GameFAQsContests.com

Bomberman won easily, with the writeup placing unusual emphasis on Kane's disastrous match picture. It treats the result as an example of a recognizable game not automatically producing a strong contest character.

Pic: The writeup says Kane's disastrous television-set match picture hurt him badly and made Bomberman's victory look obvious before voting developed.

Kefka survived Pac-Man after an infamous match picture badly damaged confidence in the heavily hyped newcomer. Pac-Man mounted a long comeback attempt before Kefka recovered late, while the image became a lasting Board 8 running joke.

Pic: The writeup says Kefka's infamous 'lettuce' match picture hurt him badly, turning what had been treated as a comfortable win into a close, contested match against Pac-Man.

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.

Metroid turned a mildly hyped matchup into a comfortable win and strengthened early talk that the series might contend with Zelda. The writeup attributes Pac-Man's weakness mainly to the site's younger audience, with his match picture also working against him.

Pic: The writeup says Pac-Man's match picture was not doing him any favors, explicitly presenting the image as another disadvantage for him against Metroid.

Kefka surprised the board by leading early and forcing Knuckles to recover despite expectations of an easy Knuckles win. The writeup ultimately treats Knuckles' showing as disappointing and debates whether Kefka's picture and broader Square support helped explain the resistance.

Pic: The writeup says Kefka's recurring lettuce picture may have helped him attract unusually strong early support, before Knuckles took control later in the match.

Cloud still routed Duke Nukem, but Duke's memorable milk-carton picture gave the underdog an unusual opening burst and complicated early Link-Cloud comparisons. The writeup frames the match as the start of a contest-long contest between the two favorites' performances.

Pic: The writeup says Duke Nukem's milk-carton match picture drew humorous support, helping him take an early lead and plausibly contributing to Cloud's slight underperformance.

Squall beat Kirby in another predictable Midgar match, though Kirby performed better than expected. The writeup's main curiosity is that Squall only began separating after the match picture appeared.

Pic: The writeup says Kirby and Squall were dead even before the match picture appeared, after which Squall began pulling away, and explicitly suggests that the picture may have mattered.

Sonic beat Dante in another predictable Chaos match and briefly renewed hope that he could challenge Samus. The writeup immediately tempers that optimism by pointing to Dante's poor picture as a possible reason for Sonic's apparent overperformance.

Pic: The writeup says Dante's match picture was exceptionally poor and suggests it may explain why Sonic performed better than the old projections expected.

Vergil comfortably beat Ghaleon after a late wave of debate had given the cult RPG villain some support. The writeup argues that Ghaleon's terrible picture only made an already difficult matchup worse.

Pic: The writeup says Ghaleon's exceptionally poor match picture effectively erased whatever upset chance he had, while Vergil received the much more flattering image.

Ansem eventually escaped CATS, but CATS led for hours and came far closer to a real win than Board 8 believed possible. The writeup remembers the match almost entirely as CATS proving that joke support could become meaningful against the right opponent.

Pic: The writeup says CATS finally received the recognizable picture fans associated with him rather than his old image, and argues that this likely made a major difference in his unusually strong showing.

Robotnik held off Sin in a close matchup dominated by Board 8 arguments around one loud Sin supporter. The writeup says Sin mounted a respectable recovery despite a disastrous picture, while an attempted outside rally failed to overturn the result.

Rally · Pic: The writeup says Sin was badly hurt by one of the contest's worst match pictures, which reduced him to an unrecognizable dorsal fin. It also says a vocal Sin supporter tried to rally votes from outside websites during the match.

Kefka demolished Wesker and erased the upset hype that had surrounded the matchup before the contest. The writeup calls it one of Kefka's best performances and says his unusually favorable picture may have contributed.

Pic: The writeup says Kefka received an exceptionally strong picture and suggests it was partly responsible for his unusually dominant performance against Wesker.

Ganondorf crushed Ansem as expected, though the writeup thought the favorite should have looked even stronger after Ansem's struggle with CATS. Much of the discussion blames Ganondorf's pig-form picture for the comparatively disappointing showing.

Pic: The writeup says Ganondorf's pig-like Ganon picture was widely blamed for an underperformance against Ansem, hurting the favorite despite the easy win.

The writeup spends most of its time reviewing years of disappointing Sonic-series contest performances, using Robotnik's lopsided loss to Ganondorf as the latest example.

Pic: The writeup says Ganondorf dominated despite an ugly Wind Waker picture and suggests Robotnik would have looked even worse against a stronger SSBM-style Ganondorf image.

