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StarCraft overturned Halo in one of the contest's defining first-round battles after both fanbases drew outside support into the poll. The writeup treats the result as proof that Halo was badly overseeded, StarCraft badly underseeded, and the StarCraft fanbase capable of changing the entire division.

Rally: The writeup explicitly describes mass Battle.net spamming, Xbox Live and Bungie involvement, and outside forces being brought in from across the internet to vote for both sides, with StarCraft ultimately benefiting most.

Diablo turned a heavily debated matchup with Ridley into a clear win and emerged as a serious divisional threat. An outside Diablo-site rally arrived later, but the writeup argues that the match had already been decided on its own merits.

Rally: The writeup says diabloii.net linked directly to the poll during the match, adding outside support for Diablo. It also stresses that Diablo had already taken firm control before the rally appeared.

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.

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.

Frog built a large early cushion, lost it to Axel's powerful daytime comeback, and then recovered in the final stretch. The writeup treats the late Board 8 rally as decisive in Frog reclaiming the advancing spot.

Rally: The writeup describes Board 8 and other supporters openly rallying for Frog during the final stretch, with the late surge overturning Axel's comeback and restoring Frog to second place.

Link overwhelmed the entire field, while joke entrant Bidoof rode outside support past Miles Edgeworth for second. The writeup treats Bidoof's success as an important early step toward the larger joke-character runs that followed.

Rally: The writeup explicitly credits a 4chan rally with giving Bidoof enough support to beat Miles Edgeworth for the second advancing position.

Ganondorf won first easily, while Vergil and Thrall fought a much closer battle for the second advancing spot. A WoW rally helped Thrall make a serious overnight push, but Vergil pulled away decisively once daytime voting arrived.

Rally: The writeup describes a World of Warcraft forum thread rallying votes for Thrall and says the push helped him nearly catch Vergil before the daytime vote ended the threat.

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.

Dante was never threatened, but the fight behind him became a three-way scramble in which Hogger surged past Ramza and Laharl. The result became an early signature moment for Ramza's reputation as a contest choker.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says Hogger drew an Internet rally during the day, turning a deficit into a lead and ultimately denying Ramza the advancing spot.

Sonic won comfortably, but Sandbag's comeback against Magus supplied the real drama. The upset confirmed both Magus's long-running reputation for disappointing and the continuing power of joke entrants.

Rally: The writeup says Sandbag's comeback went beyond a normal daytime trend and identifies a rally as the reason the joke entrant surged past Magus.

Super Mario World and Final Fantasy advanced without real drama, while Battletoads became notable mainly for a highly visible 4chan push. Prince of Persia produced one of the contest's weakest performances.

Rally: The writeup explicitly describes a pre-planned 4chan rally for Battletoads. It says the push inflated Battletoads' total but never came close to threatening the advancing games.

Master Chief beat Spy but spent the entire match looking much weaker than expected and never produced his trademark afternoon surge. The writeup calls the showing an embarrassment despite the comfortable win.

Rally: The writeup says 4chan mounted a massive rally for Spy, helping drag Master Chief down throughout an already disappointing performance.

Roxas remained in control, but Heavy's 4chan support produced the only real movement in an otherwise straightforward match. The morning vote restored most of Roxas's lost ground.

Rally: The writeup says 4chan mounted a large rally for Heavy, pulling Roxas down substantially for part of the night without ever making the match competitive.

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.

A heavily debated matchup swung sharply after the afternoon vote and outside support arrived for Pokémon. The writeup celebrates the result as another humiliation for Grand Theft Auto and as a major bracket upset.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says 4chan rallied Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald during the close match, contributing to the swing against Grand Theft Auto IV.

A close Mario lead gradually disappeared once the fighting-game community began rallying for Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The writeup remembers the result as one of the contest's largest public rally successes and a major bracket killer.

Rally: The writeup says Shoryuken.com organized an effective rally for Marvel vs. Capcom 2, producing the decisive late swing against New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

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.

Tharja built a large early lead, Tiny Tina slowly erased it, and the two reached a true late deadlock before outside support swung the match back to Tharja. The writeup considers it a rare first-round match that would have benefited from a longer poll.

Rally: The writeup says 4chan noticed Tiny Tina's comeback and rallied Tharja, pushing Tharja back ahead and preserving the win.

