GameFAQsContests.com

Breath of the Wild opened the contest with an enormous rout and immediately looked like the obvious championship favorite. The writeup frames the result as the start of a Zelda redemption tour after the prior games contest.

Halo: Reach beat Life is Strange despite significant pre-match distrust rooted in Halo's long history of underperforming on GameFAQs. The writeup treats the win as routine enough while still emphasizing how far Halo's reputation had fallen.

Final Fantasy XV beat one of the bracket's weakest-looking indie entries but not by enough to impress the writeup. The result is treated as the first warning that FFXV might struggle badly against Hollow Knight.

Hollow Knight crushed Tales of Berseria after many Board 8 experts had talked themselves out of the obvious pick. The blowout immediately made the coming Final Fantasy XV matchup look much more dangerous.

Monster Hunter: World beat Bravely Default in a stable newcomer matchup whose trends closely mirrored the simultaneous Sekiro poll. The writeup sees the result as solid but not decisive evidence for the next round.

Sekiro beat Ni no Kuni in almost the same pattern as Monster Hunter's simultaneous win, leaving their future head-to-head hard to project. The writeup's most distinctive commentary is the unusually strong Board 8 dislike for Ni no Kuni.

Bastion upset The Walking Dead and reinforced the writeup's view that the franchise's mainstream popularity never translated into GameFAQs contest strength. The result also rewarded skepticism toward supposedly safer casual picks.

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.

Mass Effect 2 beat Resident Evil 7 but looked far too weak for a supposed division favorite facing a 16-seed. The writeup treats Resident Evil 7 as clearly underseeded and the result as an immediate warning for Mass Effect.

Fallout 4 handled VVVVVV and initially seemed to avoid the Bethesda backlash many expected. The writeup later treats that apparent stability as misleading once Fallout's deeper weaknesses became clearer.

Borderlands 2 beat Bloodstained but performed much worse than expected for the fourpack favorite. The writeup treats Bloodstained as respectable while still calling the result a major warning for Borderlands.

Horizon Zero Dawn obliterated Fortnite after rally fear and casual recognition had made the matchup look more uncertain on paper than it really was. The writeup treats the rout as another sign that GameFAQs' remaining voters strongly reject casualbait.

Resident Evil 2 crushed Danganronpa 2 and immediately looked much stronger than Mass Effect 2 had in the same division. The writeup treats the result as confirmation that the remake's acclaim translated into major contest strength.

DOOM demolished INSIDE and looked far stronger than many had expected from a modern shooter. The writeup later concludes that INSIDE was simply one of the weakest games in the bracket rather than a meaningful strength test.

Fire Emblem: Awakening beat Deus Ex but failed to look strong enough for the deeper run many bracketmakers wanted. The writeup treats the result as a clear warning after simultaneous games in the division posted much stronger performances.

Bloodborne crushed Black Ops while the writeup marvels at how completely Call of Duty's old contest relevance had vanished. The result also exposed casual bracketmakers who still gave the famous shooter too much credit.

Smash Ultimate annihilated Tekken 7 and looked every bit like the division's overwhelming favorite. Much of the writeup uses the result to celebrate Smash's dominance over traditional fighting-game expectations.

A Link Between Worlds comfortably beat Bayonetta despite the latter's Nintendo and Smash associations. The writeup explicitly says the match did not look like SFF and instead treats both games as legitimate within their natural strength.

Marvel's Spider-Man demolished Dead Space 2 and gave a licensed superhero game an unusually strong contest showing. The writeup uses the result to argue that high-quality licensed games can possess real GameFAQs strength.

Minecraft crushed Dota 2 despite the writeup's complaint that Minecraft should not have been eligible under the contest's release-year rules. Dota never received the rally some feared and is treated as another example of rallybait collapsing naturally.

Octopath Traveler upset defending champion Undertale after the outside rally that defined 2015 never materialized. The writeup treats Undertale's relatively respectable loss as evidence that it retained a real fanbase even after its rally era ended.

Shovel Knight beat Dragon's Dogma comfortably, though the writeup considers the performance merely solid rather than evidence of the huge indie strength some had expected. Undertale's simultaneous loss overshadowed most discussion of the match.

Devil May Cry 5 beat Tropical Freeze in a debated matchup and gave the series long-awaited redemption after years of weak game-contest results. The writeup treats the win as a major correction to Devil May Cry's poor historical reputation.

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.

