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Samus erased what had looked like a decisive late Sonic lead and won after an extraordinary closing surge. The match triggered a massive backlash, outside vote recruitment on both sides, cheating suspicions, and lasting changes to how contest results were followed.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Samus and Sonic supporters spammed for votes across the internet, chat rooms, buddy lists, and gaming chats. It also says many users suspected cheating behind Samus's extraordinary late comeback despite CJayC stating that no cheating was detected.

Cloud controlled much of the match before Mario mounted a comeback aided by unusually favorable circumstances and outside attention. The close finish, enormous board reaction, rallying, and unresolved cheating allegations made the match the writeup's choice for the greatest contest match ever.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup credits Mario's comeback partly to a Planet GameCube link and widespread vote solicitation, explicitly treating those efforts as rallying. It also describes alleged proxy voting and supposed vote-stuffing admissions, while emphasizing that the cheating claims were never proven.

Crono nearly completed another remarkable comeback against Mario before CJayC intervened over fraudulent voting. The controversy ended Crono's Cinderella run but began the long-running Mario-Crono rivalry remembered by Board 8.

Cheat: The writeup says Crono's comeback included blatant vote-stuffing and that CJayC removed fraudulent votes. It also discusses later statements suggesting the amount of fraudulent voting may have been larger than the number removed during the match.

Squall stunned the overwhelmingly favored Luigi and immediately turned a normal match into one of Board 8's largest explosions. The upset generated extraordinary cheating accusations and permanently changed both characters' contest reputations.

Cheat: The writeup says Squall's upset of Luigi triggered cheating accusations on a scale rivaling any match in contest history, alongside mass account suicides, trolling, and other board chaos.

Mario and Crono produced an enormous rematch in which Crono appeared to have the win secured before Mario erased a late lead and survived a controversially extended poll. Rallying, cheating allegations, and the disputed timing made it one of Board 8's most controversial matches.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup describes supporters on both sides frantically rallying for votes during the late collapse of Crono's lead. It also records extensive cheating accusations around Mario's comeback, while noting that CJayC said his check found no cheating in the decisive extra period.

Cloud shocked the contest by beating the seemingly invincible Link after taking control almost immediately and resisting the expected Zelda day-vote comeback. Heavy rallying, cheating allegations, and a disputed picture imbalance became part of the explanation for one of the contest's defining upsets.

Rally · Cheat · Pic: The writeup says both sides engaged in heavy rallying and records widespread cheating accusations, while treating those accusations as roughly symmetric blame rather than proven fraud. It also says Link's Wind Waker image versus Cloud's Kingdom Hearts image may have cost Link a small but meaningful amount of support.

Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy Tactics traded tiny leads throughout an exceptionally tight match before Metal Gear Solid escaped at the end. The writeup considers the finish controversial because a large site advertisement and a suspicious late vote jump left the author unwilling to treat the result as fully credible.

Cheat: The writeup calls Metal Gear Solid's late push suspicious, questions the credibility of the final result, and says the unexplained last-minute vote jump should have been investigated, while acknowledging there was no proof of cheating.

Melee ended Starcraft's Cinderella run in a chaotic divisional final dominated by outside promotion, flame wars, and a detected cheating surge. The writeup remembers the match as both a strong Melee win and a damaging controversy around Starcraft's run.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Starcraft was promoted through Battle.net and multiple Starcraft sites, while a separate sudden proxy-vote surge was identified as cheating. The controversy cast doubt over the legitimacy of parts of Starcraft's run even though Melee still won.

Frog survived Master Chief in an all-time classic filled with huge momentum swings and a frantic finish. The writeup celebrates the drama while also arguing that outside Halo promotion and rampant multi-voting make the true result impossible to separate cleanly from the controversy.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Halo sites linked to the poll during Master Chief's comeback, creating an outside rally. It also explicitly describes blatant multi-voting on both sides, especially in the final hour.

Ganondorf beat Yuna as expected while the writeup debated whether the result helped or hurt his standing against Auron. It also explicitly points to suspicious voting on Yuna's side.

Cheat: The writeup says TRE identified numerous examples of blatant cheating coming from Yuna's side of the poll.

Kefka and Vercetti produced a long, volatile comeback battle that became one of the contest's biggest Board 8 explosions. The drama was ultimately overshadowed by confirmed and alleged vote-stuffing on both sides, turning a classic close match into a major cheating controversy.

Cheat: The writeup documents extensive vote-stuffing and exploit use around both entrants, including votes removed by CJayC and admitted multi-voting by several users. It treats cheating as central to the match's final hours and aftermath.

Warcraft upset GTA in a close match dominated by outside-site campaigning, especially from the World of Warcraft community. The aftermath also confirmed vote stuffing, mostly for GTA, but the writeup stresses that Warcraft still won fairly without those fraudulent votes deciding the result.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup says both sides rallied heavily, with World of Warcraft forum traffic giving Warcraft the decisive outside push. It also quotes CJayC confirming egregious vote stuffing, overwhelmingly for GTA, while stating that the fraudulent votes were insufficient to change Warcraft's legitimate win.

Kairi and Claire traded control through sharply different voting periods before Kingdom Hearts' daytime strength turned the late match decisively toward Kairi. The writeup also records a vote-stuffing allegation involving a Claire supporter.

Cheat: The writeup says Smurf bragged about vote-stuffing for Claire and was banned during the match, while noting that whether he actually altered any votes remained unknown.

