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Mario defeated Morrigan without serious trouble, yet the writeup viewed it as a second straight underwhelming performance compared with the contest's other elite characters. Cloud's next result therefore took on added importance for their expected meeting.

Aya stunned Donkey Kong with an early lead before he recovered and completed the contest's first major comeback. The writeup remembers the match for establishing both Donkey Kong's inconsistency and the early legend of Nintendo's morning vote.

Alucard followed his surprise win over Tails by beating Duke even more convincingly, turning an obscure entrant into an unexpected divisional semifinalist. The writeup also notes that weak opposition had helped make the run possible.

Cloud overwhelmed Pikachu and looked substantially stronger than Mario had through the same stage of the bracket. The match also became notable for Solarshadow's early vote-tracking work, a precursor to later poll-update culture.

Lara beat Ryo in an uneventful match, but once again failed to look like a true top seed against weak opposition. The writeup treats the result as another warning that stronger East Division entrants were likely to expose her.

Crono turned a heavily anticipated close match with Dante into an easy victory. The writeup says the result revealed how misleading their superficially similar first-round performances had been and made Crono a serious threat to Lara.

Aeris received an unexpectedly easy path after Tina eliminated Gordon Freeman and took full advantage of it. The writeup views her low seed as misleading and her trip to the divisional semifinals as well deserved.

Minor Knuckles upset hype disappeared almost immediately as Solid Snake controlled the match from the start. The writeup treats the result as confirmation that Snake belonged among the contest's serious contenders.

Pac-Man won another match that was never seriously in doubt, but the writeup saw his performance as further proof that he was badly overseeded. His weak half of the division still appeared likely to protect him from consequences.

Scorpion demolished heavily favored Max Payne after most of the board misread their first-round blowouts. The writeup treats the result as both a major surprise and evidence that mainstream popularity did not translate cleanly to GameFAQs.

Jill handled Bomberman without much suspense after already surviving the more dangerous Kirby matchup. The writeup says her two wins helped cement her as a recurring contest presence.

Link crushed Strider in a match the writeup considered completely predetermined. The main takeaway was that Link looked like one of the strongest title favorites while facing little meaningful resistance in his division.

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.

Ryu was a fashionable upset pick before the contest, but Samus controlled their match from the start. The result confirmed that her earlier win over Ken was not misleading and sent her toward an expected meeting with Sonic.

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.

Sephiroth easily eliminated the much higher-seeded Crash and left no doubt that their seeds had badly misstated their relative strength. The writeup treats the match mainly as the final setup for the anticipated Mega Man showdown.

Link opened the second round by overwhelming Fox and reinforcing his status as the contest favorite. The writeup acknowledges heavy Nintendo SFF but says the performance still looked dominant enough to keep repeat-title expectations intact.

SFF: The writeup explicitly treats Link's rout of fellow Nintendo entrant Fox as an SFF result, while arguing that the size of the win remained impressive despite the overlap.

Magus survived a dramatic Ganondorf comeback after his early lead nearly vanished during the morning vote. The razor-thin win punctured the enormous Magus-versus-Link hype even as it produced one of the contest's most memorable close matches.

Squall stunned the overwhelmingly favored Luigi and immediately turned a normal match into one of Board 8's largest explosions. The upset generated extraordinary cheating accusations and permanently changed both characters' contest reputations.

Cheat: The writeup says Squall's upset of Luigi triggered cheating accusations on a scale rivaling any match in contest history, alongside mass account suicides, trolling, and other board chaos.

Samus decisively ended the brief KOS-MOS hype created by her first-round upset of Crash. The writeup saw the win as a partial recovery from Samus's disappointing opener and as evidence that Squall was unlikely to upset her next.

Cloud comfortably dismissed Auron in a match some had hoped could produce a same-company upset. Instead, the writeup says conventional SFF took over and strengthened the case that Cloud sat near the top of Square's hierarchy.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Cloud's victory over fellow Final Fantasy entrant Auron as an SFF beating that overwhelmed any hoped-for reverse-SFF upset effect.

Bowser quickly erased Yoshi's brief opening lead and won a matchup most of the board had expected Yoshi to take. The writeup treats the result as both an upset of prevailing assumptions and a clear SFF performance.

SFF: The writeup says Bowser caught Yoshi and then laid an SFF beatdown on him, overturning expectations built from an earlier favorite-Mario-character poll.

Aeris comfortably beat a Master Chief whose narrow escape against Felix had already destroyed most upset expectations. Chief showed some resistance after a terrible start, but the writeup treats the match mainly as another strong Aeris fourpack win.

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.

Mario beat Shadow but performed so poorly that the result immediately fueled Crono upset talk. The writeup speculates that a reverse-SFF effect may explain Shadow's unusually strong showing, but treats the mechanism as uncertain.

Crono obliterated a Kefka whose first-round struggle had already ended most upset expectations. The unusually severe result sparked arguments about Square SFF and set up the heavily anticipated Mario-Crono rematch.

SFF: The writeup retrospectively treats Crono's blowout of Kefka as an SFF match, while noting that Square SFF was still disputed and poorly understood at the time.

Alucard won a heavily debated match with Kirby after an almost even opening. Though the final result looked close, the writeup says Alucard established control almost immediately and captured his fourpack for a second straight year.

