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Link beat Cloud again in the grand final and completed an overwhelmingly dominant championship run. The writeup treats Cloud merely breaking through Link's usual ceiling as the only real drama and uses the finale to reflect on the contest's collapsing turnout.

Cloud erased Zelda's early lead with the same night-to-day trend reversal he had just used against Mario. The writeup treats the loss as Zelda finally running out of momentum after her extraordinary run rather than evidence that her breakout was false.

Cloud finally beat Mario in their long-awaited 1v1 rematch, reversing the old trend pattern and surviving Mario's late reputation for clutch finishes. The writeup credits Cloud's Smash-era boost and possible anti-Mario sentiment rather than a confirmed current rally.

Link erased Zelda's brief opening lead and won the Legends Bracket comfortably. The writeup treats Zelda's relatively strong same-series showing as one more sign that her 2018 boost was real.

SFF: The writeup frames Link as the site's strongest SFF character and treats Zelda's ability to retain substantial support in a direct same-series match as unusually impressive resistance.

Mario survived Samus by the narrowest margin after hours of lead changes and an extraordinary final stretch. The writeup treats it as the best match of the contest and a reopening of their supposedly settled rivalry.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup describes active late match vote pushes, including Samus rallies, porn-site rallies, workplace solicitation and the author's own last-minute requests for Mario votes. It also reports contemporaneous accusations that Mario supporters were vote stuffing, though no fraud is established.

Cloud beat Crono again by almost the same margin as their sprite-round meeting. The writeup uses the near-identical rematch to reject claims that the earlier sprite pictures materially distorted the result.

SFF: The writeup says there was likely a small amount of SFF between Cloud and Crono because their fanbases overlap as flagship Square RPG protagonists.

Samus crushed Solid Snake and reinforced the writeup's long-held view that Snake loses much of his support against Nintendo characters. Historical rallying from their 2013 meeting is discussed, but not treated as part of this match.

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

Zelda beat Mario after leading essentially the entire match and pulled away late to deepen her extraordinary 2018 run. The writeup treats the win as a genuine strength result even though some outside rallying also occurred.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says Zelda received porn-site rallies during the match, while also stating that she was strong enough to beat Mario without them.

Link continued the long-running Link-Cloud rivalry with another dominant win and looked more overwhelming than ever. The writeup treats Cloud's inability to threaten him as evidence that Link remained completely untouchable without extraordinary outside intervention.

Samus crushed Tifa again in a nearly identical rematch of their earlier Legends Bracket meeting. The writeup sees the repeat as unnecessary but definitive proof that Tifa was not on Samus's level.

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.

Crono beat Bowser in an almost exact repeat of their earlier Legends Bracket match. The writeup criticizes the double-elimination layout for producing a rematch with nearly identical trends and no new information.

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

Mario beat Samus in their long-awaited 1v1 rematch, but the match stayed close enough to validate years of arguments that Samus could compete with him. The writeup treats the result as an unusually satisfying resolution to their old rivalry.

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.

Cloud beat Crono much more comfortably than the pre-match upset discussion suggested. The writeup explicitly rejects SFF as the explanation and credits Cloud's Smash appearance with restoring enough strength to dominate the matchup.

Link overwhelmed Pikachu and continued his untouchable 2018 run. Pikachu's result is still framed positively because he had already broken the Noble Nine and appeared to resist most of Link's usual same-fanbase suppression.

SFF: The writeup says Pikachu likely suffered a small amount of Nintendo SFF under Link, while emphasizing that Pokémon resisted the effect unusually well.

Tifa upset Sephiroth after controlling the early hours and held on despite his later recovery. The writeup treats the result as the burial of Sephiroth's old elite status and one of Tifa's defining wins.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Tifa's win the first confirmed case of Reverse SFF, with the usual same-fanbase hierarchy flipping against Sephiroth.

Solid Snake crushed Auron and used the matchup as another counterexample to complaints that Snake's old sprite hurts him. The writeup treats Auron as the weakest Legends Bracket entrant and Snake as clearly above him.

Bowser eventually pulled away from Alucard, but Alucard stayed competitive long enough to validate his surprising divisional run. The writeup treats the loss as a strong final statement for Alucard rather than an embarrassment.

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

Mario finally avenged years of losses to Sephiroth by beating him decisively. The writeup frames the result as the emotional payoff to one of Mario's oldest contest frustrations and another sign of Sephiroth's decline.

