Most_Surprising_Results

~*Contest Histories*~
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Contest_Histories

~*All the Match Pics*~
http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/index.php

~*Daily Vote Trends - An Explanation for Dummies*~
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Daily_Vote_Trends

~*Leonhart4's Trend Charts*~
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?hl=en&key=tOGmynfNIiNy5VukpEF-PdA&hl=en#gid=0

~*Simple Explanation of Extrapolated Standings*~
A = Strongest Character
B = Character Weaker than A
C = Character Weaker than B
To figure out a character's extrapolated percentage ---> [(CvB)(BvA)]/50 = CvA
To compare how C would do against B ---> [(CvA)/(BvA)]*50 = CvB
To figure out how B would do against A ---> [(CvA)/(CvB)]*50 = BvA

This topic series will be around until the site literally dies. If there’s one thing old people love to do, it’s continually argue about old s*** that doesn’t matter anymore. And we’re all old f***s hanging around a dead site because this is our home and will be until the end.

SC2K3 is still the best contest

And that was 20 years ago now

Allen never cared about us

I'll still hold out some hope we get GotD3. Will we get anything until then? Probably not.

I still say Game of the 90s would have been cool, but I suppose if me getting Xenoblade's trajectory right in GotD2 was my peak, I'm okay with that.

The POTD has returned

Glorious FF domination

Assuming XVI is on track to be as good as it appears, I'll be curious to see how it holds up against Tears of the Kingdom. This is the first year we've had a mainline FF and a mainline Zelda released in the same year since...Twilight Princess and FFXII, right?

(Assuming we still have polls by the time GotY rolls around, that is)

Tears of the Kingdom wins, but hopefully FFXVI is good enough to look half decent

LeonhartFour posted...

The POTD has returned

It returned yesterday, but started very late (around 1:55 PM) and ran for about 10 hours, 5 minutes based on the poll graphs. Today's poll is a normal 24 hour poll again.

Favorite moment for me has always been CT vs. LttP. It never got old checking the scores throughout the day and seeing the match in a constant deadlock. Shame it didn't go down to the wire.

Looking back on Spring '04, it's funny how early on, people complained about the possibility of an all-Zelda Final Four. In the end, of course, not a single Zelda won its division.

Dark times.

I will always treasure Frog vs. Master Chief, with the CT night vote leading into the ASV for Master Chief, all culminating into that last hour of them just tied up, and setting that amazing record of a seven vote victory margin for Frog.

@SBAllen @sballen

Stop watching the horrendous Little Mermaid movie on your free time and give us a new character battle.

In Allen's defense, he's probably super busy with Fandom stuff, and getting a contest approved right now is probably really daunting since it's hard to prove that the benefits of a contest are greater than the costs (if they even are). The prize money might be whatever but the time investment is significant.

I'm still hoping we have another contest someday, but it's not going to be for another year for obvious reasons.

The 20th anniversary of SC2K3 is coming up in July, and I was thinking of doing some sort of contest retrospective, talking about each match and what I recall from it at the time. Anyone else who wanted to contribute could do that, too. It would almost be a fond farewell to contests for me by remembering the best one.

I wonder how much it would cost to buy GameFAQs off of Fandom. They can't see too much value in it right?

If we pool our money together we can probably buy it and just run contests until the site collapses because we have no more funds and no strategy outside of figuring out how many Chesters the Cat from Stray is worth

EDIT: I am only half kidding how much money do ya'll got saved up

Let's start a GoFundMe page

can't we just raise the funds for a contest instead of buying gamefaqs

Leonhart4 posted...

The 20th anniversary of SC2K3 is coming up in July, and I was thinking of doing some sort of contest retrospective, talking about each match and what I recall from it at the time. Anyone else who wanted to contribute could do that, too. It would almost be a fond farewell to contests for me by remembering the best one.

I always felt SC2K3 was overrated. Sure, there were some amazing runs by Cloud/Seph/Squall, but overall it lacked the mystery and unpredictability that made SC2K2 so wild.

I mean you could never recreate the mystery and unpredictability of the first so no other contest could live up to that

pjbasis posted...

can't we just raise the funds for a contest instead of buying gamefaqs

I'd pitch into this tbh.

Leonhart4 posted...

The 20th anniversary of SC2K3 is coming up in July, and I was thinking of doing some sort of contest retrospective, talking about each match and what I recall from it at the time. Anyone else who wanted to contribute could do that, too. It would almost be a fond farewell to contests for me by remembering the best one.

Do you need to have been around lol

Nah, the more the merrier

Leonhart4 posted...

SC2K3 is still the best contest

Preach.

And Mario vs. Crono II is the greatest match in GameFAQs history.

yessssss more Final Fantasy domination

it always wins

good job Sonic Superstars on edging out Mortal Kombat 1 for second place

With the Reddit shutdown, Twitter a dumpster fire under Musk, and the decline of tumblr, the avenues to rally have been kinda put down years later

at this point, the top one might be discord?

geno boost

Booster to break the Noble Nine

In light of the SMRPG remake and the fact that it will finally be widely available in Europe, what's the strongest game you'd take it to beat once the game comes out?

