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Charizard demolished Riku and Nier to close Round One and push PokéFEAR even higher. The writeup treats the match as both a Charizard statement and a fitting end to an overlong opening round.

Donkey Kong unexpectedly made a supposedly debatable match trivial and punished the heavily disliked Lightning. Falco collapsed under the Nintendo overlap and finished well behind both.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Falco was SFFed in the Nintendo-heavy match, leaving him far weaker than Donkey Kong.

Zelda crushed two Western franchise mascots and looked far healthier than she had in 2010. John Marston took second in the Expert Challenge ordering without ever threatening the winner.

Rikku comfortably ended the favorite status built around ?-Block's old bonus-poll reputation. The writeup treats the result as another sign that inanimate joke characters had lost much of their old power.

Weighted Companion Cube won as expected, but Lenneth made a surprisingly credible overnight attempt to catch Claptrap for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. Borderlands' daytime strength eventually ended the comeback.

Zero dominated while Kratos Aurion and Boko spent nearly the entire match in a dead heat for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. Kratos survived by only a handful of votes after a photo-finish ending.

Jill dominated as expected, while Mike Haggar comfortably beat Red Bird for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. The writeup treats the supposed Marvel-versus-Capcom SFF idea mostly as a joke rather than a serious explanation.

Kratos won easily, but Recette unexpectedly beat Travis for second in the Expert Challenge ordering after outside support boosted the niche indie character. Travis's comeback attempt never fully recovered the early deficit.

Rally: The writeup says Recette received a small organized push from the game's developer, with possible additional support from 4chan.

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.

Wrex upset both Pit and Cecil in one of Round One's most debated three-way matches, surviving a brief Cecil challenge before pulling clear. The writeup celebrates the win as a rare success for a Western character and another disappointment for Final Fantasy IV.

Pokémon Trainer Red crushed the field and reinforced the sense that he was one of the contest's strongest characters. Corvo took second over Sissel in the Expert Challenge ordering.

Pic: The writeup explicitly calls Red's nostalgic match picture a huge and unfair advantage, saying it packed much of the author's childhood into one image.

Wario dismissed the brief MINEFEAR speculation and won comfortably, while Creeper took second in the Expert Challenge ordering. The King of All Cosmos never became a real factor.

Tidus erased a large early deficit, took the lead, and nearly completed one of the contest's biggest upsets before Missingno recovered in the final stretch. The cheating revelation immediately spoiled what had looked like a heroic Tidus near-win.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup reports a small Reddit rush for Missingno in the final hour. It also quotes SBAllen saying anti-bot measures caught vote stuffing at roughly a two-to-one ratio favoring Tidus.

Amaterasu dominated one of the round's dullest matches and looked strong enough to inspire later what-if discussion about a deeper run. Vyse comfortably took second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Adol.

Squall's easy win mainly served as a strength check before Missingno, while much of the writeup digresses into praise for the Bit.Trip games and Rayman discussion.

Ganondorf won easily, while Guybrush finally earned a meaningful contest success by taking second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Max Payne. The removed fraudulent votes tainted the match without changing that placement.

Cheat: The writeup says fraudulent votes for Guybrush were removed during the match, while also stating that Guybrush still would have beaten Max Payne without them.

Vivi won comfortably over Adam Jensen and Marisa, but the match was repeatedly disrupted by fraudulent votes for Marisa being removed. The writeup treats the cheating as the main story before Vivi's later breakout.

Cheat: The writeup says fraudulent Marisa votes were removed both during and after the poll, with the site administrator explicitly announcing the vote stuffing while the match was live.

Mario produced a completely routine top-seed blowout over Duke and Fawful, giving no hint that his next match would become one of the contest's major shocks. The writeup is striking mainly in hindsight.

Tifa dominated Chun-Li and Cirno, but the match is remembered mainly for fraudulent Cirno votes being removed. The controversy did not threaten Tifa's overwhelming win.

Cheat: The writeup says fraudulent votes were removed from Cirno during the match and attributes the stuffing to a Touhou supporter, while extra notes acknowledge that the identity of the stuffer remained debatable.

Yuna beat Master Chief and Claire in a result the writeup says simply felt inevitable given Chief's long history of volatile strength and anti-voting. The match added another disappointment to Halo's contest record.

