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Pikachu won without being in serious danger, but most of Board 8 spent the match rooting for PaRappa. The writeup presents the poll as an early showcase of strong anti-Pokémon sentiment on the site.

Cloud overwhelmed Pikachu and looked substantially stronger than Mario had through the same stage of the bracket. The match also became notable for Solarshadow's early vote-tracking work, a precursor to later poll-update culture.

Fox routed Pikachu in a debated matchup that the writeup retrospectively considers an obvious SFF situation. The victory also ended Fox's poor first-contest seeding story by finally giving him a match win.

SFF: The writeup explicitly describes Fox's decisive win over fellow Nintendo entrant Pikachu as an SFF result and argues that anti-Pokémon voting made Pikachu's position even worse.

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 won comfortably while Pikachu capitalized on the divided Square field to advance again. The writeup presents Tidus and Vivi as holding each other back and turning Pikachu's favorable draw into another survival.

LFF: The writeup says Vivi and Tidus split Square support badly enough that neither could catch Pikachu, allowing the outside Pokémon entrant to take the second advancing spot.

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.

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 took control while Arthas converted a favorable draw into a surprising advancement. The result also punctured another piece of the pre-contest Brawl hype surrounding Ike.

LFF: The writeup says Pikachu's overlapping Nintendo and Smash support put Ike in a bad LFF situation, helping Arthas take the other advancing spot.

Pikachu and Alucard advanced after an unexpectedly fierce battle for first that swung repeatedly across the day. The writeup treats the duel as another good match diminished by the top-two-advance format.

LFF: The writeup says Captain Falcon's overlapping Nintendo support held Pikachu down, helping turn Pikachu's fight with Alucard into a much closer race than their standalone strength suggested.

Pikachu finally ended L-Block's title defense after a tense early struggle, marking a major shift in both joke-character expectations and Pokémon's standing on the site. Crono advanced comfortably alongside him.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Crono SFFed Alucard into the floor, leaving the real advancing fight to Pikachu and L-Block.

The writeup treats Crono versus Vincent as the emotional centerpiece of the contest, built on years of Crono near-misses and frustration. Crono's late comeback finally reversed their previous result and completed the redemption story.

Rally: The writeup says Board 8 rallied intensely for Crono late in the match, turning the final fight with Vincent into a successful comeback for the advancing spot.

Pikachu's rise from an anti-voted early-contest character to a dominant Pokémon representative is the main story. Banjo's latest Nintendo-heavy loss leaves his true standalone strength difficult to judge.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Pikachu's win an SFF blowout and says Banjo has repeatedly been suppressed by Nintendo opponents.

Pikachu won without the dramatic daytime surge often associated with Pokémon, while Shepard continued his enormous improvement after Mass Effect 2. The writeup treats Shepard's respectable loss as one of the more impressive growth stories in the field.

Pikachu briefly led Snake behind a strong opening vote before Snake finally took control and pulled away. The writeup remembers the opening as entertaining but ultimately sees Snake's recovery as convincing.

Pikachu had first place secured, but Lloyd and Big Daddy produced a genuine photo finish for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. Lloyd's early lead survived a slow Big Daddy comeback by the narrowest margin.

Pikachu decisively eliminated Crono after Magus collapsed under same-series overlap. The result became one of the clearest signs that the old Noble Nine hierarchy no longer controlled the bracket.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Magus was SFFed into the ground by Crono, giving Pikachu the opening it needed.

Pikachu built a large lead, survived Sora's late comeback, and won despite sharing the poll with Pokémon Trainer Blue. The result sent another Pokémon character into the contest's final stretch and underscored how little strength Sora had left.

LFF: The writeup explicitly says Pikachu resisted Blue's LFF and that the second Pokémon entrant was the main reason Sora could keep the match competitive.

Snake advanced to the final while the two Pokémon entrants split their shared fanbase and fought over second in the Expert Challenge ordering. Pikachu ultimately beat Squirtle after the morning vote.

LFF: The writeup says Squirtle and Pikachu cannibalized each other's Pokémon support, destroying their chances of challenging Snake for first.

Pikachu overwhelmed a stable measuring-stick opponent in Scorpion and immediately looked near-elite. The writeup treats the result as the first major evidence that Pokémon, and Pikachu specifically, would be a serious force in the contest.

Pikachu beat a recently boosted Kratos comfortably and continued to look like the strongest Pokémon character in the bracket. The writeup treats Kratos's God of War revival as making the win more impressive than the raw matchup first appears.

Pikachu beat Yoshi in their long-awaited first direct matchup and looked like the only Pokémon character consistently meeting high expectations. The Detective Pikachu trailer arriving the same day is noted as favorable timing.

Pikachu beat Zero comfortably and won another division, continuing the mascot's standout run while most other Pokémon characters disappointed. The writeup sees Pikachu as clearly stronger than the rest of his franchise's field.

Pikachu beat Mega Man in a record-setting wire-to-wire thriller after multiple lead changes and a final late push. The writeup treats the result as the first clean 24-hour 1v1 Noble Nine break, even though Mega Man won the raw vote before registered-user weighting.

Link overwhelmed Pikachu and continued his untouchable 2018 run. Pikachu's result is still framed positively because he had already broken the Noble Nine and appeared to resist most of Link's usual same-fanbase suppression.

SFF: The writeup says Pikachu likely suffered a small amount of Nintendo SFF under Link, while emphasizing that Pokémon resisted the effect unusually well.

Mega Man reversed his earlier loss to Pikachu and controlled the rematch after the opening minutes. The writeup calls the revenge satisfying but less meaningful because it happened in the losers bracket.