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The opening match immediately produced a surprise, with Zack outperforming the expected Nintendo advantage and establishing himself as much stronger than many anticipated. Cecil, meanwhile, disappointed badly despite renewed Final Fantasy IV visibility.

Link began his post-L-Block campaign in dominant fashion, while Zidane unexpectedly beat Shadow for the other advancing position. The writeup treats Shadow's failure as a major early bracket bust and another sign of Sonic Team's decline.

A heavily debated fodder match became genuinely strange when Duke surged into contention and Kefka collapsed to the bottom. Marth eventually took first, but Duke's unexpected advancement became the match's defining surprise.

Altair dominated his contest debut while Lucario barely held off Isaac for the second advancing spot. The writeup regards Lucario as one of the contest's biggest disappointments given Pokémon's strength and his prominent Smash appearance.

Luigi and Liquid advanced in an otherwise predictable match, but Liquid stayed much closer to Luigi than expected. The writeup treats Liquid's strength as a new complication for the Nintendo-heavy matchup waiting in the next round.

Bowser and Phoenix advanced with almost no suspense, giving the contest a rare straightforward result. The writeup's main takeaway is that Phoenix now looked more like a naturally competitive entrant than a Board 8 novelty.

Mario won as expected, but Zelda resisted the feared fanbase suppression and comfortably held the second advancing spot over Knuckles. The writeup treats the result as another blow to Sonic Team's standing and a strong performance for Zelda.

Mega Man X dominated while Mudkip comfortably claimed the other advancing spot, confirming that the joke character still had substantial support. The writeup nevertheless argues that Mudkip's bracket placement made another L-Block-style run unrealistic.

Samus and Nightmare advanced through one of the round's least eventful matches. The writeup finds little to learn beyond Samus taking care of business and the weaker entrants remaining firmly in fodder territory.

Ganondorf won comfortably while Frog held off KOS-MOS without the expected daytime collapse. The delayed match picture caused controversy, but once it appeared the writeup says it did little to change the Frog-KOS-MOS race.

Pic: The writeup says the eventual match picture hurt Ganondorf while giving KOS-MOS no meaningful advantage over Frog, even though KOS-MOS supporters had expected her image to help.

Vincent advanced as expected, but Falco looked substantially stronger than anticipated and GLaDOS also exceeded the writeup's low expectations. Wander remained complete fodder, making the middle of the field more interesting than the winner.

Scorpion took first, while Gordon Freeman continued his post-GFNW rehabilitation with another strong advancement. The writeup sees the Orange Box era as having transformed Gordon from a perennial choke artist into a genuinely respectable entrant.

Crono and Amaterasu advanced through a largely predictable match, with neither Frank West nor Kaim posing a meaningful threat. The writeup treats it as another routine Noble Nine opening-round performance.

The defending champion showed little sign of fading, and the writeup remembers its duel with Ryu as an excellent fight that the four-way format robbed of real stakes. Meta Knight's weak showing was the main disappointment.

Alucard advanced as expected, but Captain Falcon's strong showing overturned his reputation as perennial fodder and sent him through as well. Diddy Kong's failure was the sharper disappointment.

Pikachu took control while Arthas converted a favorable draw into a surprising advancement. The result also punctured another piece of the pre-contest Brawl hype surrounding Ike.

LFF: The writeup says Pikachu's overlapping Nintendo and Smash support put Ike in a bad LFF situation, helping Arthas take the other advancing spot.

Weighted Companion Cube turned a heavily debated Tidus-Donkey Kong match into another joke-character success, while Tidus narrowly secured the other advancing position. Donkey Kong's failure added another chapter to his contest reputation for disappointing.

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.

Ryu Hayabusa and Zero were always the serious contenders, but Ryu's ability to take first made the match more interesting than expected. Dedede and Pit reinforced the writeup's view that Brawl alone could not manufacture contest strength.

Snake and Vivi advanced exactly as the writeup expected, with little genuine suspense. Snake's strong showing was more notable than the order of finish and fed expectations for a major run.

Sora and Fox produced the expected advancing pair in a match without meaningful swings. Chris Redfield did better than his prior contest reputation suggested, but never threatened the leaders.

Squall overwhelmed a Yoshi who had been expected to remain much closer, continuing Squall's unusually strong multiway form. The writeup treats Yoshi's performance as the real shock.

Cloud and Midna advanced in another first-round match the writeup regarded as essentially decided before it began. Edgeworth and Axel never generated the upset or novelty support needed to matter.

Mewtwo erased the embarrassment of his earlier contest debut with an emphatic performance. Ness collapsed against the stronger Nintendo presence, allowing Pac-Man to advance instead.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Mewtwo SFFed Ness badly, leaving Ness far weaker than expected and opening the second advancing spot for Pac-Man.

Big Boss delivered a result the writeup remembers as almost unimaginable at the time, beating a heavily favored Kirby outright. The upset immediately turned Big Boss into one of the contest's biggest talking points.

LFF: The writeup says Jinjo and Lucas hurt Kirby by splitting Nintendo support, though it also stresses that this alone cannot explain the scale of Big Boss's upset.

Master Chief and Raiden advanced as expected, but Chief looked much less imposing than during his celebrated previous run. The writeup treats that decline as the match's main warning sign.

Leon and Riku advanced in the expected order, with none of the feared choke or upset scenarios materializing. The writeup treats it as another largely forgettable first-round result.

Dante was never threatened, but the fight behind him became a three-way scramble in which Hogger surged past Ramza and Laharl. The result became an early signature moment for Ramza's reputation as a contest choker.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says Hogger drew an Internet rally during the day, turning a deficit into a lead and ultimately denying Ramza the advancing spot.

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 and Sub-Zero advanced in the expected order, leaving little suspense at the top. Marcus Fenix's collapse after his prior deep run was the main story and effectively ended his relevance to later contests.

Sephiroth and Tifa advanced as expected, but Tifa held up far better against Sephiroth than many feared. The writeup treats that resistance as an encouraging sign rather than a true upset story.

Kratos advanced comfortably, while Jill reversed the prior year's result against Ocelot and took the other spot. Ocelot's failure to capitalize on fresh Metal Gear momentum made him the match's major disappointment.