GameFAQsContests.com

Link opened the 2003 contest with another enormous blowout and immediately reaffirmed his status as the entrant to beat. The writeup notes that some same-company overlap may have contributed, but not enough to diminish the statement.

SFF: The writeup says Link's overwhelming result may have included a small amount of SFF because AiAi was another Nintendo character, while stressing that the magnitude of the win was impressive regardless.

Fox routed Pikachu in a debated matchup that the writeup retrospectively considers an obvious SFF situation. The victory also ended Fox's poor first-contest seeding story by finally giving him a match win.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Fox's decisive win over fellow Nintendo entrant Pikachu as an SFF result and argues that anti-Pokémon voting made Pikachu's position even worse.

Aeris handled Sora as expected and continued the pattern of outperforming her low seed. The writeup later came to view Sora's poor showing as an SFF result that understated his actual contest strength.

SFF: The writeup retrospectively identifies Aeris versus Sora as an SFF match, arguing that Sora's connection to Aeris through Kingdom Hearts made him look weaker than he would against an unrelated opponent.

Mario opened the heavily anticipated South Division by crushing Olimar. The writeup treats the result as a routine SFF blowout that revealed little about how Mario would fare against the division's elite opposition.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Mario's victory over fellow Nintendo entrant Olimar a mundane SFF beating and says SFF was in full swing during the match.

Snake routed Raiden in an expected same-series mismatch. The writeup emphasizes that the result was a severe SFF beating, though Raiden retained enough support to avoid the historically extreme percentage some expected.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Raiden was heavily SFFed by fellow Metal Gear character Solid Snake, while noting that Raiden still performed better than many expected.

Zero dominated Proto Man in a same-series matchup whose result the writeup warns should not be used to dismiss Proto Man as ordinary fodder. It treats the match as another example of the bracket manufacturing predictable company-based pairings.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Zero versus Proto Man as a first-round SFF blowout within the Mega Man family, arguing that Proto Man's poor result understates his standalone strength.

Squall overwhelmed Geno in a match whose main question was how much shared-fanbase suppression would appear. The result also helped frame the now-unpredictable Devil Division after Magus's upset loss.

SFF: The writeup says Squall likely applied some SFF to Geno, a Square-created side character from Super Mario RPG, and uses that as evidence for how Squall might have treated Magus.

Aeris beat Marle comfortably, with only a small amount of SFF according to the writeup. More concerning for Aeris was her failure to dominate the daytime vote, which weakened confidence that she could challenge Zelda later.

SFF: The writeup says Aeris and Marle showed some SFF from their overlapping Square and role-playing fanbases, but characterizes the effect as minimal rather than a major suppression.

Squall crushed Tidus in what the writeup calls an SFF beating through and through. The result further buried Tidus's old reputation while briefly making a later Squall upset of Snake seem plausible.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls the result an SFF beating, with Squall suppressing fellow Final Fantasy lead Tidus far beyond what their ordinary statistical gap suggested.

Fox dominated an all-Nintendo field far more thoroughly than expected, while Wario eventually secured the second advancing position over Captain Falcon. The writeup treats Fox's performance as one of the contest's strongest examples of SFF.

SFF: The writeup explicitly characterizes Fox's dominant performance as Nintendo SFF and says Fox suppressed Captain Falcon more heavily than Wario.

Mario dominated as expected, but his suppression of Pac-Man made Big Boss's second-place finish much easier than many anticipated. The writeup treats Pac-Man's shared old-school appeal with Mario as the key reason the debated advancing spot became one-sided.

SFF: The writeup says Mario was an especially disastrous matchup for Pac-Man because of their overlapping old-school appeal and describes Pac-Man as being SFFed to death.

Mewtwo erased the embarrassment of his earlier contest debut with an emphatic performance. Ness collapsed against the stronger Nintendo presence, allowing Pac-Man to advance instead.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Mewtwo SFFed Ness badly, leaving Ness far weaker than expected and opening the second advancing spot for Pac-Man.

The first 2009 match centered on Donkey Kong versus Punch-Out for the second advancing spot. Donkey Kong survived an early scare and a reputation for choking to pull away, while Tetris dominated the field.

SFF: The writeup says Tetris imposed old-school overlap on Space Invaders and likely hurt Donkey Kong as well, though Donkey Kong was still strong enough to beat Punch-Out.

