GameFAQsContests.com

Mega Man briefly led and genuinely threatened Samus, but Samus eventually took control and won the semifinal. Red remained competitive enough to finish a strong contest run despite the Nintendo-heavy field.

SFF: The writeup explicitly attributes the result to Mega Man's heavy Nintendo-adjacent overlap in a match with Samus and Red.

Samus dominated as expected, but Sandbag still beat Isaac Clarke for second in the Expert Challenge ordering despite Nintendo overlap. The writeup treats that as another sign of Sandbag's unusually durable joke support.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Sandbag was SFFed by Samus, making Sandbag's second-place Expert Challenge finish more impressive.

Samus beat Zelda far more decisively than their previous meeting suggested was normal. The writeup sees a mix of Zelda decline and newly visible Nintendo suppression from Samus, further strengthening Samus's case against Cloud.

SFF: The writeup says Samus appears to have SFFed Zelda, contributing to a much stronger result than their earlier 1v1 history suggested.

Samus and Vincent advanced as expected, but Ganondorf collapsed so badly that Gordon Freeman escaped last place. The writeup treats the fanbase interaction as the defining feature of an otherwise predictable divisional final.

SFF · LFF: The writeup describes Ganondorf as heavily suppressed by Samus through their shared Nintendo support. It also says Ganondorf's presence drained Samus enough to tighten her comparison with outside contender Vincent.

Link and Cloud advanced through a semifinal whose top order was never seriously in doubt. Samus nevertheless outperformed Sephiroth, providing the only notable wrinkle in an otherwise predictable heavyweight match.

SFF: The writeup says Link heavily suppressed Samus through their overlapping Nintendo support, even though Samus still performed surprisingly well relative to Sephiroth.

The first Battle Royale largely followed expectations at the top, while Samus became the first elimination after being squeezed by the other Nintendo heavyweights. Snake finishing ahead of Mario was the main unexpected development and set up the next day's drama.

SFF: The writeup says Link and Mario SFFed Samus heavily enough to drive her into last place and eliminate her.

Samus beat Zelda in a steady semifinal that never became as dramatic as the preceding quarterfinals. The writeup nevertheless sees Zelda's unusually strong showing as evidence that shared Nintendo support suppressed Samus to some degree.

SFF: The writeup says Zelda probably reverse-SFFed Samus substantially, though not nearly enough to threaten Samus's victory.

Mario demolished Samus in the contest's most heavily debated quarterfinal and invalidated the old statistical case for a Samus win. The writeup later apologizes for its original hostility, but still treats the result as a decisive SFF showcase of Mario's 2005 strength.

SFF: The writeup repeatedly describes Mario's victory as an enormous SFF beating that overwhelmed Samus despite pre-match statistical expectations favoring her.

Samus advanced as expected, but the writeup considers her showing against Ganondorf disappointing next to Mario's destruction of Zero. Her weak SFF performance is presented as a serious warning before the coming Mario matchup.

SFF: The writeup says Samus barely managed to SFF Ganondorf, with only enough suppression to offset Ganondorf's recent Zelda-series boost.

Link beat Samus in a long-awaited matchup that stayed competitive only briefly before Nintendo SFF took over. The writeup considers the result another sign of Link's dominance while arguing that Samus looked weaker than she really was.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says SFF took hold after Samus kept the opening close and later argues that Link SFFed her heavily enough to distort her apparent contest strength.