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Link opened the 2003 contest with another enormous blowout and immediately reaffirmed his status as the entrant to beat. The writeup notes that some same-company overlap may have contributed, but not enough to diminish the statement.

SFF: The writeup says Link's overwhelming result may have included a small amount of SFF because AiAi was another Nintendo character, while stressing that the magnitude of the win was impressive regardless.

Fox routed Pikachu in a debated matchup that the writeup retrospectively considers an obvious SFF situation. The victory also ended Fox's poor first-contest seeding story by finally giving him a match win.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Fox's decisive win over fellow Nintendo entrant Pikachu as an SFF result and argues that anti-Pokémon voting made Pikachu's position even worse.

Ganondorf survived a surprisingly strong Tidus comeback after Board 8 had largely treated the matchup as a lock. The match became especially important for popularizing dedicated update topics and exposing the gap between hardcore board expectations and the broader bracket field.

Magus won comfortably but failed to match the enormous expectations created by his pre-contest hype. The writeup says supporters blamed his low seed and kept treating him as a potential challenger to Link despite the underwhelming showing.

Squall beat Jill far more comfortably than much of Board 8 expected after his disappointing 2002 showing. The writeup treats the result as clear evidence that his strength had changed substantially between contests.

Luigi opened at an elite-looking level against Ratchet, then steadily declined as the match progressed. The writeup says the result cooled the extreme pre-contest hype around Luigi even though few considered his next match dangerous.

KOS-MOS decisively beat the favored Crash, confirming that his old platforming fame no longer guaranteed contest support. The writeup says the blowout made KOS-MOS look stronger than she really was while symbolizing Crash's decline.

Samus easily beat Isaac, yet the writeup considered the margin disappointing because people expected a much harsher same-company blowout. Isaac's resistance became an enduring puzzle while Samus-over-Link speculation continued anyway.

CATS briefly led Cloud at the opening, creating a memorable Board 8 spectacle before Cloud predictably destroyed him. The writeup treats the moment as the birth of the CATS Army and an early milestone in Cloud's long-running difficulty with the board vote.

Auron comfortably beat Tails despite substantial board sentiment that favored the Sonic character. The writeup remembers the match as Auron's strong contest debut and an early indication that Tidus's unpopularity did not extend to him.

Bowser demolished a Ness who had been a popular upset pick, immediately overturning much of the pre-match speculation around the four-pack. The writeup remembers the scale of the blowout as one of the contest's early surprises.

Yoshi beat Conker comfortably in his first contest match, but not by enough to satisfy the enormous expectations surrounding him. The writeup says the result largely ended fanciful Yoshi-over-Cloud talk while still leaving most people too confident about his chances against Bowser.

Aeris handled Sora as expected and continued the pattern of outperforming her low seed. The writeup later came to view Sora's poor showing as an SFF result that understated his actual contest strength.

SFF: The writeup retrospectively identifies Aeris versus Sora as an SFF match, arguing that Sora's connection to Aeris through Kingdom Hearts made him look weaker than he would against an unrelated opponent.

Master Chief narrowly avoided an upset against Felix in a match the writeup says exposed intense anti-Xbox and anti-Halo sentiment. The result badly damaged Chief's pre-contest reputation despite the win.

Zero decisively beat a Scorpion who had been heavily favored because of his surprising 2002 run. The writeup treats the result as the end of Scorpion's brief time as a serious contest threat and the start of Zero's strong career.

Sonic beat a badly underseeded Ken without serious trouble, though his slow start created some concern among people hoping he could challenge Cloud. The writeup ultimately viewed the performance as acceptable given Ken's strength.

Mario opened the heavily anticipated South Division by crushing Olimar. The writeup treats the result as a routine SFF blowout that revealed little about how Mario would fare against the division's elite opposition.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Mario's victory over fellow Nintendo entrant Olimar a mundane SFF beating and says SFF was in full swing during the match.

Shadow demolished a heavily favored Wario in one of the board's largest first-round surprises. The writeup says Wario's poor match picture made supporters nervous beforehand, but treats Shadow's strength and Wario's failure as the main story.

Kefka survived Pac-Man after an infamous match picture badly damaged confidence in the heavily hyped newcomer. Pac-Man mounted a long comeback attempt before Kefka recovered late, while the image became a lasting Board 8 running joke.

Pic: The writeup says Kefka's infamous 'lettuce' match picture hurt him badly, turning what had been treated as a comfortable win into a close, contested match against Pac-Man.

Crono cruised past Tom Nook in a match the writeup treats as little more than a formality before the expected Mario rematch. It then spends substantial time on Nook's more memorable connection to an unrelated Board 8 user contest.

Alucard comfortably beat Bomberman while remaining less trusted than his previous contest results warranted. The writeup treats the victory as another steady step toward the much more debated Alucard-Kirby matchup.

Kirby beat a heavily hyped Ramza, but the writeup considered Ramza's resistance surprisingly strong for a cult newcomer. The result ended the Ramza upset talk while raising doubts about Kirby before facing Alucard.