Grand Theft Auto V beat Baba Is You but was briefly embarrassed by Board 8 anti-GTA voting at the start. The writeup treats the result as another example of GTA's unusual inability to produce clean blowouts even against extremely weak opposition.

Cuphead beat XCOM 2 comfortably and strengthened the early-contest belief that some indie games had real GameFAQs strength. Its fast start also helped create early hype for a possible upset of Grand Theft Auto V.

Persona 4 Golden crushed FTL and immediately looked like a serious threat to escape a crowded division. The writeup treats Golden as functioning essentially like the original Persona 4 despite its Vita-only status.

Red Dead Redemption routed Ghost Trick and produced almost the same kind of opening statement as Persona 4 Golden. That set up their coming second-round match as one of the bracket's clearest tossups.

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.

Overwatch beat Death Stranding in a matchup the writeup frames as a battle between two widely disliked games. The result is treated as more a failure by Death Stranding than a meaningful endorsement of Overwatch.

Ori and the Blind Forest upset Dragon Age: Inquisition after taking control early and never truly surrendering it. The writeup credits Dragon Age's decline and Ori's recent sequel and Switch exposure as major background factors.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses won comfortably but looked much weaker than expected next to Xenoblade Chronicles. The writeup treats Smash-related anti-voting and Fire Emblem's familiar tendency to underperform as serious warning signs.

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.

Mass Effect 3 beat StarCraft II much more decisively than their franchises' older matchup suggested. The writeup treats the result as redemption for Mass Effect 3 and another sign of Blizzard's declining contest strength.

Stardew Valley demolished Destiny and emerged as one of the strongest-looking indie games of the opening round. The writeup still cautions that Destiny's extreme unpopularity may have exaggerated the performance.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 produced one of the contest's most extreme first-round blowouts against Return of the Obra Dinn. The writeup also criticizes the seeding that placed both games far from where their strength suggested they belonged.

Fallout: New Vegas crushed The Stanley Parable in a routine first-round mismatch. The writeup treats the win as modest reassurance that Fallout had not suffered as much from Bethesda backlash as some feared.

Dark Souls III handled Dishonored without difficulty and continued the broader pattern of Souls games outperforming expectations. The writeup uses the result mainly to strengthen confidence in the franchise as a whole.

Nioh upset The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth after nearly every prediction group favored Isaac. The writeup treats the result as another warning that the contest's 2017-era Souls-style games were much stronger than expected.

God of War annihilated The Talos Principle and looked every bit like a serious heavyweight. The writeup notes that The Witcher 3's simultaneous performance still kept God of War's division path looking difficult.

Persona 5 crushed Heavy Rain and reinforced how completely the Persona series had entered the GameFAQs mainstream. The writeup treats Persona 5 as one of the bracket's easiest games to trust in the early rounds.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag beat Civilization V in a matchup the writeup considers a low-tier 8/9 contest. The winner is treated as merely earning the right to face a much stronger Persona 5.

Sonic Mania beat Ys VIII but performed badly enough to inspire real second-round upset talk around Super Meat Boy. The writeup treats the weak showing as a significant warning despite the comfortable win.

Super Meat Boy crushed Slay the Spire and gave Board 8's guru nomination a rare clean contest win. Combined with Sonic Mania's weak showing, the result fueled hopes for a much bigger upset next round.

Portal 2 handled Tomb Raider in a routine first-round match without producing the kind of statement its supporters wanted. The writeup still treats Portal 2 as the most likely divisional finalist entering Round Two.

Kingdom Hearts III beat Disco Elysium comfortably but looked weak compared with Portal 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2. The writeup treats the result as a serious underperformance for a major franchise entry.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf beat Street Fighter V after years of weak Animal Crossing contest history. The writeup sees the win as evidence that the series had become more relevant, while Street Fighter V's poor reputation made the matchup easier.

Red Dead Redemption 2 demolished Dying Light in a completely routine top-seed-style matchup. The writeup treats the blowout mainly as a necessary first test before much stronger opposition arrived.

Dark Souls obliterated Hotline Miami and immediately confirmed the writeup's belief that the franchise had gained major respect over the decade. The performance pushed Dark Souls into serious divisional-title consideration.

Rocket League narrowly beat Dragon Ball FighterZ in one of the opening round's first genuinely uncertain matches. The writeup remembers the matchup mainly for finally providing close-match drama after a long run of blowouts.

Yakuza 0 beat The Witness and gave the long-promoted Board 8 franchise a straightforward contest win. The writeup treats the result as validation of Yakuza's growing visibility more than proof of major strength.

