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Kirby won, but Terra's performance was the surprise as she benefited from Peach draining Nintendo support from Kirby. The writeup treats Terra's Dissidia-era strength as increasingly legitimate.

LFF · Pic: The writeup says Peach LFFed Kirby, helping Terra look unusually strong against him. It also explicitly calls Kirby's simple spherical design a major picture advantage.

Mr. Game & Watch upset Lee Everett despite sharing part of his natural novelty audience with Meat Boy. The writeup treats the result as another example of recent Western-game popularity failing to translate into character-contest votes.

LFF: The writeup says Meat Boy's similar oddball appeal stole support from Game & Watch, and argues that Game & Watch would have beaten Lee much more decisively without him.

Nathan Drake survived a long, slow fight with Pac-Man, while Steve's presence is blamed for helping keep Pac-Man from completing the upset. The result stayed close enough to preserve Pac-Man's reputation as a dangerous wildcard.

LFF: The writeup says Steve stole votes from Pac-Man through similar broad casual appeal and argues that Pac-Man likely wins the matchup without Steve in the poll.

Ezio beat Tails and Bomberman after a short early challenge, with the writeup blaming some of Tails's weakness on the similar third entrant. The result also undercut attempts to revive Tails through old extrapolated statistics.

LFF: The writeup says Tails and Bomberman had overlapping appeal and that their shared support helped Ezio pull away after Tails briefly led.

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.

Squirtle beat Cloud outright in one of the contest's coolest Noble Nine upsets, surviving Cloud's overnight recovery and pulling away again late. The writeup emphasizes that Cloud's broader Final Fantasy VII decline made the impossible-looking result suddenly believable.

LFF: The writeup says Leon's overlapping PlayStation-oriented support hurt Cloud and played an important role in opening the door for Squirtle's upset.

Pikachu built a large lead, survived Sora's late comeback, and won despite sharing the poll with Pokémon Trainer Blue. The result sent another Pokémon character into the contest's final stretch and underscored how little strength Sora had left.

LFF: The writeup explicitly says Pikachu resisted Blue's LFF and that the second Pokémon entrant was the main reason Sora could keep the match competitive.

Mega Man survived both Zero's overlap and Charizard's late lead, then completed a furious final push to take the match. The writeup remembers the finish as the long-awaited close-match breakthrough for a character with years of contest heartbreak.

LFF · Rally: The writeup says Zero clearly drained Mega Man through their heavy overlap. It also describes a massive late Mega Man fan rally that overturned Charizard's lead in the final minutes.

Snake advanced to the final while the two Pokémon entrants split their shared fanbase and fought over second in the Expert Challenge ordering. Pikachu ultimately beat Squirtle after the morning vote.

LFF: The writeup says Squirtle and Pikachu cannibalized each other's Pokémon support, destroying their chances of challenging Snake for first.