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The first four-way contest match immediately showed how different the new format could be. Yoshi took first comfortably, while Knuckles survived Rikku after major voting swings and Vaan's shared fanbase hurt Rikku in the fight for second.

LFF: The writeup explicitly identifies Vaan as the contest's first clear LFF case, saying his shared Square support drained enough from Rikku to cost her an advancing spot.

Mega Man took the expected first place, but the real story was KOS-MOS advancing while Diablo and Arthas split overlapping support. The writeup treats the result as the match that taught Board 8 how LFF worked in four-way polls.

LFF: The writeup says Diablo and Arthas weakened each other by sharing the same Blizzard fanbase, allowing KOS-MOS to advance despite neither Blizzard entrant being individually helpless.

Frog built a large early cushion, lost it to Axel's powerful daytime comeback, and then recovered in the final stretch. The writeup treats the late Board 8 rally as decisive in Frog reclaiming the advancing spot.

Rally: The writeup describes Board 8 and other supporters openly rallying for Frog during the final stretch, with the late surge overturning Axel's comeback and restoring Frog to second place.

Scorpion dominated a match many expected Midna to control, while Midna advanced only because the rest of the field was weak. The writeup treats the result as both a major Midna disappointment and evidence that Scorpion had been underestimated.

Kefka led comfortably through the early hours before collapsing completely to Marcus Fenix during the day. The writeup remembers the match as another classic Kefka choke, with the picture matchup adding to the explanation for the reversal.

Pic: The writeup repeatedly points to Kefka's infamous Lettuce Kefka image and Marcus Fenix's strong recognizable picture as factors that helped make Kefka's collapse look even worse.

Cloud dominated the field as expected, while Ocelot took second over Jill without ever facing serious danger. The writeup finds the result ordinary at the time but notable in retrospect because Jill would reverse the comparison a year later.

Auron took an easy first and Shadow an equally safe second, making the main result largely predetermined. The writeup instead focuses on Shadow looking much weaker than expected and Pyramid Head unexpectedly beating Chris Redfield for third.

Ryu took first in a result that surprised many bracket players but made sense once Bowser's two fellow Nintendo entrants were considered. Bowser still advanced, but the writeup treats his weak showing as a serious warning for later rounds.

LFF: The writeup says Bowser was weakened by sharing Nintendo support with both Mewtwo and Toad, allowing outside entrant Ryu to take first place comfortably.

Sephiroth won as expected, but Meta Knight unexpectedly took a clear second over Peach and CATS. The writeup attributes much of the surprise to Meta Knight's pre-release Brawl visibility and treats Peach as poorly suited to the four-way format.

Fox dominated an all-Nintendo field far more thoroughly than expected, while Wario eventually secured the second advancing position over Captain Falcon. The writeup treats Fox's performance as one of the contest's strongest examples of SFF.

SFF: The writeup explicitly characterizes Fox's dominant performance as Nintendo SFF and says Fox suppressed Captain Falcon more heavily than Wario.

Mario dominated as expected, but his suppression of Pac-Man made Big Boss's second-place finish much easier than many anticipated. The writeup treats Pac-Man's shared old-school appeal with Mario as the key reason the debated advancing spot became one-sided.

SFF: The writeup says Mario was an especially disastrous matchup for Pac-Man because of their overlapping old-school appeal and describes Pac-Man as being SFFed to death.

Magus took first but looked weak enough to damage any hopes of a deep run, while Phoenix Wright turned the fight for second into the real match. Bomberman mounted a long afternoon comeback, only for the heavily favored Board 8 character to hold on at the end.

Link overwhelmed the entire field, while joke entrant Bidoof rode outside support past Miles Edgeworth for second. The writeup treats Bidoof's success as an important early step toward the larger joke-character runs that followed.

Rally: The writeup explicitly credits a 4chan rally with giving Bidoof enough support to beat Miles Edgeworth for the second advancing position.

Vincent quickly turned the anticipated contest with Zelda into a comfortable first-place finish, while Zelda safely advanced with him. The writeup notes that the genuinely close Tails-The Boss fight for third mattered little because neither advancing spot was threatened.