Samus demolished Tifa and erased memories of their much closer 2006 meeting. The writeup treats the rout as proof that Tifa's excellent main-bracket run still had a clear ceiling against truly elite opposition.

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 narrowly beat Solid Snake after a long fight in which Snake repeatedly threatened to retake control. The writeup treats the victory as the match that buried the old Noble Nine order and confirmed Zelda's elite-level rise.

SFF: The writeup says Snake's Nintendo-derived support consistently abandons him against Nintendo characters and identifies that overlap, combined with Zelda's boost, as a major reason he lost this match.

Crono beat Bowser without much danger and finally earned his first 1v1 contest win in many years. The writeup treats the result as a modest restoration of Crono's old status rather than a return to championship form.

Cloud beat Alucard comfortably, but Alucard performed far better than in their early-contest meetings. The writeup treats the loss as confirmation that Alucard's breakout run reflected genuine strength rather than only a weak division.

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

Link opened the Legends Bracket by crushing Ganondorf, though the margin was less extreme than their famous older matchup. The writeup treats the result as heavily distorted by Zelda-series overlap rather than a clean measure of Ganondorf's strength.

SFF: The writeup treats Link's domination of Ganondorf as a clear SFF result, noting that Ganondorf is much stronger than the raw margin suggests and that Zelda resists Link's SFF better.

Sephiroth unexpectedly crushed Ryu and produced by far his strongest-looking result of the main bracket. The writeup uses the match to argue that reports of Sephiroth's collapse had gone too far.

Tifa beat Luigi after a close opening and pulled away without needing the rallying that had decided her Mega Man X match. The win completed one of the main bracket's toughest divisional paths.

Auron finally ended Geralt's string of close wins and claimed the division, though Geralt remained competitive enough to validate his newcomer run. The writeup treats the result as the natural endpoint once Geralt met a proven upper-midcarder.

Zelda crushed Aerith and finished a division where every win had looked dominant. The writeup treats Aerith's record 15-seed run as impressive but completely overmatched once it reached Zelda.

Bowser upset the heavily favored Kirby and repeated his old head-to-head superiority despite most mid-contest predictions flipping toward Kirby. The writeup treats Bowser's broader Mario appeal and recent relevance as more durable than Kirby's apparent momentum.

Alucard decisively beat Pokémon Trainer Red and completed the unexpected divisional run almost no one had predicted before the contest. The writeup celebrates the long-running 'Plan' joke finally paying off.

Pikachu beat Zero comfortably and won another division, continuing the mascot's standout run while most other Pokémon characters disappointed. The writeup sees Pikachu as clearly stronger than the rest of his franchise's field.

Ganondorf beat Vivi after an early struggle, but Vivi stayed close enough to reinforce his reputation as an unusually durable Final Fantasy character. The writeup believes Nintendo and Zelda momentum were just enough to decide the matchup.

Ryu comfortably ended KOS-MOS's unlikely run through one of the weakest sections of the bracket. The writeup treats the result as a return to normal after KOS-MOS reached Round Three for the first time.

Sephiroth beat Amaterasu in the familiar pattern of losing early support and steadily climbing, but the writeup considers the final showing weaker than his old form. The result is treated as a subtle warning before stronger opposition.

Mega Man X and Tifa traded leads throughout one of the contest's best matches before outside support became decisive late. Tifa's final rally push erased X's last advantage and carried her through the divisional thriller.

Rally: The writeup describes organized pushes for both Mega Man X and Tifa, including subreddit and outside-site rallies. It explicitly says Tifa's broader rally sources supplied the final push that decided the match.

Luigi demolished Tails in the biggest blowout of the round and ended Tails's surprise run. The writeup treats the result as another example of the Mario side dominating Sonic-family characters under overlapping fanbases.

SFF: Tsunami explicitly calls Luigi versus Tails an SFF matchup and argues that Mario-family strength suppresses the Sonic-side character in this cross-franchise Nintendo-adjacent rivalry.

Auron beat Sub-Zero in another remarkably similar rematch between two characters who had repeatedly met before. The writeup finds the consistency more interesting than the outcome itself.

Bayonetta led for much of the match, but Geralt again used the overnight and morning vote to complete a comeback. The writeup treats the win as another entertaining step in an unusually strong newcomer run.