Metal Gear Solid V beat Dead Cells in a matchup whose pairing the writeup considers deliberately ironic because both revolve around missing or phantom body parts. The result itself did little to repair Metal Gear's declining reputation.

Batman: Arkham City beat Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but the margin was close enough to create concern about Batman's deeper prospects. The writeup also treats Xenoblade 2 as a respectable loss for a relatively niche JRPG.

BioShock Infinite doubled Terraria but still looked weak because Terraria was later treated as one of the bracket's poorest games. The writeup sees the result as another sign that BioShock's peak had passed.

Diablo III crushed Virtue's Last Reward despite an absurdly anti-Blizzard Board 8 opening vote. The writeup treats the result more as evidence of VLR's extreme niche weakness than as a Blizzard rebound.

The Last of Us routed Crusader Kings II but failed to match the strongest statements from the division. The writeup treats the result as a warning for its planned showdown with Dark Souls.

Skyrim crushed Subnautica but looked weak in the opening board vote compared with The Witcher 3 and Dark Souls. The writeup treats that early weakness as a major warning for a game many had picked to reach the final.

Journey beat Fate / Grand Order in a matchup the writeup expected to identify one of the weakest Round Two entrants. The result reflects GameFAQs' limited interest in mobile gacha games more than meaningful Journey strength.

Final Fantasy XIV beat Crypt of the NecroDancer and looked better than many expected from an MMO on GameFAQs. The writeup treats the result as evidence that the game's strong modern reputation had translated into real contest value.

Mario Kart 8 upset Uncharted 4 and continued Uncharted's history of collapsing as a high seed. The writeup treats the result as proof that Mario Kart's Switch-era success had erased much of its old Wii U weakness.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver obliterated Night in the Woods and immediately looked like a true proxy for the older Pokémon Gold and Silver games. The result put Skyrim on notice for a possible later matchup.

Celeste and Rayman Legends stayed extremely close for nearly the entire match before Celeste escaped with the win. The writeup celebrates it as the best match of an otherwise blowout-heavy opening round.

Divinity: Original Sin II beat Hearthstone in a matchup the writeup expected to produce one of the weakest surviving games. Hearthstone's anti-Blizzard baggage and poor historical strength made the outcome straightforward.

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.

Breath of the Wild demolished Halo: Reach and joined the rare group of games producing enormous blowouts in consecutive rounds. The writeup treats the performance as confirmation that even a hypothetical late rally might not be enough to stop Zelda.

Final Fantasy XV survived Hollow Knight in a matchup that came far closer to embarrassment than a mainline Final Fantasy game should have allowed. The writeup treats the win as further evidence of FFXV's weak standing on the site.

Monster Hunter: World beat Sekiro far more comfortably than expected and ended the writeup's hope that every Souls-like game would overperform. The result is framed as a major disappointment for Sekiro and a strong statement for Monster Hunter.

Dragon Quest XI demolished Bastion and proved its first-round rout was not merely a fanbase-overlap fluke. The writeup treats it as by far the strongest Dragon Quest contest showing to date.

Mass Effect 2 crushed Fallout 4 more decisively than expected and repaired the concern created by its first-round performance. The writeup notes that people floated SFF as an explanation, but does not settle on it.

Horizon Zero Dawn upset Borderlands 2 and never looked back after seizing control early. The Bloodborne rally in the neighboring match added a small extra boost to an already convincing Horizon win.

Rally: The writeup says the simultaneous Bloodborne rally boosted Horizon Zero Dawn further after it had already taken control of Borderlands 2.

Resident Evil 2 beat DOOM in a debated matchup and confirmed that DOOM's first-round destruction of INSIDE had overstated its strength. Rally spillover helped DOOM somewhat but never threatened the result.

Rally: The writeup says DOOM was performing worse before the simultaneous Bloodborne rallies arrived and boosted it against Resident Evil 2.

Bloodborne beat Fire Emblem: Awakening and then pulled away sharply once its subreddit rally gained traction. The match established Bloodborne as both naturally strong and capable of meaningful outside mobilization.

Rally: The writeup says Bloodborne fans organized subreddit rally threads that materially increased its margin over Fire Emblem: Awakening, turning a closer natural win into a much larger one.

Smash Ultimate crushed A Link Between Worlds in a badly drawn same-audience matchup. The writeup treats the loss as unusually harsh for a Zelda game but heavily distorted by Nintendo overlap.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Smash Ultimate versus A Link Between Worlds a standard SFF match and says the Zelda game was likely suppressed heavily by the stronger Nintendo title.