Peach and Jill traded control through radically different voting periods before a frantic final push left Jill just short. The writeup calls it a classic and records both heavy rallying and attempted vote-stuffing around the finish.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup quotes CJayC describing heavy rallying on both sides and attempted vote-stuffing for both Jill and Peach. It says the blocked fraudulent votes did not alter the official result, while acknowledging lingering uncertainty over whether every improper vote was caught.

Tifa pushed Samus to the brink and briefly took control before Samus's daytime recovery secured the win. The writeup frames it as Samus's worst performance, with picture theories and rejected fraudulent votes becoming central parts of the controversy.

Cheat · Pic: The writeup treats Samus's Zero Suit picture as a plausible contributor to her severe underperformance, while rejecting it as a complete explanation. It also cites CJayC's report of large numbers of rejected cheating votes favoring Tifa.

Snake survived Sephiroth after a dramatic late comeback attempt and another last-minute Metal Gear response. The result became the capstone of Snake's extraordinary run, while Sephiroth was remembered as the Battle Royale's major disappointment.

SFF · Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Cloud heavily SFFed Sephiroth, helping leave him vulnerable to Snake. It also describes intense late rallying and records cheating allegations around the finish, while noting that CJayC said no cheating was found.

Alucard erased Liquid Snake's large daytime lead and briefly moved ahead at the very end, only for Liquid to snatch first on the final update. Because both characters advanced anyway, the writeup says the historic photo finish carried less consequence than a one-on-one result would have.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup describes a last-minute Metal Gear rally after Alucard completed his comeback and records complaints that cheating or vote-stuffing may have influenced the razor-thin finish.

Link and Vincent ultimately advanced comfortably, but Bidoof briefly turned the match into chaos by challenging Vincent early and even beating Link in the opening vote. The writeup remembers the surge as one of the contest's most surreal joke-character moments.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup attributes Bidoof's extraordinary early surge to suspected offsite rallying, especially from 4chan, and also records suspicions of vote stuffing.

Super Mario World took first, while Zelda erased a huge deficit and nearly stole second from Mario 3 in the final minutes. A suspicious late swing for Mario 3 turned an already dramatic finish into a lasting Board 8 controversy.

SFF · LFF · Cheat: The writeup describes heavy Mario-on-Mario SFF and a three-Mario split that greatly helped Zelda. It also alleges that a suspicious late swing in Mario 3's favor may have involved cheating, though the official result ultimately stood.

The writeup calls this the contest's defining match: Missingno built a bandwagon-backed lead, Crono mounted multiple comebacks, and the glitch character repeatedly fought them off. The upset ended the Noble Nine's unbeaten 1v1 streak against outsiders and became the centerpiece of the contest.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup repeatedly says Missingno was sustained by organized bandwagon rallying. It also records attempted cheating from both fanbases, while explicitly concluding that those attempts did not invalidate Missingno's win.

Tifa dominated Chun-Li and Cirno, but the match is remembered mainly for fraudulent Cirno votes being removed. The controversy did not threaten Tifa's overwhelming win.

Cheat: The writeup says fraudulent votes were removed from Cirno during the match and attributes the stuffing to a Touhou supporter, while extra notes acknowledge that the identity of the stuffer remained debatable.

Vivi won comfortably over Adam Jensen and Marisa, but the match was repeatedly disrupted by fraudulent votes for Marisa being removed. The writeup treats the cheating as the main story before Vivi's later breakout.

Cheat: The writeup says fraudulent Marisa votes were removed both during and after the poll, with the site administrator explicitly announcing the vote stuffing while the match was live.

Ganondorf won easily, while Guybrush finally earned a meaningful contest success by taking second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Max Payne. The removed fraudulent votes tainted the match without changing that placement.

Cheat: The writeup says fraudulent votes for Guybrush were removed during the match, while also stating that Guybrush still would have beaten Max Payne without them.

Tidus erased a large early deficit, took the lead, and nearly completed one of the contest's biggest upsets before Missingno recovered in the final stretch. The cheating revelation immediately spoiled what had looked like a heroic Tidus near-win.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup reports a small Reddit rush for Missingno in the final hour. It also quotes SBAllen saying anti-bot measures caught vote stuffing at roughly a two-to-one ratio favoring Tidus.

Draven built a huge rally-driven lead, Link mounted two enormous comeback pushes, and a lengthy site slowdown became the center of a bitter controversy before Draven survived. The writeup treats the match as one of the most consequential and divisive events in GameFAQs contest history.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup describes enormous organized rallies for both Draven and Link throughout the match. It also alleges obvious late vote stuffing from Link's side, while quoting SBAllen's analysis that found no evidence of massive systematic stuffing overall.

Melee and Undertale mobilized massive outside communities and produced one of the highest-profile matches in site history. Undertale finally won the rally war after repeated swings, while a caught botting attempt added another layer of controversy.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup describes an enormous two-sided rally war between Undertale and Melee. It also quotes the administrator saying an attempted automated vote-stuffing operation for Melee was caught and its fraudulent votes ignored.

Mario survived Samus by the narrowest margin after hours of lead changes and an extraordinary final stretch. The writeup treats it as the best match of the contest and a reopening of their supposedly settled rivalry.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup describes active late match vote pushes, including Samus rallies, porn-site rallies, workplace solicitation and the author's own last-minute requests for Mario votes. It also reports contemporaneous accusations that Mario supporters were vote stuffing, though no fraud is established.