Sephiroth demolished Max Payne in a match the writeup considered almost entirely predetermined. Its main significance was completing the path toward the long-awaited Mario-Crono-Sephiroth endgame in the South.

Snake comfortably beat Knuckles in the first rematch in Character Battle history, producing little suspense because the same matchup had already ended decisively the year before. The writeup treats Knuckles as another stepping stone toward Snake's eventual Mega Man test.

Ryu upset a Dante whom both the board and bracket field had largely treated as the obvious winner. The writeup remembers it as a surprisingly quiet upset because Ryu stayed in control and the board generated little outrage.

Vercetti and Donkey Kong traded the lead repeatedly in one of the era's best seesaw matches before Vercetti finally pulled away with the evening vote. The near-upset completed Vercetti's fall from supposed contender to obvious overhype.

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.

Super Mario Bros. 3 demolished Metroid and reclaimed the apparent favorite's position in the old-school division. The writeup treats the result as a straightforward show of strength before the eventual clash with Zelda.

Final Fantasy handled Contra convincingly and continued to look stronger than its place in the bracket suggested. The writeup emphasizes how much faith bracketmakers placed in the Final Fantasy name and builds anticipation for its meeting with Mario 3.

The Legend of Zelda flattened Donkey Kong and extended the series' unbeaten, dominant start. The writeup portrays Donkey Kong as an especially unreliable Nintendo property and says the result made an all-Zelda late bracket feel increasingly plausible.

Tetris comfortably beat Pong in an otherwise forgettable match. The writeup remembers the poll primarily for the widely loved paddle-versus-block match picture and for another weak turnout in a division already viewed as filler before the heavyweights met.

Chrono Trigger beat Super Mario RPG but again lost substantial strength during the day. The writeup says the recurring pattern kept alive doubts about Chrono Trigger's ability to survive stronger opponents later in the division.

Super Mario World crushed Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in a matchup many had expected to become the classic Mario-Sonic duel. The writeup treats the decisive result as proof that Mario World was a genuine threat to Chrono Trigger.

A Link to the Past demolished Super Metroid and delivered another startlingly strong Zelda result. The writeup says the margin transformed widespread Zelda confidence into genuine concern that the series might overwhelm the entire contest.

Final Fantasy VI handled Doom as expected, but the important story was how closely its apparent strength now matched Chrono Trigger and A Link to the Past. The writeup says the division had become a genuine multi-game race rather than the expected two-game collision.

Final Fantasy VII overwhelmed Xenogears in another routine step toward the expected Ocarina of Time showdown. The writeup treats the only real drama as measuring how convincingly the tournament favorite could dispatch familiar Square opposition.

Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy Tactics traded tiny leads throughout an exceptionally tight match before Metal Gear Solid escaped at the end. The writeup considers the finish controversial because a large site advertisement and a suspicious late vote jump left the author unwilling to treat the result as fully credible.

Cheat: The writeup calls Metal Gear Solid's late push suspicious, questions the credibility of the final result, and says the unexplained last-minute vote jump should have been investigated, while acknowledging there was no proof of cheating.

GoldenEye comfortably beat Symphony of the Night and ended the elaborate pre-match debate over that portion of the bracket. The writeup says Castlevania's earlier struggle with Perfect Dark had already revealed the mismatch and confirms GoldenEye as the clearly stronger property.

Ocarina of Time crushed the highly regarded Super Mario 64 and added another emphatic result to Zelda's unbeaten run. The writeup treats the same-fanbase matchup as evidence that Ocarina might be closer to Final Fantasy VII than earlier results had suggested.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Ocarina of Time versus fellow Nintendo icon Super Mario 64 as a match riddled with SFF when comparing it with Final Fantasy VII's same-round result.

StarCraft beat Kingdom Hearts from start to finish and proved that its Halo victory had not been a fluke. The writeup casts Kingdom Hearts as the contest's biggest disappointment and StarCraft as a fanbase that could no longer be dismissed as a novelty upset.

The Wind Waker beat Metroid Prime after the two Nintendo games stayed relatively close until the morning vote created separation. The writeup views the SFF matchup and weak turnout as further signs that Wind Waker was the vulnerable member of Zelda's otherwise dominant contest run.

SFF: The writeup groups Wind Waker versus fellow Nintendo title Metroid Prime with the contest's other SFF matches while discussing its unusually weak turnout.

Final Fantasy X beat Tactics Advance as expected but again failed to deliver the dominant performance its supporters wanted. The writeup says the result deepened the sense that Division 128 had no trustworthy favorite.

Super Smash Bros. Melee pulled away from Vice City after an early deadlock and survived another difficult matchup. The writeup gives Vice City credit but says the weak turnout and Melee's repeated struggles left the division without an obvious favorite.

Link annihilated Ganondorf so thoroughly that the writeup treats the result as both a historic SFF extreme and a championship statement. Ganondorf's standalone strength effectively vanished against the flagship character of his own series.

SFF: The writeup calls Link's destruction of fellow Zelda character Ganondorf the largest SFF beating yet seen, arguing that Ganondorf's normal strength was almost completely suppressed by Link.

