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Crono erased Mega Man's lead, survived a long stretch of back-and-forth voting, and finally won a close match late. The writeup celebrates the result as rare clutch success for a character associated with painful contest losses.

Mega Man reversed his earlier loss to Pikachu and controlled the rematch after the opening minutes. The writeup calls the revenge satisfying but less meaningful because it happened in the losers bracket.

Mega Man routed Ganondorf in the losers bracket and made the pre-match expectations look far too conservative. The writeup spends much of its analysis rejecting claims that Ganondorf's sprite picture caused the poor result.

Pikachu beat Mega Man in a record-setting wire-to-wire thriller after multiple lead changes and a final late push. The writeup treats the result as the first clean 24-hour 1v1 Noble Nine break, even though Mega Man won the raw vote before registered-user weighting.

Mega Man briefly led and genuinely threatened Samus, but Samus eventually took control and won the semifinal. Red remained competitive enough to finish a strong contest run despite the Nintendo-heavy field.

SFF: The writeup explicitly attributes the result to Mega Man's heavy Nintendo-adjacent overlap in a match with Samus and Red.

Mega Man survived both Zero's overlap and Charizard's late lead, then completed a furious final push to take the match. The writeup remembers the finish as the long-awaited close-match breakthrough for a character with years of contest heartbreak.

LFF · Rally: The writeup says Zero clearly drained Mega Man through their heavy overlap. It also describes a massive late Mega Man fan rally that overturned Charizard's lead in the final minutes.

Mega Man delivered another clean top-seed performance, while Jill beat the declining Kratos for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. The writeup treats Jill's placement as an upset only by seed rather than by actual strength.

Mega Man weathered Magikarp's pre-planned push and then dominated, while Geno was crushed into last. The result became the first major test of Mega Man against the contest's Pokémon rally threat.

Rally: The writeup says Magikarp entered the match with a pre-planned rally and briefly stayed even with Mega Man before the favorite pulled away.

Mega Man's excellent run made the divisional final look more interesting than it had pre-contest, but Mario still won as expected. The writeup treats the result as another example of Mario resisting would-be upsets regardless of surrounding form.

Mega Man produced a third straight performance far above the writeup's expectations and overwhelmed Ryu Hayabusa. Rather than settling on SFF or picture factor, the writeup treats the streak itself as proof that Mega Man had returned near his old strength.

Mega Man exceeded expectations against a legitimate Zack and reinforced the impression that his series had returned to stronger form. The writeup treats the result as a major statement rather than a routine advancement.

Mega Man handled Cid comfortably and continued a broader rebound for the Mega Man cast. The writeup uses the result to argue that Mega Man had returned close to his old contest strength.

Snake controlled the match, while Mega Man and Weighted Companion Cube fought for the other advancing spot. The Cube's late surge completed another inanimate-object upset and ended Mega Man's run.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says Weighted Companion Cube rallied during its fight with Mega Man, producing the decisive swing that carried the Cube into the next round.

Mega Man and Weighted Companion Cube advanced in an anticlimactic match whose outcome settled almost immediately. The Cube now looked less like a volatile joke rally and more like a stable, legitimately dangerous entrant.

Mega Man and Nero advanced in a match the writeup considered almost completely predetermined. The only real takeaway was how little the Brawl-backed Nintendo fodder could do.

Cloud and Samus advanced through a quarterfinal that played out almost exactly as expected. The lasting story was Mega Man's poor showing, which ended any serious argument that he still belonged alongside Samus.

Samus and Mega Man produced a dramatic early duel before Samus eventually established control, while Yoshi and Scorpion fell away. The result strengthened the case that Samus had moved clearly ahead of Mega Man despite the unfavorable Nintendo overlap.

LFF: The writeup says Yoshi's Nintendo support hurt Samus more than Mega Man, making their early first-place battle much tighter than it otherwise would have been.

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.

Mega Man took the expected first place, but the real story was KOS-MOS advancing while Diablo and Arthas split overlapping support. The writeup treats the result as the match that taught Board 8 how LFF worked in four-way polls.

LFF: The writeup says Diablo and Arthas weakened each other by sharing the same Blizzard fanbase, allowing KOS-MOS to advance despite neither Blizzard entrant being individually helpless.

Snake decisively reversed his old history against Mega Man after Mega's earlier warning signs finally became impossible to dismiss. The writeup treats the upset as the moment the Year of the Snake fully arrived and Mega Man's long-term decline became a serious concern.