Aerith beat Fox in a nearly static match and extended the deepest run ever by a 15-seed. The writeup emphasizes the historic seeding achievement more than the competitiveness of the poll.

Zelda destroyed Squall in the match that fully established her as the star of the main bracket. The writeup treats the scale of the win as evidence of a genuine Breath of the Wild and Smash-era boost, not a rally.

Kirby demolished Phoenix and erased the significance of Phoenix's narrow rules-assisted win over Ike. The blowout made Kirby the popular favorite over Bowser despite older evidence favoring Bowser.

2B performed respectably in defeat against Bowser and convinced the writeup she belonged in the midcard. At the same time, the loss confirmed that her top seed was far too generous.

Alucard crushed pre-contest favorite Kefka and turned what had looked like a wide-open division into his breakout run. The writeup attributes Alucard's rise to a mix of Castlevania revival, Netflix exposure and Smash visibility.

Red beat Big Boss but struggled enough to make both Pokémon and Metal Gear strength difficult to interpret. The writeup uses the close result as evidence that Red's multiway reputation had overstated his 1v1 power.

Pikachu beat Yoshi in their long-awaited first direct matchup and looked like the only Pokémon character consistently meeting high expectations. The Detective Pikachu trailer arriving the same day is noted as favorable timing.

Zero comfortably ended Wario's run through a weak part of the bracket and looked exactly like the reliable upper-midcard favorite expected of him. Wario's respectable share still surprised the writeup.

Vivi beat Donkey Kong for the third time in nearly identical fashion, continuing one of the contest's strangest recurring rivalries. The writeup concludes that Donkey Kong's apparent revival had been overstated.

Ganondorf comfortably eliminated the contest's top overall seed Dante in a match that barely moved. The writeup treats the loss as proof Dante was badly overseeded rather than evidence of a close divisional race.

KOS-MOS upset Aqua and reached Round Three for the first time, despite much of the writeup framing her as an unlikely survivor of an exceptionally weak fourpack. The result is linked to renewed visibility from guest appearances rather than cheating.

Ryu crushed Commander Shepard and made Mass Effect's character decline look severe. The writeup treats Ryu's Smash exposure as part of a broader rise while Shepard never recovered old strength.

Amaterasu beat Lara despite low pre-contest confidence, but the writeup considers the modest margin another example of Amaterasu rarely producing decisive results. Lara's modern games are said to have done little for her contest standing.

Sephiroth briefly allowed Captain Falcon an opening before settling into the expected comfortable win. The writeup treats the result as evidence that claims of Sephiroth's collapse had been exaggerated.

Mega Man X overwhelmed Ocelot and finally produced a clean comparison that made X look near-elite. Ocelot's poor showing added to the wider Metal Gear decline narrative.

Tifa crushed Mewtwo in a matchup many had once imagined favoring the Pokémon character. The writeup uses the result to reject Mewtwo's rally-inflated 2013 reputation and to establish Tifa as a serious threat.

Tails upset Master Chief and controlled the match from early on, turning a fan-favorite gamble into one of the writeup's most satisfying picks. The result also continued Master Chief's long contest decline.

Luigi beat Frog comfortably in a routine matchup that offered little suspense. The source's 'Green SFF' line is a color joke rather than a substantive claim about shared fanbases.

Sub-Zero doubled Claire in the straightforward result the writeup expected from this fourpack. Claire's easy defeat is used as another example of Resident Evil's damaged contest strength.

Auron comfortably beat Vincent and reinforced the writeup's view that Vincent had fallen sharply from his mid-2000s peak. Board 8 overwhelmingly expected the result despite old faith in Final Fantasy VII's intra-series strength.

Bayonetta beat Pac-Man in a match that stayed close by percentage but never developed into an actual rally or comeback. The writeup is more puzzled by Pac-Man's unexpected strength than impressed by the drama.

Simon led early and kept Geralt tied for hours before Geralt took control late at night. The writeup celebrates the match as another close, entertaining step in Geralt's newcomer run.

Aerith beat Captain Toad without much movement and became the first 15-seed to win three matches. The writeup treats her run as a historic seeding oddity even though the path itself was unusually weak.

The writeup is mostly an enormous political and Blizzard retrospective; the actual match is summarized as Fox crushing a weak D.Va after the feared rally never appeared.

