# Rivalry Rumble (2011) _Board 8 wiki -- CC BY-SA 3.0. Contest overview plus 64 match writeups, in match order. Converted from MediaWiki to Markdown; navigation, image embeds and footnotes stripped. See ATTRIBUTION.md._ --- ## Rivalry Rumble _source: Rivalry Rumble (revid 87765)_
Fall 2011 Contest

Announced:

September 23, 2011

Started:

November 3, 2011

Ended:

December 20, 2011

Winner:

Link vs. Ganondorf

Contest Winner:

TheMightyPeanut (191 pts)

Notable matches:

Red/Blue vs. Ryu/Ken, Alucard/Dracula vs. Frog/Magus,

Squall/Seifer vs. Sora/Riku, Red/Blue vs. Cloud/Sephiroth,
Mario/Bowser vs. Link/Ganondorf
**Fall 2011 Contest** With the **Fall 2011 Contest** (aka the **Rivalry Rumble**) the basic idea was to take gaming rivalries and have a pseudo tag team contest with 64 teams making up the entrants, but Mario vs Sonic being effectively disallowed and the contest having almost nothing interesting happen killed all interest. At least round 1's matches were only 12 hours long each, so that was a relief if for nothing more than seeing the hilariously awful vote totals. Friendly reminder: The worst match ever (Max Payne vs Dirk the Daring) scored 50816 votes. Keep that in mind if you bother reading through any of this contest's information, though it's suggested you don't because it can't be overstated how boring this was. ## Ulti's Pre-Contest Analysis The worst contest ever deserves the worst PCA ever. Seriously, don't expect much. There was ONE good match and it didn't even count. And even when something cool might have happened, this contest's stench was anti-fun the whole way through. There's a lot of reasons for it, but I'll only mention the major stuff. One, Allen asked for suggestions on his admin blog and the overwhelming winner was a tag team contest. Okay, fine, if you want to run a tag team contest of random teams then do it. The rivalry concept was not good. Two and most importantly was the power of suggestion. You know that database Ngamer and Luster always scour during nominations? It's time for that thing to go away entirely, because almost nothing gets into a bracket that isn't in that database and it directly influences what people nominate. At the very least, people being suggested what to nominate needs to go away entirely. The big example was Mario vs Sonic being eligible, but not getting in over Mario and Bowser because only one appeared as a suggestion. And as you can see with the final, Mario/Sonic could have very easily given Link/Ganon a run at winning the title. There was also that dumb rule about how no character could get in more than once, so we couldn't see something like Sonic/Robotnik and Sonic/Knuckles. Allen had a weird vision for this contest, stuck to it no matter what and you all saw the results. Then there was the battle bracket. It was a cool one-time idea for Game of the Decade, but it needs to go away. Brian920 finished with a perfect bracket, which is a godtier accomplishment that we may never see again, but he's only getting half the prizes and attention he deserves because of this dumb battle bracket stuff. Call me old or whatever, but winning with a bracket takes a lot more skill than just picking the right winner each day. Didn't we have something like 60 perfect people going into the last match, and then Allen had to create a hyper version of the Oracle to split them all up? Get rid of this battle junk. Lastly, the bracket itself. It was just awful all around except for Sora's half of a division and the Phoenix division. A lot of mores need to just go away for good. Nintendo is almost always the \#1 overall seed. Snake and/or MGS almost always has to go through Mega Man or FF7. Cloud and Mario need to actually face each other again. Though we did get a lite version of Mario vs Sonic finally, plus the Pokemon trainers getting a chance to do their thing. More on that way later. Vote-Ins These always clue us in on the type of bracket we were facing, and it was confirmed here we would see 64 teams and 128 characters. Yay. At least we only had to sit through three of these things. I never have any clue how to analyze these vote-in polls. Raiden/Vamp outright winning this was hilarious though, and it was our first WARNING SALVO that this contest's field was going to really, really, really suck. The six winners of this poll: - Raiden/Vamp - Banjo/Gruntilda - Yuna/Seymour - Laharl/Mid-Boss - Kid/Guy - Earthworm Jim/Queen Slug-for-a-Butt Not exactly murderer's row there. Beyond them, it was hilarious to see Lightning just totally collapse and San Andreas's duo miss out on making the contest by 130 votes. I'm convinced Little Mac/Tyson would have done something in this vote-in instead of Mac/Sandman, though. Moving on. This is just funny to look at. The 6 winning teams from this vote-in are so hilariously far ahead of everyone else, and I didn't even notice it until going back and looking just now. Much funnier results, too. - Bosses - BJ/Hitler getting second place (what) - Catherines - Arthas/Illidan - Kratos/Lloyd - Falcon/Shadow Nothing else is even remotely worth discussing, and I say that as a BlazBlue fan. Fangirls have absolutely ruined that series, just like they ruin everything else. When the dumb yaoi love interest garbage starts becoming canon in a series where it was never intended, it gives you another of the millions of examples how modern feminism is just a complete failure. Otherwise known as the "holy crap, Chrono Trigger has fallen THIS MUCH?" poll. It also showed us how this bracket was going to be plagued with non-rivalries, because one spoiler does not a rivalry make. Lavos is just a giant parasite, what does he care about Crono? It's like saying a dog has a rivalry with microfilariae (heartworms). - Crono/Lavos - Leon Kennedy/Ada - Gordon Freeman/Dr Breen - Raynor/Kerrigan ...oh wow, only four got picked from this poll. Not really sure how much I like Allen using vote totals instead of poll placement and picking a constant number, but it's not like it matters if Raziel/Kain gets in over Jim/Queen or whatever. ## Ulti's Post-Contest Analysis This was the worst contest we've ever had, and it's been well documented why so I won't give a huge run-down. The basic idea is bad contest idea, bad contest format, bad bracket selection and bad bracketmaking. If Allen wanted a tag team contest, cool. He should have made one. People look forward to my contest ranking every season for whatever reason, and here it is: Fall 2010 (GotD) \> Spring 2004 (Games) \> Summer 2002 (Characters) \> Summer 2003 (Characters) \> Winter 2010 (Characters) \> Summer 2005 (Characters) \> Fall 2009 (Games 4-way) \> Summer 2007 (Characters 4-way) \> Summer 2006 (Females vs Males) \> Spring 2006 (Series) \> Summer 2008 (Characters 4-way) \> Summer 2004 (Characters) \> Spring 2005 (Villains) \> Fall 2011 (Rivalries) Last, but not least... The Ultimate Loser™! Dan vs. Sagat! ...somehow, that is the most fitting Ultimate Loser™ ever. Until next year, guys. ## Bracket
Contest Bracket
North Division Mario vs. Bowser Mega Man X vs. Zero Mario vs. Bowser Red vs. Blue Mario vs. Bowser Link vs. Ganondorf Link vs. Ganondorf
\(1\) Mario vs. Bowser (8) Earthworm Jim vs. Queen Slug-for-a-Butt Mario vs. Bowser Ike vs. Black Knight Mario vs. Bowser Sonic vs. Dr. Robotnik
\(4\) Conker vs. The Great Mighty Poo (5) Ike vs. Black Knight
\(3\) Kirby vs. Meta Knight (6) Jill Valentine vs. Nemesis Kirby vs. Meta Knight Sonic vs. Dr. Robotnik
\(2\) Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik (7) Katherine vs. Catherine
Northeast Division
\(1\) Mega Man X vs. Zero (8) Captain Falcon vs. Black Shadow Mega Man X vs. Zero Bartz vs. Gilgamesh Mega Man X vs. Zero Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion
\(4\) Guybrush Threepwood vs. LeChuck (5) Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh
\(3\) Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool (6) Ezio Auditore da Firenze vs. Rodrigo Borgia Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion
\(2\) Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion (7) Leon Kennedy vs. Ada Wong
East Division Red vs. Blue Samus Aran vs. Ridley
\(1\) Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue (8) Jim Raynor vs. Sarah Kerrigan Red vs. Blue Luigi vs. Waluigi Red vs. Blue Ryu vs. Ken
\(4\) Luigi vs. Waluigi (5) Cecil Harvey vs. Golbez
\(3\) Ryu vs. Ken (6) Ratchet vs. Dr. Nefarious Ryu vs. Ken Fox vs. Wolf
\(2\) Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell (7) Yuna vs. Seymour Guado
Southeast Division
\(1\) Samus Aran vs. Ridley (8) The Kid vs. The Guy Samus vs. Ridley Terra vs. Kefka Samus vs. Ridley Big Boss vs. The Boss
\(4\) Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo (5) Vyse vs. Galcian
\(3\) Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker (6) Dan Hibiki vs. Sagat Chris vs. Wesker Big Boss vs. The Boss
\(2\) Tidus vs. Jecht (7) Big Boss vs. The Boss
South Division Link vs. Ganondorf Alucard vs. Dracula Link vs. Ganondorf Cloud vs. Sephiroth
\(1\) Link vs. Ganondorf (8) Arthas vs. Illidan Link vs. Ganondorf Amaterasu vs. Orochi Link vs. Ganondorf Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily
\(4\) Amaterasu vs. Orochi (5) Tom Nook vs. Crazy Redd
\(3\) Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja (6) Meat Boy vs. Dr. Fetus Zidane vs. Kuja Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily
\(2\) Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily (7) Banjo vs. Gruntilda
Southwest Division
\(1\) Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth (8) Gordon Freeman vs. Dr. Breen Phoenix vs. Edgeworth Alucard vs. Dracula Alucard vs. Dracula Frog vs. Magus
\(4\) Alucard vs. Dracula (5) Commander Shepard vs. Saren Arterius
\(3\) Chell vs. GlaDOS (6) Ness vs. Giygas Chell vs. GlaDOS Frog vs. Magus
\(2\) Frog vs. Magus (7) Raiden vs. Vamp
West Division Cloud vs. Sephiroth Squall vs. Seifer
\(1\) Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth (8) Lloyd Irving vs. Kratos Aurion Cloud vs. Sephiroth Kratos vs. Zeus Cloud vs. Sephiroth Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake
\(4\) Kratos vs. Zeus (5) Professor Layton vs. Don Paolo
\(3\) Crash Bandicoot vs. Dr. Neo Cortex (6) Pac-Man vs. Blinky Pac-Man vs. Blinky Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake
\(2\) Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake (7) Crono vs. Lavos
Northwest Division
\(1\) Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy (8) Laharl vs. Mid-Boss Squall vs. Seifer Siegfried vs. Nightmare Squall vs. Seifer Sora vs. Riku
\(4\) Siegfried vs. Nightmare (5) Ramza Beoulve vs. Delita Hyral
\(3\) Dante vs. Vergil (6) Sol Badguy vs. Ky Kiske Dante vs. Vergil Sora vs. Riku
\(2\) Sora vs. Riku (7) William B.J. Blazkowicz vs. Adolf
--- ## (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (8)Earthworm Jim vs. Queen Slug-for-a-Butt 2011 _source: (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (8)Earthworm Jim vs. Queen Slug-for-a-Butt 2011 (revid 71967)_ ## Results **Round One** Thursday, November 3, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** North - **Match \#:** 1 - **Match Date:** Thursday, November 3, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 22491 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mario vs. Bowser - 83.05% 112 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mario vs. Bowser - 98.96% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 241 Mario vs. Bowser: 8146 Earthworm Jim vs. Queen Slug-for-a-Butt: 132 We've come to expect Nintendo domination in the first match, and Mario acted accordingly. I think this was actually the biggest blowout of the contest, too, because Link only scored 85.3% on Arthas. Also I should probably mention something about only the first round being 12 hour polls and everything else being 24. Which was actually really cool, but one contest too late. What we didn't expect, at least not at this point, were such god-awful vote totals. Keep this number in mind and you slog through this contest's memory lane: 50816. That's the vote total from our worst match ever, Max Payne vs Dirk the Daring. And we are seeing FREAKING MARIO only score 31805 votes. I know 12 hour night match, but even still that is just beyond embarrassing. Oh and before people start preaching about this site being a relic and traffic being crap, the vote totals stayed bad even after Skyrim and Skyward Sword came out. The answer is bad contest, not bad web site. Traffic isn't much different than it was a year ago, and FFX/Majora scored nearly 100,000 votes in a 24 hour match. Good, anticipated matches will always put asses in seats. Hell go back a little earlier than that, when Crono and Missingno scored 91,000 votes in a 12 hour day match. Calm down with the doom and gloom, seriously. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4510&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=1) • **No Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Conker vs. The Great Mighty Poo vs (5)Ike vs. Black Knight 2011 _source: (4)Conker vs. The Great Mighty Poo vs (5)Ike vs. Black Knight 2011 (revid 84473)_ ## Results **Round One** Thursday, November 3, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** North - **Match \#:** 2 - **Match Date:** Thursday, November 3, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 7282 - **Oracle Expectations:** Ike vs. Black Knight - 58.02% 110 for - 6 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Ike vs. Black Knight - 63.37% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 401 Conker vs. The Great Mighty Poo: 2548 Ike vs. Black Knight: 4400 For those asking why I'm even bothering with a PCA, it's a labor of love. No really, I'm going to have to force myself to get through this. All I'll have to talk about for most matches is the picture, and even then Zen already has a topic for that so who cares. This match was actually debated pre-contest for whatever reason, but Ike of course ended it in seconds and Conker never came close to doing anything. Though for what it's worth, this is the first time anything related to Conker broke 40% in a contest match. Someone give this guy a match against Guybrush or something. Ike's reward for winning this? A rematch with Mario a year after Mario scored like 2348% on him 1 on 1. Good bracket making we had this year, huh? ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4511&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=2) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Kirby vs. Meta Knight vs (6)Jill Valentine vs. Nemesis 2011 _source: (3)Kirby vs. Meta Knight vs (6)Jill Valentine vs. Nemesis 2011 (revid 84474)_ ## Results **Round One** Friday, November 4, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** North - **Match \#:** 3 - **Match Date:** Friday, November 4, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 5166 - **Oracle Expectations:** Kirby vs. Meta Knight - 56.96% 112 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Kirby vs. Meta Knight - 69.43% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 212 Kirby vs. Meta Knight: 5523 Jill Valentine vs. Nemesis: 1944 SMASH OVERLOAD SON. If Brawl is good for one thing, it's helping Nintendo characters get godly match pictures. Resident Evil never stood a chance. This poll, much like 60 or so of the 64 polls we had this contest, was over in seconds. But this was a fairly debated match pre-contest and early on we hadn't yet been beaten into having Stockholm Syndrome, so we actually looked forward to how this would play out. The match sucked of course, but it was still funny. And why? Let's a take a journey all the way back to 2006. You know, that dumb male/female contest? Remember this poll? Yeah, that's Kairi beating Claire Redfield in a poll that got 108086 votes. Holy crap, and I thought this rivalry stuff couldn't look worse. Anyway, that poll eliminated yoblazer from the guru on like the 4th day. Well the guy went genius on us again and picked Jill to win this match, meaning he was only alive in the guru for a grand total of 24 hours. yo is our best bracket maker by a mile, but every great hero has a tragic flaw and chicks with great asses from the Resident Evil series is yoblazer's tragic flaw. Makes that chicks with great asses, period, since I'm sure he'll get eliminated from the guru in 2014 picking Ariel to beat Vincent Valentine or something. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4512&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=3) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik vs (7)Katherine vs. Catherine 2011 _source: (2)Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik vs (7)Katherine vs. Catherine 2011 (revid 84475)_ ## Results **Round One** Friday, November 4, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** North - **Match \#:** 4 - **Match Date:** Friday, November 4, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 18353 - **Oracle Expectations:** Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik - 78.23% 115 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik - 94.48% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 107 Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik: 7413 Katherine vs. Catherine: 392 Kudos to Zen for that pic. You can kind of see how amazing he is and how terrible I am when you match our stuff up in the same image =p Anyway the numbers here are obviously a mega-blowout, but the -atherines didn't do that badly. We've seen mega-niche Atlus characters in polls before, and it's never pretty. Laharl only got to win a match because TWEWY is somehow even less known than Disgaea. I'm sure other Atlus characters have gotten into polls, or maybe not, but I'm way too lazy to actually look any of this stuff up when this entire PCA should be the five words "this contest sucked, moving on". But the point here is Team TJF was the embodiment (ha) of how things like "ingenuity" and "innovation" in game design still trump multimillion dollar graphics engines that rebuild molecules and s\*\*\*. Who cares? Make a game fun, it's all that counts. The game sold something like 500k copies, and led to the most feel-good 27% you'll ever see in a contest poll. There was even a time when people pointed to this and mentioned Kirby having a chance at pulling the upset. Not that fun stuff could possibly happen this season, but hey. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4513&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=4) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Mega Man X vs. Zero vs (8)Captain Falcon vs. Black Shadow 2011 _source: (1)Mega Man X vs. Zero vs (8)Captain Falcon vs. Black Shadow 2011 (revid 84476)_ ## Results **Round One** Saturday, November 5, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northeast - **Match \#:** 5 - **Match Date:** Saturday, November 5, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 17224 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mega Man X vs. Zero - 71.54% 114 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mega Man X vs. Zero - 83.13% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 176 Mega Man X vs. Zero: 6886 Captain Falcon vs. Black Shadow: 567 So hey, remember when X (gon' give it to ya) totally smoked the first two rounds and Whiskey Nick went on the podcast and called him a legitimate threat to beat Mario? Yeah. The MMX team is probably the most successful guru nomination we've ever had, though. They got an inflated seed, did well with it, and they're one of the few actual legitimate rivalries in this bracket. Also worth noting here is how breaking 80% is not easy to do. Cloud couldn't even break 70% on Captain Falcon. I know this match proves two strong characters just godstomp one decent character, but still. 80% is 80%. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4514&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=5) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Guybrush Threepwood vs. LeChuck vs (5)Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh 2011 _source: (4)Guybrush Threepwood vs. LeChuck vs (5)Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh 2011 (revid 84477)_ ## Results **Round One** Saturday, November 5, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northeast - **Match \#:** 6 - **Match Date:** Saturday, November 5, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 8934 - **Oracle Expectations:** Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh - 58.16% 108 for - 5 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh - 69.70% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 632 Guybrush Threepwood vs. LeChuck: 1709 Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh: 3789 Oh right, this match. A lot of people complained about the FF5 picture, but I actually love Dissidia models. Not the art, that sucks and makes Bartz look anorexic, but the models look cool. Kind of thinking no one played Dissidia 012, because Gilgamesh is a boss in that game. As for the actual match, I don't get how many times Guybrush needs to embarrass himself before people stop nominating him. Thanks to Guybrush, Bartz and Gilgamesh now both have more contest wins than like half the Square characters that have gotten into these things. At least us Tales fans have long since grown some dignity and knocked it off. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4515&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=6) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool vs (6)Ezio Auditore da Firenze vs. Rodrigo Borgia 2011 _source: (3)Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool vs (6)Ezio Auditore da Firenze vs. Rodrigo Borgia 2011 (revid 84478)_ ## Results **Round One** Sunday, November 6, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northeast - **Match \#:** 7 - **Match Date:** Sunday, November 6, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 6488 - **Oracle Expectations:** Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool - 51.51% 76 for - 37 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool - 71.94% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 238 Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool: 5486 Ezio Auditore da Firenze vs. Rodrigo Borgia: 1876 A heavily debated match pre-contest that was over in seconds. When an entire contest can be compared to having sex for the first time, you know something went horribly wrong. There was at least decent reason for this to be a debate, though. DK and Ezio were dead even in 2010, and Ezio's value was hidden behind that weird Samus \> Zelda match. Then there were Rool and Rodrigo themselves, both of which we considered useless. Turns out King K. Rool is actually well-liked by a lot of DK fans though, so that was that. Meanwhile, you can play a large chunk of Assassin's Creed 2 without ever knowing who Rodrigo is. Was this about when we realized this contest was going to suck, or did that come later? I don't even remember. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4516&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=7) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion vs (7)Leon Kennedy vs. Ada Wong 2011 _source: (2)Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion vs (7)Leon Kennedy vs. Ada Wong 2011 (revid 84479)_ ## Results **Round One** Sunday, November 6, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northeast - **Match \#:** 8 - **Match Date:** Sunday, November 6, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 19001 - **Oracle Expectations:** Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion - 56.45% 107 for - 6 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion - 84.36% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 169 Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion: 6330 Leon Kennedy vs. Ada Wong: 1033 I have almost nothing to say about this match except that Leon and Ada are not rivals. Yeah the ninjas look strong here and yeah they should have been paired against (Sho)RyuKen in this bracket, but so what. Leon and Ada worked together in Resident Evil 2. There wasn't even an argument anywhere, they just work together outright. Then between that and 4 you find out Ada goes to work for someone else, whatever. There's no rivalry in that game either, just one small scene before Leon figures out who Ada is. Who the hell nominated half this crap? I'll give you guys that "not actual rivals" is probably a bit overdone as a complaint but it's legitimate here. Leon and Ada, really? ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4517&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=8) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (8)Jim Raynor vs. Sarah Kerrigan 2011 _source: (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (8)Jim Raynor vs. Sarah Kerrigan 2011 (revid 84480)_ ## Results **Round One** Monday, November 7, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** East - **Match \#:** 9 - **Match Date:** Monday, November 7, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 18501 - **Oracle Expectations:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 72.17% 111 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 88.23% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 144 Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue: 6868 Jim Raynor vs. Sarah Kerrigan: 725 Knowing what we do of the trainers now, it's fair to say this match was a bit disappointing for them. These guys started well above 80%, and fell all the way down to 77 by match's end. It's basically joke trends, and we would see it all contest. The picture was WAY in favor of the trainers, too, so it was weird to not see them just totally annihilate the Starcraft 2 duo. Worth noting here is Starcraft 2 is a terrible game and there is no defense for it at all, so it deserved to get wrecked here. That "make one game and release in three parts for full price" crap is just disgusting. Lastly, look at Kerrigan's picture there. Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock. You can't unsee. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4518&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=9) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Luigi vs. Waluigi vs (5)Cecil Harvey vs. Golbez 2011 _source: (4)Luigi vs. Waluigi vs (5)Cecil Harvey vs. Golbez 2011 (revid 84481)_ ## Results **Round One** Monday, November 7, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** East - **Match \#:** 10 - **Match Date:** Monday, November 7, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 4176 - **Oracle Expectations:** Luigi vs. Waluigi - 60.65% 107 for - 5 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Luigi vs. Waluigi - 60.19% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 347 Luigi vs. Waluigi: 5047 Cecil Harvey vs. Golbez: 1843 This. This match is the best proof for how bad this contest was. For like two full rounds, this was our closest match. Yeah, a Waluigi win was our closest match for all but like the two final weeks of a contest. Just screw me in the eye with a spoon, and I actually like Waluigi. But he and Luigi are not rivals, and this is a good example for the bad contest format. Why couldn't we have Mario vs Luigi AND Mario vs Bowser AND Mario vs Sonic? It's not terrible. Oh and props to the FF4 duo here. In a match they were never going to win anyway, they thoroughly embarrassed the Nintendo boys and made all of us who assumed Luigi could carry Waluigi past the trainers (ahem) out to be complete idiots. Seriously, that was by far my worst. pick. ever. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4519&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=10) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Ryu vs. Ken vs (6)Ratchet vs. Dr. Nefarious 2011 _source: (3)Ryu vs. Ken vs (6)Ratchet vs. Dr. Nefarious 2011 (revid 84482)_ ## Results **Round One** Tuesday, November 8, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** East - **Match \#:** 11 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 18027 - **Oracle Expectations:** Ryu vs. Ken - 76.92% 113 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Ryu vs. Ken - 91.68% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 101 Ryu vs. Ken: 7280 Ratchet vs. Dr. Nefarious: 436 Leonhart4 has turned me into a Ratchet fanboy, but I would have voted for him anyway because I \*hate\* Ryu and Ken so much with all the idiots on SSF4 online who just shotospam all day with these two. Holy crap. I love Street Fighter, but I despise these two so much. F\*\*\* em. Regardless, if you look at round 1 in a vacuum this match is much more impressive than the Trainers \> Starcraft result. Granted the votals are just god-awful, but the Trainers also had their match at night and didn't fare much better. We went over this with Zero's match, but 80% is a hard number to break. Getting nearly 82% on Ratchet has to be more impressive than 77% on the Starcraft duo, right? I mean we all know what happened later, but maybe the trainers being momentum-based was proven here in round 1. Not that it's really worth mulling over or anything because F this contest so much. At the very least, the match was in doubt following round 1. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4520&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=11) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell vs (7)Yuna vs. Seymour Guado 2011 _source: (2)Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell vs (7)Yuna vs. Seymour Guado 2011 (revid 84483)_ ## Results **Round One** Tuesday, November 8, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** East - **Match \#:** 12 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 8662 - **Oracle Expectations:** Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell - 57.98% 107 for - 6 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell - 70.40% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 263 Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell: 5628 Yuna vs. Seymour Guado: 1578 Okay I made this entire picture and everyone hated it, so let me explain myself here. The Fox/Wolf side is defensible enough, since both guys look awesome in Brawl and good luck making a good Wolf picture without getting help from that game. Zen hated the font, but come on man. Barbed wire font for two feral characters is pretty awesome. Now, the bottom half. Okay. Part of being a picsmith is using what I like once in awhile and I personally think Seymour's base model just totally sucks. I loved all his boss fights in FFX, so I wanted to get one of them into a match picture. I also think Yuna looks better in X-2 than FFX, though I will finally concede to Leon4 that X-2 Yuna was not the best of ideas for a match picture with Yuna and Seymour. That said, dude, she's all sitting there with a gun going GET IT AWAY HOLY CRAP. I love the picture, but I can see why everyone else hates it. There's also the issue of "why make pictures at all if everything just turns into what everyone wants", but that's a can of worms I'm not really willing to get into in a PCA. The match was debated pre-contest for awhile, so naturally it wasn't a fun match at all. This was one of many examples where two characters of marginal strength were able to just torch a pair with one strong character and an anchor, and I feel like Fox and Wolf got a contest title boost. These guys are a damn cool rivalry in Star Fox 64, while Yuna and Seymour aren't remotely close to rivals and deserved to lose here. I'm not really biased here either, because at first I honestly did pick Yuna out of my love for FFX before realizing they had no chance. Yuna did well given the circumstances here, but... yeah. Weird match. