GameFAQsContests.com

NieR: Automata crushed Bayonetta 2 and looked excellent entering the next round. The writeup later treats heavy overlap between the two action-game fanbases as the best explanation for how lopsided the result became.

SFF: Ctes says the most likely explanation is that NieR: Automata SFFed Bayonetta 2 because of their overlapping Platinum-style action audience, and explicitly says he believes the SFF explanation most.

Divinity: Original Sin II beat Hearthstone in a matchup the writeup expected to produce one of the weakest surviving games. Hearthstone's anti-Blizzard baggage and poor historical strength made the outcome straightforward.

Celeste and Rayman Legends stayed extremely close for nearly the entire match before Celeste escaped with the win. The writeup celebrates it as the best match of an otherwise blowout-heavy opening round.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver obliterated Night in the Woods and immediately looked like a true proxy for the older Pokémon Gold and Silver games. The result put Skyrim on notice for a possible later matchup.

Mario Kart 8 upset Uncharted 4 and continued Uncharted's history of collapsing as a high seed. The writeup treats the result as proof that Mario Kart's Switch-era success had erased much of its old Wii U weakness.

Final Fantasy XIV beat Crypt of the NecroDancer and looked better than many expected from an MMO on GameFAQs. The writeup treats the result as evidence that the game's strong modern reputation had translated into real contest value.

Journey beat Fate / Grand Order in a matchup the writeup expected to identify one of the weakest Round Two entrants. The result reflects GameFAQs' limited interest in mobile gacha games more than meaningful Journey strength.

Skyrim crushed Subnautica but looked weak in the opening board vote compared with The Witcher 3 and Dark Souls. The writeup treats that early weakness as a major warning for a game many had picked to reach the final.

The Last of Us routed Crusader Kings II but failed to match the strongest statements from the division. The writeup treats the result as a warning for its planned showdown with Dark Souls.

Diablo III crushed Virtue's Last Reward despite an absurdly anti-Blizzard Board 8 opening vote. The writeup treats the result more as evidence of VLR's extreme niche weakness than as a Blizzard rebound.

BioShock Infinite doubled Terraria but still looked weak because Terraria was later treated as one of the bracket's poorest games. The writeup sees the result as another sign that BioShock's peak had passed.

Batman: Arkham City beat Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but the margin was close enough to create concern about Batman's deeper prospects. The writeup also treats Xenoblade 2 as a respectable loss for a relatively niche JRPG.

Metal Gear Solid V beat Dead Cells in a matchup whose pairing the writeup considers deliberately ironic because both revolve around missing or phantom body parts. The result itself did little to repair Metal Gear's declining reputation.

Yakuza 0 beat The Witness and gave the long-promoted Board 8 franchise a straightforward contest win. The writeup treats the result as validation of Yakuza's growing visibility more than proof of major strength.

Rocket League narrowly beat Dragon Ball FighterZ in one of the opening round's first genuinely uncertain matches. The writeup remembers the matchup mainly for finally providing close-match drama after a long run of blowouts.

Dark Souls obliterated Hotline Miami and immediately confirmed the writeup's belief that the franchise had gained major respect over the decade. The performance pushed Dark Souls into serious divisional-title consideration.

Red Dead Redemption 2 demolished Dying Light in a completely routine top-seed-style matchup. The writeup treats the blowout mainly as a necessary first test before much stronger opposition arrived.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf beat Street Fighter V after years of weak Animal Crossing contest history. The writeup sees the win as evidence that the series had become more relevant, while Street Fighter V's poor reputation made the matchup easier.

Kingdom Hearts III beat Disco Elysium comfortably but looked weak compared with Portal 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2. The writeup treats the result as a serious underperformance for a major franchise entry.

Portal 2 handled Tomb Raider in a routine first-round match without producing the kind of statement its supporters wanted. The writeup still treats Portal 2 as the most likely divisional finalist entering Round Two.

Super Meat Boy crushed Slay the Spire and gave Board 8's guru nomination a rare clean contest win. Combined with Sonic Mania's weak showing, the result fueled hopes for a much bigger upset next round.

Sonic Mania beat Ys VIII but performed badly enough to inspire real second-round upset talk around Super Meat Boy. The writeup treats the weak showing as a significant warning despite the comfortable win.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag beat Civilization V in a matchup the writeup considers a low-tier 8/9 contest. The winner is treated as merely earning the right to face a much stronger Persona 5.

