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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.