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Cloud comfortably dismissed Auron in a match some had hoped could produce a same-company upset. Instead, the writeup says conventional SFF took over and strengthened the case that Cloud sat near the top of Square's hierarchy.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Cloud's victory over fellow Final Fantasy entrant Auron as an SFF beating that overwhelmed any hoped-for reverse-SFF upset effect.

Cloud recovered from Sephiroth's early lead and won a final that the writeup says was less competitive than the ending suggested. It frames the result as the culmination of Cloud's strengthened post-Kingdom Hearts standing and likely same-fanbase suppression of Sephiroth.

SFF: The writeup says SFF likely had the most to do with Cloud beating fellow Final Fantasy VII character Sephiroth, and treats their later rematch as confirmation that Sephiroth was suppressed here.

Cloud easily beat Squall in a heavily shared-fanbase matchup, but the result did little to improve his standing against Link. The writeup remembers the match mainly as another predictable step toward the planned final.

SFF: The writeup explicitly frames Cloud versus Squall as a matchup with a massive amount of SFF, with Cloud dominating the fellow Final Fantasy entrant.

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.

Mario became the second elimination as Link absorbed the Nintendo support that had been shared with Samus the day before. Snake again outperformed expectations, while Sephiroth's repeated struggles to escape last place foreshadowed the next round.

SFF: The writeup says Link SFFed Mario to death, pushing Mario into last place despite his status as a traditional heavyweight.

Snake survived Sephiroth after a dramatic late comeback attempt and another last-minute Metal Gear response. The result became the capstone of Snake's extraordinary run, while Sephiroth was remembered as the Battle Royale's major disappointment.

SFF · Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Cloud heavily SFFed Sephiroth, helping leave him vulnerable to Snake. It also describes intense late rallying and records cheating allegations around the finish, while noting that CJayC said no cheating was found.

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.

Cloud dominated, while Mewtwo turned a seemingly unfavorable draw into one of the contest's largest surprises. Squall and Sora were left fighting each other for scraps behind the advancing pair.

SFF: The writeup says Cloud's presence created massive Square SFF against Squall and Sora, allowing outside entrant Mewtwo to capitalize and advance.

Snake converted the divided field into a surprise first-place finish, while Cloud recovered enough to secure the other final berth. Sephiroth's collapse and Kirby's early pressure made the semifinal far stranger than expected.

SFF · LFF: The writeup says Kirby SFFed Sephiroth badly, leaving Sephiroth unusually weak. It also says Sephiroth leeched enough Final Fantasy support from Cloud to keep Cloud from catching outside contender Snake.

Cloud rebounded from his weak first-round showing and dominated an RE5-boosted Chris far more decisively than expected. The writeup treats fanbase overlap as the most plausible explanation for Chris collapsing so badly.

SFF: The writeup says Final Fantasy VII-over-Resident Evil SFF is the likeliest explanation for Chris Redfield performing worse against Cloud than Ridley had.

Cloud beat Crono again by almost the same margin as their sprite-round meeting. The writeup uses the near-identical rematch to reject claims that the earlier sprite pictures materially distorted the result.

SFF: The writeup says there was likely a small amount of SFF between Cloud and Crono because their fanbases overlap as flagship Square RPG protagonists.