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Sub-Zero upset Master Chief after taking control early and surviving the familiar Halo afternoon push. The writeup treats the loss as another chapter in Halo's recurring early-round failures and a memorable winning debut for Sub-Zero.

Auron beat Alucard comfortably, continuing a long decline from Alucard's early-contest upset reputation. The writeup is left debating whether Alucard had truly weakened or whether earlier statistical distortions had simply hidden his real level.

Bowser beat Leon, but Leon performed much better than the old projections suggested. Combined with Kirby's earlier showing, the result made the writeup question how legitimate their inflated prior-year statistical reputations had been.

Crono comfortably beat Captain Falcon in his debut as a top seed. The only concern in the writeup is Crono's familiar daytime weakness, which allowed Falcon to recover substantially after the early stages.

Luigi demolished a favored Zero in the kind of debated match he had historically failed to win. The writeup treats the result as both a personal breakthrough for Luigi and a serious embarrassment for the statistical consensus.

Kirby beat Prince of Persia but steadily lost ground after a stronger opening. The writeup credits Prince with proving respectable midcard strength while treating Kirby's performance as another bad sign before the next round.

Vincent won a heavily debated match after Ganondorf's early advantage faded with the opening Nintendo surge. The upset exposed problems in the old statistics and immediately triggered a large Vincent-over-Sonic bandwagon.

Sonic steamrolled perennial fodder CATS after the customary brief opening lead. The writeup discusses the familiar CATS picture debate but ultimately says the hybrid image makes the result too ambiguous for useful conclusions.

Mega Man beat Axel, but his strong early showing steadily deteriorated once the morning and daytime votes arrived. The writeup treats the decline as an overlooked warning of the much larger collapse that would become obvious later.

Ryu beat Kratos without serious danger even though casual brackets had strongly favored Kratos. The writeup is more interested in Kratos's powerful daytime recovery, which suggested he could become dangerous in a genuinely winnable future match.

Gordon Freeman ended the long-running GFNW joke by beating Board 8 favorite Phoenix Wright after an early Phoenix lead. The writeup argues that the Phoenix upset hype was mostly fad power rather than a realistic assessment of the matchup.

Sora beat the widely disliked Tingle in a completely stable and predictable match. The writeup finds almost no useful trend information in the result beyond another easy Kingdom Hearts win.

Dante beat Ryu Hayabusa almost exactly as the writeup's prior expectations suggested. The routine result kept Dante looking steadier than Yoshi heading into their debated second-round meeting.

Yoshi beat Riku in a seeding upset but steadily lost ground after a blistering start. The writeup treats Riku's resistance as a moral victory and as a warning that Yoshi's coming match with Dante had become much less comfortable.

Squall crushed Tidus in what the writeup calls an SFF beating through and through. The result further buried Tidus's old reputation while briefly making a later Squall upset of Snake seem plausible.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls the result an SFF beating, with Squall suppressing fellow Final Fantasy lead Tidus far beyond what their ordinary statistical gap suggested.

Snake overwhelmed Soma in a stronger opening performance than his familiar early-round fodder beatings. The writeup still notes his history of fading later, but treats the result as the first hint that this contest might be different.

Lara looked dominant against Alyx, but the writeup argues that the performance was deceptive because Alyx was obscure and the match drew little interest. It rejects the result as evidence of a true Lara resurgence.

Chun-Li beat Kasumi as expected and was never in danger, though her poor daytime vote gave back some of the early margin. The writeup considers the match largely routine despite pre-match discussion of possible fighting-game overlap.

Joanna beat Cortana without much difficulty after brief early hopes for a closer match. The writeup frames Cortana's failure as another example of Halo-related entrants being overrated by people who confuse game popularity with character strength.

Yuna quietly delivered a dominant opening win over Roll after being dismissed as a weak top seed. The writeup treats the performance as an early sign that Yuna was stronger than the division's reputation suggested.

Aeris beat Marle comfortably, with only a small amount of SFF according to the writeup. More concerning for Aeris was her failure to dominate the daytime vote, which weakened confidence that she could challenge Zelda later.

SFF: The writeup says Aeris and Marle showed some SFF from their overlapping Square and role-playing fanbases, but characterizes the effect as minimal rather than a major suppression.

KOS-MOS beat Amy more easily than the writeup expected, helped by Amy's poor standing even among Sonic fans. Amy's strong daytime recovery was the only notable trend and foreshadowed how important that voting bloc could become later.

Terra beat Kerrigan in a match preceded by enough picture complaints that the official image was changed. The writeup says the altered picture did not rescue Kerrigan and instead treats the result as another example of weak PC-character strength.

Zelda demolished Carmen Sandiego in what the writeup calls one of the contest's most dominant performances. The showing immediately fueled a serious bandwagon that Zelda might threaten Samus later in the bracket.

The writeup is mostly a personal rant about Peach, Daisy, Mario, and Luigi; the match itself is treated as an effortless Peach win that strengthened confidence in her next round.

Jill beat Sheena without being threatened, but her weak daytime performance concerned the writeup. The result is framed as an early warning that Jill could struggle badly if she reached a genuinely close match later.

The Boss beat Celes comfortably after a pre-match debate the writeup considered badly overhyped. Much of the analysis argues that Final Fantasy VI's ensemble cast had repeatedly failed to translate the game's popularity into strong character results.

Tifa produced the first performance the writeup considered truly dominant, while Ivy and the broader Soul Calibur cast looked increasingly weak. The unusually high interest around the match picture is treated more as spectacle than as an explanation for the result.

Kairi and Claire traded control through sharply different voting periods before Kingdom Hearts' daytime strength turned the late match decisively toward Kairi. The writeup also records a vote-stuffing allegation involving a Claire supporter.

Cheat: The writeup says Smurf bragged about vote-stuffing for Claire and was banned during the match, while noting that whether he actually altered any votes remained unknown.

Rikku overwhelmed an obscure Lenneth and reinforced the idea that her prior strong showing was no fluke. The writeup treats the result as a quiet but convincing confirmation of Rikku's midcard strength.

Ada beat a little-known Jade without difficulty, leaving the writeup unsure whether Ada was strong or Jade was simply very weak. The main useful observation was another poor Resident Evil daytime performance.

Samus opened the contest with an easy win over joke entrant Nidoran F, whose nomination had been heavily rallied before the bracket began. The writeup rejects the idea that Samus's less-than-absurd dominance revealed anything meaningful about her strength.