Marvel's Spider-Man beat Minecraft and validated the experts who had trusted its natural strength over casual recognition and rally fear. Simultaneous rally traffic helped Minecraft somewhat but did not change the outcome.

Rally: The writeup says rallying in the simultaneous Octopath Traveler versus Shovel Knight match shifted support toward Minecraft and reduced Spider-Man's percentage during this poll.

Octopath Traveler and Shovel Knight traded momentum for nearly the entire day before outside support became decisive late. After Octopath's pinned subreddit rally gained control, an official Shovel Knight developer push reversed the match and stole the finish.

Rally: The writeup describes sustained two-sided subreddit rallying and says Yacht Club Games' late official Twitter push decisively swung the finish toward Shovel Knight.

Super Mario Odyssey demolished Devil May Cry 5 and continued to look stronger than Smash Ultimate through the early rounds. The writeup treats the result as another major boost to Odyssey's divisional hype.

Grand Theft Auto V quickly erased the much-hyped Cuphead upset scenario and controlled the match throughout. The writeup treats GTA V as clearly stronger than the rest of its historically weak contest franchise.

Persona 4 Golden led from the start but repeatedly needed outside support to repel Red Dead Redemption's pushes. The final score was close even though Red Dead never actually took the lead.

Rally: The writeup says Persona 4 Golden received repeated Reddit and Board 8 rally support, plus some rally spillover, and argues that the outside help likely made the difference in its narrow win.

Xenoblade Chronicles destroyed Overwatch and proved its first-round blowout was not merely a favorable same-fanbase matchup. The result established Xenoblade as the new favorite to win the division.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses beat Ori but again looked much weaker than expected. Combined with Xenoblade's simultaneous dominance, the result badly damaged Three Houses' status as the presumed division favorite.

The Witcher 3 obliterated Mass Effect 3 and looked increasingly untouchable in the lower half of the bracket. The writeup treats the scale of the rout as partly fanbase suppression and partly genuine elite strength.

SFF: The writeup says The Witcher 3 suppressed Mass Effect 3 through what became known as Western SFF, with their overlapping Western RPG audience making the blowout even larger.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 still won comfortably despite rally spillover helping Stardew Valley. The writeup treats both games as respectable while acknowledging that Galaxy 2's next Witcher matchup looked grim.

Rally: The writeup says rally traffic from the simultaneous match disproportionately boosted Stardew Valley and reduced Super Mario Galaxy 2's final margin.

Fallout: New Vegas beat Dark Souls III in a debated matchup where both sides attracted outside support. The stronger New Vegas rally helped preserve a result that still broadly matched pre-match expectations.

Rally: The writeup says both Dark Souls III and Fallout: New Vegas received organized rally support, with the New Vegas subreddit push ultimately proving much stronger.

God of War demolished Nioh and continued to look strong enough for a deep run. The writeup sees some fanbase overlap in the rout but still considers God of War's underlying performance impressive.

SFF: The writeup says Nioh was probably suppressed to some extent by God of War because both games appealed to overlapping PlayStation action audiences.

Persona 5 demolished Assassin's Creed IV and reinforced the series' emergence as a mainstream GameFAQs force. The result also made Witcher 3's earlier Assassin's Creed rout look less uniquely informative.

Sonic Mania unexpectedly routed Super Meat Boy in what had been treated as a close matchup. The writeup attributes part of the blowout to overlapping platformer support.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Sonic Mania versus Super Meat Boy an SFF match, arguing that the two platformers share enough audience for Sonic to suppress the indie game.

Portal 2 demolished Kingdom Hearts III and ended one of the more popular second-round upset picks. The writeup treats Kingdom Hearts III's disappointing reception as a major reason the series failed to retain its old strength.

Red Dead Redemption 2 comfortably beat Animal Crossing: New Leaf despite New Horizons hype giving the older Animal Crossing entry a theoretical boost. The match confirmed that RDR2 remained respectable even on a site hostile to Rockstar.

Dark Souls obliterated Rocket League and moved from strong contender to serious semifinal threat. The writeup treats the result as another clear sign that Souls had gained enormous respect since the prior games contest.

Metal Gear Solid V beat Yakuza 0 but looked weak enough to reinforce the franchise's decline. Yakuza's respectable showing also validated that its first-round success was not entirely opponent-driven.

Batman: Arkham City handled BioShock Infinite more comfortably than its shaky first round suggested. The writeup treats the result as a partial rebound for Batman and another sign of BioShock's decline.

