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Mario and Bowser opened the rivalry contest with the expected blowout, but the writeup focuses on the embarrassingly low turnout even for a marquee Nintendo pairing. It blames the contest format rather than overall site traffic.

Ike and Black Knight quickly ended a matchup that had received more pre-contest debate than the writeup thought it deserved. Conker still managed one of his better contest showings before another hopeless bracket draw.

Kirby and Meta Knight turned a debated opener against Jill and Nemesis into a rout. The writeup remembers the match mostly for a disastrous guru pick and for how quickly the supposed uncertainty vanished.

Sonic and Robotnik dominated as expected, but the Catherine pairing still produced a respectable showing for such a niche Atlus entry. The writeup treats that result as a small feel-good story rather than a competitive threat.

Mega Man X and Zero produced one of the strongest opening-round performances and validated the guru effort that had helped nominate them. The writeup also considers them one of the bracket's genuinely strong rivalries.

Bartz and Gilgamesh comfortably advanced while the writeup again complains that Guybrush keeps receiving nominations despite repeated weak contest performances. The match itself produced little suspense.

Donkey Kong and King K. Rool settled a heavily debated matchup quickly, with the writeup crediting K. Rool as a genuinely liked partner while Rodrigo Borgia dragged down Ezio's side. The result becomes an example of rivalry quality overcoming a stronger individual character.

Sub-Zero and Scorpion won comfortably, while the writeup spends most of its match analysis arguing that Leon and Ada were never a real rivalry. The result is presented as another failure of the bracket's rivalry concept.

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.

Luigi and Waluigi survived what became the closest match of the contest's early rounds, while Cecil and Golbez performed far better than expected. The writeup uses the matchup as proof of how little competitive drama the format was producing.

Ryu and Ken delivered a dominant opening that initially looked even more impressive than the Pokémon trainers' first-round result. The writeup later treats that comparison as misleading once the rest of the bracket played out.

Fox and Wolf beat a side built around the stronger Yuna but weakened by Seymour, which the writeup uses as another example of a balanced rivalry beating a star-and-anchor pairing. Much of the commentary also revisits the controversial match picture without claiming it changed the vote.

Samus and Ridley overwhelmed the joke-game pairing and gave no early indication that Ridley might later hold Samus back. The writeup treats the result as another example of how easily a strong rivalry could destroy weak opposition.

Terra and Kefka produced an unexpectedly enormous blowout that the writeup celebrates as evidence that Dissidia had finally made the Final Fantasy VI cast contest-relevant. Any possible SFF against the weaker side is treated as secondary to that broader revival.

Chris and Wesker demolished Dan and Sagat, turning a Board 8 joke-nomination success into one of the writeup's biggest disappointments of the contest. The rally discussed in the source concerns getting Dan and Sagat nominated, not match voting.

Big Boss and The Boss won a heavily debated opener despite The Boss being viewed as the weak link of their pair. The writeup again blames Tidus's persistent anti-voting for preventing the Final Fantasy X rivalry from converting its individual strength.

Link and Ganondorf opened with the expected rout, but the writeup again focuses on poor turnout and a widely disliked match picture. Neither issue is presented as threatening the result.

Amaterasu and Orochi advanced despite Orochi being described as a major anchor, while Tom Nook and Crazy Redd benefited from a joke nomination campaign. The source does not describe that campaign as a match-vote rally.

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.

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.

Phoenix and Edgeworth finally gave Phoenix a meaningful contest win by beating a Gordon Freeman side crippled by Dr. Breen. The writeup treats the result as one of the best demonstrations that two coherent rivals could overcome one much stronger character paired with an anchor.

Alucard and Dracula comfortably beat a Shepard side dragged down by Saren. The writeup again uses the match to argue that a strong individual could not reliably carry an unbalanced rivalry team.

Chell and GLaDOS advanced, but the writeup found the performance difficult to interpret and weaker than expected after Portal 2's release. Most of the enthusiasm is reserved for the match picture rather than the result.

Frog and Magus advanced but looked weak enough to keep the Southwest wide open. The writeup notes that Raiden and Vamp had shown some legitimacy in the vote-ins and treats the next Portal matchup as genuinely uncertain.

Cloud and Sephiroth won easily, but the writeup considers their showing shockingly weak for a top pairing and immediately writes off their chances against Link. The broader explanation is growing anti-Final-Fantasy-VII voting.

Kratos and Zeus advanced without difficulty, though the writeup notes Kratos's characteristically poor board vote. The bracket placement made the result largely irrelevant beyond that observation.

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.

Squall and Seifer advanced but looked much weaker than expected against Laharl and Mid-Boss. The writeup retrospectively treats the performance as an early warning that the next Kingdom Hearts matchup could be far more dangerous than assumed.

The writeup is mostly an extended defense of Ramza and Delita as genuine rivals, with only a brief note that the Soul Calibur pair advanced.

After briefly praising Dante and Vergil's enormous win, the writeup turns mostly into a long rant about the direction of Devil May Cry and other games.

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.

Mario and Bowser repeated a matchup the writeup felt had effectively happened only a year earlier. The rout is remembered mainly as another example of the bracket producing bad rematches.

Sonic and Robotnik demolished the pre-match upset case built around Kirby and Meta Knight. The writeup treats the result as evidence that iconic rivalry strength mattered more than people expected.

Mega Man X and Zero overwhelmed Bartz and Gilgamesh in a nearly content-free match. The writeup mainly uses the result to emphasize how weak Guybrush had looked in the prior round.

