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Link avenged his previous loss to Cloud and confirmed the strength he had shown throughout the contest. Cloud briefly threatened a comeback, but Link's daytime surge settled the championship without the picture excuses that had shadowed their earlier meeting.

Samus briefly made the semifinal look interesting with an early lead, but Cloud quickly took control and advanced as expected. The writeup treats the rest of the match as little more than preparation for the long-planned Link final.

Link demolished Mega Man and effectively ended any remaining uncertainty about the contest favorite. The writeup attributes part of the rout to SFF but argues that Link's broader rise in strength was the more important story.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says there was a definite degree of SFF in Link's overwhelming win over Mega Man, though it argues Link's own rise mattered even more.

Samus decisively settled her famous rivalry with Sonic after their controversial classic two years earlier. The writeup credits Samus's run of new games and Sonic's stagnation, while dismissing excuses for the lopsided rematch.

Cloud defeated Sephiroth comfortably despite the rematch carrying at least some plausible upset intrigue. The writeup says the win restored confidence in Cloud just before the expected showdown with Link.

Mega Man beat Solid Snake in a repeat of the previous year's divisional final, with the writeup treating Snake's showing as another major flop. It also mocks the persistent tendency to underestimate Mega Man in bracket predictions.

Link crushed Crono in another late-round match whose winner was never seriously in doubt. The writeup treats the result as overwhelming evidence that Link had improved and remained well ahead of Cloud entering the final stages.

Samus dispatched Sora without drama and quickly erased the renewed optimism around Sonic. The writeup views the match as confirmation that Samus should win the division comfortably, even if Cloud remained beyond her reach.

Sonic beat Dante in another predictable Chaos match and briefly renewed hope that he could challenge Samus. The writeup immediately tempers that optimism by pointing to Dante's poor picture as a possible reason for Sonic's apparent overperformance.

Pic: The writeup says Dante's match picture was exceptionally poor and suggests it may explain why Sonic performed better than the old projections expected.

Sephiroth beat Auron exactly as the bracket seemed designed to produce, leaving little suspense. The writeup's main takeaway is that Sephiroth looked clearly weaker than Cloud against a common opponent.

Cloud easily beat Squall in a heavily shared-fanbase matchup, but the result did little to improve his standing against Link. The writeup remembers the match mainly as another predictable step toward the planned final.

SFF: The writeup explicitly frames Cloud versus Squall as a matchup with a massive amount of SFF, with Cloud dominating the fellow Final Fantasy entrant.

Solid Snake survived Frog, but Frog's ability to stay competitive made Snake look like one of the contest's biggest disappointments. The writeup uses the match to criticize overly literal reliance on extrapolated standings.

Mega Man beat Zero as expected, but Zero resisted far better than a typical same-family opponent. The writeup argues that their distinct series fanbases may explain why the anticipated SFF barely appeared and why Mega Man looked vulnerable afterward.

Crono finally defeated Mario after their two legendary earlier meetings, but the long-awaited rematch was anticlimactic. Crono controlled the match while the writeup framed the result as overdue revenge and the likely end of the rivalry's classic era.

Link destroyed Yoshi in a predictable same-company matchup, but the degree of suppression surprised even people expecting SFF. The writeup treats the result as another intimidating sign of Link's championship strength.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Link versus Yoshi a straight SFF match and says the fanbase effect was even harsher than most expected, heavily suppressing Yoshi.

Samus annihilated Sam Fisher so thoroughly that early voters briefly suspected a broken poll. The writeup treats the blowout as confirmation that Samus was surging and had become the clear favorite to take the Chaos division.

Sora turned a matchup many expected Ryu Hayabusa to control into one of the contest's biggest surprises. The writeup treats the decisive win as proof that Sora had made an enormous jump in strength since the previous year.

Dante eliminated Tails in a match the writeup considered completely predictable and largely uninteresting. Its only real distinction was finally carrying Dante beyond the second round.

Sonic beat Ryu without serious danger, but the writeup saw the performance as insufficient to threaten a surging Samus. The result reinforced the sense that Sonic had remained steady while Samus had improved.

Sephiroth beat Vivi comfortably, but Vivi held up better than many expected against a fellow Square entrant. The writeup uses the result to argue that Square fanbases are less easily compressed than Nintendo fanbases.

Auron beat Ness in a result everyone expected, but Ness performed better than the old projections suggested. The writeup treats the outcome as another example of the bracket making individual strength difficult to interpret.

Squall beat Kirby in another predictable Midgar match, though Kirby performed better than expected. The writeup's main curiosity is that Squall only began separating after the match picture appeared.

Pic: The writeup says Kirby and Squall were dead even before the match picture appeared, after which Squall began pulling away, and explicitly suggests that the picture may have mattered.

Cloud disposed of Vyse exactly as expected, leaving little to discuss beyond comparisons with Link. The writeup argues that merely meeting expectations was no longer enough because Link had been exceeding his own.