The Last of Us beat Diablo III easily but still underperformed enough to damage its status as a likely division winner. The writeup focuses heavily on Diablo and Blizzard's damaged reputation while looking ahead to Dark Souls.

Skyrim routed Journey but looked weak compared with Witcher 3's earlier results. The match became the first major reason to doubt Skyrim's presumed path to the final.

Mario Kart 8 comfortably eliminated Final Fantasy XIV and continued rehabilitating its reputation after the Wii U era. The result also weakened the idea that Final Fantasy XIV's modern acclaim would translate into contest strength.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver crushed Rayman Legends and continued looking like a viable proxy for the much older Gold and Silver. The writeup treats the remake's legitimacy as increasingly hard to dispute.

NieR: Automata won comfortably while Divinity rallied hard enough to distort the final margin and later extrapolated standings. The push was visible but never made the match competitive.

Rally: The writeup says Divinity: Original Sin II mounted a significant Reddit rally after the opening and reduced the size of NieR: Automata's natural blowout, though it never threatened the winner.

Breath of the Wild destroyed Final Fantasy XV and completed three straight overwhelming wins. The writeup considers the result historically dominant while treating possible fanbase overlap as too uncertain to explain much.

Dragon Quest XI survived a spirited Monster Hunter rally and confirmed that its surprising contest strength was genuine. Monster Hunter still exited with more respect than expected.

Rally: The writeup says Monster Hunter: World mounted a meaningful rally that repeatedly cut into Dragon Quest XI's lead and reduced the final margin without seriously threatening the result.

Mass Effect 2 beat Horizon Zero Dawn despite rally spillover boosting Horizon. The underlying result kept Mass Effect favored for the division while also validating Horizon as stronger than expected.

Rally: The writeup says spillover from the simultaneous Bloodborne rally significantly favored Horizon Zero Dawn and lowered Mass Effect 2's final percentage.

Resident Evil 2 survived Bloodborne in the contest's defining close match after a major rally was curtailed midway through the poll. The writeup treats the moderation decision as the central reason Bloodborne failed to complete the upset.

Rally: The writeup says Bloodborne received a major subreddit rally that nearly swung the match, and that the moderators' decision to disallow rally threads midway through the poll was the decisive factor in Resident Evil 2 surviving.

Smash Ultimate crushed Spider-Man in a predictable divisional semifinal, but once again looked less dominant than Super Mario Odyssey. The comparison further fueled upset talk for their coming head-to-head match.

Super Mario Odyssey demolished Shovel Knight and produced a third straight performance that looked stronger than Smash Ultimate's. The writeup notes the conspicuous absence of the developer rally that had saved Shovel Knight previously.

Persona 4 Golden beat Grand Theft Auto V from wire to wire and completed another bracket-busting win without current-match rally assistance. The result established Persona 4 Golden as the contest's most surprising divisional finalist.

Xenoblade Chronicles crushed Fire Emblem: Three Houses and completed the collapse of the pre-contest division favorite. The writeup sees some same-audience suppression but puts more emphasis on anti-voting and Xenoblade's genuine rise.

SFF: The writeup says Three Houses was probably SFFed to some extent by Xenoblade Chronicles, although anti-Fire-Emblem voting and general overestimation are treated as larger factors.

The Witcher 3 beat Super Mario Galaxy 2 after a briefly entertaining opening and again looked stronger than expected. Galaxy 2 still performed well enough to confirm that its earlier blowouts were not purely weak-opponent artifacts.

God of War beat Fallout: New Vegas in a match that was never seriously in doubt, though New Vegas remained respectable. The result sent God of War into the division final with little hope of stopping Witcher 3.

Persona 5 annihilated Sonic Mania and continued to look like the clear class of its division. The writeup treats Sonic's run as mostly bracket-driven while emphasizing Persona's modern mainstream strength.

Portal 2 beat Red Dead Redemption 2 in a closer-looking divisional semifinal that remained under control for most of the day. The result validated Portal 2's hidden strength and ended the author's overconfidence in newer games.

Dark Souls repeated its 2015 win over Metal Gear Solid V with a much larger margin. The writeup treats the widening gap as a clean combination of Souls rising and Metal Gear declining.

The Last of Us beat Batman: Arkham City but again failed to look strong enough to threaten Dark Souls. The result left its popular pre-contest division-win pick effectively doomed.