Dragonborn won, but performed far below the hype created by Skyrim's enormous popularity. Tom Nook took second in the Expert Challenge ordering, and the writeup immediately downgraded Dragonborn's chances against Tifa.

L-Block won while the expected League of Legends rally for Teemo never materialized, leaving Teemo in last place behind Palutena. The writeup treats the failed rally expectation as the match's defining joke.

Auron dominated Roxas and Ocelot, while the infamous Ocelot picture became the main discussion point despite the writeup explicitly rejecting it as enough to explain the result. Auron's strength is treated as the real story.

Ezio beat Tails and Bomberman after a short early challenge, with the writeup blaming some of Tails's weakness on the similar third entrant. The result also undercut attempts to revive Tails through old extrapolated statistics.

LFF: The writeup says Tails and Bomberman had overlapping appeal and that their shared support helped Ezio pull away after Tails briefly led.

Knuckles won as expected, but Celes unexpectedly took second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Seifer. The writeup treats Seifer's collapse as one of the contest's most embarrassing failures of supposedly obvious expert logic.

Catherine and Neku spent hours trading tiny leads before Catherine finally pulled away late. The upset is presented as a rare fodder match where a cult following and strong presentation combined into a memorable win.

Pic: The writeup says Catherine had a huge picture advantage and later credits her visual appeal as part of why she won the close matchup.

Samus dominated as expected, but Sandbag still beat Isaac Clarke for second in the Expert Challenge ordering despite Nintendo overlap. The writeup treats that as another sign of Sandbag's unusually durable joke support.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Sandbag was SFFed by Samus, making Sandbag's second-place Expert Challenge finish more impressive.

Pokémon Trainer Blue beat Fox even though Wolf created what many expected to be a highly favorable Nintendo-overlap setup. The writeup's larger point is that Blue's strength remained hard to read because the bracket handed him such unusual conditions.

Nathan Drake survived a long, slow fight with Pac-Man, while Steve's presence is blamed for helping keep Pac-Man from completing the upset. The result stayed close enough to preserve Pac-Man's reputation as a dangerous wildcard.

LFF: The writeup says Steve stole votes from Pac-Man through similar broad casual appeal and argues that Pac-Man likely wins the matchup without Steve in the poll.

Mr. Game & Watch upset Lee Everett despite sharing part of his natural novelty audience with Meat Boy. The writeup treats the result as another example of recent Western-game popularity failing to translate into character-contest votes.

LFF: The writeup says Meat Boy's similar oddball appeal stole support from Game & Watch, and argues that Game & Watch would have beaten Lee much more decisively without him.

Yoshimitsu stunned the heavily favored Groose, while Lu Bu also passed the Zelda entrant for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. The writeup celebrates the result as a Board 8-friendly rejection of Zelda name recognition.

Gilgamesh demolished the heavily favored Booker DeWitt and turned the division into an upset zone immediately. The writeup treats Booker's collapse as another example of recent Western protagonists failing badly in character contests.

Sora beat Scorpion and Aya without any meaningful suspense, and the writeup dismisses speculation that Aya would drain enough Square support to matter. The match is mostly treated as a routine Kingdom Hearts win.

Magus finally won a heavily debated match by beating Otacon and Jade comfortably enough to make the pre-match panic look excessive. The writeup treats the victory as rare positive news in Magus's long history of contest disappointments.

Pikachu had first place secured, but Lloyd and Big Daddy produced a genuine photo finish for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. Lloyd's early lead survived a slow Big Daddy comeback by the narrowest margin.

The writeup is mostly an enormous StarCraft and Blizzard rant; the actual match is remembered for Missile unexpectedly taking second over Kerrigan behind a highly favorable cute-dog presentation.

Pic: The writeup explicitly calls Missile's cute-dog presentation the ultimate picture factor and treats it as part of why he could beat Kerrigan.

Gordon Freeman won comfortably, while Simon Belmont held second despite an unpopular match picture and pre-match fears of a Hades upset. The writeup treats Hades's failure as an early warning for the Kid Icarus cast.

Leon won a badly drawn same-series match that effectively denied Wesker a fair first-round opportunity. Even under severe overlap, Wesker still beat Oliver for second in the Expert Challenge ordering.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Wesker was heavily SFFed by fellow Resident Evil entrant Leon, leaving Wesker far weaker than his standalone strength.

