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Samus dominated while Scorpion comfortably secured the other advancing spot. Midna's earlier weakness and the Nintendo vote drain from Samus left her with little realistic path forward.

LFF: The writeup says Samus drained Nintendo support from Midna, worsening Midna's position against the outside contenders.

Leon won comfortably while Pikachu capitalized on the divided Square field to advance again. The writeup presents Tidus and Vivi as holding each other back and turning Pikachu's favorable draw into another survival.

LFF: The writeup says Vivi and Tidus split Square support badly enough that neither could catch Pikachu, allowing the outside Pokémon entrant to take the second advancing spot.

Kratos took first, but the important result was L-Block advancing again while Kirby was weakened by Donkey Kong. The writeup marks this as the point when L-Block stopped looking like a harmless joke and became a serious contest threat.

LFF: The writeup explicitly says Donkey Kong drained Nintendo support from Kirby, costing Kirby the advancing spot and allowing L-Block to move on.

Squall took control immediately, while Sora decisively reversed his old loss to Aeris. Aeris nearly fell behind Lara as well, making the writeup treat the result as a sharp confirmation of her decline.

LFF: The writeup argues that Squall's presence hurt fellow Square entrant Aeris far more than Sora, helping Sora reverse their old matchup and advance comfortably.

Duke and Altair emerged from a chaotic matchup that punished Marth and further damaged the pre-contest Brawl narrative. Duke's unlikely run continued while Lucario confirmed his disappointing debut.

LFF: The writeup says Lucario's presence badly hurt fellow Nintendo entrant Marth, helping outside contenders Duke and Altair take the advancing positions.

Liquid took advantage of a badly divided field to win, while Luigi survived for the other advancing spot and Bowser fell out. The writeup uses the result as another example of four-way fanbase splitting producing strange outcomes.

LFF: The writeup says the Nintendo-oriented support was split among Luigi, Bowser and Phoenix, allowing Liquid Snake to benefit as the outside option.

Pikachu and Alucard advanced after an unexpectedly fierce battle for first that swung repeatedly across the day. The writeup treats the duel as another good match diminished by the top-two-advance format.

LFF: The writeup says Captain Falcon's overlapping Nintendo support held Pikachu down, helping turn Pikachu's fight with Alucard into a much closer race than their standalone strength suggested.

Squall and Sora advanced together yet again, while Yoshi collapsed far more badly than expected. The result reinforced the strange independence of the Squall-Sora pairing and exposed Yoshi's vulnerability in the field.

LFF: The writeup says Fox's presence hurt fellow Nintendo entrant Yoshi, while Sora remained largely independent of Squall and benefited from the contrast.

Kirby advanced, but the real battle was Master Chief's comeback against Big Boss. Chief's late surge turned a long, competitive fight into another memorable rally-driven reversal.

Rally · LFF: The writeup says Master Chief's fans rallied hard enough to erase Big Boss's lead and secure advancement. It also says Raiden's near-total Metal Gear overlap drained support from Big Boss.

Super Mario World transformed its shaky first-round image into a dominant second-round performance. Final Fantasy IV clearly beat the original Final Fantasy, while Mega Man 3 continued the series' disappointing contest.

LFF: The writeup describes substantial overlap between the two Final Fantasy entries in the field, with the split weakening the original Final Fantasy while Final Fantasy IV still secured second.

Metal Gear Solid won, but Pokémon RBY remained impressive despite sharing the poll with Gold and Silver and Majora's Mask. The result made MGS look vulnerable for the next round while rehabilitating Majora's Mask somewhat.

LFF: The writeup says Pokémon Gold and Silver leeched heavily from Pokémon RBY and cost the older generation first place against Metal Gear Solid.

StarCraft briefly revived memories of 2004 by taking an early second-place lead, but Final Fantasy VIII erased it quickly once the overnight vote arrived. Ocarina of Time dominated throughout.

LFF: The writeup says Final Fantasy IX leeched support from Final Fantasy VIII early, briefly allowing StarCraft to threaten the second advancing position.

Twilight Princess won, but Resident Evil 4 and Kingdom Hearts II again produced a close fight for the other advancing spot. RE4 survived a late collapse, while Twilight Princess itself looked less dominant than a finalist was expected to look.

LFF: The writeup says Twilight Princess absorbed enough of Kingdom Hearts II's usual day-vote support to help Resident Evil 4 survive another close rematch.

Big Boss and Luigi stayed tied for hours before Metal Gear's stronger late trend finally separated them. Ness's presence is treated as the key fanbase drain that prevented Luigi from taking fuller advantage of Big Boss's weak daytime vote.

LFF: The writeup says Ness leeched Luigi's Nintendo support and made the difference in a match where Luigi and Big Boss were otherwise close in strength.

Kefka completed another bracket-wrecking upset by beating both Altair and Lara, while the two Western icons fought to the final minutes for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. Altair barely survived Lara's late comeback.

LFF: The writeup says Altair and Lara likely drained each other through overlapping Western-franchise appeal, helping Kefka dominate while their second-place fight stayed unusually close.

Cloud won comfortably while Frog overcame an early Lugia lead and took second in the Expert Challenge ordering despite sharing some Square support with Cloud. Lugia's collapse weakened the broader PokéFEAR narrative.

LFF: The writeup says Cloud was stealing support from Frog, making Frog's recovery past Lugia more impressive.

Tifa won comfortably while Dragonborn again looked far weaker than Skyrim's game-level popularity had suggested. Yuna's respectable third-place showing despite the Square overlap made Dragonborn's collapse look even worse.

LFF: The writeup treats Tifa and Yuna's shared Final Fantasy support as a real vote split, noting that Yuna stayed surprisingly close to Dragonborn even while Tifa was in the poll.

Vivi produced one of the contest's defining upsets by holding off repeated Mario comeback attempts and finally eliminating him. Nintendo vote splitting and a modest outside push helped create the opening, but the writeup still celebrates Vivi's composure against Mario's legendary clutch.

LFF · Rally: The writeup says Ganondorf leeched Nintendo support from Mario and that 4chan also rallied Vivi during the close fight.

Zelda repeatedly looked on the verge of beating Charizard, but Pokémon's morning strength and late outside support dragged Charizard through a final-update escape. The writeup treats the win as a major warning that Charizard had been overrated.

LFF · Rally: The writeup says Donkey Kong's presence created heavy Nintendo vote splitting that badly hurt Charizard. It also says late rallies were necessary for Charizard to erase Zelda's lead and survive.