Skyrim beat Mario Kart 8 but looked weak enough to become a serious target for later upset speculation. The writeup treats Mario Kart's prior SFF history as irrelevant to this current matchup.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver survived an initially close NieR: Automata challenge and pulled away once the early rally pressure faded. The result closed Round Three with Pokémon still looking surprisingly legitimate.

Rally: The writeup says NieR: Automata supporters had active rally efforts during the match, including the jokingly described hentai rallies, though those pushes never became large enough to overturn Pokémon.

Breath of the Wild comfortably beat Dragon Quest XI but finally fell well short of its earlier overwhelming percentages. The writeup treats the result as evidence that Dragon Quest XI was much stronger than the bracket had initially assumed.

Mass Effect 2 narrowly beat Resident Evil 2 in one of the most debated Round Four matches. The result validated Mass Effect as the natural division winner while ending Resident Evil 2's bandwagon.

Smash Ultimate beat Super Mario Odyssey despite Odyssey looking stronger in every prior round. The writeup treats the result as a hierarchy-driven same-fanbase matchup, with reverse SFF offered as the main explanation for the reversal.

SFF: Ulti explicitly argues that Smash Ultimate reverse-SFFed Super Mario Odyssey, while the broader writeup also treats Nintendo hierarchy and same-fanbase effects as central to why Smash won more comfortably than expected.

Xenoblade Chronicles survived Persona 4 Golden in the last truly great close match of the contest. Persona's rallies repeatedly cut the lead, and without the registered-user weighting Persona would have narrowly won.

Rally: The writeup says Persona 4 Golden received repeated and increasingly intense rally support throughout the match, culminating in a late push that nearly overturned Xenoblade's lead.

The Witcher 3 crushed God of War far more severely than expected and looked completely secure on its path to the final. The writeup attributes part of the rout to overlapping Western audiences while still crediting Witcher's genuine strength.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says some form of SFF occurred between The Witcher 3 and God of War because of their overlapping Western open-world audience, while warning that the effect was probably overestimated.

Persona 5 crushed Portal 2 after the opening minutes and won the division comfortably. A continuing Persona rally thread added a small boost but was not necessary to the result.

Rally: The writeup says the Persona subreddit maintained a rally thread and later redirected it toward Persona 5, giving Persona a small current-match boost even though the effect was not large.

The writeup is dominated by a lengthy discussion of The Last of Us Part II leaks and broader cultural arguments; the match itself is summarized as Dark Souls comfortably beating a badly damaged Last of Us.

Skyrim decisively beat Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver and finally delivered the strong performance its supporters had been waiting for. The result restored confidence that Skyrim was still a legitimate late-round game.

Breath of the Wild doubled Mass Effect 2 in the quarterfinals and maintained one of the most dominant game-contest runs ever. The writeup treats Dragon Quest XI's prior resistance as newly impressive in hindsight.

Smash Ultimate comfortably ended Xenoblade's surprise run and advanced to the semifinal. Although some observers called the result SFF, the writeup explicitly questions whether meaningful suppression occurred and emphasizes Xenoblade's bandwagon instead.

The Witcher 3 beat Persona 5 after an entertaining opening and confirmed that even a major Persona push was not enough to threaten it. The result sent Witcher into the semifinal looking almost untouchable.

Rally: The writeup says Persona 5 rallied heavily from the opening and received roughly hundreds of outside votes, though The Witcher 3 repeatedly absorbed the pushes and pulled away.

Skyrim and Dark Souls stayed nearly even for the opening hours before Skyrim's stronger morning vote finally created separation. The writeup treats it as the last genuinely competitive match of the contest and a strong final showing for Dark Souls.

Breath of the Wild demolished Smash Ultimate in a semifinal and continued its run of overwhelming late-round victories. Even accounting for heavy Nintendo SFF, the writeup treats the performance as extraordinary.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Breath of the Wild versus Smash Ultimate a bad case of SFF, with Zelda's place atop the Nintendo hierarchy suppressing Smash.

The Witcher 3 beat Skyrim comfortably in the semifinal after spending the entire contest steadily overturning pre-contest expectations. The writeup attributes Witcher's rise to several reinforcing factors, including Netflix exposure, broader respect, Switch availability and Bethesda fatigue, while treating possible SFF as only speculative.

Breath of the Wild completed its dominant championship run, but Witcher 3's rally made the final substantially more respectable than the opening suggested. The writeup treats Witcher as the contest's breakout star even in defeat.

Rally: The writeup says Witcher 3 fans rallied heavily throughout the final and materially cut Breath of the Wild's natural margin, even though the rally never put the winner in danger.