# Spring 2004 Game Contest _Board 8 wiki -- CC BY-SA 3.0. Contest overview plus 63 match writeups, in match order. Converted from MediaWiki to Markdown; navigation, image embeds and footnotes stripped. See ATTRIBUTION.md._ --- ## Spring 2004 Contest _source: Spring 2004 Contest (revid 88287)_ | Announced: | March ?, 2004 | |------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Started: | April 2, 2004 | | Ended: | May 6, 2004 | | Winner: | Final Fantasy VII | | Contest Winner: | UltimaterializerX - 185 points | | Notable matches: | CT/LttP, Halo/StarCraft, MGS/FFT SC/Wind Waker,Vice City/SSBM, FF7/OoT | **Spring 2004 Contest** **Best. Game. Ever.** was the first **Spring Contest** held on GameFAQs, in 2004. Many B8ers still consider it the best Contest ever. ### Ulti's Analysis **Division 8** The idea of the brackets being split up by division was nice, but Division 8 suffered the most from it. A good chunk of the games here didn\`t deserve to be in the contest at all, and the lack of Mega Man upset a large number of people. From the beginning, this was about Mario 3 vs Zelda 1, which was an anticlimactic as could be. Far too easy a division to call in my opinion, though I would suppose that Phantasy Star vs Contra was the sole reason 32-64 wound up being easier to predict according to percentage. That, and FF7/OOT was in that division as well. My favorite thing about this division was that the game which won the division -- Super Mario Brothers 3 -- was definitely a proper choice the game representing 8 bit gaming. **Division 16** This division had the best games of any division in this contest. All 16 of these games belonged here for one reason or the other, though some of them were obviously doomed in a contest setting. It made for legendary games going down early, most notable of which are Doom and Super Metroid going down in the second round. I still can't bring it to myself to believe LTTP was only a 6 seed. Something tells me that the match between LTTP and Super Metroid was forced. The same goes for Sonic 2 vs Mario World. That's quite the odd pair of coincidences. Either way, it was the best division in the contest, complete with its final being the best match of the entire contest. I couldn't necessarily agree with Chrono Trigger being the definitive game of the 16 bit era, but it was still a good representative all the way into the finals. Great story, great gameplay, decent characters and a great game. **Division 32-64** Thanks to Final Fantasy 7 and Ocarina of Time, this division had the highest prediction percentages in the entire contest. It also featured the closest match of the entire contest, and it also seemed to be a division split in half. FF7's half was loaded with Playstation titles, while OOT's half was stacked with Nintendo gems. I don't know if this happened on purpose, but it made for some wonderful irony in the end. Sadly, that irony was the only entertainment this division had to offer. **Division 128** Pure and absolute hell. Never in my life did I ever think I would see a division in which only 7% of people thought that the 2 seed would make it out. This was the most stacked division, as well as the strongest overall, in the contest by far. And this was a division in which a game that wasn't even from the 128 bit era dominated the headlines. There was also another Link vs Samus match that seemed somewhat forced in Prime vs Wind Waker. I also find it interesting that Starcraft had to go through the Xbox mascot, a Square RPG, and the Zelda game of the generation before finally bowing out to the Gamecube mascot. Which, I might add, only had to go through the three big Playstation 2 hits. This wasn't an easy task, but PS2's fanbase is beatable when they're isolated. Starcraft had to face off against entire fanbases, while SSBM got little chunks. Starcraft just seemed worn down by the time the divisional finals rolled around. But hey, tt least my favorite game from the division won it all. Having faith in SSBM is probably the biggest reason I won this contest \<\_\< ### See Also - 2004 Spring Contest Matches - complete writeups and information on every poll from the original Best Game Ever Contest ## Bracket
Contest Bracket
Division 8 Super Mario Bros. 3 The Legend of Zelda Super Mario Bros. 3 Chrono Trigger Chrono Trigger Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII
\(1\) Super Mario Bros. 3 (16) Metal Gear Super Mario Bros. 3 Metroid Super Mario Bros. 3 Final Fantasy
\(8\) Metroid (9) Pac-Man
\(5\) Phantasy Star (12) Contra Contra Final Fantasy
\(4\) Final Fantasy (13) Pitfall
\(6\) Donkey Kong (11) Duck Hunt Donkey Kong The Legend of Zelda The Legend of Zelda Tetris
\(3\) The Legend of Zelda (14) Adventure
\(7\) Pong (10) River City Ransom Pong Tetris
\(2\) Tetris (15) Galaga
Division 16 Chrono Trigger LoZ: A Link to the Past
\(1\) Chrono Trigger (16) Secret of Mana Chrono Trigger Super Mario RPG Chrono Trigger Super Mario World
\(8\) Super Mario RPG (9) Street Fighter II
\(5\) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (12) Shining Force Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Super Mario World
\(4\) Super Mario World (13) The Simpsons
\(6\) LoZ: A Link to the Past (11) Gunstar Heroes LoZ: A Link to the Past Super Metroid LoZ: A Link to the Past Final Fantasy VI
\(3\) Super Metroid (14) Phantasy Star IV
\(7\) Earthbound (10) Doom Doom Final Fantasy VI
\(2\) Final Fantasy VI (15) Mortal Kombat
Division 32-64 Final Fantasy VII LoZ: Ocarina of Time Final Fantasy VII Super Smash Bros. Melee
\(1\) Final Fantasy VII (16) Suikoden II Final Fantasy VII Xenogears Final Fantasy VII Metal Gear
\(8\) Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal (9) Xenogears
\(5\) Final Fantasy Tactics (12) Dance Dance Revolution Final Fantasy Tactics Metal Gear Solid
\(4\) Metal Gear Solid (13) Resident Evil
\(6\) Perfect Dark (11) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Goldeneye 007 Goldeneye 007 LoZ: Ocarina of Time
\(3\) Goldeneye 007 (14) Panzer Dragoon Saga
\(7\) Super Mario 64 (10) NiGHTS into Dreams... Super Mario 64 LoZ: Ocarina of Time
\(2\) LoZ: Ocarina of Time (15) Fallout 2
Division 128 Starcraft Super Smash Bros. Melee
\(1\) Halo: Combat Evolved (16) Starcraft Starcraft Kingdom Hearts Starcraft LoZ: The Wind Waker
\(8\) SoulCalibur (9) Kingdom Hearts
\(5\) LoZ: The Wind Waker (12) Skies of Arcadia LoZ: The Wind Waker Metroid Prime
\(4\) Metroid Prime (13) Half-Life
\(6\) Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (11) Fire Emblem Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Final Fantasy X Final Fantasy X Super Smash Bros. Melee
\(3\) Final Fantasy X (14) Shenmue
\(7\) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (10) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Super Smash Bros. Melee
\(2\) Super Smash Bros. Melee (15) Metal Gear Solid 2
### Ngamer's Analysis I was pumped for the Games Contest when it was announced, and enjoyed the heck out of it all the way through... even so, I think it's somewhat overrated in Best Contests lists. Yeah, all of Division 128 was fantastic, but that's only 1/4 the Contest, and outside of the modern era you just had CT/LttP, MGS/FFT, DK/DH, and then a ton of SFF killings and super-hyped matchups that ended up being busts (FF7/OoT, Mario 3/Zelda 1). Not to be too harsh, though, because like I said, 128 was so far and away the greatest Division in Contest history (plus CT/LttP is perhaps the best match ever) that even with all its faults Games '04 is still a top contender for "greatest Contest" status. --- ## (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (16)Metal Gear 2004 _source: (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (16)Metal Gear 2004 (revid 80275)_ ## Results Friday, April 2nd, 2004 - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 01 - **Match Date:** Friday, April 2nd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 48,162 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Mario Bros. 3 - 80.59% 81 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Mario Bros. 3 - 86.56% (35,438 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis This match was never actually in any doubt. Everyone knew that Mario 3 was going to win, and big. Only MWIS decided to be a joker and swing the other way on this match, despite the fact that he also knew Mario 3 was going to win. This match was instead more about how the rest of the contest was going to shape up, and sadly, it got off on the wrong foot. The first two polls in this contest were placed underneath a 'main' poll which was sponsored by GameRiot. At first, we thought nothing of it. But trust me, there would be plenty of places to put blame on for the low voter turnout in so many matches in this contest. We ended the Summer 2003 Contest by swinging in over 100,000 votes per match. Yet those numbers were ancient memory in this contest. Blame the spring, blame school, blame the video game industry being a mere shell of what it once was, blame the contest not being as popular as it once was, or even blame the contest itself for being rather predictable. But at the very least, something can be blamed for such a drop in contest popularity in a mere six months, and we had yet to deal with a new layout at this point. If you ask me, the contest didn't have enough time to be hyped up this time around. That, and most people felt that FF7 was a lock to win it all anyway. Still, it has its good side. After all, it's a contest on gamefaqs. The boards were busier, polls were getting more votes, and we were seemingly in for one hell of a ride. Bumpy of course, but at least we had something to do for awhile. One thing I need to note about this match before moving on is the prediction percentage. 40090 people filled out brackets, and 5388 of them picked Metal Gear (or 'Meal Gear' if you're looking at the current stats page) to win this match for whatever reason. If anything in this match stands out, that would be it. Other than that, just a starter match with somewhat of a low turnout. And a free point for everyone, which is always nice =) ## Stats and Analysis #### Before the Match The news of a contest in the spring was something new and exciting; the fact that it was a game contest made it all the better. There was worry about the contest being an April Fool's joke, as this match was slated to begin on April Fool's Day, but CJayC pushed this match back one day to reassure us that everything was genuine. The matchup between Super Mario Bros. 3 and Metal Gear was expected to be a one-sided affair, but it would open the contest with a bang, and to show us what one of the most popular Mario games could do in this setting. #### After the Match The match was a big blowout, as expected, as Super Mario Bros. 3 ripped Metal Gear a new one. The real controversy was just outside of the match. CJayC had put an additional poll sponsored by GameRiot above this match, which lead to a decrease in vote totals compared to many matches in the Summer 2003 Contest. This sponsored poll would appear in the next match as well. #### Interesting Facts - On the [stats page](http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/contest/c04spr), Metal Gear was listed as "Meal Gear". ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=1) • **No Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (8)Metroid vs (9)Pac-Man 2004 _source: (8)Metroid vs (9)Pac-Man 2004 (revid 88776)_ ## Results Saturday, April 3rd, 2004 - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 02 - **Match Date:** Saturday, April 3rd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 26,931 - **Oracle Expectations:** Metroid - 61.75% 72 for - 3 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Metroid - 76.22% (31,204 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis Unfortunately, Pac Man was surprisingly blown out in this match. The match was the first of the contest that had any board hype whatsoever coming into it, but Division 8 and its voting block was all about nostalgia. Along those lines, Pac Man simply doesn't fit the bill on our site. It appeals to the old-time gamers more than anyone, as it was one of their first titles. And when I say old-time, we're talking guys like ChichiriMuyo and myself, or the old women that go and play Pac Man slots in the casinos. Our little gamefaqs fanbase whose average age is between the teen years and the young twenties doesn't care about Pac Man as much as a game that has the word Metroid in the title. I think it's that simple, when it comes down to it. Hell, Pac Man lost to a piece of lettuce named Kefka last year, so it's no surprise that he lost to a badassed bounty hunter with a knack for Kid Icarus. Yet all this being said, board hype was high, prediction percentages were low, and the hype surrounding the Metroid games having a chance to beat the Zelda games was beginning to take form. Yeah, we wish. ## Stats and Analysis #### Before the Match The second match of Division 8 was another blast from the past, as the debut games of Samus Aran and Pac-Man squared off. While Pac-Man ushered in an arcade frenzy in its day, Metroid was the favorite in this matchup, due to its Nintendo roots. The match pic wasn't doing Pac-Man any favors either. #### After the Match Pac-Man would not make a match out of this, as Metroid cruised to the easy doubling. Despite the cries of Villainous Magus, there was no hope for the underdog. The GameRiot poll appeared for the second straight match and hurt the vote totals. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=2) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (5)Phantasy Star vs (12)Contra 2004 _source: (5)Phantasy Star vs (12)Contra 2004 (revid 80277)_ ## Results Sunday, April 4th, 2004 - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 03 - **Match Date:** Sunday, April 4th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 20,080 - **Oracle Expectations:** Contra - 52.70% 49 for - 27 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Contra - 56.40% (23,090 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis When the bracket first came out, there were only three matches in Division 8 that were hard to call at all. One of them was this match, Phantasy Star vs Contra, where CJayC's flawed nomination system took precedence. You were only allowed to pick one game per system. This caused all sorts of chaos on parts of the bracket. We won't get into the example of this until later, but I'm sure everyone can guess what it is. The problem with this system? The weaker systems that only have one or two notable titles got their best games into the bracket with ease, while the more competitive systems had to duke it out with games from their own system to get in the contest in the first place. Many undeserving games got into the contest because of this, which shafted a few legendary titles. As such, Phantasy Star, one of the few notable games from the Sega Master System, got into this contest as a 5 seed. Meanwhile, Contra has to claw and scratch its way through Nintendo nominations just to get in. Its reward? One of the most overhyped matches of the first round. Not only did Phantasy Star prove to be totally undeserving of its seed, but it helped prove that franchises don't help games with individual matches. The success of Phantasy Star Online was supposed to be the deciding factor in Phantasy Star's victory here; instead, Contra beat Phantasy Star all over the place in this poll. I guess franchise votes don't matter much if your game's title doesn't have 'Final Fantasy' in it somewhere. It's a shame too, because barely half of the bracketmakers managed to get this one correct. The 5 seed was reassuring for some reason, but it failed miserably. The game with the rugged soldiers and the most legendary cheat code in the world moves on with relative ease. This not only proved that Contra has quite the fanbase, but that Phantasy Star 4 had zero chance whatsoever of taking down Super Metroid. ## Stats and Analysis #### Before the Match This was a matchup between two games on different ends of the spectrum. Phantasy Star came in with the 5 seed, and was the only Sega Master System game in the contest. Contra was, like others, an NES game and made the underdog in seeding. There was arguments on both sides, with Phantasy Star to get support from the other Phantasy Star titles, and Contra's popularity in the hardcore crowd (don't forget the Konami Code!) #### After the Match This was a match that Contra would not lose. It took the win easily with 61% of the vote, leaving the board to debate the reasons for Phantasy Star's failure. The widely accepted reason was that Phantasy Star received many nominations due to the nomination system, which asked for one game per game system. #### Interesting Facts - This match happened on the same day as Daylight Saving Time, which meant that the match only lasted 23 hours. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=3) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Final Fantasy vs (13)Pitfall 2004 _source: (4)Final Fantasy vs (13)Pitfall 2004 (revid 80278)_ ## Results Monday, April 5th, 2004 - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 04 - **Match Date:** Monday, April 5th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 74,682 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy - 81.80% 77 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy - 96.46% (39,491 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis As you can see, this was a beating of epic proportions. Not only did Final Fantasy completely own this poll despite having no exclamation points in its title, but it managed to have the second highest prediction percentage of any match in Division 8. Many of the stat nuts on this board were, including myself, were wondering why Super Mario 3's prediction percentages were so low, but I think much of the blame can be placed on Final Fantasy. Honestly, go look at the percentages for this half division. It makes no sense for Mario 3's stats to be so low in an eight pack that it had no chance of losing, but the numbers don't lie. In other news, isn't it nice to see high-scoring polls? We didn't get too many of them, but this poll was uninterrupted. The old layout, one poll, no distractions. The good old days, which sadly shall never return to us. Another thing that was sad was how obvious it was that Contra had no chance to beat Final Fantasy as this poll was taking place. Sheer dominance for one of the more mediocre games in the series. Am I missing something here....?? Oh of course! I AM THE BLACK MAGE! I CAST THE SPELLS THAT MAKES THE PEOPLES FALL DOWN!! Like you were getting through this analysis without an 8-Bit Theater reference. Keep dreaming. ## Stats and Analysis #### Before the Match Final Fantasy was developer Square's last shot at making money, and the result was a franchise. It was the effect of franchise voting that made Final Fantasy an intriguing competitor in this tournament. Final Fantasy VII was regarded as the most popular game on GameFAQs, and if enough fans of that game supported the NES original, an upset over Super Mario Bros. 3 was possible. But first it had to take care of business against the classic Pitfall. #### After the Match Final Fantasy took care of business alright, winning this match by a massive margin. It was clear that Final Fantasy was on a collision course with Super Mario Bros. 3, while Pitfall Harry was left to pick up the pieces of his game. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=4) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)Donkey Kong vs (11)Duck Hunt 2004 _source: (6)Donkey Kong vs (11)Duck Hunt 2004 (revid 80279)_ ## Results Tuesday, April 6th, 2004 - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 05 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, April 6th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 143 - **Oracle Expectations:** Donkey Kong - 52.70% 52 for - 25 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Donkey Kong - 73.22% (29,976 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis This was the most hotly-debated first round matchup within Division 8. Contra/Phantasy Star and Pong/River City Ransom came close, but most people knew where those polls were going. In this poll however, each game had a decent shot of pulling it out. And why? Because for whatever reason, Donkey Kong has become one of the weak links for the Nintendo franchise in these contests. Back in 2002, Donkey Kong was the first to show us what it was like to wear out the F5 button on our keyboards during his matchup with Aya Brea. He fell behind early, but came back with the morning vote. After the two characters were tied for what seemed like forever, Donkey Kong finally took the lead for good. In 2003, Donkey Kong had a similar matchup with Tommy Vercetti of Grand Theft Auto fame. Vercetti took a small early lead on Donkey Kong, but the big ape spent the entire day fighting his way back into the match before bracket voters were barely able to put Donkey Kong away. With Donkey Kong's tradition of getting into close matchups in this contest, the bracket was kind enough to give him Duck Hunt as his first round opponent. What seemed like a simple 6-11 victory turned into a massive board debate once people learned of Duck Hunt's good chances at winning the match. Erasers were taken to brackets all over the board, and this turned into a bigger Division 8 upset special than Phantasy Star vs Contra. Again, most people on the board knew that Phantasy Star had no chance. In Duck Hunt's case however, it was much different. Even the Prophet Challenge was only favoring Donkey Kong by a 2:1 ratio, which never happens for a game that was once so heavily favored to win its match. In the span of a few days, Donkey Kong went from a lock to win the match to a game with a bullseye on it for upset-minded bracketmakers. Unfortunately, the poll started around as bland as it could. Donkey Kong jumped out to an early 60-40 split in the poll, and Duck Hunt was all but dead in the water. All that excitement for nothing, apparently... ...or was it? By the time 10:30 AM Eastern rolled around, Donkey Kong was seemingly in complete control over the match. He had a commanding lead of nearly 3300 votes, and it was nothing more than waiting for the next poll to open up after so much hype had been put into the match. But hold the phone here. Did Duck Hunt just cut into the lead? Eh, no big deal. It was only one update. Wait a second, did Duck Hunt just slice into the lead again? Aww, who cares. Donkey Kong is still up by over 3200 votes. But do my eyes deceive me? Did Duck Hunt just cut into the lead again? And again? And AGAIN? Oh believe it, for the comeback trail was on. Duck Hunt began throwing everything it had at Donkey Kong in this match in its efforts to come back, despite the fact that the largest successful comeback ever seen in any contest was merely 1500 votes in the Sonic/Samus match of 2002. Still, Duck Hunt could care less. It felt that it could easily come back from being down over twice as much, and put on one of the most amazing charges ever seen in one of these contests. Throughout the day, Duck Hunt kept chipping away at the lead, with minimal resistance from Donkey Kong in retaliation. Duck Hunt also picked up a ton of steam as the day progressed, and managed to tear into Donkey Kong's lead with updated in which it cut over 100 votes off the lead all at once. As you could imagine, the board was going nuts by the time the evening rolled around. The update topics were on fire, the bracketmakers were going at it all over the place, and with each new update, the hysteria only grew louder. Only on GameFAQs could Donkey Kong and Duck Hunt going at it ever be exciting. In the evening hours, Duck Hunt managed to get the lead to less than 1000 votes, and the anticipation of the closing of the match was imminent. However, Donkey Kong had almost 75% of the brackets, time, and bracket voters on his side. Throughout the evening hours, Duck Hunt's gains grew smaller and smaller, and Donkey Kong even managed to win an occasional update to keep himself from being upended in the match. But on the other side of all of this, Duck Hunt was still making a push to try to win the match. And had time not run out, Duck Hunt would have most definitely won. For the last three hours of the match, the voter turnout slowed down to the point where Duck Hunt's gains simply weren't enough for it to be able to overcome the bracket voters before the end of the match. For every small push Duck Hunt made within the final few hours, Donkey Kong managed to fight back just enough to hang on tight to the lead, as well as the match. This irritated the Duck Hunt fans to no end, but it was still fun to see. Within the final hour, Duck Hunt made a huge push to close the gap to 143, but the poll closed before any more damage could be done to the big ape. Despite being battered, bruised, and beaten halfway to hell for 16½ hours of the poll, Donkey Kong walked away a winner. How did this happen? If bracket voting was ever the difference in a match, this was it. Compared to how close the match turned out to be, an overwhelming percentage of people had Donkey Kong winning in their brackets. And while I firmly believe that people don't care about their brackets given the right match, I don't exactly think this was one such matchup. Donkey Kong, despite all of his strengths and the various pleas from Donkey Kong (the user on gamefaqs named Donkey Kong, of course =p) himself, found himself in another knock-down, drag out match. Only this time, it is obvious that he would have lost had the poll gone on just a tad bit longer. Donkey Kong, in his own right, is a gaming legend. His game was the first to feature Mario (or Jumpman for you technical people), and it was one of the games that influenced the industry. But as a character, he doesn't seem to be able to get the love that his fellow Nintendo brethren are able to see. Outside of the Donkey Kong Country series and the original title, he doesn't come across as being as well-loved as the heavy hitters of the franchise, which causes him to be about as unreliable as they come in these contests. It's not like Nintendo has made any real effort to boost Donkey Kong's popularity, either. His last game was Donkey Kong 64. Think about how long ago that was, then think about how bad the game was. Not fitting for a character who is trying to make it to the next level in our popularity contests. By the sheer letter of the match, Donkey Kong won. But in spirit, his game got his ass handed to it by Duck Hunt. For the better part of 16 hours, Duck Hunt was winning nearly every update in the poll. And we aren't talking weak updates here either. We're talking a consistent push on the lead, with 100 vote gains mixed in to make sure Donkey Kong was being threatened. In this match, Donkey Kong was very lucky to have his bracket and fan support, because he could have easily lost otherwise. And any doubts as to how unreliable Donkey Kong is were proven beyond any doubt in its next match. ## Stats and Analysis Division 8's most debatable match was an unassuming one: a giant ape taking on a flock of ducks. Duck Hunt was a popular upset pick due to Donkey Kong's prior failures (nearly losing to Aya Brea in 2002, leading Tommy Vercetti only to blow the match in 2003). When it's close, don't support Donkey Kong, is what they said, and who could have guessed that Donkey Kong the game would experience something very similar to Donkey Kong the character. Donkey Kong took control of the match early, and even had a solid lead after 10 hours. It looked like Duck Hunt would be the underdog pick that didn't pan out...but there will still 14 hours to go. With that time in its pocket, Duck Hunt began to chip away at the lead. Donkey Kong entered panic mode as its lead kept draining away slowly. But Duck Hunt's gaining was too slow, and in the end, Donkey Kong escaped with a win of 143 votes after being pecked to near-death for much of the poll. Once again, Donkey Kong presented a match for the history books, and looked bad doing so. ## Ed Bellis' Analysis Remember when I said that the most inconsequential matches are often the most entertaining? It doesn’t hold true for any match more than this one. A hotly-debated Round One match saw what IIRC was the single biggest comeback in contest history at the time – and I’m pretty sure it remained that way until DK himself tried to come back against Master Chief in 2005. In both cases, the comeback failed, but it made for a helluva match regardless. Donkey Kong led for the majority of the match, but Duck Hunt - Duck Hunt! - zoomed back in for an amazing comeback that nobody thought was possible at the time. The two classic games duked it out for the rest of the day until Donkey Kong managed to pull off a narrow win. Either way the match was destined to be a one-pointer, but who cares? It’s not the end result that makes these contests, it’s the journey to get there. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=5) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)The Legend of Zelda vs (14)Adventure 2004 _source: (3)The Legend of Zelda vs (14)Adventure 2004 (revid 85570)_ ## Results Wednesday, April 7th, 2004 - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 06 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, April 7th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 88,208 - **Oracle Expectations:** The Legend of Zelda - 89.08% 78 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** The Legend of Zelda - 99.02% (40,539 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis This is about as dominant a performance as you can get. This match set records all over the place in terms of pure beatings, and Adventure, while very influential in the industry, got its ass whipped in this match. It's simply too old and far obscure to do much of anything in a poll on our site. Why did it make it, you ask? The nomination system. Few titles from the various Atari systems are noteworthy, but Adventure would be one of them. There is also the tidbit that CJayC openly stated that he tweaked the bracket a tiny bit to get more interesting matches. So maybe he knew how influential Adventure was and put it in to see how it would do? Who knows. A couple of interesting things to note about this match before I move on. Adventure managed to make the Top 100 list on IGN's list. And while their list truly has some issues (no Mario 3 or Final Fantasy 7), Adventure even being mentioned was something. Also, Aventure managed to make it all the way up to \#13 on our FAQ list on the site during this match. Another thing of note is that this match featured the highest prediction percentage of any in the contest. As for The Legend of Zelda, this was no surprise. It's Zelda. But when your opponent sets a record for futility set back in 2002 by Ms. Pac Man during a time when vote totals were lower than they are now, you are showing some true power. And it wasn't like it was even close, either. Adventure beat Mrs. Pac Man's record by at least 500 votes. Zelda fever started hitting the board after this matchup, and many people, including yours truly, were wondering whether or not Zelda was going to completely own this contest. I originally had Mario 3 over Zelda 1 in the Elite 8, but this match made me think twice about it. I'm sure it made others do a double take as well. 95% of the vote against anything is no joke, and the female population of gamefaqs outnumbers the people who voted for Adventure in this match. Scary. ## Stats and Analysis 3 vs 14. Zelda vs ...what? That was all that needed to be said to give The Legend of Zelda a win in this match. Adventure was so obscure that few people had heard of it. In fact, during the match, Adventure's FAQ rating skyrocketed as thousands of people checked to see just what The Legend of Zelda was facing. But there was something more memorable than Adventure's FAQ rank. Adventure set several records of futility in this match that are not likely to be broken. It could not even break 5% in this match, and lost by over 88,000 votes. The Legend of Zelda flat out destroyed the Atari game, which was lucky to get as many votes as it did. The Zelda series looked like a titanic force after its first match. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=6) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (7)Pong vs (10)River City Ransom 2004 _source: (7)Pong vs (10)River City Ransom 2004 (revid 80281)_ ## Results Thursday, April 8th, 2004 - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 07 - **Match Date:** Thursday, April 8th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 30,544 - **Oracle Expectations:** Pong - 61.98% 75 for - 4 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Pong - 71.71% (29,358 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis This match was a perfect example of when not to listen to board hype. If you had Pong in your bracket and thought it would win because few people have ever heard of River City Ransom, a winner is you. In the hours leading up to the match, River City Ransom fans and bracketmakers swore up and down that RCR was a huge favorite and that Pong was too old to do any damage in this match. When the match picture was brought up and we all saw this dinky little yellow thing named Pong, the cries to give RCR some respect got louder. This all wound up being followed up by one of the biggest letdowns of the contest. Pong nearly managed 70% of the vote against River City Ransom. Pong fever took over the board that day too, in the form of multiple links pointing people toward playing Pong. Normal Pong, Mini Pong, Newgrounds Pong, 3D Pong, Giant Pong... you name it, you had a link for it in this match. Throughout the day, the normal board argument of the better game not winning broke out, which leads me to ask a question. How many people remembered that this is nothing more than a popularity contest? I'm a firm believer that the best games didn't always win, and I even had to go against some of my favorites in my bracket, but it doesn't exactly matter who wins. Does your favorite losing in a poll affect your life in any way at all (unless you're a Starcraft fan)? No. And I'm not trolling the SC fanbase, by the way. More on what I meant later. As for River City Ransom, it was a huge dud in this contest. Billed to be the game out to finally gain some respect for itself, it let the second video game ever made beat it all over the poll. But hey, at least it made our GameFAQs Top 50 for a little while. And to this day, it is still on the Top 10 NES lists for Message Board activity and FAQ hits. The fanbase is definitely there, it just didn't show up in today's match. Come to think of it, some guy at EB tried selling me a rerelease of RCR the other day. I laughed at him and bought Link to the Past. ## Stats and Analysis The 7-10 matchup was between Pong and River City Ransom, name value vs cult classic. If you've found this page, you know what Pong is. It was the first game to gain massive appeal in the United States, and helped start the gaming boom before the crash of Atari. You may not know what River City Ransom is. The NES game has a hardcore fanbase, as evidenced by its 10 seed, but it didn't break into the mainstream like Mario and Zelda games did. The thing about cult classics is that they're called cult for a reason. No matter how loyal the fans of a cult classic are, they can not clone themselves. It was this problem that lead to River City Ransom's downfall, as Pong got the solid win, arcade machine picture and all. Pong may not be very notable in the world of gaming today, but it is universally known, and that was all it needed to get a win here. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=7) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Tetris vs (15)Galaga 2004 _source: (2)Tetris vs (15)Galaga 2004 (revid 55656)_ ## Results Friday, April 9th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 08 - **Match Date:** Friday, April 9th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 47,747 - **Oracle Expectations:** Tetris - 79.57% 79 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Tetris - 88.60% (36,273 brackets) And with this match, the archaic division's first round came to a close. Everything in this division was about nostalgia votes, and every match went as expected without any real upsets. The only thing to really note about this match is that Galaga performed far better than expected for much of the poll, and it was a late push by Tetris that really pushed its percentage higher. Tetris's performance was so 'neh' that our very own Slowflake made a couple of great posts about how Pong might shock the world and beat Tetris in the next round. Scary I know, but a 2 seed underperforming for much of the poll is never a good thing. But still, Tetris survived and advanced, which is all that counts. I'm just curious as to the 11.4% of bracketmakers who actually thought Tetris was winning this match. Galaga performed better than expected for a long time, but it still got its ass kicked. This division was clearly the easiest to call in the contest. Aside from a near-flop by Donkey Kong and the imminent clash of Mario 3 and Zelda 1 in the divisional final, none of these matches were particularly hard to see coming. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=8) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Chrono Trigger vs (16)Secret of Mana 2004 _source: (1)Chrono Trigger vs (16)Secret of Mana 2004 (revid 55658)_ ## Results Saturday, April 10th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 09 - **Match Date:** Saturday, April 10th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 53,087 - **Oracle Expectations:** Chrono Trigger - 81.94% 81 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Chrono Trigger - 92.20% (37,747 brackets) And thus, Chrono Trigger's bid to prove that it was deserving of the 1 seed in Division 16 begun. Division 16 was the second hardest division in this contest to call, simply because it seemed like it would be such a tossup between the three heavy hitters of the division. There were also lesser titles that seemed like they had a decent chance at causing some upsets within the division as well. And then there is the issue of many, many gamers thinking that the era this division represents is indicative of the golden age of gaming. Within it were difficult RPGs (an oxymoron nowadays), legendary titles that have stood the test of time, revolutionary games that are simply a standard for what gaming is supposed to be, and quite possibly the best console ever created in the SNES. Only taking 16 games to represent this era seemed like an insult, but that's simply the way the bracket was laid out. It all begins and ends with Nu, er.... Chrono Trigger. CT nabbed the 1 seed in the division, and quite fairly. Chrono Trigger has become one of the board mascots over the last two years, so it was only fitting that Chrono Trigger somehow manage to land the 1 seed within the division. But could this translate into success in the polls? Well, yes and no. Considering we know how the contest plays out, it's easy to say that Chrono Trigger performed as expected. But if you looked at the match against Secret of Mana, you might have been scratching your head for awhile. Chrono Trigger got off to a fast start, but lost a ton of steam when the time came for the afternoon vote. It lost so much steam that its percentage was actually going down against a 16 seed. Ouch. But Chrono Trigger managed to recover to win with nearly 80% of the vote. But even then, people were concerned for awhile, as this was not the 1 seed style beating indicative of a game that was supposedly a lock for the finals in the eyes of many bracketmakers. The odd thing is that Chrono Trigger would take on this pattern in every match it was involved with. The question was whether or not it would cost Chrono Trigger a match down the line. Beating a 16 seed in this manner is nice, but what of Chrono Trigger's well-being should it take on such a lax approach with the afternoon vote against a game that could actually beat it? Only time would tell. Speaking of which, I haven't yet mentioned that the starting time of the poll was changed prior to this contest. In the past, the poll would start at 1 AM EST. For this contest, it seems that CJayC has updated the poll starting time to 3 AM. It makes enough sense when one considers that 3 AM EST is Midnight Pacific, but I personally think it took a huge part of the fun out of the contest. Not everyone on the eastern half of the US has the pleasure of being able to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning to see the ending of the poll, and even the western crowd may have had issues. Staying up until midnight every day is not all that easy to do, especially for the younger crowd of GameFAQs. This change also varied the trends within the contest. We used to simply have a night vote, morning vote, afternoon vote, and evening vote. But with the start time changed, we now had five different voting blocks going in every match. To be simple, this created hell in many a match, including causing multiple matches to have comeback victories. But if there was one game in this contest that simply owned the night vote no matter who it was up against, it was Chrono Trigger. And it had to prove it time and time again in this contest. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=9) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (8)Super Mario RPG vs (9)Street Fighter II 2004 _source: (8)Super Mario RPG vs (9)Street Fighter II 2004 (revid 85572)_ ## Results Sunday, April 11th, 2004 - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 10 - **Match Date:** Sunday, April 11th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 12,076 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Mario RPG - 53.10% 53 for - 30 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Mario RPG - 47.83% (19,582 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis This match had quite the board hype going for it in the days leading up to the match, and for good reason. It was the hardest match to call in the first round of Division 16. It was also the first match in which less than half of the bracketmakers managed to get the winner correct. It makes perfect sense, because few polls could have been split down the middle more than this one. On one end, there is Super Mario RPG, one of the more fun RPGs out there, and labeled with the fact that it is Square, Nintendo, an RPG, and in a poll on gamefaqs. All of these things mixed together seemed like the perfect combination for a win, but not so fast. Mario RPG, while one of the most fun games I've ever played, is one of those games that can be referred to as a cult classic. Big when it first came out, but only a small fanbase remains vehemently dedicated to it nowadays. As a side note, I happen to have just entered Moleville a few minutes ago. Everything that Mario RPG needed to win the match was there, but the game itself was no where near strong enough to allow people to lock it in for a win. Especially not when you consider what it was up against. If anyone has looked at this board since this match, you are now a scholar in the art of Street Fighter. You know that it is the fighting game that revolutionized the genre, as well as the first fighting game that featured combos. For its day, the graphics were amazing, the characters stood out from one another, and the gameplay was so fun and addictive that Street Fighter 2 was to arcades during its prime what Dance Dance Revolution is to arcades in present day. Arcades literally stayed open with the revenue brought in by Street Fighter 2 back in the day, and the amount of fans that are still loyal to and play the game on a regular basis are a testament to how good the game truly is. But all this aside, the games had nothing to do with one another. You either sided with one or the other, and each game had great reasons why it should win. After all of the pre-match discussion was done and over with, the match finally started. Mario RPG jumped out to an early 62-38 split, but it didn't take long for Street Fighter 2 to claw its way back into the match. Throughout the first 5 hours of the poll, Street Fighter 2 managed to not only climb back into the match, but it took a lead of around 120. But we soon learned that Mario RPG was not released in many foreign countries, specifically Europe, and this is why Street Fighter 2 was able to do what it was doing early on. Fighting games are quite big in Europe, for Square doesn't like them for some reason. At any rate, the American fanbase, as well as the gamefaqs bias toward Square RPGs, begun to kick in the with morning vote. Mario RPG not only came back from being down by that small amount, but it soon blew Street Fighter 2 out of the water. It wound up being one of only three matches I missed in the entire contest, but that isn't the half of what went wrong in this match. Once Street Fighter 2 lost, it began the single longest chain of whining ever seen from any fanbase on the board. Most of the 'How in the hell did \_\_\_\_\_\_ lose?' topics end after a few days. But not Street Fighter 2's fanbase, oh no. The topics are still going on, even now that the contest is over. Granted it's just a fad by this point, but some people are actually serious about them. If anything, Street Fighter 2 has quite the loyal fanbase behind it. But the topics make enough sense. Street Fighter 2 is seriously that good. Without it, fighting games would still exist, and they would all suck. But don't let this sound like I'm upset that Mario RPG won or anything. It's one of my favorite games, and one that I was planning on getting with my prize until Tanya brought her SNES collection home from her parent's place one day. It's a fun little Square-Nintendo RPG that I would recommend to literally anyone, save the random fan of the Street Fighter franchise that might smash it with a hammer ~\_^ All in all, it was a good match. Two even games went at it, and only one could win. Sucks, but 63 of the games in this contest were destined to go home unhappy. As for the overall effect of the match, it wasn't as big as some would make it seem. Neither of these two games had any chance in hell of taking down Chrono Trigger, so in the end, it meant one measly little point. Big deal. The true fun of this contest is everything that surrounds it, not just the brackets. ## Stats and Analysis Look up the word ‘incredulous’ in the dictionary and you’ll find a screenshot of the board during and after this match. Even today, the phrase WTF SF2 LOST?!? is synonymous with post-match whining, rivaled in intensity only by a lesser match from the Series contest, Super Smash Bros. vs Dragon Quest and Fallout 3 vs Deus Ex 2010 (and possibly the 2007 contest with “joke characters”). In retrospect the intensity of the board’s whining overplayed the match – it was only a one-point affair, and though it had a tossup winner, it wasn’t anything to get bent out of shape about – the winner still got mauled by Chrono Trigger. Still, the hilarity of the board’s reaction makes this one for the record books. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=10) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (5)Sonic the Hedgehog 2 vs (12)Shining Force 2004 _source: (5)Sonic the Hedgehog 2 vs (12)Shining Force 2004 (revid 55662)_ ## Results Monday, April 12th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 11 - **Match Date:** Monday, April 12th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 59,648 - **Oracle Expectations:** Sonic 2 - 74.05% 80 for - 3 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Sonic 2 - 89.25% (36,539 brackets) This matchup set off a chain of four straight predetermined blowouts pitting big name games against games that most likely didn't even deserve to be in the contest, let alone have a chance to actually win a match. The first of the four blowouts was Sonic 2 vs Shining Force, and frankly, the only entertaining thing about this match was Popo making a topic asking why Sonic 2 was being put up against a made-up game. Yes, we tried that hard to get drama from this thing. Speaking of which, how did 10.75% of people think that Shining Force stood any chance whatsoever? A little-known Sega RPG stands no chance against Sega's mascot. The odd thing is that Sonic 2 performed quite well in this match. So well in fact that a large contingency of Sonic fans on the board began gathering steam in their efforts to convince people that Sonic 2 could very well take down Super Mario World. After all, it's Sonic vs Mario, right? And 4 seeds always have issues with 5 seeds, yes? HEH. What wound up happening in that match was something else entirely, but we'll get into that later. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=11) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Super Mario World vs (13)The Simpsons 2004 _source: (4)Super Mario World vs (13)The Simpsons 2004 (revid 55664)_ ## Results Tuesday, April 13th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 12 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, April 13th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 61,229 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Mario World - 77.91% 83 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Mario World - 95.91% (39,266 brackets) If anyone thought Mario was somewhat weakened after the events of Summer 2002 Contest and Summer 2003 Contest, I hope they were at least put to rest after this match. The Simpsons arcade game is no slouch whatsoever, yet Mario World completely killed it. And not only that, but almost 96% of brackets picking Mario World to win is no joke whatsoever. This was the second in our four part series of watching some 16 bit heavy hitters destroy inferior 'Just happy to be here' opponents, and it isn't like I can say much here. The Simpsons never stood a chance, and this match is simply another example of outside mediums meaning squat in polls on our site. But along those lines, don't think I'm bashing The Simpsons at all. Aside from being a good animated series, the arcade game was one of the most fun I've ever played. It's just that it never stood a chance to win this match, that's all. After all, Mario World had the full force of the enigma known as LUE behind it. It was also the launch title for what some believe to be the greatest system ever made, the SNES. What surprises me is how many people maintained that Mario World was in trouble against Sonic 2 after this match. The numbers being somewhat similar only tell part of the story. Mario World scored more than Sonic 2 in the first round, and it also held a stronger opponent to less votes. The game was over for Sonic 2 right then and there, but we're getting well ahead of ourselves. A winner is Super Mario World, and only a seven year old epileptic hermit with one functioning eye could have possibly thought otherwise. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=12) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past vs (11)Gunstar Heroes 2004 _source: (6)The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past vs (11)Gunstar Heroes 2004 (revid 64103)_ ## Results Wednesday, April 14th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 13 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, April 14th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 78,272 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link to the Past - 86.16% 85 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link to the Past - 97.75% (40,019 brackets) Another division, another display of Zelda dominance. This match featured the highest prediction percentage, the biggest blowout in terns of vote difference, and one of the single highest voting outputs in the entire contest. Gunstar Heroes may have been influential, but it doesn't come close to being well-known enough to do serious damage in this contest. Nothing more than fodder for LTTP, despite CJayC's claim that 'Any one of these games can win it all. It just depends on who comes out to vote.' It was no question who would win this match. Zelda is one of the best series in gaming, plain and simple. And this match made a ton of people, including yours truly, wonder just how strong Zelda was in this contest. When you factor in the underdog vote, joke votes, anti-votes, and all of that other jazz, holding any game under 10% is not easy to do. Yet through two matches, the Zelda series was 2-0 and looking like it would dominate the entire contest. Those of us who didn't think a single Zelda game would make the Final Four really started to wonder after this match. There were also a select group of Metroid fans (NeoElfboy, Xenobi) who maintained that this victory didn't mean all that much, and that any performance against Gunstar Heroes, one of the weakest games in the contest, should be taken with a grain of salt. We all know how that turned out, but more on it later. The other thing I found really stupid was LTTP's seeding. CJayC mentioned that 99% of the bracket was done purely based on seeding and that he only tweaked the bracket just a little. The more I think about it, the more I think that LTTP being a 6 seed in this contest, behind Super Metroid, FF6, Mario World, and Sonic 2 I might add, was manipulation by CJayC in order to have LTTP and Super Metroid, arguably the two best Nintendo-based SNES games out there, against each other in the second round. It's very difficult to think that the nomination philosophy of 'It will get in anyway, so I'm going to nominate an underdog' applies to LTTP moreso than any other game in the contest. It sure didn't seem to bother the Final Fantasy series, Chrono Trigger, or Halo all that much. The examples aren't many, but they are there. If you look at the bracket very closely, you can cite some instances where CJayC was trying to get the more interesting matches. Perfect Dark vs Goldeneye? Mario World vs Sonic 2? Super Metroid vs LTTP? Metroid Prime vs Wind Waker? Puh-leeze. I don't fault CJayC however, as I might have done the same thing. Anyway, this match was the third in our four part series of blowouts. Only one more to go before this topic starts getting interesting again. But damn, didn't it look like Zelda was unbeatable after this match? And if not this match, then what about your thoughts after the second round? Good grief, some of those matches were flat-out shocking. But more on those later. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=13) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Super Metroid vs (14)Phantasy Star IV 2004 _source: (3)Super Metroid vs (14)Phantasy Star IV 2004 (revid 84037)_ ## Results Thursday, April 15th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 14 - **Match Date:** Thursday, April 15th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 56,376 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Metroid - 77.74% 86 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Metroid - 91.08% (37,288 brackets) For a game that was billed by some people to take down Link to the Past, they were flat-out shot down in this match. For Super Metroid to stand any chance whatsoever, it needed to perform on par or equal to LTTP in its match against Phantasy Star IV. Allowing it almost 17% of the vote didn't cut it, to be honest. But not to discredit Phantasy Star IV here. I know some people who are absolute masters of the RPG genre, and quite a few of them have mentioned the Phantasy Star series as being the best RPG series out there. And these people have played all of Final Fantasies, Lunar, Chrono Trigger, and other series as well. Yet they put PS4 above them all. Interesting, to say the least. As for Super Metroid, I think that everyone should have seen its imminent second round fate coming after this match. Had LTTP gone up against Phantasy Star IV, I can assure you that it would have been close to the beatings that the Zeldas were laying on Adventure and Gunstar Heroes. PS4 is a great game, but it simply doesn't have the necessary popularity on our site to win most matches. It's a shame that Super Metroid didn't perform to expectations as well, because that one website (the name slips me) was dead-on when it called Super Metroid the best game of all time. It deserves the title, and if I ever made such a list, it would easily make the top ten. Easily. But what other websites think don't matter. On our site, wrong as it may be, it was clear that Super Metroid stood no chance whatsoever of making the sweet sixteen once this match was done and over with. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=14) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (7)EarthBound vs (10)Doom 2004 _source: (7)Earthbound vs (10)Doom 2004 (revid 88788)_ ## Results Friday, April 16th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 15 - **Match Date:** Friday, April 16th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 12,164 - **Oracle Expectations:** Doom - 51.12% 50 for - 35 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Doom - 61.92% (25,350 brackets) Some people forget two very simple things (quoted from an Ulti prediction topic): 1 - Earthbound is the very definition of a cult classic. The people who play the game absolutely love it, and they are more likely to nominate Earthbound over any other game. This is the sole reason for its high seed. 2 - Of all the PC games in the contest, I believe Doom has the highest seeding of them all. That's quite an accomplishment, and I would honestly be shocked if Earthbound managed to get 45% of the vote. ^ *Not the exact words, as that was all from memory. But you get the idea.* ^ Anyway, this match had quite the debate behind it. After all, Earthbound was a 7 seed, ahead of Super Mario RPG and Street Fighter 2! But like I said all through the days leading up to that match, Earthbound has one of the most dedicated fanbases of any game out there. Hence the seed. But everyone, EVERYONE, has heard of Doom. First Person Shooters could exist without Doom, and they would all suck. Doom was one of gaming's most revolutionary titles, and it was quite deserving of being the highest-seeded PC game in the contest (not counting FF7 and Halo, of course). So in the end, we have one of gaming's biggest sleeper hits versus one of gaming's most revolutionary titles. Unfortunately, name value normally prevails in these situations. The match played out exactly like expected. Earthbound took a very early lead because of the hardcore fans, but Doom eventually took over with the second update and eventually managed to steamroll Earthbound right out of the match. The surprising thing, outside of Earthbound's seeding, was all of the pre-match hype. Even the Prophet Challenge made it seem like this match would be right down the middle the whole way through, but it wasn't even close in the end. This match was quite the first round bracket buster as well, as almost 40% of people called the match wrong. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=15) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Final Fantasy VI vs (15)Mortal Kombat 2004 _source: (2)Final Fantasy VI vs (15)Mortal Kombat 2004 (revid 55672)_ ## Results Saturday, April 17th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 16 - **Match Date:** Saturday, April 17th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 44,398 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy VI - 77.51% 85 for - 1 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy VI - 81.14% (33,219 brackets) I'd love to know how only 81.14% of people thought FF6 would own this match. Did a bunch of people think that Kefka's performance in 2003 meant anything in terms of FF6's overall popularity? Granted, Scorpion did better against Pac Man than Kefka, but the respective games are an entirely different animal. Mortal Kombat, while damned huge for its time, never stood a chance of winning this match. The only question that remained was whether or not the overall board opinion was wrong on LTTP being a shoo-in for the divisional finals. Going by the first round alone, FF6 stood no chance. But my goodness, we were pretty off on how powerful FF6 truly turned out to be on this site. Many people, including me, still consider it the best game in the series by far. Under most circumstances, I'd say that a 74% victory wasn't dominating. But Mortal Kombat is a big franchise, and having it being held to under 30% is quite the accomplishment. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=16) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (16)Suikoden II 2004 _source: (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (16)Suikoden II 2004 (revid 55674)_ ## Results Sunday, April 18th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 17 - **Match Date:** Sunday, April 18th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 76,348 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy VII - 87.78% 72 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy VII - 96.76% (39,614 brackets) And with this match, the total joke that was Division 32-64 began. Going by the pure numbers, this division was the easiest to call by barely edging out Division 8 in overall prediction percentage. Suikoden II, while an amazing game, never stood a chance. This division was all about the imminent Final Fantasy 7 vs Ocarina of Time final, and no game could have possibly stood in the way of either of them en route to kicking the crap out of each other. This match was a simple warmup, and FF7 performed just like a potential champion should. It had a prediction percentage in the high 90s, an insane vote total for the poll in comparison to the average vote totals that we would get in the contest, and it managed complete domination in every facet. No point in saying any more, really. FF7 wins, and everyone knows why. And in case you didn't, gamefaqs because famous because of FF7. Kao Megura's guide brought the initial popularity, and we just took off from there. The site also adopted an RPG identity, hence why other sites refer to us as RPG/Console fanboys. Like it or not, we are. At least the majority of us, anyways. Speaking of Kao Megura, FF7 would get a huge popularity boost right in the middle of this contest. Not that it needed it, of course. But the boost was not because of anything good; quite the opposite, actually. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=17) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (8)Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal vs (9)Xenogears 2004 _source: (8)Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal vs (9)Xenogears 2004 (revid 56333)_ ## Results Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 18 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 - **Notes:** Started on Monday, April 19th, 2004 but was repeated due to voting bug - **Vote difference:** 11,114 - **Oracle Expectations:** Xenogears - 49.54% 35 for - 38 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Xenogears - 48.20% (19,733 brackets) Please note that I do not hate Pokémon. I used to like it, and I still think it's a good franchise. My issues come with Nintendo selling the game out beyond any possible realm of human comprehension. The game itself is fine, as it is a very detailed RPG. But the current franchise is nothing more than a cheap attempt for Nintendo to make a buck, and I've never been much of a fan for that sort of thing. That being said, I'm not going to sit here and say that Pokémon lost simply because it is one of the most hated games on the site. It is. But there are other reasons besides that. The most obvious of which is the game it was up against. Squaresoft RPGs, no matter how obscure, are no joke on this site. Square owns this place, and taking down one of their games in a poll is no small task. For Pokémon, it's a near-impossible task. There's also the issue of the Red/Blue versions not being in the contest. Gold/Silver/Crystal were all cash cow games. Red and Blue were where it was at, and despite any hate the series has by this point, I maintain that it was one of the most fun series out there. Who doesn't remember going at it with your friends during lunch in high school? I do, and I have no regrets whatsoever about it. But sadly, Red/Blue weren't in the contest. If they were, we may have seen something different. So yes, while the big factor in Pokémon's loss was the 'anything but Pokémon' vote, the series isn't something to laugh at, and there were other factors. The fact that over half of the bracketmakers picked Pokémon to win should show that much. But tip your hat to Xenogears in this one. Despite every claim in the book against it, the game has one of the greatest soundtracks and storylines to ever grace a video game. The graphics and the battles weren't anything earthshattering, but Xenogears still possessed two of the key qualities needed for a solid RPG. Oh, and don't forget a kickass cast of characters, a main character who follows the traditional storyline of being a tortured soul to a T, and every Squaresoft plot twist that you could ever think of. Just be ready to get into a ton of random battles so that your gears are always fitted with the latest, or you'll get creamed. Also, you might want to brush up your psychology a bit before playing. Nothing beats being able to understand a storyline involving the multiple egos within the human psyche and the subliminal desire to be more powerful than God himself. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I almost forgot! This was the poll that had to be restarted. CJayC broke out some very sexy new code for the polls and bracket before this match. But sadly, it was only allowing people registered with a gamefaqs account to vote. But not to be outdone by his own misfortune, CJayC plastered a giant FFXI ad on the entire front page during the restarted poll. This caused all sorts of hell for some browsers, and the main page was 11 pages longer on some of them. This could be a good reason why the poll didn't even manage 70,000 votes, wouldn't you say? In short, this analysis was brought to you by FFXI. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=18) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (5)Final Fantasy Tactics vs (12)Dance Dance Revolution 2004 _source: (5)Final Fantasy Tactics vs (12)Dance Dance Revolution 2004 (revid 55678)_ ## Results Wednesday, April 21st, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 19 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, April 21st, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 41,332 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy Tactics - 74.43% 75 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy Tactics - 79.90% (32,711 brackets) Four straight polls featuring four straight victories by Square RPGs came to an end in this poll, as Final Fantasy Tactics managed a very 'meh' 76-24 victory over Dance Dance Revolution. At least we thought it was a ho-hum win at first. After all, DDR is nothing more than an arcade dancing game, right? Well, not exactly. Dance Dance Revolution, for all intents and purposes, is one of the single biggest arcade crazes in the world right now. Believe it or not, DDR has one hell of a dedicated fanbase, and though it wound up being one of the weakest games in the division, its 24% on Final Fantasy Tactics was no joke. I would also like to note that ChichiriMuyo was preaching this from day one, and thought it took two rounds for him to be proven right, he was. The people who picked Metal Gear Solid to take down Final Fantasy Tactics all thought FFT was done for once it gave up 24% to DDR, but were we all in for one of the biggest rides ever seen in this contest or what? Lost in all of this is the fact that Final Fantasy Tactics is a lot closer to the numbered series than we thought (\*mumbles something about having known this for years\*), though it didn't exactly show in this match. The how and why some first round matches went down were predetermined in some cases, such as this poll. simply put, some matches were never going to be more than blowouts, and they served only to make comparisons for later contests. Perfect example? Final Fantasy Tactics vs Metal Gear Solid. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=19) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Metal Gear Solid vs (13)Resident Evil 2004 _source: (4)Metal Gear Solid vs (13)Resident Evil 2004 (revid 84039)_ ## Results Thursday, April 22nd, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 20 - **Match Date:** Thursday, April 22nd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 30,802 - **Oracle Expectations:** Metal Gear Solid - 69.42% 76 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Metal Gear Solid - 80.99% (33,157 brackets) Take a quick look at how truly even Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy Tactics were after their two respective matches. They had virtually the same prediction percentage in the first round. And while Final Fantasy Tactics saw both its vote total and the vote total of its respective poll score higher than that of Metal Gear Solid's poll, it was also going up against a considerably weaker opponent than Metal Gear Solid. In its day, Resident Evil was one of gaming's hottest items. But after Capcom literally beat the series into the ground time and time again, the series has turned into somewhat of a mockery every time a new game is released. Personally, I'm still waiting for Resident Evil 33 and a Third. And it won't take long either, just you watch. (Note: Ulti wrote this before the RE series was revitalized by Resident Evil 4 in 2005.) And because Resident Evil as a series has become what it currently is, the original game in the series was a weak item coming into this contest. Its reward for Capcom being complete morons was a 13 seed in this contest, behind titles such as Dance Dance Revolution and NiGHTS into dreams... mind you, and a one way ticket out of the contest in the first round. It's sad what has happened to Resident Evil, but that's life. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Resident Evil Outbreak released just days before this poll? Sure didn't help much. As for Metal Gear Solid, it has proven in the past that it is the most popular series on this site outside of Nintendo and Square (if you're counting Mega Man as Nintendo, that is), and it showed no signs of proving otherwise after this match. It quietly dispatched Resident Evil Cyan-style, and it was on to a second round showdown with one of the best strategy RPGs out there, Final Fantasy Tactics. And despite how close the two games looked on paper, few could see what would lie ahead between those two. ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=20) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)Perfect Dark vs (11)Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 2004 _source: (6)Perfect Dark vs (11)Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 2004 (revid 55682)_ ## Results Friday, April 23rd, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 21 - **Match Date:** Friday, April 23rd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 4,883 - **Oracle Expectations:** Symphony of the Night - 54.82% 61 for - 16 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Symphony of the Night - 53.25% (21,801 brackets) This match was one of the oddest of the contest. For starters, this was the personification of overhype. Slowflake coined the phrase 'BangFang Triangle' during the various pre-match debates invoving the bracket. "If Goldeneye can obviously take down Perfect Dark, then why can't it take down Castlevania?" "If Perfect Dark can beat Castlevania, what stops it from taking down Goldeneye? After all, it's the better game." "But wait! If Castlevania beats Perfect Dark, what stops it from beating Goldeneye? They just the same game, you know." "Touché! Perfect Dark is simply a rehash of Goldeneye. Goldeneye would own either game." "IDIOTS! Catlevania is strong enough to beat Perfect Dark, but Goldeneye is completely out of its league." And so on and so on and so on. As it would turn out, those of us who theorized that Perfect Dark and Goldeneye are two completely different animals in a poll were right. Alucard's past performances were no joke, as his popularity stems from his game. Perfect Dark, while one of the great N64 games out there, was victim of being released during the dying days of the N64. The fact that it sold so much despite this drawback should tell everyone how great a game Perfect Dark truly is. It's one of my favorites, and it really sucked that I went against it on my bracket in this match. But hey, you can't deny Alucard's past performances being a huge warning sign for how strong Symphony of the Night is, and apparently, over half of the bracketmakers saw this as well. The poll itself was close for the few few seconds, but Symphony of the Night soon began torching Perfect Dark with the early morning vote and on through the morning itself. After building a substantial lead, Perfect Dark managed to fight back and come back like a bullet in the percentages. Perfect Dark managed to split the vote evenly with Symphony of the Night for quite a long time in this poll. But then, one of the more odd events to ever hit a poll happened right around noon. The poll stopped updating for literally hours. Votes were still counted, but the poll literally froze until the evening. And when the poll finally updated, we were all pleasantly surprised to see that Perfect Dark literally split the vote throughout the entire afternoon. It didn't make a huge comeback or anything, but the match went from a total blowout to a respectable loss for Perfect Dark. Symphony of the Night made a small push with the evening vote to win by nearly 5000, but the subliminal damage was done. If Symphony of the Night had to scratch and claw its way to a win against Perfect Dark, then there was no way in hell that it was taking down Goldeneye, this making this one of the most overhyped 3 packs ever. Then again, it was all a part of Alucard's Plan to let Perfect Dark hang around a little bit =) ## External Links - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=21) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)GoldenEye 007 vs (14)Panzer Dragoon Saga 2004 _source: (3)Goldeneye vs (14)Panzer Dragoon Saga 2004 (revid 56872)_ ## Results Saturday, April 24th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 22 - **Match Date:** Saturday, April 24th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 46,575 - **Oracle Expectations:** Goldeneye - 81.65% 77 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Goldeneye - 92.61% (37,915 brackets) I know I said that Castlevania's doom was spelled out for it once it struggled with Perfect Dark, but Goldeneye still had to prove that it would win the match. It did so by easily dispatching the Sega Saturn title in scoring over 80% of the vote. Most doubt about whether or not Goldeneye would make it to the Sweet 16 were doused after this match, with merely a few SOTN hopefuls maintaining that it could still win. But like some of us were saying all along, Goldeneye is a different animal from Perfect Dark. It was the highest-selling game for the N64 until Ocarina of Time was released, and it was fresh. Perfect Dark was simply a sexier (literally) Goldeneye, and didn't have the same suavé to it. But more on all of that later. For this match, it was a simple blowout that proved Goldeneye's superiority in the so-called BangFang Triangle, and nothing more. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1622&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=22) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (7)Super Mario 64 vs (10)NiGHTS into dreams... 2004 _source: (7)Super Mario 64 vs (10)NiGHTS into dreams... 2004 (revid 55686)_ ## Results Sunday, April 25th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 23 - **Match Date:** Sunday, April 25th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 56,834 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Mario 64 - 84.07% 77 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Mario 64 - 94.65% (38,750 brackets) Would you believe that NiGHTS has the highest overall review score of any game in this contest? Props to Slowflake for that information, and props to both him and steve illumina for doing previews for each match. It isn't easy signing on to do a writeup every day, believe me. But back to NiGHTS. Of all the games in this contest, a lowly little Sega Saturn title destined for nothing other than being overseeded and getting its ass kicked in the first round, has the highest review score of any game in this contest. Apparently, we have quite a gem on our hands. The problem is that most people haven't heard of it, and it got the beating that it was expected to get against the revolutionary Mario 64. As for Mario 64, talk about a game given the shaft in this contest. It was horribly underseeded at 7, and its reward is a one way ticket out of this contest in the second round thanks to being inevitably paired up with Ocarina of Time. Sucks too, because I wasn't kidding when I mentioned how revolutionary Mario 64 was. It deserved a better fate, but again, 63 games left this contest unhappy. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1623&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=23) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time vs (15)Fallout 2 2004 _source: (2)The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time vs (15)Fallout 2 2004 (revid 55688)_ ## Results Monday, April 26th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 24 - **Match Date:** Monday, April 26th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 69,753 - **Oracle Expectations:** Ocarina of Time - 89.94% 77 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Ocarina of Time - 96.32% (39,433 brackets) Another match featuring a Zelda title, another huge blowout that made it look like Zelda was going to own this contest. And I don't blame people for thinking this, but look deeper into the stats. It especially helps when one notices that the site looked perfectly normal for this matchup, with only one poll on the front page. The same held true for FF7's match against Suikoden II, so the comparisons were easy. Remember the comparison I made between Sonic 2 and Super Mario World? The same exact thing works here as well. FF7 faced a tougher opponent than Ocarina of Time, yet it managed a higher prediction percentage, more votes, and saw the vote total in its poll go much higher than the total in Ocarina of Time's poll. The only difference is that Suikoden II managed to score 2000 more votes than Fallout 2. Big deal. Suikoden II is a stronger game for a reason. The horribly overhyped FF7/OOT matchup was decided once this poll was over, though watching people continue to make cases for Ocarina of Time with the proof right in front of them was pretty funny to watch. Not to disrespect either of these two games or anything. Ocarina of Time sold 10 million copies for a reason, and Fallout 2 is quite the amazing PC RPG. But in terms of pure extrapolated strength, Final Fantasy 7 won this contest 24 polls into it. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1624&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=24) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Halo: Combat Evolved vs (16)Starcraft 2004 _source: (1)Halo: Combat Evolved vs (16)Starcraft 2004 (revid 88790)_ ## Results Tuesday, April 27th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 25 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, April 27th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 373 - **Oracle Expectations:** StarCraft - 44.45% 13 for - 56 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** StarCraft - 24.09% (9,862 brackets) This was, by far, the most important and most hotly debated first round match we've ever had in one of these contests. In most dimensions, 16 seeds simply don't take down 1 seeds. In fact, they never come close. But not in this contest. The following is my own personal take on why this match would be pure hell from start to finish. **WARNING**: This rant is extremely biased, and you might not want to read it at all if you're a big Halo fan. Now, for the orgasmic Halo/Starcraft analysis. If people didn't know how this match would go before reading this thing, they were even more confused afterwards. DpObliVion himself said of the writeup: *Damn you, Ulti. It's when people like you posts analyses like that (and yours was by far the best one) that make me lose every last bit of confidence in Halo winning this match.* *I wouldn't be surprised in the least bit if StarCraft won. Unfortunately though, I'd be putting that match right next to Phantasy Star vs. Contra under my "Why the \*\*\*\* didn't I listen to everyone?" section of my lost points.* Not to be outdone, smitelf had her own take on the work: *I would like to take this moment to politely and sincerely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis.* *Ulti...there is absolutely nothing I can argue with in that analysis. Nothing left out, nothing not said with enough emphasis...it's just perfect. Absolutely \*\*\*\*ing perfect. That is the best post I have ever read anywhere, ever. I don't know words that can describe the beauty of what you wrote. It was as touching as a post on video games could ever aspire to be.* *Okay, now that the touchy-feely crap is over with, damn you! I was looking forward to ripping your analysis apart, but noooo, you have to write as if you tore the thoughts out of my mind -- no, my very soul -- and then go about making them articulate! I curse your perfection!* So sit back and relax. My reposting of that analysis is only the beginning of what may be the longest and most in-depth analysis of the entire topic. > Finally, a match worthy of being read into. Too many first round joke polls. CJayC has openly stated that Halo is a \#1 seed because it got more nominations than any other game. Fair enough, but this means nothing whatsoever. How many of those nominations were from actual fans? Many people just didn't feel like leaving the Xbox part of the form blank, so they put Halo in due to not being able to think of anything else. This allowed Halo to get a ton of nominations from people who hate the Xbox. Starcraft, however, completely earned its spot in this contest. The PC has been around producing games for almost years, yet thanks to CJayC's horrendous nomination system, we could only nominate one game per system, two for the PC if you were smart enough to realize there was both a Windows and a Mac PC form. That being said, Starcraft is in this contest after splitting an absolute ton of PC nominations with a load of other games. If anything, this match proves how bad the nomination method was. Here we have Halo being nominated because people could think of nothing better, while Starcraft had to claw its way into the contest by beating out 25 years of PC games. > > Now, for the actual poll. If anyone remembers 2003, you all know about Master Chief and how badly he performed. In the first round, he only managed to beat Felix by around 6000 votes, and was completely whipped by Aeris in round 2. Some people say that MC was respectable against Aeris, but I disagree. He was picked by over 2000 people to win the entire contest, and lost in the second round. Furthermore, any doubt about whether or not he would lose in the second round were blown to bits after his pathetic first round performance. I mean, honestly, does everyone think that all the people who voted for Felix were actually fans of Felix and Golden Sun? Let's get real here. There is an absolute loathing of the Xbox on gamefaqs, and the 2003 character contest was black and white proof of it. The Xbox and Halo has a lot of fans, yes, but they are horribly outnumbered by the people who would rather play with dog waste than an Xbox. > > Then there's Starcraft. Being in this contest is an accomplishment in and of itself, but to put this in perspective, look at this more closely. Console games on GameFAQs have a few heavy hitters to choose from. Coming into this contest, it was a guarantee that we'd see games from the Zelda series, the Mario series, the FF series, and the heavy hitters from each console. Hell, we even got the heavy hitters from consoles that are now used as emergency flotation devices and self mutilation. I mean, honestly, some of these systems are that old. But for the PC, no game was a guarantee. Look at the seeds of the PC games in this contest. And if any of you mention that Final Fantasy 7 is a 1 seed that was on the PC, you're getting kicked square in the crotch. Look at the PC games that were only on the PC. Doom, Half-Life, Fallout 2, and Starcraft are all seeded low. This is no accident, as they all stole nominations from one other while console games were nominated in with little resistance from themselves. Starcraft even had nominations stolen from Halo, Final Fantasy 7, and every other BLIZZARD game in existence. And what does it get for its efforts from having to duke it out with Diablo II and Warcraft 3 before the contest even started? A 16 seed and a date with the most overseeded game in the entire contest. > > But the match is far from being decided yet. The 1 vs 16 stereotype means nothing in this match. Link proved last year that most people could not possibly give two shits about their bracket given the right match. All over gamefaqs, there were topics asking people to vote for Link, and in ALL of them, you could find at least three people saying they had Link in their bracket, but could care less that he was going to lose. That's just how this contest is. Yes, there are a ton of people who have Halo in their bracket simply because it has the big 1 next to its name, but I can promise most of you people that most of those people don't like Halo and would rather drink nuclear waste than buy an Xbox. It's evident in every poll featuring the Xbox and/or Halo. People simply don't like the Xbox. And for even more proof, does anyone remember the state of the site during the GameRiot polls that sponsored the Xbox? There were topics and petitions to bring them down all over the place, and our own Spring Contest which was strategically placed below the GameRiot poll in an effort for it not to draw attention away from GameRiot's beloved Xbox still pwned the GameRiot poll right in the face, and refused to help clean up afterwards. Those polls were a disgrace, plain and simple, and gamefaqers all over the place let it be known. > > So magically, everyone that has hated the Xbox all these years is going to turn around and vote for Halo just because they have it in their brackets? Are you people on the very drugs that our TOS has now banned us from discussing on our site again? There are legions of people out there who could not possibly give two rat's asses about losing this match if it meant taking down Halo and letting all hell break loose all across gamefaqs. I for one cannot wait for this match, as it has the makings of being the biggest event to hit our site since Mario/Crono 2. This match can seriously cause that much damage all across the boards. This thing could get to the point where people use glitches to spam Barney's Hide and Seek in an effort to gain votes for either side. This match could easily be the biggest and baddest match in the history of these contests on our site. The whole thing comes down to the flawed nomination system overseeding Halo and underseeding Starcraft. It also comes down to how much pride each side has in their favorite. Are the Halo fans and bracket voters ready to support their opinions to the death, and do PC gamers have the grapefruits to finally make the single biggest stand ever seen on the site? Honestly, the PC gamer should feel like they've been slapped by one of the single greatest games on ANY MEDIUM OF ALL TIME being a mere 16 seed in this contest, and if they have any pride whatsoever, they'll at least make sure Starcraft puts up one hell of a fight in this match. Halo beating Starcraft with ease would be the biggest disappointment in this contest. Halo winning a tight match is one thing, but a 65-35 beatdown would be far worse than any Mario victory over Crono and any Samus voter that waited until the final two hours to vote against Sonic. > > Go to any social board on the site. Compare the number of “OMG LET'S GO PLAY HALO ON XBOX LIVE!!” topics to the number of topics where people are calling for their friends to come out for an asswhipping in Starcraft. There is no contest, Starcraft wins. Starcraft has sold millions upon millions of copies across the world, while Halo seems to be more of a cult following among gamers who have nothing better to do on Friday nights than to watch Red vs Blue on Master Chief in Puma yaoi and declare Friday nights the Halo night. And furthermore, compare the two biggest factors among the players of both games. Starcraft is still played by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide on battle.net for free, while Xbox Live has attracted a few thousand people, tops, who were willing to sell themselves out to the lap dog of the revolution in Bill Gates and spend all that money to play a few Xbox games online. Oh by the way, my PS2 port cost me \$40, and it gave me no increase in my internet bill whatsoever. > > Oh, how could I POSSIBLY forget about the Koreans?? Starcraft saved a country. Seriously, it saved a country. South Korea had practically no economy whatsoever, then along came Starcraft. After some advertising on everything from soap to potato chips, Starcraft became the national sport of Korea, and the country has three TV channels dedicated to Starcraft 24/7. Have any of you people ever played against or with a Korean in Starcraft? You're either going to get your ass whipped or have the greatest ally there is. And the population of South Korea has to at least be a few million or so. Think what kind of damage they could cause if this contest was actually advertised over there. If a mere 1% voted in our poll, Halo would stand no chance. What group does Halo constitute being the national sport of? Like I said, people who deem Friday nights the Halo night. Again, no contest. > > So in the end, we have a poll that is completely up in the air. Seedings don't mean jack in this match. The people that vote will simply vote for their favorite and move on. Starcraft has the favor of Xbox hate votes, any and all BLIZZARD fans of the site, the PC gamer, the underdog vote, and the people who simply want to see all hell break loose on gamefaqs. Halo has the vote of the 23 people who like Halo. Should be close. Whew, that was fun. But it wasn't the most popular of opinions from the people who felt that Halo would completely own this matchup. From Moltar's topic: *Back on topic..uh..yeah...nice..lengthy..review, Ulti. Wow..but,Halo will beat StarCraft. I don't care if it's 50.01%-49.99%, 60%, 65%, 66%...Halo's not gonna lose in the very first round. Why? Cause if it really got a No.1 seed, it's not that sucky.* *A No.1 seed is pretty good for people feeling bad...wait, you just presumed that! -\_\_\_\_\_- Anyways, like I was saying, a No.1 seed is pretty good for people feeling bad for a game system and just thinking "uh..what is there to nominate for Xbox..uh..Halo? Oh..I'll just nominate it to show pity for the Xbox...:-)"* *That's a lotta XBox fans. That's a lotta anti-Xbox fans..no wait, you presumed that too?! I hate when people presume other people's opinions! Dude, what the \[ \] makes you think that first, people hate the XBox, but would then nominate a game for it? You're..you're...acting like smitelf! \*gasps in horror\* Yeah, please answer.