Auron cruised past Big Boss in what the writeup treats mostly as a preview of Auron's coming match with Ganondorf. Big Boss's poor picture is singled out as a reason not to read too much into the size of the win.

Pic: The writeup argues that Big Boss's unrecognizable cartoon-style picture hurt him and that a recognizable Naked Snake image would have performed better against Auron.

Kirby demolished Cecil far beyond expectations and immediately looked much stronger than his seeding reputation suggested. The writeup credits both Kirby's rise and Cecil's terrible picture while treating the result as an early sign of a broad Nintendo boost.

Pic: The writeup calls Cecil's Amano image one of the worst match pictures in the contest and accepts that the picture likely contributed to how badly he underperformed against Kirby.

Master Chief won easily enough, but CATS performed much better than expected and made the top seed look unimpressive. The writeup strongly credits CATS's recognizable face picture for helping him outperform his old numbers.

Pic: The writeup explicitly argues that CATS's recognizable face picture helps him perform much better than the eggplant-style image used in other contests.

Pac-Man upset heavily favored Ocelot in a close first-round finale that eliminated the remaining perfect brackets. The writeup celebrates Pac-Man's overdue major win while blaming Ocelot's poor picture for at least part of the upset.

Pic: The writeup argues that Ocelot's faded old-man picture hurt him in the close loss and says a recognizable in-game Metal Gear image likely would have improved his performance enough to win.

Snake built a large lead before Bowser mounted a long afternoon comeback that fell just short. The writeup considers the close win a major validation for Snake and argues that his poor match picture made the result look closer than it otherwise would have.

Pic: The writeup argues that Snake's hard-to-recognize sprite hurt him while Bowser had a clear, recognizable picture, and says Snake likely wins by more with a fairer image.

Resident Evil narrowly held off Street Fighter after a much closer fight than most of Board 8 expected. The writeup credits Street Fighter's favorable picture for helping the upset threat while arguing that current Capcom fanbase overlap ultimately leaned toward Resident Evil.

SFF · Pic: The writeup says the heavily Street Fighter-favored picture gave Street Fighter an advantage, while also arguing that Capcom fanbase overlap likely favored Resident Evil because Resident Evil 4 was then the stronger current draw.

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.

Kefka led comfortably through the early hours before collapsing completely to Marcus Fenix during the day. The writeup remembers the match as another classic Kefka choke, with the picture matchup adding to the explanation for the reversal.

Pic: The writeup repeatedly points to Kefka's infamous Lettuce Kefka image and Marcus Fenix's strong recognizable picture as factors that helped make Kefka's collapse look even worse.

Sora controlled the match while Wesker briefly made the fight with Lara genuinely competitive. Lara eventually pulled away, but the writeup regards Wesker's showing as surprisingly strong despite a potentially damaging picture.

Pic: The writeup says Wesker's ugly match picture may have hurt him in his close fight with Lara for the second advancing spot.

Mario cruised while Big Boss demolished Magus for the other advancing spot. The writeup treats the newly revealed Naked Snake picture as the defining factor that transformed expectations before the poll even began.

Pic: The writeup calls Big Boss's Naked Snake image one of the clearest picture-factor examples, saying the strong recognizable picture helped turn the matchup against Magus decisively in Big Boss's favor.

Master Chief took first, while Luigi defeated Ganondorf in the fight for the other advancing spot. The writeup repeatedly points to Ganondorf's unfavorable first-appearance sprite as the decisive handicap.

Pic: The writeup says Ganondorf's ugly pig sprite hurt him badly against Luigi and likely reversed a matchup Ganondorf had previously won.

Ganondorf won comfortably while Frog held off KOS-MOS without the expected daytime collapse. The delayed match picture caused controversy, but once it appeared the writeup says it did little to change the Frog-KOS-MOS race.

Pic: The writeup says the eventual match picture hurt Ganondorf while giving KOS-MOS no meaningful advantage over Frog, even though KOS-MOS supporters had expected her image to help.

Vincent advanced comfortably, while Gordon Freeman completed another major step in his reversal of the old GFNW reputation by beating Scorpion for the second spot. Falco never became a serious factor.

Pic: The writeup says Scorpion's poor match picture was not the sole reason he lost, but explicitly states that it hurt his chances against Gordon Freeman.

Altair destroyed Liquid Snake in a matchup where the stats had favored Liquid, producing one of the round's strangest results. The writeup highlights Altair's presentation as an important part of the surprise.

Pic: The writeup says Altair's excellent match picture gave him a major advantage, especially against a Liquid Snake image that inspired little confidence.

Cloud looked unexpectedly vulnerable for much of the match, prompting concern that he had lost strength. Ridley's showing is treated as surprisingly good even after allowing for the favorable picture situation.