Yoshi beat Luigi in a heavily debated Nintendo matchup that ultimately followed the available statistical clues more closely than the hype suggested. The writeup calls the result disappointingly predictable despite the same-fanbase conditions.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Yoshi versus Luigi as an SFF affair between Nintendo characters, though it notes that older extrapolated standings still predicted the matchup unusually well.

Crono crushed Magus in a matchup the writeup considers another casualty of the company-based bracket. Magus briefly led with Board 8 support, but the eventual SFF blowout left no useful opportunity to test his real strength.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Magus was hit by SFF against fellow Chrono Trigger character Crono, making the lopsided result a poor measure of Magus's standalone strength.

Mario routed Bowser in another predetermined Hyrule Division matchup, with the writeup again criticizing the bracket for sacrificing strong villains to company-based pairings. The result's main use was as an imperfect SFF comparison before Mario met Crono.

SFF: The writeup says Bowser was SFF'd heavily by Mario in their same-franchise matchup, and treats the result mainly as a distorted comparison point for the upcoming Mario-Crono rematch.

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.

Zero handled Vercetti almost exactly as Board 8 expected in a match the writeup calls one of the contest's dullest. Its main significance was completing the obvious setup for Mega Man versus Zero.

Frog survived Master Chief in an all-time classic filled with huge momentum swings and a frantic finish. The writeup celebrates the drama while also arguing that outside Halo promotion and rampant multi-voting make the true result impossible to separate cleanly from the controversy.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Halo sites linked to the poll during Master Chief's comeback, creating an outside rally. It also explicitly describes blatant multi-voting on both sides, especially in the final hour.

Solid Snake beat Knuckles yet again, but the writeup is mostly exasperated that the same second-round pairing kept recurring. Knuckles looked better than in their earlier meetings, leaving open whether he improved or Snake declined.

Cloud disposed of Vyse exactly as expected, leaving little to discuss beyond comparisons with Link. The writeup argues that merely meeting expectations was no longer enough because Link had been exceeding his own.

Squall beat Kirby in another predictable Midgar match, though Kirby performed better than expected. The writeup's main curiosity is that Squall only began separating after the match picture appeared.

Pic: The writeup says Kirby and Squall were dead even before the match picture appeared, after which Squall began pulling away, and explicitly suggests that the picture may have mattered.

Auron beat Ness in a result everyone expected, but Ness performed better than the old projections suggested. The writeup treats the outcome as another example of the bracket making individual strength difficult to interpret.

Sephiroth beat Vivi comfortably, but Vivi held up better than many expected against a fellow Square entrant. The writeup uses the result to argue that Square fanbases are less easily compressed than Nintendo fanbases.

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.

Dante eliminated Tails in a match the writeup considered completely predictable and largely uninteresting. Its only real distinction was finally carrying Dante beyond the second round.

Sora turned a matchup many expected Ryu Hayabusa to control into one of the contest's biggest surprises. The writeup treats the decisive win as proof that Sora had made an enormous jump in strength since the previous year.

Samus annihilated Sam Fisher so thoroughly that early voters briefly suspected a broken poll. The writeup treats the blowout as confirmation that Samus was surging and had become the clear favorite to take the Chaos division.

Bowser crushed Sigma and deepened the sense that the villains contest was producing strength patterns unlike prior character contests. The writeup treats Sigma as one of the event's biggest disappointments and Bowser as increasingly formidable.

Revolver Ocelot beat Dr. Wily more comfortably than the pre-match debate suggested, turning another hyped matchup into a dud. The writeup focuses less on Ocelot's strength than on Wily joining the growing list of disappointing Mega Man entrants.

Sephiroth buried Vergil in a match whose result the writeup considered completely predetermined. Vergil had fulfilled his bracket role by beating Ghaleon, and this round offered no sign that Sephiroth would later encounter trouble.

Liquid Snake defeated Lavos, but Lavos pushed him hard enough to undermine the lofty strength implied by the previous year's extrapolated standings. The writeup uses the match as a case study in how transitive statistical adjustments can produce misleading rankings.

Kefka demolished Wesker and erased the upset hype that had surrounded the matchup before the contest. The writeup calls it one of Kefka's best performances and says his unusually favorable picture may have contributed.

Pic: The writeup says Kefka received an exceptionally strong picture and suggests it was partly responsible for his unusually dominant performance against Wesker.

Bison and Diablo traded momentum through one of the contest's few genuinely competitive matches before Diablo finally broke away. The writeup emphasizes Bison's determined comeback attempt and Diablo's even stronger response once the afternoon vote arrived.

Ganondorf crushed Ansem as expected, though the writeup thought the favorite should have looked even stronger after Ansem's struggle with CATS. Much of the discussion blames Ganondorf's pig-form picture for the comparatively disappointing showing.

Pic: The writeup says Ganondorf's pig-like Ganon picture was widely blamed for an underperformance against Ansem, hurting the favorite despite the easy win.

Robotnik ended Master Hand's surprise run without much trouble, but the writeup focuses on how much ground Robotnik surrendered later in the poll. That late fade made his coming match with Ganondorf look hopeless.

Mario annihilated Ness in a result the writeup treats as an extreme SFF beating. The performance strengthened Mario's championship case while making Ness's earlier upset over CJ look even stranger statistically.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Mario SFFed Ness and argues that the suppression was even stronger than prior same-fanbase results involving Ness.