Zelda crushed The Boss and made her coming match with Squall look increasingly favorable. The writeup treats Breath of the Wild and broader Nintendo momentum as convincing explanations for Zelda's dramatic rise.

Squall beat Garrus as expected but failed to dominate as strongly as the writeup anticipated. The result is remembered as an early warning sign that Squall's top-seed run was much shakier than it appeared.

Kirby demolished Isaac in a matchup the writeup considers heavily distorted by shared Nintendo and handheld appeal. The blowout further strengthened Kirby's status as a division favorite.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Kirby versus Isaac an SFF match, arguing that Kirby's handheld-heavy Nintendo fanbase strongly overlaps with Golden Sun's audience.

Phoenix Wright narrowly advanced over Ike because registered-user votes counted double, even though Ike won the raw vote. The writeup treats the result as a rules-driven flip and another major disappointment in Ike's contest history.

Bowser decisively avenged his old loss to Charizard and ended hopes of another deep Pokémon run from the dragon. The writeup treats Bowser as fully legitimate and Charizard's earlier peak as heavily timing-dependent.

2B upset the Board 8 favorite Ness and established herself as a legitimate midcard character, though the writeup still considers her badly overseeded as a top seed. The win is attributed to real strength rather than any outside intervention.

Kefka followed his first-round escape with a routine blowout of Bomberman. The writeup finds the near-repeat of Kefka's prior percentage on L-Block funnier than the actual match.

Alucard beat Yuna far more comfortably than pre-contest expectations suggested and continued his recurring habit of producing deep contest runs. The writeup treats Yuna's loss as another sign of Final Fantasy X's long-term decline.

Big Boss barely beat Crash in a matchup that was expected to be routine, turning a presumed blowout into another warning about Metal Gear's collapse. The writeup gives Crash substantial credit for his continuing nostalgia-driven rebound.

Red built a large lead, watched Sora erase much of it, then survived with help from a late Pokémon subreddit push. The writeup treats the match as both a legitimate close contest and a direct example of a small rally deciding the outcome.

Rally: The writeup says Pokémon Trainer Red was rallied through posts to the Pokémon subreddit during Sora's comeback, and explicitly states that the outside traffic made the difference.

Pikachu beat a recently boosted Kratos comfortably and continued to look like the strongest Pokémon character in the bracket. The writeup treats Kratos's God of War revival as making the win more impressive than the raw matchup first appears.

Yoshi crushed Velvet in another unusually lopsided later-round match, though the writeup warns that both of Yoshi's opponents had been extremely weak. The result leaves his true strength unresolved heading into a much harder matchup.

Wario comfortably eliminated Master Hand after the joke and rally support some expected for the Smash boss never appeared. The writeup treats Wario's first deeper run as more a product of bracket luck than newfound strength.

Zero beat Knuckles by almost exactly the sort of margin historical strength estimates suggested, ending another unlucky Knuckles run against elite opposition. The writeup treats Knuckles as legitimate despite yet another early exit.

Donkey Kong upset Leon in one of the contest's most surprising veteran-versus-veteran results, punishing an overwhelming expert lean toward Resident Evil. The writeup treats the match as clean evidence of Nintendo's rise and Leon's weakness.

Vivi demolished Aya Brea and looked much stronger than Ganondorf had in the neighboring match. Because Vivi's first two opponents were both weak, the writeup still hesitates to declare exactly how strong he really was.

Ganondorf beat Chun-Li but looked far weaker than expected for a character many had viewed as a likely division winner. The writeup treats the poor performance as a major warning, while explicitly dismissing earlier complaints about his sprite picture.

Dante opened the next stage by comfortably eliminating Lightning, whose Final Fantasy XIII baggage left her unable to threaten him. The writeup treats the result as another solid Dante performance without much suspense.

Aqua comfortably beat Quiet in a matchup that had looked more debatable before the contest exposed Metal Gear Solid V's weakness. The writeup treats the result as a routine close to an overlong first round.

KOS-MOS upset Ellie despite an outside appeal for The Last of Us fans to vote. The writeup treats the result as another case where GameFAQs' old-JRPG preferences overwhelmed the popularity of a major recent Western game.

Rally: The writeup quotes an Ellie supporter posting to The Last of Us community and explicitly asking people to visit GameFAQs and vote for her during the match.

