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Sonic followed Link's dominant showing with another overwhelming win over obvious fodder. The writeup says there was little reason at the time to doubt that Sonic belonged with the contest's elite characters.

Sonic beat Tidus more comfortably than some upset-minded observers expected and remained an elite contender. The writeup attributes Tidus's ability to avoid a worse defeat largely to his Square affiliation despite his personal unpopularity.

Samus erased what had looked like a decisive late Sonic lead and won after an extraordinary closing surge. The match triggered a massive backlash, outside vote recruitment on both sides, cheating suspicions, and lasting changes to how contest results were followed.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Samus and Sonic supporters spammed for votes across the internet, chat rooms, buddy lists, and gaming chats. It also says many users suspected cheating behind Samus's extraordinary late comeback despite CJayC stating that no cheating was detected.

Sonic beat a badly underseeded Ken without serious trouble, though his slow start created some concern among people hoping he could challenge Cloud. The writeup ultimately viewed the performance as acceptable given Ken's strength.

Sonic beat Zero but looked dramatically weaker than expected as Zero steadily cut into what began as a comfortable advantage. The writeup calls it a Pyrrhic victory that effectively ended serious Sonic-over-Cloud hopes.

Sonic narrowly held off Aeris in another performance that confirmed how far he had slipped from his pre-2002 reputation. Aeris's strong resistance made an upcoming Sonic win over Cloud look extremely unlikely.

Cloud turned a briefly hopeful Sonic challenge into a devastating rout, confirming Sonic's decline and dramatically raising expectations for Cloud against Link. The writeup treats this as the point where Cloud's 2003 strength became impossible to dismiss.

Sonic comfortably crushed Terry Bogard in another predetermined first-round match. The writeup's greater interest is that the Chaos Division finally introduced a section of the bracket with genuine uncertainty about later rounds.

Sonic beat Ryu without serious danger, but the writeup saw the performance as insufficient to threaten a surging Samus. The result reinforced the sense that Sonic had remained steady while Samus had improved.

Sonic beat Dante in another predictable Chaos match and briefly renewed hope that he could challenge Samus. The writeup immediately tempers that optimism by pointing to Dante's poor picture as a possible reason for Sonic's apparent overperformance.

Pic: The writeup says Dante's match picture was exceptionally poor and suggests it may explain why Sonic performed better than the old projections expected.

Samus decisively settled her famous rivalry with Sonic after their controversial classic two years earlier. The writeup credits Samus's run of new games and Sonic's stagnation, while dismissing excuses for the lopsided rematch.

Sonic easily beat Jin, but Jin held up better than an unsupported newcomer was expected to. The writeup treats the result as mildly concerning for Sonic ahead of the anticipated Mega Man showdown.

Sonic won an otherwise routine match that mainly served as a measuring stick for his coming clash with Mega Man. Diablo's performance improved after a Diabloii.net link appeared, reinforcing the writeup's view that outside-site support mattered to him.

Rally: The writeup says Diablo improved noticeably after Diabloii.net finally posted a link to the poll, costing Sonic about a percentage point and confirming that outside-site support was part of Diablo's strength.

Sonic shook off Tifa's early resistance and pulled away once his morning vote arrived. The writeup treats the match mostly as a final setup for the much less predictable Sonic-Mega Man quarterfinal.

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.

Sonic steamrolled perennial fodder CATS after the customary brief opening lead. The writeup discusses the familiar CATS picture debate but ultimately says the hybrid image makes the result too ambiguous for useful conclusions.

Sonic beat Vincent in a match whose final closeness overstated the actual danger, since Sonic controlled it from early on. Vincent nevertheless gained more Noble Nine breaker hype, while Sonic's own prospects against the bracket's elite took a hit.

Sonic beat Luigi without difficulty and brought Luigi's surprising earlier run back down to earth. The writeup uses the result mainly to question how much Kirby and especially Zero had really shown in losing to Luigi.

Crono built a strong overnight lead, only for Sonic's daytime strength to erase it and carry Sonic to a major bracket upset. The writeup treats the enormous swing as the overdue punishment for Crono's chronic weakness outside the night vote.

After an erroneous opening poll was restarted, Snake took firm control and never let Sonic seriously threaten the result. Sonic recovered respectability during the day, but the writeup treats the win as the latest proof of Snake's remarkable 2006 surge.