Mario dominated so completely that Duck Hunt could not mount a comeback against Ninja Gaiden for the second advancing spot. The writeup treats the result as a textbook example of extreme overlap overwhelming an otherwise stronger game.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Mario's suppression of Duck Hunt 'Same Cartridge SFF,' since the two games famously shared an NES cartridge.

Zelda dominated as expected, and Metroid still advanced despite taking a severe fanbase hit. Contra's failure to capitalize became the larger surprise and began a recurring pattern of disappointing shooter performances.

SFF: The writeup says Zelda heavily SFFed Metroid, while also entertaining the possibility that Contra suffered some Nintendo-related overlap of its own.

A Link to the Past dominated while Donkey Kong Country repeatedly flirted with choking away second place. Doom nevertheless failed to capitalize, turning what looked like a favorable upset setup into another shooter disappointment.

SFF: The writeup says A Link to the Past clearly SFFed Donkey Kong Country, though Doom was too weak to take advantage of the favorable situation.

GoldenEye and Super Mario RPG advanced from a debated fourpack, while Resident Evil 2 remained respectable but never broke through. Donkey Kong Country 2's long-running hype ended in a disappointing SFF-affected debut.

SFF: The writeup says Super Mario RPG SFFed Donkey Kong Country 2, helping reduce a heavily hyped game to a weak opening-round showing.

Final Fantasy VII dominated a pair of respectable Nintendo 64 games and looked every bit as strong as its old reputation suggested. Mario Kart 64 comfortably took the other advancing spot over Star Fox 64.

SFF: The writeup says Mario Kart 64 predictably SFFed Star Fox 64, leaving the second advancing position effectively settled from the opening moments.

Super Mario 64 dominated the poll, while Symphony of the Night comfortably beat Resident Evil for the other advancing spot. Kirby Super Star collapsed badly in Mario's presence.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Super Mario 64 SFFed Kirby Super Star heavily, using Kirby's collapse to argue that Kirby's character strength does not come primarily from his games.

Melee and Wind Waker advanced exactly as expected, but Wind Waker held up well enough to raise concerns about Melee's future ceiling. Fire Emblem collapsed under an especially hostile overlap situation.

SFF: The writeup says Fire Emblem was SFFed from two directions by Wind Waker and by Melee, the game that had helped introduce the series to many voters.

Luigi won comfortably, while the writeup focused more on Meta Knight's repeated bad bracket luck than on the match itself. It argues that Meta Knight was stronger than the result made him look.

SFF: The writeup calls the matchup another Nintendo SFF-fest and argues that Meta Knight's strength was hidden by being repeatedly drawn against overlapping Nintendo opponents.

Mario overwhelmed Falco and delivered one of the rare extreme blowouts of the contest. The writeup treats the result as a straightforward display of Mario's fanbase dominance.

SFF: The writeup says Mario dropped an SFF nuke on fellow Nintendo entrant Falco, producing one of the contest's largest blowouts.

Pikachu's rise from an anti-voted early-contest character to a dominant Pokémon representative is the main story. Banjo's latest Nintendo-heavy loss leaves his true standalone strength difficult to judge.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Pikachu's win an SFF blowout and says Banjo has repeatedly been suppressed by Nintendo opponents.

Ness overwhelmed Geno and restored confidence in himself before the next round. Geno's inability to resist even Ness's fanbase overlap is treated as evidence that he should no longer receive regular contest nominations.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Ness SFFed Geno, using the scale of Geno's collapse to argue that he had little independent contest strength.

Tifa crushed Yuri in a result the writeup considered entirely predictable. The commentary uses the blowout mainly to continue its broader argument that Tales characters are consistently over-nominated.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Tifa's rout of Yuri Lowell as SFF.

Half-Life 2 looked extremely strong in an intrafran­chise matchup and became the clear favorite to emerge from the Northeast's lower half. The writeup also uses the result to fuel speculation about a later Metroid Prime comparison.

SFF: The writeup explicitly frames Half-Life 2 versus Left 4 Dead 2 as an SFF match, with the stronger Valve title suppressing the weaker one.

Perfect Dark advanced through a matchup the writeup considered almost useless for strength analysis because of the N64 overlap. The commentary finds the presentation more memorable than the competitive result.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Perfect Dark versus Conker an N64 SFF match, with the stronger shared-console title suppressing the weaker one.

