Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1373

If TP is 2003 and WW is 2006, does Link win in 2003? Could he lose 2006 or later?

Link would have been undefeated until L-Block and chaos would have erupted even further.

Do we even have more contests if Link dominates twice in a row?

I guess we probably just have champions getting retired much earlier.

2003 was very successful so ditching the contests probably wouldn't happen. It would make more sense to retire Link instead.

I think Advent Children came out in time for 2004's contest. That would have still gotten enough people to bet against Link to be worthwhile for CJayC, probably.

Trailers for Wind Waker may have been out in time for backlash to begin for 2005's contest and continue into 2006's in this hypothetical.

Sephiroth still wins the Villains Contest and FF7 still wins BGE1.

Yeah, hmmm, I dunno if it would have been enough to get us to L-Block in 2007.

KamikazePotato posted...

Do we even have more contests if Link dominates twice in a row?

We might get Best Game Ever to see if FF7 can take down OoT, but if the timeline deviates and OoT wins, that’s probably it.

TeamRocketElite posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1776-midgar-division-final-cloud-strife-vs-sephiroth

Sephiroth got pretty close all things considered. The 2004 rematch wouldn't be as kind.

This is the 2004 rematch lawl (and what a patriotic poll number to boot)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1367-tournament-final-cloud-strife-vs-sephiroth

I do wonder if there was some Cloud beating Link backlash

HaRRicH posted...

I think Advent Children came out in time for 2004's contest. That would have still gotten enough people to bet against Link to be worthwhile for CJayC, probably.

You of all people should know it came out in the middle of SC2K5 because you blamed it for Devil Division weirdness for years...! When it was really just Knuckles overperforming on Squall after beating Magus.

Note that we did have pictures of AC Cloud in SC2K4, so it had been announced, but it didn't come out until a year later.

Leonhart4 posted...

It's kinda wild that Twilight Princess truly made Link untouchable to conventional defeats considering its current standing in the hierarchy

I would say that Twilight Princess is on that second tier (or third if we take TotK and BotW as a step above OoT) along with Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask, not quite as strong but marginal difference. When it launched it was stronger than Wind Waker for sure, it reviewed the same and sold better, however it declined after before coming back up. The HD remaster and backlash to Skyward Sword rescued Twilight Princess’s reputation. It’s a great game! You might even give it the excellent score of 8.8/10!

Leonhart4 posted...

This is the 2004 rematch lawl (and what a patriotic poll number to boot)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1367-tournament-final-cloud-strife-vs-sephiroth

I do wonder if there was some Cloud beating Link backlash

Didn’t Sephiroth start that poll with the lead before falling behind after a bit? If so, it would strongly suggest there was, or that something funky was going on at least.

Sephiroth’s x-stat value that year is probably around accurate on accident though, because based on their 2004 match there probably “should” have been notably more SFF in Cloud/Sephiroth even back then - it likely got hidden by the 2003 anti-Cloud backlash votes.

Hey, I think TP is great! I'm just talking about the game's current standing.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1368-should-there-be-another-character-battle-next-year

Yes, I can hardly wait!

I miss the days when that last option won

Also it's weird that the most negative choice is the top option on the poll

Bump

Bump again

Leonhart4 posted...

The 2003 Seph/Mega Man match had 26,835 more votes than their 2002 match. Mega Man had 28 more votes in 2003 than in 2002.

Everyone remembers 2003 for Cloud beating Link, but I'll always remember this absolutely bonkers stat.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3244-division-1-round-1-cecil-jade-wario-zack

Well, yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the beginning of the 2008 Character Battle, if we want to cover that one next...! First was the debut of ZackFAQs.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3245-division-1-round-1-link-luke-shadow-zidane

Followed by Link coming to town and LOL Shadow

Do people actually vote in every election they're able to? Do they vote in the primaries in off-years?

I cast doubt on this poll.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3246-division-1-round-1-duke-nukem-kefka-marth-niko

Not gonna lie, I kinda miss when Kefka was this pathetic

I think that Shadow performance looks a little better in retrospect. If even Sonic couldn't quite get 30% on Link due to SFF then Shadow managing to do just above 20% sounds sorta acceptable, and probably suggests he woulda beat Zidane 1-on-1. (nowadays though I'd just kind of expect another narrow Shadow failure against a somewhat stronger Zidane)

Knuckles beat Zidane in 2018, so I guess it depends on how close you think Shadow is to Knux.

You guys can examine it from the numbers side, but in my gut I take Shadow > Zidane today and don't think twice.

I wonder if Sonic Team does well these days considering the movies, TV Shows, Mania, Frontiers, etc.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7263-division-4-round-1-shadow-vs-ness

Does Zidane do better on Ness than that?

I still can’t believe that match happened.

KamikazePotato posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7263-division-4-round-1-shadow-vs-ness

Does Zidane do better on Ness than that?