Zero dispatched Lloyd exactly as the bracket had seemed to prescribe from the start. The writeup mainly uses the match to reassess Lloyd's place among Tales characters and to leave Zero's real test for Mario.

Samus demolished Frog and erased the mystique built by Frog's string of close 2004 matches. The writeup treats the rout as another sign that Frog had been badly overrated and as strong evidence that Samus remained a championship threat.

Ganondorf beat Auron more comfortably than the pre-match debate suggested, turning the first match of the much-hyped Gauntlet into an anticlimax. The writeup still credits Auron with legitimate strength while sending Ganondorf onward to Samus.

Snake quickly dismantled a Zelda upset bandwagon that had grown from mismatched old statistics and concern over his ugly picture. The writeup treats the match as another example of Board 8 talking itself into a close contest that never materialized.

Sora turned one of the contest's most debated statistical matchups into a clear win over Alucard. The writeup argues that recent Kingdom Hearts momentum and Alucard's stagnation mattered far more than the old x-stats.

Kirby decisively beat Tidus after the board had once treated Tidus as the overwhelming favorite. The writeup sees the result as both a major Kirby validation and another humiliation in Tidus's long decline from his 2003 reputation.

Bowser beat Ryu without the close fight that had once made the matchup a major bracket debate. The writeup treats the anticlimax as one more piece of evidence for a site-wide Nintendo boost and another failure of the Gauntlet hype.

Donkey Kong unexpectedly built a substantial lead, only for Master Chief's daytime strength to erase it and carry him past DK. The writeup remembers the match as a rare surprise after the failed Gauntlet and as a record-setting comeback and vote swing.

Crono easily disposed of Vercetti in a quiet follow-up to the chaos required for Vercetti to reach him. The writeup treats the match mainly as confirmation that Crono still belonged among the contest's elite characters.

Vincent survived Dante after an unexpectedly competitive start, but the writeup treats the result as a major correction to weeks of Vincent hype. Dante's showing is framed as a moral victory that exposed Vincent as strong but not elite.

Squall quickly ended the post-upset Knuckles bandwagon and controlled the match despite Knuckles' familiar daytime strength. The writeup uses the result to bury Magus's old statistical reputation and set up a difficult Vincent-Squall division final.

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.

Tifa beat Luigi, but Luigi performed far better than the writeup says most of Board 8 expected. The result is framed as another warning against overvaluing one prior match and as more evidence of Nintendo's broader 2005 rise.

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.

Yoshi crushed Pac-Man in one of the contest's steadiest matches and confirmed that his 2004 strength was real. The writeup also uses the result to revisit the casual bracketmakers who had failed to trust Yoshi's path this far.

Zelda crushed Mega Man X in a second-round SFF matchup and kept pace with Final Fantasy in the contest's emerging strength race. The writeup treats the result mainly as another statement that Zelda could realistically win the tournament.

SFF: The writeup explicitly treats Zelda versus Mega Man X as an SFF match, while noting that voters may differ on how strongly they associate Mega Man X with Nintendo.

Metroid beat Pokémon, but Pokémon stayed surprisingly competitive and won scattered updates throughout the match. The writeup treats the result as another example of Metroid struggling inside Nintendo and as long-overdue evidence that Pokémon was stronger than its old reputation suggested.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Pokémon versus Metroid an SFF match and treats overlapping Nintendo support as part of the context for Metroid's unexpectedly weak-looking win.

Metal Gear beat Fire Emblem easily but did not dominate as thoroughly as the writeup expected. The result raised more doubts about Silent Hill's first-round strength than about Metal Gear's ability to reach the Final Four.

Castlevania led for much of the night and turned a previously routine Kingdom Hearts bracket slot into one of the contest's best matches. Kingdom Hearts eventually used its daytime strength to reverse the lead, while the writeup also remembers the match for exceptionally ugly board behavior from both fanbases.

Mario annihilated Warcraft despite the outside support that had carried Warcraft past GTA. The writeup treats the scale of the beating as another strong sign that Mario had a real chance against Final Fantasy later in the bracket.

Super Smash Bros. comfortably beat Sonic in one of the contest's most debated matchups and denied another chance to see Mario face Sonic. The writeup considers the result another major Sonic disappointment after the series had appeared well positioned for the upset.

Final Fantasy crushed the broadly defined Mega Man series in another impressive second-round performance. The writeup sees nothing in the result to weaken Final Fantasy's position as the contest favorite.

Resident Evil narrowly held off Street Fighter after a much closer fight than most of Board 8 expected. The writeup credits Street Fighter's favorable picture for helping the upset threat while arguing that current Capcom fanbase overlap ultimately leaned toward Resident Evil.

SFF · Pic: The writeup says the heavily Street Fighter-favored picture gave Street Fighter an advantage, while also arguing that Capcom fanbase overlap likely favored Resident Evil because Resident Evil 4 was then the stronger current draw.

Samus disposed of Ada in another expected win, but the writeup considers Ada's performance disappointing after Resident Evil's recent momentum. It mentions possible overlap as one explanation but explicitly leaves the cause unresolved.

Rikku handled Kairi almost exactly as the writeup expected, while the famous Kingdom Hearts day vote barely changed the match. The only surprise was how many brackets had trusted Kairi to advance.