Crono took first without drama, while Raiden built a large enough cushion to survive Sam Fisher's strong daytime comeback for second. The writeup treats the finish as close on paper but never truly in danger, while Raiden's poor showing damaged his future expectations.

Zero took the expected first place while HK-47 beat the favored Lloyd for second in a weak and widely disliked fourpack. The writeup calls it the Jakpack of Suck and argues that Lloyd's inability to win here became emblematic of Tales characters' contest failures.

Luigi took first easily, but Mudkip's stable support made the second advancing spot far less competitive than expected. The writeup explicitly argues that Mudkip's performance looked like genuine strength rather than a temporary rally and foreshadowed later joke-character fears.

Ganondorf won first easily, while Vergil and Thrall fought a much closer battle for the second advancing spot. A WoW rally helped Thrall make a serious overnight push, but Vergil pulled away decisively once daytime voting arrived.

Rally: The writeup describes a World of Warcraft forum thread rallying votes for Thrall and says the push helped him nearly catch Vergil before the daytime vote ended the threat.

Master Chief overwhelmed Yuna in a matchup many expected to be competitive, immediately changing expectations for the entire division. The writeup connects the result strongly to the enormous Halo 3 hype surrounding Chief that year.

Alucard erased Liquid Snake's large daytime lead and briefly moved ahead at the very end, only for Liquid to snatch first on the final update. Because both characters advanced anyway, the writeup says the historic photo finish carried less consequence than a one-on-one result would have.

Rally · Cheat: The writeup describes a last-minute Metal Gear rally after Alucard completed his comeback and records complaints that cheating or vote-stuffing may have influenced the razor-thin finish.

Dante took the expected first place, while Amaterasu quickly settled the debated fight for second by pulling away from Little Mac. The writeup treats the result as the first strong indication that Amaterasu was much more legitimate than many voters had assumed.

Ada took first with ease while heavily hyped newcomer Balthier badly disappointed in a weak field. The writeup treats the result as proof that Final Fantasy XII's popularity had not translated into the character strength many expected.

Pikachu beat Tidus far more easily than years of Pokémon contest weakness had led people to expect. The writeup debates several possible explanations for Tidus's underperformance but ultimately treats the match as another major step in Pokémon's rise to legitimate contest strength.

Leon and Vivi took the two advancing spots in almost exactly the straightforward order expected. The writeup repeatedly calls the match boring and finds little meaning beyond setting up Vivi's coming encounter with Pikachu and Tidus.

Kirby took first as expected, but L-Block immediately demolished expectations by beating Laharl for the other advancing spot and even briefly leading Kirby. The writeup remembers those opening minutes as the first astonishing sign of what L-Block would become later in the contest.

Kratos took first in a result that surprised many casual brackets but looked straightforward to the writeup. Donkey Kong still advanced, though sharing Nintendo support with Marth made an already difficult matchup much worse for him.

LFF: The writeup says Donkey Kong and Marth drained each other's Nintendo support, making outsider Kratos's first-place finish effectively inevitable.

Snake took first comfortably and Nightmare secured second without much difficulty, while the hoped-for strength of Vyse's cult fanbase failed to materialize. The writeup treats Vyse as another aging RPG character whose contest relevance had faded badly.

Much of the writeup is an extended aside explaining who Haseo is; its match discussion emphasizes Ryu Hayabusa unexpectedly overpowering the split Kingdom Hearts field and making his later rematch with Riku look settled.

Squall settled a long-running strength debate with Aeris, while Akuma's debut was respectable despite a field crowded with Square characters. The writeup treats Akuma's showing as evidence that better bracket placement could have produced wins.

Sora controlled the match while Wesker briefly made the fight with Lara genuinely competitive. Lara eventually pulled away, but the writeup regards Wesker's showing as surprisingly strong despite a potentially damaging picture.

Pic: The writeup says Wesker's ugly match picture may have hurt him in his close fight with Lara for the second advancing spot.

A supposedly weak fourpack produced one of the round's funniest matches, with Duke unexpectedly taking control while Gordon Freeman disappointed again. Ike also impressed with a strong daytime push even though he never completed the comeback.

Sonic and Sub-Zero advanced comfortably, but Sonic's performance was far weaker than expected for a Noble Nine character. The writeup treats it as another warning that the Sonic cast was declining badly.