Commander Shepard survived an unexpectedly strong King K. Rool challenge after trailing for much of the opening portion of the match. The writeup blames Mass Effect's decline and K. Rool's Smash boost for making the result far closer than expected.

Ryu routed Lloyd in another demonstration that the Tales series had little character-contest strength. The writeup treats Ryu as a durable veteran who remained comfortably above ordinary fodder despite years of decline.

Lara Croft comfortably beat a Board 8-backed Robot Master whose real accomplishment was reaching the bracket. The writeup frames the match primarily as a celebration of the community nomination campaign behind Metal Man.

Amaterasu annihilated former champion Draven after the League rally machine that carried him in 2013 failed to return. The writeup treats the result as both catharsis and the contest's clearest proof that old rallybait had lost its power.

Captain Falcon beat newly Smash-boosted Richter comfortably and erased the upset hype created by Richter's recent announcement. The writeup treats Falcon's long Smash pedigree as more valuable than Richter's fresh exposure.

Sephiroth beat Wesker comfortably but failed to look as dominant as a Noble Nine character once would have against similar opposition. The writeup treats the result as another sign that Sephiroth had clearly declined from his peak.

Mega Man X obliterated Isabelle and immediately looked like one of the strongest characters in the main bracket. The writeup treats the blowout as a rare modern performance resembling the massive margins of the earliest contests.

Ocelot survived Dedede in a wire-to-wire thriller where neither side ever established a secure advantage. The writeup remembers the match as a record-level close contest and notes that even a small outside push mattered.

Rally: The writeup says a small Reddit rally helped Revolver Ocelot avoid an upset during an extremely close match with King Dedede.

Mewtwo beat GLaDOS comfortably and resisted pre-match claims that his earlier deep runs had made him look stronger than he really was. The writeup treats the performance as a solid validation of his natural mid-to-high strength.

Tifa routed Geno and remained one of the few Final Fantasy VII characters still looking consistently strong. The writeup also uses the match to revisit Geno's extraordinary history of repeated contest appearances without a win.

Tails upset Nathan Drake after most casual and expert predictions had favored the Uncharted protagonist. The writeup celebrates the result as both a fan-favorite victory and another failure of recent Western characters to translate into contest strength.

Master Chief beat Majima comfortably but still performed far below what the writeup expected against such weak opposition. The showing is framed as another example of GameFAQs' longstanding hostility toward Halo and Xbox.

Frog demolished Monokuma after another heavily discussed rallybait character failed to attract meaningful outside support. The writeup treats Monokuma as genuine bottom-tier fodder rather than a suppressed rally threat.

Luigi produced one of the round's largest blowouts against Edgeworth and continued the contest-wide Nintendo surge. The writeup treats the result as another reminder of Luigi's unusually strong first-round history.

Claire beat Joker after an initially close match turned sharply in Resident Evil's favor. The writeup considers the result clouded by Joker's naming and picture controversy and uses it as evidence that presentation can materially affect a close contest match.

Pic: The writeup says Joker's nonstandard name and unmasked picture hurt his recognition and explicitly argues the match would have been closer with a proper Joker presentation, even though Claire's picture was also poor.

Sub-Zero beat Shulk without serious difficulty despite expectations that Smash and Xenoblade growth might produce a stronger challenge. The writeup treats Sub-Zero as one of the most durable non-Nintendo midcarders.

Vincent survived a surprisingly strong Magus challenge in a matchup between two former contest heavyweights who had both declined badly. The writeup treats the narrow win as evidence that Vincent's fall had been even steeper than expected.

Auron comfortably beat Lucina, though Lucina performed well enough to demonstrate the growth of Fire Emblem and Smash-era Nintendo strength. The writeup still regards Auron as the clear favorite to emerge from the division.

Bayonetta demolished Riku in a matchup many had expected to be close or even favor Kingdom Hearts. The writeup treats the result as one of the contest's largest apparent boosts, driven by Bayonetta's Nintendo and Smash relevance.

Pac-Man annihilated Sans in a matchup many had debated because of Undertale's rally history. The expected outside push never appeared, and the writeup treats Sans's natural weakness as one of the contest's biggest disappointments.

Simon Belmont upset Ryu Hayabusa after taking an early lead and resisting a long, slow comeback. The writeup credits Simon's Smash announcement and improved presentation for transforming a historically weak character into a legitimate threat.

