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Resident Evil 4 built an overnight lead and then endured a long Kingdom Hearts II day-vote challenge without ever fully losing control. The narrow win advanced RE4 but also badly weakened its case as a potential finalist.

Twilight Princess won, but Resident Evil 4 and Kingdom Hearts II again produced a close fight for the other advancing spot. RE4 survived a late collapse, while Twilight Princess itself looked less dominant than a finalist was expected to look.

LFF: The writeup says Twilight Princess absorbed enough of Kingdom Hearts II's usual day-vote support to help Resident Evil 4 survive another close rematch.

Twilight Princess took first, but Metal Gear Solid 3 built a substantial lead over Resident Evil 4 before RE4 spent most of the day slowly erasing it. Resident Evil 4 completed another close comeback and advanced.

Metal Gear Solid 4 built a large overnight lead, then barely survived a massive Brawl afternoon comeback. The two advanced together from an unusually balanced field, while Twilight Princess and Resident Evil 4 were eliminated.

SFF: The writeup says Brawl SFFed Twilight Princess enough to knock Zelda out of the advancing positions.

Resident Evil 4 delivered the kind of emphatic opening expected from a serious title contender. The writeup argues that the 'Game of the Decade' framing may have boosted the game's already substantial respect.

Resident Evil 4 began with championship-level numbers against Vice City, then bled support for the entire match. The writeup treats the final result as a major warning that RE4's deeper title aspirations were unrealistic.

Resident Evil 4 rebounded from its weak Vice City match by crushing Persona 4. Combined with Final Fantasy X's poor showing, the result revived serious discussion of an RE4 upset in the next round.

Portal's run ended against Resident Evil 4, but the writeup still considers the showing highly respectable and much stronger than old four-way statistics would have implied. It treats Portal as one of the contest's major success stories.

Final Fantasy X erased the pre-match Resident Evil 4 upset hype almost immediately and produced the writeup's strongest championship-looking performance of its run. RE4 is treated as a major disappointment for failing to make the match competitive.

Resident Evil 4 beat Paper Mario but lost enough support to create an immediate warning about its deeper prospects. The writeup uses comparisons with other Mario RPGs to argue that RE4 already looked weaker than its prior contest form.

Resident Evil 4 beat New Vegas comfortably, but both analyses retrospectively treat the result as the first real warning that RE4 had lost strength. Fallout 4 hype made New Vegas look stronger, which helped hide the warning at the time.

Resident Evil 4 beat Metal Gear Solid 2 without danger but again landed far below the strength expected of it. The result made Super Mario RPG look increasingly likely to take the division.

Super Mario RPG completed its breakout by decisively upsetting Resident Evil 4 after several rounds of RE4 warning signs. The writeup treats the win as the payoff to Mario RPG's nostalgia-driven run and Resident Evil's decline.