Chrono Cross delivered one of the rare first-round 8/9 results that behaved roughly as expected. The writeup mostly celebrates the absence of another bracket disaster after a long run of chaotic 8/9 matches.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Chrono Cross versus Dragon Quest VIII a JRPG SFF match, with the stronger shared-audience title suppressing the weaker one.

Mega Man and Wily advanced comfortably, while the writeup laments that Banjo again received a matchup that obscured his standalone strength. The result is framed as another wasted opportunity to test Banjo fairly.

SFF: The writeup says Banjo has faced Nintendo SFF in every contest match and treats Mega Man's Nintendo-adjacent fanbase as another case suppressing Banjo and Gruntilda.

Link won the three-way opener as expected, while Isaac took second in the Expert Challenge ordering after Tingle faded under Link overlap. The writeup also treats Link's less-than-total domination as another sign he had declined from his peak.

SFF: The writeup says Tingle initially competed well for second before Link's SFF kicked in and pushed him behind Isaac.

Bowser won comfortably while Meta Knight again failed to get a clean read because of Nintendo overlap. Archer's respectable showing is treated more as a byproduct of the bad setup than as evidence of major strength.

SFF: The writeup says Meta Knight was once again being SFFed in a first-round Nintendo matchup, this time under Bowser.

Leon won a badly drawn same-series match that effectively denied Wesker a fair first-round opportunity. Even under severe overlap, Wesker still beat Oliver for second in the Expert Challenge ordering.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Wesker was heavily SFFed by fellow Resident Evil entrant Leon, leaving Wesker far weaker than his standalone strength.

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.

Donkey Kong unexpectedly made a supposedly debatable match trivial and punished the heavily disliked Lightning. Falco collapsed under the Nintendo overlap and finished well behind both.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Falco was SFFed in the Nintendo-heavy match, leaving him far weaker than Donkey Kong.

1987 beat 1985 decisively, with the writeup reducing the matchup to the site's familiar Zelda-over-Mario fanbase hierarchy. It still gives 1985 considerable sentimental credit for Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt and Oregon Trail.

SFF: The writeup says 1987's Zelda-centered strength SFFed the Mario-centered 1985 side, treating the matchup as effectively Zelda 1 versus Mario 1.

Kratos produced by far one of the strongest performances of his contest career while Marston looked far weaker than his game-level popularity suggested. The writeup attributes much of the gap to same-audience suppression.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Kratos's unusually large win over John Marston SFF, arguing that two similar Western tough-guy fanbases overlapped heavily and that the stronger, more established Kratos suppressed Marston.

Dragon Quest XI crushed the Board 8-backed Trails in the Sky SC and finally gave Dragon Quest a genuinely strong contest performance. The writeup views the blowout as partly amplified by extreme fanbase overlap.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says the matchup reeks of SFF, arguing that Dragon Quest XI and Trails in the Sky SC appeal to an unusually overlapping JRPG audience.

Super Mario Odyssey produced an enormous rout that immediately made people reconsider whether Smash Ultimate was the obvious divisional favorite. Mortal Kombat's collapse was so severe that the writeup treats it as one of the strangest results of the round.

SFF: The writeup says Mortal Kombat 11 was buried under layers of SFF against Super Mario Odyssey, making its already poor showing even harder to interpret naturally.

Xenoblade Chronicles crushed Splatoon 2 and instantly became a serious divisional contender. Even allowing for heavy Nintendo overlap, the writeup treats the performance as one of the round's biggest statements.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Xenoblade Chronicles versus Splatoon 2 an SFF beatdown and says Splatoon was especially vulnerable to being suppressed by a stronger Nintendo favorite.

The Witcher 3 obliterated Assassin's Creed Odyssey and immediately looked transformed from its 2015 form. The writeup treats the result as a championship-level statement even if some of the margin came from overlap.

SFF: Ctes explicitly says The Witcher 3 held the SFF hammer over Assassin's Creed Odyssey because of their overlapping open-world appeal and that the effect hit hard.

NieR: Automata crushed Bayonetta 2 and looked excellent entering the next round. The writeup later treats heavy overlap between the two action-game fanbases as the best explanation for how lopsided the result became.

SFF: Ctes says the most likely explanation is that NieR: Automata SFFed Bayonetta 2 because of their overlapping Platinum-style action audience, and explicitly says he believes the SFF explanation most.