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Ganondorf comfortably eliminated the contest's top overall seed Dante in a match that barely moved. The writeup treats the loss as proof Dante was badly overseeded rather than evidence of a close divisional race.

Dante opened the next stage by comfortably eliminating Lightning, whose Final Fantasy XIII baggage left her unable to threaten him. The writeup treats the result as another solid Dante performance without much suspense.

Dante won the opening matchup comfortably but failed to look as overwhelming as the writeup expected from the contest's top overall seed. Cuphead's respectable showing is treated as evidence that the indie newcomer was underseeded rather than truly dangerous.

Squirtle crushed Dante and made the pre-match Dante support look wildly misplaced, while Zidane never seriously threatened either contender. The writeup frames Dante's defeat as the inevitable result of backlash against the DmC reboot.

Dante routed Laharl and Raz, but the writeup refused to read much into another first-round blowout because Dante had repeatedly looked strong before later choking. The entire match is framed around the coming Squirtle test.

Most of the writeup recounts the Canada-USA Olympic hockey final, then uses the game to explain the 'Hockey Factor': Dante improved while North American voters were occupied, before Ryu recovered after the game ended.

Dante exceeded the comparison the writeup had set using Ryu and looked clearly superior going into their anticipated meeting. Axel's weak performance also added to growing concern that Kingdom Hearts had declined.

Kirby delivered another major shock by advancing ahead of Sonic, whose long decline finally produced a costly elimination. The writeup treats Sonic's failure as the culmination of years of warning signs rather than a random fluke.

Kirby continued his unexpected run by taking first, while Dante beat Master Chief in the meaningful fight for the other advancing position. The writeup remembers the match as a fun clash of very different contest identities.

Dante and Leon advanced in the same order their prior meetings suggested, despite a brief burst of early excitement. Riku and Hogger never developed the upset or bandwagon threat some had imagined.

Dante was never threatened, but the fight behind him became a three-way scramble in which Hogger surged past Ramza and Laharl. The result became an early signature moment for Ramza's reputation as a contest choker.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says Hogger drew an Internet rally during the day, turning a deficit into a lead and ultimately denying Ramza the advancing spot.

L-Block's Internet momentum exploded as outside sites discovered the run, and Snake was left fighting Master Chief for the other final spot. The writeup treats this as the moment the joke had grown beyond Board 8 into a broad online bandwagon.

Rally: The writeup says outside attention from Kotaku, 4chan, Vote for the Worst and other sites expanded L-Block's support, including a visible surge after a Kotaku link.

Master Chief took first while Dante survived for the other advancing spot. Luigi led early but could not overcome the continued presence of Pikachu, whose run ended while also dragging a major Nintendo character out with it.

LFF: The writeup says Pikachu continued to siphon Nintendo support from Luigi, helping Dante take the second advancing position and eliminating Luigi.

Pikachu produced one of the contest's biggest shocks by taking first over a field of Capcom characters. The writeup treats the result as a major turning point in Pokémon's growing contest reputation.

LFF: The writeup says the three Capcom entrants divided overlapping support, creating the opening that allowed outside entrant Pikachu to beat them all.

Dante ran away with first, while Amaterasu, Ada and Balthier spent much of the match in a tight fight for the other advancing spot. Amaterasu eventually emerged from what the writeup remembers as a genuine upset and one of the round's better races.

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.

Yoshi upset Dante after dominating the Nintendo-friendly voting periods and surviving Dante's slow attempts to erase the leads. The writeup treats the result as a vindication of long-running claims that Yoshi's old statistics had understated him.

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.

Vincent survived Dante after an unexpectedly competitive start, but the writeup treats the result as a major correction to weeks of Vincent hype. Dante's showing is framed as a moral victory that exposed Vincent as strong but not elite.

Dante crushed Terra and quickly ended what little upset speculation had existed around the matchup. The writeup treats Terra's weakness as another example of an ensemble-cast Final Fantasy character failing to translate game popularity into contest strength.

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.

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.

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.

Ryu upset a Dante whom both the board and bracket field had largely treated as the obvious winner. The writeup remembers it as a surprisingly quiet upset because Ryu stayed in control and the board generated little outrage.

Dante answered Ryu's impressive opener with a dominant win over Ryo Hazuki. The result restored confidence in Dante before their second-round meeting, even though the writeup retrospectively says he had been overrated.

Crono turned a heavily anticipated close match with Dante into an easy victory. The writeup says the result revealed how misleading their superficially similar first-round performances had been and made Crono a serious threat to Lara.

Dante dispatched Q*Bert in a match whose main significance was setting up the next round. The writeup says the result added to heavy anticipation for what Board 8 expected to be a competitive Crono-Dante matchup.