* ~Tai And surprise surprise, his entire post wound up being 100% wrong. People do hate the Xbox and nominated Halo for no reason. Fast forwarding for a minute, there is no way in the world that Halo comes as close as it does if the seedings are reversed. But enough of all of that. My analysis and subsequent debates were one of many isolated debates and topic surrounding this match. When the bracket was first released, this was the one first round match that everyone set their eyes on as having the potential to be the best the first round, and maybe even the contest, has ever seen. The debates were all over the place, and it wasn't isolated to our board either. A little for everyone who deeply follows this contest: go spy on the boards involving the games or characters in a hot poll. You'll see some of the funnier topics and posts around. So after all of the pre-match hype, the stage was set. And neither game could make an excuse for losing either, as the site was to enjoy one final day of being normal. It was all or nothing for the next 24 hours, err...... what's this? The poll started at 2:30 AM! Either CJayC was sick of Ocarina of Time killing Fallout 2, or he knew of the pre-match hype and wanted to give us all an extra half hour of enjoyment. The odd thing is that there was no mention of when the poll would close. It could have been 2:30 AM the next day, or it could have been later. All I know is that I personally was happy beyond belief. I was looking forward to this match more than any other, so an extra half hour was fine by me. Coincidentally, I wound up getting a stomach virus the day before this match, meaning I got to call out of work and watch the entire thing unfold =) With our early start to the poll, the only thing we do do was sit around, vote, and wait to see what happened. After the two games were merely 7 votes apart through the first update, everyone was utterly shocked (and quite pleased) at what wound up happening next. Starcraft not only began taking command of the match, but it was building its lead at an insane pace. (Note: check the update graph below to see what Ulti's talking about from here out) As you can see, Starcraft was laying quite the beating on Halo through the first four hours of the poll. Remember, Starcraft was a 16 seed in this contest. 16 seeds don't push 1 seeds down to 44.44% of the vote; it's unthinkable. But Starcraft was no joke in this poll. Not only did it build a lead of 1045 through the first 3:45, but Starcraft fever took over the site. Starcraft quotes were all over the place, Starcraft topics were all over the place, and if you were watching Bnet closely, a ton of people began playing Starcraft to sort of celebrate their win. But in the timeless words of a man named Lee Corso, "NOT SO FAST, my friend!". While the entire site was busy with the fever of Starcraft vs Halo, the site stopped paying attention to the poll. Halo won an update at the 4 hour hark. It then won another, and another. The gains weren't anything huge, but they were still gains. And much to the chagrin of Starcraft fans site-wide, Halo started picking up a little bit of steam. The 1 seed, it seemed, would not go down without giving Starcraft the fight of its life. The two games started going at as if it were one of the greatest one on one battles ever to be seen. Shades of Hector vs Achilles, Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels, Gore vs Bush, David vs Goliath, and any other legendary battle that you could possibly think of were littered all of this match. Halo began to gain the upper hand after the fourth hour of the poll, and it even gained a little bit of steam. But it was far from easy. While Starcraft was busy gaining nearly 100 votes per update early in the poll, Halo had to scratch and claw its way for every vote it received. The result was Halo making a slow, meticulous effort at cutting down Starcraft's lead. It has the occasional string of decent gains, but nothing that led anyone to believe Halo had the match won yet. But this didn't stop the entire site from going into a frenzy. I spoke to a couple of moderators after this match was done and over, and it's no exaggeration when I tell you that there were literally thousands of moderated messages stemming froM this match alone. All throughout the day, the games and their fanbases were going at it with one another worse than the games in the poll themselves. It was quite the event to watch, and it would only get progressively worse between the fanbases as the day would wear on. It took 10:15 into the poll for Halo to finally pull even with Starcraft, but could it keep the momentum going? For quite a long time, it seemed as if this would be the case. Starcraft, despite a mass of Bnet spamming both on every game Bnet provides and every forum on battle.net itself, showed no signs of gaining back the magic it had in the early hours of the poll. With the exception of a couple of meager gains in the middle of Halo's advance, the best Starcraft could manage was to keep the advance as slow as possible and hope to regain the momentum later on in the poll. Then again, this is Starcraft we're talking about. Right when it looked like Halo was going to finally steamroll Starcraft right out of the poll, Starcraft managed to hold strong for a good hour and a half before finally caving in to the pressure. It was a good dream for Starcraft, but it seemed as if it was all dead in the water for Starcraft and its fans after that hour and a half of fighting between the two was over. 12:45 into the poll, Halo finally started making the push that a supposed 1 seed should have made long ago in this poll and it looked to end Starcraft's dream run in this poll once and for all. And Halo may have been making a huge push, but Starcraft kept fighting back with these occasional small gains that kept giving the people rooting for Starcraft some hope. But every time it seemed like Starcraft was going to cause some damage, back came Halo with a huge gain to shoot everything down. But even then, the Starcraft fans never gave up hope. The common belief was that if Starcraft could hang on during the Halo surge, it could come back and win with the night vote. After all, Starcraft still had the potential to gain votes at a pace that it had going for it in the first few hours of the poll. But with every new update that popped up, the Starcraft dream died a little more. The supposed Starcraft evening vote that was supposed to save it did little more than give a false hope to all of its fans, as the best Starcraft could manage was to split the vote 50-50. It was 19:15 into the poll, 9:45 PM EST, and Halo had built a lead of 1108 votes. The vote totals were insanely high at this point, and the poll would wind up being the most popular poll of the contest. But even then, it seemed like Starcraft was done for at this point. There was, at most, 5:15 left in the poll, and possibly even only 4:45. There was no possible way that Starcraft could come back at this point, because Halo seemed to be too strong. It seemed as if Halo had it won at this point. The vaunted Starcraft evening vote that its hopes were all pinned on had done little more than allow Starcraft to give a falso hope to its fans. All Halo had to do was to hang on for another 5 hours or so. **"NOT SO FAST, my friend!"** Starcraft sliced 74 votes off of Halo's seemingly unbeatable lead with the next update. But no big deal, right? WRONG. Starcraft then cut 104 votes off of the lead! Out of no where, Starcraft looked like it was back in this thing! The update topics caught fire, Bnet saw the spamming increase to ethereal heights, Xbox Live started getting spammed, and even bungie.net started getting involved. It only took 30 minutes and two updates for this poll to turn into an even bigger war than it already was. At this point, you were either with one game or the other. That, or you were caught in the crossfire. It seemed that Starcraft had a chance, but time was beginning to run out. Even worse, the next three updates were not good for Starcraft. It only gained 38 and 26 with the first two, and Halo managed to win the third. But not to be outdone, Starcraft fought back with a brilliant 82 vote update. Halo fought back again by winning the next update by two votes. But at this point, we were 21:30 into the poll, Midnight EST, and had at most three hours to go. Taking down a lead of 796 within three hours at a time when the voting slows down was nearly impossible. Starcraft made a nice push, but it still looked to be over. But as if we all spoke too soon, Starcraft set the entire world of gamefaqs on fire that fateful night. One night between Starcraft and Halo may have changed the courses of the two games involved forever. One night caused one of the biggest site-wide explosions ever seen on gamefaqs. One night had the entire community of one game wondering what went wrong, and the other game wound up getting a popularity boost seven years after its initial release. As you can probably guess, Starcraft set gamefaqs on fire that night. With the next two updates in the poll, Starcraft sliced 98 and 94 votes off of the lead, which was a pace faster than that required for Starcraft to come back and win this thing. But Halo fought back like the 1 seed it was supposed to be, and delayed the inevitable by only losing 6 votes off of its lead with the next update. But what would happen next would easily change the course of gamefaqs forever, or at least the course of gamefaqs during this contest. What Starcraft managed to do at this point in the poll was none other than miraculous; a game surviving against all odds to keep the dream of Starcraft fans everywhere alive and well. Starcraft not only went on a push, it went on a *dominating* push rarely seen in such close matches. The update topics, as well as the entirety of the site, completely exploded. The odd thing is that it was extremely late at night, yet everyone stayed up to see what was going on with the poll. In comparison, the explosion that followed this poll was as large or larger than that which was caused by Mario/Crono II. I could tell you what happened, but it would simply be best to post the rest of the chart. The result is obvious enough to see for yourself, and I'm not kidding when I said the entire site exploded during this match. Come to think of it, three sites exploded. So how did it all happen? Before I move on, let me make one thing perfectly clear. Though I was obviously biased as hell towards Starcraft throughout the match, I like Halo. It's one of the best and most important multiplayer games ever made, Master Chief really is a great character, and legendary multiplayer games are not easy to come by at all. Selling all of those millions of copies across the US alone was no joke, and like Cromage said, Halo is absolutely huge outside of our site. The same argument can sort of be made against Starcraft, but there is clearly a bigger Starcraft fanbase on gamefaqs than there is a Halo fanbase. And come to think of it, there is a larger Starcraft fanbase outside of our site as well. I don't know if anyone noticed, but this poll was easily the highest-scoring of the contest. Outside forces were being brought in from all over the place to vote in this thing. Both Starcraft and Halo had their times to shine within the poll, but Starcraft simply got all of the votes when it needed them the most. Either game could have won this thing, but it just so happens that there are more Starcraft fans that are immediately accessible than there are Halo fans. But tip your hat to both games in this match. Halo was obviously not a 1 seed, and Starcraft was obviously not a 16 seed. I feel that both games performed far better than expected in this match, and they both have my respect afterwards. Halo went down exactly like a highly-seeded game is supposed to go down. It went down fighting until the very end, and its performance can't really be shot down here. It did well. As for Starcraft, an absolute monster was unleashed upon this contest once it won this match, and believe it or not, it was destined to become even stronger once it knocked off the 1 seed in miraculous fashion. Starcraft winning one match in this manner can be attributed to luck, but I doubt that anyone could have possibly said that Starcraft simply got lucky once this contest was all said and done. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1625&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=25) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (8)SoulCalibur vs (9)Kingdom Hearts 2004 _source: (8)SoulCalibur vs (9)Kingdom Hearts 2004 (revid 64088)_ ## Results Wednesday, April 28th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 26 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, April 28th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 1,088 - **Oracle Expectations:** Kingdom Hearts - 64.65% 66 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Kingdom Hearts - 45.45% (18,607 brackets) This match was flat-out shocking. Kingdom Hearts was billed by many, including myself, to be one of the strongest games in Division 128. Most of us assumed that Kingdom Hearts would steamroll SoulCalibur and the Starcraft/Halo winner en route to a loss to Wind Waker in round three. But every contest has something that no one saw coming, and in this contest it was Kingdom Hearts. Simply put, it was the dud of the contest. Billed to be a game to gve threats to Wind Waker, it wound up flopping horribly. But don't let its performance in this contest let any of you people think that Kingdom Hearts was not directly responsible for Cloud, Sephiroth, and Squall doing far better in 2003 than in 2002. You nonbelievers have neglected the facts for far too long by this point. But anyway, Kingdom Hearts helped prove that while it was an amazing catalyst for the Final Fantasy cast, the game itself isn't one that masses of people would readily vote for. The game helped bring more popularity to Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 8, and to a lesser extent Final Fantasy 10, but this spoke nothing of whether or not the game would bring popularity to itself. And there's where so many of us made out mistake. Case and point? And overwhelming majority of the experts figured that Kingdom Hearts woudl steamroll the first two rounds of this contest (over 80% of BOP brackets had it winning against SoulCalibur), yet in the beginning of the poll, SoulCalibur went toe to toe with Kingdom Hearts like it was nothing. But no big deal, right? Most of us figured that this was a Starcraft rollover effect from the last poll. But when SoulCalibur managed to take a good portion of the day and stretch a 700 vote lead out of this, many people started wondering what was going on. After all, Kingdom Hearts was supposed to own this matchup. My take on it would be that SoulCalibur is quite the underestimated title. But don't take my word for it. Go read on of ChichiriMuyo's page-long rants about why SoulCalibur was one of fighting's most innovative titles while SoulCalibur II was a cheap rehash of the original. There's also the fact that even though Kingdom Hearts sold over 4 million copies, it doesn't mean that the majority of people would vote for it. SoulCalibur may not have been expected to do much in this contest, but it looked like it was going to shock the world, or at least the experts, in this match. But like a lot of other games who performed well early on, SoulCalibur fell to a huge push by its opponent. Starting in the afternoon, Kingdom Hearts began making a huge comeback attempt by nabbing 100 vote gains with every update. But unfortunately, we must pause here. Right in the middle of Kingdom Hearts and its comeback attempt, CJayC hit us with the site update. Everyone knows that I feel this was one of the single worst things he ever could have done to the site (go check out www.alexa.com and put our url in the search engine if you don't believe me), but it had a lasting effect on the contest. But this topic isn't to complain about CJayC and his ridiculous idea to change the site layout without telling us (we never would have known anything was going on had LUE not found the url for the beta test), it's about the contest. The site, and the contest as a whole, was simply not the same after the site update. The average voter turnout dropped an average of a whopping 15,000 votes in every match from there on out until very late in the contest, and the contest itself didn't have the same feel to it. It's almost like CJayC stopped caring, more or less. The main poll had its spot taken up by an ad that takes up a quarter of the page, and the poll itself was moved below the ad. You also can't see the poll unless you scroll down, hence the lower vote totals. The same philosophy applies to GameSpy's contest. Did anyone else notice how much of a pain it was to actually find the poll going on? You had to go to at least two links before seeing the thing. Anyway, with the layout change, a whole new set of laws were applied to the contest *right in the middle of it*, which is about as unfair as it gets for everyone involved. Had we been informed ahead of time that such a change were to take place, people might have filled out their brackets differently. There is also the tiebreaker issue, which people would have no doubt gone lower with had they known of a layout change ahead of time. An average of 15,000 votes being cut off the poll is no joke, and it may have directly affected some of the later matchups within this contest. But back to the current matchup. When the site was up and running again, we found Kingdom Hearts in the lead, followed by a push to give Kingdom Hearts the lead for good come the end of the poll. It stalled around 1000 votes or so, but with the way this poll was going, 1000 votes either way was enough. Despite a couple of minor attempts by SoulCalibur to come back later, Kingdom Hearts fought back and finally won the poll. Kingdom Hearts had won the battle, but had it lost the war here? It was a game expected to dominate the first two rounds, but all of a sudden new life was given to Starcraft in the second round. It became the second round match to keep an eye on, and the debates started well ahead of time for it. And I don't blame anyone for doing so, as Kingdom Hearts, good as it is, flopped horribly in this contest. Over half of the people that filled out brackets expected it to lose this match in the first place, but even then, I didn't think SoulCalibur had a chance. Turns out that Ulti = teh pwned in Kingdom Hearts' case. But we all have our favorites, so shut up =p ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1626&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=26) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (5)The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker vs (12)Skies of Arcadia 2004 _source: (5)The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker vs (12)Skies of Arcadia 2004 (revid 79918)_ ## Results Thursday, April 29th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 27 - **Match Date:** Thursday, April 29th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 37,401 - **Oracle Expectations:** Wind Waker - 79.50% 68 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Wind Waker - 92.00% (37,665 brackets) This was one of the few matches in Division 128 where there was both a clear-cut favorite and a clear-cut winner. In fact if my memory serves me correctly, this was the biggest blowout of the division. And even then, it was only a 75-25 win in favor of the Wind Waker. Remember last year when Sonic had a similar win against Ken in the first round and some of us thought he was in trouble? I think the same philosophy applies here. Yes, Zelda's win was convincing. But how convincing? The Wind Waker will always be one of the bastard children of the Zelda series for its graphics, despite how much they are defended by hardcore fans of the Zelda series. I can assure you that had there been the exact same storyline with slightly harder bosses, only with the graphics seen in the Zelda 10 trailer, the Wind Waker could have steamrolled this division over, and possibly even beat FF7. Well, save the fact that you're stuck sailing for 80% of the game. When you factor in how the first round went in this division, then add in that Zelda had the best performance despite the division being so up in the air, the argument could easily have been made at this point that the Wind Waker was the clear favorite to win the division. I certainly wouldn't disagree. FFX, SSBM, and Metroid Prime all wound up struggling heavily in their respective matches, yet the Wind Waker, despite having more of an anti factor than any other Zelda game in the contest, dominated its match. My god, were we ever in for a surprise. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1627&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=27) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Metroid Prime vs (13)Half-Life 2004 _source: (4)Metroid Prime vs (13)Half-Life 2004 (revid 88791)_ ## Results Friday, April 30th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 28 - **Match Date:** Friday, April 30th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 9,066 - **Oracle Expectations:** Metroid Prime - 73.24% 67 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Metroid Prime - 56.97% (23,324 brackets) What an interesting match this was. Before our little site ever decided to run this contest, a site called GameSpy decided to run their own garbage version of one such competition. The winner? Half-Life by a mile. Now let's get back to our contest for a minute. In 2002, Gordon Freeman managed to get a 3 seed. What did he do with it, you ask? He was upended by Tina Armstrong, one of the characters from the Dead or Alive fighting series. Gordon Freeman, who is the main character of Half-Life for those that don't know (and a lot of the people can actually play the game without knowing the main character's name, hence why he sucks in the Summer Contest setting; you simply can't piece 'Gordon Freeman' and 'Half-Life' together that well), became the laughing stock of the contest. So in 2003, Gordon Freeman set out to get revenge for himself. He managed to get a 7 seed and an easy first round matchup against Max Payne. But yet again he lost, making Gordon Freeman the biggest joke in the history of the contest. It was so bad that our own Amazing Telephone ran a Google search on Gordon Freeman and found a picture of a cat with a bag over its head. Enter 2004. Half-Life wins GameSpy's contest, and gets a matchup against one of Samus's top two most popular titles in Metroid Prime. Metroid Prime is an interesting story in and of itself, too. It was given the impossible task of being the sequel to Super Metroid and it was made into a First Person Shooter. Yet despite all of the pre-release criticism, Metroid Prime delivered an amazing title to become of the best games ever created. But the same thing can also be said about Half-Life. I vaguely remember someone on this board saying that more people play Half-Life online than any other multiplayer game, including Starcraft. I didn't verify this myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if this were true. I can assure the readers of this topic that Half-Life is absolutely huge outside of our site, much like Halo. And like Halo, Half-Life can and would kick the living hell out of Metroid Prime on most other gaming sites. But this isn't every other gaming site, it's gamefaqs. Nintendo and Square are the rulers around here, and despite only 57% of people thinking Metroid Prime would win, it had little to no chance of actually losing this match. We have a credo on the contest board called Gordon Freeman Never Wins for a reason. Anyway, to the match itself. Metroid Prime gained an early advantage of 300 votes or so. But Half-Life didn't just roll over and die. It managed to split the vote virtually evenly before it was finally smoked by the morning vote and sent packing in this contest. But that doesn't mean tht Half-Life doesn't deserve respect after this match. If you go by Gordon Freeman's past performances, Half-Life should have been smoked from the get-go in this matchup. Instead, it held its own against one of the mascots of the Gamecube for a few hours in the poll. That has to count for something. One last thing before I move on. This poll marked the return of insta-updating, and it would remain for the rest of the contest. It may have given a 2002 feel back to the contest, but it completely killed the drama of 15 minute updates. All we really had to do to see the match trend was hit refresh a few times, and not only that, but it completely bugged the crap out of creativename's web site. But aside from that, I'm sure the 2002 regulars didn't mind seeing our old friend return ^\_^ ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1628&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=28) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)Final Fantasy Tactics Advance vs (11)Fire Emblem 2004 _source: (6)Final Fantasy Tactics Advance vs (11)Fire Emblem 2004 (revid 55701)_ ## Results Saturday, May 1st, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 29 - **Match Date:** Saturday, May 1st, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 21,557 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 63.74% 65 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 81.70% (33,448 brackets) The battle of complete losers right here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't this match have the lowest voter turnout of the contest? Both games had horrendous vote totals, the total votes were horrid, and the match itself was one that people really didn't care about. One thing it did have was the tradition pre-match hype. As the hours drew closer to this match, a large number of people who have played both games preached on and on about how Fire Emblem should win because it is the better game. Decent enough point, but how many people have actually heard of and have played Fire Emblem before the release of Super Smash Brothers Melee? Fire Emblem wound up suffering from Ness disease. The characters appeared in Smash Brothers, and their cult smash hits wound up gaining vocal power because of people finally being exposed to the games. But all that being said, the more recognizable game usually wins against cult hits in such matches. Simply look at Doom vs Earthbound if you need proof of this. Fire Emblem, while a great game in its own right, simply never stood much of a chance against a game that features the words 'Final Fantasy Tactics' in the title. Cheap rehash or not, the name alone was enough to give FFTA the win here. But it was a pyrrhic victory for FFTA; despite winning the match, it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had no way in hell of getting out of the next round. Failing to double up a cult hit usually spells doom against the first threat that comes along. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1629&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=29) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Final Fantasy X vs (14)Shenmue 2004 _source: (3)Final Fantasy X vs (14)Shenmue 2004 (revid 55703)_ ## Results Sunday, May 2nd, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 30 - **Match Date:** Sunday, May 2nd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 37,902 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy X - 83.06% 68 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy X - 92.94% (38,050 brackets) After the Wind Waker put up a tame number against Skies of Arcadia, it was up to FFX and SSBM to prove that they were worthy of winning the division. First up was FFX, and though everyone knew that FFX would win the match, the true test was whether or not it would prove itself as a title worthy of winning the division. Needless to say, it flopped horribly in this match. Yes, Ryo Hazuki has performed well in the two contests, but that doesn't mean that FFX had an excuse to perform worse against Shenmue than Wind Waker performed against Skies of Arcadia. It wasn't much of a percentage discrepency between the two matches, but when one factors in the fact that Skies of Arcadia can and would beat Shenmue on this site in a poll, it meant that FFX was suddenly no longer the favorite to win the division (the BOP had it the most favored, I believe). The title went to the Wind Waker, odd as it may seem, after this matchup was over. When you are the favorite to win a division, 75% on Shenmue is unacceptable, and FFX would pay for it later on. But in all fairness, this division looked as if it would be a battle of the Zelda and Final Fantasy titles from our generation. Gee, doesn't that seem familiar? If FFX had any hope, it would be that it was clear that Final Fantasy 7 was going to beat Ocarina of Time after the first round. So why would FFX not be able to beat the Wind Waker? Makes enough sense to think that FFX could beat Wind Waker if FF7 could beat Ocarina of Time, no? The only thing the games had to worry about at this point was Super Smash Brothers Melee, who had yet to perform. Honestly, what else going to come between them, Starcraft? Puh-leeze. Wait a moment.... ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1630&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=30) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (7)Grand Theft Auto: Vice City vs (10)Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2004 _source: (7)Grand Theft Auto: Vice City vs (10)Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2004 (revid 64108)_ ## Results Monday, May 3rd, 2004 Tuesday, May 4th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 31 - **Match Date:** Monday, May 3rd, 2004 Tuesday, May 4th, 2004 - **Notes:** Two days match with downtimes - **Vote difference:** 18,491 - **Oracle Expectations:** Vice City - 63.01% 68 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Vice City - 79.11% (32,388 brackets) Don't let the 90000 votes allow you to think either of these games are all that strong. This match took place during the day of the board layout being changed, the poll went on for 48 hours. But that one tidbit aside, this was still a good match, if for no other reason then to set up some serious second round hype. KOTOR has done what no other game could do: Shake openly stated that a game, any game, is better than Grim Fandango. There are also a ton of KOTOR fans of the board who went on and on about how great the game was, and how it would be a threat in this match. As an aside, is Xbox hate starting to come to an end? KOTOR, Ninja Gaiden, Halo, and EA's support of Xbox Live seem to be allowing the system to gain some serious boom in the market. But anyway, despite all of the hype for KOTOR, Vice City managed to put up over 60% on it. Apparently, selling 7 million copies of yourself is no joke. This victory immediately allowed Vice City to gain serious steam from the board in this contest, and the debate for Vice City's chances to make the sweet sixteen were on. After all, SSBM was a game that could lose any match between the first round and the Final Four, and since we hadn't seen it before Vice City's matchup, there was no guarantee of how well SSBM would do. Hell, Metal Gear Solid 2 had a serious chance of taking down SSBM. Another interesting debate that stemmed from this match was which game was stronger, Metal Gear Solid or Metal Gear Solid 2? I wound up being very happy at the results of that little situation, but more on that later. For now, all that we needed to worry about was how Vice City was suddenly a strong oponent for whoever it would go up against in the second round. ...or was it? In 48 hours, this entire poll managed 90000 votes. We've had 24 hour polls in the past that have horribly outscored this one, so Vice City wasn't locked into the sweet sixteen just yet. It would have to earn the spot. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1631&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=31) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee vs (15)Metal Gear Solid 2 2004 _source: (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee vs (15)Metal Gear Solid 2 2004 (revid 55707)_ ## Results Wednesday, May 5th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 32 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, May 5th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 10,065 - **Oracle Expectations:** Melee - 64.68% 67 for - 1 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Melee - 60.69% (24,846 brackets) With Vice City's impressive win against KOTOR, it was all up to SSBM to prove that it was worthy of being a 2 seed in this division. The problem here is that SSBM didn't prove itself to be a favorite in this matchup. Metal Gear Solid 2 managed to put up a crazy fight early on in this poll, and though SSBM wound up winning by 10000 votes, the damage may have already been done. SSBM's struggle in this match paired with Vice City's good performance set up an interesting second round matchup between the two games, and the hype for it started before this poll was even over. Another interesting thing to note is how little faith the bracketmakers had in SSBM throughout this entire contest. 2 seeds simply don't have merely 60% of people pick them to win in the first round, yet that's what SSBM was facing after this matchup. If you go by the past, SSBM was in some trouble in this contest, and this poll turned Division 128 into a giant clusterfuck. Most of the games left had great chances of winning the division, and though we knew this after the first round, few of us knew just how crazy of a race it was going to be. But I can't go through this match and speak nothing of the strength of Metal Gear Solid 2. I've always believed it to be the best game in the series. The entire game from start to finish, Raiden or not, is pure genius. Kojima was going for a genius tough on the ending to this game, and I feel that he pulled it off perfectly. Others don't agree with me, but hey, opinions are opinions. I also find it funny that Metal Gear Solid 2 wound up being stronger than Metal Gear Solid once the final extrapolated (and non-SFF) standings were released, despite all of the people who swear up and down that Metal Gear Solid 2 completely sucks. There was also a developing pattern from SSBM that can be taken from this match. It likes to start off slow, win the day vote, and then end slowly. Not all that good when you have a 7 million copy title awaiting you in the second round. This was a very 'meh' win for SSBM. Not breathtaking, not large enough of a win against a strong title that it made the game not look as bad as some might think. One last thing. Time and time again, people kept posting how they felt that SSBM had no chance to win this division because of SSBM's weak showing in this match, and time and time again, I kept preaching that Metal Gear Solid 2 was being vastly underestimated and that the game was far stronger than its seeding may show. These posts were of course deemed simple denial and shot down immediately. Funny how these things work out, no? Interesting side note: This is the match where I made some crack about how Melee was utterly destroying Metal Gear Solid 2. Thus, a fad was born. 57-43 is now considered an Ulti-Style Blowout. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1632&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=32) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (8)Metroid 2004 _source: (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (8)Metroid 2004 (revid 55709)_ ## Results Thursday, May 6th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 33 - **Match Date:** Thursday, May 6th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 45,447 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Mario Bros. 3 - 67.96% 63 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Mario Bros. 3 - 72.04% (29,493 brackets) Finally, a new round was upon us! Some normalcy returned back to our contest, as we entered back into the Archaic Division of 8 Bit with an easy match to analyse. Another new addition to this round was the match pictures. We were back to the character portraits as shown in the first rounds of the 2002 and 2003 contests, which created all sorts of nostalgia. As for the actual match, if you go solely by stats, Mario and Samus are supposed to be close together in character strength. I personally don't believe this, as I think Mario would take Samus apart in a poll. But this isn't a character contest, it's a game contest. And in this game contest, Mario 3 showed that it was the favorite to win the 8 Bit division after it utterly destroyed the original Metroid. It was up in the air after The Legend of Zelda trounced Adventure so badly, but this match seemed like a huge wakeup call, at least until Zelda 1's next matchup. Three Metroid titles were in this contest, and this was the first one to go down. And it went down with a huge thud, too. Nice to see the board calm down, too. This was the first of many predictable matches all in a row. Bad for drama, but at least there was no reason to stay up all hours of the night to see what was going on. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1633&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=33) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (12)Contra vs (4)Final Fantasy 2004 _source: (12)Contra vs (4)Final Fantasy 2004 (revid 88792)_ ## Results Friday, May 7th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 34 - **Match Date:** Friday, May 7th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 31,994 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy - 73.70% 64 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy - 82.01% (33,575 brackets) First and foremost, I am disgusted that the Black Mage was not the character representing Final Fantasy in the match picture. I mean, what did he ever do to deserve such punishment? ...besides all the sinning... And then there is the prediction percentage. Only 72% of people predicted Mario 3 to reach the sweet sixteen, while 82% of people predicted Final Fantasy making the sweet sixteen. Mario 3 was a lock from the beginning to win its half division, yet it was outnumbered by Final Fantasy by 10% to even reach the sweet sixteen? If that isn't gamefaqs Square bias, I don't know what is. Either that, or people relying too much on past results to choose their brackets in this contest. Anyway, Contra wound up performing well in this contest as a whole. Phantasy Star was overseeded, yet Contra beat it soundly. As for its match against Final Fantasy here, yes it lost 70-30, but 30% of the vote on a Final Fantasy title on this site is nothing to laugh at. In the overall standings, Contra isn't powerful at all. But within the realm of Division 8, I don't think it did badly at all. If we knew of the results of the Final Fantasy/Mario 3 poll before this match, we wouldn't call the game that lives on the best cheat code ever made losing 70-30 to Final Fantasy all that bad. It's still a decent franchise -- nothing amazing, but nothing too bad either -- and it still has some very loyal fans. Just look at MWIS ~\_^ The perspective on Final Fantasy is slightly different. As I said before, 10% more people thought Final Fantasy would get here than Mario 3. Did people look at their brackets and assume that since Samus and Solid Snake could pose threats to Mario that their games within Division 8 stood a chance? It's the only thing I can think of, and it makes enough sense. But looking at the stats before the imminent Final Fantasy/Mario 3 match, one could actually assume that Final Fantasy had a chance of winning. I maintain that Mario 3 was a lock for at least the elite eight in this contest, and the very thought of another game in Mario 3's half division being able to pose any threat whatsoever was simply unheard of before this contest. Final Fantasy did that well in the first two rounds, and it wound up doing very well in the third as well. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1634&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=34) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)Donkey Kong vs (3)The Legend of Zelda 2004 _source: (6)Donkey Kong vs (3)The Legend of Zelda 2004 (revid 88793)_ ## Results Saturday, May 8th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 35 - **Match Date:** Saturday, May 8th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 54,634 - **Oracle Expectations:** The Legend of Zelda - 78.64% 63 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** The Legend of Zelda - 87.68% (35,896 brackets) While Mario 3 was getting ready its next bid to stake claim as the favorite in the division, Zelda 1 was waiting in the wings with a counterattack to cement Zelda's place in this division, as well as this contest. The Zelda games were the most convincing games in round one, and the board hype for an all-Zelda Final Four was running rampant. Zelda didn't just own the first round, it *owned* the first round. The only games that looked like they could take down Zelda titles after the first round were Mario 3, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 7, and the cluster within Division 128. In fact, it almost seemed as if the Wind Waker was the only one that could lose (save my belief that OOT was doomed after the first round, but we're not getting into that argument again). And in the second round, it seemed like Zelda was going to roll all over this contest even more. An 80-20 win over Metroid is nice if you're Mario 3, but how do you feel if you're watching Donkey Kong get his TJF handed to him (he clearly had exposed jogs in that picture!!) under silver platters with fillet mignon on the side? Killing Adventure is one thing, and Donkey Kong may be the most unreliable character and/or game in these contests, but an 87-13 victory for Zelda 1 in this match? If there was ever any doubt that Donkey Kong was one of the weak links of the Nintendo franchise, this match ended them. This match was a complete domination from the start, and even DK Junior felt this one. But that's Donkey Kong for you. He has a close match in all of these contests, followed by him getting his ass kicked next round. Well, save the fact that he lost to Tommy Vercetti, but Mega Man would have destroyed him. His matchup with Duck Hunt was legendary, but this was the single worst followup Donkey Kong has ever had after a close match. He'd be better off actually losing the close calls; he would have more respect that way. Instead, he's made into someone's bitch every year. Back to Zelda for a minute. Five Zelda games had appeared in the contest to this point, and they were a resounding 5-0. And when I said that Zelda was the most convincing force in the contest to this point, I wasn't being biased. It's just that FF6 was unimpressive, Chrono Trigger isn't Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy X could have been labeled a bust, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is in the contest. Zelda, to this point, had absolutely no issues whatsoever save for a 'meh' win against Skies of Arcadia. But Skies is a Sega title, and Sega fans are among the most loyal in gaming. For those who didn't think Zelda was going to dominate this contest, were you the least bit worried after this match? It's almost as if they were unstoppable, and even the legendary Mario 3 looked like the underdog going into its match against Zelda 1. And if you weren't worried after this match, were you worried after the next one? That match was as shocking as any match in this contest, but we'll get into that later. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1635&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=35) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (7)Pong vs (2)Tetris 2004 _source: (7)Pong vs (2)Tetris 2004 (revid 55715)_ ## Results Sunday, May 9th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 8 - **Match \#:** 36 - **Match Date:** Sunday, May 9th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 31,767 - **Oracle Expectations:** Tetris - 66.29% 64 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Tetris - 71.52% (29,280 brackets) BEST. PICTURE. EVER. Since the days of 2002, we've all joked around about how a Pong/Tetris pic would be the best we've ever had in this contest. But we never actually thought we would see such a picture. But sure enough, CJayC proved that he can actually have a sense of humor when we saw the Pong Paddle go up against the Line Block in the match pic. The actual match itself sucked, but the hilarity that was the match pic was more than enough for the board to enjoy a good laugh for a day. It was necessary as well, because Division 128 caused every flame war in the book, while the first three matches in Division 8 put everyone to sleep. A good site-wide fad was a nice break. An actual analysis, you ask? The Tetris Line Block didn't win the Best Tetris Block contest for nothing, and this is clearly the reason why Tetris won this match. Had it been that pain in the ass Staircase Block, we may have seen a different result. The Pong Paddle takes crap from no one, and had it not gone up against itself in this match, it could have easily won the contest. But alas, it was not to be. Tetris and its 33 million copies distributed were simply too much for one Pong Paddle to take, and Pong bowed out of the contest after this matchup. Still, the two matches involving Pong were among the most fun in the contest, and it almost made up for Zero Wing not making it in. ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO PONG, bitches =) On a more serious note, this match truly did suck. 67000 votes is a horribly low voter turnout, and it was blatantly obvious that Tetris wasn't going to do squat against Zelda 1 in the next round because of this. Division 8, from day one, was nothing more than filler until the Mario 3 vs Zelda 1 final. The other games are nice, but they simply don't stack up to the fan bases of the aforementioned two on this site. I won't lie though, I was rooting for Pong to win this match the whole way. It sucks that it got killed so badly, but hey, I had Tetris in my bracket. And with this, the second round of Division 8 is done and over with. Four matches, four insanely easy picks to make. And for the 28% who didn't think Mario 3 was making it out of its 4 pack alive, pass some of that stuff over this way please? ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1636&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=36) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Chrono Trigger vs (8)Super Mario RPG 2004 _source: (1)Chrono Trigger vs (8)Super Mario RPG 2004 (revid 55718)_ ## Results Monday, May 10th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 37 - **Match Date:** Monday, May 10th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 27,228 - **Oracle Expectations:** Chrono Trigger - 66.54% 61 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Chrono Trigger - 73.20% (29,968 brackets) Anyhoo, Division 16 was upon us and with it, a watered down version of Mario vs Crono. It may have been those two in the match picture, but this match was Chrono Trigger the whole way. How only 73.2% of people thought Chrono Trigger wouldn't get past Secret of Mana and Super Mario RPG/Street Fighter 2 is simply beyond me. As I said in Chrono Trigger's last matchup, Chrono Trigger had a pattern in this contest. It started off hot against Super Mario RPG, and looked like it was going to cement its spot in Division 16 with a victory convincing enough to make it the clear-cut favorite. But once the day vote began rolling in, Chrono Trigger lost percentage like crazy. I tried looking on SC2K4.com for the update charts (are they on the site, creativename?), but couldn't mind them. If my memory serves me correctly, Chrono Trigger lost around 8% during the day before finally coming back a little bit to make the percentages what they were at the end of the match. During this little tailspin by Chrono Trigger, the people who were rooting for it not to win the division were all rooting for the percentage to fall even farther, as it meant that Chrono Trigger was in a high probability for losing future matchups. Personally, I think that Chrono Trigger simply faced two great games up to this point. SNES Squaresoft RPGs are nothing to take lightly, and I think that even the best of games could have possibly lost percentage points to Secret of Mana and Super Mario RPG at some point during matches against them. Still, that big a percentage loss could really kill Chrono Trigger if it kept that pattern up against games such as Link to the Past or Super Mario 3. Whether or not this would actually come into fruition was made to be seen, though this little pattern of Chrono Trigger's made for one of the best matches we had ever seen in this history of our contests. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1637&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=37) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (5)Sonic the Hedgehog 2 vs (4)Super Mario World 2004 _source: (5)Sonic the Hedgehog 2 vs (4)Super Mario World 2004 (revid 88794)_ ## Results Tuesday, May 11th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 38 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, May 11th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 30,264 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Mario World - 56.61% 55 for - 6 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Mario World - 72.98% (29,878 brackets) This match shocked quite a number of people, apparently. Some of the best posters on this board went on and on from day one about how this match was the Mario vs Sonic duel we've all been waiting for, and how Sonic 2 would win the match because of it. There's also the fact that a 4 seed had yet to beat a 5 seed in any of these contests, and the fact that Sonic is simply the cooler Mario, and deserved to win this match. **IT'S A TRAP!** I picked Super Mario World to win this match, and I didn't even have to think about it. I've played and beaten Sonic 2 many, many times. I've literally sat in the Casino Night zone for hours racking up tons of extra lives for no reason, have beaten the game with just Sonic, just Tails, and with both of them. I know that game inside and out, and trust me when I tell you that the game has some serious gameplay issues. Speed is nice, but when it starts getting all glitchy, then you have a problem. I've died on platforms that were going up because the game thought I was stuck between the platform and a wall. There are also the zones where you can't go fast at all, or you will die. Hill Top is a perfect example of this. And don't even get me started on how useless it is to play with Sonic and Tails in that game, be it single or multiplayer. It pretty much goes like so. Sonic runs way past his little two-tailed friend Tails, then Tails gets left in the dust. Tails then comes flying back on the screen, only to be left in the dust again. It's completely pointless, and it makes Tails out to look like a complete pansy. Of course if you've ever seen the Sonic cartoon, you'd know that Tails truly is a complete pansy. They portray him as some whimpy little brat who idolizes Sonic. Why, we've never seen the corny sidekick routine before! And even worse, the ring quota for getting the Chaos Emeralds gets higher when you have both Sonic and Tails. The computer sucks at using Tails, and humans aren't much better. So in the end, you're stuck with Sonic trying to more work than he was doing in the first place. Single player is nice, but only for Sonic. He gets to be Super Sonic before the cave zone is you're good enough. Tails? He gets the shaft again. You don't get a Super Tails in this game, and it becomes completely useless to ever go get the Chaos Emeralds with him. Personally, this is a slap in the face, as we have all been robbed of seeing a sexy beast of a fox with two tails. Damn Sega to hell for that. Now Super Mario World, at my last check, does plenty of the things that Sonic 2 can do, only better. Can Mario not run up walls in Super Mario World? Is Mario not surrounded by complete and total morons at all times? Can you actually see the pits before reaching them and take the necessary course to avoid them? Does Mario not have other forms to take in the game? And lastly, does the game encompass more than simply running to the end of the stage as fast as you can, hitting a sign, and occasionally jumping on an easy boss a few times? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. And Mario World has harder bosses that aren't the same damned thing over and over again. Holy unlyrical lyrics Eminem, Robotnik has taken on yet another useless form that is so slow that Sonic can simply run circles around it for as long as he damned well pleases! At least Mario can actually be challenged in Super Mario World. The only issues that even an average player would have in Sonic 2 is the very last zone of the game. And why? Because you die in one hit, and you have two bosses to go through. Neither of them are hard once you know their pattern, but hey, it's something. And that brings me to another point, and that is this whole nonsense with the rings. If Mario gets hit, he has to go and find another mushroom (or Fire Flower or a leaf or something) before he's safe again. Sonic gets hit, and all he needs to be safe is to pick up one of the hundreds of rings that magically flew off from him out of no where and keep on running. Could you imagine how much the Mario series would suck if Mario only needed coins to stay alive? So yes, Sonic 2 deserved this beating. I didn't think it would be anything along the lines of 70-30, but I'm not going to complain about it. In fact, Mario World was so impressive in this match that when compared to Chrono Trigger's weak showing against Super Mario RPG, we had the makings of an imminent Mario vs Crono clash yet again. Only this time Super Mario World actually had a good chance to win, and the people of the board knew it. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1638&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=38) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past vs (3)Super Metroid 2004 _source: (6)The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past vs (3)Super Metroid 2004 (revid 88795)_ ## Results Wednesday, May 12th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 39 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, May 12th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 34,650 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link to the Past - 59.83% 60 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link to the Past - 73.42% (30,058 brackets) Excuse me Samus while I smack you in the head with my boomerang. I've said it many times over the years -- you'll almost never see Samus or any of her games take down Link or any of his games. Unless you're pitting The Adventure of Link against Metroid Prime or something, Link almost always wins. And this goes for everyone else in future contests. Samus beating Link? No thanks. But that being said, Super Metroid was one of the greatest and most revolutionary games of all time. Most top 100 lists have it way up there in the top ten at least, and for good reason. The game featured huge levels, a ton of powerups, some of the best attacks ever, and boss fights that remain legendary to this very day. Samus vs Mother Brain is still one of the all-time great battles in gaming, and for good reason. Long boss fights make for the best boss fights, and I think this is the reason why so many people don't like RPGs much. So many of them get way too easy near the end. Excuse me while I hit you with my strongest attacks and merely heal when necessary! This is all well and good of course, but this is gamefaqs. Square and Zelda reign supreme around here, and if Zelda's dominating 5-0 start didn't open everyone's eyes, then the beating that Zelda laid on Metroid in this match certainly caught some attention. Dominating Adventure, Fallout 2, and Gunstar Heroes is one thing, but sheer dominance over Donkey Kong and Super freaking Metroid is an entirely different animal. I was honestly upset with myself after this matchup, because I originally had Link to the Past over Zelda 1 in the first Final Four match in my bracket, and all signs pointed to seeing that match at this point in the contest. I mean damn, 74-26 over Super Metroid??? This match was as shocking as any other match in this contest, and though I was rooting for LTTP to win this thing, my jaw hit the floor when I first checked the score of it. And even as I type this, I still can't believe how badly Link to the Past flattened Super Metroid in this match. The best series in gaming (IMO) was 6-0 at this point at still going strong. "Ulti, you're a dumbass. Final Fantasy is the best series in gaming. Look at who won the contest!" Eh, we'll get into that later. But let's just say that the weak Link of the Zelda series is The Adventure of Link, which I happen to think is a criminally underrated game. Almost every other game in this series, basically anything other than Wind Waker's art style, kicks ass. Final Fantasy has to deal with such titles as Mystic Quest, Final Fantasy 5, Final Fantasy 8, and the best of them all, Final Fantasy X-2, featuring Yuna both singing like ass and showing ass. Might as well bust out the big question now. Who do you feel would win in a match between Metroid Prime and Super Metroid? ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1639&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=39) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (10)Doom vs (2)Final Fantasy VI 2004 _source: (10)Doom vs (2)Final Fantasy VI 2004 (revid 55725)_ ## Results Thursday, May 13th, 2004 Friday, May 14th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 16 - **Match \#:** 40 - **Match Date:** Thursday, May 13th, 2004 Friday, May 14th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 33,793 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy VI - 72.33% 63 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy VI - 66.89% (27,385 brackets) Doom had no chance in hell of winning this match on our site, so there is really no point saying how FF6 won. This is gamefaqs, where Square and Zelda are boss. First Person Shooters may have existed without Doom, and they they would have sucked. A shame that such a great title went down with such a thud, but hey, gamefaqs is a console-based site. What I will get into is the final four within this division. Originally, this division seemed like a collision course between LTTP and Chrono Trigger. But with Chrono Trigger's struggle against Super Mario RPG and FF6's good showing in this match, it turned into a four way race. There were multiple posts in the discussion topic involving the favorites in each division. At this point, the favorites in the first two divisions were Zelda 1 and LTTP, while the other two divisions were up in the air. I also had a discussion on AIM with BigCow involving Division 16, and he said that despite FF6's low prediction percentage to even make the sweet sixteen (what was going to beat it, anyway? Doom? Earthbound? Mortal Kombat? Give me a break here), that the three heavy hitters in Division 16 all had equal chances of winning. And here is why: - Chrono Trigger's votes against Super Mario RPG: 53516 - Link to the Past's votes against Super Metroid: 53413 - Final Fantasy 6's votes against Doom: 54078 665 votes was the difference between the three big hitters of Division 16 out of 161007 total votes. Oddly enough, Link to the Past had the lowest vote total of the three games, while Final Fantasy 6 wound up with the highest. And despite prediction percentages and bracket voting and all of that other nonsense BigCow, yet again, wound up being dead-on with his analysis of these three games. They did all have an equal chance of winning, with an outside chance that Chrono Trigger may even lose its next match against Super Mario World. And the next three matches that would decide this division wound up showing that these three games were a lot closer than some of us may have thought. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1640&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=40) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (9)Xenogears 2004 _source: (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (9)Xenogears 2004 (revid 55727)_ ## Results Saturday, May 15th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 41 - **Match Date:** Saturday, May 15th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 43,431 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy VII - 77.69% 59 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy VII - 89.52% (36,649 brackets) Three matches in a row, three victories (and two losses, as well) for Squaresoft RPGs. And convincing victories at that. Xenogears never stood a chance in this match, and I'm sure the game getting its ass handed to itself didn't bother smitelf very much. She went as far as to compare the second disc of Xenogears to a miscarriage in her own poetic fashion. The best thing about this match is that it was expected to be a blowout. The only thing this meant was to see how well Final Fantasy 7 stacked up against Ocarina of Time, because no game would come between them. Almost 90% of bracketmakers knew that Final Fantasy 7 would make the sweet sixteen, and the only other game that came this close to FF7's prediction percentage was The Legend of Zelda. Pure dominance right here, and if you weren't a believer that Ocarina of Time was already done for by this point in the contest, then you were hoping that Ocarina would put up a dominating performance against Mario 64. *whew* One of the easiest matches to look at in the entire contest =) Xenogears, Fei, and the Weltall were all creamed by the power that is Cait Sith's pinkie in this match, and the only drama here was seeing whether or not Final Fantasy 7 would get above 80% before the end of it. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1641&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=41) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (5)Final Fantasy Tactics vs (4)Metal Gear Solid 2004 _source: (5)Final Fantasy Tactics vs (4)Metal Gear Solid 2004 (revid 88796)_ ## Results Sunday, May 16th, 2004 - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 42 - **Match Date:** Sunday, May 16th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 38 - **Oracle Expectations:** Metal Gear Solid - 56.79% 51 for - 8 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Metal Gear Solid - 54.77% (22,423 brackets) ## Ulti's Analysis What a fantastic match this was. Until this match, I think the closest wire to wire poll we ever had was either Kingdom Hearts vs Soul Calibur or Tommy Vercetti vs Donkey Kong where at no point during either poll did the lead ever break 1100 votes or so. But this match was something else entirely. I believe the largest lead either game saw in this poll was around the 750 mark, possibly a little bit lower. I know for a fact that it was above 700, but not above 750. So we can at least agree on that much. Dammit creativename, do you have those update charts on your site? I can't find them ;\_; Anyway, one could make a good case for either game heading into this match. On one hand, you had the favorite in Metal Gear Solid. A lot of people, including myself, figured that Metal Gear Solid was the clear favorite in this match. After all, Solid Snake is supposedly the most popular non-Square, non-Nintendo character on this site, with the sole exception of possibly Sonic. Personally, I think that Snake would best Sonic in a poll, as Sonic the Hedgehog is a has-been. Deny it all you wish, but compare Sonic's popularity during the Genesis days to his popularity now. Sonic never has (and I doubt he ever will) recover from Poll 994. And speaking of that poll, check out the percentages between that poll and this one. They're exactly the same. Coincidence, perhaps? Maybe, but this match was far closer than Sonic vs Samus way back in 2002. Sonic had a 1500 vote lead on Samus throughout the day back then, but Metal Gear Solid could only manage a lead of ~720 in this match. But we'll get into that later. The fact here is that Metal Gear Solid was the favorite, both by board and bracketmaker standards. the biggest reasons for this would be Solid Snake's performances in past Summer Contests, as well as the release of The Twin Snakes during our contest. Metal Gear Solid was supposedly exposed to an entirely new audience on the Gamecube, and it was supposed to allow Metal Gear Solid to run away with this matchup. ...but there is a big factor to consider when one looks at how much The Twin Snakes affected this matchup. The Twin Snakes has sold roughly 150,000 copies, which doesn't seem like nearly enough to affect this poll one way or the other. And this is where Final Fantasy Tactics and its chances to win came into play. Final Fantasy Tactics is very close to the numbered series in strength. I wouldn't know where to place the game if all Final Fantasy titles were grouped together, but I think it would be in the top five in strength. And as we all know, a strong Squaresoft RPG is dangerous in any poll, any time, anywhere, any place. You simply never underestimate a Squaresoft RPG and its fans on this site, ever. There is also the fact that Final Fantasy Tactics outperformed Metal Gear Solid in the first round. FFT managed 60,000 votes and 76% of the vote against Dance Dance Revolution, while Metal Gear Solid was only able to manage 52,700 votes and 70.6% of the total vote against Resident Evil. Now Resident Evil is clearly stronger than Dance Dance Revolution, but by how much? Another thing to look at if you aren't a believer that FFT outperformed MGS in the first round are the total votes in the respective polls. FFT's poll scored nearly 80,000 votes, while Metal Gear Solid's poll only managed to score around 75,000 votes. Slowflake may not believe that total votes in polls matter, but I feel the opposite. Going solely by the board and prediction percentages, Metal Gear Solid was supposed to own this match. Yet Final Fantasy Tactics managed to make this poll the second closest poll of all time. And now, for my commentary on how the match finally went. After all the incoming board hype and theories, the poll had to happen sooner or later =) As expected, Metal Gear Solid jumped out to an early lead. It wasn't anything huge, but Metal Gear Solid managed a lead of around 720 within the first few hours of the poll. But the morning vote soon kicked in, and the real fun began to kick in. Final Fantasy Tactics began to fight back in the poll, and slowly, very slowly, it managed to slowly take votes off of the lead Metal Gear Solid had built. This pattern continued throughout the entire day. Every time Final Fantasy Tactics made a small push, Metal Gear Solid fought back to make it look like it would hold FFT off for good. But FFT kept countering these small shots all day with small shots of its own. The games went back and forth taking shots at each other all day long, but the upper hand clearly belonged to Final Fantasy Tactics. If the matches still had 15 minute updates, you would find that most of the updates would have been won by Final Fantasy Tactics in the end. Come the evening, when the vaunted Square vote takes full effect, Metal Gear Solid had a lead of roughly 200 votes. Final Fantasy Tactics continued the pattern it had been taking throughout the contest to that point, and simply continued its methodical dismantling of Metal Gear Solid's lead. It was slow and meticulous, but Final Fantasy Tactics kept the push going. And while it seemed at times that FFT was making a fast push, the consistent counterattacks by Metal Gear Solid kept the overall movement very small. But even then, Final Fantasy Tactics made a push to bring the lead to less than 100 votes (actually, it was closer to 50 or so) in the later parts of the evening. At this point, many people of the board felt that FFT would win based solely on the pattern it had going for the entire match after falling behind by 720 votes. But sadly, I had to go to work with roughly five hours left in the poll. I did however manage to get Tanya to send me text messages all the way up until around 12:30 AM EST. From what I can gather, Final Fantasy Tactics made a decent push to try to take the lead back, but Metal Gear Solid managed to fight back to take a lead of over 100 in the match. But with a mere 150 minutes left in the poll, Final Fantasy Tactics began making a push again. It had cut the lead of 100 all the way down to 60, and it was still going strong when Tanya went to sleep. She even sent me a text saying that FFT was coming on so fast that it was probably going to win, and that she was going to go to sleep. So I worked the rest of the night under the assumption that I was coming home to a victory for Final Fantasy Tactics. *SPECIAL THANKS GO TO CREATIVENAME, STARION, AND TEAM ROCKET ELITE FOR THE REST OF THIS ANALYSIS* I couldn't have known the amazing details of what happened in the final 150 minutes without them, and I heart you guys \<3 Final Fantasy Tactics made a quick push within the next few minutes to make the poll dead even between the two games. After some fighting back and forth between them, Final Fantasy Tactics made a push so that it took a lead of around 30 or so. Slowflake called the match in the favor of Final Fantasy Tactics at this point, but no sooner than he finished typing the post did Metal Gear Solid make its push to get back into the match. It pulled the poll dead even again. Soon later, it managed to push itself out to a lead of around 40 or so. But back came Final Fantasy Tactics to push the poll to being even again. But once Final Fantasy Tactics managed to do this, Metal Gear Solid counterattacked with another small push of its own. These pushes were never more than 20-30 votes or so, but in a match this close, everything mattered. This pattern continued all the way until the end of the poll. Around 2:45 EST, Final Fantasy Tactics managed to push the poll to being even again, but yet again, it was unable to make the push necessary to win the match. Metal Gear Solid made a huge push of around 50 votes or so, and since it happened that late in the poll, it meant the end for Final Fantasy Tactics in the match, and a win for Metal Gear Solid. Now, did this writeup sound like I wasn't too into the match? Did the lack of board or site activity make it seem like few others cared all that much, either? Or what about CJayC not posting a topic saying there was no cheating? After all, those pishes from Metal Gear Solid late in the poll seemed fishy, did they not? Or what about the low vote total for the match? Close polls don't score merely 81,000 votes. Mass spamming is supposed to cause the vote totals in such matches to skyrocket. So why not in this match? That's because despite how close this match was, few people outside of the board cared about it. Know why? Because CJayC decided to create an ad for Syphon Filter that took up the entire homepage. Even worse was the fact that the entire homepage was an ugly green color, which caused the page to be unreadable. Of course, this only worked when you used the classic layout. Users who used the new site layout didn't have to worry about the hideous new homepage, as the page blocked the ad. Users who were smart enough to view the site on 1000 pixels didn't see the ad at all, but that isn't even the point. Am I the only one who has noticed that the extra ads have stopped since the end of the contest? No shared polls, no ad-sponsored polls, no page-wide ads, nothing. The site has been normal ever since the contest ended, and why? Does it happen to be a coincidence that all of these ads happened during a contest that the leaders of our site knew would cause extra traffic? I think not, but we won't know for sure until the next contest rolls around. If the ads don't happen for awhile, then all of a sudden start up again during the next contest, we'll have our answer as to whether or not these ads have been interrupting the contest on purpose. I'll give CJayC the benefit of the doubt until such an event happens, but I will say that the Syphon Filter ad killed any and all credibility of this match. No matter who you were rooting for, a 50 vote jump right before the end of the poll is a little odd. I was rooting for Metal Gear Solid the whole way, but if the claim of 50 votes all coming in at once is true, then something should have been done about it. But no, nothing was done, and to our knowledge, there is no proof that the match was even looked into at the end. All we have are the final results, and I believe that they aren't credible because of the ad. But in the end, Metal Gear Solid walked away a winner, and Final Fantasy Tactics walked away a loser. I walked away somewhat happy that Metal Gear Solid was the game that won, but I am flat-out disgusted by the fact that an ad may or may not have been the deciding factor in the match. The only deciding factors in these matches should be the popularity of the entities involved. Now the games have to deal with consistent, changing variables on the very site that they are being posted on? That is completely unfair to the participants in the contest, as well as the people who actually entered the contest itself. In closing, while I may be happy that Metal Gear Solid actually won, I feel that both games were given the shaft in this poll. It's almost like the poll was given a back seat in order for the site to plaster another disgusting ad all over itself like a prostitute looking for a quick dollar. And with the crusty stains of CNET's violation comes a poll in which no one can say who truly won. And while it is well-known how big a fan of Final Fantasy Tactics I am, some of you may have caught me feverishly defending the Metal Gear series as well. I love Metal Gear Solid, and I would have liked to see an actual poll between the two games, not some freak show in which some voters may not have even known who they were voting for in the damned match. On a more serious note, I think it is safe to say that should this match actually be legitimate, every factor in the book decided it for Metal Gear Solid. Can bracket voters can The Twin Snakes, insignificant as they both are in the large scale, be responsible for 38 votes? I'd like to think so, if for no other reason than to not say that the ad solely decided the match. I'll say this much, however. I hope the new Syphon Filter game bombs so badly that the company that made it goes bankrupt. I refuse to adhere to selling out, ever. I stopped liking Metallica because of it, I stopped liking Korn because of it, I stopped liking Evanescence because of it, and you can also say the same about Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and to a lesser degree, most hip hop artists. I'm a Tool fan for many reasons, one of the biggest being that they don't give a crap about you, your opinions, or the intellectual vacuum that some of you casually refer to as skulls. They make music for the benefit of enlightenment for themselves and their fans, and nothing more. And that's how everything should be. It would all be so much better if the entire world didn't revolve around money, but this match was a perfect example that the world will forever revolve around money, no matter the course of action needed. It sickens me. ## Stats and Analysis A very similar match to Jill vs. Peach, in that both games were particularly evenly matched, and the end result could easily have gone either way (Metal Gear Solid ended up winning by 38 votes, which was then the smallest margin of victory). However, this match saw a good deal of controversy via a giant ad being taken up where the poll normally goes for the last part of the match. Whether that contributed to the end result or not (given that the ad was for Syphon Filter, a game very similar to Metal Gear Solid) will never be known, but there was a good deal of complaining and moaning about it after the fact. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), the match was very entertaining, with lots of late surges and pushes from behind. Another solid (no pun intended) matchup that could have gone either way. What ultimately decided the match was Board 8's love of MGS; a strong board vote in the closing minutes proved just enough to shut Final Fantasy Tactics down for good. This wasn't the last time B8 would save the series, as the board later came to the rescue of Snake in his 2006 ToC battle against Sephiroth, as well as saving Liquid Snake's bacon against Alucard in 2007. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1642&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=42) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (11)Castlevania: Symphony of the Night vs (3)GoldenEye 007 2004 _source: (11)Castlevania: Symphony of the Night vs (3)Goldeneye 2004 (revid 88797)_ ## Results Monday, May 17th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 43 - **Match Date:** Monday, May 17th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 13,919 - **Oracle Expectations:** Goldeneye - 54.54% 45 for - 14 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Goldeneye - 62.26% (25,489 brackets) For all the hype involving the supposed BangFang Trangle (only 62.26% of people got this match right), this match was over before it even started. If Castlevania had such a struggle with Perfect Dark, there was no way it was going to give Goldeneye a scare. Like I was saying from day one, the fanbases of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are two entirely different animals, and though Symphony of the Night managed to squeak by Perfect Dark, it had no chance of getting past Goldeneye. Not only did Goldeneye win, but it laid a 60-40 beating on Castlevania to make it perfectly clear that it was the superior game among this "difficult" four pack. For the first time, Alucard does not go to the sweet sixteen in a contest. What's even more odd is that extrapolated standings show that Half-Life could beat Castlevania. Are the days of GFNW coming to an end? But do not think I'm putting down Castlevania here. I just recently started playing Symphony of the Night, and I can see why many sites agree that it is one of the best games ever made. It's almost like a vampiric version of a Mega Man or a Super Metroid. But Castlevania has simply never had enough mainstream support to keep it up there with the heavy hitters, and it showed in this match. And yes, Goldeneye is a heavy hitter. This game was magic when it was released. The websites all over the world dedicated to [world record times](http://the-elite.net), multiplayer strategies, and single player help are amazing. The cheats were among one of the most fun sidequests ever made, and you all know that you jumped up and down with joy when you finally beat the Facility on 00 Agent in under 2:05. I sure as hell did, and I'm proud to admit it. Goldeneye was *magic*. There have been other FPS games released since Goldeneye, but few of them can catch both the flare of single and multiplayer. Perfect Dark, while a better game than Goldeneye (made by the same company), doesn't seem to have the magic that Goldeneye had. It was simply a remake with different characters and a bad storyline. Halo? Legendary multiplayer, but the single player was a disappointment. And it's on the Xbox, which never helps. When you think First Person Shooters, only three games should really come into your head as being the best of the best of the best: Doom, Goldeneye, and Half-Life. Everything else, at least until something else comes along, are simply wannabe poseurs in my eyes. You can give me all the fancy graphics you want to, but you still need solid singleplayer modes and decent gameplay. I don't think Halo has it, to be honest. Anyway, I'm done. Goldeneye was the best selling title on the N64 until Ocarina of Time came along. Pretty ironic that they would face in the sweet sixteen, no? ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1643&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=43) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (7)Super Mario 64 vs (2)The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 2004 _source: (7)Super Mario 64 vs (2)The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 2004 (revid 88798)_ ## Results Tuesday, May 18th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 32-64 - **Match \#:** 44 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, May 18th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 41,367 - **Oracle Expectations:** Ocarina of Time - 67.59% 60 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Ocarina of Time - 81.93% (33,542 brackets) For the most part, I bash people when the prediction percentage is a bit low. I mean if this were Mario vs Link in the second round, no way in hell do you see a mere 81.93% of brackets picking Link. But in this case, I understand. Super Mario 64 was one of the most revolutionary and best titles ever to hit the market. For the most part, 3D gaming sucked before Mario 64, if it even existed at all. But after this absolute gem, look how far we've come. It's for good reason too. For those who have never played Super Mario 64, you are missing a masterpiece. It's right up there with Super Mario 3 when it comes to a fun, replayable title. Getting all 120 stars is a fun challenge, and the bosses in the game are varied enough so that you're not doing the same thing over and over again. The exception is Bowser of course, but we'll ignore the big turtle ~\_^ Overall, it's a fun game with a million things to do, and a replay value that had people doing those things over and over again for years. Come to think of it, we're still doing them. The N64 had a knack for releasing timeless titles, didn't it? But in the end, we have another legendary game getting a beating at the hands of the Zelda title from its same genration. We all knew that Zelda would win this thing, but a 76-24 beating? That's insane. Even worse is that the picture of Link for this match had Link wearing two different boots. I mean honestly, what the hell was that? With all the pictures of Adult Link out there, we had to pick a stoned Link wearing two different boots? As if the beatings Zelda laid on Donkey Kong and Super Metroid weren't enough, this match had to open your eyes to the possibility that Zelda could very well own this contest. Many people were complaining of the bore of an all-Zelda Final Four after Super Metroid's beating, but after this match, they were trying to figure out the percentages that were going to be seen in the matches. Zelda was looking that good in this contest, 7-0 and counting, and showed no signs of slowing down at all. All this division was about was how well Final Fantasy 7 and Ocarina of Time stacked up to one another. And what's this? Why, it''s a hope for Ocarina of Time to actually win! Both Final Fantasy 7 and Ocarina of Time had matches riddled with SFF in the second round, but look at how they went down: - Final Fantasy 7's total against Xenogears: 57876 - Ocarina of Time's total against Super Mario 64: 60064 - Total votes in poll 1641: 72321 - Total votes in poll 1644: 78761 Now Super Mario 64 is most definitely a stronger opponent than Xenogears. That much we know. But than that strength alone attribute to 6440 more total votes? Possibly, but look at the individual votes. Against a stronger opponent, Ocarina of Time scored 2188 more votes. If Final Fantasy 7 was up against a weaker opponent, shouldn't it have trumped Ocarina's vote total in this round? Looks like we had a contest on our hands again. And yes, I was leading somewhere when I said OOT clearly had no chance after round one. It's called *drama*, people. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1644&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=44) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (16)Starcraft vs (9)Kingdom Hearts 2004 _source: (16)Starcraft vs (9)Kingdom Hearts 2004 (revid 88799)_ ## Results Wednesday, May 19th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 45 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, May 19th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 5,424 - **Oracle Expectations:** StarCraft - 47.83% 11 for - 49 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** StarCraft - 15.62% (6,395 brackets) With Halo being ousted in the first round, the door was wide open for Kingdom Hearts. All it needed to do was take down the lowly 16 seed. Shouldn't have really been a problem, right? After all, Halo was nothing but a weak Xbox title, and even then it took the entire internet to take it down. Surely a Square RPG would make meat out of Starcraft, right? HA! Not only did Starcraft come out and win this match, Kingdom Hearts was *utterly destroyed* (ahem) the whole way through. Kingdom Hearts won a grand total of seven updates in the entire 24 hours of this poll. And in those seven updates, take a wild guess as to how many votes were cut off of Starcraft's lead in all of the updates combined? 61! That's it. I love Kingdom Hearts to death (just wrote a review for it last night, in fact), but it got its ass handed to it in this match. "But Ulti, a 53-47 win isn't a beating." Fair enough, but look at the prediction percentage. Look at the pre-match hype. Look at all of the people who said before this contest that the Starcraft/Halo match was nothing more than a matchup of who would get its ass kicked by Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts, plain and simple, was the biggest dud in this contest. It may have helped Cloud and Sephiroth completely own the Summer 2003 Contest, but as a stand-alone title, it did nothing of note in this contest. It almost lost to SoulCalibur, and it lost a match against Starcraft that it was supposed to own. And it didn't just lose, either. It never came close to winning this matchup. Starcraft beat on it early and often, proving once again that the Starcraft fanbase is nothing to \*\*\*\* around with in polls. Oddly enough, there isn't all that much else to say about this matchup. Starcraft won easily, Kingdom Hearts had no excuses to make for itself, and Starcraft proved that the match against Halo was no fluke. The final thing I will say is that the picture for this match was pathetic. A *Queen*? CJayC has been called a fanboy of many things, and now we can add 'Zerg fanboy' to the list. Good grief. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1645&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=45) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (5)The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker vs (4)Metroid Prime 2004 _source: (5)The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker vs (4)Metroid Prime 2004 (revid 88801)_ ## Results Thursday, May 20th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 46 - **Match Date:** Thursday, May 20th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 6,974 - **Oracle Expectations:** Wind Waker - 58.93% 51 for - 9 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Wind Waker - 47.04% (19,258 brackets) What's this? A match featuring a Zelda title that doesn't show the Zelda title completely owning the living hell out of its opponent? Even worse are the total votes. Just under 67,000 this late in the contest? Oh, well. Allow me to break from the norm for one moment. This match was the 46th match of the contest, and it wasn't until this match did we get our contest stats. How someone could tell his audience that the stats would be up shortly after the beginning of the contest, then wait until the 46th match of the contest to post them is beyond me. I think that this was completely unfair to the audience of the contest, to be honest. Some people could have been on the leaderboard within the first 45 matches but not have seen themselves because of the stats not being up until this match. For an analogy, imagine a baseball season in which you don't see any stats or records until there were around 44 games left in the season. Pretty asonine, isn't it? Yet CJayC did it to all of us in this contest without any apology whatsoever. He didn't even bother to say 'You know guys, I've been pretty busy with E3, and the stats will be a bit late'. Nothing like that. He just posted the stats and acted like we weren't supposed to be the least bit pissed off that he waited so damned long. I'm a believer that people should either stick to their word or shut up, to be honest. But enough of that. For those that got to see themselves on the leaderboard. For those who did very well in the contest but missed a key match or two that screwed them out of seeing themselves, my deepest apologies. Speaking of people who did well but missed a key match or two, poor Xenobi. Samus was in three matches within the second round of this contest, and she lost all three of them. Granted they were to Mario 3, LTTP, and Wind Waker, but losses are losses. But thankfully, Samus went down for good in this contest by putting up a fight. After The Wind Waker built a small initial lead in the beginning of this poll, Metroid Prime managed to split the vote pretty evenly until the morning vote gave The Wind Waker an unbeatable lead. But despite the fight that Metroid Prime put up, the bottom line was that Samus was completely out of this contest in the second round, while the Zelda titles were a nice 8-0. The Wind Waker was easily the weak link (that was a pun, dammit) for the Zelda series in this contest. The first three divisions looked like they could be won by Zelda games, but The Wind Waker was clearly in an uphill climb if it wanted to get out of this one alive. Its next match against Starcraft was seemingly easy enough, but what about the winner of FFX/SSBM? If either of those games showed any strength whatsoever in their upcoming matchups, then The Wind Waker looked to be in severe jeopardy of not making it out of the division alive. Another note are the vote totals for this match. The SFF matches in the other divisions managed to still score around the post-layout change average, yet this matchup scored just under 67,000 votes. Why was that? Did people not care as much about these two titles as they did the titles in other SFF matches? Was it the division itself? And if The Wind Waker was weak enough to only draw 67,000 voters to its match, shouldn't the critically acclaimed Metroid Prime have been able to win this match? Either The Wind Waker was underrated, Metroid Prime was overrated, or people could not have cared less about these two games. Know what this means? If SSBM showed any strength at all in its upcoming matchups, it was the favorite to win the division. Of course, this all assumes that The Wind Waker even got past Starcraft in the first place. I held a pre-poll in which Starcraft scored 80% of the board vote. But those polls are always nonsense. No way could The Wind Waker possibly lose to some 7 year old PC Real Time Strategy title.... ....could it? After all, Link Always Wins. It's the LAW. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1646&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=46) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)Final Fantasy Tactics Advance vs (3)Final Fantasy X 2004 _source: (6)Final Fantasy Tactics Advance vs (3)Final Fantasy X 2004 (revid 88802)_ ## Results Friday, May 21st, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 47 - **Match Date:** Friday, May 21st, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 21,576 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy X - 73.55% 60 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy X - 79.81% (32,674 brackets) From the FFTA vs Fire Emblem analysis: *But it was a pyrrhic victory for FFTA; despite winning the match, it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had no way in hell of getting out of the next round. Failing to double up a cult hit usually spells doom against the first threat that comes along.* Worked out somewhat along those lines. FFTA never stood any chance of winning this match, and this was nothing more than a match to see how well Final Fantasy X was going to do against the rest of the division. If you ask me, FFX failed miserably in this match to give any signs whatsoever that it was a threat to win this division. It started off well enough, but by the time the end of the poll came around, FFX failed to even double up FFTA, a game many hardcore fans of Square RPGs consider to be among the worst games in the series. What was that line again? Oh yes: *Failing to double up a cult hit usually spells doom against the first threat that comes along.* FFTA, at best, is a cult it. It has some vocal fans, but many people can't stand it. And yet through all of this, Final Fantasy X failed to score at least 66.67% of the vote. This spelled disaster for the first major threat that was to face Final Fantasy X, but the problem is that none of us really knew what the first threat would be. The Wind Waker could be considered the favorite to win the division at this point, but its match against Metroid Prime only scored around 67,000 votes. FFX could be a threat to win this division, but it underperformed in both matches it has been in up to this point. Also, this poll only scored around 65,000 votes. Super Smash Brothers Melee? A decent choice, but it only managed to beat Metal Gear Solid 2 by 10,000 votes as a 2 seed, and its prediction percentage for that match was very low considering the seeding. Starcraft? Pfft, please. Starcraft wasn't even going to beat The Wind Waker, let alone a Final Fantasy title. It has performed well up to this point, but Halo and Kingdom Hearts are two games that aren't very well-loved on this site. Surely, it could pose no threat to the rest of this division. Even Vice City could be considered a threat at this point. It beat down KOTOR, and was looking prime and ready to take down SSBM as well. But even then, Vice City has shwon nothing that would prove it to be strong beyond a reasonable doubt. So in the end, we have a gigantic clusterfuck in Division 128, with no clear-cut favorite. The popular favorite seemed to be Final Fantasy X at this point, despite how bad it had performed in its two matches. To this extent, the first game that could be considered a major threat would be the winner of the Final Fantasy 7 vs Ocarina of Time matchup. That's how wierd Division 128 was in this contest. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1647&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=47) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (7)Grand Theft Auto: Vice City vs (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee 2004 _source: (7)Grand Theft Auto: Vice City vs (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee 2004 (revid 88803)_ ## Results Saturday, May 22nd, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Division 128 - **Match \#:** 48 - **Match Date:** Saturday, May 22nd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 4,893 - **Oracle Expectations:** Melee - 54.95% 54 for - 6 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Melee - 22.03% (9,019 brackets) Coming into this match, Vice City looked like it could have been the favorite. Its win against KOTOR was seemingly more impressive than SSBM's win against Metal Gear Solid 2. Add in the low prediction percentage for SSBM to even get out of the first round, and you had quite the trap set up to get Division 128's 2 seed out of this contest early. After all, Vice City has sold over 7 million copies and Grand Theft Auto continues to be one of the biggest franchises in the world. But whether or not this would all translate into a win remained to be seen. Neither game was overly strong in the first round, and SSBM's match against Metal Gear Solid 2 was one of the lowest-scoring matches of the contest. So coming into this match, it was more and more up in the air. For the first four hours of this poll, the two games were virtually dead even the whole way through. SSBM managed to build a lead of 100, but the lead literally stalled at 100 until 7 AM EST. Now it would seem like these two games were duking it out like true favorites to win the division, but this was not the case. Look at the final vote total. 69,000 votes in such a hyped match between two games supposedly ready to take down the entire division is not supposed to happen. So while both games were locked in a dead heat for a few hours, it seemed as if both games were simply doing so badly that neither of them could gain an advantage over the other. But like SSBM would do throughout this entire contest, the morning and afternoon votes came to the rescue. It took both voting blocks and built a 4000 vote lead over Vice City by catching more steam along the way. By the time the later votes started coming in, the match was already decided. SSBM's advance slowed down somewhat, but it still wound up winning by nearly 5000 votes in the end. First and foremost, tip your hat to Vice City in this matchup. Whether you hate the Grand Theft Auto series or not, it's still one of the single biggest gaming phenoms to ever hit the market, and Rockstar is rolling in a lot of cash because of it. I'm willing to bet that San Andreas sells 5 million copies without any effort whatsoever. As I've said before, Vice City selling over 7 million copies is no joke whether it's liked on our site or not. Then, look at SSBM. Two rounds have passed, and no games have decided to come forward and say that they're the favorite in Division 128. SSBM once against struggles with a powerhouse title from the Playstation 2, which can be looked upon two ways. One, SSBM could be seen as a pretty strong title. After all, it did manage to take down Metal Gear Solid 2 and Vice City. But on the flipside, the vote totals and prediction percentages in both matches were horrendous. What kind of a 2 seed is only expected by 22% of brackets to even get into the sweet sixteen, anyway? Our Final Four in Division 128 was Starcraft, The Wind Waker, Final Fantasy X, and Super Smash Brothers Melee. Among them are two crowning Gamecube titles, the Final Fantasy for our generation, and a 7 year old PC title. If you care anything about vote totals, the favorite to win Division 128 at this was actually Starcraft. Completely absurd to think about at this point of the contest, but Starcraft had a way of defying any and all forms of logic in this thing. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1648&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=48) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (4)Final Fantasy 2004 _source: (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (4)Final Fantasy 2004 (revid 67761)_ ## Results Sunday, May 23rd, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 8 Semi Final - **Match \#:** 49 - **Match Date:** Sunday, May 23rd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 14,164 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Mario Bros. 3 - 61.21% 54 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Mario Bros. 3 - 54.94% (22,492 brackets) Super Mario Brothers 3 was an absolute lock to make it out of its half division in this contest, yet only 55% of bracketmakers thought it would make it past this match. Even worse, this was not an impressive victory at all for the divisional favorite. I understand that Final Fantasy has the namebrand and the 8-Bit Theater strength attached to it (hence the high picture rating), but a divisional favorite not scoring 60% in the semifinal against an inferior opponent doesn't spell well for it in the future. This match reminded me of Mario's 55-45 flop against Shadow the Hedgehog in the Summer 2003 Contest in that it clearly showed that Mario was not his old self. Coincidentally, this is Mario's best game showing that it was not its old self in the match. But in the interest of fairness, I think that there were some unseen factors involved in this match. Compare the prediction percentages between Mario 3 and Final Fantasy in each round: **Round 1** - Mario 3: 86.56% - Final Fantasy: 96.46% **Round 2** - Mario 3: 72.04% - Final Fantasy: 82.01% Clearly, Final Fantasy was actually the favorite to win this match. I don't exactly think it was by a large amount, but the prediction percentages don't lie. Apparently this site really is FinalFantasyFAQs after all. You could name a game *Final Fantasy: Dog Turds in Flight* and see it enjoy huge amounts of success around here. That's simply the nature of the beast. So on the bright side of all this, Mario 3 won a match that it was supposed to lose 60-40. Whether or not this was simply a bump in the road remained to see seen, but thankfully for us fans, we could make a quick comparison between the division's two heavyweights in the match directly following this one. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1649&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=49) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)The Legend of Zelda vs (2)Tetris 2004 _source: (3)The Legend of Zelda vs (2)Tetris 2004 (revid 55745)_ ## Results Monday, May 24th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 8 Semi Final - **Match \#:** 50 - **Match Date:** Monday, May 24th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 34,396 - **Oracle Expectations:** The Legend of Zelda - 70.88% 57 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** The Legend of Zelda - 71.26% (29,174 brackets) Poor HoratioQHornblower. If he picks Zelda 1 to win this match, he may have won the contest. But it isn't like his reasoning wasn't good. He owns a gaming store, so I'm sure he remembers the national craze that involved the Game Boy, Tetris, and the 33 million copies that have been released worldwide. But, this is gamefaqs. As I've said all throughout this analysis, Zelda and Square rule everything around here. And after Mario 3 stuttered against Final Fantasy a little bit, it was The Legend of Zelda's turn to show what kind of a threat it would be. Well, is a 75-25 win over Tetris enough of a threat? Or what about the prediction percentages? Only 55% of people thought Mario 3 was going to reach the divisonal finals, yet 71% of people thought Zelda 1 would get this far. And it's a broken record by this point, but Zelda was continuing to dominate this contest. It was 9-0 and rolling at this point, and it looked like the clear favorite to take Division 8 after this match. All of the numbers lined up for it, at least. The only hope that Mario 3 looked to have was the voting total in the two matches. Mario 3's match against Final Fantasy scored nearly 4000 more votes than the Zelda 1 poll managed to score. But then we have to realize that no one cared about any match involving Tetris. It truly did seem like Zelda was going to walk away with it after this match. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1650&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=50) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Chrono Trigger vs (4)Super Mario World 2004 _source: (1)Chrono Trigger vs (4)Super Mario World 2004 (revid 55747)_ ## Results Tuesday, May 25th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 16 Semi Final - **Match \#:** 51 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, May 25th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 13,753 - **Oracle Expectations:** Chrono Trigger - 70.88% 57 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Chrono Trigger - 61.95% (25,362 brackets) Coming into this matchup, Super Mario World was supposed to be strong enough to make this another Mario vs Crono type of match. After all, Super Mario World beat the holy hell out of Sonic 2 in a 70-30 rout, while Chrono Trigger lost a whole lot of percentage against Super Mario RPG through the day. As such, it looked like Super Mario World was on the upset track, while Chrono Trigger looked like it had to struggle through both of its matchups. The pre-match hype, as always, was all over the place as the match built itself up. Yet once the match began, it was absolutely clear that Chrono Trigger was no joke in this contest. In a match that was supposed to be a trap for Chrono Trigger, it jumped out to a quick 63-37 lead and never looked back. This disappointed a lot of the people who were looking for drama after a long string of easy matches, but that's simply the way it was. Chrono Trigger, despite its troubles, was a strong game in this contest. Another thing to remember is the competition it faced. Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, and Super Mario World are damned strong competition. I mean, 2 Square RPGs and a mainstream Mario title? Losing percentage in the day against those three is perfectly okay. Speaking of which, Chrono Trigger managed to continue to worry the people who had it in the finals when it dipped all the way down to 58.75% before making a small recovery to get near 60% again. But the damage was done long before any of this went down. Super Mario World looked prime for the upset in this match, and some people even gave it a chance to win the division before this match took place. But in the end, Chrono Trigger easily shook off Super Mario World like a bad case of the fleas to cement its status as a favorite in the division. But this was all covered in the last round, as the favorites were clearly Chrono Trigger, Link to the Past, and Final Fantasy 6. Chrono Trigger did its part in this match, and it was now time for the next match to defeat the hopes of another one of the favorites. One final thing to note, and that is that Chrono Trigger's vote total had gone down in each of its first three matches to this point. Whether or not this was a warning sign remained to be seen. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1651&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=51) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past vs (2)Final Fantasy VI 2004 _source: (6)The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past vs (2)Final Fantasy VI 2004 (revid 88209)_ ## Results Wednesday, May 26th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 16 Semi Final - **Match \#:** 52 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, May 26th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 4,302 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link to the Past - 55.73% 47 for - 10 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link to the Past - 39.57% (16,200 brackets) Before I say anything, let me note that this may have been the single worst picture in the contest. It was so bad that CJayC actually created a topic to tell us that it was the official Japanese art for both games, and it was the impetus for user created match pictures in the future (credit to Leonhart4 for this bit of trivia). If he knew the picture sucked so bad that he felt the need to create a topic, why did he use it in the first place? That guy makes no sense sometimes. I think that we were all voting for names in this match, rather than who we knew in the pictures. I mean you could make out that it was Link if you looked hard enough. On the bright side, that was clearly Setzer Gabbiani in the FF6 pic, so some measure of order was restored. An interesting thing to note about this match were the prediction percentages coming into it. In the first two rounds, LTTP managed to outpredict Final Fantasy 6: **Round 1** - LTTP: 97.75% - FF6: 81.14% **Round 2** - LTTP: 73.42% - FF6: 66.89% And that's how it should have been, given the competition each game faced. But after dominating FF6 in prediction percentage in the first two rounds, LTTP's prediction percentage to make it to the divisional finals dropped dramatically, all the way to 39.57%. This leads me to believe that quite a lot of people picked Final Fantasy 6 to win this match, and as I said last round, BigCow was the first one to explain to me in full detail about how the three heavy hitters all had equal chances to win this division. As it would turn out, the guy looked like a genius. Coming into this match, Zelda was 9-0 in this contest, and it looked unbeatable. As such, what reason was there to believe that Final Fantasy 6 would even come close? After all, Link to the Past has flat-out dominated in its first two matches, while Final Fantasy 6 had two very 'meh' wins. However, the bracket/board voters kicked in early on in this matchup. Once it started, some of us were shocked to see Final Fantasy 6 taking the early initial lead on Link to the Past. And it wasn't a lead of 2 or 3, either. After 2:30 of the match was over, Final Fantasy 6 had a lead of 226 votes and looked to being going strong. Now everyone knows what happened at this point. LTTP managed to come back strong, pull even, then pull away with the match through the rest of the day. But anyone who was watching the match can see that. That isn't what this match symbolized. To put this in perspective, the only game or character to ever take a sustained lead on Link or any of his games was Cloud in 2003. But outside of that one match, it looked nearly impossible to take down Zelda. Link flat-out killed every opponent he faced until Cloud came along, and Zelda flat-out killed every opponent until Final Fantasy 6 came along. Now Link to the Past may have won this match, but I feel that Zelda's aura of invincibility in this contest wore off in this match. That lead of 226 votes, though lost quickly, turned the tide of this contest. We need to remember that Final Fantasy 6 is not as upper echelon as some of us would like to think. Kefka is the only character to have gotten into the Summer Contest in each of the last two years, and his performance was pathetic. Final Fantasy 6, despite being the second strongest overall title in the series on our site, is still worlds behind Final Fantasy 7 around here and cannot possibly do more to make up the ground. As such, it had two unimpressive wins against Mortal Kombat and Doom, which are two games that don't come close to being elite on our site. Yet for some reason, Final Fantasy 6 managed to hold strong against Link to the Past for almost three hours in this poll. All of a sudden, things seemed to make more sense in the contest to the expert analysts on the board. Mario 3 suddenly looked like the favorite to take down Zelda 1, and Ocarina of Time was in an even bigger hole than it was in the first place against Final Fantasy 7. Division 128, though The Wind Waker seemed like a logical enough choice to win it, was now in the air more than ever with this sudden lackluster performance on the part of a Zelda title. Oddly enough, Link to the Past seemed to be in the best shape of them all. For a very long time in this poll, Link to the Past's struggle with Final Fantasy 6 made it seem like Chrono Trigger would run away with the division, and possibly even the entire first half of the bracket. But Link to the Past came back strong in this poll to take Final Fantasy 6 down by 4300 votes after being down and out to start it all off. What was a blowout win for Chrono Trigger turned into a match too close to call before Link to the Past's poll was all said and done. Chrono Trigger is clearly stronger than Final Fantasy 6 on our site, but is it strong enough to make up 4300 votes on Link to the Past? Only time would tell. I would also like to take a quick moment to shed some condolences for The Return. He had a perfect bracket until this match rolled around. And in closing, despite finally having a weakness, the bottom line was that Zelda was 10-0 in this contest. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1652&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=52) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (4)Metal Gear Solid 2004 _source: (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (4)Metal Gear Solid 2004 (revid 55751)_ ## Results Thursday, May 27th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 32-64 Semi Final - **Match \#:** 53 - **Match Date:** Thursday, May 27th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 33,977 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy VII - 66.77% 55 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy VII - 78.89% (32,298 brackets) Anyone could see that Final Fantasy 7 was going to the Divisional Finals in this contest, and that Ocarina of Time was the only game that could have stood in its way. What gets me is the absolute beating it laid on Metal Gear Solid in this matchup. In character contests, Solid Snake is one of the upper-tier characters, and will almost never go down without a good fight. Yet in this match, Metal Gear Solid simply wasn't beaten; it was crushed. If Final Fantasy 7 wasn't the clear-cut favorite to win this contest after this match, I don't know what it would take to prove it. And I simply don't see a horde of Final Fantasy Tactics fans voting for Final Fantasy 7 out of spite, either. The other thing that gets me was the total indifference of the Ocarina of Time fans during this match. 72-28 over Metal Gear Solid is about as powerful as it gets, yet a ton of people still claimed that Ocarina of Time stood a decent chance. To put this in a bit of perspective, Metal Gear Solid can and would beat Goldeneye in any one on one poll. For Ocarina of Time to prove that it still had a chance to take down Final Fantasy 7, it had to better against Goldeneye than Final Fantasy 7 did against Metal Gear Solid. If Goldeneye so much as tied Metal Gear Solid's percentage against Ocarina of Time, the contest was virtually over. And Ocarina could make no excuses either, as its match was the day after this one. At least we didn't have to wait long to see how it would all go down =) As a side note, Kao Megura (the FAQ writer whose FF7 guide made this site famous) passed away between FF7's second and third matches, which caused Final Fantasy 7 to make a jump back to \#1 on our Top FAQs list. If you put any stock whatsoever into the Kao Megura theory, it was at least worth mentioning. One thing that must be noted is how much of a badass the guy was. He updated his FF7 guide the day before he died, and if he knew of what was going to happen while he was making his final update, then that is flat-out dedication right there. He will be sorely missed for a long, long time on this site; hopefully CJayC has some common sense and decides to make some sort of a tribute to Chris MacDonald on our site. A yearly award in his name, a page dedicated to him... anything. Anyway, back to the topic. Slowflake said it best: this match was a wake-up call to anyone that doubted Final Fantasy 7's chances, much like Cloud vs Sonic in 2003. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1653&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=53) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)GoldenEye 007 vs (2)The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 2004 _source: (3)Goldeneye vs (2)The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 2004 (revid 88804)_ ## Results Friday, May 28th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 32-64 Semi Final - **Match \#:** 54 - **Match Date:** Friday, May 28th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 33,409 - **Oracle Expectations:** Ocarina of Time - 70.80% 55 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Ocarina of Time - 60.73% (24,863 brackets) This will be one of the shortest analyses in the entire topic, as it's really easy to look at this match. Pity that no one actually cared about this match, too. It was all about setting up the true final of this contest. As I said in the last match, Ocarina of Time had to clearly outperform Final Fantasy 7's total. It did so, but by only 1.75%. Metal Gear Solid is clearly stronger than Goldeneye, and a 1.75% difference between the two games against their respective opponents did not mean well for Ocarina of Time in the next round. Another interesting note would be that Ocarina of Time's poll scored 7500 less votes. Ocarina of Time also scored less votes, and the prediction percentages did not favor the Zelda title in the next round at all; a difference of over 18% in prediction percentage this late in the contest is not good when you're on the low end. And before people start yelling at me for bringing up prediction percentage again, we had stats by this point in the contest, and the numbers were clear as day. Ocarina of Time clearly had a hill to climb in its next match. There is only one real note I can make about this match, and again Slowflake mentioned it first. The irony of this match was wonderful. Ocarina of Time is the best-selling N64 title, but which game was \#1 until it game along? It was -- you guessed it -- Frank Stall... err, Goldeneye. (mentions something about Zelda being 11-0, then leaves topic) And surely, Zelda would be an easy 12-0 after the first three rounds. I mean, little Starcraft couldn't possibly give Wind Waker a fight.... could it? ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1654&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=54) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (16)Starcraft vs (5)The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 2004 _source: (16)Starcraft vs (5)The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 2004 (revid 88807)_ ## Results Saturday, May 29th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 128 Semi Final - **Match \#:** 55 - **Match Date:** Saturday, May 29th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 171 - **Oracle Expectations:** StarCraft - 44.57% 5 for - 51 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** StarCraft - 7.91% (3,238 brackets) Starcraft shocked the world by getting this far. It wasn't even supposed to beat Halo, and even then, it was supposed to get crushed by Kingdom Hearts afterwards. Yet here it sat on top of the world after two matches, ready to take on the defining Zelda title of the modern generation. But it was a nice run. Surely Starcraft couldn't begin to have what it takes to take on a Zelda title, correct? Hated game or not, this is GameFAQs. Zelda rules around here, as the 11-0 record coming in would suggest. But back up a minute here. I ran a silly little pre-poll once Starcraft was done beating Kingdom Hearts, and Starcraft had the support of 80% of the people that posted within the topic. It led me to believe that Starcraft had the board's support going into the Wind Waker match; it was all a matter of where everyone else's support would go. But even then, how could a seven year old PC 16 seed ever stand up to a Zelda title? Beating the Xbox mascot and a Square RPG is nice, but this is Zelda. The match was decided weeks before it even started. No sooner did the words come out of our mouths did Starcraft shock the world again. For the first 3:30 of the poll, Starcraft went shot for shot with the almighty and undefeated Zelda. And on top of that, it had the lead for the entire three and a half hours. It wasn't anything large (70 votes at its peak) but it was enough to let everyone know that Starcraft was not the little 16 seed everyone thought it was. We'd released a monster upon GameFAQs when we supported Starcraft like hell in the first round. Now it had come back to kill us all. However, The Wind Waker managed to catch the support of the morning vote. It wasn't anything large, but it was enough to give The Wind Waker the match. It was 6:45 PM EST, and The Wind Waker had a lead of 2022 votes. If it took Starcraft all that time to come back against Halo from a gap of 1108, how in the hell was it supposed to double that performance against a Zelda title on GameFAQs? Those of us who called the match far too early (including me) forgot one very simple fact about this matchup. This match occurred on a Saturday night, which happens to be the busiest night of the week for battle.net. To put this in perspective, I once had a theory that Bnet traffic was static throughout the week. LordOfDabu and company completely blew that to bits when they went on Bnet on a Saturday night and noted that there were over 340,000 people logged on, over 100,000 more people than I saw during my observations. Now during Starcraft's first two matches, there was an increase in votes in the evening as can be attributed to the static traffic on Bnet. The spamming that went on over there was high during all of Starcraft's matches, but it was proven later that the overall effect of the spamming was somewhat static. Save for one match: this one. Starcraft was down by 1100 votes against Halo, yet managed to come back to win in the final hours based off of the strength of how strong Starcraft was in the evening. For all of us who assumed that The Wind Waker was strong enough to combat this, we were proven dead wrong. Up until and including midnight, Starcraft began its massive comeback trail in the match and finished it off by only being down 1000 votes. But even then, a static Bnet would not have been enough to save Starcraft from defeat. However, this was still during static Bnet hours. After midnight on Saturdays, traffic on Bnet goes up dramatically; thus, the spamming was more effective with it reaching a potential new total of 100,000 extra people. The result, you ask? (check the graph below) "But Ulti, there was cheating!" After the Starcraft/SSBM matchup happened and we were given a thorough explanation of things, I have faith that CJayC checks for cheating. He said that there was no cheating in the topic he made that night, and even told us where the votes were coming from in his lovely post where he subliminally bashed the holy hell out of every AOL User/Zelda fan alive. I once thought that Starcraft came back simply because of the varied strength of Starcraft, but as I said before, LordOfDabu beautifully explained where the rallies were coming from. The high points of the comeback coinciding with Bnet's peak hours are no coincidence. All you need to do is hit Alt + Tab to go to your open web page, then Alt + Tab back to Bnet. I would assume that a small fraction of the 100,000 extra Bnet users that night coming to our poll made the difference. I believe it to be true, and it's the one thing that makes enough sense. If this match helped prove anything, it's that Starcraft's strength in this contest was not half as variable as everyone makes it seem. It's a strong game on this site that put out a consistent showing in all of the matches it was involved in. One night in which Bnet was busy as hell for a few hours doesn't change this much. Interesting fact. 41480 - 40698 = 782. Starcraft only managed 782 extra votes between the second and third rounds, so while the Saturday Bnet spam made the necessary difference, it doesn't disprove my belief that Starcraft was static in the contest. And did we ever release a monster or what? After the Halo poll, everyone was all happy-go-lucky when the Starcraft fans started celebrating. After this poll, the wars between Starcraft fans and everyone else were as out of hand as it could have gotten. And it would only get worse. At this point, it was all up to either FFX or SSBM to make its claim to be the favorite in the division. And the door was wide open with The Wind Waker gone as well. If the games underperformed against each other, then Starcraft, Starcraft, would look like the favorite in the division. I mean honestly, who the heck could have thought that up before the contest started? ## Match Trends ## Ed Bellis' Analysis In the spring games contest, Starcraft was the little 16 seed that could. It upset Halo and Kingdom Hearts, but most people figured that the Zelda series would be its end. IIRC Zelda hadn’t lost a match yet in the contest, and most people felt that it would continue its dominant streak past poor little Starcraft and on to the Division 128 finals. Poor little Starcraft my ass. Wind Waker started off in the lead, sure, but then… Link’s face in that last one makes me laugh every time I see it. Starcraft came back and gave an ass-whupping to Wind Waker. If there was any doubt in people’s minds at this point, Starcraft was definitely making a name as a legitimate player in the contest, and this, its most crushing victory, was only proof of that fact. ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1655&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=55) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Final Fantasy X vs (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee 2004 _source: (3)Final Fantasy X vs (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee 2004 (revid 88808)_ ## Results Sunday, May 30th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 128 Semi Final - **Match \#:** 56 - **Match Date:** Sunday, May 30th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 1,545 - **Oracle Expectations:** Melee - 48.03% 18 for - 38 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Melee - 14.18% (5,805 brackets) Thanks to this poll... [](https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/776-best-of-2001-overall-game-of-the-year) ...the general consensus was that SSBM was overseeded and would go down to FFX in this round with ease. Some people even used that poll to justify picking Vice City to take down SSBM. But like I've been saying all along, I maintained my faith in SSBM to at least to well in this match. It hadn't done well enough to this point to guarantee it a win by any means, but it wasn't going to get doubled up like poll 776 would suggest. One, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Vice City are very strong games -- arguably two of the three biggest hits on the Playstation 2 -- and there was little indication that SSBM couldn't do well against FFX. If it took down two smash hits for the Playstation 2, why couldn't it take down the third. After all, Vice City is a little stronger than MGS2, while FFX is a little stronger than Vice City. When the Playstation 2's fanbase is isolated and spaced out, it can be beaten by the group Nintendo effort that SSBM provides in polls. Secondly, SSBM has aged better than most games I've ever seen. Good multiplayer games are not easy to come by, yet SSBM has slowly become an underground multiplayer phenom, complete with tournaments offering cash prizes that are split 60-30-10 among first through third place. The money that SSBM players make isn't nearly enough to set SSBM in the same league as Starcraft or Madden 2004, but it's enough to say that SSBM has aged well. Final Fantasy X simply cannot claim this, despite how good a game it is. It didn't take long for the game to begin being bashed to hell. Its performances in the first two rounds would also suggest that FFX was not guaranteed a win in this matchup, despite what poll 776 would say. And once the poll started, it was pretty clear that this matchup was going to be a grudge match. SSBM jumped out to a huge early lead, but FFX managed to come back within the next few hours. Once the morning vote hit, the two games literally split the vote nearly even for hours. Finally, the afternoon vote kicked in. It favored SSBM, which allowed the Gamecube mascot to build a lead of 2000 before the Square evening vote began kicking in. And while the Square vote kicked in somewhat nicely, every mini-charge that FFX put on was countered by SSBM. In the end, Final Fantasy X was only able to cut off 300 votes from SSBM's peak lead despite the evening Square vote. Apparently, Final Fantasy X's struggles in the first two rounds were a foreshadowing. And who would have thought? Starcraft vs SSBM in the divisional finals, with Starcraft coming in as the favorite. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1656&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=56) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (3)The Legend of Zelda 2004 _source: (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (3)The Legend of Zelda 2004 (revid 88809)_ ## Results Monday, May 31st, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 8 Final - **Match \#:** 57 - **Match Date:** Monday, May 31st, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 10,578 - **Oracle Expectations:** Super Mario Bros. 3 - 51.98% 46 for - 6 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Super Mario Bros. 3 - 40.31% (16,503 brackets) CJayC was accepting fan art for the final rounds of the contest. Pretty good idea, considering how hard it is to come up with new ideas for game pictures. Character pictures are one thing, game pictures are something else. And my, how the mighty have fallen in this contest. Ever since Final Fantasy 6 took the initial lead on LTTP, the aura of invincibility disappeared for Zelda. The Wind Waker ended Zelda's winning streak, and The Legend of Zelda lost with ease to Mario 3 in this match. It was as hyped as any match could get, but like a lot of other Zelda hype in this contest, it all died after LTTP's match against FF6. And unlike any other match in which Zelda loses, there was no whining here. It was almost a foreshadowing of how badly Zelda was going to do for the rest of this contest. But let's not take away from Mario 3 here. It has always been my opinion that this game is among the objective best of all time, and it's fitting for it to do well in a contest entitled 'Best. Game. Ever.'. It isn't my favorite game of all time, but I clearly think that it's the best. It showed in this match, at least. SFF finally worked against a Zelda title, and I would assume it would be out of respect for what Mario 3 did for the industry. Zelda wound up becoming the superior Nintendo series over time, but Mario 3 was clearly the superior back in the NES days. No surprise at all that it won this match with ease. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1657&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=57) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Chrono Trigger vs (6)The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2004 _source: (1)Chrono Trigger vs (6)The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2004 (revid 88810)_ ## Results Tuesday, June 1st, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 16 Final - **Match \#:** 58 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, June 1st, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 362 - **Oracle Expectations:** Chrono Trigger - 51.46% 44 for - 13 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Chrono Trigger - 34.00% (13,920 brackets) Despite the other Zeldas faltering in this contest, Link to the Past remained strong after stalling a bit against FF6. Winning by over 4000 votes after starting out the way it did, paired with Chrono Trigger losing the day vote to every opponent it had faced, set up a match that was truly up in the air. But that being said, Chrono Trigger started this match off on fire. Within four hours, Chrono Trigger jumped out to a 500 vote lead and for a time, it looked like Chrono Trigger was going to win this match as easily as some people thought. A 500 vote lead in a match in which the numbers pointed to it being the best match of the contest is somewhat of a disappointment, to be honest. Soon after this initial jump, however, the true match began. What would follow would easily be the best wire to wire match any of us had ever seen in this contest. As expected, Link to the Past caught the morning vote; however, it was not enough of the morning vote to flat-out say that the match. Link to the Past simply went on a very slow, methodical pace to take down the initial lead of 500 taken by Chrono Trigger in the match. It was such a slow pace in fact that it took all morning and part of the afternoon for Link to the Past to even catch up, and even longer to take the lead. But LTTP still managed to do so, and like any other poll involving Zelda, LTTP managed to overtake and begin building a lead on Chrono Trigger through the morning and afternoon. But no sooner did Link to the Past's slow pace allow it to take a lead of 180 votes did Chrono Trigger begin fighting back. Chrono Trigger as always managed to lose percentage through the morning and afternoon, and as always it began a recovery. This recovery was somewhat different than the rest. Chrono Trigger, after pulling even with LTTP, remained deadlocked with LTTP for literally hours. And I'm not talking about within a few hundred, either. I'm talking DEAD. EVEN. For hours. The two games went at it like heavyweight prize fighters all through the evening while managing to stay within each other by the slimmest of margins. Every time one game made a small push to take a slim lead, the other game countered. Not only did this create complete chaos all over the site, but it made for the best match any of us had ever seen, even counting the madness of Summer 2002. The matchup also managed to finally get the vote totals in our contest back up, as every match from here on in managed to score a ton of votes. The interesting thing about this match was how it was virtually a statistical impossibility for two poll options to stay this close for such a long period of time. When tens of thousands of votes come pouring in, having the two games stay apart by vote differences in the singles and tens through such an extended timeframe, you know you have a legendary poll on your hands. For a long time, many people forgot about who they were rooting for in the match and simply concentrated on how exciting a match it was in the first place. Screen shots were taken, multiple sightings of 50%-50.01% were seen, and for the longest time, we had two games going at it in this poll in the manner that any poll featuring two legendary titles should go at it. Whenever one game would even get a lead as small as 20 or so, the other would counter with ease. There was multiple points during this madness in which Chrono Trigger looked like it was finally going to pull away for good, but LTTP managed to counter. Sadly, the ending of this match was an anticlimactic as it could get. Chrono Trigger, like it did in every other match it was in, managed to recover from its percentage loss with the later part of the vote in the contest. A match that was literally legendary ended with a simple late night Square push to send Chrono Trigger to the win. LTTP tried to recover, but the AOL users (Zelda fans) typically go to sleep before us college students. No seriously, I'm never going to get over how funny that topic was: ''"65% of AOL users are voting Zelda. Just as unsurprisingly, the Korean netblock is voting 65% Starcraft."'' It's as if CJayC was calling all of the Zelda voters kiddie AOL users. Funniest damned thing I have ever seen him say. Getting back to the point, Chrono Trigger won a match in which the largest lead was 500. A difference of 500 in a match that scored nearly 100,000 votes is a wonderful thing to watch no matter which game you were rooting for, and we may never see anything like this again. That time period of four hours or so in which the games were literally dead even was about as crazy as it gets. ## Match Trends ## Ed Bellis's Analysis This match typifies the point I made in an earlier writeup: a match doesn’t need down-to-the-wire slugfests and tons of lead changes to be exciting. Sometimes the best matches are exemplified by stillness, the greatest tension of all. This match, more than any other, exemplifies this. These two games were literally neck-and-neck with each other for hours. Imagine a poll where the percentages, the vote disparities, the lead – none of it changes for hours on end. That’s tension: waiting for something to happen and you’re not sure if it will. Definitely an underrated gem of a match here. ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1658&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=58) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (2)The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 2004 _source: (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (2)The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 2004 (revid 88811)_ ## Results Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 32-64 Final - **Match \#:** 59 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 7,476 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy VII - 51.05% 40 for - 18 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy VII - 58.97% (24,142 brackets) Not only is Ocarina of Time not a better game than Final Fantasy 7, it's not even the best game in its own series: [](http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/n64/review/R74804.html) Your writeup for this match is that review, and I think it explains in great detail why this match was over right off the bat. Ocarina of Time is good, but that's all it is. Like it or not (and most of you won't), Final Fantasy 7 is the better, more popular title. All subjective of course, save for the more popular part. And what better time than the contest's true final than to take a match off? This thing has been analyzed to death anyway, and you all have your own valid opinions why it went down like this. And no excuses can be made either; Final Fantasy 7 won with ease no matter how you look at it. Of all the Cloud vs Link duels these contests had over the years, this one was by far the most boring and easiest to call. As good as Zelda started off, it was just not Zelda's year. From an 11-0 start to 4 straight losses. That's nuts for the most popular series on our site. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1659&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=59) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (16)Starcraft vs (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee 2004 _source: (16)Starcraft vs (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee 2004 (revid 88813)_ ## Results Thursday, June 3rd, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Division 128 Final - **Match \#:** 60 - **Match Date:** Thursday, June 3rd, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 534 - **Oracle Expectations:** Melee - 50.57% 32 for - 23 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Melee - 7.16% (2,932 brackets) I believe the prediction percentage for this match was the lowest we've ever had in a contest poll before. Pretty odd, considering that SSBM was the 2 seed in the division. But also not surprising, considering how horribly messed up this division was to begin with. And thus, the division from hell came to its dramatic conclusion. We saw two Starcraft fans act like complete morons in this match; aside from that, the massive war that went on between the two sides in this matchup was at its worst during this match. There are ugly matches, and then there was the colossal mod war that went on during this thing. But in defense of SSBM fans, they had a legitimate gripe here. During the entire contest, even when Starcraft cost me two matches, I have never said that Bnet spamming was illegal. Bnet is a part of what Starcraft is, after all. But a website known as www.sclegacy.com really upped the ante when it came to Starcraft's matches attracting the biggest flame wars. Everything was going fine until we noticed that site. This match was hyped as soon as it was announced, and Starcraft seemed like the favorite going in. As such, the poll was advertised across multiple Starcraft sites across the internet. But thanks to sclegacy going in detail to outline a method to cheat in our poll, the entire thing became as ugly as it possibly could have gotten. I even had the pleasure of exchanging a few words with sclegancy's administrator when he tried coming to the board to defend his actions. Apparently he assumed that the method he outlined was a well-known fact that was perfectly kosher. But by the time he explained himself and fixed up his homepage, the damage was done all across this board, and the ugliest match of the contest was very much underway. As for the actual match itself, Starcraft once again managed to start off strong. But it would not last. After the massive flame war was well underway, the match was heating up as well. SSBM withstood the initial onslaught of Starcraft, and managed to catch fire during the morning vote. SSBM also happened to pick the perfect time to perform at its peak. It was less than impressive in its first three matches, yet it somehow managed to come on strong in this match. It was so strong in fact that it did to Starcraft what its first three opponents failed to do: it built a huge lead that looked damn near unbeatable. SSBM managed to build a lead of nearly 3800 votes on Starcraft throughout the day, which is something that not even The Wind Waker was able to manage. And this all happened during Bnet spamming as well, so no excuses could really be made here. The odd thing about all of this is that SSBM was one of the hardest games to read in this entire contest. In all of SSBM's wins in this contest, none of them were impressive. But wins are wins, and it was blatantly obvious that not even Starcraft could come back from being down 3800 votes. We all settled on 3000 being the necessary lead for SSBM in order to be comfortable going into the final hours, yet it was all the way up to 3800. Not even all of Starcraft's magic could allow it to come back from this, right? \*cues Dr Octopus earthquake sounds\* If you thought the flame wars and chaos that surrounded the end of the Wind Waker match and the beginning of this match were bad, you had seen nothing. Once SSBM built the 3800 vote lead, it was 8:40 PM EST. Right then and there, Starcraft went on the most insane charge any of us had ever seen in one of these polls. Within the next twenty minutes, Starcraft managed to slice the gigantic sum of 1400 votes off of SSBM's lead. To put this in a better perspective, look at the updates that were recorded during this (check out the graph below). And I'm aware that it says 3691 up there, but I can assure you that the lead was just about to break 3800 around 8:40 PM before this all started. Anyhoo, don't those updates look a bit odd to you? Now imagine the entire face of the internet after all of this happened. Yeah, it was pretty bad. As anyone could imagine, cheating accusations flew all over the place during this little spree. But of course, the Starcraft fans disagreed and actually called this surge legitimate. Rumor had it that Korean TV aired a commercial asking people to vote in our poll. Thankfully, CJayC himself came to our board to shed some light on the subject not once, not twice, but thrice. But it took until after midnight for him to finally do it, so the entire site had to see Starcraft continue its comeback attempt all the way through the night. But on the bright side, the lead was around 1900 before CJayC posted his topics. This means that despite the massive Starcraft surges, SSBM still looked like it couldn't lose. 1900 votes being made up within 150 minutes is something that even Starcraft would have issues with. But in the interest of fairness, the Starcraft fans didn't give up in this match, and continued to fight their fight. Starcraft began making a massive push in the match, and it continued all the way through the end, even after CJayC posted this: *From: CJayC \| Posted: 6/4/2004 12:23:59 AM \| Message Detail* *Seeing a lot of proxy server votes for Starcraft, from votes \# 76000 to 79000. Looks like someone got real sloppy; this is kind of obvious. I may end up throwing out that entire block of 3000 votes unless I can sort out the legitimate from the proxy votes. Let me see what I can do here...* And after that, we were greeted with another topic: *From: CJayC \| Posted: 6/4/2004 1:06:25 AM \| Message Detail* *I still haven't found the proxy list this guy used, but I'm piecing it together.* *So far, I've found 400 votes for Starcraft made through proxy servers, all coming pretty much one after another. You can actually see when the proxy program starts in the server logs. This is a case of one person (or a couple of them) going through all the trouble of creating a program to auto-vote through proxy server after proxy server. I can only hope they're doing it for the fun of it and not for their own contest entry.* *I mean, you usually see 1-2 votes from known proxies an hour, but those votes are for both sides. Then suddenly, between votes \#75562 and \#78961, there are over 400 votes for Starcraft, all from known proxies. Of course, I'm fairly sure another 300-400 votes in that range are from proxies as well, but I'm still hunting them down.* In short, one or more random dumbasses (who no doubt are rooted from yaoyuan.com) cheated the poll. What really gets me is that even though the cheated votes were eventually never taken out of the final stats, SSBM won anyway. Oh, Starcraft continued its massive charge, but it fell short by 500 votes. More on that later, as there is one more CJayC post to inform everyone of. > From: CJayC \| Posted: 6/4/2004 1:57:23 AM \| Message Detail Total confirmed open proxy votes found for Starcraft: 637 > > There are likely more, but I've exhaused all of the public open proxy lists I know. All of the votes came within a specific time frame, and 100% of them were for Starcraft (something that can't really be passed off as a coincidence). They started off heavy, then slowed down (I guess as the guy exhausted his lists). > > There are likely more than the 637 I found, but I was only going by public lists (i.e. ones I could find on Google). How I found them: Looked up a suspect vote IP address on Google with the word "proxy" as well, and then taking the lists that popped up and adding them into my known proxy list. I started with around 200 that I already knew about (I hadn't updated my lists in a year and a half), then found the other 400+ through Google tonight. > > Oh, and this is pretty telling:[(link has died, but check the graph below for the same info)](http://www.cjayc.com/kekekeke.png) > > The plot points are votes per game per 1000 votes. > > And now, for the frequently whined questions: > > **How do you know that these are all fradulent votes?** > > They're from known open proxy servers (most of them in countries like Malaysia, Turkey, China, and so on), 100% of them are for Starcraft, and they all came in a huge rush (as if someone started off a program to vote automatically). > > **How do you know that this didn't happen earlier in the contest?** > > I don't know, but I'm fairly sure, given that there wasn't a surge like this on any other contest. Every other lead change has been gradual and taken hours to fully come about; a 1000 vote gain in an hour isn't normal. > > **You're just a Nintendo fanboy, aren't you?** > > How sad is it this? I mean, I've been accused of being for/against so many different companies at this point, it's not even funny. Just a day ago, I was anti-Nintendo for not finding any cheating going on in the LTTP battle... > > For the record, I don't care who wins, as long as both sides play as fairly as the other. If you'll recall what I said just a day or two ago, the only kind of "cheating" that I would remove votes for was when one person attempted to seriously sway the contest vote all by themselves, and low and behold, someone got desparate enough to try it. If you were online and watching it when the swing happened, there can't really be any question that this wasn't legitimate. > > **So, what are you going to do about this?** > > I'm not sure. Ask me in an hour. The options range from nothing (if SSBM holds out), to removing all proxy server votes, removing all votes within the known "cheating" timeframe, or even a complete re-run of today's battle from scratch, with new intensive security measures in place to prevent this from happening again. > > **You're just making this up, aren't you?** > > Why in the hell would I open myself up to this much criticism without a valid reason? I mean, seriously, tracking this crap down has been an amazing waste of my time that I could have spent updating the site. Instead, we've got some guy attempting to ruin things for his own personal benefit, and that's not right. In short, Starcraft's amazing little run had just come under amazing suspicion. Cheating was caught in this topic, and it puts Starcraft's other two comeback wins in doubt as to their legitimacy. But either way, SSBM won despite every effort Starcraft gave it. I don't know if this speaks more for SSBM or Starcraft, to be honest. SSBM proved beyond a doubt that it was indeed a strong game in this contest, while Starcraft proved beyond a doubt that it has the most loyal and vehement fans of any game on this site. 99% of them acted like the fans of any other game, but it was the 1% of morons that stooped to new lows that really brought Starcraft down in an unfair manner. It's one of the greatest games of all time, and for its legacy to be ruined by two or three really stupid people is unfair. I say give props to SC for it having done this well, but none of us truly know if it actually did this well. That's the problem. Either way, FF7 was now a lock for the finals. ## Match Trends ## Ed Bellis' Analysis Starcraft’s Cinderella sprint through the first three rounds of the 128 Division was fully prepared to keep on chugging along, even through the juggernaut that was Super Smash Bros. Melee. It had already taken down three games that most people figured were out of its league; what was one more? Indeed, Starcraft started off in the lead and stayed there for a little while… until Ceej deducted a bunch of votes for cheating. Whoops. So Starcraft lost, and its miracle run ended on a note of sadness and uncertainty. Still, the match in question was great, and Melee really had to give it everything to hang in there. Starcraft’s crazy run has been one of the biggest reasons people have been looking forward so much to another games contest – who knows what will happen? ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1660&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=60) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (1)Chrono Trigger 2004 _source: (1)Super Mario Bros. 3 vs (1)Chrono Trigger 2004 (revid 88814)_ ## Results Friday, June 4th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Tournament Semi Final - **Match \#:** 61 - **Match Date:** Friday, June 4th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 3,881 - **Oracle Expectations:** Chrono Trigger - 50.90% 34 for - 18 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Chrono Trigger - 24.63% (10,084 brackets) This was the one match that could have been billed as Mario vs Crono 3. The update topics were even labeled as Mario vs Crono instead of Mario 3 vs Chrono Trigger. But in the end, this was the most anticlimactic match of the entire contest. After the games went through their early scuffle, Chrono Trigger took the lead and never looked back. There was no magical comeback by Mario, no insane voodoo involving a Male or Female poll, and everyone that was hoping for massive drama to overtake this contest before Final Fantasy 7 took a gigantic crap on the rest of the bracket were severely let down. Mario 3 simply got beat; the best it managed after the first parts of the poll were mini-surges that were all countered before the end. Fitting that Chrono Trigger waited until its bout with Mario 3 to pull out its best showing. This was the one match in which Chrono Trigger's percentage gain remained constant throughout the day, with no massive loss in the afternoon vote. It really sucks when the last three matches of the contest are so easy to analyze. Mario 3 lost, and the only explanation I can give is that Chrono Trigger, despite all of the struggles to get here, is simply more popular than Mario 3 on this site. No ifs, ands, or buts. Moving on. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1661&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=61) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee 2004 _source: (1)Final Fantasy VII vs (2)Super Smash Bros. Melee 2004 (revid 88815)_ ## Results Saturday, June 5th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Tournament Semi Final - **Match \#:** 62 - **Match Date:** Saturday, June 5th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 21,610 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy VII - 58.32% 52 for - 1 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy VII - 47.40% (19,406 brackets) Let's be honest here. SSBM had no chance in hell of winning this match, and this thing served as nothing more than a speed bump en route to Final Fantasy 7 being the winner of this contest. The best SSBM could really offer was to put up a respectable showing, which I don't feel that it did. Getting to the Final Four and failing to post 40% in a match, even against the eventual champion, is not impressive by any means. It also serves to prove that your future looks bleak. Just ask Mario, who has no chance in hell of ever winning one of these contests unless we start removing the most popular characters. He never did truly recover after his horrid showing against Link in 2002, and there is no way in hell that Mario only gets 40% of the vote against Sephiroth that year as well. If another of these contests is ever run, I won't have much faith in SSBM. I still love the game with an absolute fury and will pick it to win most matches, but it just has no chance of beating an elite game in one of these things. And with its loss, we had a Square/Square final. Fun. Future Edit: Boy did that one not age well. Melee not only came back with a vengeance, but without the Undertale rally it might have won the 2015 contest outright. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1662&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=62) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Chrono Trigger vs (1)Final Fantasy VII 2004 _source: (1)Chrono Trigger vs (1)Final Fantasy VII 2004 (revid 57261)_ ## Results Sunday, June 6th, 2004 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Round:** Tournament Final - **Match \#:** 63 - **Match Date:** Sunday, June 6th, 2004 - **Vote difference:** 16,430 - **Oracle Expectations:** Final Fantasy 7 - 57.58% 47 for - 4 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Final Fantasy 7 - 39.22% (16,057 brackets) The only exciting part of this match was the match picture. Go to the link and hit refresh a few times to see what I mean. And yes, I'm aware that Chrono Trigger put up a fight for a good hour of the poll. But Sephiroth also put up a good fight against Cloud before finally getting rolled over. The board has a way of voting against the character or game they know will win, but in the end, their votes don't matter as the true favorite's strength shines through. Still, putting up a good fight against FF7 is no easy task, so props to Chrono Trigger for at least refusing to just roll over and die. Overall, I felt that this contest was quite fun. But I also feel that CJayC really screwed the thing up with the poll starting time being at 3 AM EST and the layout changes. This contest could have easily added to the progression that we were growing with the first two contests, but instead we took a step backwards. Hopefully things are done to help rectify this with the upcoming Summer Contest, and from the initial looks of the bracket, it looks to be that way. Good luck everyone, and thanks again to everyone that helps make this contest what it is =) And special thanks to creativename, who has decided to host my analysis on his site. \<3 ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1663&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k4&type=match&match=63) • **Previous Match**       • **No Next Match**