The writeup treats Tifa's easy win as obvious, then spends most of its space arguing about a hypothetical physical fight between Tifa and The Boss rather than the poll itself.

Peach and Jill traded control through radically different voting periods before a frantic final push left Jill just short. The writeup calls it a classic and records both heavy rallying and attempted vote-stuffing around the finish.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup quotes CJayC describing heavy rallying on both sides and attempted vote-stuffing for both Jill and Peach. It says the blocked fraudulent votes did not alter the official result, while acknowledging lingering uncertainty over whether every improper vote was caught.

Zelda demolished Terra far more convincingly than the old projections suggested. The writeup says the performance transformed Zelda from an obvious division favorite into a serious threat to Samus's title hopes.

Aeris beat KOS-MOS but performed much worse than the writeup believed she needed to before facing Zelda. Although some fans blamed the picture, the author rejects that explanation and treats the result as a straightforward warning of trouble ahead.

Yuna demolished Joanna and continued answering claims that she was the weakest top seed. The writeup treats the result as enough to make Yuna the clear favorite to take the division.

Chun-Li beat Lara, but a steady daytime collapse made the match much less impressive than the opening suggested. The writeup says the weak finish effectively killed the remaining Chun-Li-over-Yuna upset case.

Snake crushed Squall in a match that had drawn meaningful upset discussion beforehand. The writeup calls it the first clear sign that Snake had made a major leap in strength during this contest.

Yoshi upset Dante after dominating the Nintendo-friendly voting periods and surviving Dante's slow attempts to erase the leads. The writeup treats the result as a vindication of long-running claims that Yoshi's old statistics had understated him.

Sora comfortably ended Gordon Freeman's brief taste of success and then pulled farther away with the Kingdom Hearts day vote. The writeup treats the loss as another turning point in the fading GFNW tradition.

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.

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.

Luigi pulled away after an initially even start, and the writeup says the final closeness overstated how competitive the match really was. It also treats the result as further evidence that Kirby's prior Dream Division strength was misleading.

SFF: The writeup says SFF favored Luigi and made a Kirby comeback effectively impossible once Luigi pulled away.

Crono handled Bowser without serious trouble, but his steady daytime decline stood out more than the result itself. The writeup treats the match as another warning that Crono's weak day vote would eventually cost him against stronger opposition.

Auron comfortably ended Sub-Zero's brief upset run in a match the writeup considered predictable. Most of the retrospective discussion uses the result to argue that Sub-Zero had nevertheless proved himself more deserving of contest attention than Scorpion.

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.

Link dominated, but the match is remembered as the real beginning of ZackFAQs. Zack's convincing advancement transformed him from a promising newcomer into one of the contest's central bandwagon stories.

SFF: The writeup says Link SFFed Wario into irrelevance, leaving the meaningful race to Zack and Zidane.

Duke and Altair emerged from a chaotic matchup that punished Marth and further damaged the pre-contest Brawl narrative. Duke's unlikely run continued while Lucario confirmed his disappointing debut.

LFF: The writeup says Lucario's presence badly hurt fellow Nintendo entrant Marth, helping outside contenders Duke and Altair take the advancing positions.

Liquid took advantage of a badly divided field to win, while Luigi survived for the other advancing spot and Bowser fell out. The writeup uses the result as another example of four-way fanbase splitting producing strange outcomes.

LFF: The writeup says the Nintendo-oriented support was split among Luigi, Bowser and Phoenix, allowing Liquid Snake to benefit as the outside option.

Mega Man X seriously challenged Mario for first before Mario's morning surge reversed the race. Zelda narrowly escaped last place but was eliminated, while Mudkip's inability to reproduce a joke run made the match a turning point for bandwagon expectations.

SFF: The writeup characterizes the all-Nintendo field as a heavily leeched matchup and describes Zelda's elimination as another result shaped by overlapping support.

Samus and Ganondorf advanced through what the writeup openly calls a rest-break match. Frog's old upset magic never appeared, and the result remained straightforward throughout.

Vincent advanced comfortably, while Gordon Freeman completed another major step in his reversal of the old GFNW reputation by beating Scorpion for the second spot. Falco never became a serious factor.

Pic: The writeup says Scorpion's poor match picture was not the sole reason he lost, but explicitly states that it hurt his chances against Gordon Freeman.

Crono and L-Block advanced in a much quieter sequel to L-Block's chaotic opening match. The defending champion looked strikingly ordinary, creating the first real sense that the repeat bid might be beatable.

Pikachu and Alucard advanced after an unexpectedly fierce battle for first that swung repeatedly across the day. The writeup treats the duel as another good match diminished by the top-two-advance format.

LFF: The writeup says Captain Falcon's overlapping Nintendo support held Pikachu down, helping turn Pikachu's fight with Alucard into a much closer race than their standalone strength suggested.

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.

Snake delivered another statement performance, while Zero and Vivi fought a much more entertaining battle for the second advancing spot. Zero survived, but Vivi's late resistance made the race memorable.

Squall and Sora advanced together yet again, while Yoshi collapsed far more badly than expected. The result reinforced the strange independence of the Squall-Sora pairing and exposed Yoshi's vulnerability in the field.

LFF: The writeup says Fox's presence hurt fellow Nintendo entrant Yoshi, while Sora remained largely independent of Squall and benefited from the contrast.

