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Ganondorf gave Sephiroth some resistance early, but Sephiroth pulled away and won the villains championship as expected. The writeup is more interested in why Sephiroth looked less dominant against Bowser and Ganondorf than against his earlier opponents.

Diablo's surprising run ended abruptly against Ganondorf, who controlled the semifinal from the start. The writeup sees the match mainly as confirmation that the expected Sephiroth-Ganondorf final was inevitable.

Sephiroth was always expected to advance, but Bowser briefly held him even and produced a memorable exact tie at the thousand-vote mark. The writeup treats that early moment as the real legacy of an otherwise straightforward semifinal.

The writeup spends most of its time reviewing years of disappointing Sonic-series contest performances, using Robotnik's lopsided loss to Ganondorf as the latest example.

Pic: The writeup says Ganondorf dominated despite an ugly Wind Waker picture and suggests Robotnik would have looked even worse against a stronger SSBM-style Ganondorf image.

Kefka led early, but Diablo's familiar daytime strength erased the lead and eventually turned the match into a comfortable win. The writeup celebrates Diablo's unlikely run to the Final Four after very few brackets had trusted him to get this far.

Sephiroth crushed Liquid far more thoroughly than old projections suggested, leaving the writeup struggling to explain what had happened to Liquid and the 2004 20XX group. The result reinforced Sephiroth's overwhelming status while making earlier statistics look suspect.

Bowser turned what had once looked like a possible upset spot into an easy division-clinching win. The writeup treats Ocelot's collapse as evidence that Bowser may have grown stronger since earlier contests.

Robotnik ended Master Hand's surprise run without much trouble, but the writeup focuses on how much ground Robotnik surrendered later in the poll. That late fade made his coming match with Ganondorf look hopeless.

Ganondorf crushed Ansem as expected, though the writeup thought the favorite should have looked even stronger after Ansem's struggle with CATS. Much of the discussion blames Ganondorf's pig-form picture for the comparatively disappointing showing.

Pic: The writeup says Ganondorf's pig-like Ganon picture was widely blamed for an underperformance against Ansem, hurting the favorite despite the easy win.

Bison and Diablo traded momentum through one of the contest's few genuinely competitive matches before Diablo finally broke away. The writeup emphasizes Bison's determined comeback attempt and Diablo's even stronger response once the afternoon vote arrived.

Kefka demolished Wesker and erased the upset hype that had surrounded the matchup before the contest. The writeup calls it one of Kefka's best performances and says his unusually favorable picture may have contributed.

Pic: The writeup says Kefka received an exceptionally strong picture and suggests it was partly responsible for his unusually dominant performance against Wesker.

Liquid Snake defeated Lavos, but Lavos pushed him hard enough to undermine the lofty strength implied by the previous year's extrapolated standings. The writeup uses the match as a case study in how transitive statistical adjustments can produce misleading rankings.

Sephiroth buried Vergil in a match whose result the writeup considered completely predetermined. Vergil had fulfilled his bracket role by beating Ghaleon, and this round offered no sign that Sephiroth would later encounter trouble.

Revolver Ocelot beat Dr. Wily more comfortably than the pre-match debate suggested, turning another hyped matchup into a dud. The writeup focuses less on Ocelot's strength than on Wily joining the growing list of disappointing Mega Man entrants.

Bowser crushed Sigma and deepened the sense that the villains contest was producing strength patterns unlike prior character contests. The writeup treats Sigma as one of the event's biggest disappointments and Bowser as increasingly formidable.

Master Hand stunned Kuja in the round's defining upset after almost everyone dismissed the glove as an automatic loss. The writeup remembers the result as both absurd and unforgettable, turning a supposedly obvious match into the contest's biggest board explosion.

Robotnik held off Sin in a close matchup dominated by Board 8 arguments around one loud Sin supporter. The writeup says Sin mounted a respectable recovery despite a disastrous picture, while an attempted outside rally failed to overturn the result.

Rally · Pic: The writeup says Sin was badly hurt by one of the contest's worst match pictures, which reduced him to an unrecognizable dorsal fin. It also says a vocal Sin supporter tried to rally votes from outside websites during the match.

Ansem eventually escaped CATS, but CATS led for hours and came far closer to a real win than Board 8 believed possible. The writeup remembers the match almost entirely as CATS proving that joke support could become meaningful against the right opponent.

Pic: The writeup says CATS finally received the recognizable picture fans associated with him rather than his old image, and argues that this likely made a major difference in his unusually strong showing.

Ganondorf obliterated Giygas in a matchup the writeup considered barely worth holding. The result simply reinforced Ganondorf's status as a pre-contest lock for the final while placing Giygas among the weakest entrants.

Diablo turned a heavily debated matchup with Ridley into a clear win and emerged as a serious divisional threat. An outside Diablo-site rally arrived later, but the writeup argues that the match had already been decided on its own merits.

Rally: The writeup says diabloii.net linked directly to the poll during the match, adding outside support for Diablo. It also stresses that Diablo had already taken firm control before the rally appeared.

M. Bison demolished Albedo and sparked a night of Psycho Crusher jokes and Board 8 fads. The writeup also notes that Bison steadily lost ground later, a warning sign that would matter in his next matchup.

Wesker defeated Luca Blight but performed so poorly that the writeup immediately abandoned the idea of him threatening Kefka. A hyped potential contender became one of the contest's early disappointments in a single match.

Kefka beat Mithos comfortably but steadily lost ground as the day progressed, failing to look convincing for a top seed. The writeup says the result immediately encouraged arguments that Wesker could eliminate him in the next round.

Liquid Snake crushed Officer Tenpenny and initially justified the lofty reputation he had gained from his close 2004 loss to Frog. The writeup notes that nothing in this opener hinted at the weakness Liquid would show later.

Lavos beat Mother Brain as expected, but the match was considerably more competitive than many anticipated. The writeup uses Mother Brain's resistance mainly to raise expectations for Ridley in the later Ridley-Diablo matchup.

Vergil comfortably beat Ghaleon after a late wave of debate had given the cult RPG villain some support. The writeup argues that Ghaleon's terrible picture only made an already difficult matchup worse.

Pic: The writeup says Ghaleon's exceptionally poor match picture effectively erased whatever upset chance he had, while Vergil received the much more flattering image.

Sephiroth annihilated Ramirez in a deliberately lopsided matchup born from a Board 8 request. The writeup treats the result as confirmation that the overwhelming pre-contest favorite showed no sign of vulnerability.

Dr. Wily handled Ultros cleanly and looked stronger than Ocelot had the previous day. The writeup treats the match mostly as a preview that shifted confidence toward Wily in their looming second-round meeting.

Revolver Ocelot beat Nemesis but looked much weaker than Board 8 expected, throwing his projected path through the division into doubt. The writeup spends much of the match reopening arguments about Nemesis, Wesker, and Dr. Wily rather than celebrating Ocelot's win.

Sigma beat Andross but performed far worse than the pre-contest hype around Mega Man X suggested. The writeup calls the win pyrrhic and treats it as an early warning that Sigma had little chance against Bowser.

Bowser opened the villains contest by obliterating Pyramid Head, whose nomination the writeup credits largely to a dedicated Board 8 supporter. The result immediately placed Pyramid Head among the weakest entrants the contest had seen.