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Donkey Kong won an obvious mismatch, but the writeup focuses on how unimpressive the performance looked for a top seed against an obscure opponent. It immediately raised doubts about his ability to challenge Mario.

Aya stunned Donkey Kong with an early lead before he recovered and completed the contest's first major comeback. The writeup remembers the match for establishing both Donkey Kong's inconsistency and the early legend of Nintendo's morning vote.

Mario finally produced the dominant performance people had been waiting for, restoring confidence before his expected match with Cloud. The result also became an early case used to develop Board 8's SFF theory.

SFF: The writeup says Mario's unusually dominant result against the closely linked Donkey Kong helped introduce what Board 8 would later universally call Same Fanbase Factor, though it was still treated as a fledgling theory at the time.

Donkey Kong beat Vyse as expected but did not produce the overwhelming showing supporters wanted before a possible match with Tommy Vercetti. The writeup therefore left the once-unthinkable DK upset case alive without strongly endorsing it.

Vercetti and Donkey Kong traded the lead repeatedly in one of the era's best seesaw matches before Vercetti finally pulled away with the evening vote. The near-upset completed Vercetti's fall from supposed contender to obvious overhype.

Vivi turned a supposedly close match into a decisive win over Donkey Kong, immediately establishing himself as a serious newcomer. The writeup sees the result as both evidence of Vivi's appeal and another demonstration that Donkey Kong's icon status does not translate reliably into contest strength.

Donkey Kong beat Sam Fisher in a match the writeup repeatedly calls dull. DK started above expectations but gradually gave enough back that the result offered little confidence about his next round.

Donkey Kong unexpectedly built a substantial lead, only for Master Chief's daytime strength to erase it and carry him past DK. The writeup remembers the match as a rare surprise after the failed Gauntlet and as a record-setting comeback and vote swing.

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.

Kratos took first, but the important result was L-Block advancing again while Kirby was weakened by Donkey Kong. The writeup marks this as the point when L-Block stopped looking like a harmless joke and became a serious contest threat.

LFF: The writeup explicitly says Donkey Kong drained Nintendo support from Kirby, costing Kirby the advancing spot and allowing L-Block to move on.

Weighted Companion Cube turned a heavily debated Tidus-Donkey Kong match into another joke-character success, while Tidus narrowly secured the other advancing position. Donkey Kong's failure added another chapter to his contest reputation for disappointing.

Vivi and Donkey Kong essentially replayed their 2004 matchup, with almost no change in the underlying result. The writeup treats the uncanny repetition as more notable than the match itself.

Donkey Kong unexpectedly made a supposedly debatable match trivial and punished the heavily disliked Lightning. Falco collapsed under the Nintendo overlap and finished well behind both.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Falco was SFFed in the Nintendo-heavy match, leaving him far weaker than Donkey Kong.

Zelda repeatedly looked on the verge of beating Charizard, but Pokémon's morning strength and late outside support dragged Charizard through a final-update escape. The writeup treats the win as a major warning that Charizard had been overrated.

LFF · Rally: The writeup says Donkey Kong's presence created heavy Nintendo vote splitting that badly hurt Charizard. It also says late rallies were necessary for Charizard to erase Zelda's lead and survive.

Donkey Kong demolished Tidus in a matchup built around two characters with long reputations for choking. The writeup attributes the result to Donkey Kong's renewed relevance, broader Nintendo momentum and Tidus's continued decline.

Donkey Kong upset Leon in one of the contest's most surprising veteran-versus-veteran results, punishing an overwhelming expert lean toward Resident Evil. The writeup treats the match as clean evidence of Nintendo's rise and Leon's weakness.

Vivi beat Donkey Kong for the third time in nearly identical fashion, continuing one of the contest's strangest recurring rivalries. The writeup concludes that Donkey Kong's apparent revival had been overstated.