Cloud overwhelmed the field, while Mewtwo held off Midna for the other advancing position without the race ever becoming the epic duel its closeness suggested. The writeup sees Cloud's dominance as the larger statement.

Kirby advanced, but the real battle was Master Chief's comeback against Big Boss. Chief's late surge turned a long, competitive fight into another memorable rally-driven reversal.

Rally · LFF: The writeup says Master Chief's fans rallied hard enough to erase Big Boss's lead and secure advancement. It also says Raiden's near-total Metal Gear overlap drained support from Big Boss.

Dante and Leon advanced in the same order their prior meetings suggested, despite a brief burst of early excitement. Riku and Hogger never developed the upset or bandwagon threat some had imagined.

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 took first as expected, while Kratos again benefited from a field that disadvantaged one of his stronger rivals. Tifa's elimination made the fanbase dynamics more important than the nominal matchup strength.

SFF: The writeup says Sephiroth's shared Final Fantasy support suppressed Tifa, allowing Kratos to take advantage and claim the other advancing spot.

Tetris beat Mega Man 2 comfortably and was never seriously threatened after the opening moments. Mega Man 2 nevertheless held up better than its first-round showing suggested, while the writeup declines to pin the result on SFF.

Mario defeated Zelda much more easily than many expected, while Metroid and Ninja Gaiden were reduced to afterthoughts. The result appeared to settle the old NES hierarchy before later rounds complicated it again.

SFF: The writeup says Mario and Zelda crushed Metroid and Ninja Gaiden through heavy Nintendo overlap, leaving the real contest entirely between the two NES giants.

Mario 3 dominated the field, while Sonic recovered from an overnight Street Fighter II lead and used its strong day vote to secure second. The match reinforced both Mario-Sonic overlap and Street Fighter's limited strength.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Super Mario Bros. 3 SFFed Sonic, though Street Fighter II still could not take advantage enough to advance.

Super Mario World transformed its shaky first-round image into a dominant second-round performance. Final Fantasy IV clearly beat the original Final Fantasy, while Mega Man 3 continued the series' disappointing contest.

LFF: The writeup describes substantial overlap between the two Final Fantasy entries in the field, with the split weakening the original Final Fantasy while Final Fantasy IV still secured second.

A Link to the Past dominated, while Super Metroid and Super Mario Kart repeated almost the same close race and voting trends as their first-round meeting. Metroid again survived, but the rematch lacked the tension its margin suggested.

SFF: The writeup says A Link to the Past was clearly SFFing all three fellow SNES and Nintendo-era games in the poll.

Final Fantasy VI won a perfectly ordered match, but Link's Awakening staying even with it in the opening minutes badly damaged FF6's elite reputation. The writeup treats those few minutes as more important than the eventual easy finish.

Final Fantasy VII again dominated strong opposition, while GoldenEye clearly beat Super Mario RPG and Mario Kart 64 for second. The writeup mainly uses the result to continue the FF7-versus-Ocarina strength comparison.

Chrono Trigger built an overnight lead on Mario 64, only to collapse badly once Mario's morning vote arrived. Mario 64 turned the match into a convincing win and shattered expectations for Chrono Trigger's deeper run.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Yoshi's Island was SFFed into a very weak last-place showing, with Mario 64 providing the clearest source of the overlap.

Metal Gear Solid won, but Pokémon RBY remained impressive despite sharing the poll with Gold and Silver and Majora's Mask. The result made MGS look vulnerable for the next round while rehabilitating Majora's Mask somewhat.

LFF: The writeup says Pokémon Gold and Silver leeched heavily from Pokémon RBY and cost the older generation first place against Metal Gear Solid.

StarCraft briefly revived memories of 2004 by taking an early second-place lead, but Final Fantasy VIII erased it quickly once the overnight vote arrived. Ocarina of Time dominated throughout.

LFF: The writeup says Final Fantasy IX leeched support from Final Fantasy VIII early, briefly allowing StarCraft to threaten the second advancing position.

Final Fantasy X won a crowded all-PS2 field, while Kingdom Hearts comfortably beat Metal Gear Solid 2 for second. Kingdom Hearts' strong showing and FFX's modest margin made the winner look less secure than the placement suggested.

Melee won easily, while Diablo II repeated its first-round success and comfortably advanced again. Halo collapsed to last behind a SFF-affected Wind Waker, producing another major embarrassment for the series.

SFF: The writeup says Melee SFFed Wind Waker, though Wind Waker still held up better than expected and even finished ahead of Halo.

Metal Gear Solid 3 won comfortably, while Oblivion survived a long duel with World of Warcraft for second. The writeup notes multiple rally attempts but concludes that none meaningfully changed the result.

Twilight Princess won, but Resident Evil 4 and Kingdom Hearts II again produced a close fight for the other advancing spot. RE4 survived a late collapse, while Twilight Princess itself looked less dominant than a finalist was expected to look.

LFF: The writeup says Twilight Princess absorbed enough of Kingdom Hearts II's usual day-vote support to help Resident Evil 4 survive another close rematch.

Brawl annihilated Galaxy and sent Call of Duty 4 through in second, turning Galaxy's disappointing first round into a full collapse. The writeup elevates Brawl into serious finals contention after the result.

