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Ryu demolished CATS after the joke entrant had drawn considerable board hype. The writeup treats the result as proof that CATS's support was largely humorous rather than evidence of real contest strength.

Ryu was a fashionable upset pick before the contest, but Samus controlled their match from the start. The result confirmed that her earlier win over Ken was not misleading and sent her toward an expected meeting with Sonic.

Ryu demolished Duke Nukem far more convincingly than many expected. The writeup treats the performance as an overlooked warning that the supposedly obvious Dante-Ryu result in the next round was far from settled.

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.

Snake comfortably beat Ryu despite pre-match concern that his poor sprite image could hurt him. The writeup says the feared picture effect did not materialize here, though the performance did little to improve Snake's chances against Mega Man.

Ryu beat KOS-MOS as expected, but the writeup uses the result mainly to infer that Samus had grown much stronger than older standings indicated. That implication sharply reduced the plausibility of Sonic upsetting her later in the division.

Sonic beat Ryu without serious danger, but the writeup saw the performance as insufficient to threaten a surging Samus. The result reinforced the sense that Sonic had remained steady while Samus had improved.

Ryu beat Rikku but fell dramatically short of Board 8's expectations as his percentage kept sliding through the day. The writeup saw the performance as effectively ending the case for Ryu over Bowser before their match even arrived.

Bowser beat Ryu without the close fight that had once made the matchup a major bracket debate. The writeup treats the anticlimax as one more piece of evidence for a site-wide Nintendo boost and another failure of the Gauntlet hype.

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.

Mega Man beat Ryu, but his steady loss of ground was another warning that his old strength was fading. The writeup says people initially blamed the poor showing partly on his bad picture, only realizing later that the decline was real.

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.

Auron looked excellent, but the lasting story was Ryu beating Bowser again even after the Nintendo overlap from their earlier meeting was gone. The writeup finds the result difficult to explain beyond the volatility of the four-way format.

Cloud overwhelmed the field and further fueled speculation that he could challenge Link. Ryu advanced ahead of Auron, with the writeup treating Cloud's effect on Auron as central to the result.

LFF: The writeup says Cloud's shared Final Fantasy support held Auron down, allowing outside entrant Ryu to benefit and claim the other advancing position.

Cloud and Samus advanced through a quarterfinal that played out almost exactly as expected. The lasting story was Mega Man's poor showing, which ended any serious argument that he still belonged alongside Samus.

The defending champion showed little sign of fading, and the writeup remembers its duel with Ryu as an excellent fight that the four-way format robbed of real stakes. Meta Knight's weak showing was the main disappointment.

Crono and L-Block advanced in a much quieter sequel to L-Block's chaotic opening match. The defending champion looked strikingly ordinary, creating the first real sense that the repeat bid might be beatable.

Most of the writeup is a broad rant about Final Fantasy XII, with Ryu's easy win over Balthier receiving only brief attention.

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.

Ryu won clearly, but Leon resisted far better than the disastrous sprite led people to expect and even held up well during his preferred daytime period. The writeup leaves open whether a fairer picture could have made the match significantly closer.

Pic: The writeup says Leon's ugly Resident Evil: Gaiden sprite hurt his chances and suggests the matchup might have been different with more even pictures.

Cloud produced one of his strongest matches of the contest by overwhelming the usually consistent Ryu. The writeup treats it as a much-needed reminder that Cloud remained elite despite visible decline elsewhere.

Ryu won comfortably, while Yuri Lowell secured the second-place Expert Challenge position over Face McShooty without much suspense. The writeup is more pleased by Yuri's placement than interested in the actual competitiveness of the match.

Draven transformed from a low natural share into an overwhelming rally-powered winner over Mega Man X and Ryu. The performance convinced much of Board 8 that he had become a credible threat to win the entire contest.

Rally: The writeup says massive League of Legends rallying turned Draven into an overwhelming force and drove historically enormous vote totals.

Ryu routed Lloyd in another demonstration that the Tales series had little character-contest strength. The writeup treats Ryu as a durable veteran who remained comfortably above ordinary fodder despite years of decline.

Ryu crushed Commander Shepard and made Mass Effect's character decline look severe. The writeup treats Ryu's Smash exposure as part of a broader rise while Shepard never recovered old strength.

Ryu comfortably ended KOS-MOS's unlikely run through one of the weakest sections of the bracket. The writeup treats the result as a return to normal after KOS-MOS reached Round Three for the first time.

Sephiroth unexpectedly crushed Ryu and produced by far his strongest-looking result of the main bracket. The writeup uses the match to argue that reports of Sephiroth's collapse had gone too far.