Max Payne beat Gordon Freeman in a match that looked close on paper but was never seriously in doubt. The writeup remembers it chiefly as the point where the long-running 'Gordon Freeman Never Wins' joke truly took hold.

Sephiroth crushed Raziel exactly as expected and remained one of the division's dominant favorites. The writeup's lasting historical note is that a perfect percentage prediction around this match helped inspire the Oracle Challenge.

Snake routed Raiden in an expected same-series mismatch. The writeup emphasizes that the result was a severe SFF beating, though Raiden retained enough support to avoid the historically extreme percentage some expected.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Raiden was heavily SFFed by fellow Metal Gear character Solid Snake, while noting that Raiden still performed better than many expected.

Knuckles won one of the most evenly debated first-round matches after spending much of the night in a near-stalemate with Yuna. His powerful day vote then turned the close contest into a comfortable finish.

Ryu demolished Duke Nukem far more convincingly than many expected. The writeup treats the performance as an overlooked warning that the supposedly obvious Dante-Ryu result in the next round was far from settled.

Dante answered Ryu's impressive opener with a dominant win over Ryo Hazuki. The result restored confidence in Dante before their second-round meeting, even though the writeup retrospectively says he had been overrated.

Donkey Kong beat Vyse as expected but did not produce the overwhelming showing supporters wanted before a possible match with Tommy Vercetti. The writeup therefore left the once-unthinkable DK upset case alive without strongly endorsing it.

Vercetti beat Kite but performed far below the level expected from a character once hyped to challenge Mega Man and Snake. The writeup says the result exposed his pre-contest reputation and made Donkey Kong a credible threat.

Zelda decisively beat a Lara Croft whose reputation had already fallen sharply from her former top-seed status. The writeup frames the loss as another sign of Lara's rapid decline while Zelda benefited from intense contemporary Zelda enthusiasm.

Mega Man annihilated Mr. Resetti, yet the writeup remembers the performance as a strange disappointment because expectations after 2002 were even more extreme. The match closed a first round full of upsets and inflated newcomer hype.

Link opened the second round by overwhelming Fox and reinforcing his status as the contest favorite. The writeup acknowledges heavy Nintendo SFF but says the performance still looked dominant enough to keep repeat-title expectations intact.

SFF: The writeup explicitly treats Link's rout of fellow Nintendo entrant Fox as an SFF result, while arguing that the size of the win remained impressive despite the overlap.

Magus survived a dramatic Ganondorf comeback after his early lead nearly vanished during the morning vote. The razor-thin win punctured the enormous Magus-versus-Link hype even as it produced one of the contest's most memorable close matches.

Squall stunned the overwhelmingly favored Luigi and immediately turned a normal match into one of Board 8's largest explosions. The upset generated extraordinary cheating accusations and permanently changed both characters' contest reputations.

Cheat: The writeup says Squall's upset of Luigi triggered cheating accusations on a scale rivaling any match in contest history, alongside mass account suicides, trolling, and other board chaos.

Samus decisively ended the brief KOS-MOS hype created by her first-round upset of Crash. The writeup saw the win as a partial recovery from Samus's disappointing opener and as evidence that Squall was unlikely to upset her next.

Cloud comfortably dismissed Auron in a match some had hoped could produce a same-company upset. Instead, the writeup says conventional SFF took over and strengthened the case that Cloud sat near the top of Square's hierarchy.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Cloud's victory over fellow Final Fantasy entrant Auron as an SFF beating that overwhelmed any hoped-for reverse-SFF upset effect.

Bowser quickly erased Yoshi's brief opening lead and won a matchup most of the board had expected Yoshi to take. The writeup treats the result as both an upset of prevailing assumptions and a clear SFF performance.

SFF: The writeup says Bowser caught Yoshi and then laid an SFF beatdown on him, overturning expectations built from an earlier favorite-Mario-character poll.

Aeris comfortably beat a Master Chief whose narrow escape against Felix had already destroyed most upset expectations. Chief showed some resistance after a terrible start, but the writeup treats the match mainly as another strong Aeris fourpack win.

Sonic beat Zero but looked dramatically weaker than expected as Zero steadily cut into what began as a comfortable advantage. The writeup calls it a Pyrrhic victory that effectively ended serious Sonic-over-Cloud hopes.

Mario beat Shadow but performed so poorly that the result immediately fueled Crono upset talk. The writeup speculates that a reverse-SFF effect may explain Shadow's unusually strong showing, but treats the mechanism as uncertain.

Crono obliterated a Kefka whose first-round struggle had already ended most upset expectations. The unusually severe result sparked arguments about Square SFF and set up the heavily anticipated Mario-Crono rematch.

SFF: The writeup retrospectively treats Crono's blowout of Kefka as an SFF match, while noting that Square SFF was still disputed and poorly understood at the time.

Alucard won a heavily debated match with Kirby after an almost even opening. Though the final result looked close, the writeup says Alucard established control almost immediately and captured his fourpack for a second straight year.

