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

I would guess Clive is slightly stronger or weaker than Noctis.

"How do you figure that, War?" you may ask.

Well let me tell you my scientific method.

Balthier, Lightning, and Noctis are all probably basically the same strength. So Clive will probably hit the 'this is where a modern FF powerful character goes' point as well.

I feel like FF16 got better reception than FF13 and FF15 so Clive could be a fair bit stronger then Noctis. But, many people on this site are still unhappy with the direction the FF is going in.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1339-north-division-round-2-squall-leonhart-vs-luigi

I think Luigi lead this one for like 15 minutes or something? That's a pretty crazy early vote for how the battle would end.

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/sum03b35.jpg

Luigi took the L since it was missing on his match picture.

Yeah, I know it's supposed to be the L on the hat.

That was the first match in 2003 where the character leading at the freeze didn't end up winning the match, I believe.

But yeah, that was a stunning upset at the time. There were people who thought Luigi could be as strong as Mario and maybe even beat Samus.

Is 2B the most popular character here who hasn’t been around for +10 years?

Then again it was 5 years since we had the last character battle so who knows?

Prince Sidon

*gleam*

Yeah man no way a Zelda can lose to, like, a dynasty warriors character.

Zylothewolf posted...

Is 2B the most popular character here who hasn’t been around for +10 years?

Absolutely. Second is probably Shovel Knight or something.

Geralt's reason for being popular is less than 10 years old though the character is way older.

"Ren Amimiya" hung relatively close to Claire. That' s not that impressive but since then he's gotten into Smash, presumably he'll just be "Joker" if we ever see him again, and he's gotten an update to his game that was ported to several new platforms. Plausibly a decent midcarder.

Ah yeah Joker post Smash reveal is a good bet.

Wouldn't surprise me if some Pokemon was in top 10, but I guess in just a few months that would be gen 7 or later.

Maybe Cappy or something. Don't think there's a strong field.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Maybe Cappy or something. Don't think there's a strong field.

Zero chance of this. This is like suggesting FLUDD as a decently strong character.

As in top 10 of the last decade, not strongest of which I think there are very few decently strong characters.

But no, Cappy would be way better than FLUDD lol. Odyssey was way more successful than Sunshine and Cappy looks like the most recognizable piece of video game clothing.

Urbosa would beat 2B imo.

But like, who cares about Cappy? It would be the ultimate apathy test. I'd take all four Guardians from BotW and the next four from TotK over Cappy.

TeamRocketElite posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1339-north-division-round-2-squall-leonhart-vs-luigi

I think Luigi lead this one for like 15 minutes or something? That's a pretty crazy early vote for how the battle would end.

In 2003 every poll started at a slightly different time as CJayC was changing the polls manually I believe. So the first update was not necessarily 15 minutes.

This was the reason Mario vs. Crono was unfair - Mario did not win the 24-hour period of August 22, 2003 or the first 24 hours of the match. Here are the results broken down by calendar day:

8/21/03 (16 minutes): Mario +115
8/22/03 (24 hours): Crono +23
8/23/03 (5 minutes): Mario +45

First 24 hours (or as close as we have data for): Crono +151

I think you are underestimating Cappy though I would not take him over 2B.

The only characters I think might have a shot are non-specific playable characters like the Tarnished from Elden Ring.

I don't think I am! Literally nobody ever talks about him unless they happen to be playing Mario Odyssey at the time and even then it'll just be a "huh talking hat, okay"

The only reason to pick Cappy to do anything is because he's in a popular Mario game. He has nothing else going for him, and I don't think that's enough to be among the top 10 most popular characters of the last ten friggin' years. I know we're stuck in the past, but come on. This was like when we used to joke that a random piece of FFVII furniture could beat Vyse.

I think looking like Mario's hat (and being it) beats most characters younger than 10 years. Like yeah, 2B crushes Cappy but not much else does here I think.

If Elding Ring had a specific popular character it would be up there.

Atreus might be top 10 from the last decade.

I just don't think Cappy beats anybody who isn't considered obscure, and let's not act like there aren't 10 original characters who aren't obscure. I wouldn't take Cappy over someone like Edelgard or Byleth, for instance.

(Don't fall for Cappy like people did when they took Mario Maker over Awakening)

Zylothewolf posted...

Is 2B the most popular character here who hasn’t been around for +10 years?

Then again it was 5 years since we had the last character battle so who knows?

*insert Pokémon name*

"Nothing" characters being worth something isn't that unusual. This isn't the same as a Wii U game failing.

ctesjbuvf posted...

"Nothing" characters being worth something isn't that unusual. This isn't the same as a Wii U game failing.

Like who?