Solid Snake beat Knuckles yet again, but the writeup is mostly exasperated that the same second-round pairing kept recurring. Knuckles looked better than in their earlier meetings, leaving open whether he improved or Snake declined.

Frog survived Master Chief in an all-time classic filled with huge momentum swings and a frantic finish. The writeup celebrates the drama while also arguing that outside Halo promotion and rampant multi-voting make the true result impossible to separate cleanly from the controversy.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Halo sites linked to the poll during Master Chief's comeback, creating an outside rally. It also explicitly describes blatant multi-voting on both sides, especially in the final hour.

Zero handled Vercetti almost exactly as Board 8 expected in a match the writeup calls one of the contest's dullest. Its main significance was completing the obvious setup for Mega Man versus Zero.

Mega Man demolished Tidus far more decisively than most of Board 8 expected, vindicating Heroic Mario's unusually confident prediction. The writeup treats Tidus's collapse as one of the contest's hardest results to explain.

Mario routed Bowser in another predetermined Hyrule Division matchup, with the writeup again criticizing the bracket for sacrificing strong villains to company-based pairings. The result's main use was as an imperfect SFF comparison before Mario met Crono.

SFF: The writeup says Bowser was SFF'd heavily by Mario in their same-franchise matchup, and treats the result mainly as a distorted comparison point for the upcoming Mario-Crono rematch.

Crono crushed Magus in a matchup the writeup considers another casualty of the company-based bracket. Magus briefly led with Board 8 support, but the eventual SFF blowout left no useful opportunity to test his real strength.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Magus was hit by SFF against fellow Chrono Trigger character Crono, making the lopsided result a poor measure of Magus's standalone strength.

Yoshi beat Luigi in a heavily debated Nintendo matchup that ultimately followed the available statistical clues more closely than the hype suggested. The writeup calls the result disappointingly predictable despite the same-fanbase conditions.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Yoshi versus Luigi as an SFF affair between Nintendo characters, though it notes that older extrapolated standings still predicted the matchup unusually well.

Link annihilated Ganondorf so thoroughly that the writeup treats the result as both a historic SFF extreme and a championship statement. Ganondorf's standalone strength effectively vanished against the flagship character of his own series.

SFF: The writeup calls Link's destruction of fellow Zelda character Ganondorf the largest SFF beating yet seen, arguing that Ganondorf's normal strength was almost completely suppressed by Link.

Samus demolished former top seed Lara Croft far more decisively than the writeup expected, turning an obvious win into a major statement about Samus's rising strength. Lara's showing is framed as another step in a steep decline from her early contest status.

Sam Fisher extended the Gordon Freeman Never Wins joke, but Freeman's unexpectedly competitive opening made Fisher look weak in his own right. The writeup treats the match more as another chapter in Freeman's losing legend than as a strong Fisher performance.

Ryu Hayabusa and Jill Valentine produced a celebrated marathon after a server glitch forced their fiercely contested poll to be restarted. The second poll featured another series of major swings before Ryu survived Jill's final comeback attempt by the narrowest of margins.

Sora beat newcomer HK-47 comfortably, but the writeup says the matchup offered little reliable information because HK-47 had no contest baseline. Attention immediately shifted to whether Sora's previous results had understated his real strength before the next round.

Dante destroyed Ratchet in another straightforward opening match, though the writeup warns against reading too much into the margin. Ratchet is grouped with the contest's other badly performing 3D platformer characters rather than treated as evidence of elite Dante strength.

Tails upset heavily favored Viewtiful Joe and finally earned his first contest win. The writeup says earlier results had begun to expose Tails as underestimated, but the reversal still destroyed many expectations and became a notable prediction upset.

Ryu beat KOS-MOS as expected, but the writeup uses the result mainly to infer that Samus had grown much stronger than older standings indicated. That implication sharply reduced the plausibility of Sonic upsetting her later in the division.

Sonic comfortably crushed Terry Bogard in another predetermined first-round match. The writeup's greater interest is that the Chaos Division finally introduced a section of the bracket with genuine uncertainty about later rounds.

Sephiroth obliterated Sly Cooper in a match the writeup considers entirely predetermined. Its main complaint is that the company-based division reduced Sephiroth's early path to meaningless setup matches before the expected confrontation with Cloud.

Vivi turned a supposedly close match into a decisive win over Donkey Kong, immediately establishing himself as a serious newcomer. The writeup sees the result as both evidence of Vivi's appeal and another demonstration that Donkey Kong's icon status does not translate reliably into contest strength.

Auron beat Scorpion much more decisively than prior standings suggested and suddenly looked substantially stronger than expected. The writeup interprets the result mainly through possible distortion in Auron's previous Cloud matchup and Scorpion's continuing decline.