Sephiroth demolished Max Payne in a match the writeup considered almost entirely predetermined. Its main significance was completing the path toward the long-awaited Mario-Crono-Sephiroth endgame in the South.

Snake comfortably beat Knuckles in the first rematch in Character Battle history, producing little suspense because the same matchup had already ended decisively the year before. The writeup treats Knuckles as another stepping stone toward Snake's eventual Mega Man test.

Ryu upset a Dante whom both the board and bracket field had largely treated as the obvious winner. The writeup remembers it as a surprisingly quiet upset because Ryu stayed in control and the board generated little outrage.

Vercetti and Donkey Kong traded the lead repeatedly in one of the era's best seesaw matches before Vercetti finally pulled away with the evening vote. The near-upset completed Vercetti's fall from supposed contender to obvious overhype.

Mega Man beat Zelda without the usual overwhelming dominance associated with his early contest career. The writeup considered the result mildly disappointing while allowing that Zelda's strength may simply have been underestimated.

Link ended the once-enormous Magus upset hype with a comfortable win, though Magus still performed better than expected. The writeup leaves the reason for that overperformance unresolved, mentioning both board hype and possible sprite-picture effects without settling on either.

Samus beat Squall as expected, but Squall's strong showing confirmed that his earlier Luigi upset was not a fluke. The writeup notes complaints about Samus's sprite picture but does not treat the image as a demonstrated cause of the result.

Cloud destroyed a Bowser whom much of the board had strongly supported, making the scale of the win especially striking. The writeup discusses a severe picture mismatch but stops short of attributing the result primarily to it.

Sonic narrowly held off Aeris in another performance that confirmed how far he had slipped from his pre-2002 reputation. Aeris's strong resistance made an upcoming Sonic win over Cloud look extremely unlikely.

Mario and Crono produced an enormous rematch in which Crono appeared to have the win secured before Mario erased a late lead and survived a controversially extended poll. Rallying, cheating allegations, and the disputed timing made it one of Board 8's most controversial matches.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup describes supporters on both sides frantically rallying for votes during the late collapse of Crono's lead. It also records extensive cheating accusations around Mario's comeback, while noting that CJayC said his check found no cheating in the decisive extra period.

Sephiroth dispatched Alucard in a match largely ignored because it followed the Mario-Crono controversy. The writeup mainly uses the result to strengthen Sephiroth's case before facing Mario in the divisional final.

Snake comfortably beat Ryu despite pre-match concern that his poor sprite image could hurt him. The writeup says the feared picture effect did not materialize here, though the performance did little to improve Snake's chances against Mega Man.

Mega Man demolished Vercetti and completed the collapse of the pre-contest hype that once had Vercetti winning the division. The writeup treats the match as an easy tune-up before Mega Man's real test against Snake.

Link beat Samus in a long-awaited matchup that stayed competitive only briefly before Nintendo SFF took over. The writeup considers the result another sign of Link's dominance while arguing that Samus looked weaker than she really was.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says SFF took hold after Samus kept the opening close and later argues that Link SFFed her heavily enough to distort her apparent contest strength.

Cloud turned a briefly hopeful Sonic challenge into a devastating rout, confirming Sonic's decline and dramatically raising expectations for Cloud against Link. The writeup treats this as the point where Cloud's 2003 strength became impossible to dismiss.

Sephiroth unexpectedly demolished Mario in what had been expected to resemble the previous year's Mario-Cloud classic. The result became the writeup's clearest evidence yet for a broad Kingdom Hearts-era boost to several Square characters.

Mega Man beat Snake in a steady match that produced little drama but finally sent him back to Sephiroth for a rematch of their near-upset from 2002. The writeup treats the coming Final Four as far more interesting than the match itself.

Cloud shocked the contest by beating the seemingly invincible Link after taking control almost immediately and resisting the expected Zelda day-vote comeback. Heavy rallying, cheating allegations, and a disputed picture imbalance became part of the explanation for one of the contest's defining upsets.

Rally · Cheat · Pic: The writeup says both sides engaged in heavy rallying and records widespread cheating accusations, while treating those accusations as roughly symmetric blame rather than proven fraud. It also says Link's Wind Waker image versus Cloud's Kingdom Hearts image may have cost Link a small but meaningful amount of support.

Sephiroth dominated Mega Man in a rematch that had been nearly even one year earlier. The writeup treats the dramatic swing as some of the strongest evidence for the Kingdom Hearts Factor before the all-FF7 championship match.

Cloud recovered from Sephiroth's early lead and won a final that the writeup says was less competitive than the ending suggested. It frames the result as the culmination of Cloud's strengthened post-Kingdom Hearts standing and likely same-fanbase suppression of Sephiroth.

SFF: The writeup says SFF likely had the most to do with Cloud beating fellow Final Fantasy VII character Sephiroth, and treats their later rematch as confirmation that Sephiroth was suppressed here.