Sub-Zero and Scorpion beat Donkey Kong and King K. Rool comfortably despite surprisingly low prediction confidence. The writeup treats the result as another example of Donkey Kong being chronically overrated.

Red and Blue crushed Luigi and Waluigi, exposing how much an unpopular partner could drag down a stronger character in the rivalry format. The writeup openly calls its own Luigi upset pick a major mistake.

Ryu and Ken handled Fox and Wolf without difficulty and confirmed that they too were receiving a substantial rivalry boost. The trainers nevertheless remained the clearer favorite for the next round.

Samus and Ridley advanced, but Ridley held Samus down badly enough that the writeup calls the win a Pyrrhic victory. The performance made a deep Samus run look increasingly unrealistic.

Big Boss and The Boss beat Chris and Wesker more comfortably than the writeup expected. The result is presented as evidence that the Metal Gear pairing benefited more from the rivalry format than anticipated.

Link and Ganondorf obliterated Amaterasu and Orochi and effectively ended remaining hopes for a normal upset of Link. The match reignited the long-running argument that Link should be retired from future contests.

Mega Man and Wily beat Zidane and Kuja in another second-round match the writeup considered largely pointless. The picture receives more praise than the actual result.

Phoenix and Edgeworth's huge opening board vote briefly made the matchup look interesting, but Alucard and Dracula took over and pulled away decisively. The vampires' performance confirmed their status as the division's stronger pairing.

Frog and Magus held off Chell and GLaDOS in one of the contest's rare genuinely close-looking matches. The writeup celebrates it mainly because almost every other rivalry matchup had been so uncompetitive.

Cloud and Sephiroth dispatched Kratos and Zeus in a match the writeup barely considered worth analyzing. The only notable wrinkle was Cloud finally enjoying a relatively good board vote against an even more anti-voted opponent.

Snake and Liquid beat Pac-Man and Blinky in an unusually low-interest poll, but the writeup considers Snake's performance another sign that Metal Gear had declined. The result effectively killed any upset hope against Cloud and Sephiroth.

Squall and Seifer advanced without much drama, but the margin was weaker than the writeup expected from a top-seeded pairing. Because Squall's bracket path looked predetermined, the underperformance received little weight.

Dante and Vergil erased Sora and Riku's overnight lead, only for Kingdom Hearts' daytime strength to restore control and secure the win. The writeup regards it as the first truly good match of the contest even though the comeback failed.

The first Mario-versus-Sonic rivalry matchup in contest history turned into a one-sided win for Mario and Bowser. The writeup treats the result as another example of Sonic collapsing under Mario overlap.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Mario and Bowser's win over Sonic and Robotnik an SFF beating.

Mega Man X and Zero won, but Sub-Zero and Scorpion stayed much closer than anyone expected despite never truly threatening the result. The writeup credits the Mortal Kombat pair with an unusually strong rivalry boost.

Red and Blue demolished Ryu and Ken in what had been a heavily anticipated rivalry matchup. The result made the Pokémon trainers the clear stars of the contest and a genuine threat to the remaining elite pairings.

Samus and Ridley survived Big Boss and The Boss, but only after another performance badly weakened by Ridley's presence. The writeup calls it a second Pyrrhic victory and sees the upcoming trainers matchup as hopeless.

Link and Ganondorf crushed Mega Man and Wily in another matchup the writeup considered too predictable to analyze at length. Link's dominance remained the only real story.

Alucard and Dracula comfortably stopped Frog and Magus despite extremely low bracket confidence in the vampire pairing. The writeup calls their divisional win the contest's largest prediction upset.

Cloud and Sephiroth unexpectedly rolled over Snake and Liquid, leaving the writeup searching among Metal Gear decline, Liquid's weakness, and possible overlap for an explanation. It treats the result mainly as evidence that Snake had fallen sharply.

Squall and Seifer survived Sora and Riku after a long match whose trends repeatedly defied expectations. Sora erased much of Squall's lead late, but his weak morning showing left too much ground to recover.

Mario and Bowser crushed Mega Man X and Zero by almost the same proportion as an old Mario-Mega Man matchup. The writeup uses the repeat-like result to complain about how lifeless the late rounds had become.

Red and Blue decisively eliminated Samus and Ridley and became the first outside pairing to beat a Noble Nine member in a full-day head-to-head contest setting. The writeup frames it as a clear changing of the guard toward Pokémon.

Link and Ganondorf overwhelmed Alucard and Dracula in a quarterfinal that closely echoed old Link blowouts of midcard opposition. The result added nothing new to the writeup's view of Link as untouchable.

Cloud and Sephiroth crushed Squall and Seifer by almost the same proportion as an old Final Fantasy VII-versus-VIII matchup. The writeup treats the lack of improvement as a warning that they had no chance against Link.

Red and Blue stayed even with Mario and Bowser for roughly the opening hour before Mario pulled away across the rest of the day. The trainers lost, but the writeup still regards them as the contest's breakout stars.

Link and Ganondorf demolished Cloud and Sephiroth so badly that the writeup treats the match as final proof Link should be retired. Cloud's late recovery merely kept the final percentage from looking even worse.

Mario and Bowser led briefly behind bracket voting and anti-Link sentiment, but Link and Ganondorf soon took control and won the championship. The final is remembered more for the Oracle tiebreak among perfect brackets than for competitive drama.