Pic: The writeup says Simon Belmont's new Smash design was shown especially well in the match picture and treats that presentation as part of the boost that helped him beat Ryu Hayabusa.

Geralt survived an alarming opening against Rosalina and eventually pulled away, avoiding what would have been a humiliating top-seed upset. The writeup treats the result as validation that a recent Western character could still possess real contest strength.

Aerith comfortably beat Waluigi after fears of joke votes or a meme rally failed to materialize. The writeup treats Waluigi's loss as another example of rallybait collapsing under the contest's quieter environment.

Captain Toad edged Shovel Knight in one of the most debated first-round matches, rewarding the simple 'pick Nintendo' logic over the indie favorite. The writeup treats the result as another bracket embarrassment for casual expectations.

Fox narrowly beat Jill in a match the writeup considers much closer than a Smash-boosted Nintendo character should have allowed. Jill's respectable loss and Fox's weak showing left both characters difficult to evaluate.

D.Va won a close newcomer matchup against Aloy, but the heavily discussed possibility of an outside rally never materialized. The writeup treats the result as evidence that rallybait alone no longer guaranteed anything on GameFAQs.

Zelda crushed Ezio far more severely than in their earlier contest meeting and effectively ended debate about the division's natural favorite. The writeup treats the performance as another major Zelda and Nintendo statement.

The Boss beat Metal Sonic after a community nomination effort unexpectedly turned the Sonic side into a respectable opponent. The writeup gives most of the credit to the Board 8 campaign that got Metal Sonic into the bracket at all.

Garrus and Ramza traded leads for most of the match before Garrus finally gained enough daytime separation to survive. The writeup remembers it as the contest's first true nailbiter and one of its best early matches.

Squall crushed Hat Kid but still looked weaker than expected for a character some had placed near the top of the non-Noble-Nine field. The writeup treats the early struggle as another warning about Final Fantasy's broader decline.

Kirby delivered another huge Nintendo blowout while Guile never became remotely competitive. The writeup treats the result as part of the contest-wide pattern of Smash and Nintendo characters outperforming expectations.

Isaac comfortably dispatched a Board 8-backed newcomer and reinforced his role as a reliable dividing line between fodder and real midcarders. The writeup treats Estelle's appearance itself as the bigger community achievement.

Ike overwhelmed Joel and looked substantially stronger than Phoenix had in the neighboring matchup. The writeup treats the performance as evidence that Fire Emblem's growth and Ike's Smash popularity had translated into real contest strength.

Phoenix Wright beat Chris Redfield comfortably enough to confirm his gradual rise from joke status into legitimate midcard strength. The writeup also notes Phoenix's strong early vote and harsher decline as the poll continued.

Bowser demolished Gordon Freeman far more thoroughly than historical comparisons suggested he should. The writeup treats the result as one of the clearest early signs that Nintendo characters had received a major boost.

Charizard survived a surprisingly strong challenge from Terra after spending much of the early match looking vulnerable. The writeup treats the narrow win as a major warning that Charizard was far weaker than his earlier contest reputation suggested.

Ness won a debated matchup that stayed fairly close and stable, with Shadow never quite finding enough momentum to complete the comeback. The writeup treats the result as proof that Ness had quietly become a more reliable midcarder.

2B crushed Cayde-6 and immediately proved she had legitimate contest strength even if her top seeding was inflated. Cayde is treated as one of the weakest entrants in the entire field.

Bomberman demolished the heavily overseeded Kiryu and produced one of the bracket's clearest seeding embarrassments. The writeup treats the result as evidence that recognizability still mattered more than recent niche popularity.

Kefka turned one of Round One's hardest prediction calls into a comfortable win over former champion L-Block. The writeup treats the result as another example of Kefka's unpredictability and of fading support for rallybait joke characters.

Yuna overwhelmed the Board 8-favorite Godot in a matchup that was never competitive after the opening moments. The writeup treats Godot's appearance as a community victory even though the broader site gave him little support.

Alucard beat Peach without much drama in a matchup that some had overhyped because of Nintendo momentum. The writeup sees both characters as having looked respectable and rejects any need for a firm SFF explanation.