Shadow beat Yu and Kat in a weak field that the writeup considered far less debatable than pre-match Pokémon-style fear had made it seem. The result gave Shadow a rare clean contest win without saying much about his broader strength.

Zidane won while Ridley took second in the Expert Challenge ordering and performed more respectably than his old contest history suggested. The Board 8 joke entrant Spring Breeze Dancin' finished last as expected.

Squirtle beat Ramza comfortably enough to make the upcoming Dante matchup look dangerous immediately. The writeup treats the result as another piece of evidence that Pokémon strength was surging across the bracket.

Dante routed Laharl and Raz, but the writeup refused to read much into another first-round blowout because Dante had repeatedly looked strong before later choking. The entire match is framed around the coming Squirtle test.

Lugia crushed Sly and York far more decisively than some expected, reinforcing the contest-wide fear of Pokémon strength. Sly's second-place Expert Challenge finish is treated as a small consolation after years away from the bracket.

Frog won easily while Viewtiful Joe unexpectedly beat Handsome Jack for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. The result gave Joe a rare positive contest moment and undercut the broader Borderlands character hype.

Cloud won the expected blowout, but the writeup still considered the performance too weak for a former top-tier character facing extreme fodder. The match becomes another warning about Final Fantasy VII's decline.

Kefka upset both Zack and Ryu Hayabusa in a result that wrecked the prevailing guru logic and continued his reputation for producing bizarre contest outcomes. The writeup credits Dissidia and improved presentation as plausible background factors without declaring a picture anomaly here.

Lara Croft delivered her strongest-looking contest performance in years after the series reboot, while Slime took second in the Expert Challenge ordering. The writeup treats Lara's resurgence as the main surprise.

Altair won while Ratchet beat a heavily hyped Shulk for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. The writeup notes that even Shulk's best-possible presentation could not rescue the Xenoblade hype.

Epona won comfortably over Mordin and Niko after years of Board 8 nomination campaigning finally put the horse into the bracket. The writeup treats the result as a harmless payoff to an old community joke rather than a serious L-Block successor.

Ike narrowly held off Proto Man in a slow-moving fight that never quite became a full comeback. The writeup treats Proto Man's performance as unexpectedly strong and Ike's as a major warning sign.

GLaDOS crushed Cole and Ragna after Wheatley's earlier flop, reinforcing the writeup's view that Portal's character strength was concentrated heavily in GLaDOS herself. The match otherwise generated little suspense.

Bayonetta comfortably beat N and Wander in a matchup many had overcomplicated because of Pokémon fear. The writeup treats the result as a straightforward victory for the most recognizable and currently relevant entrant.

Captain Falcon built a substantial early lead, but Alucard erased it overnight and then survived an unexpectedly weak Nintendo daytime response. The narrow finish became the contest's first true photo finish and one of its most entertaining early matches.

Snake delivered a dominant opening and immediately looked more dangerous than Link had in his own first-round match. The writeup treats the performance as serious evidence that Snake could contend for the contest if the bracket broke correctly.

Crash finally produced another memorable contest win by upsetting Wheatley after years of mostly losing early. Tommy Vercetti's weak last-place showing is treated as further proof that Grand Theft Auto characters had collapsed.

Kirby won, but Terra's performance was the surprise as she benefited from Peach draining Nintendo support from Kirby. The writeup treats Terra's Dissidia-era strength as increasingly legitimate.

LFF · Pic: The writeup says Peach LFFed Kirby, helping Terra look unusually strong against him. It also explicitly calls Kirby's simple spherical design a major picture advantage.

Elizabeth won and Poison took second in an otherwise settled match, while Thrall disappointed again. The only meaningful disturbance was a short-lived 4chan push for Poison.

Rally: The writeup says Poison received an early 4chan rally that produced one large cut before the push faded and stopped affecting the match.

Ness beat Locke without the trouble some expected from Old Square's recent improvement. The writeup uses the result to argue that Final Fantasy VI characters without Dissidia exposure still lacked meaningful contest strength.

Big Boss dominated while Captain Viridian unexpectedly took second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Peacock. The writeup treats the lower-place upset as a minor curiosity beside Big Boss's overwhelming showing.

After noting Luigi's completely routine win, the writeup mostly digresses into discussion of Final Fantasy XII and Beyond Good & Evil.

Spyro crushed a heavily debated field and made the Clementine upset case look badly overhyped. The writeup treats the result as early proof that recent Western-game buzz was translating poorly into character-contest strength.

