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Mega Man and Yoshi advanced with little suspense after Knuckles's weak opening-round showing had already killed most of the debate. Knuckles again disappointed and never seriously threatened Yoshi.

Samus dominated while Scorpion comfortably secured the other advancing spot. Midna's earlier weakness and the Nintendo vote drain from Samus left her with little realistic path forward.

LFF: The writeup says Samus drained Nintendo support from Midna, worsening Midna's position against the outside contenders.

Cloud dominated as expected, while the real contest was a three-way fight for the other advancing position. Marcus Fenix used his strong daytime trend to erase Ocelot's advantage and complete the comeback.

Auron looked excellent, but the lasting story was Ryu beating Bowser again even after the Nintendo overlap from their earlier meeting was gone. The writeup finds the result difficult to explain beyond the volatility of the four-way format.

Sephiroth and Fox advanced exactly as expected in a match the writeup considers almost completely predetermined. Sephiroth nevertheless looked especially strong against a field otherwise composed entirely of Nintendo characters.

Mario cruised while Big Boss demolished Magus for the other advancing spot. The writeup treats the newly revealed Naked Snake picture as the defining factor that transformed expectations before the poll even began.

Pic: The writeup calls Big Boss's Naked Snake image one of the clearest picture-factor examples, saying the strong recognizable picture helped turn the matchup against Magus decisively in Big Boss's favor.

Link and Vincent ultimately advanced comfortably, but Bidoof briefly turned the match into chaos by challenging Vincent early and even beating Link in the opening vote. The writeup remembers the surge as one of the contest's most surreal joke-character moments.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup attributes Bidoof's extraordinary early surge to suspected offsite rallying, especially from 4chan, and also records suspicions of vote stuffing.

Crono and Zero advanced as expected, but Zero stayed close enough to make Crono look vulnerable before his anticipated showdown with Vincent. Raiden also emerged as a major disappointment after failing to separate convincingly from HK-47.

Mudkip turned the opening hours into a genuine scare by leading the Nintendo favorites, but Ganondorf recovered overnight and Luigi's morning vote erased Mudkip's remaining advantage. The writeup treats the match as proof that joke characters could no longer be dismissed.

Master Chief followed his strong opening round with an even more convincing performance against improved competition. The writeup treats him as the clear star of the contest to that point and a heavy favorite to take the division.

Dante ran away with first, while Amaterasu, Ada and Balthier spent much of the match in a tight fight for the other advancing spot. Amaterasu eventually emerged from what the writeup remembers as a genuine upset and one of the round's better races.

Leon won comfortably while Pikachu capitalized on the divided Square field to advance again. The writeup presents Tidus and Vivi as holding each other back and turning Pikachu's favorable draw into another survival.

LFF: The writeup says Vivi and Tidus split Square support badly enough that neither could catch Pikachu, allowing the outside Pokémon entrant to take the second advancing spot.

Kratos took first, but the important result was L-Block advancing again while Kirby was weakened by Donkey Kong. The writeup marks this as the point when L-Block stopped looking like a harmless joke and became a serious contest threat.

LFF: The writeup explicitly says Donkey Kong drained Nintendo support from Kirby, costing Kirby the advancing spot and allowing L-Block to move on.

Snake advanced easily, while Riku reversed his opening-round loss to Ryu Hayabusa and took the other spot. The writeup treats the reversal as another example of how unreliable direct comparisons could become in the four-way format.

Squall took control immediately, while Sora decisively reversed his old loss to Aeris. Aeris nearly fell behind Lara as well, making the writeup treat the result as a sharp confirmation of her decline.

LFF: The writeup argues that Squall's presence hurt fellow Square entrant Aeris far more than Sora, helping Sora reverse their old matchup and advance comfortably.

Sonic crushed Sub-Zero much more convincingly than in their opening-round meeting after his Smash announcement changed the atmosphere around him. The writeup still finds the surrounding results too inconsistent to decide whether Sonic had truly returned to elite form.