Leonhart4 posted...

In light of the SMRPG remake and the fact that it will finally be widely available in Europe, what's the strongest game you'd take it to beat once the game comes out?

This is a tough question because the only games I would feel comfortable beating it are all Square and Nintendo games (unless I'm forgetting an obvious one), and I don't see a remake changing the order.

Well, I think the thing that could let it move up the hierarchy is exposure to a new audience. It's been that strong with no real European strength.

Super Mario RPG vs. Super Metroid, who ya got

Leonhart4 posted...

Well, I think the thing that could let it move up the hierarchy is exposure to a new audience. It's been that strong with no real European strength.

Super Mario RPG vs. Super Metroid, who ya got

That's way too close to Super Mario RPG being stronger than Link to the Past for me to give Mario RPG a chance.

...Now Super Mario RPG vs. Final Fantasy VI, I'm ready to discuss.

WarThaNemesis2 posted...

That's way too close to Super Mario RPG being stronger than Link to the Past for me to give Mario RPG a chance.

...Now Super Mario RPG vs. Final Fantasy VI, I'm ready to discuss.

I love Mario RPG but winning that match would make me puke.

UltimaterializerX posted...

I love Mario RPG but winning that match would make me puke.

Would it help ease the pain knowing that Kefka would get smacked around by Peach if they met in a contest, and Mario RPG boosting would only widen the gap?

Really the entire direct will.

In all seriousness though, I think the top SNES games are probably something like this...

Chrono Trigger
Link to the Past
Super Metroid/Mario World?
Final Fantasy VI

...Are there any obvious ones I'm missing, or is it Mario RPG next? Super Mario Kart maybe?

Nah, I think Mario RPG beats Mario Kart easily. It won pretty cleanly over MK64 in 2009.

Leonhart4 posted...

Nah, I think Mario RPG beats Mario Kart easily. It won pretty cleanly over MK64 in 2009.

If we do get Game of the Decade 90s I am going to argue both sides of Super Mario Kart's 2009 performance so much.

I think the top 15 as of 2015 looked more or less like:

Ocarina of Time
Chrono Trigger
Pokemon RBY
Final Fantasy VII
Link to the Past
Super Mario 64
Super Mario World
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Final Fantasy VI
Majora's Mask
Super Metroid
Wind Waker
Twilight Princess
Final Fantasy X

Obviously at least Breath of the Wild would be up there nowadays too. Not sure where people figure Smash Ultimate lands.

Super Mario RPG itself already took care of RE4 and MGS3 in 2015 too - RE4 got a remake so who knows if that holds but I wouldn't bet on it against a game that already beat it that now is gonna have a remake itself.

That leaves stuff like Skyrim, Metroid Prime, Pokemon GSC, KHII, and FFIX as probably the next biggest remaining fish? If Super Mario RPG was behind these games before, it likely wasn't by much.

So Super Mario RPG probably a top 20 game. Maybe not top 15. We'll see how this remake goes.

Based on that list, I'd imagine a well received remake probably does slot somewhere into that FF6 to Super Metroid tier.

I feel like Super Mario RPG's run in 2015 was a bit of a fluke. Its 8-pack was a bunch of games which look good but aren't actually that strong, and from there it rode the bandwagon past RE4 and MGS3. Once all 3 of those remakes are released I'm not entirely sold that SMRPG beats RE4 or MGS3 again, let alone FF6.

I'll take SMRPG over FFX though since my god does that game know how to choke

Mario RPG definitely was riding a bandwagon in the later rounds, but it also has more room for growth than RE4 and MGS3 do from their remakes.

I'm not convinced Mario RPG was bandwagon. The Super Nintendo was just ridiculous that contest, and a lot of games that only looked good due to the generation split got exposed.

Metal Gear Solid 3 was worth just over 60 on Earthbound, and Resident Evil 4 failed to break 55 on a weaker game than MGS3 in MGS2.

The writing was on the wall for a while that Mario RPG was going to coast past those two.

As far as SNES goes, Super Mario RPG probably is the 6th strongest SNES game, yeah.
I'd probably favor Mega Man X for #7 over Super Mario Kart too.

I don't think Mario RPG was punching above its weight class, but it may have made its victories a little more comfortable than they'd have been otherwise.

That was not a bandwagon. Undertale was.

Oblivion did better on SMRPG than RE4 did.

It was on a bandwagon for sure.

RE4 was also on a down trend and if Oblivion hypothetically beat it that year I would have been surprised, but not totally godsmacked. “Wow what a weird upset” and that’s pretty much it.

Now? Yeah RE4 wins.

Oblivion was decently strong in its prime.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/4444-whats-your-all-time-favorite-4-game
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/8782-whats-your-all-time-favorite-4-game-title

It has fallen off since then which makes it harder to pin down exactly where it was in 2015 since that's about when Witcher 3 arrived on the scene. Like it wouldn't be stronger than RE4 but I'm not sure it was too much weaker either.