Morrigan comfortably beat Edgeworth and Agent 47 despite substantial pre-match support for an upset. The writeup treats her win as another example of people underrating a long-established midcard character.

Sephiroth won easily, but Midna and Little Mac still held up far better than the writeup thought should be possible against a former champion. The match is framed as another unmistakable sign of Final Fantasy VII decline.

Bowser won comfortably while Meta Knight again failed to get a clean read because of Nintendo overlap. Archer's respectable showing is treated more as a byproduct of the bad setup than as evidence of major strength.

SFF: The writeup says Meta Knight was once again being SFFed in a first-round Nintendo matchup, this time under Bowser.

Sub-Zero beat Garrus in a result the writeup finds disappointing given Mass Effect's broader strength that year. Garrus still looked respectable, while Sub-Zero's showing reinforced his status as the stronger Mortal Kombat contest character.

Pic: The writeup explicitly credits Sub-Zero's classic-costume picture with helping him, saying the old look made him substantially more dangerous in the matchup.

The Boss won and Chrom took second without either position being seriously threatened, while Heavy finished last yet again. The writeup treats the result as another reminder that Team Fortress characters had never translated their popularity into contest strength.

Mewtwo delivered the round's largest blowout, but the writeup focuses on Board 8 mascot Chester deliberately becoming a historic futility benchmark. Chester's last-place finish is celebrated as the intended joke rather than treated as a failed campaign.

Vincent won but performed far below what his old contest strength suggested against KOS-MOS and Dunban. The writeup sees the result as another unmistakable sign that Final Fantasy VII had fallen sharply.

Phoenix Wright beat Marth and Nightmare without the close fight many had anticipated. The writeup uses the result to argue that Phoenix had fully outgrown his old joke-character status.

Barret won the three-way poll, but looked alarmingly weak against Professor Layton and Reimu before recovering with the Final Fantasy VII daytime vote. The writeup treats the result as another clear sign of franchise-wide FFVII decline.

Dracula won as expected and Lucina took second, while Caim produced a historically weak last-place showing. The writeup treats Caim's tiny support as the only memorable feature of the match.

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

Mega Man X dominated the field and sparked discussion about whether his strength had reached the lower Noble Nine tier. The writeup is equally delighted that Jigglypuff finally appeared in a contest and finished second.

Ryu won comfortably, while Yuri Lowell secured the second-place Expert Challenge position over Face McShooty without much suspense. The writeup is more pleased by Yuri's placement than interested in the actual competitiveness of the match.

Jak and Chie controlled the match until League rallying arrived, after which Draven erased a huge deficit and surged into first. The writeup identifies this as the beginning of the rally-driven Draven run that would define the contest.

Rally: The writeup says League of Legends subreddit rallies transformed Draven from a distant last-place character into the winner within a few hours.

Aerith won as expected, but the real surprise was Dragon Quest V's Hero taking second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Rinoa. The writeup celebrates the result as an improbable Board 8-style upset and a guru buster.

Tharja built a large early lead, Tiny Tina slowly erased it, and the two reached a true late deadlock before outside support swung the match back to Tharja. The writeup considers it a rare first-round match that would have benefited from a longer poll.

Rally: The writeup says 4chan noticed Tiny Tina's comeback and rallied Tharja, pushing Tharja back ahead and preserving the win.

After noting Shepard's easy win and Olimar's expected second-place finish, the writeup mostly becomes an extended argument about why FemShep's voice performance is superior.

Yoshi won easily, while Solaire took second in the Expert Challenge ordering over Demi-Fiend. The writeup also laments Yoshi's poor bracket draw because his next match was against Link.

Pic: The writeup says the debate over second place effectively ended once the picture appeared, with Solaire's image making him look more distinctive and appropriate than Demi-Fiend.

Waluigi drew early joke support and briefly inspired another L-Block-style fantasy, but Raiden quickly took control and won comfortably. Alan Wake never threatened even the second-place Expert Challenge position.

Link won the three-way opener as expected, while Isaac took second in the Expert Challenge ordering after Tingle faded under Link overlap. The writeup also treats Link's less-than-total domination as another sign he had declined from his peak.

SFF: The writeup says Tingle initially competed well for second before Link's SFF kicked in and pushed him behind Isaac.