Ness turned a heavily debated matchup into a convincing victory over Jak. The writeup argues that the board overvalued mainstream sales and undervalued how well a cult RPG character known to GameFAQs users could perform against another weak 3D platformer.

Squall beat Bomberman but performed noticeably below the writeup's expectations from the previous year's standings. The result raised doubts about whether Squall had lost strength and reinforced frustration with a bracket designed to funnel him toward Cloud.

Kirby comfortably beat Kain in another routine early-round result. The writeup treats the match mainly as evidence that Legacy of Kain characters occupy contest slots without showing enough strength to justify them.

Vyse beat Laharl without much difficulty in what the writeup dismisses as a matchup between two cult characters with limited broader support. Vyse's previous contest exposure and greater familiarity are presented as enough to make the result predictable.

Cloud still routed Duke Nukem, but Duke's memorable milk-carton picture gave the underdog an unusual opening burst and complicated early Link-Cloud comparisons. The writeup frames the match as the start of a contest-long contest between the two favorites' performances.

Pic: The writeup says Duke Nukem's milk-carton match picture drew humorous support, helping him take an early lead and plausibly contributing to Cloud's slight underperformance.

Solid Snake annihilated Tanner in a blowout the writeup treats as evidence of Tanner's exceptional weakness rather than Snake's true ceiling. The mismatch became a lasting Board 8 reference point for hopeless new entrants and entertainingly lopsided polls.

Kefka surprised the board by leading early and forcing Knuckles to recover despite expectations of an easy Knuckles win. The writeup ultimately treats Knuckles' showing as disappointing and debates whether Kefka's picture and broader Square support helped explain the resistance.

Pic: The writeup says Kefka's recurring lettuce picture may have helped him attract unusually strong early support, before Knuckles took control later in the match.

Master Chief crushed Crash Bandicoot and looked far more formidable than the site's usual anti-Xbox reputation suggested. The writeup focuses equally on Master Chief's rising stock and Crash's dramatic fall from former high seed to expendable fodder.

Frog and Liquid Snake unexpectedly produced a wire-to-wire classic, repeatedly trading momentum and staying nearly dead even for hours. Frog finally created a small late cushion and barely survived Liquid's last push, giving both newcomers immediate contest credibility.

Zero dominated Proto Man in a same-series matchup whose result the writeup warns should not be used to dismiss Proto Man as ordinary fodder. It treats the match as another example of the bracket manufacturing predictable company-based pairings.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Zero versus Proto Man as a first-round SFF blowout within the Mega Man family, arguing that Proto Man's poor result understates his standalone strength.

Tommy Vercetti beat Max Payne, but the writeup considers Max's respectable showing the more important result. Max avoided the feared same-company collapse and strengthened his case for remaining in the field, while Vercetti looked weaker than his old hype suggested.

Tidus won the contest's first heavily debated matchup, taking control early enough that Shadow's later resistance never became a real comeback. The writeup says the final closeness overstated the drama but still gave both characters credit for holding up outside their expected voting periods.

Mega Man comfortably defeated Earthworm Jim, though the writeup spends much of its time celebrating Jim as a welcome contest newcomer and fan favorite. It ultimately judges Mega Man's showing impressive rather than weak.

Mario finally delivered the kind of overwhelming first-round performance the writeup had long expected from him against a non-Nintendo opponent. The result is used to reassess earlier supposedly weak Mario showings as evidence that those opponents were stronger than believed.

Bowser overwhelmed Guybrush in a matchup the writeup considers a product of manipulated seeding rather than competitive bracket design. Guybrush is portrayed as overseeded fodder, while Bowser's reward is an intentionally unfavorable Mario matchup.

Crono demolished Conker and strengthened the argument that his previous result against Kefka did not require an SFF explanation. The writeup also criticizes Crono's seeding as an obvious attempt to force another Mario-Crono matchup.

Magus dominated Luca Blight in a low-interest match before his difficult second-round draw. The writeup uses Luca's weak showing and the quiet poll to argue that vocal cult support does not translate into broad contest strength.

Luigi beat Pac-Man in a routine match but looked weaker than the writeup expected, raising concern before his heavily debated meeting with Yoshi. Pac-Man, meanwhile, is portrayed as a fading former top seed still capable of respectable support.

Yoshi routed Ryo Hazuki in a result the writeup sees mainly as further evidence of Ryo's decline into contest fodder. It argues that a character losing this badly to a mid-level Nintendo entrant no longer merits repeated appearances.

Ganondorf beat Alucard in a respectable matchup between two characters the writeup considered badly underseeded. Much of the discussion centers on the bracket apparently being arranged to produce Link versus Ganondorf in the next round.

Link obliterated joke entrant CATS after an early poll glitch obscured the opening votes. The writeup's main interest is that CATS gave Link and Cloud a common opponent, immediately fueling comparisons between the two championship favorites.