Pic: The writeup says Cloud received a bad picture while Ridley was finally recognizable, presenting those image conditions as part of why Cloud looked weaker than expected.

Chris Redfield won a straightforward match that landed close to the writeup's expectations. MacMillan's result did little to reverse the broader impression that Call of Duty characters were performing badly.

Pic: The writeup says the poor match-picture situation likely helped Captain MacMillan perform slightly better than expected.

Ryu won clearly, but Leon resisted far better than the disastrous sprite led people to expect and even held up well during his preferred daytime period. The writeup leaves open whether a fairer picture could have made the match significantly closer.

Pic: The writeup says Leon's ugly Resident Evil: Gaiden sprite hurt his chances and suggests the matchup might have been different with more even pictures.

Metal Gear Solid 4 won but looked substantially weaker than its 2009 form, reinforcing the emerging narrative that the entire series had declined. The writeup acknowledges the unfavorable picture while still treating the performance as poor.

Pic: The writeup explicitly says Metal Gear Solid 4 had a picture disadvantage against Assassin's Creed, though it argues that the disadvantage does not fully excuse MGS4's weak showing.

Call of Duty 4 won but was badly embarrassed by an otherwise unproven Perfect Dark. The writeup sees the poor showing as further evidence of deep anti-Call-of-Duty sentiment on GameFAQs.

Pic: The writeup explicitly describes a picture imbalance against Perfect Dark and notes that Perfect Dark still performed well despite its weaker image.

Golden Sun upset San Andreas on the release day of Dark Dawn, with RPG-friendly site conditions and a prominent home-page ad further favoring the winner. The writeup sees the timing as unusually hostile to GTA and the result as a major casual-bracket shock.

Pic: The writeup says Golden Sun's match picture looked exceptionally strong while San Andreas looked exceptionally poor, describing the image as one of several factors stacked against GTA.

Persona 4 survived a long Dead Rising comeback in one of the round's closest races, reclaiming control late after briefly falling behind. The writeup credits Persona's more committed fanbase and possibly its picture for the narrow escape.

Pic: The writeup explicitly says Persona 4's strong match picture may deserve credit for the narrow win over Dead Rising.

Shadow of the Colossus survived an all-day war of attrition against Metal Gear Solid 2 and won by the narrowest margin in the contest. The writeup treats the upset as the launch of the contest's Cinderella run and one of its best matches.

Pic · Rally: The writeup calls Shadow of the Colossus's image the biggest picture disadvantage of the contest and says it would have won more easily under fairer pictures. It also explicitly describes a late Shadow of the Colossus counter-rally after MGS2 retook the lead.

Red and Blue still faded substantially after a huge start, which the writeup found surprising given how favorable their picture was. The showing is treated as an early hint that the trainers relied heavily on momentum.

Pic: The writeup says the match picture was heavily in favor of Red and Blue, giving the Pokémon trainers a clear presentation advantage over Raynor and Kerrigan.

Zidane and Kuja won, but the writeup considers their performance terrible and directly attributes part of the weakness to the match picture. The source treats this as unusually visible evidence of picture factor.

Pic: The writeup explicitly says Zidane and Kuja performed better before the match picture appeared, then dropped immediately once their unattractive Trance artwork was shown.

Pac-Man and Blinky advanced in a very low-turnout match that the writeup never regarded as a serious tossup despite pre-match debate. Crash's faded relevance and Pac-Man's presentation both made the result feel inevitable.

Pic: The writeup says Pac-Man was effectively guaranteed the better picture and treats his favorable classic sprite presentation as another factor making the matchup feel predetermined.

Snake and Liquid comfortably ended another Crono run despite the source saying Crono had a major picture advantage. The writeup treats the loss as a bleak sign that Crono's old Noble Nine strength was gone for good.

Pic: The writeup says Crono and Lavos received one of the most unbalanced picture advantages imaginable, favoring their side even though Lavos remained too large an anchor to overcome.

The strangest first-round pairing briefly became a 4chan target, but the rally faded once it was clear the upset was not happening. Sora and Riku recovered comfortably, closing a first round the writeup considered deeply disappointing.

Rally · Pic: The writeup says 4chan rallied the Wolfenstein side hard enough to drag Sora and Riku down temporarily. It also says the Wolfenstein team had a picture advantage because the Sora/Riku image looked poor.

Yoshi won easily, while Solaire took second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Demi-Fiend. The writeup also laments Yoshi's poor bracket draw because his next match was against Link.

Pic: The writeup says the debate over second place effectively ended once the picture appeared, with Solaire's image making him look more distinctive and appropriate than Demi-Fiend.

