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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.