Persona 5 crushed Heavy Rain and reinforced how completely the Persona series had entered the GameFAQs mainstream. The writeup treats Persona 5 as one of the bracket's easiest games to trust in the early rounds.

God of War annihilated The Talos Principle and looked every bit like a serious heavyweight. The writeup notes that The Witcher 3's simultaneous performance still kept God of War's division path looking difficult.

Nioh upset The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth after nearly every prediction group favored Isaac. The writeup treats the result as another warning that the contest's 2017-era Souls-style games were much stronger than expected.

Dark Souls III handled Dishonored without difficulty and continued the broader pattern of Souls games outperforming expectations. The writeup uses the result mainly to strengthen confidence in the franchise as a whole.

Fallout: New Vegas crushed The Stanley Parable in a routine first-round mismatch. The writeup treats the win as modest reassurance that Fallout had not suffered as much from Bethesda backlash as some feared.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 produced one of the contest's most extreme first-round blowouts against Return of the Obra Dinn. The writeup also criticizes the seeding that placed both games far from where their strength suggested they belonged.

Stardew Valley demolished Destiny and emerged as one of the strongest-looking indie games of the opening round. The writeup still cautions that Destiny's extreme unpopularity may have exaggerated the performance.

Mass Effect 3 beat StarCraft II much more decisively than their franchises' older matchup suggested. The writeup treats the result as redemption for Mass Effect 3 and another sign of Blizzard's declining contest strength.

The Witcher 3 obliterated Assassin's Creed Odyssey and immediately looked transformed from its 2015 form. The writeup treats the result as a championship-level statement even if some of the margin came from overlap.

SFF: Ctes explicitly says The Witcher 3 held the SFF hammer over Assassin's Creed Odyssey because of their overlapping open-world appeal and that the effect hit hard.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses won comfortably but looked much weaker than expected next to Xenoblade Chronicles. The writeup treats Smash-related anti-voting and Fire Emblem's familiar tendency to underperform as serious warning signs.

Ori and the Blind Forest upset Dragon Age: Inquisition after taking control early and never truly surrendering it. The writeup credits Dragon Age's decline and Ori's recent sequel and Switch exposure as major background factors.

Overwatch beat Death Stranding in a matchup the writeup frames as a battle between two widely disliked games. The result is treated as more a failure by Death Stranding than a meaningful endorsement of Overwatch.

Xenoblade Chronicles crushed Splatoon 2 and instantly became a serious divisional contender. Even allowing for heavy Nintendo overlap, the writeup treats the performance as one of the round's biggest statements.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Xenoblade Chronicles versus Splatoon 2 an SFF beatdown and says Splatoon was especially vulnerable to being suppressed by a stronger Nintendo favorite.

Red Dead Redemption routed Ghost Trick and produced almost the same kind of opening statement as Persona 4 Golden. That set up their coming second-round match as one of the bracket's clearest tossups.

Persona 4 Golden crushed FTL and immediately looked like a serious threat to escape a crowded division. The writeup treats Golden as functioning essentially like the original Persona 4 despite its Vita-only status.

Cuphead beat XCOM 2 comfortably and strengthened the early-contest belief that some indie games had real GameFAQs strength. Its fast start also helped create early hype for a possible upset of Grand Theft Auto V.

Grand Theft Auto V beat Baba Is You but was briefly embarrassed by Board 8 anti-GTA voting at the start. The writeup treats the result as another example of GTA's unusual inability to produce clean blowouts even against extremely weak opposition.

Super Mario Odyssey produced an enormous rout that immediately made people reconsider whether Smash Ultimate was the obvious divisional favorite. Mortal Kombat's collapse was so severe that the writeup treats it as one of the strangest results of the round.

SFF: The writeup says Mortal Kombat 11 was buried under layers of SFF against Super Mario Odyssey, making its already poor showing even harder to interpret naturally.

Devil May Cry 5 beat Tropical Freeze in a debated matchup and gave the series long-awaited redemption after years of weak game-contest results. The writeup treats the win as a major correction to Devil May Cry's poor historical reputation.

Shovel Knight beat Dragon's Dogma comfortably, though the writeup considers the performance merely solid rather than evidence of the huge indie strength some had expected. Undertale's simultaneous loss overshadowed most discussion of the match.