Sub-Zero beat Garrus in a result the writeup finds disappointing given Mass Effect's broader strength that year. Garrus still looked respectable, while Sub-Zero's showing reinforced his status as the stronger Mortal Kombat contest character.

Pic: The writeup explicitly credits Sub-Zero's classic-costume picture with helping him, saying the old look made him substantially more dangerous in the matchup.

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.

The writeup is mostly an enormous StarCraft and Blizzard rant; the actual match is remembered for Missile unexpectedly taking second over Kerrigan behind a highly favorable cute-dog presentation.

Pic: The writeup explicitly calls Missile's cute-dog presentation the ultimate picture factor and treats it as part of why he could beat Kerrigan.

Catherine and Neku spent hours trading tiny leads before Catherine finally pulled away late. The upset is presented as a rare fodder match where a cult following and strong presentation combined into a memorable win.

Pic: The writeup says Catherine had a huge picture advantage and later credits her visual appeal as part of why she won the close matchup.

Pokémon Trainer Red crushed the field and reinforced the sense that he was one of the contest's strongest characters. Corvo took second over Sissel in the Expert Challenge ordering.

Pic: The writeup explicitly calls Red's nostalgic match picture a huge and unfair advantage, saying it packed much of the author's childhood into one image.

Mewtwo won convincingly while Phoenix unexpectedly pushed Vincent into last place. The notorious Vincent picture became one of the contest's biggest presentation controversies and overwhelmed much of the discussion.

Pic: The writeup says Vincent received an intentionally terrible Dirge of Cerberus picture and directly blames the image for worsening his performance enough that Phoenix could pass him.

Twilight Princess looked unusually competitive at the start, but Mario 64 recovered and settled into a comfortable win. The writeup attributes much of Zelda's early strength to rally spillover and the lopsided match pictures.

Rally · Pic: The writeup says Twilight Princess benefited early from Undertale rally spillover and from a major picture imbalance: Mario 64 received a poor image while Twilight Princess received an especially strong Link image.

Ocarina of Time won easily but again looked weaker than expected for the site's traditional top game. Final Fantasy IX's strong showing, aided by the picture matchup, became another warning that Ocarina was vulnerable later.

Pic: The writeup directly blames Ocarina of Time's weak-looking performance in part on a poor Ocarina picture paired against one of Final Fantasy IX's best possible images.

Metal Gear Solid 3 unexpectedly routed Mass Effect 2 after most predictions had expected a very close match. The writeup gives major credit to MGS3's exceptionally strong picture and treats the win as the series' best result of the contest.

Pic: The writeup explicitly says Metal Gear Solid 3's excellent Big Boss image was the real reason it performed so strongly, calling it one of the best possible pictures for the game.

Majora's Mask rode spillover and presentation advantages to a large early lead, but A Link to the Past slowly erased it and won with the morning vote. The match became a clear demonstration of how quickly rally spillover could fade.

Rally · Pic: The writeup says rally spillover from the previous Undertale-Pokémon match strongly favored Majora's Mask early. It also says Majora had a clear picture advantage over A Link to the Past.

The match stayed close overnight before 1996 pulled away once the morning vote arrived. The writeup considers the final result tainted by a picture policy that failed to represent 2000's strongest possible lineup.

Pic: The writeup says 2000 was effectively denied a fair chance because Pokémon GSC was omitted from its match picture while 1996 received an unusually strong set of representative games. It explicitly argues that the picture imbalance likely decided the match.

1991 won the opening board vote and then was steadily run over by 1994. The writeup's main story is anger that system releases were omitted from a contest supposedly about entire gaming years.

Pic: The writeup argues that excluding console launches from every match picture unfairly hurt 1991 in particular because the Super Nintendo was one of its strongest assets. It says 1994 may still have won, but the picture policy made the matchup fundamentally unfair.

Simon Belmont upset Ryu Hayabusa after taking an early lead and resisting a long, slow comeback. The writeup credits Simon's Smash announcement and improved presentation for transforming a historically weak character into a legitimate threat.

Pic: The writeup says Simon Belmont's new Smash design was shown especially well in the match picture and treats that presentation as part of the boost that helped him beat Ryu Hayabusa.

Claire beat Joker after an initially close match turned sharply in Resident Evil's favor. The writeup considers the result clouded by Joker's naming and picture controversy and uses it as evidence that presentation can materially affect a close contest match.

Pic: The writeup says Joker's nonstandard name and unmasked picture hurt his recognition and explicitly argues the match would have been closer with a proper Joker presentation, even though Claire's picture was also poor.