Big Boss beat a Smash-boosted Ridley comfortably, though Ridley performed well enough to show clear improvement. The writeup frames the result as a rare case where an established non-Nintendo character resisted the contest's Nintendo surge.

Crash decisively beat Cecil in another matchup the Final Fantasy IV protagonist had been widely expected to win. The writeup treats the result as both a Crash nostalgia boost and the formal birth of the Cecil Harvey Never Wins meme.

Pokémon Trainer Red crushed an unusually high-seeded newcomer and looked stronger than Sora had in the neighboring top-seed matchup. The result made their impending Round Two contest feel like a genuine tossup.

Sora won easily but failed the writeup's real test: looking strong enough for a top seed before the coming Red matchup. Ryo's modest resistance immediately became another warning sign for Sora's familiar pattern of high seeding and underachievement.

Kratos produced by far one of the strongest performances of his contest career while Marston looked far weaker than his game-level popularity suggested. The writeup attributes much of the gap to same-audience suppression.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Kratos's unusually large win over John Marston SFF, arguing that two similar Western tough-guy fanbases overlapped heavily and that the stronger, more established Kratos suppressed Marston.

Pikachu overwhelmed a stable measuring-stick opponent in Scorpion and immediately looked near-elite. The writeup treats the result as the first major evidence that Pokémon, and Pikachu specifically, would be a serious force in the contest.

Velvet turned a mildly debated matchup with James Sunderland into an easy win and gave the Tales series a rare character-contest victory. The writeup mentions recognizability and presentation as possible helpers but still treats the result as fundamentally legitimate.

Yoshi delivered the expected blowout over Shantae, but the match sparked a disproportionate argument over whether Shantae had any meaningful contest strength. The writeup ultimately treats her as ordinary fodder with a dedicated niche fanbase.

Monika drew the outside support many bracketmakers feared, but Wario remained safely in control throughout. The writeup treats the failed upset as evidence that small fandom rallies were much less dangerous under the contest's anti-rally setup.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says Monika received a real Reddit and community rally, visible in the higher turnout and several stalls or small cuts, but that the push was far too weak to threaten Wario.

Master Hand crushed Noctis in a matchup that had been treated as a true tossup beforehand. The writeup sees the result as one of the clearest signs that modern Final Fantasy had fallen badly while Smash-era Nintendo strength had risen.

Knuckles crushed a matchup many experts had favored Zidane to win and extended his remarkable history of first-round success. Rally spillover from the neighboring Monika poll is treated as an extra tailwind, not the sole reason for the upset.

Rally: The writeup says the simultaneous Monika rally brought in outside voters who disproportionately favored Knuckles, with one analysis explicitly saying Square was hurt by the spillover.

Zero handled Primrose in a routine top-seed matchup, though the writeup gives Primrose credit for avoiding a complete collapse. Any possible benefit from the simultaneous Monika rally is described as unclear.

Leon comfortably beat Dragonborn and looked strong enough to justify confidence in a deep run. Dragonborn's large recovery over the day is treated as a trend quirk rather than a meaningful threat.

Donkey Kong demolished Tidus in a matchup built around two characters with long reputations for choking. The writeup attributes the result to Donkey Kong's renewed relevance, broader Nintendo momentum and Tidus's continued decline.

Aya Brea turned a heavily debated matchup into a stable, comfortable win over Victor Sullivan. The writeup treats the result as another example of 1990s GameFAQs nostalgia beating a newer Western series.

Vivi handled Yu Narukami in a routine blowout and stood out as one of the few Final Fantasy characters still retaining old strength. The writeup mentions possible Square overlap only as an uncertainty rather than a confirmed explanation.

Ganondorf crushed Neku far more severely than expected and immediately looked like the division favorite. The writeup treats the result as an early sign that Zelda, Switch and Smash hype would dominate the contest.

Chun-Li beat Spyro in a debated matchup, but Spyro stayed competitive enough to validate his recent nostalgia-driven recovery. The writeup explicitly rejects the old Jug Factor as the reason for the result.

Lightning turned a match that had generated second-match paranoia into an immediate blowout. The writeup treats Chloe as likely bottom-tier fodder and says the result did little to prove Lightning had genuinely recovered.

Dante won the opening matchup comfortably but failed to look as overwhelming as the writeup expected from the contest's top overall seed. Cuphead's respectable showing is treated as evidence that the indie newcomer was underseeded rather than truly dangerous.