(Don't say Link or L-Block)

Just meant there are a lot of personality less characters (or Pokemon) that does well by design, franchise and being recognizable.

If you see Mario's hat against a character from a game you haven't played and you have to vote in the match to vote in other matches, I think Cappy gets a boost there. Think design matters a ton in the last decade (and playrate helps too).

Nah, Cappy isn't comparable to Pokemon. He's just Mario's hat with eyeballs on it. It's actually less appealing than just the hat because it doesn't have the trademark M on it.

Looking like Mario's hat probably helps more than looking like a glove.

Comparable in the sense that they're nothing characters.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Comparable in the sense that they're nothing characters.

Right but they have an appeal that goes beyond "hey it looks like an iconic piece of clothing"

I just don't know why you vote for Cappy unless you literally have no clue who the other entrant is

Zylothewolf posted...

Is 2B the most popular character here who hasn’t been around for +10 years?

Then again it was 5 years since we had the last character battle so who knows?

Characters that might have any decent amount of strength off the top of my head

Joker
Sidon
Urbosa
Kass?
Ranni?
Eleven?
Pyra/Mythra?
Sylveon
Greninja
Mimikyu
Incineroar
Meowscarada?

Joker, Sidon and Greninja I think would have the best chances, although ultimately I don't really have much confidence in any of them.

Smash boost Joker could be powerful. Persona tends to have staying power too.

I mean it's characters are weak but this is the closest to a strong protagonist the series has.

How did Claire do in her next match anyway

Worse against Sub-Zero than Shulk did.

Greninja and Sylveon will be older than 10 years in about 2 months

I did consider Ranni but I don't think she will be worth that much.

According to x-stats from 2018 Shovel Knight is second to 2B, but no one from the past 5 years would be there.

I think Atreus should be thrown in that group too.

Zagreus?

edit: just to be clear, what about zagreus?

I’m shocked this topic has been so busy. It took like 2 years to fill the last one.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1340-north-division-round-2-kos-mos-vs-samus

After a wild few days, we get Samus predictably wrecking KOS-MOS.

TJF only gets one so far.

Yeah to another one that has it.

Though I guess Samus didn't bring it to the match picture.

Atreus would actually be a good shout. I think Ranni would be reasonably strong but not to 2B’s level. The thing is I think there are plenty of strong enough recent characters, but 2B was really good in 2018 and has probably only gotten stronger so I doubt anybody is above her.

Also I will suggest Arthur Morgan, perhaps the strongest Rockstar protagonist since OG Tommy Vercetti?

red_sox_777 posted...

This was the reason Mario vs. Crono was unfair - Mario did not win the 24-hour period of August 22, 2003 or the first 24 hours of the match. Here are the results broken down by calendar day:

I will *partially* defend Mario here, and argue that if the timeframe of the match had been the 24 hour period of August 22, Mario almost certainly still wins. Crono won this timeframe by 23 votes in reality, however, in the alternate reality where the match starts at midnight, the voters from the first fifteen minutes wouldn't just disappear; they would still vote and as long as they favor Mario by 24 votes he would have still won. Considering how much Mario won those voters by in reality, this seems almost certain and one would really have to twist themselves into knots to argue otherwise.

Look, of course the match wasn't fair, and it should have ended 24 hours after it started, but there's been a meme since the match happened that "Mario didn't win any 24 hour segment of the poll!" but aside from the first 24 hours that's a red herring. It doesn't work that way.

LightningStrikes posted...

Also I will suggest Arthur Morgan, perhaps the strongest Rockstar protagonist since OG Tommy Vercetti?

Carl Johnson’s 45% on Ness was alright and Niko also had one good performance against reasonable competition:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3246-division-1-round-1-duke-nukem-kefka-marth-niko

I’d be reluctant to suggest he’d do any better than that.
Also RDR2 is now almost 5 years old and prior experience suggests these guys generally don’t hold up over time. 5 years after his game’s release, Vercetti went from beating Donkey Kong to getting doubled by Yuna.

I think the reason I’m a bit stronger on Arthur holding up is that RDR2 has stuck around in a way that the earlier Rockstar games didn’t (same for GTAV but those characters are no good) so I have a feeling he would hold up better accordingly. A shame we never got to see him when that game was fresh!

I do wish we could have seen Trevor Phillips in 2018. Not because he would have been strong or anything, but you know he'd probably burn 60% of the brackets in whatever match he would be in while the Guru/BOP gets it 90% right.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1341-east-division-round-2-cloud-strife-vs-auron

Another ho hum blowout, this time featuring SFF.

Auron deserved better.

It took us a while to definitively see that Auron was stronger than Tidus because of SFF (since he faced Seph the next year) and the weird Magus result.

I wonder how much Auron would SFF Tidus if they ever faced.