SFF: The writeup calls Brawl's suppression of Super Mario Galaxy one of the most meaningful SFF beatings in contest history.

Metal Gear Solid 4 and Fallout 3 advanced in an orderly match with little suspense, while Portal briefly made the lower positions interesting. The writeup treats it mainly as a quiet setup for later rounds.

Link beat Alucard comfortably but looked weaker than the writeup expected for a second straight match. The commentary identifies growing anti-Link voting as a new factor even though it was not yet threatening his championship path.

Mega Man X controlled the match, but Red still impressed enough to establish himself as a legitimate midcard entrant. The writeup treats the performance as further evidence of Pokémon's broad contest surge.

Luigi won, but Amaterasu resisted him far better than expected and continued her reputation for outperforming difficult draws. The result also made earlier Sonic Team losses to her look less embarrassing.

Weighted Companion Cube beat The Boss but looked ordinary doing so, which the writeup takes as proof that another major joke-character bandwagon was not developing. The match also illustrates how much harder 1v1s are for novelty entrants.

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.

The writeup gives Ganondorf's easy win over Ken only brief attention before turning into a long aside about why the author dislikes Street Fighter IV.

Kirby beat GLaDOS in a predictable match but fell far short of the strength his prior contest run implied. The writeup treats this as the point where serious Kirby-over-Sonic upset hopes collapsed.

Vivi decisively beat a heavily hyped Altair, reversing the impression created by Altair's first-round rout of Liquid Snake. The writeup views Altair and Liquid as especially unreliable contest reads after the result.

Mario and Big Boss produced yet another rematch, and the writeup uses their history mainly to illustrate how unstable four-way extrapolations can be. The match itself adds little new beyond that comparison.

Ike beat Zidane in a close matchup the writeup says was strongly shaped by the daytime schedule. It argues that a night match would likely have favored Zidane instead.

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.

Ryu Hayabusa overturned a matchup that the writeup had expected Master Chief to control and turned 'Master Flop' into the dominant story. The loss is framed as another example of Chief's severe anti-vote problem in 1v1 contests.

Sora beat Laharl but performed so poorly relative to expectations that the writeup declared a future Bowser win virtually certain. The result is treated as part of a contest-wide decline for Kingdom Hearts.

Bowser eventually handled Kefka, but the writeup focuses on how well Kefka held up early after years of weak or badly presented performances. It treats Kefka's broader contest run as a notable revival.

L-Block beat Isaac in an almost motionless match, but the writeup argues that the former champion had become much weaker and was surviving mainly through favorable bracket placement. A mistaken Isaac picture was corrected but is not said to have affected the vote.

Charizard turned a heavily anticipated upset attempt into a convincing breakthrough over Kratos. The result launched a serious deep-run scenario for Charizard and confirmed that his first-round strength had been meaningful.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says both Charizard and Kratos were heavily rallied, though Charizard's support proved much more effective.

Samus overwhelmed Jill early and still finished with a strong enough performance to make a potential upset of Cloud feel plausible. The writeup treats this as the start of an especially impressive Samus run.

Sub-Zero beat Roxas comfortably and became one of several low-prediction entrants to reach the third round. Roxas's late-day improvement is treated as one of the few positive Kingdom Hearts trends in the contest.

Jecht advanced as expected but looked surprisingly weak against Ratchet, who performed far better than his old contest history suggested. The writeup credits Ratchet with finally showing some real improvement.

Zelda erased the pre-match upset hype almost immediately and won comfortably. Ezio's later daytime gains were respectable but never made the contest meaningfully competitive.

Cloud rebounded from his weak first-round showing and dominated an RE5-boosted Chris far more decisively than expected. The writeup treats fanbase overlap as the most plausible explanation for Chris collapsing so badly.

SFF: The writeup says Final Fantasy VII-over-Resident Evil SFF is the likeliest explanation for Chris Redfield performing worse against Cloud than Ridley had.

Captain Falcon finally received a clean 1v1 opportunity after years of bad Nintendo-heavy draws and used it to beat Riku convincingly. The writeup treats the result as both Falcon validation and another sign of Kingdom Hearts decline.

Leon handled Sackboy without much difficulty, but the writeup thought Leon still looked slightly off compared with expectations. That muted performance ended most remaining hype for him upsetting the Ryu-Dante winner.

Most of the writeup recounts the Canada-USA Olympic hockey final, then uses the game to explain the 'Hockey Factor': Dante improved while North American voters were occupied, before Ryu recovered after the game ended.

Snake again started poorly with the board vote before recovering into a solid win. The writeup finds Fox a difficult measuring stick because so many of his prior losses involved Nintendo overlap.

Pikachu won without the dramatic daytime surge often associated with Pokémon, while Shepard continued his enormous improvement after Mass Effect 2. The writeup treats Shepard's respectable loss as one of the more impressive growth stories in the field.

Auron won about as comfortably as expected, which the writeup saw as insufficient evidence for an upset of Squall. Zero's respectable showing instead reinforced the idea that his recent weakness had been exaggerated by bad Nintendo-heavy draws.

Squall won comfortably but looked surprisingly weak against Terra despite his history of crushing lesser Final Fantasy characters. The result reopened doubts about whether Squall was safely above Auron.