I guess the question is Knuckles or 2B, who ya got?

Zidane and Shadow are pretty close to equal if those two are equal.

Leonhart4 posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3246-division-1-round-1-duke-nukem-kefka-marth-niko

Not gonna lie, I kinda miss when Kefka was this pathetic

Kefka and GTA being virtually even is one of those things that you can't believe happened twice despite the utter distance they would have from each other now.

If Zidane was in KH. Game over.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3247-division-1-round-1-altair-guybrush-isaac-lucario

2008 was the contest where we nominated as many Smash characters as possible thinking they'd all do well because of Brawl and then they did things like this

They had a bit of a redemption in 2018 though, what with Dedede, K Rool, Simon, and Bayonetta pushing decent competition to the limit.

Yeah, I think it helped we didn't go crazy with it like we did in 2008 (don't forget Nana was in this one!).

Yeah, 2018 mostly had big gains from characters who were actually popular to start with, and just needed the Smash rub to cross the next tier. The biggest reach was Isabelle, and someone has to lay down for X in the first round anyway.

I think Isabelle only got in because she was the most recent reveal trailer during noms.

Was about to say that Joker was one instance who relative disappointed, then remembered:

1. Joker's match was before he was announced for Smash
2. He got his school outfit for a match pic, not his Phantom Thieves outfit
3. He was saddled with 'Ren Amamiya' in his name:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7285-division-6-round-1-joker-vs-claire

Poor guy got done dirty.

We practically had to beg Allen to include "Joker" on the poll, too, because he was initially listed in the bracket as just "Ren Amamiya."

Did Allen think everyone would just mistake him for the Batman villain or something?

I would guess Allen hadn't played Persona 5 and didn't know any better.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3248-division-2-round-1-l-snake-luigi-roxas-sho

One of the wildest things about 2008 is that Liquid Snake got the MGS4 boost, not Ocelot.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2882-division-5-round-1-alucard-liquid-ness-zidane

Strangely enough, it's also the anniversary of the closest result in contest history, which also featured Liquid Snake!

Leonhart4 posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3247-division-1-round-1-altair-guybrush-isaac-lucario

2008 was the contest where we nominated as many Smash characters as possible thinking they'd all do well because of Brawl and then they did things like this

I think moving on a round makes it a worthwhile nomination though.

I mean you can say Lucario wasn't a wasted nomination, but nobody expected him to get crushed by Altair and struggle with Isaac

Wasn't it one of the cases where casuals got the better of us? I think more people had Altair advancing overall though I do recall us having way too high expectations for Lucario.

Ironically, I'd take Lucario in a rematch without hesitating, it was back when AC was worth something. I guess Lucario would have looked slightly better 1v1 maybe?

If only Isaac could have gotten into Smash.

Eh, I have no confidence that Lucario has gotten any better than the first time we saw him. There's a reason he's never been back. I know AC isn't what it used to be, but Altair still has a pretty iconic design and I think he'd invoke some nostalgia from people.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5236-character-battle-ix-division-4-round-2-altair-vs-lara-vs

I know this was a decade ago now but he didn't look too bad here

I think looking at AC's in 2010 and then 2015 makes it pretty clear the series decline also applied to the things from the time it was the most beloved. Ezio looked better in 2013 than 2018 also, even if Zelda ended up being one of the strongest. In 2013 the series hadn't quite yet reached how people view it today yet. Altair has likely dropped off a lot by now.

On the other hand, there's no reason for Lucario to be worse than in 2008. It's been a stable Pokemon since that has kept appearing in basically everything, probably better if anything since it's pretty beloved in the fandom and no one hates it for replacing Mewtwo (though that never actually happened). In 1v1 it also would not have Isaac or Marth to potentially hold it back a bit.

But I don't think Lucario needs to have gotten any stronger to beat Altair.

I'm not saying Lucario couldn't win. I just don't think it'd be a slam dunk. I don't trust any Pokemon that's not from Gen 1.

Yeah that's fair. Most of it comes from no confidence in Altair whatsoever.

Leonhart4 posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3248-division-2-round-1-l-snake-luigi-roxas-sho

One of the wildest things about 2008 is that Liquid Snake got the MGS4 boost, not Ocelot.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2882-division-5-round-1-alucard-liquid-ness-zidane

Strangely enough, it's also the anniversary of the closest result in contest history, which also featured Liquid Snake!

I mean…. um….

Technically it doesn’t matter since they’re the same character?

UltimaterializerX posted...

I mean…. um….

Technically it doesn’t matter since they’re the same character?

They aren't though. MGS4 established that it was Ocelot hypnotizing himself into becoming Liquid (although I guess whether it was real possession in MGS2 is up for debate).

Although I'm guessing it was your line of thinking that gave Liquid the boost instead!

Semmed like a never ending debate how much Ocelet actually planned out and controlled what was happening in regards to Liquid takeover