Jak and Chie controlled the match until League rallying arrived, after which Draven erased a huge deficit and surged into first. The writeup identifies this as the beginning of the rally-driven Draven run that would define the contest.

Rally: The writeup says League of Legends subreddit rallies transformed Draven from a distant last-place character into the winner within a few hours.

Elizabeth won and Poison took second in an otherwise settled match, while Thrall disappointed again. The only meaningful disturbance was a short-lived 4chan push for Poison.

Rally: The writeup says Poison received an early 4chan rally that produced one large cut before the push faded and stopped affecting the match.

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.

Mega Man weathered Magikarp's pre-planned push and then dominated, while Geno was crushed into last. The result became the first major test of Mega Man against the contest's Pokémon rally threat.

Rally: The writeup says Magikarp entered the match with a pre-planned rally and briefly stayed even with Mega Man before the favorite pulled away.

Kratos won easily, but Recette unexpectedly beat Travis for second in the Expert Challenge ordering after outside support boosted the niche indie character. Travis's comeback attempt never fully recovered the early deficit.

Rally: The writeup says Recette received a small organized push from the game's developer, with possible additional support from 4chan.

Fallout 3 was cruising on the release day of Fallout 4 until Undertale rally spillover suddenly made Life is Strange much stronger. The winner remained safe, but the late bleed exposed how vulnerable Fallout could be to outside traffic.

Rally: The writeup says Undertale's simultaneous outside rally spilled into this poll and directly shifted votes toward Life is Strange, sharply reducing Fallout 3's percentage without threatening the result.

Undertale transformed a routine loss into the largest comeback in contest history once outside support arrived late in the day. The win launched the rally-driven run that would eventually decide the entire tournament.

Rally: The writeup says a massive outside rally erased Mass Effect 3's enormous late lead and carried Undertale to a record-setting comeback.

Final Fantasy VIII beat Vice City as expected, while the simultaneous Undertale rally nudged the result further toward Square. The writeup treats Vice City's respectable loss as one of the few less embarrassing GTA performances.

Rally: The writeup says Undertale rally spillover also affected this simultaneous poll, modestly boosting Final Fantasy VIII against Vice City.

Super Mario World began with an enormous rout, but Animal Crossing suddenly gained ground once Undertale's outside rally flooded the simultaneous polls. The result stayed a blowout, yet the spillover showed how dramatically shared traffic could distort percentages.

Rally: The writeup says Undertale rally spillover strongly boosted Animal Crossing late in the match, producing unusual cuts against Super Mario World.

Phoenix Wright briefly led behind Board 8 support and Undertale spillover, but Skyrim recovered and eventually won comfortably. Even with the distorted opening, the writeup considered Skyrim's performance too weak for a serious title contender.

Rally: The writeup says Undertale rally spillover favored Phoenix Wright from the opening minutes and helped create an early lead before Skyrim recovered.

Knuckles crushed a matchup many experts had favored Zidane to win and extended his remarkable history of first-round success. Rally spillover from the neighboring Monika poll is treated as an extra tailwind, not the sole reason for the upset.

Rally: The writeup says the simultaneous Monika rally brought in outside voters who disproportionately favored Knuckles, with one analysis explicitly saying Square was hurt by the spillover.

Monika drew the outside support many bracketmakers feared, but Wario remained safely in control throughout. The writeup treats the failed upset as evidence that small fandom rallies were much less dangerous under the contest's anti-rally setup.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says Monika received a real Reddit and community rally, visible in the higher turnout and several stalls or small cuts, but that the push was far too weak to threaten Wario.

Ocelot survived Dedede in a wire-to-wire thriller where neither side ever established a secure advantage. The writeup remembers the match as a record-level close contest and notes that even a small outside push mattered.

Rally: The writeup says a small Reddit rally helped Revolver Ocelot avoid an upset during an extremely close match with King Dedede.

KOS-MOS upset Ellie despite an outside appeal for The Last of Us fans to vote. The writeup treats the result as another case where GameFAQs' old-JRPG preferences overwhelmed the popularity of a major recent Western game.

Rally: The writeup quotes an Ellie supporter posting to The Last of Us community and explicitly asking people to visit GameFAQs and vote for her during the match.