Sephiroth failed to suppress Vincent nearly as hard as expected, and the writeup explicitly rejects ordinary SFF as a sufficient explanation. It instead frames the result as evidence that severe anti-voting had become a structural weakness for Sephiroth and Final Fantasy VII.

Yoshi resisted the Missingno bandwagon far better than expected and held the lead for hours, but Missingno eventually broke through during the Pokémon afternoon vote. The writeup insists the win reflected legitimate strength more than a joke rally.

Rally: The writeup says rallying aided Missingno's decisive sequence of afternoon gains against Yoshi, while also stressing that rallying was not the main reason Missingno won.

Big Daddy overcame an early Ness lead and turned a close start into a comfortable advancement. The writeup highlights the striking contrast in their match picture but does not claim the image decided the result.

Tifa ended Gordon Freeman's run in a match the writeup viewed as predictable after Gordon nearly lost to Peach. Gordon's weak showing also undercut the significance of his recent outside-contest success.

Fallout 3 crushed first-round upset winner Deus Ex and restored the expected hierarchy. The writeup briefly entertains SFF as a possibility but ultimately treats Deus Ex as simply weak and focuses on Fallout's strong daytime profile.

Batman turned a matchup that had gained upset buzz after Team Fortress 2's first-round thriller into a one-sided win. The result immediately generated a new wave of Batman-over-Fallout speculation.

Uncharted 2 won, but its steady percentage loss to Street Fighter IV made the victory feel hollow. The writeup treats the result as a warning that either Halo game would be favored next round.

Halo: Combat Evolved decisively beat Halo 3 and settled the series hierarchy in favor of the original. The writeup notes that the result was not an extreme same-series suppression, but was still a clear inter-series win.

Metroid Prime comfortably eliminated Devil May Cry 3, though the winner's substantial percentage bleed kept questions alive about the divisional race. The writeup finds the match picture more memorable than the result.

Okami beat Mega Man 9 comfortably, but Mega Man still performed well above the broader prediction consensus. The writeup treats the loss as validation that Mega Man 9 was a surprisingly legitimate entrant.

God of War and Tales of Symphonia spent hours in a true deadlock before God of War's morning vote broke the match open. The writeup remembers the long stall and decisive finish as one of the contest's best matches.

Grand Theft Auto III gave Half-Life 2 a strong challenge without ever threatening the actual result. The writeup treats GTA3 as the clear exception to the series' poor contest and sees Half-Life 2's steady bleed as a warning before stronger day-match opponents.

Melee posted another blowout, but its overnight and morning trends looked increasingly unfavorable for the looming match with Brawl. The writeup treats the performance as one of several signs that Brawl had become the favorite.

Call of Duty 4 won but was badly embarrassed by an otherwise unproven Perfect Dark. The writeup sees the poor showing as further evidence of deep anti-Call-of-Duty sentiment on GameFAQs.

Pic: The writeup explicitly describes a picture imbalance against Perfect Dark and notes that Perfect Dark still performed well despite its weaker image.

Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum eliminated Fire Emblem as expected, but failed to look strong enough to support the most ambitious Pokémon projections. The writeup treats the match as bad news for hopes of a broader Pokémon surge.

Brawl demolished Valkyria Chronicles, though the writeup considers this one of the few matches where Brawl looked merely comparable to Melee rather than clearly superior. The result itself was never competitive.

Super Mario Galaxy beat Pokémon RSE but looked much weaker than expected while doing so. The writeup retrospectively treats the result as a strange outlier in an otherwise strong Galaxy contest.

Twilight Princess comfortably eliminated Dragon Age in a match whose seeding and bracket placement left little suspense. The writeup argues that Dragon Age could have done more in a less hostile part of the bracket.

Kingdom Hearts II beat a highly respected BioShock despite much of the prediction community siding against it. The writeup sees BioShock's strong loss as evidence of a contest-title boost while also noting how easily KH2 survived.

Kingdom Hearts doubled Modern Warfare 2, an especially harsh result because Kingdom Hearts rarely produces or suffers major blowouts. The writeup treats the match as another humiliating verdict on Call of Duty's standing on the site.

Final Fantasy X delivered one of its few clean performances of the contest by overwhelming Borderlands and holding steady throughout the match. The writeup still regards the result as an exception rather than proof that FFX had fully returned to old form.

Golden Sun upset San Andreas on the release day of Dark Dawn, with RPG-friendly site conditions and a prominent home-page ad further favoring the winner. The writeup sees the timing as unusually hostile to GTA and the result as a major casual-bracket shock.

Pic: The writeup says Golden Sun's match picture looked exceptionally strong while San Andreas looked exceptionally poor, describing the image as one of several factors stacked against GTA.

KOTOR beat Fire Emblem but struggled enough to erase most hopes of an upset over Final Fantasy IX. The writeup regards Fire Emblem as respectable but not strong enough to excuse KOTOR's middling performance.

Final Fantasy IX routed Persona 3 and, unusually, avoided its customary daytime collapse. The writeup treats the result as routine but mildly encouraging for FFIX's trend profile.

Resident Evil 4 began with championship-level numbers against Vice City, then bled support for the entire match. The writeup treats the final result as a major warning that RE4's deeper title aspirations were unrealistic.