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4521&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=12) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Samus Aran vs. Ridley vs (8)The Kid vs. The Guy 2011 _source: (1)Samus Aran vs. Ridley vs (8)The Kid vs. The Guy 2011 (revid 84484)_ ## Results **Round One** Wednesday, November 9, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southeast - **Match \#:** 13 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 17581 - **Oracle Expectations:** Samus Aran vs. Ridley - 82.80% 112 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Samus Aran vs. Ridley - 96.25% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 78 Samus Aran vs. Ridley: 7560 The Kid vs. The Guy: 276 Based on this match alone, you wouldn't really know how much trouble Samus would be in once she eventually made it to the trainers. Though with round 1 alone, the trainers didn't really have their godslayer powers yet. I know I've overused the line about 80% being difficult to get to, but it really is. This contest was tailor-made for Kid and Guy to do well -- good rivalry, popular game on this site -- and Samus just wrecked them. A lot of people felt like Ridley would hold Samus down and potentially hold her back from her 1 on 1 strength, and maybe they would end up being right, but there was no indication that was possible after this match. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4522&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=13) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo vs (5)Vyse vs. Galcian 2011 _source: (4)Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo vs (5)Vyse vs. Galcian 2011 (revid 84485)_ ## Results **Round One** Wednesday, November 9, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southeast - **Match \#:** 14 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 19521 - **Oracle Expectations:** Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo - 64.91% 112 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo - 92.22% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 379 Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo: 5645 Vyse vs. Galcian: 529 80% is a very difficult percentage to get but in this contes-- waaaaaaaaaaaaaait a second. Is that... is that Terra and Kefka going godmode on us? The same Terra who couldn't break 60% on Kerrigan and the same Kefka who was a legendary choke artist until he ran into a World of Warcraft character? And these two aren't even rivals at all. Kefka has no true rival in the World of ruin, no one fits his antithesis better than General Leo in the World of Balance. And yet here we are, watching the FF6 duo make names for themselves. SFF against a weak character and his anchor (guffaw haw haw SKY PIRATES AND ANCHORS GET IT) or not, it barely even matters. FF6 nuts like me have been waiting for years for the characters to finally be legit in contests, and god bless Dissidia for letting it happen. Oh and when Baku hosts FF6 mafia, you should totally sign up for it because mafia \> everything. I'd say more about this match and how Terra could have really done something this contest, but this bracket was designed like crap so they got fed to Samus in round 2. Awesome. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4523&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=14) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker vs (6)Dan Hibiki vs. Sagat 2011 _source: (3)Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker vs (6)Dan Hibiki vs. Sagat 2011 (revid 84486)_ ## Results **Round One** Thursday, November 10, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southeast - **Match \#:** 15 - **Match Date:** Thursday, November 10, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 15938 - **Oracle Expectations:** Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker - 63.16% 109 for - 4 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker - 87.80% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 183 Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker: 6645 Dan Hibiki vs. Sagat: 659 I love how I preach about 80% being hard and this is like the 213th match in a row where we saw someone flirt with that line or break it. Spoilers for those who haven't listened to The Show yet (not up as of this writing): I named Dan and Sagat my turd of the contest. I honestly expected something out of these two, or at least Sagat, and instead we get a performance that makes people think Chris and Wesker had a shot at beating the bosses. It was one of those quasi-joke rallies that actually worked, and Board 8 nominated it enough to have the pair avoid the vote-ins entirely. I'm a Street Fighter fanboy and LOVE these two characters, I make no secret of this, so yeah I was really disappointed. Chris and Wesker are no slouches, don't get me wrong, but those two getting 80% on someone means something royally effed happened. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4524&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=15) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Tidus vs. Jecht vs (7)Big Boss vs. The Boss 2011 _source: (2)Tidus vs. Jecht vs (7)Big Boss vs. The Boss 2011 (revid 84487)_ ## Results **Round One** Thursday, November 10, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southeast - **Match \#:** 16 - **Match Date:** Thursday, November 10, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 7713 - **Oracle Expectations:** Big Boss vs. The Boss - 55.05% 103 for - 11 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Big Boss vs. The Boss - 55.06% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 341 Tidus vs. Jecht: 3462 Big Boss vs. The Boss: 3534 This was one of the most heavily debated round 1 matches, mostly because of the seeding and Winter 2010 performances, so of course the match was bad and over in seconds. Normally I'd go through the whole rant about how Tidus will never win a debatable match ever again, but Jecht is the manliest character in this entire bracket so he cancels out Tidus's ugly mug. The lone weak link in this bracket was actually The Boss, but obviously that proved to be a moot point. Both of these rivalries are among the best in the bracket, both games are among the best in the bracket, but for whatever reason Tidus's constantly being anti-voted outweighed The Boss being weak. This was a "decent" match I suppose, complete with the lowest prediction percentage in all of round 1, but there really isn't much to say about a 60-40. We already know why Tidus couldn't do anything, too: He's Tidus. Doesn't get much simpler than that. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4525&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=16) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (8)Arthas vs. Illidan 2011 _source: (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (8)Arthas vs. Illidan 2011 (revid 69027)_ ## Results **Round One** Friday, November 11, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** South - **Match \#:** 17 - **Match Date:** Friday, November 11, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 22076 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 83.91% 110 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 97.51% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 35 Link vs. Ganondorf: 7833 Arthas vs. Illidan: 178 Oh how the mighty have fallen. Not Link, of course, but this site. 31000 votes for a Link match, even a night match, is just pathetic. Though when you compare Link to Mario in round 1, there was some hope this contest wouldn't be a total Link stomp. Mario got a higher percentage without the aid of anti-votes, a higher prediction percentage and his poll got a higher vote total. Then you look at the Link v Mario contest history and realize it doesn't really matter at all. That's got to be the worst match picture of the contest, by the way. Link and Ganon are just miscolored skewed crap, Arthas looks like a fox and Illidan is invisible. Holy crap. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4526&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=17) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Amaterasu vs. Orochi vs (5)Tom Nook vs. Crazy Redd 2011 _source: (4)Amaterasu vs. Orochi vs (5)Tom Nook vs. Crazy Redd 2011 (revid 84488)_ ## Results **Round One** Friday, November 11, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** South - **Match \#:** 18 - **Match Date:** Friday, November 11, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 10566 - **Oracle Expectations:** Amaterasu vs. Orochi - 69.47% 111 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Amaterasu vs. Orochi - 71.19% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 454 Amaterasu vs. Orochi: 4831 Tom Nook vs. Crazy Redd: 1176 I have no clue what to even make of this match. You'd think Ammy would blow the doors off of such fodder trash, but apparently Tom Nook has a cult following or something. Then you realize Ammy was stuck with a total anchor, and we saw all contest what that does to contest strength. Tom/Redd's joke rally was at least better than Dan/Sagat's, I guess? Not that it matters at ALL thanks to Amaterasu getting fed to Link in round 2. Bad matches plus bad bracket making makes it really, really hard to care about like 90% of what happened in this bracket. There was some hype early, but the more matches we saw the more we realized this contest was going to really, really suck. And this was with the first round having 12 hour matches. Forget ambien and melatonin, this contest having 24 hour matches was enough of a sleeping pill for anyone. Worth noting here is this day match scoring less votes than the night match proceeding, so the LAW (Link Always Wins) holds true yet again! ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4527&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=18) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja vs (6)Meat Boy vs. Dr. Fetus 2011 _source: (3)Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja vs (6)Meat Boy vs. Dr. Fetus 2011 (revid 84489)_ ## Results **Round One** Saturday, November 12, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** South - **Match \#:** 19 - **Match Date:** Saturday, November 12, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 7225 - **Oracle Expectations:** Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja - 71.17% 111 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja - 78.49% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 196 Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja: 5906 Meat Boy vs. Dr. Fetus: 1326 This was a terrible match for the FF9 pair, though it would have better far better without that match picture, and I even LIKED the match picture. Trance FF9 art rocks, but the average voter probably thought they looked like bloody puke. This whole contest ended up being bloody puke, actually. The reason I say they would have done better with no picture is because for a few minutes the match had no picture and FF9 was near 70%. Then the picture went up and they immediately dropped by 5%. So there you go, pic factor accounts for 5% of the vote total when the percentage is in the 60s, so in the 50s we can probably assume it counts for 2-3 points here and there. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4528&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=19) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily vs (7)Banjo vs. Gruntilda 2011 _source: (2)Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily vs (7)Banjo vs. Gruntilda 2011 (revid 84490)_ ## Results **Round One** Saturday, November 12, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** South - **Match \#:** 20 - **Match Date:** Saturday, November 12, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 18381 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily - 76.96% 111 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily - 91.92% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 83 Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily: 7350 Banjo vs. Gruntilda: 457 Banjo the character has been in three contest matches including this one, and in all three he had to deal with Nintendo SFF. Mega Man isn't "technically" Nintendo, but he might as well be. The game made two contests, one was 4-way Nintendo SFF and the other was scoring 30% on MGS2. Basically, put Banjo in a winnable match against non-Nintendo or stop letting him in outright. He's one of those wasted spots that only gets in every year because of every contest being 128 entrants these days. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4529&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=20) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth vs (8)Gordon Freeman vs. Dr. Breen 2011 _source: (1)Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth vs (8)Gordon Freeman vs. Dr. Breen 2011 (revid 84491)_ ## Results **Round One** Sunday, November 13, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southwest - **Match \#:** 21 - **Match Date:** Sunday, November 13, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 3505 - **Oracle Expectations:** Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth - 53.34% 84 for - 24 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth - 57.30% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 323 Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth: 4481 Gordon Freeman vs. Dr. Breen: 2495 This was without question the most hyped match of round 1, and for good reason. Phoenix, even with always getting high seeds, never wins anything. His rival here, Edgey, always does even worse. In 2006, he and Gordon Freeman had a 1 on 1 match and Gordon scored 58% on him to end the famous GFNW meme. However, that was back when Phoenix was a joke character in every sense. Since then he's gotten a whole series under his belt and a hyped Marvel vs Capcom 3 spot, while Gordon Freeman's been sitting around like the rest of us waiting for Episode 3 or Half-Life 3 to actually come out. The stage was set for Phoenix's revenge, thanks to Gordon getting saddled with an absolute anchor and an 8 seed. Gordon by himself could beat Phoenix or Edgeworth easily, but we now know one decent character can't really beat a good rivalry by himself. The match itself was over in seconds, but actually meant a lot. For one, this was probably our best proof that two weaker characters with a good rivalry can beat one much stronger character bogged down by an anchor. Two, Phoenix Wright is finally viable. A win over Bomberman in fourways doesn't really count, but his first one on one win? That actually means something. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4530&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=21) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Alucard vs. Dracula vs (5)Commander Shepard vs. Saren Arterius 2011 _source: (4)Alucard vs. Dracula vs (5)Commander Shepard vs. Saren Arterius 2011 (revid 84492)_ ## Results **Round One** Sunday, November 13, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southwest - **Match \#:** 22 - **Match Date:** Sunday, November 13, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 10289 - **Oracle Expectations:** Alucard vs. Dracula - 60.36% 102 for - 6 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Alucard vs. Dracula - 67.82% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 289 Alucard vs. Dracula: 4864 Commander Shepard vs. Saren Arterius: 2110 Someone really needs to explain to me what Allen's bias against FemShep is. She's probably one of the best characters in all of gaming, especially in the original Mass Effect, yet she has never one time made it into a match picture. I did theater, so I know how to spot when someone sucks at their lines and the male voice actor for Shepard has no emotion at all and sounds like he's struggling to read off a teleprompter or something. Regardless, this was one of those matches where idiots like me thought Shepard could carry a bad team by herself (yeah, HERself). This whole division was loaded with bad teams and weak characters, and thinking Shepard could carry Saren to a win was pretty lol. Alucard and Symphony of the Night for whatever reason have unreal staying power on this site, and in a way we could call this match a trial balloon for fictional characters making the field. I think Dracula passed the eyeball test, needless to say. Shepard could probably smoke anyone else in this division 1 on 1, but got totally embarrassed when paired with Saren and his godly warship Sovereign. Play Mass Effect, seriously. Amazing game. I should probably get around to playing 2 one of these days too, huh? ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4531&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=22) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Chell vs. GLaDOS vs (6)Ness vs. Giygas 2011 _source: (3)Chell vs. GLaDOS vs (6)Ness vs. Giygas 2011 (revid 84493)_ ## Results **Round One** Monday, November 14, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southwest - **Match \#:** 23 - **Match Date:** Monday, November 14, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 4973 - **Oracle Expectations:** Chell vs. GLaDOS - 60.79% 104 for - 4 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Chell vs. GLaDOS - 74.53% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 200 Chell vs. GLaDOS: 5280 Ness vs. Giygas: 1878 The only thing really worth talking about here is the match picture, since I have no idea what to even make of the match. 60-40 on Ness and Giygas after the release of Portal 2 probably sucks, but Chell barely exists in the Portal games and GLaDOS/Wheatley would have done far better. I'd like to say this performance was bad and that it meant Frogus was destined to win two matches as a result, but we know how close the Portal 2 duo came to upsetting Frogus so who really knows. Anyway for my money, KP made the best picture of the entire contest right there. As an EarthBound fanboy (Play EarthBound.), that definitely captures the scale of the final fight (Play EarthBound.). Probably should have used the robot Ness model, but whatever. Godly image. Play EarthBound. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4532&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=23) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Frog vs. Magus vs (7)Raiden vs. Vamp 2011 _source: (2)Frog vs. Magus vs (7)Raiden vs. Vamp 2011 (revid 84494)_ ## Results **Round One** Monday, November 14, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southwest - **Match \#:** 24 - **Match Date:** Monday, November 14, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 4294 - **Oracle Expectations:** Frog vs. Magus - 64.32% 107 for - 1 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Frog vs. Magus - 66.12% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 234 Frog vs. Magus: 4820 Raiden vs. Vamp: 2247 One match after Chell and GLaDOS lay an egg in a match they should have destroyed, Frog and Magus do... this. No one really looked like they wanted to win this division except the Symphony of the Night pair, and we all know what would end up happening there. Raiden and Vamp did rock their vote-in poll though, so maybe they have more strength than we give them credit for. But one thing that would be fun to watch all contest would be Frog's clutch paired with Magus's choke. I feel like metroid composite's sig applies to these two, no? This would ultimately set up a pretty unpredictable match between Portal 2 and Frogus, and I am convinced Wheatley in Chell's place would have won that match. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Wheatley not in the suggestion database? That databse is so bad and needs to stop deciding our nominations for us. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4533&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=24) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth vs (8)Lloyd Irving vs. Kratos Aurion 2011 _source: (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth vs (8)Lloyd Irving vs. Kratos Aurion 2011 (revid 84495)_ ## Results **Round One** Tuesday, November 15, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** West - **Match \#:** 25 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 15245 - **Oracle Expectations:** Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 83.12% 108 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 96.54% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 38 Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth: 7774 Lloyd Irving vs. Kratos Aurion: 210 A lot of comparisons can be made here, but just look at this match. Despite all the so-called WARNING SALVOS fired in Link's direction about rivalries actually mattering, this site hating Final Fantasy 7 trumps it all. The contest effectively ended with this god-awful performance from the FF7 duo, barring some miracle upset taking Link down. "Miracle upset" because Cloud and Seph sure as hell weren't going to do it. FF7 is weakening as-is, but the game has such a terrible board vote now that Link was going to do bad, bad things once that match actually took place. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4534&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=25) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Kratos vs. Zeus vs (5)Professor Layton vs. Don Paolo 2011 _source: (4)Kratos vs. Zeus vs (5)Professor Layton vs. Don Paolo 2011 (revid 84496)_ ## Results **Round One** Tuesday, November 15, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** West - **Match \#:** 26 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 15967 - **Oracle Expectations:** Kratos vs. Zeus - 71.84% 108 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Kratos vs. Zeus - 92.13% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 177 Kratos vs. Zeus: 6937 Professor Layton vs. Don Paolo: 475 It's hard to really make heads or tails of this match, other than the fact Kratos has an awful board vote and was below 70% against a total joke character for a few minutes. Would have been nice to see how the God of War guys would have done on an actual path, but pretty much any 4/5 in a format like this (or 8/9 seed in a normal format) is in no-man's land thanks to facing the 1 seed next round. Post of the contest goes to transience, since Cloud and Kratos both have such bad board votes that "no one will vote for 5 minutes". Good show. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4535&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=26) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Crash Bandicoot vs. Dr. Neo Cortex vs (6)Pac-Man vs. Blinky 2011 _source: (3)Crash Bandicoot vs. Dr. Neo Cortex vs (6)Pac-Man vs. Blinky 2011 (revid 84497)_ ## Results **Round One** Wednesday, November 16, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** West - **Match \#:** 27 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 6445 - **Oracle Expectations:** Pac-Man vs. Blinky - 59.01% 104 for - 3 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Pac-Man vs. Blinky - 71.96% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 392 Crash Bandicoot vs. Dr. Neo Cortex: 2410 Pac-Man vs. Blinky: 4425 You know a contest is bad when something can score 8706 votes and still manage to avoid getting doubled. Pac-Man has never been known for putting asses in seats, so this was just horrible to watch. Can you imagine if this were a 24 hour match? Also for whatever reason this was heavily debated, but I'm not seeing why. No one gives a crap about Crash anymore, and Pac-Man is pretty much guaranteed to get the better picture against anyone. I'm pretty sure that's the first time he's ever gotten the sprite in a pic, too, so this was pretty much set in stone before it ever started. Not that it would ever be in doubt anyway because it would take two full rounds for us to actually get a match worth talking about. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4536&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=27) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake vs (7)Crono vs. Lavos 2011 _source: (2)Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake vs (7)Crono vs. Lavos 2011 (revid 84498)_ ## Results **Round One** Wednesday, November 16, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** West - **Match \#:** 28 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 6625 - **Oracle Expectations:** Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake - 62.01% 107 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake - 80.52% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 158 Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake: 6383 Crono vs. Lavos: 1257 Fun Fact: Crono has not won a match since 2008, where he made the finals of the second fourway contest. It's true. One of the first things everyone noticed in the contest's early stages was Crono being stuck with Lavos as a rivalry, thanks to the vote-ins. Then the bracket came out and we saw him going up against the MGS duo. Dude was screwed, and look at that prediction percentage. Everyone knew he was screwed. He was screwed even with one of the most unbalanced picture advantage ever, because holy crap Lavos sucks. Even if you wanted to make some weird Crono \> Snake but Liquid \> Lavos comparison, the Liquid \> Lavos match happened all the way back in 2005. Then the match started, and... yeah. "And this is how the world ends: Not with a bang but with a whimper" really applies to what is clearly the end of Crono's contest run. Just a bland 60-40 beating all the way through, as if Crono never mattered at all in these things. He will never again be of Noble Nine strength, and one has to wonder if he'll ever win a match again period at the rate he's going. Does anyone take Crono to beat Squall, Vincent, Tifa, Auron, or even Yoshi, Luigi and Bowser at this point? Those near-elites could all wreck him. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4537&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=28) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy vs (8)Laharl vs. Mid-Boss 2011 _source: (1)Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy vs (8)Laharl vs. Mid-Boss 2011 (revid 84499)_ ## Results **Round One** Thursday, November 17, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northwest - **Match \#:** 29 - **Match Date:** Thursday, November 17, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 12264 - **Oracle Expectations:** Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy - 75.56% 106 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy - 91.49% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 148 Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy: 7007 Laharl vs. Mid-Boss: 509 Seifer finally making a contest was so nice, as a 1 seed to boot, even if it did take a contest specifically made for him to get in to do it. Seifer is a great character, the rivalry with Squall rocks and FF8 really is a good game. I love the Disgaea pairing here too, so for me personally this match was cool. Terrible match pic for the FF8 side, but you can't win 'em all. From a contest perspective, Squallfer needed to do a lot better here. We didn't totally know it at the time since no one was really paying attention to the contest at this point (plus we all assumed Squallfer's path was set in stone), but this was a good WARNING SALVO for how screwed Squall almost was against Sora and Riku. Laharl is not strong at all, but Squall couldn't even triple him. Bad. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4538&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=29) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Siegfried vs. Nightmare vs (5)Ramza Beoulve vs. Delita Hyral 2011 _source: (4)Siegfried vs. Nightmare vs (5)Ramza Beoulve vs. Delita Hyral 2011 (revid 84500)_ ## Results **Round One** Thursday, November 17, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northwest - **Match \#:** 30 - **Match Date:** Thursday, November 17, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 3429 - **Oracle Expectations:** Siegfried vs. Nightmare - 55.15% 92 for - 15 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Siegfried vs. Nightmare - 68.03% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 470 Siegfried vs. Nightmare: 4905 Ramza Beoulve vs. Delita Hyral: 1443 I'm seriously convinced the Soul Calibur guys only won this because DAT TOP OPTION, though obviously I'm biased. Ramza and Delita might seriously be the best rivalry in this entire bracket, and it's not just me being a big fan of FFT. I'm a big fan of history, and the relationship between those two reminds me of how human history works. Very few people know the true heroes of war, the soldiers, but kings and politicians are remembered forever even if most don't deserve it. Go look up the lyrics to War Pigs some time. Saying Ramza and Delita aren't rivals because they never fought is like saying LBJ and Kennedy weren't rivals; LBJ had a maniacal desire to become president and viewed Kennedy as an obstacle, and he wasn't exactly upset at Kennedy getting assassinated. There are tens of thousands of examples like this throughout history, and FFT touches upon that subject without really trying. Well actually it does try, but I don't think Yatsumi Matsuno realized the depth he'd manage to explore that aspect of history when he was writing FFT's plot. The man is an absolute genius, but his tragic flaw is never being able to seal the deal, so to speak. He always resorts to "kill the big bad magical things" by the end of his plots, whereas if he would ever finish his tales of medieval political intrigue and conspiracy he would go down as one of gaming's best authors. Fun Fact: Ramza and Delita were originally going to be the exact same character, but Square killed the idea of having two branching paths for the plot. I have nothing more to really add here, except that Ramza will likely never win a contest match but he might have pulled it off were the seeding switched in this match. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4539&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=30) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Dante vs. Vergil vs (6)Sol Badguy vs. Ky Kiske 2011 _source: (3)Dante vs. Vergil vs (6)Sol Badguy vs. Ky Kiske 2011 (revid 84501)_ ## Results **Round One** Friday, November 18, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northwest - **Match \#:** 31 - **Match Date:** Friday, November 18, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 15587 - **Oracle Expectations:** Dante vs. Vergil - 76.52% 108 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Dante vs. Vergil - 95.29% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 119 Dante vs. Vergil: 7432 Sol Badguy vs. Ky Kiske: 261 Jesus CHRIST I forgot just how badly Dante wrecked this match until looking at it just now, but yeah it's coming back to me how good those of us who picked Dante \> Sora felt when this happened. And Dante/Vergil would have pulled it off had this match pic been used in round 2, too. I know Guilty Gear is just piss-weak on this site, but this might seriously be the best match Dante has ever had. The percentage here is only 3 below what Mario and Link pulled off, and given Vergil MvC3 hype and Kingdom Hearts trending way down every year, the upset was very possible. It almost ended up happening, too. Unfortunately, this match right here may be the peak of Dante's strength. By the time we get another character battle, we'll have to deal with [this piece of s\*\*\*.](http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2010/267/7/d/new_dmc_dante__sideview__by_dante584-d2zd1oe.jpg) If you look like a Scott Pilgrim character, odds are you're an absolute piece of trash that shouldn't exist. It has nothing to do with white hair, either, despite what people actually defending this crap think. Capcom never. f\*\*\*ing. learns. anything. We've been down this road with Devil May Cry 2, you know with taking the series in a new direction and letting a new director take over. The end result was an absolute piece of crap game with Not Dante (thanks, Viewtiful Joe 2) running around a city fighting flying goats and infected helicopters before magically popping up on an oil rig before magically popping up to tell people about swan songs and a big puke monster. You think I'm kidding, too, don't you? And that says nothing of half the game's bosses being killable by standing in the starting position and holding down square, or his "hip new look", or freaking Lucia holy god. The point is, WE'VE SEEN THIS BEFORE. Now Capcom decides to learn nothing, as usual, and go with a whole new development team instead of just a director. Bad enough this is happening, but they go with Ninja Theory? Are you effin serious? I don't know how many of you people have actually played Heavenly Sword, but I have. [I'll let Yahtzee handle this one,](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1-Heavenly-Sword-and-Other-Stuff) but I assure you the game is just a total piece of trash that should be incinerated before it can infect the world further. Notable here is how Heavenly Sword was Yahtzee's first video, meaning the game was so bad that it launched Yahtzee's career of trashing bad games. Twing-twang. Oh and I haven't played Enslaved, but my best friend has and he tells me it's somehow even worse than Heavenly Sword. Lovely. And these are the jerkoffs now in charge of the Devil May Cry series. If you can't come up with a way to make a character cool, might as well give him a cigarette and make him look like an emo moron. F\*\*\* Capcom, f\*\*\* Ninja Theory and f\*\*\* that idiot director who literally inserted himself into the series fanfiction style, much like how Stephanie Meyer essentially write the Twilight series as a fanfiction with herself as the main character. Oh and don't think ArcSys Works is above my wrath, either, with how they've catered to fangirls of late. Catering to fangirls is about the last thing any company should do. Guilty Gear isn't popular enough to get ruined by them, but BlazBlue is pretty much trying to figure out how to make Ragna and Jin into a canonical gay yaoi incest love affair. I'm not even freaking kidding, it's unreal. Bad enough fangirls ruined Vegas, but stop ruining my music and my video games. Thanks. (they ruined music because they apparently think hipster douches in skinny jeans are sooooo sexy, thanks for asking) I have no idea where I was going with this, but yeah Devil May Cry 5 is going to blow and fangirls pretty much rendered the BlazBlue plot not worth paying attention to anymore. Yeah I broke 4096 ranting about a first round blowout in the worst contest ever, WHAT NOW BOARD 8? ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4540&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=31) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (2)Sora vs. Riku vs (7)William B.J. Blazkowicz vs. Adolf 2011 _source: (2)Sora vs. Riku vs (7)William B.J. Blazkowicz vs. Adolf 2011 (revid 84502)_ ## Results **Round One** Friday, November 18, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northwest - **Match \#:** 32 - **Match Date:** Friday, November 18, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 7754 - **Oracle Expectations:** Sora vs. Riku - 65.45% 105 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Sora vs. Riku - 89.43% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 183 Sora vs. Riku: 6945 William B.J. Blazkowicz vs. Adolf Hitler: 890 Also known as the weirdest match we'll ever have. Normally at the end a round I do kind of a wrap-up, but it's not really worth it to get too extensive here. Our closest match involved Waluigi winning, which is really all you need to know about this entire contest. Regardless, this match was so dumb. Before the contest ever started, a lot of us asked Allen if Einstein vs Hitler would be eligible. He said no, because "Gamespot already did it". Oddly enough, it was Einstein he considered the problem and not a guy who slaughtered anywhere between 6 and 15 million people, depending on what you read. This match was destined to be the 4chan target of choice, and for a time they didn't disappoint. They even had the picture advantage, because holy crap did Soraku look like garbage. Soraku started over 60%, fell all the way down to 54% with rallying, then people noticed the rallying wasn't working so they went back up to 60%. Hitler was never really in contention to win this match, which is honestly a good thing. I'm all for a good joke, but Hitler making some L-Block run would have been really offensive to me and a lot of other people. I know he's made to look like a total joke in Wolfenstein 3D, but it's the principle of the matter. This would conclude round 1, and all things considered Allen really just got unlucky with the bracket. A lot of cool upsets just didn't pan out, a lot of the pairings were just bad, and a lot of potential upsets or good matches just turned into blowouts. Pair that with a bad concept, a questionable selection process and a bad bracket design and you get... pretty much the worst contest ever, actually. I would say the villains contest had a worse round 1, but at least that contest was nice enough to only be a month long in total. We had over a month and a half of this rivalry blowout junk. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4541&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=32) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (5)Ike vs. Black Knight 2011 _source: (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (5)Ike vs. Black Knight 2011 (revid 84503)_ ## Results **Round Two** Saturday, November 19, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** North - **Match \#:** 33 - **Match Date:** Saturday, November 19, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 30576 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mario vs. Bowser - 78.63% 98 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mario vs. Bowser - 95.68% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 32 Mario vs. Bowser: 5572 Ike vs. Black Knight: 103 Round 2 is usually the worst round in any contest, since it's the round that separates the chaff from the wheat. Fittingly, this contest's round 2 was by FAR the worst one we've ever had. Only one match would end up any good and thanks to trend knowledge it was over even when it was close. Also round 2 began every match being 24 hours, which is good insomnia treatment. This match was just dumb all around. I understand bad bracket placement now and then, but only a year ago we saw this same exact match. Bad rematches are the worst. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4542&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=33) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Kirby vs. Meta Knight vs (2)Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik 2011 _source: (3)Kirby vs. Meta Knight vs (2)Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik 2011 (revid 84504)_ ## Results **Round Two** Sunday, November 20, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** North - **Match \#:** 34 - **Match Date:** Sunday, November 20, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 12151 - **Oracle Expectations:** Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik - 54.90% 97 for - 8 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik - 68.61% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 260 Kirby vs. Meta Knight: 1066 Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik: 3930 I'll be the first to admit when a match pic I make blows, so I also get to give myself props for that godly Kirby pic. The pic itself is awesome, but Kirby with Meta Knight's mask on is bangin. Before the contest, this match was relatively hyped for upset potential. Sonic only scored 55% on Kirby in 2010, and most assumed Robotnik would hold Sonic down while Meta Knight would boost Kirby up some more. "Whoops" Not only did none of this happen in yet another match that was over in seconds, but Sonic went up by 7% from the year before with a character most people hate by his side. This goes to show you that iconic rivalries really did matter in this contest, while the vast majority of Kirby's strength comes not from his games, but from Smash Bros games. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4543&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=34) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Mega Man X vs. Zero vs (5)Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh 2011 _source: (1)Mega Man X vs. Zero vs (5)Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh 2011 (revid 84505)_ ## Results **Round Two** Monday, November 21, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northeast - **Match \#:** 35 - **Match Date:** Monday, November 21, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 26634 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mega Man X vs. Zero - 75.83% 104 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mega Man X vs. Zero - 73.59% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 76 Mega Man X vs. Zero: 5354 Bartz Klauser vs. Gilgamesh: 267 Literally the only thing worth talking about here is how Allen had to make the match picture for FF5 himself because for whatever reason the picsmiths all dropped the ball. Beyond that, all this match really proved is how trash Guybrush is. The guys who beat his team almost got quadrupled a round later by our most successful guru nomination ever. Guybrush fans are out of their goddamn minds. Still leaves Bartz and Gilgamesh with more contest wins than a whole host of Square characters though, which is hilarious. Yeah, that anorexic f\*\*\* from Dissidia who is in dire need of a hamburger has more contest wins than Red XIII, Barret, Cecil, Marle, Fei, Vaan, Final Fantasy 11, Lightning, Rydia, all the FF1 job classes and a whole load of other stuff I forgot. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4544&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=35) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool vs (2)Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion 2011 _source: (3)Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool vs (2)Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion 2011 (revid 84506)_ ## Results **Round Two** Tuesday, November 22, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northeast - **Match \#:** 36 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 14323 - **Oracle Expectations:** Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion - 67.09% 103 for - 1 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion - 58.33% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 232 Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool: 1558 Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion: 3625 If there's one thing DK is good for every year, it's making people overestimate how strong he is. Only 58% of people picked the ninjas to win twice, which is thoroughly ridiculous because DK never had a chance here. At least we saw him instead of Ezio though, so for once he didn't totally choke in a contest. Oh and because a lot of people were asking, the Mortal Kombat pic is from the MK vs DC promo. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4545&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=36) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (4)Luigi vs. Waluigi 2011 _source: (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (4)Luigi vs. Waluigi 2011 (revid 84507)_ ## Results **Round Two** Wednesday, November 23, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** East - **Match \#:** 37 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 30492 - **Oracle Expectations:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 63.09% 98 for - 1 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 70.88% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 138 Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue: 4702 Luigi vs. Waluigi: 750 This is seriously the dumbest pick I've ever made, even worse than taking WWF No Mercy to beat my favorite Fire Emblem as an ode to the guru. Pre-contest it seemed like a good idea I guess because we didn't fully know the impact of rivalries on certain pairings, good and bad. This match displayed both in pretty hilarious fashion. 1 on 1, Luigi smokes either trainer. But in a rivalry contest paired with arguably the most hated Nintendo character there is? Look out. I hesitate to even call this SFF, because Waluigi is hated that much, but it is kind of hard to imagine the FF4 pair doing this bad here. I guess we'll never know! This is the second contest in a row where a lot of people got it all wrong involving Pokemon and a 1 seed, and I feel like Majora's Mask \> GSC plus Luigi's strength really skewed my view here. At least I wasn't alone in picking this dumbass upset special, I guess? KP likes to say I never own up to dumb picks, and that's why he currently has a bruise the shape of my boot on his ass !! ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4546&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=37) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Ryu vs. Ken vs (2)Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell 2011 _source: (3)Ryu vs. Ken vs (2)Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell 2011 (revid 84508)_ ## Results **Round Two** Thursday, November 24, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** East - **Match \#:** 38 - **Match Date:** Thursday, November 24, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 13653 - **Oracle Expectations:** Ryu vs. Ken - 65.28% 96 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Ryu vs. Ken - 67.88% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 162 Ryu vs. Ken: 4130 Fox McCloud vs. Wolf O'Donnell: 1177 Crimson took a lot of heat for that Fox/Wolf pic, but it honestly doesn't look that bad. It's just a bad use of outer glow is all. As for the match, this was never going to be in doubt but given the Trainers going into total godmode on Wa/Luigi it was up to the fighters to prove themselves worthy of taking down the trainers. It's easy to call confirmation bias here and say 78% on Luigi just demolishes what the fighters did here, but I don't think "demolish" is really the right word. The trainers were favorites after these two matches and they were pretty clearly going to win, but not by some absurd amount. Ryu and Ken got every bit the rivalry boost this contest that the trainers did. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4547&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=38) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Samus Aran vs. Ridley vs (4)Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo 2011 _source: (1)Samus Aran vs. Ridley vs (4)Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo 2011 (revid 84509)_ ## Results **Round Two** Friday, November 25, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southeast - **Match \#:** 39 - **Match Date:** Friday, November 25, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 10752 - **Oracle Expectations:** Samus Aran vs. Ridley - 66.33% 98 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Samus Aran vs. Ridley - 81.91% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 89 Samus Aran vs. Ridley: 4933 Terra Branford vs. Kefka Palazzo: 539 Lots of stuff to talk about here, and I'll start with the actual match for once. A Pyrrhic Victory is a battle that one wins in war, but at such great losses that it spells eventual doom for the army and the nation. The best example of a Pyrrhic Victory is the Battle of Thermopylae, and I believe the term even comes from that particular exchange. Maybe you've seen [the movie that got made about it?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/) (Holy s\*\*\*, that movie is five years old already? I am getting old really fast, I remember that launch like it was yesterday.) To the point. Yeah Samus won this match, but only 61% against Terra and Kefka, really? People guessed all pre-contest that Ridley would completely screw her eventually, and they were right. There was zero chance Samus was going to make the semifinals once this match happened, and it's worth noting that it took FF6's piss-awful day vote to prevent Samus from falling below 60%. A lot predicted that Ryu and Ken would be able to take advantage of Ridley being an anchor, but it would eventually be the trainers. Right division, wrong rivalry. The match pic is also entirely mine, and though I'm really happy with how that template looks side by side using outer glow on the top sprites was just freaking dumb. It takes away from how good I feel the picture otherwise looks, though it's balanced by howgood the bottom half is. That Terra picture is adorable as anything, and that's the first time we've ever seen that particular Kefka sprite in a match pic. Angel Kefka is good, but that sprite is really underappreciated. The first time you fight Kefka, that's what you're looking at and the fight can be pretty tough if you don't know what you're doing. Zen can suck it, I give myself a solid 8 for that image. "Pyrrhic victory isn't from Thermopylae, but from King Pyrrhus who was from Epirus when he won against Romans 2 times but he lost so many soldiers that he was doomed." -Safer Sephiroth 777 Thanks, buddy. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4548&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=39) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker vs (7)Big Boss vs. The Boss 2011 _source: (3)Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker vs (7)Big Boss vs. The Boss 2011 (revid 84510)_ ## Results **Round Two** Saturday, November 26, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southeast - **Match \#:** 40 - **Match Date:** Saturday, November 26, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 6029 - **Oracle Expectations:** Big Boss vs. The Boss - 59.58% 92 for - 4 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Big Boss vs. The Boss - 37.29% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 236 Chris Redfield vs. Albert Wesker: 2196 Big Boss vs. The Boss: 2726 Given how round 1 went, it was a fair guess that the RE5 guys had a good shot at the MGS3 pair, especially given that The Boss is just weak. Unfortunately this was the Rivalry Rumble, aka the worst contest ever so something fun happening was out of the question. The match was reasonably close in percentages, but RE5 never threatened and then you look up how Waluigi's round 1 win was closer than this. And no, I will not get over that stat because it's the perfect microcosm of the Rivalry Rumble. All that said, I am surprised this match wasn't closer. Chris and Wesker have been trending up on this site and probably got a rivalry boost, and even though the bosses got that same rivalry boost I would never pick The Boss to give Wesker a good match. People either more fondly remembered the MGS3 rivalry, or realized that Resident Evil 5 and the Marvel vs Capcom 3 series is pure trash. Whatever the case, the bosses benefited a lot when I expected a really close match. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4549&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=40) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (4)Amaterasu vs. Orochi 2011 _source: (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (4)Amaterasu vs. Orochi 2011 (revid 69051)_ ## Results **Round Two** Sunday, November 27, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** South - **Match \#:** 41 - **Match Date:** Sunday, November 27, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 37758 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 77.13% 89 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 95.70% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 8 Link vs. Ganondorf: 5659 Amaterasu vs. Orochi: 75 There was no real hope for Not Link to win this contest after round 1, then this match happened and pretty much everyone stopped caring about this contest outside of the Pokemon trainers. We're used to seeing Ammy overperform and resist SFF, so this was just depressing to watch. It led to a massive argument about whether or not Link should be removed, and for whatever reason people keep playing the "popularity contest and Link is popular, u mad" card and comparing him to the Yankees. To that, some people are really effin dumb. The Yankees actually have a chance to lose in the playoffs, as they prove in the first round almost every year these days. Link will never lose a normal match ever again barring a complete miracle (which happened with L-Block already), otherwise he's a lock to win every contest. Link being retired is about 3 years overdue, though thankfully it finally looks like we're getting him out of here with how this contest turned out. Ammy would hardly be the only character to get godstomped to a "just f\*\*\*ing retire Link already, this is stupid" degree. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4550&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=41) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja vs (2)Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily 2011 _source: (3)Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja vs (2)Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily 2011 (revid 84511)_ ## Results **Round Two** Monday, November 28, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** South - **Match \#:** 42 - **Match Date:** Monday, November 28, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 16767 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily - 68.49% 90 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily - 79.04% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 93 Zidane Tribal vs. Kuja: 517 Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily: 4844 Just another match in the loooooong line of bad round 2 matches. This was never going to be in any doubt, and the only thing worth talking about is how great the FF9 part of the picture is. Dissidia models are nice, plus the background really works. I guess you could maybe wonder why Mega Man couldn't double a team with Kuja on it, but it barely matters since Link was the opponent next round. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4551&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=42) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth vs (4)Alucard vs. Dracula 2011 _source: (1)Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth vs (4)Alucard vs. Dracula 2011 (revid 84512)_ ## Results **Round Two** Tuesday, November 29, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southwest - **Match \#:** 43 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 6455 - **Oracle Expectations:** Alucard vs. Dracula - 57.54% 91 for - 3 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Alucard vs. Dracula - 34.09% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 243 Phoenix Wright vs. Miles Edgeworth: 2383 Alucard vs. Dracula: 2631 Best overall picture of the contest by a lot. KP's Ness picture is the best individual pic, but this is the best one overall. Would have worked better with Dracula playing Jeopardy, but whatever. The match itself was actually decent for about 30 minutes, because the Phoenix Wright board vote is totally nuts. He fell off in due time though, followed by Aludrac going totally nuts overnight and continuing their assault right on through the day vote. It got so bad that Alucard actually managed to pass the freaking Waluigi percentage. The winner of Alucard/Shepard was always going to beat the lawyers, but man. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4552&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=43) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Chell vs. GLaDOS vs (2)Frog vs. Magus 2011 _source: (3)Chell vs. GLaDOS vs (2)Frog vs. Magus 2011 (revid 84513)_ ## Results **Round Two** Wednesday, November 30, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southwest - **Match \#:** 44 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 1482 - **Oracle Expectations:** Frog vs. Magus - 52.91% 73 for - 18 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Frog vs. Magus - 33.41% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 205 Chell vs. GLaDOS: 2572 Frog vs. Magus: 2438 HOLY CRAP A KIND OF GOOD MATCH THAT ACTUALLY STAYED KIND OF GOOD ALL THE WAY THROUGH AND FINISHED CLOSER THAN 55.28%. PRAISE JESUS. IT ONLY TOOK 44 F\*\*\*ING MATCHES TO HIT SOMETHING I'M ACTUALLY EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT. CAPS LOCK. CRUISE CONTROL. AWESOME. And it's even better because GLaDOS and Magus are two of my favorite characters, so whoever wins \*I\* win. When I'm happy, everyone's happy. Plus yoblazer and greatone10 gave us an absolutely perfect match picture, so yeah. Hype? Not too much. Most people assumed Chell would screw GLaDOS over and they were ultimately right. The match was never really close, either, but compared to the rest of this god-awful contest it was so nice to see something end within 55%, let alone 52. The reason GLaDOS was never able to come back from the initial Chrono Trigger surge, aside from Chell being worth nothing, is that CT was able to build a 600 lead overnight and Portal doesn't have quite the day vote necessary to take full advantage of how bad CT's day vote is. So while Portal was able to get some cuts and stalls here and there, it was never able to really push for the win. Doesn't matter though, we actually got a close match and that's all I even care about. GLaDOS scared the hell out of all the perfect battle brackets once that morning vote started, too. "'Fun' fact: Chell/GLaDOS vs. Frog/Magus was literally the only battle upset of the entire contest." -Lefty This is why we pay Lefty the big bucks here at the Board 8 Wiki. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4553&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=44) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth vs (4)Kratos vs. Zeus 2011 _source: (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth vs (4)Kratos vs. Zeus 2011 (revid 84514)_ ## Results **Round Two** Thursday, December 1, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** West - **Match \#:** 45 - **Match Date:** Thursday, December 1, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 28109 - **Oracle Expectations:** Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 70.25% 92 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 90.19% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 25 Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth: 5345 Kratos vs. Zeus: 289 I'm not even sure if this match was supposed to be bad for Cloud or not, but it really doesn't matter. By this point we were all completely turned off to the contest and were still arguing about whether or not Link should be retired. At the very least, this might be the first match since like 2002 where Cloud had a good board vote. Thank you, God of War, for proving that something has a worse board vote than Final Fantasy 7. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4554&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=45) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (6)Pac-Man vs. Blinky vs (2)Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake 2011 _source: (6)Pac-Man vs. Blinky vs (2)Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake 2011 (revid 84515)_ ## Results **Round Two** Friday, December 2, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** West - **Match \#:** 46 - **Match Date:** Friday, December 2, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 15717 - **Oracle Expectations:** Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake - 72.65% 93 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake - 66.38% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 110 Pac-Man vs. Blinky: 923 Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake: 4391 Were this a contest worth putting effort to, I'd document how Pac-Man is legendary for never putting asses in seats. He routinely shows up on lists for matches with the lowest total votes, and I think Luster Soldier did some actuary that proved this would have been the lowest scoring match of the entire contest were it a 12 hour match. So there you go. This match also showed that MGS has lost a step. We already knew it thanks to Game of the Decade, but Snake is pretty much slowly falling off now. 67% on Pac-Man in a badly scored match is a far cry from upsetting Sephiroth and scaring the hell out of Cloud, meaning it would be almost impossible for the snakes to upset the FF7 duo next round. Liquid alone was enough of an obstacle for that, then this match happened and removed all doubt. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4555&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=46) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy vs (4)Siegfried vs. Nightmare 2011 _source: (1)Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy vs (4)Siegfried vs. Nightmare 2011 (revid 84516)_ ## Results **Round Two** Saturday, December 3, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northwest - **Match \#:** 47 - **Match Date:** Saturday, December 3, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 15298 - **Oracle Expectations:** Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy - 68.07% 90 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy - 74.85% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 141 Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy: 4571 Siegfried vs. Nightmare: 622 65-35 type matches are the worst to talk about, though given Squall's seed and no one really caring about Soul Calibur it's hard to really make anything of this underperformance. Normally we could discuss this, but Squall's path was set in stone from the beginning. Win his division, get wrecked by Cloud. Needless to say, no one foresaw just how close Sora came to actually shocking us a round from now. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4556&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=47) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (3)Dante vs. Vergil vs (2)Sora vs. Riku 2011 _source: (3)Dante vs. Vergil vs (2)Sora vs. Riku 2011 (revid 84517)_ ## Results **Round Two** Sunday, December 4, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northwest - **Match \#:** 48 - **Match Date:** Sunday, December 4, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 823 - **Oracle Expectations:** Sora vs. Riku - 51.61% 64 for - 25 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Sora vs. Riku - 60.66% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 202 Dante vs. Vergil: 1750 Sora vs. Riku: 3046 ChellDOS/Frogus was nice, but this was the first good match of the contest. For 10 hours, at least. There was a lot of hype going in, partly because Kingdom Hearts has been trending down for some time and as primed to get upset, and partly because this contest needed something fun to happen. When the match finally started, things seemed reasonably close but Sora was still winning. Then overnight he slowly increased his lead to 450, and it seemed like one of those matches where the final numbers would seem close but the winner was never in doubt. Then in the dead hours, Dante went kinda nuts. He erased the 450 votes in only three hours, but we all know how Kingdom Hearts operates during the day. Sora was easily able to come back and win comfortably, and in the end Dante failing to perform well overnight is what cost him the match. In other words, this was the Rivalry Rumble and anything fun happening was out of the question. Kingdom Hearts is going down year by year though, and it's obvious to see. We still don't have Kingdom Hearts 3, the spinoffs almost all suck outside Birth by Sleep, and now Tetsuya Nomura is saying Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS \*is\* Kingdom Hearts 3. Can someone please fire that a\*\*\*\*\*\* already? Not worth doing a round 2 wrapup because this one match and Chell v Frog are the only things worth discussing. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4557&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=48) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (2)Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik 2011 _source: (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (2)Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik 2011 (revid 84518)_ ## Results **Round Three** Monday, December 5, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** North - **Match \#:** 49 - **Match Date:** Monday, December 5, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 22155 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mario vs. Bowser - 61.86% 85 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mario vs. Bowser - 89.48% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 45 Mario vs. Bowser: 5115 Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Dr. Robotnik: 201 Our first Mario vs Sonic match of any contest in any contest (even those Battle Royale things), and we get... an SFF beating not worth talking about. Lovely. Mario v Sonic is a weird beast, because Sonic either overperforms or gets crushed with no in between (Mario v Shadow in 2003, Mario World v Sonic 2 in 2004). And no, this doesn't mean Mario v Sonic as an entry this contest would have flopped. I'm convinced Mario/Sonic win this contest, given how bad Link did in the final. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4558&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=49) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Mega Man X vs. Zero vs (2)Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion 2011 _source: (1)Mega Man X vs. Zero vs (2)Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion 2011 (revid 84519)_ ## Results **Round Three** Tuesday, December 6, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northeast - **Match \#:** 50 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 2797 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mega Man X vs. Zero - 57.82% 86 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mega Man X vs. Zero - 34.75% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 157 Mega Man X vs. Zero: 3276 Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion: 1556 This match ending up so close hit everyone out of no where, even though the ninjas never threatened to actually win. It was one of those "close in percentage only matches", though it was a real eye-opener. It doesn't really mean X and Zero were weak, either. The ninjas were just totally nuts this contest, and it's a damn crime we didn't get to see Ryu/Ken vs Sub-Zero/Scorpion. Yeah Street Fighter probably wins, but it could have been a really close match. As for why most people didn't expect this to be close, we've kind of seen this match already. Yeah it's an old match, but still. Ninjas got a RIVALRY BOOST this contest, and for whatever reason the casuals were down on the 1 seed in this division. Look at that trash prediction percentage. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4559&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=50) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (3)Ryu vs. Ken 2011 _source: (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (3)Ryu vs. Ken 2011 (revid 84520)_ ## Results **Round Three** Wednesday, December 7, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** East - **Match \#:** 51 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 11815 - **Oracle Expectations:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 53.50% 67 for - 21 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 44.84% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 142 Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue: 3232 Ryu vs. Ken: 1586 Yeah so remember before this contest where lots of people thought Luigi could beat the trainers, and even if the trainers won that match the Street Fighter guys would get a rivalry boost and smoke them? LOL US PEOPLE The trainers, not the fighters, were the ones that went roughshod over this entire contest with a rivalry boost. Not only did they kick the crap out of the fighters in a pretty hyped match, but they did so in a way that showed Samus was completely f\*\*\*ed next round even \*if\* she beat the bosses. All the fighters really managed here was keeping the trainers under 60% for a short while, and they failed at even that. Right about here is where "TRAINERS SHOULD WIN AND SAVE THIS CONTEST" hype started, and they put the mother of all scares into Mario thanks to it. They ended up the stars of this contest anyway even with losing to Mario, and we'll get to that in due time. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4560&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=51) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Samus Aran vs. Ridley vs (7)Big Boss vs. The Boss 2011 _source: (1)Samus Aran vs. Ridley vs (7)Big Boss vs. The Boss 2011 (revid 84521)_ ## Results **Round Three** Thursday, December 8, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southeast - **Match \#:** 52 - **Match Date:** Thursday, December 8, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 3550 - **Oracle Expectations:** Samus Aran vs. Ridley - 54.96% 83 for - 4 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Samus Aran vs. Ridley - 54.17% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 105 Samus Aran vs. Ridley: 3749 Big Boss vs. The Boss: 1010 I loved all the people whining about this picture as if a recolored Samus made a damn of difference toward who would win this match. Also yeah, second Pyrrhic Victory for Samus in a row. The people who thought the bosses could beat her were disappointed here with the final result, but there was no way to compare this performance with what the trainers did to the fighters and expect anything good out of Samus a round from now. It should be noted here that the bosses cut about 200 votes from Samus's lead during the dead hours and that Samus needed the Nintendo day vote to put the match away, so the people who picked the bosses weren't completely nuts. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4561&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=52) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (2)Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily 2011 _source: (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (2)Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily 2011 (revid 69063)_ ## Results **Round Three** Friday, December 9, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** South - **Match \#:** 53 - **Match Date:** Friday, December 9, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 26120 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 71.25% 84 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 90.72% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 18 Link vs. Ganondorf: 4769 Mega Man vs. Dr. Wily: 138 This match seems familiar... Put Ganon on Link's team and Wily on Mega Man's, and obviously that percentage goes up. Pretty sure HM didn't pick Mega Man to beat Link this time around, too. Sorry if the Link writeups are all short, by the way, but there is NOTHING left to say about the guy anymore. At least not until the match that proved once and for all he needs to go. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4562&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=53) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (4)Alucard vs. Dracula vs (2)Frog vs. Magus 2011 _source: (4)Alucard vs. Dracula vs (2)Frog vs. Magus 2011 (revid 84522)_ ## Results **Round Three** Saturday, December 10, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Southwest - **Match \#:** 54 - **Match Date:** Saturday, December 10, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 2998 - **Oracle Expectations:** Alucard vs. Dracula - 52.44% 70 for - 16 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Alucard vs. Dracula - 17.25% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 268 Alucard vs. Dracula: 2237 Frog vs. Magus: 1658 This match answers the question "What happens when you pair Frog's clutch with Magus's suck?" Every single time Frog tried doing ANYTHING, Magus was right there to backhand him with the anti-clutch. Overall, it added up to a comfortable win for the vampires in which they were never truly threatened. Thus ended what was probably our most exciting division of the contest, even though none of the matches were legendary photo finish types. By the way, the 17.25% who picked the vampires to win this division are in the elite club of "biggest prediction upset of the entire contest". It wasn't even close, either. \#2 was Trainers \> Samus and Ridley at just over 30%. The final didn't even make the top 5, which is just pathetic. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4563&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=54) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth vs (2)Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake 2011 _source: (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth vs (2)Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake 2011 (revid 84523)_ ## Results **Round Three** Sunday, December 11, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** West - **Match \#:** 55 - **Match Date:** Sunday, December 11, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 14215 - **Oracle Expectations:** Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 59.12% 83 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 79.76% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 47 Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth: 4176 Solid Snake vs. Liquid Snake: 375 So hey, remember these two matches? What in the WORLD happened to Snake over the last 21 months? I know Liquid isn't much, but those two matches turning into Snake getting absolutely rolled is borderline inexplicable. Either Snake is aging too fast (thanks, MGS4), Liquid was THAT bad or this was SFF. Because you can look at what Link did to FF7 later this contest and realize that Cloud and Seph haven't exactly gone up in strength lately. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4564&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=55) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy vs (2)Sora vs. Riku 2011 _source: (1)Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy vs (2)Sora vs. Riku 2011 (revid 84524)_ ## Results **Round Three** Monday, December 12, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Northwest - **Match \#:** 56 - **Match Date:** Monday, December 12, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 708 - **Oracle Expectations:** Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy - 56.71% 71 for - 1 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy - 34.52% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 146 Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy: 2474 Sora vs. Riku: 1596 For my money, this was the best match of the contest that actually counted. It bucked a lot of our trends and for quite a long time we had no clue who would win. It also caused every single whining crybaby to crawl out of the wall, including the biggest whiner of them all (iGenesis), which is always a plus. The reason no one saw this coming is because Squall had beaten Sora 4 times in a row prior. No matter the bracket placement or extraneous factors, no matter how close or how far away the match actually was, Squall won. So... 5th time's a charm, I guess? After the first update, Sora went nuts and built a 100 vote lead pretty quickly. Then Squall started stalling and it was game on. Right about here is where all the whining began, because everyone assumed the match would stay too close overnight and Kingdom Hearts would just go nuts during the day. Didn't really happen that way, though. Squall went totally nuts overnight, building up an 800 vote lead before the morning vote really began, and once the morning vote started.... nothing really happened. And nothing continued happening all the way up to the ASV where he led by more than 1500 votes. That right there is why Sora lost, because had he kept things closer in the morning he would have come back during the ASV and ruined everyone's day. It's also the trend few saw coming, but Sora is known for going crazy during the morning too. The ASV still happened, of course, but all it meant was Sora would lose by 700 votes instead of 1500. Final Fantasy doesn't get much credit for having a good day vote since it isn't of Nintendo or Kingdom Hearts quality, but it can hold its own against the right competition. I think this match also shows that Seifer was a fraud, and that to an extent Kingdom Hearts has been the major reason for a lot of Square characters retaining their strength even as the games have aged. KINGDOM HEARTS FACTOR LIVES !! With this upset also falling flat, it pretty much meant the rest of the contest was beyond predictable. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4565&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=56) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (1)Mega Man X vs. Zero 2011 _source: (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (1)Mega Man X vs. Zero 2011 (revid 84525)_ ## Results **Round Four** Tuesday, December 13, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Contest Quarterfinal - **Match \#:** 57 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 17969 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mario vs. Bowser - 66.62% 82 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mario vs. Bowser - 81.01% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 23 Mario vs. Bowser: 4121 Mega Man X vs. Zero: 200 This match seems familiar... Oh, right. Almost the exact same percentage, too, even with adding in X and Bowser. Isn't it nice to see a doubling in the fourth round of a contest? It's not, of course. Man the last rounds of this contest were horrible. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4566&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=57) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (1)Samus Aran vs. Ridley 2011 _source: (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (1)Samus Aran vs. Ridley 2011 (revid 84526)_ ## Results **Round Four** Wednesday, December 14, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Contest Quarterfinal - **Match \#:** 58 - **Match Date:** Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 11652 - **Oracle Expectations:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 59.30% 77 for - 5 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 30.21% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 159 Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue: 2591 Samus Aran vs. Ridley: 1145 It's one thing to know in advance the trainers were going to annihilate Samus, but another thing entirely to see it unfold. Remember when Yokozuna ended Hulkamania and Hogan didn't return to the WWF for 10 years? There was a clear changing of the guard there, and everyone sensed it. Same thing here. Granted this match says nothing of Samus's 1 on 1 strength, but Pokemon is clearly going to be a force on this site for years after this contest. Notable here is how no one in the Noble Nine had ever lost a 24 hour 1 on 1 match to anyone else except other members of the Noble Nine, until this very match. We're not far from seeing one of them lose an actual 1 on 1 24 hour match, but at this point people are just using the gimmicked up contests as an excuse to defend them. Crono would have absolutely lost to Missingno if the match were 24 hours long. The only thing that remained from here was just how far the trainers could go. Beating Mario would be a monumental, but not impossible, task. Then in the final, anything could happen. The trainers would go on to lose to Mario, of course, but not before scaring the absolute daylights out of him. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4567&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=58) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (4)Alucard vs. Dracula 2011 _source: (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (4)Alucard vs. Dracula 2011 (revid 69069)_ ## Results **Round Four** Thursday, December 15, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Contest Quarterfinal - **Match \#:** 59 - **Match Date:** Thursday, December 15, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 29852 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 75.77% 74 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 82.11% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 16 Link vs. Ganondorf: 3845 Alucard vs. Dracula: 69 So if you take this match, and add in Ganon and Dracula, Link goes way up. Shocking. This reminds me a lot of Scorpion's run in Summer 2002. Scorpion made a deep run that year, and in the quarterfinals he ran into Link. He scored a grand total of 24.02% of the votes. Alucard and Dracula made almost the exact same run, ran into Link, and almost scored the exact same percentage. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4568&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=59) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth vs (1)Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy 2011 _source: (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth vs (1)Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy 2011 (revid 84527)_ ## Results **Round Four** Friday, December 16, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Contest Quarterfinal - **Match \#:** 60 - **Match Date:** Friday, December 16, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 26403 - **Oracle Expectations:** Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 73.69% 77 for - 0 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 74.97% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 32 Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth: 3424 Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy: 53 7 years made a .06% difference, although this really did help lay out how screwed Cloud and Seph were next round. Putting Cloud and Seph on one side while pairing Squall with a total fraud should have increased Cloud's percentage by a lot, but it didn't. People only really saw this poll as FF7 vs FF8, nothing extra, and Cloud/Seph needed a lot of "extra" to have any prayer of beating Link next round. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4569&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=60) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue 2011 _source: (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue 2011 (revid 84528)_ ## Results **Round Five** Saturday, December 17, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Contest Semifinal - **Match \#:** 61 - **Match Date:** Saturday, December 17, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 5848 - **Oracle Expectations:** Mario vs. Bowser - 54.93% 69 for - 6 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Mario vs. Bowser - 68.11% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 85 Mario vs. Bowser: 2580 Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue: 475 For an hour, this was the match of the contest. These two were more or less tied, and you could make an argument the trainers had some real momentum during those first 60 minutes. Unfortunately, the trainers have joke trends and IT'S FREAKING MARIO. From hour 1 through hour 24, Mario's lead increased by 5800 votes and he more than proved he was worthy of the final. An upset would have been cool of course, but you can't really say Mario and Bowser didn't deserve the make the final of a rivalry contest. Those two are iconic, they've been around forever and they got the most nominations for a reason. They may have even had the most brackets given how much higher Mario's prediction percentage to make the final was compared to Link's, but we'll never really know. The trainers would get one last chance to prove that they were the stars of this contest, though. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4570&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=61) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth 2011 _source: (1)Link vs. Ganondorf vs (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth 2011 (revid 69072)_ ## Results **Round Five** Sunday, December 18, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Contest Semifinal - **Match \#:** 62 - **Match Date:** Sunday, December 18, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 9745 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 53.97% 67 for - 7 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 53.72% - **Battle Contest Predictions:** Banked: 40 Link vs. Ganondorf: 1488 Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth: 417 Normally I'd go through the Link vs Cloud history but it's not really needed here. This match was honestly really hilarious, in a morbid kind of way. For years, we've been saying Link needs to be retired. Then he comes and proves why and it was glorious. I love FF7 as much as anyone, but seeing this match was like reading a sentence that had never been typed or written before, like "I'm not getting into an argument with my unborn child on Facebook". Don't let that 58% fool you, by the way. This match was a lot worse, especially early. At the freeze, Link was at 60.75%. which was hilarious enough, but then 5 minutes later he went up. Then he went up again. And again. And again. Then he peaked at 62.63% before stabilizing a bit and ultimately (slowly) getting brought back down to the percentage you see above. The fact Cloud had to "save face" by keeping Link under 60% shows just how untouchable Link is, as well as just how far Cloud has fallen. Link will never again lose a normal contest match (this includes fictional characters against Batman, which we'll never see anyway because Allen is allergic to listening to other people's best ideas), and after the contest we had a neat poll called "Do you think Link should be removed from future character battles?" The "yes" option overwhelmingly won that poll, so it looks like we're finally all getting what we want. It's only 4 years overdue and the site is a relic now, so we'll never see Link retired fully in a contest with max vote totals, but hey! ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4571&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=62) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth 2011 _source: (1)Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue vs (1)Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth 2011 (revid 84529)_ ## Results **Bonus** Monday, December 19, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Bonus - **Match \#:** 63 - **Match Date:** Monday, December 19, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 10 - **Oracle Expectations:** Pokemon Trainer Red vs. Pokemon Trainer Blue - 47.33% 21 for - 51 against The ultimate referendum on the Rivalry Rumble -- the best match of this (and maybe any other) contest didn't even count. The lack of prediction percentage is not a typo. In a way, you could argue that this is the most accurate contest result we've ever had since nothing was on the line. No bracket votes to worry about, in other words. This was just everyone voting for their favorite to win and having fun along the way. Though when this started, it looked like the trainers were going to absolutely godmode this match. The trainers were getting board votes out the ass early, and at the freeze they were near 60%. It reminded me a lot of L-Block, actually, because even though we all knew FF7 would make a push later against the joke trends you had to wonder if they would fall behind by way too much first. Remember, this is probably the site's most beloved entity short of Link against the most hated. This was going to get a lot uglier before it got better. And get uglier it did. It only took 3 hours for the trainers to build a lead of 1000 votes, though 3 a.m. EST is about when Square starts going nuts. So in true "classic match" fashion, the lead was not destined to last. FF7 went all Climhazzard on that s\*\*\* and cut it right in half before the morning vote, and FF7 actually has a good day vote so it didn't thoroughly collapse once the day vote started. It actually kept going up, to where we all thought the trainers were kind of screwed and couldn't hold on. FF7 came back, and cameback, even with all the trainer stalling, and then.... bam. The legendary tied update. Imagine this actually happening in an actual bracket. The tie happened at 11:30 in the morning, but obviously FF7 was going to mosey on by, right? Nope. The next four f\*\*\*ing hours was just a gigantic stall/tie, and neither team was able to move even an inch, much like the old Chrono Trigger vs LTTP duel in 2004. So right about here we all assumed the ASV would take over and Pokemon would win. But even that trend didn't shape up as we thought. The ASV did happened, but the trainers only got up to a 250 vote lead with it before getting stalled again. For the next three hours, defying every trend we know, this match hovered between a 200 and 250 vote lead for the trainers. There were even rallies going on. We were actually having fun! It was like... you know, an actual GameFAQs Contest or something! Then the evening vote kicked in, which is historically Square time. Soooo Cloud and Seph dug in and started the slow inchworm act to get rid of the 250 votes, and with 5 hours left in the poll they managed to get that bad boy under 100. Then they kicked up the pace and erased that whole lead in like 10 seconds (it was actually like 45 minutes, but bear with me), and looked like they would stomp to the win here. But no! "AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!", as Dave Johnson would say. These two just stalled. And stalled. And stalled. It was exactly what the CT/LTTP match was supposed to be, but the goddamn idiotic west coast trash start/end time ruined it. Point is, these two stalled and tied and inchworm'd their freaking balls off for update after update, hour after hour. It was the only time all contest where the board was enraptured in a contest match instead of arguing over pedophilia and anime (because that's totally the way to impress girls you guys, keep it up). This all culminated in perhaps the most legendary final hour we'll ever see. At 11:17, the match was dead effin tied. Then Pokemon started rallying its ass off, but here the thing: It wasn't really working that well. The trainers led by 5, then FF7 led by 7, then the trainers led by 16. It all came right down to the end, where Pokemon finally got an influx of votes and managed to lead by 30 with one update to go. FF7 had the right strategy in place. Don't have Pokemon needing to go nuts in that last update, or you'll lose. FF7 was actually the one to win the last update big, but it was juuuuuust barely not enough. Final Score: Trainers win by 10 votes. Vlado and iGenesis of course made absolute fools of themselves, like they always do when Pokemon is involved, which made this amazing match all the better. Unfortunately, there's no real way to analyze this except that people wanted the trainers to win more and that early vote just annihilated FF7. In a contest match between RBY and FF7? I'd pick RBY, but it would be an absolute barn-burner just like this one. There's also the matter of where this match stands on the all-time list, but the "doesn't count" thing hurts it a bit. My top 10: 1. Majora's Mask \> Brawl, Fall 2010 2. Starcraft \> Halo, Spring 2004 3. Mario \> Crono, Summer 2003 4. Chrono Trigger \> LTTP, Spring 2004 5. Mario \> Cloud, Summer 2002 6. Trainers \> Cloud/Seph, Fall 2011 7. L-Block in the final, Summer 2007 8. Cloud \> Link, Summer 2003 9. Samus \> Sonic, Summer 2002 10. Majora's Mask \> FFX, Fall 2010 ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4573&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=63) • **Previous Match**       • **Next Match** --- ## (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (1)Link vs. Ganondorf 2011 _source: (1)Mario vs. Bowser vs (1)Link vs. Ganondorf 2011 (revid 69074)_ ## Results **Championship** Tuesday, December 20, 2011 ## Ulti's Analysis - **Division:** Contest Final - **Match \#:** 64 - **Match Date:** Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - **Vote difference:** 8584 - **Oracle Expectations:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 61.92% 70 for - 2 against - **GameFAQs Prediction:** Link vs. Ganondorf - 37.49% We follow up the amazing third place match with... this. It was okay for a little while when a combination of bracket voting and Link anti-voting led to Mario winning early, but it didn't last. The silver lining though was Mario finally breaking 40% on Link, which was nice to see. So even though Link won the war, Mario finally won a battle against him. The reason this was important is because Allen put an Oracle Challenge into place for the final, since something like 50 battle brackets were perfect and the tie needed to be broken. There were all these parameters that I don't really feel like going over, but the basic idea is that you could pick a percentage range. The smaller the range you pick, the higher the score payout and you could go Final Jeopardy style and bet all or none of your points. This led to some people being absolutely terrible and losing all their points (with some legendary whining to boot), and other people pulling off amazing actuaries and picking Link with 57-58% of the vote. It was nice to see, and helped ease us through a boring final and ultimately conclude the worst contest we've ever had. ## Match Trends ## External Links - [Match Updates](http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=4572&num=2) - [Oracle Match Results](http://www.oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SC2k11&type=match&match=64) • **Previous Match**       • **No Next Match**