Sonic and Sub-Zero advanced comfortably, but Sonic's performance was far weaker than expected for a Noble Nine character. The writeup treats it as another warning that the Sonic cast was declining badly.

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.

Sonic held off Squall for first, but Squall remained unexpectedly competitive despite sharing support with Sora. The writeup treats Sonic's narrow-looking advantage as another sign that four-way matches exposed his weaknesses.

LFF: The writeup says Sora drained enough Square support from Squall that Squall probably would have beaten Sonic without Sora in the poll.

L-Block led from the opening minutes and held off a long Snake comeback to take first. The writeup identifies this as the match where the joke entrant became a genuine Internet-backed force capable of defeating Noble Nine characters.

Rally: The writeup describes L-Block's growing Internet support as an active rally and says a late counter-push helped stop Snake's comeback.

Sonic won comfortably, but Sandbag's comeback against Magus supplied the real drama. The upset confirmed both Magus's long-running reputation for disappointing and the continuing power of joke entrants.

Rally: The writeup says Sandbag's comeback went beyond a normal daytime trend and identifies a rally as the reason the joke entrant surged past Magus.

Auron decisively beat Sonic in one of the contest's most shocking strength results, even though the format still allowed Sonic to advance. The writeup treats the performance as a genuine breach in the Noble Nine's aura.

Sephiroth and Sonic advanced in a match the writeup considered essentially predetermined once Auron shared the field with Sephiroth. Sonic's solid showing quieted some of the criticism generated by his earlier loss.

SFF: The writeup says Sephiroth SFFed fellow Final Fantasy entrant Auron badly, preventing Auron from reproducing his prior win over Sonic.

Kirby delivered another major shock by advancing ahead of Sonic, whose long decline finally produced a costly elimination. The writeup treats Sonic's failure as the culmination of years of warning signs rather than a random fluke.

Sonic defeated a character whose game had not yet released in North America, but looked much weaker than expected while doing it. The showing immediately triggered serious talk of Ganondorf or Kirby breaking the Noble Nine.

Sonic comfortably suppressed Knuckles and used the result to undercut the idea that single-series favorite polls translate directly into contest matchups. Knuckles's brief early lead supplied the only real drama.

SFF: The writeup says Sonic easily SFFed Knuckles despite Knuckles having won an old Sonic-series favorite poll.

Years of Ganondorf-over-Sonic upset hype collapsed when Sonic controlled the match from the start. The writeup treats the result as a major correction to the idea that four-way contests had revealed Sonic to be much weaker.

Sonic beat Kirby comfortably and completed the collapse of years of hype that Ganondorf or Kirby might break the Noble Nine through him. The writeup treats Sonic as restored to roughly his traditional place.

Link crushed Sonic far more severely than a normal Noble Nine matchup suggested, restoring his aura of invincibility. The writeup views fanbase suppression as an important part of why the gap became so extreme.

SFF: The writeup endorses SFF as a plausible explanation for Link's unusually severe beating of Sonic, noting that Link looked invincible mainly against overlapping characters such as Luigi and Sonic.

Sonic's easy win receives little attention because the writeup mostly turns into a lengthy ranking and discussion of Street Fighter IV characters.

Sonic cruised while Barret only narrowly separated from Dracula for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. The weak Barret showing became another warning that Final Fantasy VII's decline had reached well beyond Cloud.

Mewtwo crushed Sonic in a result made even more shocking by Sonic's failure to mount his usual daytime comeback. The win turned Mewtwo into the preferred anti-Draven hope for the remainder of the contest.

Rally: The writeup says rally spillover from the Link-Draven battle materially boosted Mewtwo, with Zen arguing that Sonic probably wins without that outside support.

Sonic beat Auron without serious danger, but the writeup considers the showing weak for a Noble Nine character. Auron's respectable resistance reinforced doubts about Sonic's 2018 form.

Zelda demolished Sonic in the largest of the contest's Noble Nine-breaking results. The writeup treats Zelda as plainly stronger rather than rally-assisted and calls the loss one of Sonic's worst career performances.

Solid Snake beat Sonic more decisively than Zelda had, reigniting arguments about the usefulness of extrapolated statistics after Zelda had beaten Snake directly. The writeup uses the result to emphasize that individual matchups do not obey clean transitive logic.