Mega Man beat Sora, but his performance deteriorated badly as the match progressed and the Kingdom Hearts day vote arrived. The writeup treats this as the match that fully exposed Mega Man's decline before his meeting with Snake.

Mega Man beat Ryu, but his steady loss of ground was another warning that his old strength was fading. The writeup says people initially blamed the poor showing partly on his bad picture, only realizing later that the decline was real.

Mega Man beat Axel, but his strong early showing steadily deteriorated once the morning and daytime votes arrived. The writeup treats the decline as an overlooked warning of the much larger collapse that would become obvious later.

Crono beat Mega Man in a close-looking semifinal without ever facing a sustained comeback threat. The writeup argues that the narrow margin did little to suggest Crono could stop the much stronger-looking Mario in the final.

Sonic and Mega Man traded control in one of the contest's defining close matches, with Sonic twice appearing ready to take over before losing momentum. The writeup ultimately frames Mega Man's narrow win as another painful Sonic choke in a rivalry between nearly equal icons.

Mega Man easily dispatched Yoshi and ended the divisional round. The writeup attributes Yoshi's underperformance partly to SFF and uses that result to swing the coming Sonic-Mega Man debate toward Mega Man.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Mega Man likely SFFed Yoshi because voters associate Mega Man strongly with Nintendo-era games.

Mega Man won comfortably, but Leon performed much better than older Resident Evil comparisons suggested. The writeup treats Leon's showing as evidence that previous statistics had badly understated the series.

Mega Man crushed Conker but slipped below the performance the writeup wanted from him, giving new life to Sonic supporters. The result was treated mainly as an imperfect preview of their eventual divisional clash.

Link demolished Mega Man and effectively ended any remaining uncertainty about the contest favorite. The writeup attributes part of the rout to SFF but argues that Link's broader rise in strength was the more important story.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says there was a definite degree of SFF in Link's overwhelming win over Mega Man, though it argues Link's own rise mattered even more.

Mega Man beat Solid Snake in a repeat of the previous year's divisional final, with the writeup treating Snake's showing as another major flop. It also mocks the persistent tendency to underestimate Mega Man in bracket predictions.

Mega Man beat Zero as expected, but Zero resisted far better than a typical same-family opponent. The writeup argues that their distinct series fanbases may explain why the anticipated SFF barely appeared and why Mega Man looked vulnerable afterward.

Mega Man demolished Tidus far more decisively than most of Board 8 expected, vindicating Heroic Mario's unusually confident prediction. The writeup treats Tidus's collapse as one of the contest's hardest results to explain.

Mega Man comfortably defeated Earthworm Jim, though the writeup spends much of its time celebrating Jim as a welcome contest newcomer and fan favorite. It ultimately judges Mega Man's showing impressive rather than weak.

Sephiroth dominated Mega Man in a rematch that had been nearly even one year earlier. The writeup treats the dramatic swing as some of the strongest evidence for the Kingdom Hearts Factor before the all-FF7 championship match.

Mega Man beat Snake in a steady match that produced little drama but finally sent him back to Sephiroth for a rematch of their near-upset from 2002. The writeup treats the coming Final Four as far more interesting than the match itself.

Mega Man demolished Vercetti and completed the collapse of the pre-contest hype that once had Vercetti winning the division. The writeup treats the match as an easy tune-up before Mega Man's real test against Snake.

Mega Man beat Zelda without the usual overwhelming dominance associated with his early contest career. The writeup considered the result mildly disappointing while allowing that Zelda's strength may simply have been underestimated.

Mega Man annihilated Mr. Resetti, yet the writeup remembers the performance as a strange disappointment because expectations after 2002 were even more extreme. The match closed a first round full of upsets and inflated newcomer hype.

Mega Man built a surprising early lead on Sephiroth before Sephiroth reversed the match and pulled away late. The writeup considers it one of the contest's best fights, but one overshadowed by the famous matches immediately before and after it.

Mega Man followed his first-round destruction with another extraordinary blowout, this time against an entrant who had already won a match. The writeup remembers this as the point when he became the contest's breakout star and a credible threat to Sephiroth.

Mega Man produced an unprecedented blowout that immediately elevated him from a respected entrant to one of the contest's major threats. Attention quickly shifted to whether he could reproduce that dominance against Sephiroth.