Octopath Traveler upset defending champion Undertale after the outside rally that defined 2015 never materialized. The writeup treats Undertale's relatively respectable loss as evidence that it retained a real fanbase even after its rally era ended.

Minecraft crushed Dota 2 despite the writeup's complaint that Minecraft should not have been eligible under the contest's release-year rules. Dota never received the rally some feared and is treated as another example of rallybait collapsing naturally.

Marvel's Spider-Man demolished Dead Space 2 and gave a licensed superhero game an unusually strong contest showing. The writeup uses the result to argue that high-quality licensed games can possess real GameFAQs strength.

A Link Between Worlds comfortably beat Bayonetta despite the latter's Nintendo and Smash associations. The writeup explicitly says the match did not look like SFF and instead treats both games as legitimate within their natural strength.

Smash Ultimate annihilated Tekken 7 and looked every bit like the division's overwhelming favorite. Much of the writeup uses the result to celebrate Smash's dominance over traditional fighting-game expectations.

Bloodborne crushed Black Ops while the writeup marvels at how completely Call of Duty's old contest relevance had vanished. The result also exposed casual bracketmakers who still gave the famous shooter too much credit.

Fire Emblem: Awakening beat Deus Ex but failed to look strong enough for the deeper run many bracketmakers wanted. The writeup treats the result as a clear warning after simultaneous games in the division posted much stronger performances.

DOOM demolished INSIDE and looked far stronger than many had expected from a modern shooter. The writeup later concludes that INSIDE was simply one of the weakest games in the bracket rather than a meaningful strength test.

Resident Evil 2 crushed Danganronpa 2 and immediately looked much stronger than Mass Effect 2 had in the same division. The writeup treats the result as confirmation that the remake's acclaim translated into major contest strength.

Horizon Zero Dawn obliterated Fortnite after rally fear and casual recognition had made the matchup look more uncertain on paper than it really was. The writeup treats the rout as another sign that GameFAQs' remaining voters strongly reject casualbait.

Borderlands 2 beat Bloodstained but performed much worse than expected for the fourpack favorite. The writeup treats Bloodstained as respectable while still calling the result a major warning for Borderlands.

Fallout 4 handled VVVVVV and initially seemed to avoid the Bethesda backlash many expected. The writeup later treats that apparent stability as misleading once Fallout's deeper weaknesses became clearer.

Mass Effect 2 beat Resident Evil 7 but looked far too weak for a supposed division favorite facing a 16-seed. The writeup treats Resident Evil 7 as clearly underseeded and the result as an immediate warning for Mass Effect.

Dragon Quest XI crushed the Board 8-backed Trails in the Sky SC and finally gave Dragon Quest a genuinely strong contest performance. The writeup views the blowout as partly amplified by extreme fanbase overlap.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says the matchup reeks of SFF, arguing that Dragon Quest XI and Trails in the Sky SC appeal to an unusually overlapping JRPG audience.

Bastion upset The Walking Dead and reinforced the writeup's view that the franchise's mainstream popularity never translated into GameFAQs contest strength. The result also rewarded skepticism toward supposedly safer casual picks.

Sekiro beat Ni no Kuni in almost the same pattern as Monster Hunter's simultaneous win, leaving their future head-to-head hard to project. The writeup's most distinctive commentary is the unusually strong Board 8 dislike for Ni no Kuni.

Monster Hunter: World beat Bravely Default in a stable newcomer matchup whose trends closely mirrored the simultaneous Sekiro poll. The writeup sees the result as solid but not decisive evidence for the next round.

Hollow Knight crushed Tales of Berseria after many Board 8 experts had talked themselves out of the obvious pick. The blowout immediately made the coming Final Fantasy XV matchup look much more dangerous.

Final Fantasy XV beat one of the bracket's weakest-looking indie entries but not by enough to impress the writeup. The result is treated as the first warning that FFXV might struggle badly against Hollow Knight.

Halo: Reach beat Life is Strange despite significant pre-match distrust rooted in Halo's long history of underperforming on GameFAQs. The writeup treats the win as routine enough while still emphasizing how far Halo's reputation had fallen.

Breath of the Wild opened the contest with an enormous rout and immediately looked like the obvious championship favorite. The writeup frames the result as the start of a Zelda redemption tour after the prior games contest.